Doing More By Doing Less by Cassidy

Doing More By Doing Less by Cassidy - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

I sit down with my younger self and ask her how life is.
“Fine,” she says, “busy but good.”
I nod in understanding and exhale as I put my hand on her shoulder.
“Sometimes you can do more by doing less.”

If I could give one piece of advice to my younger self, I would tell her that sometimes it can be more productive to give yourself time to recharge.

In middle school, I would often hone in on projects for days on end. I'd put off sleep to write the best essay or craft the best history project. While I’m certainly proud looking back on those achievements, I wish I had spent less time pushing through discouragement and more time refilling my energy. If learning the same song on guitar for 9 months leads to burnout and resentment, is the accomplishment even worth it? How can I save someone’s clinical mental health by dedicating all my energy to them if I have no positive energy to give? No matter how much I care about someone, it does us both no good for me to wear myself to the bone trying to save them. No matter how passionate I am about something, recharging that passion with other things is a necessity.

I’ve learned that pacing myself can lead to even greater achievement. Letting the lyrics I write flow over time creates infinitely more beautiful words than pushing out the same strained ideas quickly. Smaller study sessions with a friend who motivates me to stay enthusiastic help me retain the content much easier than forcing myself to sit at my desk for hours with no breaks. Shakespeare's works are far more enjoyable when I read them slowly to understand them completely.

I would give myself this advice because if I had known this back in middle school, I know I would be so much prouder of my accomplishments. Hearing the songs I’ve written now makes me so much happier than the songs I wrote back then. Giving those songs the time and refreshed energy they needed has made them the absolute best they can be. Digesting Shakespeare’s King Lear by reading it slowly and with more attention allowed me to analyze it confidently throughout the AP Literature and Composition class. Closing the ACT prep book to sleep when my eyes blurred from exhaustion made it so I could open the book again the next day with enough energy to process new concepts. Taking my bike out for a fun, easy ride once a month reminds me of why I fell in love with the sport. So when it’s time for sprints, I have the motivation to push myself without fear of burnout.

I can only imagine the things I’d have accomplished if I had the mindset back then that I do now. I know I’d be so proud. But now that I know how to manage burnout and keep myself motivated, I can only imagine what the future holds. There is so much I can do if I put the time toward it, and even with the necessary breaks, I’ve got more than enough time to craft a life and legacy I’ll be proud of.