Procrastinated researching grad schools for an entire year. When application time rolled around, I didn't have any thought process or criteria for selecting schools. Ended up applying to 7-8 random schools, all of them highly ranked.

As luck would have it, I got selected by one. Big school. Good for my field. Great location, too - a hub of great work in my field.

But wait, this isn't a happy tale. Being the chronic procrastinator I was (and still am to a lesser extent), I had failed to really dig myself into my undergrad courses. I had a superficial knowledge of everything in my field, which helped me give off an image of intellect.

I went to the US for my Master's degree. Procrastinated for another year. Did not do any lab research. Didn't get funding. Cue cycle of anxiety and hiding from my peers. Started skipping classes. The straw that broke the camels back was my failure to submit a take-home midterm. It had 11 questions (hard shit) and I had 6 weeks to turn it in. Didn't even attempt a single question. Had no peers to turn to as I had closeted myself off from the world.

Got kicked out. Came back to India. Everyone expected great things of me. I was that guy in my college and in my family. And here I was, back with my tail between my legs.

Thankfully I have amazingly supportive parents. The loss of money pinched them hard, but they were kind enough not to scold me for that. I did get a lot of regular earfuls for being a lazy, unmotivated pig though.. And rightly so. They lied for me, kept the preying relatives off my back. I pursued an MBA in India. Now I'm starting a job with a good American consulting firm.

I'm shit-scared of procrastination. I'm trying everyday to not be that asshole who blew away a fantastic opportunity because of fear and laziness.. Fingers crossed.