One of my biggest worries going into my internship is juggling a million things, especially with the advent of online journalism. Addressing that concern, one panelist said simply, “Plan your day.”
Other advice: Get into work early and figure out exactly what needs to be done. Give yourself a certain amount of time with each task, prioritizing the stories with the earliest deadlines.
It sounds so common sense, but given the fast pace and urgency of news, it is easy to be thrown into the disarray and start panicking.
Although I like organization, I am not always organized. If I start my day with an idea of what I will do, I won’t be tearing my hair out (at least not my entire head’s worth) when I suddenly get a breaking news story or am inching uncomfortably close to a deadline.
My day will start the night before, making sure to prepare lunch ahead of time if I know I can’t break away from the desk, or fill up my gas tank if I’m going to be doing a lot of traveling the next day.
I will arrive at the newsroom at least 10 minutes early each morning, sit at my desk and draft an itinerary, scribbling down the names, numbers or addresses of sources so I can have everything in one place. I know my workload and experience at the paper will be much more manageable with this approach.
I don’t want to go bald before I even get my first job.
-- Kellie Hwang, Spring Scholar, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, and University of Washington
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