One Lesson I Learned From Procrastination

When I left high school and started university, I found it extremely difficult to organize my time studying. I didn’t have to attend lessons every day or to prepare for weekly tests, so there was no regular schedule. There was a lot to study and managing time was a critical issue for me. I remember how uncomfortable I was when the next exam date was made public: I had a time limit, which meant no more wasting time or scrolling from one book to another, reading instead of studying.

I had to fight procrastination for four years, one exam after the other, but my most difficult experience was the final thesis, which was a summary about a specific subject. In fact, I found out that my teacher was a worse time planner than me since he continued postponing my appointments, and we never got to the point. He enjoyed correcting my thesis, and the following time he planned to modify it with some new ideas, so he checked his notes again.

Time went by and at some point, I realized I had to finish as soon as possible, and I had to fight an external enemy. First, I tried to meet my teacher in his office at the university, but I was not informed about his working life and I spent a lot of time on a chair out of his door.

Then I started writing daily emails, and I called the department office every week, leaving a message.

I was not aware of it, but I was starting my first project on time management: I divided the weekly plan into days, and on every page, I wrote down details of my daily activity. My goal was to push my teacher to help me complete my thesis. He was so busy that once he even replied to one email stating that he had lost the last version of my work, if I could please send it again.

At that time, I had started working part-time with an American company. I had been to the States to have my training sessions, and I knew how it worked. So, on the day of the exams, I went to the university and waited there, to meet my professor. When he finished and left the department, I walked by him and put on a worried face. I explained in a minute that I might have to go for some long training in the USA, and I needed to finish my thesis earlier than expected. I added that I was sorry, but I was ready to hand in a non-perfect work, if he agreed. It was a lie. I don’t know why but he suddenly noticed me and found my story interesting. In a few weeks I had my graduation.

This was the lesson I learned: if you are a procrastinator, there comes a time when you meet someone like you, and you will realize that you don’t’ like that part of your personality at all. Then you will try to make something happen, define your priorities, and change your behavior.

This experience helped me understand that I could change things and feel better with myself. I was no longer wasting time and I even found out I enjoy pushing situations that are somehow blocked, so I love change in general.

Therefore, if you know there is something you should work on, and you don’t feel like starting, or if you can’t create a plan about it, remember that someone could make your delay worse, and make you even more uncomfortable. And if you push yourself out of it, you will find a better person: you.