By Brittany Bennett, on June 28, 2013

Happy Friday folks! This has been a busy week for me in Person County, which means detailed planning on my part to get everything done. If you know me well, you’ve probably seen my calendars. I am almost obsessive about keeping a schedule. I have a planner that I write things in and I use my iPhone calendar, which also links to my Google calendar. In addition to my calendars, I keep many lists, the most important being a daily to do list. I cannot start my day until I write down a prioritized list of everything that I need and want to accomplish by day’s end. Without this to do list, I feel lost like I’m wandering around without a sense of direction.

This week, however, I learned that working in local government isn’t always conducive to my obsessive planning habits. It hit me this week how quickly time is passing as I’m already halfway done with my internship and have several projects to finish. I’ve tried to schedule each day to allow ample time to work on everything at an appropriate pace, but it seemed like every time I sat down to work on a task I’d have a mid-morning or mid-afternoon meeting that disrupted my concentration. I’m definitely not complaining because I much prefer being busy than bored, so this is a good problem to have. I just have to be flexible.

I’m learning that it’s probably unrealistic of me to plan everything, especially if I work in local government. This is a field where things change at any moment and plans go out the window. While the idea of never completing a to do list scares me, the ever- changing nature of local government overcomes my fears with excitement. Ultimately, I think I can sacrifice compulsive planning for a job that will never bore me.

Come back next Friday for more adventures in Person County!