I didn’t acquire an internship because I was lucky, although I do feel very lucky and fortunate to have gained one, I actually acquired this opportunity through building a system, following a plan and aiming for my goals.
In this post, I am going to walk through the systems I used leading up to DPS.
1 – Application Diary
I use notion for everything, my whole system exists through notion. This tool keeps me very organised and is a great way to visualise what I am doing. For my diary set-up, I wrote the week and left space to enter what I had done, what I wanted to do and other general things like quotes that resonated.
Having an output to acknowledge my effort and keep me grounded was very vital for me. Burning-out was not something I wanted to occur again, and having a place to keep momentum, even if slow, was good.
Out of all my tools, I would say that this diary was the most effective. I can look back and see everything I was working on, doing, and how that impacted me mentally or physically.
2 – Application Tracker
Again in notion, I created an application tracker. While we did have one provided by DPS, I wanted one more easily accessible for me. Quickly, I made up a table with very similar columns featuring the company, their address, the outcome, any notes and more.
Having this table was great. I learnt so much from my own data about the best ways to contact people, and to not be shy about following up. From one follow-up I sent, desperate because the opportunity was one I just couldn’t let slip away, I actually got the job.
Things I did with the tracker that helped me was naming the document, Tuning in, my motto for that period of time. Additionally, instead of putting ‘Company name’, at the top of the table I wrote, ‘I Will Work For…’. This for me was wishful thinking, but saying it out loud and visualising it made me want it more. ‘I Will Work For’ led to ‘I Am Working For’.
3 – Weekly Quota
When I was younger, I worked in a warehouse. All I did was package ‘Pink Stuff’ , the cleaning product. Everytime I would go in, they would have all the products picked for me, all I had to do was pack. And what they picked was my target for that day. Me being me, I wanted to go beyond that target and get out of the ‘Pink Stuff’ jail, so I would aim to complete all of my work faster.
Having a target in front of you, be that a number or a visual quantity really helps move things along, well at least I find that it does. In the lead up to DPS, I set a weekly goal every week. Each week was different, some focused on portfolio work, some on applications but having a clear, measurable goal pushed me harder.
For the application stage, I set a very attainable goal. 10 emails, messages or applications minimum a week. 10 a week. I look back now and see that as pretty easy, but I had life going on then, so it seemed hard. I think in a way, I was playing mind games with myself to motivate myself. An easy target, easy to beat meant lots of opportunity to go above and beyond.
4 – Time Blocking
I won’t go too into this one, but I ensured every week I would spend a little time working on me or DPS. As I was working quite a lot of hours over the summer in my retail job, I was just focused on getting a little bit done everyday. Even if it was just reading a book, or listening to a podcast featuring an artist.
5 – Reflect
I learn most from looking back and reflecting. My process for reflecting was just reviewing what I had sent. Focusing more on what worked and how I could hone in on that. Looking at what didn’t work or dwelling on rejection was not a part of my reflection because I already know. I found there was no point in reminding myself of the bad when there was so much good.
6 – Stay Organised
As mentioned, I built my system using notion. If it wasn’t for notion, I wouldn’t have been so organised. Outside of notion, I made sure all of my files were in one place, named appropriately, with all versions.
I had a very long list of cover letters I had sent out, email’s, and CV versions in my notion and google drive. Making a habit out of iterating rather than replacing is another key skill I have developed over this period.
There you go, that is my system summed up. There are things now that I would change having used it and moved on from it, however it is very effective and worked perfectly for me.
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