4 Ways To Get Motivated For Your Internship

By Caitrin Sneed on January 20, 2015
Happy Interns

image via https://www.flickr.com

Internships are wonderful things that give you something to write on your resume other than ‘Waitress’ or ‘Drama Club President,’ help you learn about your field before officially entering the workforce and give you a space to build valuable business connections.

They are also, for the most part, unpaid, time intensive and start to be soul-sucking around the 3rd month of taking coffee orders.

Here are some things to do that take little to no effort to get you excited for this necessary step and hopefully inspire you to make the most of and get the most out of your internship.

1. Pick up a shift at your old job.

After 40 minutes of waiting in the sleet for the kid you nanny’s school bus to arrive only to realize that she never got on the bus (and then forgot to call you or anyone despite the fact that she just got a phone for Hanukkah, and both her parents are in meetings for another few hours, and you have to go pick up her little sister in a different neighborhood in 30 minutes), you will most likely have new-found inspiration to move forward in life and do amazing work at your internship so eventually you will get hired at a real job where your duties do not involve waiting for people’s school buses.

Bonus points if your old job requires you to wear a nametag or greet customers at the door with a catch-phrase related to your place of work. Nothing motivates me quite like visualizing myself wearing my old crepe-maker uniform.

2. Run into your role-model at the grocery store and have them ask what you’ve been up to and then try to put a spin on “massive Netflix binge.”

The stress from this situation and then eventual shame (which will result in a weird ‘half binge food/half trying to get my life together health food’ grocery basket) will remind you to stop procrastinating and start reading up on the people you will be assisting and convincing to hire you once you graduate.

3. Read the news.

In doing this even briefly you will realize how terribly screwed the world is. Hopefully you believe in your field’s contribution or necessity to the world.

Hopefully in seeing all the problems with the world and in our systems of power you will be able to find at least one way in which your field can either alleviate suffering, challenge authority, change policy, or empower people. Your internship is your first step in being able to be a part of this.

4. Watch all of “Parks and Recreation” in one sitting.

Or any show that depicts awesome characters who are dedicated to their work and believe in its ability to do awesome things. Also, after watching that many seasons in one sitting you will really need to go be productive in order to feel okay about yourself.

Happy interning.

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