The Art of Multitasking

What does public affairs work have in common with a busy school week? No, not lack of sleep or frequent stress-induced snack breaks (on second thought, snack breaks are pretty important all the time...)

But seriously, the ability to multitask is really important to my daily work here at Pax River. Because I'm working with NAS Patuxent River's newspaper, the Tester, story ideas are constantly flowing in not only from my PAO mentor, who is in charge of the Tester, but also from other PAO's and Pax River personnel. For this reason, I often have to prioritize my work. The Tester is published weekly, with the beginning of the week the last chance for that week's submissions. Obviously, if I have a story to be published this week, I need to put that story first. The tricky part is when I have multiple stories due soon or I have a lengthy list of things to get done and don't know where to start.

This can certainly become overwhelming, and while I'm a top-notch procrastinator with my schoolwork (I'm a better writer at 3 a.m., okay?), letting a project get stale is not an option with public affairs. Not only do we face deadlines, but people like to see their hard work going somewhere. If someone takes time out of his or her busy schedule to do an interview with me or to give me some information, I had better come up with a product that shows the community what this person has accomplished and why this is important. I love this side of public affairs and often get sucked into the stories I'm assigned because I get the chance to understand firsthand why people are proud of their work. Translating the enthusiasm behind someone's work to best highlight an accomplishment is sometimes tough, but always rewarding!

As other interns have mentioned, the field of public affairs involves a lot of waiting for responses and edits. Because we are interns, this process has another level: checking in with our PAO mentors is an important step in every task we take on. This added time in between steps does have benefits: while I'm waiting for my work to be edited or to schedule an interview, I can turn to another project.

Last week, Connie asked me to head over to Webster Field, an annex site to the main Patuxent River base that houses two divisions of NAWCAD, a Coast Guard station, and a Maryland National Guard station, to work through some issues with the various site's websites. So, I reached out to the people with whom I needed to speak. Of course, responses trickled in: people needed to make room in their schedules to speak with me. While I was waiting to set up meetings, I worked on a few articles, one about a retiring Educational Services Officer and another about the NAWCAD energy strategy published this spring. Both articles required input from a few sources, so I was communicating with quite a few people from various departments while writing in multiple directions. This is what reminded me strongly of my schoolwork - I'm a biology and religious studies double major, so my mind has grown accustomed to going in a few directions at once.

Because I'm beginning to consider myself an efficient multitasker, I have some tips for multitasking in relation to public affairs:

1) Stay organized in your personal style. My workspace may look like a jumbled heap of papers and notes (and snacks), but I still know where everything I need is. My secret organization weapon? Sticky notes. They're everywhere...
2) Keep a planner. Okay, so right now, I'm just working out of a plain notebook, but I'm still sure to date everything and I start each day with a quick list of what I need to do.
3) Lists! List out contacts for each project, deadlines, the angle you're going for, and any miscellaneous information that you just know you'll forget.
4) Take a breather. Brains get tired when they're forced to work on multiple things at once. Take a quick break, draw a picture of a panda bear, check the Red Sox score from last night and cry a little, give your brain a pep talk if you're that kind of person, and get back to it!
5) As interns, we have some breathing room because we're here to learn. Do your best, but don't stress out - I've found that willing and experienced public affairs people are all around and will be happy to help!