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Midterms month: time to evaluate our national or local leaders, get into bitter online arguments, and even vote. But as much as we complain when our leaders fall short of our expectations, we all know that leadership is a profoundly important resource in both civic and professional life. And even if we’re not headed for politics, we’re all headed for the job market.

In the context of your future career, you might be wondering:

• What exactly is professional leadership?
• What will leadership skills mean for my career?
• Which personal characteristics are the most important for leadership?
• What if I don’t have a “leader’s” personality or skill set?
• How can I gain leadership experience as a student?
• How can I present those skills to future employers?

For stories of two students who developed their leadership skills in different ways, read further.

“Roles and responsibilities I had never had before”
Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps

William Edwards, 19
University of Central Arkansas in Conway
Degree: Health sciences/physical therapy

Program
The Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) provides men and women with an opportunity to prepare for service in the Army. “We make leaders from day one,” says Major Todd Gray, associate professor of military science at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. Students who enroll in the ROTC “learn not just how to lead in the Army, but also at any company as soon as they graduate.”

More information.

What & why
William, a native of Texas, had turned down several soccer scholarships. He wanted a new way to challenge himself. “In the ROTC, I was instantly put into new roles and responsibilities. I had to organize my team and make sure they had all their equipment, showed up on time, and did their jobs. I was responsible for leading them from day one. In this program you learn to do things differently and take criticism.”

After
“I have surprised myself in my abilities to do things that I didn’t know I could do, like being a good time manager and commanding respect from my cadets.”

New goals
“I am committed to finding more opportunities to push me harder than I would push myself, whether that means taking on larger responsibilities each year, or something as simple as being the first to go at a task.”

Advice
“ROTC is a great thing to do and you can try it out without committing to it. Trying new things can’t hurt you.”

“Ideas are easy, practice is hard”
Disability advocacy academy

Lydia Brown, 21
Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
Degree: Arabic major, psychology minor

Program
The Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI) Summer Leadership Academy brings together students on the autism spectrum for training in disability advocacy.

More information.

What & why
“We should be celebrating the diversity of students with disabilities, rather than trying to ‘cure’ them” (a concept known as neurodiversity), says Lydia. She was concerned too about the barriers to higher education facing students with disabilities. She helped create the No Wrong Door project, a listing of resources for students with disabilities; organized letter-writing campaigns, boycotts, and protests; and drafted legislation. When her school announced a panel on autism, she successfully advocated for the inclusion of an autistic person.

After
“I developed a much clearer idea of what leadership looks like. It is very easy to organize people around an idea, but very hard to put it into practice.”

New goals
“I founded the non-profit organization Washington Metro Disabled Students Collective to fill the gaps that still exist for students with disabilities.”

Advice
“Find leadership programs that line up with your values and passion.”

Which qualities do you most admire in our national leaders?

“I admire people who do not strive for fame but work hard fighting for human rights and equality.”
Dana G.*, fourth-year student at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
*Name changed for privacy

“I admire anyone who knows the value they bring to the table. Everyone has different sets of skills and talents. Also I respect those who know when to let others shine and step back.”
Jorge Z., third-year student at Edgewood College, Madison, Wisconsin

“I admire any person who not only looks out for our country financially but also socially. America is one of the newest countries that holds any power in the world. I pride myself on our ability to accept differences and be pro-social change.”
Elaine R., fourth-year student at Towson University, Maryland

“Anyone who is self-sacrificing. Who puts themselves last. Who does not have an agenda.”
Laura E., University of West Georgia in Carrollton

Which US politicians do students most admire—and most despise?

Most admired:

• Hillary Clinton [D] Former Secretary of State
• George W. Bush [R] Former President
• Elizabeth Warren [D] Senator
• Barack Obama [D] President
• Ron Paul [R] Former Representative
• Bill Clinton [D] Former President
• Ronald Reagan [R] Former President

Most despised:

• Hillary Clinton [D] Former Secretary of State
• George W. Bush [R] Former President
• Barack Obama [D] President
• John Boehner [R] Speaker, House of Representatives
• Mitt Romney [R] Former Presidential nominee
• Sarah Palin [R] Former Vice Presidential nominee
• Paul Ryan [R] Representative

Source: Student Health 101 survey. 750 students responded to this question.

Students’ top leaders: dead or alive

1. “My mother”
2. Martin Luther King Jr.
3. Barack Obama
4. Jesus Christ
5. Abraham Lincoln
6. F.D. Roosevelt
7. Mahatma Gandhi
8. Nelson Mandela
9. Ronald Reagan
10. Bill Clinton
11. “My father”

Source: Student Health 101 survey. 780 students responded to this question.

Which personal qualities do students rank highest for leadership?

1. Confidence
2. Communication
3. Honesty
4. Ability
5. Organization
6. Respect
7. Decisions
8. Good listener
9. Trustworthy
10. Empathy
11. Patience
12. Motivation
13. Caring
14. Reliable
15. Open-minded

Student Health 101 survey, June 2014

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It’s four in the morning, and you’re triple-checking the verb tense of a Spanish assignment. You don’t hand in a draft of your history paper because it’s too rough, even though you need your professor’s feedback. You skip studying for a big econ test because unless you can review for three full hours on two straight nights, it’s not worth it.

If this sort of behavior sounds familiar, you might be a perfectionist.

Perfectionism can hurt us

Perfectionism can be much more significant in your life than some other personality quirks are. Research has found that perfectionist tendencies can solidify and grow, leading to behavior patterns that decrease productivity and increase the risk of developing serious conditions, including including obsessive-compulsive disorder and other anxiety disorders, and depression.

