Lost? Overwhelmed? Confused? or is it just Procrastination?
Updated: Nov 20, 2021
Yes, this was quite me a year ago. I was lost, overwhelmed and confused about the changing technology around me. This was just because "I was a master procrastinator". I looked around my circle to find people who were sailing in the same boat as me and finding various ways to "catch the tide". Lets first understand what is "Procrastination" and later I will share an experience with you that changed my life!
Procrastination definition Trouble persuading yourself to do the things you should do or would like to do. When you procrastinate, instead of working on important, meaningful tasks, you find yourself performing trivial activities.
ᴵᵐᵃᵍᵉ ᶜʳᵉᵈᶦᵗˢ: ᵖʳᵒᶜʳᵃˢᵗᶦⁿᵃᵗᶦᵒⁿ.ᶜᵒᵐ
If you want to learn and understand more about "Procrastination" please visit: https://procrastination.com/what-is-procrastination
Now let me share my experience:
As we know if you are in IT, learning CLOUD is the thing! When I realized this I wanted to learn cloud and pickup new skills, so first I started planning and researching (honestly, my research was a quick call to my friend and got the answer) it was Microsoft Cloud "Azure". Coincidently at the same time I found out that Microsoft was hosting a one day exclusive training for Az-900 and this was on 18th Feb 2020. Yes they were in town with an Azure workshop, I enrolled and attended the training.
Later that week I had scheduled the exam on 14th March 2020 with the free exam voucher that was provided as part of the training. Now that I have the exam approaching a normal person would spread out their study time something like figure 1, trust me I wanted to do the same but I ended up doing something like figure 2.
Thank god even after this I passed! Official certified Az-900. I was overwhelmed with joy and then thought that I must get the next certification done in about 3 months (June 2020) which was Az-104. 3 months went by I couldn't do anything, another 3 months went by still nothing and another 3 months went by still no sign of studying but finally completed the certification after exactly 1 year in Apr 2021.
Now you might be wondering what happened? The 1st exam Az-900 I was able to complete it within a month of taking up the training even with the tiny delay ah! "procrastination"!
Let me explain there are actually two kinds of "procrastination"!
One with a deadline - here the effects of "procrastination" are contained and short-term because of the deadline!
One without a deadline - here the effects of "procrastination" are not contained and long-term because of no deadline!
The 1st kind is at times acceptable but the 2nd kind is the one which most of us need to get rid of because it results in huge amount of long-term unhappiness and regrets.
If you really want to achieve something in life you need to start having deadline and definitely we cannot stop "procrastinating" but guess what when you have deadlines you will fall under the 1st kind of "procrastination" which is better than the 2nd kind.
Once I realized this I was able to complete multiple certifications in one year by having deadlines and I am still a "procrastinator" but one with a deadline! Inspired by a Ted talk by Tim Urban! Honestly it was life changing believe me!