A Balancing Act

Being a student is more than a job. It really is a balancing act. In order to be prepared for the future, students not only have to do well in classes, but they need to be involved in extracurriculars and PR kids have to have a social media prescence. And this year, as a student getting ready to graduate, add to the list "applying for jobs." How the heck am I supposed to balance all of these things!? I currently am the president of Ohio Northern University's PRSSA, an active member of the on campus student-run firm, a dedicated sister of Delta Zeta, a member of a Realy for Life team and a future professional looking for a job. Add on top of that trying to stay active in social media, this has seemed impossible.

While attempting to balancing all of this, something had to give. In my case, I let my social media presence dwindle down. Instead, for the past three months, I have really kept involved on campus while maintaining good grades and constantly looking/applying for jobs. Although I am aware of my issue, I have yet to do anything about slacking off online. But today, I have come up with a list of ways to keep my balancing act, well, balanced!

1. Keep lists, post-its or mental notes on what you need to do
I know parents, superiors, professors and professionals always encourage us to do this, but I really support this. My mom tells me to include everything on my list from cleaning my room to heading to a meeting. She always said that the more you can cross off, the better you feel about your list. Surprisingly enough, I have started doing this. I keep "Sticky Notes" on my desktop [thanks to the new microsoft] and delete items off my list. I love watching the list get shorter and shorter!

2. Include social media on these lists, make it a commitment or priority, not a last-minute deal
This is my biggest problem. I never look at social media as a necessity, just an add-on. With my new outlook though, I have decided it is mandatory. Not only to have a presence for myself, but to keep up on other young professionals opinions. In addition, social media helps keep me in the loop of whats going on right now! By making social media a priority, with my homework and other responsibilities, I am able to make time in my daily schedule for it! My list now includes any Blog topics I want to write about to encourage me to post!

3. Say something because you think is valuable, not just to say something
Although I am going to make social media a priority, this does not mean I need to blog every day or re-tweet something just to be active. Social media is all about giving your genuine opinion and branding yourself. If you just simply write or post just to get your name out there, that's not benefiting your followers or even yourself. So only post when you think it is something other people would be interested in or if it is important to you.

4. Don't stress if you miss a day of tweeting or blogging
This may be my biggest downfall! I freak out when I don't get on my social media accounts when I wanted to and then I just let my social media involvemtn all slip away! As opposed to doing this, just post the next day. What you had to say will still be just as important! Some weeks you may blog every other day because so much is going on and you have lots of time. Then, the following week, you may post once. This is okay! The same goes for Twitter. You can tweet six times on day and only once another. Both are totally acceptable as long as what you are saying is valuable, as said in number three.

5. Wake up and go to bed at consistent times
I'm sure you are all laughing at this one, but I'm starting to learn this is true. By getting on a regular schedule, you are more able to balance things. As a college student, some days I wake up at 7, others at 10! At night, I may stay up until 2 doing homework or get into bed as early as 11. This varying schedule makes it hard to me to keep in check what I have to do. If I could keep on a consistent schedule, I think I would be able to better work social media into my normal daily routine!

Now, let's see if these five ways to keep life as a PR student balanced really work! Feel free to comment with any other suggestions on how to balance social media on top of everything else!