One of the most common questions we get as therapists is, “Why do I procrastinate?” In our view, this question reflects the frustration that comes from suffering anxious procrastination. On the one hand, you know what you need to do. But you don’t do it, or you wait until the last minute. And time and again the pattern repeats itself. You feel caught, trapped in a vortex of anxiety, worry, stress, and procrastination. We wrote this chapter to help you begin to answer the question, “Why do I procrastinate?”

We’ll briefly describe these reasons and then you’ll complete a self-assessment test to see which most frequently lead to procrastination for you.

Fear of Failure: The thought of putting in effort and still failing makes you anxious. Instead of trying and failing, you choose avoiding and procrastinating. You might especially fear the disapproval of others and feel that no matter what you do, you’ll come up short.

Fear of Success: The idea of doing well makes you nervous and panicky. You fear higher expectations, greater responsibilities, and undeserved accolades, and these fears lead you to procrastinate.

Low Self-Confidence: You see yourself as incapable in general. You feel you aren’t good enough and don’t possess the traits that others have which allow them to do well.

Low Self-Efficacy: You feel you’re incapable of meeting the specific challenges of a task. You believe you lack the basic skills to get things done and often think, This is too hard. I can’t do it.

Perfectionism: You believe that things should be done perfectly. You might also believe that other people expect perfection from you. As a result, when faced with a task, you become overwhelmed and easily frustrated by your own unreasonable standards.

Difficulty with Uncertainty: It’s difficult for you to face the unknown, and you feel you must know the outcome before you start. However, since everything in life is uncertain to some extent, you get paralyzed by doubt and turn to worry and avoidance to deal with the uncertainty.

Difficulty Making Decisions: You focus more on information gathering than on actually making a decision. This style of procrastination is closely tied to perfectionism, as you feel you must find out everything possible to avoid an error.

Task Aversion: You tend to think about the unpleasantness of a task. Instead of focusing on the outcome or the pleasure of completing a task, you consider only the challenges of it. Once you’ve convinced yourself the task will be truly awful, you avoid it.

Why do you procrastinate?

The self-assessment test below will help you pin down the reasons why you procrastinate. We’ve listed the most common reasons underlying procrastination along with questions to help you assess your own tendencies. If your answer to a question is yes, put a check in the box.

Fear of Failure

• When faced with a task, do you think of all the ways it could go wrong?
• Do you imagine yourself failing instead of succeeding?
• Do you picture how important people in your life might react if you failed?
• Do you tend to blame your failures on things like lack of time or effort?
• Do you believe it’s better to not try at all than try your best and fail?

Fear of Success

• Do you fear change as a result of success?
• Are you overwhelmed by the possibility of new responsibilities or higher expectations if you are successful?
• Do you worry that success will alienate you from your friends or family?
• Do you feel success will ultimately lead to disappointing others or letting them down?
• Do you feel your success will lead to other people finding out about the “real you”?

Low Self-Confidence

• Do you see yourself as inadequate or inferior?
• Do you feel that you lack confidence?
• When other people ask you to do something, is your initial reaction “No” or “I can’t”?
• Do you tend to defer to other people and let them complete tasks for you when possible?
• Is part of the reason you procrastinate because you don’t see yourself as competent or capable?

Low Self-Efficacy

• When faced with a task, do you have a sense that you lack the ability to complete it?
• Do you feel that you lack the basic skills required to get a certain project done?
• Do you feel hopeless when faced with a challenging task?
• Do you find you give up too easy, feeling like you just can’t do it?
• Do you feel that other people can do things better than you?

Perfectionism

• Do you believe that if you’re going to do something, you should try to do it perfectly?
• Do you find it difficult to persist when things aren’t going just right?
• Do you feel that others expect perfection from you?
• Would you rather avoid doing something than do it imperfectly?
• Do you find that when you do complete a task, it’s overly time consuming and slow moving?

Difficulty with Uncertainty

• Do you find uncertainty uncomfortable?
• Do you feel you have to know the outcome of a project or task before you start?
• If you’re faced with uncertainty, do you tend to worry and ruminate about it?
• Would you rather have a guaranteed bad outcome than be faced with uncertainty?
• Do you put off completing tasks if you don’t know how they’ll turn out?

Difficulty Making Decisions

• Do you seek out excessive amounts of information before making a decision?
• Does your belief that you have to make a perfect decision prevent you from making any decision?
• Do you focus more on not making a bad decision than getting things done?
• Do you feel paralyzed by your options when making a choice?
• Would you rather put off making a decision than make one you regret?

Task Aversion

• Do you express your resentment about a task by not doing it?
• Do you find it difficult to persevere if something is boring or unpleasant?
• Do you feel like you shouldn’t have to do something if it’s not enjoyable?
• Do you sometimes make a mountain out of a mole hill and convince yourself that a task will be horribly unpleasant before you even start it?
• Do you find that when you do complete a task, it usually isn’t as bad as you thought it would be?

What Are Your Reasons for Procrastination?

The self-assessment test highlights the most common reasons for procrastination. Take a moment to look closely at your answers. If you’re like most people, you checked questions from more than one area. For example, you might’ve checked off some items under Difficulty with Uncertainty, Low Self-Efficacy, and Fear of Success. Or you might’ve checked off items for both Fear of Success and Fear of Failure. It’s typical to check off items in more than one category. The goal here is for you to start to pin down some of the most common reasons behind your procrastination.

excerpt from The Worrier’s Guide to Overcoming Procrastination: Breaking Free from the Anxiety That Holds You Back by Pamela S. Wiegartz, Ph.D., and Kevin L. Gyoerkoe, Psy.D.