It’s Time to Get Lethally Serious about Doing Stuff that Actually Matters

In this Issue:

• Today we discuss the importance of doing things that are meaningful to us, and how you can help spur your Deac to start thinking about this

More than 10 years ago, a dear friend of mine and Wake Forest alumna posted a link on Facebook to a Harvard Business Review article entitled “Create a Meaningful Life Through Meaningful Work.” It is an article that has stuck with me for all these years because it examines what seems like a great life – the author recounts his time spent in various hipster pursuits in Manhattan – and then comes to the notion of how tedious that can feel. He suggests: “maybe the real depression we’ve got to contend with isn’t merely one of how much economic output we’re generating – but what we’re putting out there, and why. Call it a depression of human potential, a tale of human significance being willfully squandered.”

He suggests that instead of chasing whatever trivial pursuits we’re pursuing, “it’s time to get lethally serious about doing stuff that actually matters.”

He says that in thinking about life and work, we should pose the following questions:

Does it stand the test of time?

Does it stand the text of excellence?

Does it stand the test of you?

I think about our students and where they are in their developmental and educational processes. Our students are vastly smart and are – or are on their way to becoming – excellent critical thinkers.  My money is on the fact that they will be able to see what stands the test of time vs. what is a flash in the pan. And I believe our students know excellence when they see it.  

For the third question, what stands the test of you?, that may be more tricky. Our students are still developing, and many of them aren’t used to training that critical eye inward, since there is so much going on in their outside world.

This is where, parents and families and trusted friends, you might be able to help your students begin to examine themselves and think about what matters to them. You might think about ways to initiate this kind of conversation if they are coming home for spring break, or for the summer.

This is the author’s parting line: “We’re all built differently – but none of us is here to not make a difference. So what are your three questions for getting lethally serious about doing stuff that matters?” These are questions that I’d argue are well worth your Deac’s time thinking about. Having clear thinking about what matters to them, what is worth getting “lethally serious” about, might help inform the choices they make about the rest of their time as Wake Forest students, and indeed about how they want to shape their lives.