This week, it took me 5 hours to write a piece of code. My teammate did a similar job in 30 minutes. Fortunately, it didn’t really affect me today. But I remember a time when I would have felt extremely miserable for taking so much time to complete a task while my friend blinked and it was over for him.

Over time, I realized that we do not have to be perfect, or be good at everything. What is important, in my opinion, is the result. Am I able to complete the task? Yes. The time required does not matter to me. I know that many of you who read these lines may have difficulty thinking like me. Let me tell you all the good things working longer will bring to you.

My story

I have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD). As early as kindergarten, my teachers talked to my parents about my attention deficit and encouraged me to get medication. Now that I’m 22, I’ve been taking medication for more than a decade. It helps me a lot. On the other hand, it always takes me so much time to complete a task!

Whether it’s a task like homework I need to complete for school or a task I need to do for a personal project, it doesn’t matter. It takes time.

You’re not worse because you need to study longer than others

The person who’s faster than you probably has more experience in the subject! Let me make sure it’s clear:

You’re not an idiot

You have your place in your field of study, whether it’s computer science or another subject

You will eventually succeed in this difficult task, like all the others before!

This more difficult aspect of your personality makes you who you are. And I dare say it can help you in other areas of your life. Have you already realized? Let me tell you how this problem can transform you positively:

Why Working Longer Than Others Is a Good Quality

1. You’re determined and perseverant

And yes! When you have to work 10x more hours than anyone else around you, well… it makes you very determined and perseverant! Even if it’s difficult, even if you can’t do the exercises given by your professor, you’ll always work hard to make it happen once and for all.

We are all developing ways to succeed : whether we go to our teachers every week, send them emails continuously, raise our hand in class, anything, we want and we will succeed at any price! And that is a quality that many employers are looking for.

2. You’re hard-working

When we have to work that much to succeed… let’s just say that we get used to working hard, long, and we never stop until we reach our goal. So, you are someone who works, and who is not afraid to put the required hours in order to succeed. Being a hard worker is a magnificent quality!

3. You develop your organization

Having more difficulty, we find ways to overcome our problems. One of the ways I found is to be very well organized. For example, as soon as I have a question to ask a teacher, I write it on a post-it in the margin of my sheet. That way, when I’m in front of the teacher, I can ask him or her all my questions quickly and efficiently!

I now use a digital calendar to record all the events I attend, as well as the Todoist application that I use every day to remind me of the tasks I have to do. You need so much time to work, you learn to find ways to plan your time so you have enough time slots to succeed!

4. You can understand the theory better than your friends

Please read my whole explication before judging the subtitle of this section! Also, remember that this is all from MY experience with my friends. Everyone is different and unique.

When I spend 5 hours to do an exercise and my friend did it in 30 minutes, most of the time, I understand better the exercise and can explain WHY we did things that way and I am able to generalize for other exercises.

By having to work longer and more to reach the same point of others in terms of tasks, that makes me someone who persevere, and I developed other qualities mention in this post. Those qualities developed makes me someone who reads all the little characters in every little slide of the PowerPoints. What is the consequence of this? I know every little detail of theory we saw when most of my friends just went over it fast and didn’t pay as much attention to detail as I did.

This is ALL from MY personal experience with all my friends. The people who have it easier and don’t have to work as much as I do, tend to not study as much => they don’t go through the PowerPoint as much => don’t do all the suggested maths exercises when I do ALL of them (that’s an example).

What is the difference between a person who did 50 maths exercises and someone who only did the 10 exercises covered in class? Well, the person who did 50 covered more exceptions. What do you do when you encounter a maths problem you never did before? Well, it’s not as easy. What if that exercise problem was the 49th? I did it, the others didn’t. I know more than they do. That pays off in the exam.

You are able to do the work and you are not afraid! Yes, the ratio effort/result is not very good for you, but at least you have the merit of having given your 100% at all times.

Maybe you don’t see the result of your work in your grades today, but…

Let me tell you about myself again. Throughout high school, my grades did not reflect my efforts and my study hours. By cons, quietly, my notes began to rise. Then, in CEGEP, I started to get the best grades in my life. It’s a bit like something was unlocked in me. Finally, my work was showing in my grades, and they are even better now that I’m at university!

If this is your case right now and you do not see the result of your efforts, don’t lose hope. I’m sure it’ll come someday! That day, you will be so proud of yourself! I assure you, it’s worth it!

Conclusion

I wrote this article today because I consider that many people live this problem of loneliness and do not realize that this flaw can be positive in their lives. Not too long ago, I realized how happy I was to be who I am today, with my flaws and qualities.

I am very proud today to be the one I am talking about in this article: determined, persevering, hardworking, organized. And I would not be this person without the flaw of needing a lot more time than anyone around me to complete a task.

This flaw gave me today 4 beautiful qualities, so who am I to complain?