A famous quote from Anita M. Perlman, the renowned founder of the B’nai Brith Girls, reminds us of our power in our experience as BBGs: “The more of yourself that you will give to BBG, the more you will receive”. With this in mind, of course, anyone passionate about BBYO would want to give as much of themselves to the Movement as they can. However, sometimes it's not that simple. No matter how much some of us might want it, our lives can’t revolve around BBYO 100% of the time. There are other factors at play in our lives; school, sports, non-BBYO friendships, a job or internship, and other extracurriculars can also demand our time. High school is a time to try new things, figure out what we’re passionate about, and get involved. While all of these elements are undoubtedly amazing, it can become difficult to balance everything all at once. With that being said, here are my tips for balancing BBYO with other things in a busy life: 

First of all, a quick thing worth mentioning is your BBYO involvement is entirely up to you. You can be as committed or non-committed to the Organization as you want. These tips are for those who want to give as much as they can to BBYO, to receive all they can, even with busy lives. 

1. Make a To-Do List

My first tip is a very general one you can use following other activities in your schedule; make a list of all the tasks that you need to complete. This can look like many different things; your notes app, a planner, a document, or just a sheet of paper are all an adequate place to write your tasks. You can write down school assignments by subject and due date when you have your next meeting or shift, and what BBYO deadlines are coming up. Just writing down your tasks will remind you of them and motivate you to complete them. I mean, you have to admit, there is a sense of satisfaction when you check something off. Simply recording your tasks is one thing, but taking action to complete them is something else. Duties can be daunting, and it’s hard to know where to start. To make a task less formidable, I always like to make a “plan of action”. Based on urgency and due date, I make a compiled list of my tasks and order them to see which I’ll do first and when. This makes a long to-do list seem more manageable. By having a BBYO obligation on a list with other assignments, you’ll be less likely to forget about it and more likely to balance it in conversation with different aspects of your life beneficially. ‍

2. Get Things Done Early

This tip of not procrastinating is something I still am learning myself. However, no matter how much I am “all talk no do”, in most cases, there are undoubtedly benefits to getting any work done as soon as you can. This is especially true for BBYO tasks. Imagine, for example, you are Gizbor(it) and you know you must create board merch at some point throughout the term. You also know that later in the term you’ll have additional tasks such as fundraising and creating other merch. So, though there might not be a set deadline or it may seem like you have all the time in the world, it’s in your best interest to make that board merch as soon as you’re able. Check that item off the list as soon as you can so it won’t be liable to cause you stress later when you may have less time than you accounted for.  This tip works with many things in life, especially school assignments. It’s an amazing thought to keep in mind when balancing your BBYO obligations with the rest of the tasks in your life. When you’re stressed out with all the things you have to do (impending or immediate), you can reduce that pressure by whittling it down as soon as you can. 

3. Remember You Can Rely on Those Around You for Support

This next tip is a simple one, yet it’s extraordinarily crucial: remember that you can depend on those around you. By this, I mean that the ones assigning most of your work are (most likely) human. If you can’t get something done perfectly within the timeframe, explain your situation. If you were just avoiding the task, then they might not give you so much grace. However, if you genuinely were too busy and overwhelmed with other aspects of your life, and that task ended up being the one to slip away, tell this to them. They’ll appreciate your honesty and that you’re not turning in something half-done or half-thought-out. Maybe you had to go to practice, study for a test, attend BBYO, and between that all you forgot to send out a reminder message as Mazkir(ah) to your chapter. Life can get busy, so always remember you have the option to talk to those around you. If you won’t give you grace, at least they’ll see that you are opposed to submitting something hastily completed right before the deadline so that you can claim you completed it on time, though in a subpar manner.

Of course, you can always try to avoid this situation altogether by referring to tip two and getting your work done as soon as possible whenever you are able. 

4. Know When It’s Too Much

This last tip relates to the previous one. If you end up missing deadlines, even when you tried your hardest to make it considering all your other activities, it’s an indicator that you may have too much going on to handle. Of course, one-off situations of time mismanagement are not as significant, but recurring instances of not completing things on time should cause you to reconsider if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew. Be open to reevaluating your activities to decide if it’s too much and you should step back from one. I hope these tips are helpful to fellow teens who love BBYO but also love other things that they do in their lives. Balancing everything we are passionate about can be tricky, but if we keep these tips in mind, it becomes more manageable.