We do a lot of training for our counselors at Collegewise, and much of it teaches how to use our system. We have our own Collegewise way of doing everything from handling an introductory meeting with a family, to helping a student find the right colleges, to brainstorming a college essay. After nearly 15 years and more than 7,000 students, we think we’ve found the most effective ways for us to guide the families who join our program.

But the training we did yesterday called “The Remarkable College Counselor” was different. We talked about how the best counselors are able to deliver something in their interactions with families that’s bigger than the work they’ve been hired to do. And there’s no system, no operations manual, no checklist that will promise those outcomes. Counselors have to find their own way, using their own unique gifts and strengths to create those kinds of experiences.

Families expect that a private counselor will do what they’ve paid you to do. They expect that you’ll guide them towards appropriate college lists, error-free essays, and compelling applications.

But the remarkable college counselors deliver things that families value even more, like hope, relief, joy, and enthusiasm. No two great Collegewise counselors get there exactly the same way. They’re not following a map because there isn’t one. A counselor who waits to be told exactly what to do, or who tries to mimic the steps another counselor takes, will probably never be as successful as one who sees the desired outcomes and then finds her own way of getting there.

For students, college admissions works in much the same way.

If you try to satisfy an imaginary formula, or if you mimic the choices of a student who got into what has become your dream school, you’re likely to get frustrated and even to fall short because you’re trying to follow a map where there isn’t one.

Yes, there are smart steps to take in college planning, like choosing the right classes and scheduling the appropriate standardized tests at the right times. But the best way to deliver the outcomes that colleges value most, those that can’t be found on a transcript, like work ethic, curiosity, passion, character, etc., is to stop looking for a map and start charting your own path.

Step-by-step works great for making burgers—but it’s not so great for creating successful people.

Whether you’re sitting in a history class, editing a story for the school paper, leading a group, or volunteering for a cause you care about, do it in a way that creates an outcome that’s bigger than the work itself. Bring enough energy, enthusiasm, and attention to the work that you leave a legacy that someone else couldn’t duplicate by just copying what you did.

Doing the work is important. But you’ll stand out more when in addition to completing the task, you create an outcome that’s bigger than the work itself.