IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN, YOU PLAN TO FAIL Many at times, we are faced with situations that could have been prevented, situations that would have been solved with just the alarm clock. Time, they say is limited but at the same time, it is limitless. The way we spend our free time and how we plan our lives, is what makes us different from one another. We are not born with the same dreams, aspirations and goals. Planning, therefore, is an important aspect of our individual lives. By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail was a quote by the great Benjamin Franklin and as a physicist, it stuck straight to my head, not because of his educational background, but because of an incident that changed my life. It was the year 2009 and I just entered my second year in the university. I was this playful guy back then, never serious with anything. I only read when it was a day or two days to exams because I trusted my brain, little did I know I was going to regret it. In the 200L curriculum, Quantum mechanics is a 4unit course and also the most feared. My pride wouldn’t let me read, I attended the classes but my mind wasn’t there, I never did any assignment at home. I’ll just come to the class in the morning and copy from anyone, put my name and mat number and submit, no time. Then came the great asuu strike, we were trapped at home for three months. The strike was called off and exams were fixed 2weeks later, my work load was gigantic. I started running from pillar to post, doing awokos, sleeping in the library. I had like 12 courses to read and before the two weeks came to an end, I had completed 10, remaining the Environmental geophysics and Quantum mechanics. I was able to write the geophysics effortlessly, but the Quantum mechanics was the problem. The day before the quantum mechanics exam, I picked up my books to read. The hostel was so noisy and I wasn’t concentrating, I took my bag and headed straight to class to read. I got there, read a little and I saw two of my friends, they brought one of the courses they had a spill-over on and I helped them out. Time was going but I wasn’t bothered, it was getting late so I hurried home, took my bath and decided to read in my room. I read from 7pm till 10pm and I began to feel sleepy, I checked the time and counted the hours before 8am and discovered I had like 9hrs before the exams. I decided to sleep for 3hrs and use the remaining time to read. So I set my phone’s alarm to 2am and slept off. I heard a loud noise and it was coming from my door, I woke up with a gasp and held my mouth, I looked at the window and the sunlight was peering through, I began to look for my phone to check the time. I saw theidiot under my pillow, properly switched off. It was 8:00am at the point, I was panicky, I took my bath in less than one minute, my clothes were not even ironed, I put them on anyway and rushed outside with my calculator and pen and I put some cash in my pocket for transport fare. I waited for bike for 20 mins and I decided to trek to the junction. I discovered my trouser was torn and rushed back inside to change; I dashed out and immediately saw a bike. It was 8:30 when I got to the school’s maingate, deep down I knew there would be delays in the exam’s startup process, “nor be Delsu?” was the statement that was comforting me in my predicament. I wanted to pay the bike man and discovered my money was in the pocket of the trouser I changed, (that mogbe moment). I told him what happened and by stroke of faith, he just turned round and drove off(in this 9ja). I started running to the hall like a madman, luckily for me I saw 3 guys outside the hall who were also late comers and felt light, at least am not the only irresponsible fool. After 5mins of delay we were called inside to write but we were told to bring out our i.d cards (another mogbe moment). The lecturer, told me to run home to bring it, all my pleas fell on deaf ears. It was 8:45, and I was the worst looking person on this earth, my heart was pounding. I ran to the main gate and took another bike went straight home, took it and sped back. I showed the lecturer my i.d card and he told me to enter. I was walking straight to one of my nerdy friends when the lecturer called me, “young man, come and sit here”, and he pointed to his own chair and table facing the class, “don’t worry, you will be comfortable here”. The lecturer gave me the question paper and what I saw was in Arabic and Chinese, completely strange jargons. My brain just formatted like a memory card and my senses shutdown like a laptop. At that point in time, I couldn’t take it anymore, one thick properly molded fat tear drop fell from my eyes… was it karma?? Was it Nemesis?? Was it the witch in my village?? I asked myself those questions as I was copying the questions back into the answer sheets…. I got a big worthy F in the course, my first spill. From that day, my life changed. I learnt two lessons that day… “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” and “procrastination is the enemy of time”.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 12:20:36 +0000
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