A Note on Pacing Myself

The word "patient" has seldom been used to describe me.

In recent weeks, folks have asked how I like working for my new boss. I chuckle when I answer, "man, it is hard, that woman has ridiculously high expectations!"

To be clear, my new boss is me and I'm not actually joking when I mention those high expectations.

I've always wanted to get it right, to do it well. And I'd prefer to finish ahead of time.

Age and experience have taught me that typos aren't the end of the world and most mistakes can be corrected, but I still beat myself up when an error slips through or when I can't do it all.

Age and experience have also taught me that if I overtrain and start out in a sprint, I lose a lot of the stamina I need to actually win the marathon. Note, this is only a metaphor, I am not a runner!

There are literally hundreds of news stories unfolding across the county at any given moment and I want to cover them all! But those stories all deserve to be told well. So I pace myself, and I ask for your help.

There's a lot I want to do with Caswell News & Notes. There's a lot of existing content out there that simply needs to be curated from other sources. Community events, press releases, snapshots of people receiving awards, or catching big fish - all of it is newsworthy and a lot of it is already in the public domain. It's pretty time consuming and I'm still a bit hesitant to republish content generated by individuals that I don't yet have a relationship with.

I'm working on establishing those relations and in the meantime, it helps tremendously for folks to submit such content directly via email, this submission form, or this community calendar submission tool.

I've been around the county for a long time and I know a lot of people, but it's been 11 years since I've had a child in Caswell County Schools and 17 years since I covered the local education news beat so I no longer know all the coaches and teachers and front office staff. I haven't yet met most of the principals and I'm still learning how the Board of Education does things these days.

I'm much more up-to-date and familiar with the Town of Yanceyville and the Commissioners but county government is full of new faces in key positions. There are a lot of people making things happen in Milton, Pelham, Providence, Semora, Leasburg, Prospect Hill, Cherry Grove, Casville, and all points in between.

It takes intentional effort to determine how we all work together, how we share information, and how we hold one another accountable.

That takes time but it provides such a critical foundation that I'm not willing to take any shortcuts.

So I reassure my new boss that the process is just as important as the product and that it's ok to not immediately roll out every single section with full coverage. I remind her that if we want this thing to be truly sustainable, we must resist the urge to overextend our capacity and take the time to build those strong relationships and reliable communication channels.

Have I mentioned that my new boss is me? And that I'm not very patient? It's a challenging dynamic that requires I be very mindful in drinking enough water and pacing myself.

I remain grateful for your continued partnership in growing Caswell News & Notes together, thank you!