Jason Fried’s “Ignorance Got a Bad Rap” is preaching to business owners, but I’ve seen the same behavior from families during the college admissions process.
“I think a lot of folks are spending way too much energy trying to know it all. They’re trying to be over-informed. Soaking up every piece of advice. Following every story, watching every video. Trying to understand too many things about how things currently work. Who’s doing what, what the latest techniques are, which list of steps to follow, etc. They’re collecting mentors, stories, anecdotes. They’re asking for 15 minutes to pick people’s brains. They’re queuing up dozens of podcasts, looking for that one quote, that one piece of sage wisdom that’ll make everything make sense. Stop it.”
I don’t recommend ignorance as a college admissions strategy. And Fried’s point is not that a business owner should make haphazard decisions with no regard for the consequences.
But if you’re constantly looking for the secret, the magic formula, the one game-changing advantage that will propel you to admission to your dream school, you’re spending too much time looking and not enough time actually doing the things that matter.
It’s true in business, and in college admissions.