Payoffs & Tradeoffs

How many times have you thought, "Man, my hard work has finally paid off!"

And how many times have you thought about whether that statement is TRULY true? Sure, in life we generally think of any accomplishment or benefit as a success or gain, but what about the NET results? Did the A on an exam really outweigh the negative physical & mental consequences resulting from the hours & hours of studying and sacrificing of sleep and sanity? Would you still say that your hard work was paid off if you had gotten a B+? How much do you value your time, energy and health--enough to almost exhaust them completely in order to get a desired result?

Often, while we choose to engage in one action and give up another, we don't really think about whether the tradeoffs are worth it. Or maybe that's just me--overly optimistic and narrow minded about the fact that I can't do everything, so I will just have to pick & choose. I'd rather not choose, because it's hard to say whether I'm making the right decision most of the time. I can already feel my body aging three times as fast as a normal person's, from all the caffeine I consume & the little sleep I get ><"

So, here's what I want to know: out of the following list, how would you rank how much you value each item? Is there anything not on the list that you also value?

Health
Grades
Friendships/Relationships
Career
Intellectual Gains
Time
Spiritual/Religious enlightenment

One step behind

As I'm looking at my completely crammed agenda and thinking about how often times, I don't think ahead and deadlines creep up on me, quite a few idioms/adages came to mind:

Too little too late (if that even counts?)
One step behind
The early bird gets the worm
Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy and wise.

Mainly, "one step behind" seems to be a common theme to my life. In dance, I'm ususally one of the last people to pick up the choreo. . .or late in doing the moves. . .or just doing them completely wrong ><"

And in life, I get so caught up doing daily activities as simple as studying, going to class & working that I forget to do important things ahead of time like search for internships/scholarships. Before I know it, I only have 1 or 2 weeks to complete a rigorous application, ask for reference letters & etc. Maybe I should have looked into these things ahead of time. . .

All of this just makes me wonder: am I even good at anything anymore? Is being a capable person in general areas worse than being great at a few specific tasks? Or maybe I'm just pushing myself too hard and trying to bite off more than I can chew. If so, how am I supposed to and when will I figure out which things to leave behind & which things to focus on?

Basically everything is a trade off and I can't seem to figure out the marginal costs & benefits properly. Too bad there's no MC & MB Life Calculator or something.