Dear Readers,

    In all honesty, one’s time and effort is limited. I’d like to first put this idea in the context of the division of resources between academic and extracurricular activities.

    In the short run, one might be able to excel at both activities, that is, prove through excellent grades for the marking period coupled with the successful organization of an initiative for one’s student organization. However, putting forth great amounts of time and effort in academic and extracurricular activities does not produce optimum results in the long run. I say this from experience: set your priorities and balance your pursuits!

    For example, this semester I have scaled back on extracurricular activities and instead focused more on academic pursuits and my search for a good summer internship. No concrete results other than my midterm grades, but things look…optimistic, if I do say so myself.

    Yet, again speaking from experience, do not take the task of “balancing” one’s time and effort as an excuse. There are times when we’d all much rather procrastinate than be productive, or have fun rather than make progress, but stop yourself before you say, “I don’t have time for this…”

    More often than not, those words are a mere indication that you are shying away from a challenge or opportunity that would have proven worthy of your attention had you given them a chance. Believe me, the corporate networking sessions that searching for an internship entails take up hours of my day.

    I’ve often dreaded donning my make-up and suits and making the 20-minute walk to the sessions in high heels, but I’ve found that, when I push myself to just do it, surprising rewards sometimes follow. Of course, non-rewarding sessions do exist, but I would never have known what I did or didn’t miss if I hadn’t stopped taking “balancing” as my excuse, would I?

    I like to think that everything in life balances out. And taking the initiative and being proactive about potential opportunities, after sound judgment, is the right attitude toward ensuring that balance.

    Best of luck, Laiyin