5 New Year’s Resolutions for PR Pros

by Megan Paquin

When the clock strikes midnight on January 1, it will be a time to celebrate both a New Year and new possibilities. To make the most of all 2025 has to offer, here are five New Year’s resolutions for busy public relations professionals.

Focus on yourself. Make a commitment to take time for yourself in the New Year. The PR field is rife with burnout, with professionals often dealing with heavy workloads, tight deadlines and being “always on.” To function at our best, we need to prioritize our own health and wellbeing. Our team does this by offering a flexible schedule, where team members can choose in-office days and start times that afford them time to practice self-care, spend time with family or simply enjoy a “brain break.”

Eliminate unnecessary meetings. Could those weekly meetings be an email? Take a moment to review your calendar and eliminate any unnecessary meetings or to reschedule your meetings to be more efficient. Even trimming a 30-minute touch-base to 15 minutes can increase efficiency while giving you extra time to be creative or reset before your next project. To really make your meetings count, be sure you include an agenda in the invite, clear your desktop of distractions and be fully present to avoid wasted time.

Be a mentor. Find time in 2025 to mentor an aspiring public relations professional, or to share your insight with industry colleagues at association events. Not sure where to start? Reach out to a local university or community college to ask about speaking opportunities. Students love to hear from professionals about their career path, successful campaigns and how to land the all-important internship.

Learn something new, for you. In public relations, we’re always learning about new clients, challenges, industries, media and more. But that means we sometimes forget to learn about things outside of our immediate work that excite us. This year, I made reading a priority and selected a wide range of books (non-fiction and fiction) that helped broaden my horizons.

Enjoy a work-free lunch. One of our clients never eats lunch alone. He uses his lunch break as a true break, and time for connecting with his team, industry colleagues, family and friends. Let lunch be a chance to rest and refuel your body, mind and spirit.

No matter how you choose to prioritize your time this New Year, making a resolution can be a great starting point toward achieving your personal and professional goals.