Get Your Priorities Straight

Prioritizing – the ability to understand and assess your tasks in a way that makes your life more productive and manageable – is one of those valuable skills everyone should want to possess

College is a time in life when prioritizing isn’t just a skill, but a requirement. Along with a usual course load of 15 or 16 credits, many college students also branch out through student organizations and work experiences. These time commitments can weigh down any calendar, but for seniors, we have the added task of figuring out where our lives are going.

Classes, planning for the future, organizations and work – what comes first?

I had a professor stand in front of a class and flat out say, “If you do not attend this workshop, you are not serious about your public relations career.” Let’s keep in mind the workshop was announced one week before it was taking place and it was out of town. That professor asserted that your career should come first, no matter what.

Isn’t this contradicting the notion that school comes first? Or, what about my responsibility to work? Or, the conference I’ve been a part of since freshman year that takes place that same weekend? So, what should come first? What actually ends up coming first?

While grades are not always an indication of potential success, dedication to extra-curricular activities and academic pursuits can be an important part of someone’s character. If I drop everything for an opportunity to advance my career, I could be forgoing my responsibilities as a student leader and as an employee. Are those attributes desirable in a potential employee?

I have never thought of myself as someone who takes their future career lightly. As I struggled with the words of my professor, I realized that jumping on board for a last-minute workshop does have its benefits, but so does fulfilling my responsibilities. I can be serious about a career, without losing focus on the other important things in my life.

-Rachel