2021 has been the most challenging year for me. From losing one of my closest family members to losing my dog, I felt that my life was turning upside down. But the light at the end of the tunnel was my internship at Hatch.
I was privileged to get the opportunity to intern at Hatch. Working here is a transformational experience. Professionally, you are constantly growing and evolving by tackling the most complex challenges imaginable and continuously learning. Personally, you are surrounded by the type of knowledge, talent, and passion that inspires you to be the best version of yourself.
Over the past few months, I’ve made more intellectual discoveries than I can count. Picking up nuggets of advice, I settled into Hatch and created my own flow.
This is my journey until now:
Being a sportswoman who was studying for a degree in Management and Leadership; I was fascinated about how the world of sports and business collide (if at all). And guess what, Hatch is no different from my sports teams.
These are 4 shared traits I’ve identified between my sports teams and being part of Hatch:
1. Teamwork, communication, and self-discipline are the pillars of success
Teamwork is a critical success factor at Hatch where everyone supports each other regardless of their position and seniority. My personal growth is always encouraged as much as the growth of the business.
Like in sports, you can have the best individual players, or you yourself might even be the best ‘player’ in one area, but a solid, cohesive team is important to reach the highest level in any game you play. You don’t have to be a solo superhero. Why go solo when you have your very own Avengers to help save the world!
Communication is key in every area of life. Through my internship, I learned the importance of communicating through work issues because it ultimately builds trust and stronger relationships.
2. Failure usually comes before success — you win or you learn
All my life, I have considered myself a perfectionist, because I continuously strive to do my best. Whenever I step onto the basketball court, I want to give in my 100%. There are days, where I fail to do so, with mistakes obstructing my path to victory. One thing I took away from all the matches we lost, was to learn from the mistakes and to have confidence in myself because confidence goes a long way.
Similarly, at work, everyone slips up, especially during the first few weeks as a new intern, and that happened to me too. From not conveying the proper message to another party, forgetting to send an important email, to being unprepared before a call with a partner. I beat myself up for all of them.
Along the way, I learned that perfection never happens — so don’t let its pursuit slow you down. Mistakes are inevitable. But how you choose to bounce back from them is what really matters in the long run. Interns are like a work in progress, and we are bound to be a little rough around the edges.
3. Be obsessed with self-improving
As a fresh undergraduate, entering the working world was daunting. I was dealing with many topics that I had never learned or acronyms I had never even heard of. I was exposed to many complex concepts that were alien to me.
Although I was juggling university, sports, fitness training and my internship — which wasn’t easy. I made time for self-improvement and stayed relevant. My tip is, read a lot, listen to podcasts, and be open to speaking to new people. Knowledge is all around us.
On top of this, I write a list of all the areas that my mentors told me that I need to improve on and did further research in my own time.
I encourage you to learn to improve 1% every day. Continuous improvement is a dedication to making small changes and improvements every day, with the expectation that those small improvements will add up to something significant.
I’m grateful that the Hatch Team was super flexible and accommodating and made sure that I was able to do it all.
4. Simplify your game plan into manageable components for yourself
I consider myself pretty good at multitasking and I like to stay busy. I also don’t like to say no. I feel as though I’m not living up to my potential if I say it.
As an intern, I frequently worked on several tasks at a time, so I always had multiple items on my to-do list. I wanted to check off everything on my list before my shift was over. This became extremely overwhelming, and sometimes, I found it affecting the quality of my work. I learned it’s okay to say no (in a respectable way). As much as we would love to do everything under the sun, we are only human and can only do so much.
Summary
In sports and at Hatch, no one team member is greater than the whole. An internship at Hatch means you get a seat at the table. You can contribute to key decisions and your opinion are heard and valued. This was such a refreshing experience.
Even though you might think nobody wants to hear what you’re thinking, say what’s on your mind. Let people know your thoughts because they’re more valuable than you might think.
This is a game-changer of an experience and I’m truly grateful for everyone who helped me along the way!
By Dulinika Bulumulla, Program and Community Associate at Hatch