May you establish priorities
MAY you …
For the month of May, we are devoting this blog to our wishes for journalists present and future: “MAY you … “
Every day, you will find a tip, a tidbit or a top-of-mind piece of advice we hope will help you now and later
This wish applies to your professional and personal lives, which must exist in comity and not get hopelessly tied like a tight knot that won’t come undone.
May you establish priorities.
These priorities will — and should — change with time and with circumstance. At one point, your personal life might be the priority.
- Your own health, peace of mind, coping mechanisms
- Your own dreams, visions, hopes
- Your attraction to and perhaps involvement with another person
And that’s where your professional life enters. When your priority is your work, your career and your future, then beware of getting involved with someone who is a colleague.
- When the relationship goes south, so might your job
- When things don’t work out, every day can be uncomfortable
- When things do work out, others might start seeing favoritism
For interns? You are a special group of colleague. Some organizations have zero tolerance for fraternization. Don’t count on others to draw and to follow the boundaries. You are the one who must use common sense.
The best way this concept was ever explained to me was back when I was a Dow Jones News Fund intern, about to start at my assigned location. Here is how I remember the advice:
You are temporary. You might be treated like a regular, and that’s good.
But at the end of your internship, you will be gone and others remain. Leave good memories of yourself, not a trail of destruction.
Strict? For sure. Wise? Absolutely. Easy to follow? That’s the reason for priorities.
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