No, not the paper tornado! Photo: Lauren Biron
When I decided to pursue a career in journalism, I imagined myself running down the street to the scene of a house fire, meeting with powerful businessmen in top-floor offices and shadowing young gang members for weeks so I could write a long feature.
I have gotten access to a lot of strange places. But as a Capitol Hill journalist reporting national news, the most unfamiliar place I’ve been is my new desk.
In a previous life as a flight attendant, I could easily walk through the cabin 100 times in a two-hour flight. Then there’s navigating airports, hotels and maybe even a tourist site or two. Moving around is the name of the game.
On any given day in Washington, you may need to talk to sources in five different states, and you can’t just pop over for a face-to-face interview. In the morning you send out an email blast to every person who could possibly help you. Then you wait. And wait. Bound to your swivel chair until you get that lucky break.
The desk is even more familiar when Congress is not in session—without a hearing on the Hill to run to, phone-and-a-laptop reporting is even more vital.
For those of you who, like me, are sitting down on the job for the first time, here are a few tips that have helped me make the adjustment.
Speed up your “muscle memory” by getting organized.
When I was flying, I could open the door to the beverage cart with my left foot without looking at it, grab a can of ginger ale (in the fourth drawer down), give it to a passenger, and then close the bin, again with my left foot, while simultaneously picking up the public address phone with my right hand to make an announcement. In heels. During turbulence. How? Muscle memory.
Muscle memory is the process by which your body learns to perform a function without consciously thinking about it. Just like learning to play an instrument or a choreographed dance, you need to repeat a motion over and over again until your body “just knows.” But in the beginning, you have to think about it—“Okay, where is the ginger ale?” You waste precious brain activity that could be going to reporting or writing.
Muscle memory is an unconscious process, but you can help it along by keeping everything in the same place. That means organize, organize, organize. Your notebooks go here. Your pens go there. Your chocolate stash hides here.
Watch how others streamline their work habits.
When I started reporting just 11 months ago, I didn’t know the difference between a GoogleDoc and a CMS. Actually, I had never heard of either. I wrote all my notes and appointment times on loose-leaf paper, which I put in a big binder that quickly became a barely contained, disorganized paper tornado. Then I switched to tiny little canvas books I thought were cute but ended up being awkward to hold and disintegrated within days.
Finally, I looked around me and saw my colleagues all using the same, 4-by-10 inch notebook, with the spiral binding on the top, not the side. It fits in the hand perfectly and is easy to organize. What do you know—there’s a reason it says “Reporter’s Notebook” on the front!
I have also surrendered my neo-Luddite status and embraced iCal, Gmail, GoogleDocs, WordPress and much of the Adobe Creative Suite—whatever I can to disperse the paper tornado.
Take care of your back.
Believe it or not, I have had more back pain at my new desk job than I did when I was slinging suitcases into the overhead bin. Why? Without the constant luggage exercise, my back and abdominal muscles have atrophied, making it harder to maintain the ideal neutral spine position.
The way to reduce back pain is the same now as it was when your mama raised you: Sit up straight. Stretch. Take breaks and walk around.
One thing she didn’t say, though, that I insist upon—get a massage. If you’re on the starving reporter’s budget, join Groupon. Every time one of those discounted spa deals pops up, it’s mine.
Beware the time suck.
This has been my greatest challenge at my desk job. When I was a flight attendant, it was easy to stay off Facebook, since there’s no Internet at 37,000 ft. Even with my old waitressing and record store jobs, I was too busy running around to check if someone had posted on my Wall.
Now, when I’m waiting around for a source to call me back, if I browse through the Facebook updates “just for a sec,” pretty soon I’m watching YouTube videos of Michele Bachmann’s husband dancing. (To my editors: Forget I said that!) Even Gmail, the wellspring of the desktop journalist, can flood you with distraction if you’re not careful.
You can use the usual “five minutes an hour” trick, but personally, I’ve never had much luck prying my fingers away from clicking that next link. Instead, while waiting for that all-important phone call, I channel my “veg-out” browsing into something productive by going to information-rich, searchable websites. My favorites? The sites for DC Linktank, the AP Daybook and the Government Accounting Office. (Really, it’s interesting, promise!) And of course, there’s journalismjobs.com.