We have reached the halfway point! Time sure is flying by...
Now that I'm in the middle of my time as an intern, I think it is a perfect time to talk about multitasking and organization. During the past week, I found myself working on a handful of assignments all at the same time. Some were in the beginning phase, some were in the middle, some were almost done, and they all had different deadlines. It might seem logical to complete assignments based on the order you received them, meaning the first one gets completed first, while the one you most recently received gets turned in last. I am here to tell you that is not the case.
You might be in the middle of a huge assignment when a breaking story gets thrown your way, obviously meaning the newer one needs to be finished as soon as possible. The most important thing to remember when working on multiple things is to prioritize one at all times. This means while you might be actively chipping away at all of them, there should be one you are focusing on and do the most heavy-lifting for. If not, you could fall behind and get overloaded.
This is where organization comes in. Not only is it helpful to have each story organized just to stay on track and not mix things up, it is also beneficial to know which deadlines are near or far so you know what to prioritize.
I consider myself a very organized person so here are a few of my tips to keep everything in order:
Have a place where you keep track of all of your work- This could be written in a notebook, in a Word document, etc.. This will help you know which sources belong to which story and help you remember the main goal of each one, which is especially helpful if you are writing about similar topics
As mentioned early, always prioritize one - This allows you to keep up a good work pace and keep putting stories out instead of working on all of them evenly and lagging behind on published content. Plus, once you finally finish a story you get to start something new!
Know your deadlines! - If you get an assignment and don't keep track of the deadline, you could end up focusing on other things that aren't due soon and potentially miss your deadline. This is very important when covering stories that feature upcoming events or timely news.
Don't be afraid to say no - Everyone wants to make a good impression as an intern and prove their capability, but no one will think it's impressive if you take on too much and start slipping up. If you think you have reached a point where you are working on a lot, don't hesitate to reach out and say you're really busy at the moment and want to finish some stuff before taking on anything new. This type of self-awareness is way more useful than trying to be the Wonder Woman of the office. It also ties into my earlier post about communication! If you keep everyone updated, they will probably realize you are already doing a lot and check in before assigning you new stuff.
I hope these tips are helpful & I'll be back with a new post soon!