Part of the university experience is to prepare you for the real-world (whatever that means.) Part of this indoctrination is preparing you to be able to handle things like teamwork, learning, stress, and stupid amounts of work.
Being in my fourth and final year of my undergraduate studies, I feel this. I don’t exercise, but I imagine the pain I’m feeling is like that of a triathlete completing a major race after years of training. Same thing, right?
I’m currently juggling a lot of shit and I’d like to believe it’s impressive. I’m juggling a full course-load, with a capstone, and still maintaining a rock-solid GPA. I’m an executive on three student associations (of which, I’m president for one.) I am a teaching assistant, and I teach an hour-and-a-half lecture weekly. On top of all of that, I attempt to live a (somewhat) social life.
A common expression of mine this year has been,
“There are not enough hours in the day.”
This repeats in my head as I drone in my shared office-space for a dozen hours daily. I don’t know many other students who spend that much time on campus — and I’m including people who live here.
So as I reach closer to graduation, I reflect on the success of my program, starting with this year. Let’s rhyme off my accomplishments so I can get on with the point of this post:
Two of my student associations completely bombed (including the one I’m president for.)
I have not been preparing for my classes as effectively, resulting in a poorer learning environment.
I haven’t been studying as effectively, forgetting and postponing assignments, and as a result my marks have been slipping.
My personal projects suffered severely. My blogging, personal art and writing, and YouTube channel have all halted.
Since I’m so “busy” I don’t have time to work, and I am too mentally-spent to effectively maintain social relationships.
Gotta go out with a bang, right?
I used to think that being productive meant that you did a lot of shit. I wouldn’t be far off: the definition of productivity is generally how much output you’re getting for your inputs.
Now, I don’t know much about productivity (there are many others who do, like this guy.) But what I can tell you is what I've learned through failing.
Be passionate about what you do.
No fucking brainer, right? Well it’s easy to say — but much harder to do when you’re a student grasping at every opportunity you can.
One of the biggest barriers I've hit is simply not caring about the work I've been doing. I was at a cross-roads between my marketing and management studies, and through developing the community of the management concentration, I learned that I’m actually a marketer.
Rad for me now, but not rad for the community that I absolutely failed.
It’s not like I’m killing babies here. But what happens when you get a job? You’ll be new, grasping at every opportunity you can to prove yourself. You’ll take on something you’re not passionate about, and then it’ll fail, and then you’ll lose your company millions of dollars. Boom.
Less is sometimes more.
You know the expression “jack of all trades, master of none”?
That’s what happens when you do too much shit.
You’re only human. You can’t do it all. I spread myself way too thin this year, and ended up doing everything at a mediocre level (and sometimes failing.)
You’re much better off doing fewer projects that you’re passionate about and put substantial effort into it. This is kind of like people who work 10 different jobs for a few months each. Much less impressive than someone who has had one or two long-term positions, right? Right.
Update: This applies to people too, as I’ve learned. It’s tough to go to an event and try and mingle with everyone — and when you do, you’ll be disappointed that you never gave any of them enough of your time. Bring everyone in to arms length, but bring closer only the best of the best and give them everything you’ve got.
It’s okay to say no.
This is kind of your action plan for the above. Just shut your mouth and say no! Again, easier said than done. It’s hard to turn down opportunity when we need everything we can get to stand out. But again, is it always worth it?
Do you have to make an appearance at every event or gathering? Do you need to help with every campaign? Do you need to create every design? Do you need to lead every meeting? Not always.
Work with cool people.
This one got me. Try your best to only work with people you can actually work with. Awesome people do either one of two things:
- Awesome people get shit done without you hawking over them (see previous point)
- Awesome people inspire you to do good shit (see first point)
If you’re lucky, get people who can do both. That way, there is no excuse.
So if I could do this final year again, what would I do? I’d do less shit — plain and simple. I would’ve focused on the things that I actually enjoyed doing, and I would’ve done them well. Now I have empty line-items on my resume that will always haunt me with the guilt of incompetence. That’s no fun.
So take a productivity lesson from me: a guy who has been extremely unproductive at the worst possible time.
