Under Further Review: Avoid Binge Joining

As college students, we hear about the medical side effects of binge drinking all the time.  We are told to join clubs and organizations on campus.  Be active on campus and get involved because you never know what prospective employer will notice.  Getting involved will teach you life lessons and boost your resume. 

Binge drinking comes with warning signs.  We all know the adverse effects.  Just as drinking too much is bad, so is being too active on campus.  I call it “binge joining”.  We see it all the time.  Every single year, students commit to too many organizations.  Many decide to drop a club or two.  Some try to make it work.  A few have mental breakdowns.

I’ve never gone to a semester school, but what I’ve heard is that the pace is much slower than at a quarter system school.  Also with the co-op program at Drexel, I would bet that Drexel is a little bit more career obsessed than typical semester schools.  With the obsession on the future and the constant push to boost resumes, students push themselves to join club after club.  Much of the time, they over-commit themselves.

Right now I personally have a long list of commitments.  If I’m lucky, I get one day off per week but that off day is typically used to catch up on other work.  Do I feel over-worked?  Not necessarily, but I would love to be able to have some time to myself.  Free time is something that some college students need to value more.  Sure all of those organizations look great when you squeeze them all into your resume, but you may or may not be going insane.  Why sacrifice your personal sanity for your career when you’re already doing more than enough?

A lot of students have something deep inside of them that won’t allow them to say no to an opportunity.  Because of this, they say yes to every single thing that comes their way.  Spreading yourself too thin is just as bad as doing nothing.  Not giving your 100% effort and attention may even be worse because there are people trusting you.  Breaking trust means burning bridges with the same people that you think should be helping you with your career.  Given the job market’s instability, burning bridges is a less than ideal approach to take. 

I’ve seen it way too many times in my two years at Drexel.  People volunteer to help out.  They volunteer for leadership positions that demand time and effort.  Then when the time comes to produce, they give you that “Oh I was too busy" excuse.  Frankly, I believe that the “I’m too busy excuse” is the biggest BS excuse one can give.  Sure you may fool people into thinking that you were really too busy to complete the one task that you’ve had on your plate for a week, but that’s not what it really is.  The “I’m too busy excuse” means one of three things: 1) You don’t care enough to get the task done 2) You do not know how to manage your time 3) You have spread yourself too thin and become forgetful, disorganized and more importantly unreliable. 

The remedy for all three meanings of the “I’m too busy” excuse is to reevaluate.  Reevaluate and decide which organizations mean the most to you and which ones are dispensable.  An organization would much rather you admit your fault and give way to someone who cares to do the job on time and the right way rather then have you hang on and have others do your incomplete or nonexistent work. 

I’m not saying to not get involved.  That’s the last thing I would ever say.  What I am saying is to be careful with what you get involved in and how much you get involved.  Before you take a position, consider all elements and make sure you can give your all.  The leadership of the groups you are in will appreciate you much more and your trust will not be broken.  Some times less is more.  In terms of binge joining, less is more holds true 100% of the time.