I went on a camping trip this weekend and enjoyed "roughing it" in the woods in Northern California. And by roughing I mean there was generator, toilets, and wifi. But I was in a tent, dammit, so pretend with me.
While I was there, I was reunited with a friend of a friend, a lovely girl I'll call Jenny. Jenny is a delight to talk to, and she goes to school at UC Berkeley, so she's obviously a smarty pants. I was taken aback, however, when she started talking about her goals and future.
She was telling me about the internship she got for this summer, and mentioned that in deciding what she wanted to do, she always thought, "If I can't put it on a résumé, I probably shouldn't be doing it."
I think this has to be one of the single most erroneous statements I've ever heard coming from a smart person. If the only reason you are doing something is so you can tell others, "Yeah, I've done that," or to add it to a checklist of achievements, it loses its meaning. What is the end game if you're just trying to pad a résumé? What happens when you run out of people to impress, when you get to the top? You shouldn't set goals merely to flaunt them. Do them for their own sake. Because at the end of the day, if all you can say is that you have a perfect résumé, what have you really accomplished?
Maybe I'm wrong. Heck, I'm a lit major, so I'm certainly not looking to cure cancer or make lots of money. But I still don't think that this sort of thinking is helpful for anyone.
In other news, indoor plumbing is possibly the greatest invention ever.
