It seems as if, these days, an acceptable motivation behind a plethora of activities, memberships and projects can be summarized in one word: resumé.

College, alongside the pressures of the professional world, has shaped students into individuals that are accustomed to utilizing as many displays of membership and accomplishment as possible to show ‘what they are capable of’.

We, as students, are forced to try to appropriately convey our entire skill set, personality, work experience and capabilities in one to three pages.

Students get an early start to “over-activitizing” (yes, I made up that word for this column) in high school, reigning as president over every club we possibly could. Sadly, those high school resumes that we perfected are already worthless to us. Looking back, what was really worthwhile?

I am a diehard believer in doing things because they are your passion or because they will later be useful to you or others. If you overcommit, then you may not really be benefitting anything you are a part of or yourself.

Under the current system, the resumé creates an essential ‘foot in the door’ to secure an interview. If it doesn’t match up to the other resumes submitted, then you may not even get a chance to prove yourself in person.

However, if you inaccurately convey yourself, then the interview may end up being pretty brutal anyway. Employers can see the motivation behind what you do. If you have little on your resumé but have passion, you probably would have a better chance in an interview than someone who did a whole bunch of nothing but wrote it all down with fancy wording.

If you worry about being impressive, then consider how much more impressive you would be if you committed all you have to offer to one group, activity or entity. Your skills would not only truly show, but they would also have an opportunity to grow as you are challenged with new tasks that arise through your participation. You will benefit so much more by being immersed in something that you are passionate about or interested in than by only half-doing ten or twenty other things. And you might actually enjoy your time taking part in it.

Although it may feel like the whole world is telling you to complete the checklist of activities for your resumé, sometimes it is better for you to focus on what you know will enable you to learn and grow, even if it isn’t the norm.

I challenge you to do something that you would do regardless of its appearance on your resumé. Do something of worth for the right reasons.