One of the big demands of an MBA degree is just finding time for everything. While going back to school is an exciting prospect, there’s so many things you can do while you’re in the switching phase of your career, not to mention for someone like me who moved abroad to pursue a degree.
I am constantly bombarded left and right by invites to job fairs, conferences, coffee chats, virtual seminars, club events, hang outs, reminders for pending internship applications, business newsletters, LinkedIn learning, plus the constant pinging of the cohort group chat on academic matters. It’s enough to drive someone insane! At the beginning, I had a hold of it, but now the inbox flow is getting overwhelming and I definitely need to declutter this part of my life.
As I thought about it, I realized the root was really knowing my priorities. Since I’m switching careers, I’m in exploration mode and have a whole host of things I think I would do well at or be interested in. Product management, project management, consulting, tech – the possibilities are endless and there are so many info sessions that I can’t even keep up anymore.
The first step to declutter events was really to decide which career, for me, I should prioritize. Thinking long-term about what I wanted in work and life, I decided to seriously invest my time in product management, and have started shelling out money as well to learn more about it and network with professionals in the field. The funny thing is, prior to business school, I was supposed to transfer to a product management position in my own company. Ha!
Hopefully in the following weeks, my inbox will slow down its receipt of new events, and I’ll be at peace with the decision I’ve made. When that day comes, I’m sure I’ll appreciate all the unharried time I have just doing things that are important to me.
