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Fuelling Motivation and Achieving Success: Navigating Setbacks

Olasunkanmi Arowolo

Researcher, Lecturer, Coach, and Mentor in Journalism.

Determined to focus on my goal, I finally decided to work on it yesterday. Then, boom, I opened an email from the uni skills department about a Three Minute Thesis (3MT) presentation scheduled for today, June 11, 2024 at 10:40AM. This news put me off because I wasn't prepared at all—no script, nothing written, not even close to being ready. So, I felt discouraged and didn't do any work on my goal. I left my study and watched a couple of videos, just distracting myself. I did a few other things because I wasn't feeling motivated. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime. My wife brought in lunch, and afterward, I kept moving around the house. I didn't go back to study for the rest of the day.