Time Management for the Long Run

This post is related to time management, not necessarily in your daily routine, though of course that's important. More so, however, I stress the importance of time management for the long run. Daily, I try to fill my down time with something productive, such as reading relevant blogs or researching books I'd like to buy. For the long run, I also try to mazimize my down time.

By this, I mean that I try not to look at off-time as just a relaxing vacation. Right now, I have a month off from graduate school, and a month off from work, since I also work at the university's business school. I could do a few things with this time; catch up with college and high school friends from home; take advantage of my parents' subscriptions to movie channels, catch up on some TV shows I've missed while at school; or I could stay relevant and get more experience in PR.

Well, I've made my decision. I am staying connected to my old friends, but I am also making new connections, while I get more experience with PR. Thanks to a good friend of mine, I was contacted with a great opportunity to do some PR work for a nonprofit organization, CYCLE Kids, while I'm home. The organization itself is great, implementing bicycling programs at inner city schools to teach healthy living styles. The executive director is giving me an amazing opportunity, allowing me to work on some great PR stuff. The best part is, she's really listening to my ideas. Sure, she needs help with all the traditional stuff like media pitches and press releases, but when she asked for my opinion, she was really listening. That's empowering. She's even letting me run with an idea about a digital sound slides video to post online. This experience will truly allow me to grow into a more empowered PR professional.

Beyond this work though, I'm looking into some other great opportunities while I'm home in Boston. I'm taking advantage of the high presence of tech PR firms here and I plan on attending as many guest speakers and events as possible. Unfortunately, I missed a great one today with John Cass, but I know there will be more great opportunities.

The first week of January, I'm headed down to Florida to visit my grandparents, and I plan to experience that trip with my PR goggles on as I visit different sights (including my favorite place, the Magic Kingdom). I haven't visited Florida since I was much younger, and I think that it will be a different experience with my new PR outlook.

Of course, most PR students know to get involved while in school, joining different organization like PRSSA, and getting internships and such experiences. It's the off-time that many of us don't take advantage of. Basically, time management for the long run comes down to taking advantage of every opportunity, even when you're on vacation. That's my PR thought for the day.



Image taken from Google images