Is it bad to be over-dedicated to your team?

[looneylin]

honestly... i'm an obsessive compulsive person... so being over-dedicated for weeks at a time is common for me... but it does do good for the team. like i learned how to animate and started drawing all these logos for the firebirds. robotics is really neat so just b/c i talk about it doesn't mean i don't have life *or do i* hehe!!! ppl just don't understand robotics, they think it's some sort of geek fest. at least i'm not the only one with this problem...

[Arefin Bari]

for the past two years... there was not a single meeting that i have missed... or not a single competition... i was always there... on my team i am known as the tranny guy or the mechanical man and yes i am OVER dedicated... from my experience i think overdedication puts you down sometime... by peers... and lots of other things... now the question is... do i really care.. or did i stop being dedicated to my team... answer is no... and wont give up... FIRST has made me confident in myself that i can stick with them for my whole life...

[Joe Matt]

As part of a shrinking team, I have to say overdedication isn't the problem, but over reliance on that person or people is. Use them, but also develope skills outside of them too.

[ctorloey]

I dont like to say this but FIRST is just an extra in schools and has to come second to some things, like school grades or a job, making over-dedication a problem some times. But I'm not going to say it is a bad thing because this year I got into about a seven hours a night schedule after the kick off.

Is it bad... no...
Is it the first thing in life... no...

[SgtMillhouse648]

Over dedication isn't a problem, underdetication is. Over-Confidence is an even bigger problem. It is the people that say they are really enthusiastic in the beginning, saying they will be at almost every meeting, do so much, and then never show up again, or worse, show up at the very end to take credit for everything they did that is a problem.

[vivek16]

it depends on your definition of "over-dedication". my definition of over dedication is when you start to be too bossy or being elitist to the other members of the team. if you show up to all the meetings and help out as much as you can then you are just being dedicated to the team, that is what i kind of expect myself of anything i willingly join. and besides, its fun

-vivek

[Pavan Dave]

To a degree it can hurt you, especially if you don't know how to prioritize your time. I was so eager for FIRST and robotics that BEFORE the season started, I spent time trying to find clues to the hints and more so to learn everything I could that I didn't understand last year, I ended up not being able to participate due to grades for a period in the build season. Why? I didn't do my work because I didn't think it was as important as robotics. After that, I got my act together and realized that what my mentors have been trying to engrave in our heads was actually true:

Family > School > Robotics.

You can be over-dedicated and that isn't a bad thing as long as you can sort out your priorities and do what is more important first.

Peace.

[Nica F.]

Originally Posted by Pavan

You can be over-dedicated and that isn't a bad thing as long as you can sort out your priorities and do what is more important first.

I second that,
and also, when some people get really into it, they start to hog jobs, or end up not taking time to help or teach others on the team.

don't forget to share the passion!

[Josh Murphy]

I don't believe that it is bad to be over dedicated. I would consider myself to be extremely over dedicated but I would not exchange the experience I gained from working with Chief Delphi for anything. I am sure many of you feel this way about your teams also because they changed your life in some way to. I would rather be over dedicated any day than to be under dedicated.

[Bomberofdoom]

It's kind of a diversion of the main topic, but still, it's related.


Why do you guys over-dedicate or just dedicate alot for your team? What do you wish to accomplish by doing that?

In my opinon, I'm overdedicating for my team because I see we can find in ourselves alot of potential like other teams have found. I see some of the other team members rather rest for a bit than work a little harder and I try to help my team reach farther, somtimes alone, somtimes with a few dedicated people.
I just feel that by dedicating all I have now, I'll enjoy my time in the FRC much more and feel that I have learned more and reached higher peaks in alot of stuff, not only terms of education, but in life too. And these feeling will go with me after FRC and into the rest of my life.

I might not realize that I'm overdoing myself, but I just keep going.

Is that OK/normal?

And What about you guys?

[LadySparks1]

Over dedicated is not bad. you've chosen what you like and obviously enough you're doing it. I agree that you need to have your priorities staight and you can't lose control, but still. over-dedicated people are neccesary. I would try to explain why but that would only lead me off into an exstensive schpeel.

And as to the question of why. Well if you find something you love why would you want to do something else instead. That would be stupid, granted thousands of people do it any way. So let me amend my previous statement, If you find what you love and you are given the opportunity to do it, why wouldn't you? That wouldn't even be insanity, it would just be stupid.

[Tottanka]

I am right now (3:24 AM), looking at CD.
Thinking of what FIRST-related thing i can do, and been excited about my team's off season meetng tommorow, in which we should accomplish the new chasis we are building.
Is that over-edicted?

[Tim Delles]

Ok this is coming from a student who was hurt because he put FIRST before everything else.

DO NOT LET FIRST BECOME NUMBER 1 TO YOU!!!!

Believe me, my freshman year in college i decide to allow FIRST to become my #1 priority. However because i did this, I lost valuable studying time, and also missed some of my classes. Looking back I realized how large of a mistake it was. Because of this my GPA took a crash downwards (well it actually started down because of this).

Always put school before FIRST. Before going to meetings make sure you have what you need done for school (This is one of the largest reasons i believe schools should make students maintain a certain GPA to participate... because this could just as easily happen to a high school student and effect there college outcome)

And also make sure you have a social life. Fortunately I made many friends outside of FIRST, however if you are completely wrapped up in FIRST you will have no time for yourself. In order to stay sane through school and everything else that can happen in a person's life you have to have time to relax.

So take this as a warning for both high school students and college bound students. Take FIRST slowly, and set limits.

I hope no one gets burnt out.

[Elgin Clock]

To an extent yes.
But it depends on the person.

I'll leave my response at that for now.

[vivek16]

heck no, just bad to deprive others from learning because you want to do everything and being bossy. makes ppl dislike you and causes teamwork trouble.

-vivek