Perfectionism can also help us excel

But perfectionism is unlike many other health issues. While no good ever comes of tobacco use or driving drunk, perfectionism often boosts performance. LeBron James shot thousands of free throws before he mastered the skill. Pianists toil for years before they are skilled enough to play at Carnegie Hall. Monet set his canvas in the same spot day after day to capture every impression of leaf and sun.

Perfect red flags

But when perfectionism becomes maladaptive—that is, when it hurts more than it helps—it can harm students’ academic performance and personal relationships.“Generally, it’s a red flag when perfectionist efforts seem to be making things worse instead of better,” says Dr. Jesse Crosby, a researcher at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts (affiliated with Harvard Medical School), who studies perfectionism.

Joel B. of Binghamton University, New York, says he suffers from anxiety because of his perfectionist approach to grades: “As a result of the anxiety/depression, my grades suffered even more.”

Warning signs for maladaptive perfectionism include:

• Procrastination
• Avoiding tasks
• Anxiety associated with trying to make everything perfect
• All-or-nothing thinking: e.g., “I don’t have this time to do it perfectly right now, so I’ll put it off”

Are you a perfectionist?

How people become perfectionists

Perfectionism can represent an emotional struggle. “Perfectionists have an emotional conviction that in order to be acceptable as a person they need to be perfect,” says Dr. Tom Greenspon, a psychologist and author of Moving Past Perfect (Free Spirit Publishing, 2012).

The origins of that struggle might be genetic, research suggests. In a 2012 study, identical twins rated much more similarly than fraternal twins for perfectionism and anxiety. But perfectionist tendencies, like other behaviors, are also shaped by our environment. You don’t “catch” perfectionism. Instead, your psyche, your lifestyle, and your surroundings help determine whether you gravitate toward it.

For example, a competitive academic atmosphere might prompt students to set unrealistic standards for their work. Mary,* a university student in British Columbia, says, “I am very hard on myself in general. I always have to get As. I was my high school Valedictorian.” Another trigger for perfectionist behavior is vague syllabi and assignments, which give students room to expect more from themselves than professors do.

Strategies to keep perfectionism under control

There’s more to perfectionism than your environment. Students, parents, and professors can use certain strategies to avoid the harmful effects of procrastination, says Dr. Crosby.

1 Chunk your projects
Professors can break large projects—such as a 30 page research papers—into smaller pieces to be submitted periodically. Ask your professors to consider this approach. For example:

Week 1: the topic and research questions. Week 2: an initial list of sources. Week 3: an outline. Week 4: a draft. Week 5: the final paper.

2 “Crack the door” on tasks
Completing even a small part of a project creates momentum and helps erode fears that a given task is too complex or difficult.

Professors can “crack the door” by collaborating with students on the first homework question, or by setting aside class time to help students structure a research strategy. Alternatively, make the first steps a collaboration with classmates.

3 Be flexible and prioritize
Take a flexible approach to reading assignments and other tasks. If you’re burning the midnight oil to take meticulous notes on an optional reading assignment, your standards may be too high.To cope with a heavy workload, Dr. Crosby says, you must prioritize. For example, when I was in law school, professors assigned hundreds of pages of heavy reading a week. I quickly decided that I would skip reading dissenting opinions—writings by judges that have no legal impact—and focus on the other stuff. Just like ER staff must stop the bleeding before they treat the headache, students can distinguish between tasks that need heavy attention and those that simply aren’t so important.

4 Remember that improvement, not total mastery, is the goal
“If something is on the syllabus, you’re not expected to know everything about it before you take the course or even afterwards”, says Dr. Crosby.

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College life is all about freedom and independence. Your decisions—including when to work out and what to eat—are finally your own…right?

Maybe not.

Our “decisions” are influenced by environmental cues far beyond our own needs, control, and even consciousness, according to decades of research. “[C]hoices depend, in part, on the way in which problems are stated,” wrote Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their bestselling book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (Penguin, 2009).

Default behaviors

This concept, which behavioral economists call “choice architecture,” helps explains why we tend to default to the easiest or most visible course of action. Choice architecture contributes to much of what we do, including what we eat, how much physical activity we get, and other behaviors.

“We often make decisions in the moment, therefore we are influenced by the options available at any given time,” says Dr. Ellen Magenheim, chair of the department of economics at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania. If you’ve ever made an impulsive candy purchase at the check-out line, that’s choice architecture working against you. Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to legislate the sizes of sodas at New York movie theaters was based in evidence that we gravitate to the middle size. For most of us, a smaller middle size will serve just as well.

Harness the power of choice architecture

“If you want someone to do something, you should make it as easy as possible,” says Dr. Magenheim. If you want yourself to do something, make it easier by tweaking your own environment.

Choice architecture influences behavior without mandating or banning particular options. “A nudge works best when it is in the background,” says Dr. David R. Just, professor of applied economics and management at Cornell University, New York. “Nudges should seem meaningless on the surface.”

Choice architecture on campus

Health officials are increasingly looking for environmental tweaks that can nudge us effortlessly towards healthier behaviors. On college campuses, that means interventions like these:

• Holding a flu shot clinic outside the campus dining hall minimizes the time and effort between thinking about the flu shot and getting it, says Dr. Magenheim. Result: More students get flu shots.
• Displaying fruit more prominently in the campus cafeteria signals to students “eat these” and “this is a destination,” says Dr. Just. Result: Display changes have driven a 100 percent increase in fruit consumption.

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