confused college student-Less Is More - Being Excellent In A Few Things

Less Is More - Being Excellent In A Few Things

confused college student

As you step out of the car on your first day of college, you are presented with a ton of opportunities to involve yourself. It seems that there are a thousand different groups waiting to get you on their sign up. You can sing, act, help the homeless, make film, serve in student government, play sports, help the elderly, and many other activities and groups are waiting for your participation. I’m not even going to mention all of your classes and homework.

Successful people are involved in everything they could possibly be involved in right?

The way to success is doing anything and everything right?

Wrong.

There is a great amount of pressure on college students today to be as involved as they possibly could be. In High School, students are told that they must be overcommitted so that they can receive scholarships for college. In college, students continue that habit. For my first couple of years of school, I would wake myself up at 5:30 in the morning and go to sleep at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I did as much as I possibly could.

I wanted to excel.

The problem was that the exact opposite thing was happening. I was mediocre in almost everything that I did. My commitment level was low. I was not able to give as much too each group as I needed to.

My spirit was dying.  I was so overcommitted that I had no time to sit and reflect, read, pray, even think. 

I was beginning to whither away.

Here’s a secret.

You can either excel at a few things or be mediocre in everything.

There are a million different things that you can be involved in at your university or college. That doesn’t mean that you have to be involved in all of them. Everyone that approaches you is going to think that their group, position, or club is the most important one of all. Their job is to recruit you into whatever they are doing. The temptation to over-involve yourself is enormous.

So what do you do?

What should you be involved in?

The answer to this question is simply complicated. Saying what you should do to avoid being overcommitted is a lot easier than actually doing it.

Find out what you are good at, and then do that.

Some of us have different gifts for different things. Some of us are good at speaking in public. Some of us are athletic. Some of us can paint, draw, and sculpt. Some of us are compassionate and find talking to people easy. Some of us are academic. Some of us are leaders. Some of us are followers.

Are you catching my drift?

Reflect on what you are gifted and skilled in and then pour your energy into that. Don’t spend a lot of time and energy on things that you are not gifted or skilled in. Find out what you are built for and then excel in that.

There is nothing more impressive or breathtaking than seeing someone that has found out what they are good at and has poured their time and energy into that.

Examples:

• Pavarotti

• Gandhi

• Mother Theresa

• Olympic Athletes

• Peyton Manning

• Lance Armstrong

The list goes on of people that found their purpose and pursued that.  Everything else is just distraction.

As you go through your college career, try to find what you are good at and then set your mind to becoming the best you can be. Don’t over commit yourself. Don’t spread yourself too thin.

Think about it this way.

We are all given a quart of paint. You can try to stretch that quart of paint to cover an entire room. If you do that, you will have holes and imperfections. You will have missed spots and an overall ugly job. People will look at that wall and criticize and complain about the job.

Or you can use that quart of paint to cover one square yard of the wall. If you do that, you will have a beautiful, thick coat of paint without flaw. You won’t have missed spots or ugliness. You applied your resources to one area and came out with a great result. People will look at that and be impressed.

Find out who you are and be the best “you” you can be.