How can you be a top-tier student?
From junior year in high school to sophomore year in college, students are at the peak of their stress levels without getting the results they want.
You’re trying to score high on standardized exams, get enough scholarships, find the right college, apply to the right programs, and on and on. It’s scary enough being on the verge of adulthood, and all the major decisions that come with it.
If you don’t stay organized and intentional, you’ll completely lose it. For that reason I recommend a good planner and digital file organizer. Here is the one I’m currently using and it works miracles for me.
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Even when you graduate high school or go to college, it takes you a while to adapt to the new lifestyle and environment. You get heavier workloads, new responsibilities, and possibly your own living space and a real job.
In the midst of all of this, students lose sight of one very important concept, a concept of which I have to remind myself daily.
The pursuit of anything without eternal meaning is vain.
That went right over your head, didn’t it? Let me explain to you exactly what this means in normal English: whatever you do without a greater purpose is essentially meaningless and unsuccessful no matter how great it is.
This is obviously not my original idea. Most people know that in their core, but I only became aware of it by reading Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Hugo and The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau.
In daily life this translates to students not doing things that they are passionate about and can use to influence the lives of others around them. The other side of the coin toss is that they might do too much of that and eventually lose the influence.
The one trend all top-tier students share is that they excel in one or two specific areas that are useful and helpful to others.
There are too many “good” students. You know, the ones that aren’t doing terrible, but also aren’t really great; the academic version of society’s middle class.
These students can have really good grades (As, Bs, and a few Cs) and can be involved in an out of school, but they don’t shine in any one area. They haven’t harnessed their strengths and aimed them at a single, specific, meaningful target.
Most students do too many activities (thinking it will help them) or they do nothing at all. That, my friend, is the biggest mistake most students make.
I have been on both ends of the spectrum (doing too much and doing too little) and I can tell you they both suck equally. Read on to find out why.
- Doing Too Much
So you become the president of a club at your school and participate in three other clubs. You volunteer at a homeless shelter on Saturdays. You play on the basketball team and manage the varsity baseball one. You then join student council and plan homecoming.
It is pitiful indeed. People think they are contributing more value the more they do. That’s not the case at all, though.
You are actually spreading yourself so thin that you don’t stand out at any one thing. It sounds cool to be able to list 14 extracurriculars on a resume, but seldom are you a rockstar at all of them.
By trying to be a Jack of all trades, you will be a master of none.
It is much more valuable to lead and influence through one or two activities that you enjoy (and excel at) the most than to try to do a little for each of six others.
For me, I realized that being on the Yearbook team was’t making me a happier human being. I also realized that being a part of Key Club and NHS was not allowing me to express my creativity and leadership skills even when I directly helped other people.
So, I dropped them. I opted for the activities that demonstrate my character the most and that through which I can influence people the most.
Those activities ended up being Speech & Debate and ASB. I’m a thinker, leader, and creator. Those are the activities that best express my truest self and allow me to impact others the most.
How about you? What do you do that you are not extremely passionate about, but just do because it looks good on a resume or a college application?
If you do something for the sake of something else not for the sake of the thing itself, then you won’t be really good at it and it won’t take you anywhere. If you join a club because “it looks good on a resume,” I’m telling you that you’re going to be miserable and nobody will think it was great.
Reality is, colleges and employers aren’t impressed with titles and quantities. They want QUALITY. They want a person that is top-notch at what they do. It doesn’t matter what it is, just that you do it like no one else can.
Another example was me in the 7th grade. My parents got me a $400 keyboard and signed me up for piano lessons. I learned to read notes and play by ear so fast that after about two months of practices, I played for my church.
I was too good for my own liking. And that can happen. Just because you do something really well, doesn’t mean you SHOULD do it.
Why? Because I was not enjoying it. I had no intentions of going into a music career or doing anything related to music even in my spare time as an adult. However, I had intentions of being a writer. And by spending my spare time practicing on the piano, I did not write. Thus, I was internally miserable.
I was not fulfilling my truest self even if I was good at it and was useful to my community. As much as I loved the satisfaction of serving at church with something so beautiful and creative as music, I did not satisfy my inner being. And a miserable human is of no service to anyone.
It was really hard to step back and say “no”. I felt terrible because my parents invested so much money into my lessons and equipment. I felt ashamed of myself for not being the person they wanted me to be. Even my whole church needed me. Everybody was impressed and delighted with my abilities.
I say this not to brag, but to impress this point upon you: sometimes you have to listen to your own voice and make the decisions that satisfy the inner you no matter what others think or say.
Ask yourself: what activities are you doing that really don’t matter to you, but you just do anyways to look good? Like I said before, in the end nobody cares about what you did or didn’t do, people will only care about the type of person you were.
And you sure won’t be a passionate, authentic person if you do things that make you miserable or don’t inspire you in any way.
Even if you are the president of a club or the captain of a sports team, so what? Literally anybody could do that in a high school or college if they really wanted to. How does that set you apart from the crowd? How does that flush out your character and allow you to influence people?
The problem is not the club or team itself. The activity doesn’t matter as much as what you do with it. It can be the most basic club at your school, but you create a new aspect to it that you focus on and expand. And that most importantly, expresses your truest, most capable self.
2. Doing Too Little
That one was huge for me, too. In essence, it’s about doing the bare minimum and not feeling the need to contribute anything extra to your community or the world at large.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: everybody has something they can do to give back and really enjoy doing.
Some students go to school, come back, do homework and study, and in the morning go back to school. Do you know how much that sucks the life out of you?
You’re not doing yourself a favor by choosing to “focus on school and my studies.” Book-knowledge is great, but it don’t get you a happy life, boo.
You must do something you really love and can use to help other people in some shape or form. Not everyone is going to feel enthusiastic standing on stage and talking to people. The same way not everyone enjoys cooking and delivering home-cooked meals to the homeless (yes, I know somebody who does that for their main hobby/activity).
You don’t have to be a part of an organized club, sports team, or community service organization. You could literally do your own thing in your room and not tell anybody about it. As long as you actually DO something.
Put an effort to influence someone else each day through something you like doing. It doesn’t have to be public, like this blog. It doesn’t have to be many people at once. Start simple and start meaningful because it’s better to do that than do 17 clubs that mean nothing to you.
Choosing to not do anything at all is equally devastating because it locks you up in your own self and your immediate surroundings. It limits you in so many ways. You would think that when you choose to devote more time to school and studying, you will be more successful.
However, the opposite has always been true. Students who contribute to their communities and work on their passions are generally happier and more academically motivated than their non-involved counterparts.
I’ve written about this topic before in the Top 10 Tips for Success in Online School and included data to prove it. You can find that under The Advanced section in step #5.
In summary, every human being has an innate desire to be competent at something with which they can serve other members of their community. This dates back to homo sapiens in our hunter-gatherer days.
If you don’t know exactly what you love to do and can do well, then I highly recommend you read The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. You must figure out exactly who you are, what you are meant to do, and how you can help people with it. Otherwise, life will pass you on without having done anything.
Not fulfilling that desire may not have a dramatic effect on your life in the short term. You can be a good student alright. But, will you be a great individual? Will you feel competent? Will you inspire others or initiate change? I don’t think so.
On the other hand, doing too many of those things is just as ineffective and time consuming. Remember, that the number of things you do doesn’t matter. How much you’ve contributed in a single direction and how much influence you’ve had is what counts.
Do your activities with intention. Choose only the ones that bring you the most joy and bring others the most value. Don’t hesitate to drop the ones that don’t do so. Live with passion and zeal, my friend, you only got one life.