Recently, I was assigned to read a book in one of my classes. The Little Red Book of Selling has many interesting points. One of these that struck me was the idea that your work-day starts the night before. The author Jeffrey Gitomer, says that instead of watching TV at night, you should be reading/studying in order to become a better salesman. He states that if you want to be successful you need to put other things aside, become a student of sales, and continue to become more of an expert. How often in our lives are we so inundated with homework, or studying, that we lose touch with the relationships in our lives? How easy is it to not see your friends and instead go to work in order to succeed, and in the end how successful are you actually?
I don't know about you, but I find my happiness in people. I find that when I am so busy with school or work and I don't get to hang with my roommates for several days - like so often happens in college - I don't feel success. This got me thinking even more.
Looking towards the future, I hear that careers are hard. I hear that they take a lot of work and dedication, and that you have to find a way to set yourself apart from all other people looking for that one job. How do you balance this hard work, with the relationships that you currently have? Is it worth taking all the time out of your day to succeed in your job even if your relationship is lacking?
My conclusion is that you need to find your priorities in life. For me, the relationships that I have with friends, with my girlfriend, with my family are the most important things to me. No matter how much demand school has on my time, no matter how much I need to do something at work; if those people need me there for them, there is no second guessing.
It's easy to say that, but when it comes down to it, if you have a paper due the next day it is obviously the priority. How do you stop school from becoming to much of a hassle? I am a person who wants to succeed, and get good grades, so I can't just shrug off my responsibilities though I often want to, and I can't devote all of my time to school because I simply wouldn't be happy. There is so much stress out there to go to college, to get a good job, and to make good money. So my question to everyone out there: how do you find the balance between what is important? and what needs to be done?
Let me know.
Nick,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post, and completely agree that balance is key in life. I, too, find joy in spending time with those that I care most about. Some of my greatest memories are spending time with my best friends, not doing anything extraordinary or something that costs a lot of money to do, but just being in their presence is something that gives me great joy. However, like you said, there is also the other side of the scale which requires us to work, be disciplined, and be motivated to be the best in our profession.
I feel like the best way to find that balance is to be a great time manager. Being someone who has the vision to start projects well before they are due, will allow us to not have to cram several obligations into a small time frame, which reduces our flexibility to find balance in our daily lives. If we get to the point where we have a paper, test, and presentation all due the next day and haven't yet started preparing for any of them, you will have no flexibility and will be working all night.
However, if your paper was already finished, your presentation slides were complete, and all that was needed was to look over your notes for your test one final time, then you would be a lot less stressed and have the freedom to maybe grab a bite to eat with some friends to break up your studying and find that balance.
This is why I believe time management is key, and something that we all can improve on.
Tyler Bruggman