Overcoming Obstacles

The Moosejaw headquarters are in Madison Heights, over an hour drive from my house in Ann Arbor. Since the internship is unpaid, I am working a job babysitting for a nearby family. The long commute combined with my other job means I am not frequently in the office. This is probably my greatest obstacle thus far.

Being away from the office takes me away from the energy of Moosejaw, which drives and inspires its employees. In addition, working remotely leaves me feeling disconnected from my co-workers and the company overall. As a result, I sometimes find myself unmotivated to work. The best solution to find motivation again is to make more time to get in the office. Not only will I get more work done in the day, but I will feel more connected to Moosejaw.

Fortunately, my schedule is clearing up a little so I will have more opportunities to work in Madison Heights over the next month. I really like working around other people; I feel like I get more accomplished during the day and I have more fun. Needless to say, I’m excited to get back.

The other obstacle I am most faced with is the amount of work that needs to be completed. I am part of a team of web content writers, so thankfully I’m not alone when it comes to facing the overwhelming pile. My team uses spreadsheets to lay out what needs to be written, and we can edit them when a task is finished. That is, everyone who views the spreadsheet can see what work he/she has done compared to what other people have done. I am an unpaid part-time intern and thus am not required to do quite as much as the full-time employees. However, I feel a little self-conscious when I see on the spreadsheets that I’m doing less than everyone else. My upcoming lighter schedule will allow me to work more, but there’s still so much work that needs to be done, and I get nervous that I’ll get in trouble for not contributing enough, even though it has not been mentioned to me as a problem. I know part of it is just intern anxiety, but I am excited to start working more and ease my mind.