Perfectionism is easy to understand. Believing that we must do something perfectly is a recipe for stress, and we'll associate that stress with the task and thus condition ourself to avoid it. We then end up putting the task off to the last possible minute. But if we have no specific deadline for a task, perfectionism can cause us to delay indefinitely.
Fear of failing. if we are self-critical and feel inferior, we will avoid doing many things, especially competitive activities. Not trying is a form of failure but not as painful as actually trying and failing.
Disorganization is another reason to cause the procrastination. We might have a huge goal in our mind, but forgot to break down to the doable part. If we have to handle the multiple tasks at the same time, it's definitely getting worse.
There're lots of recommendation to help stop the procrastionation. But I found one by John Perry might work well. Actually he's quite funny guy. He pointed out "that procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing, they do marginally useful things." Just like now I'm writing my blog which is marginally useful thing comparing to my dissertation. :) In his structured procrastination strategy
Structured procrastination means shaping the structure of the tasks one has to do in a way that exploits this fact. The list of tasks one has in mind will be ordered by importance. Tasks that seem most urgent and important are on top. But there are also worthwhile tasks to perform lower down on the list. Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list. With this sort of appropriate task structure, the procrastinator becomes a useful citizen. Indeed, the procrastinator can even acquire, as I have, a reputation for getting a lot done.So for me, right now, I should change my dissertation from the top 1 to the top3 or lower that I can avoid to do my top1 task by working on it, and finally get it done. What's a marvellous idea!
I'm Ms. Procrastinator.
