When opportunities keep being thrown your way, how do you choose when to say no?

[soliloquy]

Oh my!

So you all encouraged me to go ahead and co-author an article with my law professor in the hopes that it will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. He's been published before many times and he's confident this will be as well. As a result, my grad school is requiring me to take a Social and Behavioral Research course at the University of Miami to prepare for the research component of this article.

Then, I was given an opportunity to do a webinar series in my field (law/legal project management) by a well-known business woman and continuing legal education guru who has been the VP of a fortune 500 company and started and sold numerous legal education companies over the years. She is also an original founding members of one of the largest professional organizations in my field. My legal mentor (from a legal leadership 1 year course I took) told me that if I can work with this lady, it will be a great opportunity because she is one of the biggest experts in her field. She is willing to hold my hand and show me the ropes, give me a full page write-up in addition to an e-blast to about 50K other legal practitioners to market my webinar. That webinar will tape this summer and I'm supposed to be working on my presentation and submitting draft outlines, etc. as I improve and expand my content.

Then, I was given the opportunity to apply to be on the review panel for an association who does legal certifications. They are looking for volunteers to review their certification exams and help re-vamp them. The good thing about this is you get free continuing legal education units and a certification in the field you review. You have to meet certain academic and experience criteria.

All of this would take place between June and August in addition to the fact that I'm taking 9 credit hours this summer, I still have my guardian ad litem duties, and full time work, and full time husband and son.

How on earth do you prioritize. I know some superhuman person will say ALL of this is possible to do so I should do it all. Is that realistic?

In other news, NONE of this would be possible without this board!

Thanks!

*yes, I know what my signature says* lol

[rebel100]

Awesome....great to have so many incredible options!

[soliloquy]

so you think I shouldn't drop any of these things? my concern is that if I take on too much I won't do any of them well

[rebel100]

I would attempt to do it all, if that's truley impossible I would keep the ones which are highest profile and most likely to positively impact your career.

[Leherself]

*If* you can handle everything, and handle them well, then I would go for it. If you're uncertain, and think you'll get overwhelmed, or if you don't think you'll be able to do a good job, then I would cut back. It's better to say a polite "thanks but no thanks," than it is to make a poor impression because you got overwhelmed and weren't able to do what you committed yourself to.

That said, if I was going to prioritize - personally, I would *always* go for the high profile networking opportunities. Who you know - particularly, who knows and likes you and is impressed with your work - is what gets your foot in the door and gets you jobs in the future. Something like free CEUs would be less attractive to me right now, since you're still working on your primary educational goals. And honestly, in my opinion, while education is great, you can always get more. Quality networking opportunities are harder to come by, and you never know when they're going to come up.

Just my opinion, and probably worth about what you paid for it

[SuzanneD]

Tough problem to have.

[soliloquy]

Tough problem to have.

It IS tough. I don't want to miss out on anything but I also don't want end up with mediocre performance on anything. I'm going to try and do all things well. We'll see how that goes. :/

I forgot one. I was also nominated to be on the council for our state association and I'll find that out in May. Wowzers.

[degreeholdeer]

What a fantastic array of incredible opportunities you've been given - that's a significant problem, even if it's understandable to feel concerned about taking on too much. My suggestions would be to see if there's any way you can stagger starting the different commitments to spread them out more, and be upfront about your obligations in case any deadlines can slightly push back, while prioritizing the career-building networking prospects like the webinar and certification panel. However, don't compromise your grades or self-care - check in after a few weeks to see how you're feeling, and if something has to give, there's no shame in politely declining further. These seem like opportunities that will still be there later, and you've got an impressive career ahead, so don't burn out before it starts!

[bjcheung77]

What a fantastic array of incredible opportunities you've been given - that's a significant problem, even if it's understandable to feel concerned about taking on too much. My suggestions would be to see if there's any way you can stagger starting the different commitments to spread them out more, and be upfront about your obligations in case any deadlines can slightly push back, while prioritizing the career-building networking prospects like the webinar and certification panel. However, don't compromise your grades or self-care - check in after a few weeks to see how you're feeling, and if something has to give, there's no shame in politely declining further. These seem like opportunities that will still be there later, and you've got an impressive career ahead, so don't burn out before it starts!

Just to let you know, this is a 9 year old thread... Original poster is still an active member, the rest are no longer active...

[LevelUP]

What a fantastic array of incredible opportunities you've been given - that's a significant problem, even if it's understandable to feel concerned about taking on too much. My suggestions would be to see if there's any way you can stagger starting the different commitments to spread them out more, and be upfront about your obligations in case any deadlines can slightly push back, while prioritizing the career-building networking prospects like the webinar and certification panel. However, don't compromise your grades or self-care - check in after a few weeks to see how you're feeling, and if something has to give, there's no shame in politely declining further. These seem like opportunities that will still be there later, and you've got an impressive career ahead, so don't burn out before it starts!

Just to let you know, this is a 9 year old thread... Original poster is still an active member, the rest are no longer active...

That post is a bit sus.