Note: read this forward (written by College Zoom) before reading the article (linked at the bottom of this page).
In College Zoom, the way you’ll accomplish something of a “non-trivial impressiveness and effort score” (as described in the article below by the Duke University professor) is by applying your College Zoom leadership archetype to a passion project, which you’ll learn about in the next step after you read this article. Sometimes students discard project ideas that don’t seem intellectual enough, but that’s a mistake because the outlet itself doesn’t matter.
An obsessive passion in video games, for example, might evolve into the student studying college-level game theory and then (a) designing and coding a unique game, (b) applying gamification to enhance the performance mechanics of his sports team, (c) doing academic research with a professor on game theory, or (ideally) all of the above. All “wow” factors start as obsessive, mundane passions. So don’t dismiss or reject any ideas that excite you in these early stages.
In the rare instances we have to redirect you away from an idea, we first listen to you fully, and then we incorporate what excites you about your old idea into a new and better one. But for now, we just want you to become obsessively good at something; standing out will come later.
As you read the article below, keep in mind that at this early stage, our first concern is building excitement and momentum. We want you to completely geek out, becoming exceptionally competent in a field of your choosing. As you become fully competent, we’ll seek opportunities to innovate your passion project and leverage your masterful foundation of skill and knowledge to become different.
The Law of Complementary Accomplishments (read the comments, too)