What I didn't realize I was missing
When I walked into the Public Relations office in August I had no idea what to expect.
What I was not expecting was that I would realize that this practicum would be challenge me as a student and as a person.
Megan told me that searching bulk clips, sorting clips, national placements, sending and posting press releases, sign board and delivering media scans were going to be a part of my daily tasks.
Sounds simple right?
Well apparently it was harder for me than I thought. These seemingly simple tasks proved to be somewhat challenging and I didn’t understand why. I found myself in mid-October having an intense talk with Megan as she informed me that she needed to see me improve and she was worried about leaving me in the office while she was on vacation. This was tough to hear, but necessary.
I asked myself the questions: What are you missing?
This was when I was faced with two options.
Option 1- Take what Megan said, ignore the fact that I needed to improve and silently sit in the office the rest of the semester and grumble to myself...
Or
Option 2- Take what Megan said and figure out ways that I needed to make a change. I realized that if I couldn’t take what my supervisor was saying seriously and realize that I was the one who needed to improve or this bad attitude would most likely follow me into the future.
I am happy to say that I chose the second option. That day Megan gave me a somewhat scary wake up call made me realize that I needed to pay attention more to what I was doing. My mistakes ended in wasting everyone’s time and I was the one who needed to figure out how to fix it.
That day, I was assigned to update the sign board directory for the history department. Every letter I tried to take off crumbled into dust, my fingers were tired since I already have terrible fine motor skills, and the task took a long time. I wanted to cry but really had to get it together, and do the task to prove to Megan that I did, in fact have a brain. Although this shift exhausted me, I completed my task and there were no mistakes.
That is when it clicked.
After that day I improved because I thought to myself: Take your time and ask questions, Megan won’t think you are any less or more stupid than she already thinks you are.
That’s how I improved myself. By admitting to myself that I was not doing the best job I could be doing. As the rest of the semester went on, I asked questions, took my time on all of my tasks and started making fewer mistakes.
Making less mistakes lead me to gain confidence. Something I didn’t realize I was missing.