Mar 28 • Wins 🏆
To all ATAR Students: The Power of Focus
The Biggest Problem I Faced in Year 12 Was Commitment. Here's My Story…
At the start of 2024, I had already taken on multiple commitments — I was the school captain, a member of Morley Leos, working part-time at KFC, going to the gym, and maintaining relationships. It was tough.
My focus was scattered.
At the end of each week, I would ask myself: “What meaningful goal have I accomplished this week?”
Most of the time, the answer was none — or I had simply progressed a project I was working on as school captain.
But eventually, I reached a breaking point. I realised that this approach was not sustainable.
- My health suffered because I wasn’t getting enough sleep.
- My grades dropped because my attention was spread too thin.
~
That moment of clarity came when I had a conversation with one of the deputy principals.
The conversation went like this:
“I know you're doing a lot for the school, and it's great,” he said.“But you need to understand that you have to focus on one thing — and right now, you're not.”
He then turned his computer screen toward me and showed my WACE tracker.
On that screen, I saw 142 points predicted by the end of the year — 8 points short of earning a Merit Award, which is given to students who maintain consistent A and B grades throughout high school.
In that moment, I asked a simple but powerful question:
“What can I do to change this?”
He showed me exactly what I needed to do to earn the 150 points required for a Merit Award.I left that conversation with a clear decision:
- I would get the marks I needed.
- I would turn things around.
~
During the second semester of 2024, I committed fully to achieving that goal.
I made difficult but necessary sacrifices:
- I stopped going out or spending time with friends during recess and lunch.
- I began attending school at 6 a.m., sometimes arriving as early as 5:50 a.m. when the gardeners were just starting their work.
- I reduced my hours at KFC and declined any activities that did not align with my core priorities:
~
When the ATAR results were released at the end of the year, I achieved a 90.45 ATAR and secured a place at my dream university — UWA.
~
I learned that excellence and great results cannot be achieved without focus.
You cannot do many great things at once — you can only excel when you focus on them one at a time.
~
One of my mentors explained this with a powerful analogy:
“A magnifying glass focused on a single point can burn through paper. But if you spread that same energy across the whole page, it only warms the paper."
Focus turns heat into fire. Distraction only makes things lukewarm.
I hope my story helps you avoid making the same mistake I did.
All the best,
And achieve excellence.
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To all ATAR Students: The Power of Focus
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