3 Ways to Stay Inspired as an Intern

By Danielle Wirsansky on October 5, 2017

Internships can be as exciting as they can be stressful. An internship can be awesome because you are getting a taste of what working in your preferred industry is actually like but it can also be hard because you work a lot, you are not quite sure what you are doing yet, and you might not be paid very much (or even at all).

There are highs and lows to any internship, so read on to learn ways to stay inspired as an intern!

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Limited Time

There is so much to do, so much to learn, and so many people to meet when you are working an internship. It can often feel overwhelming when you have so much to do in such a limited time. Yeah, you do have a lot to do. You have got paperwork to file, phone calls to make, coffee to make, and a hundred million other things to do that are specific to your internship.

Of course, it is a lot; you are often thrown in and it is up to you to decide whether you will sink or whether you will swim. Your bosses are not there to baby you, they are there to get the most work out of you that they possibly can. And believe me, they want you to succeed and be as productive as you possibly can be.

So you have to use the fact that you have such a limited time to inspire yourself to make the most of the time that you do have. Do not let yourself get caught up and overwhelmed to the point that you cannot accomplish anything at all. Just take it one step at a time and remember that it is possible for you to do all the things that you set out to do and for you to accomplish all the goals you wanted to achieve — it is not too long before you’ll be back in school, wishing you were back and working your internship and working in your field once more.

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Job Opportunities

Internship work is tough work too. You are working hard, hustling, and getting work done. The stress of doing so much work and making a good impression on not only your bosses but also your peers can take its toll and after a while, it can be hard to stay motivated. You can begin to feel drained and lose focus.

What you have to keep in mind is that all the work you are doing for this internship will only help you get a job in the future. Sure, you might be grabbing coffee or filing paperwork and that is not what you want to be doing in the future. But your internship is in the right field, and we all have to pay our dues. You do not get to start at the top of the field, doing exactly and whatever it is that you love. You have got to experience all the parts of the jobs, from the cool stuff to the sucky stuff.

That is part of what an internship provides you. It gives you a step up so that you can get a taste of experience before you are out in the workforce and help you get perhaps better than an entry-level job (or help you rise from that entry-level job fairly quickly). All the grunt work you are doing now will help you get a job in the future because you are learning the skills necessary ahead of time, which puts you ahead of the game.

And more than getting you a job with a hypothetical company in some intangible future, the internship you are working could help lead you to a position with that company doing more of what you want working in the field that you love. If you are interested in the opportunity to continue working with the company you are interning with, you need to stay inspired to do the best job you possibly can so that you can get hired again after your internship ends. And if not with that company, then you need to stay inspired so they will refer you so that you can keep working in the field after you finish your internship.

Set End Date

Perhaps your internship has not lived up to your expectations. Maybe you are not enjoying the field and are rethinking your career path. Maybe the work environment is not what you hoped it would be. Perhaps the work really is too hard and the tasks too impossible and your bosses are simply asking too much of you and of your time than you can do.

The internship has sucked the life out of you and you simply do not know how you can possibly make it to the end. Just remember that your internship has an end and all you have to do is make it to the end in one piece. Be inspired that the internship will not be for forever and it will not always be like this.

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