A simple principle has been drilled into us from a young age; to be successful you must excel in multiple areas. No one wants a one-trick pony.
Parents put their young children into sports, art, theater and science camps, hoping to give them a fair chance at success.
In high school, teachers and admissions counselors skim over college applications, evaluating teenagers on their involvement across all areas, maintaining that only the most involved applicants are worthy of admission.Â
“Colleges want a well-rounded student.”
Like any typical American kid, I was grossly busy growing up. My parents shuttled me from school to the city for choir and then back home for soccer every Tuesday. The weekends and weekdays were packed with theater, Girl Scouts, soccer, cross country and choir.
I wanted to do it all, and my parents made it happen.Â
I came to St. Bonaventure because I still wanted the ability to “do it all” as a student-athlete.Â
“Employers want a well-rounded person.”
I have always told myself that I function the best when my meticulously color-coded Google calendar is completely colored in, but maybe I just don’t know any better. Is this the way we’re supposed to live, or have we just trained our brains to function off productivity?
The energy equivalent of introverts and extroverts, I’ve found that I gain net energy when I’m busy and lose net energy. I need momentum for motivation. Once I stop, I can’t get back into the groove of things. Â
Even though it stresses me out, hiding in the auditorium while hopping on a 20-minute meeting for my internship on a break from my 2 back-to-back 1-hour classes gives me the energy to get through my next class.
By 7 p.m. most nights, I am essentially non-verbal because, even though I am getting energized from staying busy, my social battery has completely deteriorated. Unfortunately, this is when most clubs meet. Nevertheless, I shuffle over to the Riley Center or Swan and unsuccessfully attempt to muster up my last bits of enthusiasm for the day.
Here lies the issue: You can’t give everything to everything. The cup analogy is tired but applicable. Unfortunately, you cannot pour from an empty cup, and there is only so much water. So, you will have to take from one to give to another.
My creative energy seeps into every project, resulting in mediocre school and independent work. And when inspiration strikes, I’m typically unable to act on it.
My habitual Friday visit to the SPCA has been surrendered to schoolwork and every time I see a club that I desperately want to join is meeting at 5:00 I secretly curse the fact that I chose to run.
You’re doing it all because you love it, but love isn’t enough to offset resentment. You have to do it all, and while you’re at it, be sure to excel in every area. If not, then what’s the point?
The worst part is that it will never be enough. Someone will always be better than you and do more than you.Â
Along the way, the pursuit of becoming well-rounded has been mutilated into a competition of who can do the most rather than someone who has knowledge in multiple areas.
I’m trying to go back to my elementary school roots and start filling my schedule with things that I actually love to do and not just things that look good on a resume. Of course, it’s hard to narrow it down, but I am working to become more conscientious about what I choose to do because even though we want to do it all it doesn’t mean we should.