During the pandemic, schools and offices were shut down, which gave me ample free time. I knew that I wanted to use my free time to work on my fitness, programming skills and contribute to society. However, without any fixed goals or motivation, I soon found myself procrastinating.

Then, I signed up for Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. The online record book enabled me to visualise my goals and break them into smaller, weekly targets, making it easy to keep track of them. Accomplishing my weekly target gave me a sense of progress, motivating me to challenge myself and achieve more the following week.

I had already decided to practice Yoga to work on my fitness. Earlier I never stuck to a fixed schedule. Duke of Edinburgh Award aided me in planning a proper schedule and sticking to it.

Likewise, I had challenged myself to be future-ready by improving my programming ability in C ++. I had signed up for a course by a prestigious institute, due to procrastination, I was delaying my tasks. With the help of Award, I set daily targets and finally completed my course.

I also volunteered for a project backed by Niti Aayog (Planning commission of India) to connect with the elderly. I checked if they were getting their pensions and allocated rations on time and supported them mentally through the challenging times. It was a wonderful experience and gave me insight into the needs of the elderly and also taught me to be compassionate towards the most vulnerable section of our society.

Above all, it gave an immense sense of satisfaction to be of some help to society.
I thank Duke of Edinburgh Award profusely for increasing my confidence and developing the good habit of setting goals and deadlines in me.