Hard work pays off

If there’s one thing I’ve learned after four years in college it’s this:

Hard work pays off.

As I approach my final months of being a college student, I’ve been looking back a lot lately at the past four years, evaluating my experience, identifying what went right and what went wrong. But one thing that remains constant throughout those experiences is that the harder I worked, the more I achieved, and the happier I was in the long run.

If you know me, you know I’m a big fan of goals, a la Rachel Berry from Glee. I am a strong believer of following your dreams, but an even bigger advocate of hard work.

I found a quote a few weeks ago that I really identify with:

"Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard at it." --Author unknown


We all have dreams, and we all want to believe we can achieve anything we set our mind to do. But the reality is, that’s not enough—it takes a lot of time, a ton of effort, and probably a few sacrifices along the way.

One of the best decisions in my college career was joining the student PR firm, ImPRessions. Never in my life have I met so many hard-working and dedicated people in one group. I was reminded of how lucky I am to be a part of it today, when we announced that our firm has been honored with national affiliation status through PRSSA National.

In the past few months I’ve found it harder and harder to motivate myself as senioritis and anxiety of life after graduation have taken their toll, but then I remember to take a step back and remember that slacking off isn’t going to get me anywhere.

If I could offer any advice to younger students or my peers in general, it’s find something you want in life and work harder than you could have ever imagined to get there.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this…do you agree? Disagree? What advice do you have?

PR happens

Never in my life have I seen more focused and driven students as I saw at this weekend’s PRSSA National Conference. You could just feel the energy in the sessions as PR minds came together for a common purpose: surviving and thriving in our chosen industry.

Back in Athens, there is a stereotype of the “Scripps kids” as being highly involved, very confident and exhibiting an eagerness to learn. I can report with certainty that our hunger and passion for journalism and PR is not unique to our neck of the woods, but is shared across the country.

With the current state of the economy, it seems that our generation seeks an omniscient power to descend upon us and give us the answers to our questions of whether or not to go to grad school, if we should choose agency or corporate PR and what makes us stand out from our competitors in the job market. While I’m sure most professionals, advisors and professors have opinions of what the answers to these questions should be, I’m beginning to see that in reality there is no one answer.

I admit that I am guilty of asking these questions to everyone who will listen to me, lately emphasizing the grad school inquiry. Not only is my incessant interrogation likely annoying, but in reality nobody has a clear answer for me, and they shouldn’t. Decisions about something as important as my career need to be those that I can personally be proud of and stand behind.

As public relations students and practitioners, we are so focused on our clients and our other “publics” as we strive daily to please them, but I would argue that we are forgetting one very important key public: ourselves. There is no possible way that we can be all things to everyone in this industry—there are simply not enough hours in a day. And while I’m not advocating limiting yourself by any means, deciding what your key values are and finding something you are passionate about are integral steps to becoming the professional you want to be.

Some overall advice from the PR pros at National Conference:

•Be hungry and demonstrate hard work, but also be a team player.

•Always show your thanks and gratitude. That extra mile can go a long way.

•Present A+ work all the time.

•Become an expert in something—it will set you apart.

•Listen to the conversations going on about your company.

•Passion is not a substitute for planning.

•Never limit your creativity.

•Be who you are.

What else would you add to this list? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Eye on the prize

Goals. I cannot live with out them. I set goals for every aspect of my life: a goal of how much sleep I should get each night, how many times a week I should make it to the gym, and even how quickly I can finish a book.

I recently led the final meeting of my ImPRessions account, and we started talking about what everyone was doing for the summer and what he or she wanted to do next year. I then imposed my bit of wisdom on them: it is important to have goals. One of the girls told me that I reminded her of Rachel Berry from Glee with her obsession of goals (which I take as a compliment), but I was serious, and still believe that goals help us succeed.

The trick is choosing the right goals. You don’t want to set an unattainable goal; that will only set you up for failure and end in a downward spiral toward depression. For example, I would not realistically set a goal of becoming a Broadway star. That goal is not likely to be met, and setting that goal for myself would only give me false hope.

You also don’t want to let yourself off the hook too easily. Setting goals that are too easily met only limits your potential, which is no way to live. I’m a believer of pushing yourself, because that is the only way you will grow.

So, here is my advice for setting goals: identify two or three things that you most want to accomplish. For me, writing my goals down helps solidify my dedication to reaching it. Then figure out what individual steps you will need to take to accomplish your goal. It doesn’t have to be written by any means, but you should give it some thought.

Having said all of this, sometimes the best option is to simply go where the wind takes you. I’ve realized in my 21 years that on occasion, things do not go according to plan. This has been the most difficult lesson for me to learn, because I try to do everything “by the book” and cannot live without structure. But recently, I’ve been forced to do so (see my post “The power of collaboration”) and have grown because of it.

What are your thoughts on goals? Do they help you succeed? I would love to hear what you think.

This post was inspired in part by a post written by Skip Lineberg on the blog "Professional Studio 365."