Tyler W.
Featuring Tyler Welch
If you’re reading this, enjoy the process as much as the result
In college, it’s easy to feel like everyone around you is doing so much more. You see people announcing new positions, awards, or internships, and it all feels like you’re falling behind. It makes you feel like you need to do more– that to fit in, you need to be doing the same things.
When I first came to SMU, I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know anyone, and the imposter syndrome hit me deeply. I felt like I had to get involved in everything to prove that I deserved to be on the Hilltop. All the people I came across seemed so impressive, so talented, so hardworking– all the things I felt I was not.
As a result, when I would accomplish certain goals, or maybe reach certain achievements, it felt like a completed task more than an accomplishment. GPA milestones and student leadership roles, felt like boxes being crossed off more than they were achievements. Success felt like an expectation, not an achievement. I felt relief every time I got an A in a class or was given a new position as opposed to satisfaction.
The worst effect of it all was that I wasn’t having fun anymore. Organizations and projects that were supposed to be fun just felt like the ends to a mean. I was chasing the result, not the experience. And for what? A resume bullet point? A LinkedIn post? A picture on Instagram?
College isn’t meant to be a competition. Higher education is a place for growth, memories, and exploration. In 10 years, you may not remember what your college resume looks like, or what people commented on your social media. So, try to find value in what really counts: the memories you make in the process.
For me, that’s been the late nights editing and revising a story for The Daily Campus, or the dozens and dozens of meetings I held while planning the 2025 Homecoming for Student Foundation. Sure, the published article or the final event feels good, and they certainly might make a nice action line on my resume, but when I look back at everything I’ve accomplished, that’s not what stands out to me.
It’s the behind-the-scenes moments of the process: waking up at 4 a.m. to meet my Parade Coordinator on game day, sitting in the press box of a football game, or the laughs shared at a weekly leadership meeting.
When you learn to love the late nights and early mornings, the meetings and study sessions, the hours, days, even weeks spent attaining a goal, they will become the memories you cherish. Love the process, and celebrating the result will become so much easier. And celebrate it all, no matter how big or small. Celebrate that quiz you worked hard to pass. Celebrate becoming president of your student org. Celebrate making a new friend on the first day of class. Your process and your accomplishments deserve to be commemorated.
Your process doesn’t have to look the same as anyone else's. No goal, achievement, or milestone is too small to celebrate, so the things that give you purpose, and you will be as successful as you possibly need. If you’re reading this, enjoy the process as much as the result.
Southern Methodist University, Tyler Welch
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