How I stopped procrastinating and battled back against anxiety
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“Do you want to make a success of your life? Then you need to adjust your attitude and put more effort into your work.”
The harsh words of my boss still make me uncomfortable, even today.
But in a way he was right — I was in a mess of my own making. And I almost did let it ruin my life.
Let me tell you my story and how I found myself in this situation.
My name is Scott. I’m 27 years old and I live in Baltimore.
And for most of my life I’ve battled against stress and anxiety.
It had nothing to do with my childhood. My parents were both loving and supportive.
They made sure I went to a good school, and from there on to a top college.
My family was proud of me. They told me I could be whatever I wanted to be and make a success of myself.
And for the most part, it seemed like they were right.
I majored in marketing. My greatest ambition was that one day I’d start my own agency.
When I left college I straightaway landed a prestigious internship. The money wasn’t great, but I learned a lot and enjoyed the experience.
When the internship ended I was immediately offered a more senior position.
I should have been happy. But in fact I struggled to cope with the increased responsibility.
I felt panicky. Was I really smart enough or skilled enough to do the job?
What if my colleagues didn’t rate me? Would they smile to my face but secretly think I was a failure?
I couldn’t get these thoughts out of my head. My work suffered. I was so scared of making mistakes I couldn’t carry out even the most basic tasks properly.
When I woke up in the morning I wanted to stay in bed. I had to drag myself into work.
Then the pandemic hit.
My office shut down. We were told to work from home.
But that didn’t help. In fact, it made things worse. In familiar surroundings, I started to procrastinate even more.
I’d sleep in way past 9 am when I should have started work. Then I’d just sit and watch TV.
I stopped attending online meetings, putting the blame on a faulty internet connection.
And I found other excuses for why I couldn’t complete my assigned tasks.
Essentially I was doing anything except work. And that soon got noticed.
One morning I was lounging on my couch, watching TV when I should have been working.
My phone pinged. It was a message from my boss.
“Call me. We need to talk.”
It was not an easy conversation. He told me that I was letting the team down and that my performance was not acceptable.
I was devastated.
But I agreed with him. I was the one to blame for everything.
I sank further into procrastination and inaction. All day, every day, I wasted time on pointless tasks when I should have been trying to catch up on my work.
I didn’t tell my parents about what had happened. How could I face their disappointment?
My hopes and dreams for my career were rapidly vanishing — and my anxiety was to blame.
The stress piled up. Worrying about my future only made me even more anxious.
This couldn’t go on. I needed to do something to get my life back on track.
I had to stop the procrastination and self-sabotage before it was too late.
So I did what most people my age would do. I Googled to see how to help myself.
Online there were thousands of blogs, reviews, and products promising to help me deal with my stress and anxiety.
Would any of them actually work? It was hard to tell.
But one product that seemed to get consistently positive reviews and feedback was an app called Virtue Map.
It said it was “your calm mind assistant”.
That resonated with me.
Deciding to trust the reviews and ratings left by other people like me I took a short quiz about my stress and anxiety.
The quiz itself took no more than two minutes. Then I took the plunge and bought a plan.
It was extremely affordable, certainly compared to spending thousands on one-on-one therapy.
The app was easy to use and I soon mastered it.
My 84 day plan provided me with practical guidance, advice, and activities.
Every day there would be something to read, then a task to complete.
That structure, as simple as it sounds, was really useful. It helped me get into a positive routine, free from procrastination.
And that was what I needed to get back to work and regain the confidence of my boss and co-workers.
Building constructive, useful habits is something that Virtue Map helps me with a lot.
And the app also has a fantastic activities section that helps categorize and plan my day ahead.
It has four groups; Healthy, Mindfulness, Relaxation, and Physical. You can also create your own if you want to.
You can use them to build a schedule that’s customized to your needs. It’s a great way to get into healthy routines and habits.
And if things start to overwhelm me or I get panicky, Virtue Map has a function that helps to calm me down.
It lets me take a set of exercises that quickly reduce my anxiety level.
I’ve had to use them a couple of times and they really do work.
Now that I’m using Virtue Map I feel more in control and much less anxious.
I’m managing much better at work and my boss has told me that he’s happy with my performance.
Knowing that I can access Virtue Map whenever I need to boosts my confidence.
And the positive routines and habits that the app has helped me build have made me a better person.
I no longer put off doing work, make lame excuses for missing meetings, or sit around all day doing nothing productive.
I’ve stopped worrying I’m not good enough for my job.
My self confidence has grown. I trust myself to make the right decisions. I feel like a new man.
And it’s all down to Virtue Map.
I have complete faith in the app. It’s backed by tons of research and solid science – I checked that out myself.
I no longer procrastinate. That just isn’t ‘me’ anymore.
So if you struggle like I did, or if you know someone who does, check out Virtue Map.
Give it a try. Take the free quiz about your stress and anxiety and see how it can help you out.
It only takes a moment of your time, and the quiz itself contains some valuable information you won’t find elsewhere.
Thanks for reading. I hope this is the start of building a better you.
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