‘Work hard, but not too hard’ — Olivia King

‘Work hard, but not too hard’ — Olivia King

Push yourself, work hard, be ambitious, achieve your potential. Exceed your potential. This is all great advice and likely the words of those people who are acting in your best interests and want to see you go far in life. But, there comes a point where it goes too far. Now, I’m not saying don’t work hard, or sit back, relax, you’ll be fine, but I am saying don’t push yourself too far. Don’t work too hard.

I encourage you to get involved and make an effort but I also encourage you to find the middle ground between your studies and your life outside of the classroom or your downtime. RHS is very full on and every now and then it’s okay to sit back and take some time for yourself. Everybody needs this, it’s part of what makes us human. Working for hours on end scientifically makes us less productive, and quite frankly, it makes us tired and fed up. Neither of these are going to help you achieve the highest grade or pass an exam, it’s just going to tire you out. You can try to be the best student, the best friend or the best person you can be but if you push yourself to breaking point then you’re not capable of anything.

I want to share with you a quote that I stumbled upon a while ago, which is that, ‘trying your best isn’t working so hard that you cannot function anymore. Trying your best is finding the balance between hard work and your health and happiness.’

It occurs to me every day how balance shapes our lives; we are told to have a balanced diet, to balance time and even balance to stand on two feet, so why should hard work and health be any different?

Therefore, I hope you’ll find the time this week think about how hard you’re working and adjust to your own standards. Make time for your studies but also yourself. Don’t loose sight of enjoying the whole experience of a school like this, because the time really does fly.

Work hard, but not too hard.