Hello everyone,

I’m writing this post honestly and calmly, hoping to get guidance from people who have experience in IT and cybersecurity.

I graduated in May 2024, and since then my biggest struggle hasn’t been difficulty in learning — it has been lack of focus, procrastination, and poor discipline. I keep planning to study, then delaying it, then feeling guilty, and repeating the same cycle. Because of this, I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of precious time.

The hardest part is that I’m still almost at the starting point, even after so much time has passed. I haven’t built strong fundamentals yet, and that realization scares me.

I want to build a career in cybersecurity, with a short-term goal of an entry-level SOC role and long-term growth in security. But I feel mentally stuck — my focus shifts often, I overthink paths, and I struggle to stay consistent even when I know what I should be doing.

I’m 23 years old, and I don’t want to waste another year. I’m not looking for motivation quotes — I’m looking for practical guidance from people who’ve been through similar phases.

I would really appreciate advice on:

• How to rebuild focus and discipline when you’ve wasted time already

• How to stop procrastinating and actually execute daily

• What a realistic starting roadmap looks like for someone who is still at fundamentals

• Whether aiming for an entry-level SOC role from this position is still reasonable

I want to be transparent: I used ChatGPT to help structure this post so I could clearly explain my situation. The experience and emotions are genuinely mine.

If you’ve been in a similar situation or work in cybersecurity/IT, your advice would mean a lot. I truly want to reset and do this properly.

Thank you for reading.