We all know that anything worth doing is worth doing well but are there times when we do not feel like doing it well or giving our best?
I've had situations when I was fed up and didn't care. Other times it was just because I was distracted.
The most striking situation where I didn't give my best was during one of those exams in medical school.
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In medical schools in Nigeria, you have to write a series of exams to qualify for the professional exams
This series of exams serve as a continuous assessment for the professional exams.
So when I got into the second year, I was meant to write anatomy and somehow it was the hardest of the courses I had to sit for.
I didn't read at the start of the semester and towards the tail end of the semester I tried to start but everything felt like Greek to me.
I was able to crash read it and failed the exam woefully.
I was very sad but deep down I knew that I didn't do so much to pass that exam.
I don't know why people feel sad when they don't try their best. Are they expecting a miracle or what?
What could I have done differently?
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I could have done a lot of things when I look back.
First, I should have started reading from the first day of the semester.
The truth is in medical school every day you read, your workload reduces by a huge fraction.
I should have read at least every day and even if I am not able to read every day, 5 days in a week would have done a lot.
The second thing I should have done was to ask questions.
There is a famous adage my village people say and it goes like this
Person wey dey ask questions no dey miss road.
This means that people who ask questions don't lose their way.
If I had asked questions about the course and how I could pass from others who have passed the exams, I would have avoided every mistake possible.
I know this because when I wrote the second exam after a series of questions, I passed the exam effortlessly.
My mentor would always say
Repetition is the key to long-lasting memories
When I started passing my exams he then told me that if I read a syllabus 3 times, my result will be way better than reading once I should have read that syllabus 3 times.
The last thing I was meant to do was to rehearse past questions. History has it that most questions asked are usually from questions they asked in the past. This would have helped me to focus my reading to high yield topics during the crash reading period.
Why didn't I do it right in the first place?
The truth is, I was distracted on so many levels. I had more excuses than results.
I had a reason for not doing my best.
pixabayI was distracted first by myself. At that point in my life, I was addicted to video games. Funny enough I sucked at playing games.
I could play FIFA with my roommate for 12 hours without flinching. My roommate was not a medical student.
Another distraction I had was my girlfriend. I was not mature mentally to be in a relationship and so multitasking was not so easy so I chose her and left my books.
Politics is one big distraction that jits me every single time. Up until now, I am still into politics.
Then, it was too distracting cos I took up challenges that were bigger than me so this also ate my time.
Finally, laziness and procrastination finished the remaining part
what was the result of not doing my best
Well, the obvious happened, I failed...
I failed so woefully that I had to start preparing for the next semester exams immediately after I saw my results.
Well, it made me fight like a lion to have a CA capable of qualifying for a professional exam.
It also made me realize that I had to work so hard to pass my exams.
What will I do differently if I had a chance?
I probably will listen more in class, read what was thought on that same day.
Learn more skills that were available at that time.
Reduce my gaming to a reasonable extent.
Anyways, I guess that's all for now. Thank you for reading.