I distinctly remember a moment a few weeks before starting college where I was sitting in my bed at home opening emails and came across a message from the head of the Notre Dame Scholars' Program inviting me to a networking barbecue the first weekend of college. I thought about it for a second, let the idea of selling my soul to the world of networking marinate in my head for a little bit, and finally said to myself, "Alright. That's it. Beginning right now, I am going to start playing the game." I RSVP'd "Yes" to the invite.
When I said I was going to start "playing the game," what I meant was doing all the superficial things I thought were necessary to get ahead and start moving up the ladder. Attending every networking event. Keeping a lingering smile and nodding throughout every conversation. Faking an interest in all of my professors' research papers. Drinking LaCroix. That kind of stuff. I was ready to become the kiss-up that I always imagined an ambitious young college student had to be to stand out.
Five years later, I look back at that moment and chuckle at how wrong I was. I've realized if you ever think to yourself that you have to play some "game" to get ahead, you're probably in the wrong league. To be fair, I'm a 23-years-old with a whole ten months of full-time work experience under my belt, and my college diploma isn't even old enough yet to have dust on it. I haven't had nearly enough "success" in my life to really definitely prove any sort of thesis like this. But I do know every ounce of success I've had to this point in my personal or professional life was because I always 1) worked on things that were interesting to me and 2) put my entire mind, heart, and soul into those things. It was never because I "played the game" or faked anything. It was because I cared.
I never went to the barbecue.
Comments