Bill Gates had a ‘very bad habit’ that could have derailed his career: ‘It took me a few years to get over it’

billionaire Bill Gates is best known as the co-founder of the technology giant Microsoftwhich is now a multi-trillion dollar company. It turns out that Gates had to break a bad habit along the way in order to be successful.

As a student at Harvard University, Gates has a bad habit of putting things off.

“I liked to show people that I didn’t do any work and that I didn’t go to class and I didn’t care,” Gates said in a 2005 question-and-answer session Warren Buffett, as reported by CNBC.

Gates said he would prepare for last-minute testing.

“People thought it was funny. That was my positioning: the guy who didn’t do anything until the last minute.”

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Gates recalled the need to break this “very bad habit” when he entered the business world. The billionaire dropped out of Harvard after two years.

“When I first got into the business, it was a really bad habit and it took me a few years to get over it.”

Gates acknowledged that while procrastination seemed like a cool trait in college, it quickly became a liability in the business world, where last-minute work is generally frowned upon.

“No one praised me for doing things at the last minute.”

Gates said he worked hard to reverse course in the business world and tried to emulate the students at Harvard “who were always organized and got things done on time.”

While he managed to kick the bad habit, Gates admitted in the 2005 interview that he still hadn’t fully learned not to put things off.

“I’m still working on it, but procrastination is not a good habit.”

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