- Losing an opportunity
Growing up, my parents and siblings told me that I liked to do things on my own schedule. I was the last to do my laundry, last to leave home for school, and close to last in submitting my homework which I had copied in class in the morning of the due date. Little did I know that this habit was the beginning of losing great opportunities in the future. I missed several job application deadlines because I always had it in mind that I worked well under pressure and will wait till the last minute to submit the application. But more often than not, these late submissions never happened and when they did, it was followed by missing out on essential requirements for the job application. I was fortunate to get a job through networking and everything felt right until I gradually began to miss deadlines again. I was known to produce the best work but often at my own time as against the required deadline given.
With time, people began to lose interest in me and my promises; once again, my boss re-echoed the same words, “You like doing things at your own time”.
After several criticisms, I decided to pick myself up. I wanted to learn how to code. I actually signed up for it but never followed through. I signed up for language school and I attended classes as and when. I decided to use my free time to read, but as usual, I read a page or two (the front page and the cover page). I never finished reading each book. I also wanted to finish my research work for school but kept postponing the 80-page write-up which I presumed could not be done.
Today, I read 5 books each month. I am in progress of learning a new language online. I am currently on page 30 of my research paper and the progress is overwhelming. It wasn’t all rosy though. I went through some days of struggle but I bounced back much faster than I did in the early days when I could practically do nothing to get myself to follow through with my promises. I wanted to share what brought about this change and how I am overcoming procrastination.
Click to read part 2 of this article https://career1o1.com/2020/09/25/my-struggle-with-procrastination-and-how-i-am-overcoming-it-part-2/
