Brain Chaos

It's hard to get things done when you have so much to do. It's even harder to get things done when you are stressed out and have too much to do. According to Dr.Edward Hallowell, a noted adult and child psychiatrist and author of Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked and About To Snap—Strategies For Coping In A World Gone ADD, this is a case of attention deficit trait (ADT). The difference between ADD and ADT is that attention deficit disorder occurs all the time, whether you're on vacation or at work; ADT on the other hand is environmentally dependent.

Given my new job situation, the amount of work required for my three writing classes, and the dwindling money in my account, I think I qualify as stressed. Given my recent grades and work quality, I most definitely qualify as an ADT individual. But what is the cure for this? Medication? Hallowell answered this in an interview with Sonja Steptoe of Time Magazine:

One the misconceptions is that people should be super-organized. But that's just not going to happen for most of us. It's a goal that just ends up making you feel guilty and think that you're a bad person. What I say to folks is: You don't have to be super-organized. Just be well-enough organized to reach your goals. The best treatment is to take time to slow down and think and connect with the outside world. And to stop being a total slave to your electronics.

This is kind of a blow to my new routine, but a necessary lesson to learn: there needs to be a balance. I've loosened up on finishing my to-do lists every day. Now, I prioritize it. If I don't get to the bottom errands, well, I can do them tomorrow. Or I can pay the teenager across the street to buy me groceries. Balance. I don't have to do everything.

To read more of the Hallowell interview: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1147207,00.html

The Final Edit

"We sold the company," my boss told me over dinner. Just like a break up-- clean, smooth, and somber. For 5 years I traveled to each of his stores to provide other managers with days off, to clean up after the guys who left paper wads on the counters and products randomly "displayed" throughout the store, but no more. Poof, job gone; I should have been more prepared.

The good news is I only have 3 more months until graduation, the bad news: I have the worst school schedule for securing a new job or internship. "Can I leave for a few hours and come back?" I imagine asking the interviewer. That's probably a no.

In order to put a little structure back in my life, I'm adopting a new Get Organized regimen.
First up, my resume.

In a fit of panic I emailed my PR writing professor, who directed me to a man in charge of PR internships, who sent me to Elise Dillingham, the new graduate assistant at the University of Memphis. With barely an introduction, Elise pointed to her computer screen and showed me my newly edited resume. I've never seen so many red marks on my paper.

"I formatted your job responsibilities in the order they would be most relevant to PR," she explained, "and I printed out a list of appropriate action words for you to use."
Not only did she help with the organization of my resume, but she provided some pretty helpful tips when it comes to creating a resume for a specific internship. For instance, some online applications are formulated to only pick out the resumes that match the words in the job requirement section of the company's listing. So if it states, "must be proficient in MS Office Suites," the system will check for the use of "MS Office Suites" in each resume.
She also told me that I should mention my available work hours in the cover letter, since mine are quite the obstacle. "Make it clear that you really want this opportunity, but without crossing the begging line," said Elise.

I haven't sent out anything yet, but I did manage to complete the final edit on my resume. The cover letter will need more work since it will be personalized for each internship, but that's another post on my quest for an organized life.