It’s easy to feel stressed at your internship – there are so many things on your plate (and all over your desk) that you feel like you don’t even know where to start. Luckily, there are a few simple things you can do to avoid feeling a sense of panic when you wake up every Monday morning. Check out the fixes below – they’ve worked for us!
Close out all those tabs.
If you have a small heart attack just looking at the number of tabs in your Chrome browser, that should be enough of a signal to start closing out. Let’s be real, working on everything at once is daunting and unproductive- especially when you consider the number of times you’ve had to shut the whole browser down because of all your open pages.
If there’s a website or page you need to return to later, make yourself a to-do list for later in the day, and email a few of the links to yourself. It may even help to send yourself emails with subject lines categorized by project, like “Research Links for Marketing Proposal” or “References for Blog Post.” You’ll get a lot more done by segmenting and prioritizing your tasks – not to mention, you’ll be a lot less overwhelmed!
Handle the small tasks as they come up.
Whether you’re answering an email or giving your boss a quick summary of your progress so far, it’s so easy to take one look at small, simple tasks and think, “I’ll just do it later.” However, these tasks have a way of piling up and getting out of hand if they aren’t handled in a timely manner. If you’re not working on an important project, handle these small tasks the second they come in – and figure out an efficient system to complete these tasks quickly. For example, if you’re handling customer service emails, you can have canned responses ready to copy and paste, allowing you to reply within seconds–or if you have to give your boss weekly updates on your work, keep track of all your projects daily so that compiling and consolidating everything is a simple, smooth process.
If you have one of those days where you have to put smaller tasks on the back burner, make sure you have a good system for catching up on your work. We recommend Boomerang, an email scheduling tool which allows you to return messages to your inbox when you have more time to reply.
Stop skipping lunch.
Too busy to grab lunch? We’ve all been there, but you’re not doing yourself any favors by missing out on your midday meal. A study published in the Nutrition Journal showed that inadequate nutrition during lunch lead to “emotional (irritable and frustrated), physical (tired and hungry), and cognitive (difficulty concentrating and poor decision-making) symptoms.” You’re not doing yourself any favors by decreasing your productivity – or killing your chances at a positive attitude on the job!
So, whether you bring your own lunch, make a sandwich run or hoard a stash of fruit and pretzels near your desk, just make sure you’re taking care of yourself at work.
We hope these tips will not only help you to be a productive intern but a happier one as well! Be sure to share your stress-relieving tips in the comments section below.
