By Sarah Young
Special Sections Coordinator, Staff Writer
Star Publications, Sauk Centre, Minnesota
What to do, what not to do, how to act or how to get through things, in my experience, come with time and an expertise’s guidance. As a young and less-experienced writer I will take all the advice I can get. A long time ago I received a bit of advice I didn’t know would be so important in my current career. “Stop and smell the roses” or in other words, take a break and appreciate the things have or what you have accomplished. I am sure a lot of us have heard or said this before, but have we actually followed what it says?
In the newspaper industry, we are always looking at the next issue, the next story or the next special section. But, do we take the time to slow down and pause to see what we accomplished? For myself, as I got to the end of the year, I am preparing to start the cycle for each of my special sections over again, but looking from a different perspective, I just finished another year of special sections without any major hiccups or problems. I’d say that’s a success.
Even taking five minutes to take a peek at what was accomplished can help our perspective. In my opinion, looking at what has been accomplished should be done more than once a year. We all get stuck in our habit of looking forward to what is next, but taking a look back at what was accomplished will help you in the long run. Whether it was hitting your sales goals, making it through all the story assignments, or getting the paper laid out and sent to print on time, those are all successes that we need to acknowledge.
On the other hand, looking back doesn’t just need to be what went well. It’s also important to look at your struggles and learn from them. Figure out where you struggled and try to do better the next time around. After all the newspaper is for informing the community, and we want to do our best at accomplishing that.
Being able to stop and smell the roses has helped me to find good in everything that I do and appreciate each section I help send out. It also allows me to stop and make notes for next year on what didn’t go well and how to improve upon that. Being able to take a moment and appreciate the positives — while learning from the faults — has ultimately made me grow in my career.
What is your New Year’s resolution? Maybe taking a second to look back on accomplishments and struggles is something to add to your list this year.
Sarah
Special Sections Coordinator, Staff Writer
Star Publications, Sauk Centre, Minnesota
What to do, what not to do, how to act or how to get through things, in my experience, come with time and an expertise’s guidance. As a young and less-experienced writer I will take all the advice I can get. A long time ago I received a bit of advice I didn’t know would be so important in my current career. “Stop and smell the roses” or in other words, take a break and appreciate the things have or what you have accomplished. I am sure a lot of us have heard or said this before, but have we actually followed what it says?
In the newspaper industry, we are always looking at the next issue, the next story or the next special section. But, do we take the time to slow down and pause to see what we accomplished? For myself, as I got to the end of the year, I am preparing to start the cycle for each of my special sections over again, but looking from a different perspective, I just finished another year of special sections without any major hiccups or problems. I’d say that’s a success.
Even taking five minutes to take a peek at what was accomplished can help our perspective. In my opinion, looking at what has been accomplished should be done more than once a year. We all get stuck in our habit of looking forward to what is next, but taking a look back at what was accomplished will help you in the long run. Whether it was hitting your sales goals, making it through all the story assignments, or getting the paper laid out and sent to print on time, those are all successes that we need to acknowledge.
On the other hand, looking back doesn’t just need to be what went well. It’s also important to look at your struggles and learn from them. Figure out where you struggled and try to do better the next time around. After all the newspaper is for informing the community, and we want to do our best at accomplishing that.
Being able to stop and smell the roses has helped me to find good in everything that I do and appreciate each section I help send out. It also allows me to stop and make notes for next year on what didn’t go well and how to improve upon that. Being able to take a moment and appreciate the positives — while learning from the faults — has ultimately made me grow in my career.
What is your New Year’s resolution? Maybe taking a second to look back on accomplishments and struggles is something to add to your list this year.
Sarah