[AM1010101]

Most of my life I was like this. I studied for exams the night before, same for coursework. I did the night owl thing. I would leave my work right until internal deadlines and rush or work late to finish.

9 months ago I started a new job. It was a relatively senior role for me. Straight away my manager kicked my ass if I didn’t get stuff done. It was fully expected that I was a productive and competent member of the team. The prospect of loosing my job was very real. There is also no working from home so there is nowhere to hide. I quickly started focusing and putting in extra effort. For a while I had to put in extra time outside work to get up to standard but now I just work productively and go home.

When I work on my side projects I make far more progress far more quickly. I feel far better about work and life in general as I don’t feel like I’m wasting my time.

My advice is to put yourself in a situation that will demand a lot from you. Make sure you can’t make excuses and that you have someone/thing to hold you legitimately accountable to a high standard. It may be hard but in the long term it’ll help you reach your potential.

[blopp99]

I've always felt I was more productive on my own projects when I came home from a 9-5.

[renaissance_tea]

What kind of work?