ExecMBA Podcast #434: Student Spotlight | Catherine Kelley

How did you figure out, well, you know, what's most important to you? I mean, obviously, as a working professional student, you have a limited amount of time and energy.

So you're gonna have to make some of these decisions.

How did you get clarity on, on that point?

Honestly, I, I think it was a trial by fire.

Uh, I would say my first quarter at Darden, um, I did struggle a little bit, like mentally, um, even trying, like struggling with a little bit of the classwork, especially when it came to finals and it had that pressure of like, "Oh my gosh," like, "I'm a student.

I need to get good grades." Um, and then that led to like just I didn't anticipate just how it would impact me emotionally to be in like that headspace of the pressure, uh, the expectations.

Um, after that, I decided that I didn't want to feel that again, uh, like this overwhelming pressure that I needed to be perfect or I needed to excel, I needed to compare myself to others, et cetera.

So I had to really reflect and figure out, okay, what is going to lead me to my definition of success? And my definition of success isn't that I'm gonna be the future CEO of a company.

Um, it's that I am learning, I am expanding my mind, I am doing what I came to Darden to do, which is to be a better leader, um, and learn bit-- like get-- have better business acumen.

Um, but I also, outside of Darden and academics, like I want to be a mom at some point, I want to be always present with my family, um, and I want to invest in myself, and I want to have fun and explore things.

Um, like somehow I've got into recreational rowing, so I am a novice crew person now.

So I realized that these things that were important to me, I needed to just make space for them, uh, and say no to other things.

So that could be, you know, am I gonna spend four hours like really trying to memorize a case for a class? Probably not.

Um, I could trim that down to, uh, one and a half hours, two hours and still get out of the class what I need to get out of, the learning, the, the questions, et cetera.

I think I was trying too hard to be perfect, and I decided that that is not-- that's not important.

That is a challenge, I think, for every professional degree student.

You know, the kind of people who consider these programs, who think about working while pursuing their MBA tend to be people who are very motivated and have very high standards for themselves.

So shifting out of that perfection trap, I think it's not easy.

It's, uh, psychologically challenging.

Yeah.

It, it, it's still a battle, a work in progress, um, 'cause I, I think a lot of us at Darden, especially just the Darden community, we're all so intelligent, we're all so driven, um, and we're all so really ambitious, and I feel like we want to do the best that we can.

If we had all the time in the world, I honestly think a lot of us would just really just be in a classroom learning and pushing each other and just discussing cases, but we just don't have the time, and I think a lot of us are starting to realize that, um, yeah, like we just have to say no sometimes and, and support each other.

I think that's also really been helpful in like battling the perfectionism.

It's that you're not the only one.

Um, and the cohort, Darden's cohort has really helped, um, helped me really realize that, okay, I'm not in this alone.

How did you figure out, well, you know, what's most important to you? I mean, obviously, as a working professional student, you have a limited amount of time and energy.

So you're gonna have to make some of these decisions.

How did you get clarity on, on that point?

Honestly, I, I think it was a trial by fire.

Uh, I would say my first quarter at Darden, um, I did struggle a little bit, like mentally, um, even trying, like struggling with a little bit of the classwork, especially when it came to finals and it had that pressure of like, "Oh my gosh," like, "I'm a student.

I need to get good grades." Um, and then that led to like just I didn't anticipate just how it would impact me emotionally to be in like that headspace of the pressure, uh, the expectations.

Um, after that, I decided that I didn't want to feel that again, uh, like this overwhelming pressure that I needed to be perfect or I needed to excel, I needed to compare myself to others, et cetera.

So I had to really reflect and figure out, okay, what is going to lead me to my definition of success? And my definition of success isn't that I'm gonna be the future CEO of a company.

Um, it's that I am learning, I am expanding my mind, I am doing what I came to Darden to do, which is to be a better leader, um, and learn bit-- like get-- have better business acumen.

Um, but I also, outside of Darden and academics, like I want to be a mom at some point, I want to be always present with my family, um, and I want to invest in myself, and I want to have fun and explore things.

Um, like somehow I've got into recreational rowing, so I am a novice crew person now.

So I realized that these things that were important to me, I needed to just make space for them, uh, and say no to other things.

So that could be, you know, am I gonna spend four hours like really trying to memorize a case for a class? Probably not.

Um, I could trim that down to, uh, one and a half hours, two hours and still get out of the class what I need to get out of, the learning, the, the questions, et cetera.

I think I was trying too hard to be perfect, and I decided that that is not-- that's not important.

That is a challenge, I think, for every professional degree student.

You know, the kind of people who consider these programs, who think about working while pursuing their MBA tend to be people who are very motivated and have very high standards for themselves.

So shifting out of that perfection trap, I think it's not easy.

It's, uh, psychologically challenging.

Yeah.

It, it, it's still a battle, a work in progress, um, 'cause I, I think a lot of us at Darden, especially just the Darden community, we're all so intelligent, we're all so driven, um, and we're all so really ambitious, and I feel like we want to do the best that we can.

If we had all the time in the world, I honestly think a lot of us would just really just be in a classroom learning and pushing each other and just discussing cases, but we just don't have the time, and I think a lot of us are starting to realize that, um, yeah, like we just have to say no sometimes and, and support each other.

I think that's also really been helpful in like battling the perfectionism.

It's that you're not the only one.

Um, and the cohort, Darden's cohort has really helped, um, helped me really realize that, okay, I'm not in this alone.