Time. As a news producer and reporter, it’s what I have thought about endlessly for the past two years. How to best use every minute of every newscast, every second of every story and how our four-person multimedia journalist team will manage to prepare our content to be back on air 167 hours after we’ve finished critiquing the prior newscast.
That is also what weighed so heavily on my mind when I returned to campus my junior year in the fall of 2021, after spending my sophomore year at home, taking my classes remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I also felt that I lost time as a first-year, only volunteering sporadically for MUTV because of the stress an unfortunate roommate pairing gave me in the fall of 2019 before the 2020 spring semester was cut short due to COVID-19.
With half my college experience already in the rearview mirror, I thought, “how do I make the most of the time that I have left?”
That’s precisely what a wise student asked me a couple weeks ago. But they’re a first-year – and already worried about not having enough time!
It’s the exact feeling Jackson Browne conveys in the last line of his hit “Running On Empty”: “Running into the sun, but I’m still running behind.”
It’s a well-founded concern. Everyone says these four years will probably be the greatest of your life, but that’s the problem: it’s only four years.
Through many mistakes, moments of accomplishment and bursts of joy, these are the lessons I have learned from so many colleagues, mentors, friends and family.
- Everyday is a day in which to excel.
We only get to live each day once, so take advantage of every one that we’re blessed with, no matter our circumstances. Life changes in the blink of an eye, so don’t let it make the first move – you make the first move.
- The difference between stress or boredom and an adventure is your attitude.
It’s easy to complain – everyone knows I’m the biggest complainer there is – but it’s far more fun to approach what’s at hand with a positive outlook.
- People won’t remember everything that you say. They won’t remember everything that you do. But they will always remember how you make them feel.
Don’t miss a chance to make a difference in someone’s day, week or life. And do not forget the power of words or actions. Think before you speak and do (I should more often!) and the effects it can have will be bigger than any of us can imagine.
- Life is a puzzle. It’s never perfect, it doesn’t always make sense, not all of the pieces are in the right place at the right time, but look for value in every part of it. And when you take a step back, hopefully you see the beauty in it.
If you know me, you know I definitely don’t follow all of these notions perfectly, but I try to remember them to do better each day.
This is what I hope my fellow graduates keep in mind as we chase our dreams and run into that lyrical sun. And I hope my younger colleagues, both the ones I already know and the ones taking my place, make the most of their time at Marquette as well as transform others’ time, too.
Time is a finite resource, but its true value is determined by what we do with it.