Focus on the task at hand
Focus on your tasks, not the people.
With this being said, the people around you are still important, but as a college student it is important to realize that your work will define you in a way that’s more important than the word of your peers. There are so many assignments and opportunities during our time in college, but we seem to focus on who we want to hang out with or when we want to eat lunch at the same time. We slowly push educational needs to the side to fulfill social needs, which is not a good practice.
College is an excellent opportunity to develop social skills for your future career, but these skills do not mean anything when you have no work to speak of.
Your tasks have a limited timetable, but people have been around for quite some time and will always be around. The amount of career defining tasks, compared to the people around you, should provide some more perspective. Your classes require you to study, complete a few homework assignments, test you at the end of the semester, and that’s it.
Meanwhile, there are a countless number of people you could spend your time and energy on. The choice is up to you, but what should receive much more attention than your acquaintances.
If we change our focus to our tasks, this provides those we truly care about with some much needed space as well. With a heavy focus on our social lives, we also forget that our friends have homework too, and other career developing tasks they may be abandoning to enjoy our company. Completing these tasks will impress the important people, your professors and those who you may use as references.
At the end of the day, networking is one of the most important skills to develop. However, we are focusing more on satisfying the people around us instead of accomplishing our tasks.
When you are finished with school or headed towards your next chapter in life, what you did during your time in college will speak higher volumes about you than who you hung out with. Character is much more valuable than reputation.