Summary:
1. Don’t expect benefits before you get them.
2. Don’t believe every Tom, Dick and Harry in the internet world, no matter how professional they seem on whatever platform. Things too good to be true are often not true.
3. Don’t burden yourself more than your limit. It is okay to work less, every day. Long-running efforts create long-lasting benefits.
Start:
Today's not the perfect time to write this. But is there any perfect time to learn a lesson? It largely depends on what are you experiencing at what time, right? The more exposed and vulnerable we are, the more failures we face and the more experience we gain. Anyhow, I am going to write below the top 3 things that I learned in January 2022:
1. DON’T COUNT CHICKENS BEFORE THEY HATCH
I got offered a 4-lac RS freelancing opportunity on freelancer.com, which I completed in 3 days, doing nothing else but this job day and night. I missed a lot of meals and almost all the sleep. By the end of the 3rd day, I was hallucinating, hearing sounds. Actually, I wanted to surprise my parents with this much money. But well, after the submission and subsequent approval, that guy said he needs 50K "in taxes" to transfer the money from there to here. I was like, “Ever heard of Bitcoins?”. Anyhow, it was a scam. I learnt my lesson, the hard way.
Later, as I write this today, the last day of January, I have been offered another platform to conduct a campaign for Alumni of NUST, focused on women recognition; which in itself is a prestigious (and tiresome) task. I have started working on it. This time, I am not expecting any returns and I am giving only what I can manage easily. For such a topic, now I am interacting and thinking, brainstorming ideas and categorising them as I go to eat or prepare to sleep. I hope this goes good. If it doesn’t, I’ll still get a certificate of participation which is the only thing I need in the first place. I have a personal interest in this project though, which if you have followed me on Instagram, you'll prolly already know. I’ll give my best. Not expecting returns is a lesson I learned this January.
2. BEWARE OF SCAMS
From November 2021 to January 2022, I have been scammed quite a lot. Once I mistrusted an online shopping brand, selling scooties, losing 5K. For most of the people where I study, 5k is their daily pocket money. Or perhaps a small portion of that. For me, it's a lot and I lost it pretty stupidly too. However, the email I sent to their support department before the transaction is a piece of gold, and I have preserved that souvenir. For your reading pleasure, I've attached the screenshot herein.
Then I trusted Daraz, a popular Pakistani online market, to get a back straightener. This time it was just a 1000 that I humbly gifted to my scammer. The belt that arrived was childish, and certainly a joke. I did not follow back due to lethargy/inertia. It was going to be a whole mess if I decided to recover that 1000, and just not worth my time and energy.
Lastly, the 400K scam I wrote above hurt the most. But I passed this hurtful feeling in about 24 hours, or less. This amazed me a lot and provided strength. A lesson learnt hard but a lesson learnt well. Now I'll be mindful of scammers. Today however I asked a guy having a scootie how much was it for. He said that was for 175K. I don't believe this ridiculuous price too, but 5k is more foolish! Please don’t do it. I won’t do these three mistakes from now. I'll try my best!
3. AVOID OVERWORKING
Being an over-thinker, I naturally was mindful of planning my days when I wanted to, and not to get overwhelmed. However, still, I got overconfident one week (mid-January) and put a lot on my plate. For 4 days continually that week, I had to postpone stuff at the end of everyday day. On the 5th day, I did not get up out of my bed, my mind refusing to work anymore. In this state, I also spent the next day. This was also the time when I came to know of getting scammed for 400K, so that concern/regret could be added here too, as a cause for this stalling. On the 7th day, however, I got up. All the plans I made after that were broken down into smaller do-able parts, and each day has less of them now. This helped me then to stay on track by completing my to-do list almost every day. My goal is to approach a time when I know how much time to allocate on what activity, each day, and how many activities to add to tomorrow’s calendar, based on my energy and time available. By the time I hit my birthday, I am sure I'll be able to get this goal implemented in daily life. I use Todoist as my Productivity Tool btw. If you decide to get it too, you can copy and paste my referral: https://todoist.com/r/awais_vnxrpo. This will help both of us, I will get 2 months of todoist and you’ll get the satisfaction of contributing to my life. If you don’t have the time or the energy to do so, I understand. Just know two things before you start:
1. If you are a student, you can send them your student card picture and you'll get a year of Pro version for free.
2. When you began to use any productivity method, take care of yourself first. Chances are you'll overwhelm yourself. Stuff will keep slipping off the plate in the first some months until you try different methods and know what works the best for your lifestyle. All through this, remember, you are important for your world to happen. Don’t repeat my mistake of January 2022. Goodbye.
I have to mark the outline of the first project for my first internship in the first month of 2022. The third phase of the day is passing by. Take care of yourself. Bbye.
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