Park Prospective: Prioritize to Find Balance and Thrive

Park Fellows on a hike at Taughannock Falls State Park

In today’s fast-paced world, many people find themselves juggling multiple responsibilities, myself included. Balancing the demands of personal life, school and work can feel overwhelming at times. With a proactive mindset, it is possible to maintain equilibrium and not only thrive where you want to but also continue to grow.

I gave birth to my first child in November, mid semester at Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. It was quite a challenge to balance existing commitments with the new responsibilities of parenthood. I have broken down a few strategies below and expanded into why I think they are important and how they have helped me to succeed in finding balance in life and ultimately feeling like I’m thriving and not just going through the motions.

Define Your Priorities

People are all very busy, especially here at the Johnson School where students are active members of multiple clubs, take challenging course loads and make it a point to positively engage with the Ithaca community. Of course, some of these things rank higher than others to different people. For me, it’s always family comes first, and then I will figure the rest out. Using some of the other strategies mention helps to ensure that I can be well rounded all while continuing to set boundaries that line up with what I chose to make a priority. Figuring out what is important and not deviating from that is the first key to balance.

Schedule

I’ve found one of the most helpful things to ensure that I don’t get overwhelmed is keeping to a schedule. Coming from the military where structure is present in just about everything we do, it is a sense of comfort to me and incredibly helpful. Some events such as class time is a constant while other events are more sporadic. I’ve found that using my Outlook calendar to block off specific time for things is very beneficial. I block off time for everything that I want to make a priority, whether it be to study for a course, dates with my husband or reoccurring bedtime routine with my daughter. I live and die by my calendar and in addition to Outlook have a joint color-coded family calendar on the fridge that allows my families schedules to flow cohesively. My calendar is visible to the school and as people look to coordinate with me allows for them to see if I have already dedicated my time to something else.

Seek Support

Attempting to do everything on your own can quickly become too much for one person. The community around me at the Johnson School was very helpful and supportive, especially when welcoming our daughter. I was not used to asking my teachers and those around me for extra time outside of class. My teachers were very forthcoming with their time when I asked about getting extra help outside of class. This support network was so helpful. It is important to note that while everyone was so willing to help, I had to bring potential issues to light and without asking my teachers would not have known that I wanted extra help and assumed all was fine with me. I have also found support from my core team members. Last semester, it seemed we all went though some major life events. We were very supportive of each other and really knew how to delegate things between all of us to get work done. Finding your people is so important. I have already made some lifelong friends through the Johnson School and it makes life so much more fulfilling.

Don’t Forget About Self-Care

Finding activities that seem to replenish your energy and are nourishing to your soul is important. For me, I can be a bit of a homebody and even just taking my dog on his morning walk is a therapeutic activity. Walking outdoors and understanding the weather makes me feel just bit more prepared for the day all the while catching up with my furry friend. Simple things like making it a priority to incorporate a workout a few times a week can go a long way in keeping one from getting burnt out. There is an undoubtedly very stressful recruiting process in MBA programs. My husband is also an MBA student and went through recruiting for consulting. It is important to make sure that those around you also take care of themselves and are taking time to replenish themselves because the quality of the people you keep around you matter too.

Be Adaptable

Although I have strongly stated the importance of having a set schedule and defining priorities, all of this is subject to change, and it helps to be ready when it does. Being adaptable is a very important aspect of resiliency. Being a member of the military has driven this in me as I have transferred every few years and not known what comes next. Now, with a small family, new challenges pop up so frequently and we must learn to adapt and work past them. I try to ensure that a change of plans doesn’t feel like the end of the world, because let’s be honest it never is.

Take Advantage of Resources

I view this as using aspects of tools available to me today to make tomorrow easier. Here at the Johnson School, there are tremendously talented professors. Learning from them as much as possible will make my life much easier when I am put into my next role in the Coast Guard. More short-term, the school has offered my family and I fantastic support as new parents and is rated the most family friendly MBA program. There are so many programs for students and families, it just takes connecting with someone in a similar situation to really know they exist.

About Lauren LaBelle, MBA ’26

Lauren LaBelle is a first-year MBA candidate in the two-year MBA program at the Johnson School and an active-duty military member. Before business school, she worked as a marine investigator at U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, conducting investigations on commercial marine casualties. LaBelle holds a BS in accounting from Elizabeth City State University.