We’ve come to the point in the semester where the first wave of assignments has hit us full force. The excitement of signing up for nearly every club at the activities fair and taking on work opportunities is not as attractive as it once was, since every opportunity comes with considerable commitments. Now is the time to prioritize. But where does an overly ambitious student start?

It seems that the activities we take part in are in some way meant to serve as complements to our academic identities. Our extracurriculars are supposed to tell others—both fellow students and potential employers—who we are outside of the classroom. Unfortunately, this is a difficult task for individuals with varied interests and a will to cram more than 24 hours into a single day.

The further we get into college, the more we are forced to specialize. We learn more information about fewer topics and come to define ourselves in terms of our intellectual pursuits despite the fact that our interests are wide-ranging. What we do with our free time is the only way we can define ourselves as more than a major.

When taking on numerous, diverse activities, we naturally prioritize so that we can devote the most attention to the projects for which we care most. The downside of this strategy is that we earn labels in this context just as we do in an academic one. Some people go the humanitarian route, while others become journalists or musicians. Ultimately everyone has to make a decision about who he is at his core. While prioritizing is obviously useful for organizational purposes, it forces us to settle on one identity instead of several.

However, the flipside of this condition is similarly difficult. We become frustrated when we overextend ourselves in an effort to explore our many identities. Sometimes, we do this to the point at  which we are unable to effectively work on the projects we have taken on. Our self-conceptions are jumbled and confused, for we do not have a clear notion of who we are as manifested in our actions. Not only are we unable to confidently assert who we are, but we flounder in our attempt to be everything at once.

This predicament of simultaneously wishing to pursue many identities (or aspects of one identity) and having limited time, which forces us to either choose one or become overwhelmed, is not a pleasant one. The question posed is similar to the grander question many people often ask themselves when deciding what their life’s work should be. The usual refrain, “There are so many problems in the world, where should I start?” is analogous to determining the extracurricular activities one should join.

This parallel is useful for changing the framework with which we think about our condition, for in order to settle on a course of action, we must look inward to distinguish the unique characteristics and opportunities that will allow us to positively contribute to the advancement of our goal. Given our limited capacities, it is impossible to help the entire world and solve every problem, but understanding our skills can help point us in the right direction. Since our non-academic activities do not carry with them as much significance as the choosing of our future careers, it is beneficial to focus on the kinds of abilities we hope to foster in ourselves now for later endeavors, since possible failure carries fewer consequences here than in the “real world.” We are in fact in a position of supreme freedom, as we are able to cultivate our identity both in terms of practical skill and, more importantly, in terms of the kind of person we aspire to become.

Therefore, as we make the difficult decision to prioritize one student group or activity above another and trade in one attractive identity for another, the question we should be asking is twofold: first, who do I want to be, and second, how can my talents benefit the goals of this group? Since it is impossible to achieve everything we desire, we must discriminate based on some meaningful principle. We should ask how our extracurriculars contribute to our personal development and that of the people around us.