In life, you have work, and you have play. Yes, at any stage in the human experience, your time is divided between things you have to do and things you want to do. Part-time we are prisoners, and part-time we are free.
It's simple. Right?
Well, not quite.
First of all, if it were that simple, this blog post would be over—and what kind of blog post would that be?
No, if we are going to simplify life into categories, we will need to clear room for a third category, somewhere in between work and play—something I call “Passionate Pursuits.”
Work, whether you’re an adult (your job) or a student (your classes and homework), takes a lot of time—typically somewhere between 40 and 60 hours a week.
But if people are awake for about 16 hours a day, that leaves…carry the 4…50-70 remaining hours.
So even the really busy people have about 50 free hours each week outside of their work.
Now, we mustn’t disregard play. Play is the time you spend with your friends and family, the time you listen to music, go hiking, play pickup basketball, watch TV, play video games, go to parties, eat candy, and whatever the devil else Americans do with their free time.
But 50-70 hours of play? Not necessary. You can have a rich social and leisure life and still have some solid hours left over. Right?
In my humble opinion, these key hours are best spent undertaking “passionate pursuits”—activities you care about and take seriously outside of your work. At the minimum, a passionate pursuit is a hobby; at the maximum, it’s a part-time career.
In the adult world, some people are great at dedicating time to one or more passionate pursuits—others are less so.
But in the student world, passionate pursuits are called “extra-curricular activities,” and you need to have them in your life and take them seriously. Why? Because they are critical to the college admissions process. Colleges want to accept interesting, passionate, involved students, and the best way for them to judge this is by looking at how each student uses those key hours outside of work and play.
At this point, you’re thinking, “So extra-curriculars are important. I already…knew…that.”
Right. But I want to change the way you think about extra-curriculars.
Rather than think, “What does my school offer?” and pick something, try asking yourself, “What do I love to do?” and “What would I love to get good at?” and “What’s important to me?” and then figure out how to work those things into your life as your extra-curricular activities—because those are your passionate pursuits. And if you’re not passionate about your extra-curricular activities, you won’t have as much fun doing them, you won’t excel as much doing them, and colleges will not see you for the passionate person you are.
Sounds simple, but students approach this the wrong way all the time. Some people really love playing sports, so sports are a perfect passionate pursuit for them. Others don’t love it as much, but think, “Well, I’m pretty good at this sport, and that’s what everyone else is doing, and that’s what you’re supposed to do in high school, right?” Some people love running for class office and governing their class. Others think, “Private SAT tutoring isn't very fun, but it’ll definitely help me get into college.” Some feel passionate about a cause in their community and they want to get involved and help. Others think, “community service looks good on a college resume.”
If you don’t love your extra-curricular activities, you’re doing the wrong extra-curricular activities.
So get creative. Think about what you really love or what you would really love to try, and then do the following:
1) Figure out if this activity is already offered at your school
2) If not, start a club. There’s no way you’re the only one interested in it.
Your life will be a lot more fun and rewarding, and it’ll be a breeze to tell your real story to colleges because you will have lived it.
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