IRTS Fellow to Fellow: Mid-Summer Motivation
Take a breath. You are halfway through your summer fellowship. By now you have become immersed in your role as an intern, are hosting informational interviews and are taking part in peer check-ins. Some days it may not seem like there aren't enough hours in the day. Other days the hours seem to stretch thin. Maybe you feel unmotivated or overwhelmed. Maybe you feel like you are playing catch up or you’re having the time of your life. Whatever category of feeling you fall into just remember to take each assignment one day at a time and make this experience what you want it to be.
Week three of the seven-week internship will come quicker than you think. One minute you are just trying to make sure you remember everyone's name and the next you are juggling a weekly article or pitching ideas to a board on behalf of your company. Your responsibilities and the trust in your creative perspective have grown. With each week you are added to more meetings and walk away with tasks.
This week you may hit a wall. The halfway point always seems to be the toughest time. Your brain may feel like it needs to go on vacation and thus ideas will not flow as freely as you would like. Your online social battery may be approaching E, so you won't want to attend any meetings, panels or informational interviews. In the group chat, your cohort may be expressing similar feelings. It is normal.
For me, week three brought writer's block. I had no clue what to talk about. Monday was a holiday, so the article was not on my mind. On Tuesday I wrote two sentences that probably won't make it to the final draft. On Wednesday I decided what to name it and had a general idea of what I wanted to say. I did not, however, write anything on Wednesday because after my series of back-to-back meetings which ended at 7:15 p.m. I didn’t want to sit at my computer any longer.
I decided that I would dedicate Thursday to focus on my writing. With only one meeting it seemed like a reasonable plan. Little did I know that one meeting would assign me to work on a proposal for a radio campaign. The new task didn't deter me from my original plan though. Thursday was for writing, and Friday I focused on the campaign. On Thursday, I had nothing but time -- but the actual process to write was where I got stuck. I was determined to not let this drag on another day, so I found a playlist to ground me and even changed my scenery from my house to my grandma's. Little by little, words turned into sentences. This article was slowly piecing itself together.
You may need a change in scenery or an instrumental playlist to get the wheels turning. Some people take walks or meditate. Whatever technique gets you through the place of being unproductive, rely on it. If your original techniques don’t work, try something new. Lean on your cohort as well. What they have tried may work for you and vice versa. Being creative is an ongoing process and sometimes we are putting out more fuel than we are getting. In this case, take time to enjoy your hobbies. Re-center yourself and the inspiration will come naturally.
Your week may tire you out, but you got it. You've made it this far and there are only bigger and better things to come.
Click the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleagues.
The opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author and/or subject(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet, Inc. management or associated writers.
Jaliah Robinson
Jaliah Robinson is a rising senior at Claflin University majoring in Mass Communications with a concentration in Journalism and a minor in Creative Writing. On campus she is involved with multiple publication outlets such as: The Panther Newspaper, The Times…
