Two weeks into my internship at JHSUSTAIN, I feel like I have finally found my routine.
Seoul itself has continued to surprise me. The city moves fast, but something is grounding about having a routine here. Knowing which subway line to take (line 5 and an approximate 42-minute commute), which coffee shop to stop at, which breakfast to get, and which streets feel familiar now in a way they did not when I arrived. I have started to feel less like a visitor and more like someone who actually lives and works here, even if only for the summer. That shift happened faster than I expected.
But this week’s prompt is about time management and prioritization, so let me get into it.
One of the things I appreciate most about JHSUSTAIN is that they gave me a schedule from day one. I know what I am expected to deliver each morning, what my priorities are for the day, and what the broader timeline looks like for each project. For some people, that might feel constraining, but for me it has been genuinely useful.
I think that for my first internship, if they had been like, “Here is a desk, figure it out,” I think it would have been harder to know where to direct my energy all the time. There are so many things happening at once at this company. Multiple projects across multiple countries, business development conversations, LinkedIn strategy, research tasks, partner briefings. A lot of the people who work here are actually in different countries working on the project at hand. Without a clear structure, it would be easy to spend a lot of time feeling busy without actually being productive.
I know what I should be working on when I sit down at 9 am. I know what needs to be delivered by the end of the day. That clarity lets me actually focus instead of spending the first hour of every morning figuring out what to do with myself.
What I was surprised about, though, is that the structure is not rigid. It is more like a framework than a set of rules.
If I need advice before moving forward on something, I ask. If I need more time on an assignment to do it properly, that conversation is easy to have. My supervisor Seoyoung has been genuinely approachable, and she gives feedback, shares her opinion when I ask for it, and has never made me feel like asking a question is an inconvenience.
I feel like the structure is not there to micromanage. It is there so everyone knows what success looks like and can get on with the work.
I will be honest….. I am not naturally a morning person. But I have built a routine here that is working surprisingly well.
I wake up, get breakfast on the street near my work, and give myself what I have started calling “chill coffee time” before work starts at 9 am. No emails, no task lists, just coffee and a slow start to the day. It sounds small, but it has made a real difference. I arrive at the office feeling ready rather than rushed, which sets the tone for everything that follows. I never thought I would be someone who talks about their morning routine, but here we are.
One habit I have been deliberate about is always asking for more work when I finish something.
This is partly because I want to get as much as possible out of this experience. I am in Seoul for a limited time, and I do not want to coast. But it is also because I have noticed that the best learning here does not happen when I am doing something I already know how to do. It happens when I am given something slightly beyond my current skill level and have to figure it out.
So far, that has meant helping build a LinkedIn strategy from scratch, drafting communications documents for real partner meetings, researching different projects, and sitting in on live business development calls with JHSUSTAIN’s partners and collaborators. I am a political science major minoring in business and information science, so marketing is not something in my skill set, so I am proud of myself for learning!
My favorite opportunity I get from this company is when I am in the room for real conversations about consortium partnerships, project bids, and funding structures. That kind of applied learning is something no classroom can fully replicate, and it is the part of this internship I will remember the longest.
If I had to mesh everything into one lesson so far, it would be that prioritization is not about doing more things. It is about being clear on what actually matters right now and protecting your time for that.
At JHSUSTAIN, everything feels urgent because the work is genuinely important. But not everything can be the most important thing at the same time. Learning to distinguish between what needs to happen today and what can wait until tomorrow, and being honest with myself when I am avoiding something difficult by doing easier tasks instead, has been the real time management skill I am developing.
Seoul and this internship are teaching me a lot. I am really learning how to work (really work) in a professional environment where the stakes are real, and the people around you expect you to show up ready. That is a lesson I will carry well beyond this summer.
