| I was a terrible student in K-12 and then I college before I dropped out. Starting probably in middle school, I didn't do homework at home. I would do it in a panic the class before. Then in high school, I'd barely do it at all. I did well on tests so I suppose that's how I got by at all. In college, I got a part time job which I started taking more shifts at and stopped going to classes altogether because I was anxious about doing classwork. After dropping out, I went full time self studying 3D art and animation through DigitalTutors (now Pluralsight). I found myself more interested in programming so traded that for Pluralsight and Safari Books Online. Both 3D art and programming were immensely more interesting to me than Physics (which I was studying before) which I think influenced my work ethic. I got a programming job which forced me to learn as an additional full time job. I'm a relatively successful professional now, but I still suffer from devastating procrastination​. I put off launching an engineering blog for my company for almost a year because there was a step I avoided which eventually I did and it took 15 mins. The things which have been effective for me are the pomodoro technique. I use kanbanflow for this which also has a kanban board. I don't use this for everything, but I rely on it when I'm unmotivated or the task is really important. I also became more effective when I switched managers and made it a point to ask them to bug me about things. I tend to take on a lot of side projects and get them 80% done. Having a accountability (peer and/or manager) whom you actually care about impressing (or disappointing) is important, even if they're not in tech or at your company. |