College isn’t for everyone. But here are some of my key takeaways:
- The deadlines for an assignment will often teach you more about yourself than the assignment will.
- You should procrastinate some things. Not everything is important.
- Rest is a part of work.
I’m a serial Try Hard. So for freshman film school student Dale, “the ‘ol College Try” probably looked like a 2AM bedtime (from assignments, not parties) and way too little quality sleep.
Sometimes I’ve wondered what advice my future self would impart on me before I have to learn things the hard way. I try to anticipate disaster so I can avoid it. But here’s what the Now-Future Dale would tell Freshman Dale: “Do Less.”
As graduation approaches, you end up caring less anyway before you pass the finish line.
Every Week’s To Do List
- Write 2-5 pages of essays. Finals Week Bonus: Add at least 5-10 extra pages.
- Lead meetings for a school organization.
- Plan a thesis film.
- Panic about thesis film.
- Write journal entries for a class that you’re taking only because it was the last one with the credit you need.
- Complain about how you’re always in the last group to schedule your classes.
- Read more than 30 pages of other students’ work, and giving detailed feedback.
- Skip a day or two of sleep.
- Go to your part-time job. Do more than the other workers, even if you get paid the same as them.
- Complain that you do more than some coworkers but still get paid the same.
- Complain about having to go to work and school.
- Rinse, repeat.
School isn’t for everyone. In fact, I spent a minimum of 1 hour per week just pacing around a room, venting aloud about how, “This stupid essay has no bearing on what I know I want to do with my life, and it will never impact me if I fail this assignment. But I should get a good grade, right?”
In college, one formula you teach yourself is called the “What MINIMUM score do I need to make a [Letter Grade] Formula.” It comes in handy.
After 8 years of this Work, Complain, Rinse, Repeat pattern, I am tired. I’m burnt out. And those assignments that “would have no bearing on my life”? They don’t matter. I’m burnt out from the things that I wasn’t passionate about. Please don’t make the same mistake I did.
Now-Future Dale is out of college. I have no useless assignments, and my free time is now spent on things that I love. I’ll admit, the things I love to do feel productive. I work on design projects, but I’m not graded on them, and I can stop one of them if I feel that it’s not worth my time. It’s the freedom from deadlines that keeps me working and happy.
School made deadlines feel pointless. And so ironically, school taught me…
How to Do Less
Not everything is important.
I got some wonderful advice from a photography professor on Syllabus Day that I still carry with me. He said, “I don’t care if you turn in good photos. I just want you to be proud of them even after this class is over.”
Really soak that in. Maybe it’s obvious, but that teacher hates grades (It’s always the best teachers that hate grades; they just want you to be proud of yourself).
So when you’re navigating school, life, a job, your own projects, or a mix of all of that, keep that nugget of advice tucked in the front part of your head, not the back.
The real trick here is that “Do Less” just pertains to the unimportant parts of life–the fluff, the throwaway assignments, the mundane work. Do just enough to get by with those things. Don’t stay up late polishing something that will never give you back what you put into it.
If you’re a Try Hard, ask yourself what you’re trying hard to do. Try Hard for your happiness; don’t Try Hard at the things that keep you working but don’t give back to you. And–oh my goodness–get some SLEEP. Rest is a part of work. You will always have a happier day when you aren’t fighting to stay awake. I’ll admit–I still do not follow this sleep rule everyday. I hope you will do better than me.
I’m still learning how to Do Less and be a Try Hard at things that give back to my own happiness. But it is a challenge to shake that inner voice that complained for an hour each week about how, “This doesn’t matter, but I will do it anyway.”
At the very least, I hope that Future Dale will be able to say with full truth that Current Me was on the right track. And I hope the same thing for you.
How do you find ways to Do Less and avoid burnout? Let me know in the comments below! Until then,
