How to Stop Procrastinating: The Fear Beneath the Delay

Sometimes there is fear beneath the delay, and sometimes the story is more complicated. Procrastination is a way of escaping an unpleasant feeling attached to a task, and for some people that feeling is fear of looking incompetent. Psychological treatments appear to help a little on average, with cognitive behavioral therapy looking strongest in a small number of trials. Hypnosis can help you practice the hardest moment: starting.

What counts as procrastination?

The Wikipedia article on procrastination describes it as an avoidance coping behavior: needlessly delaying something despite knowing it could have negative consequences. After reviewing earlier definitions, Piers Steel concluded in 2007 that procrastination is “to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay.”

That last part is the test. Deliberately putting a task off because waiting has a real benefit is strategic delay, not procrastination. And the article notes that some delay is normal, even a useful way of prioritizing.

Is fear really what is underneath?

For some people, yes. The article describes several emotional routes into delay:

• Escaping a bad feeling: putting off a stressful task to avoid negative emotions, then delaying more as the deadline approaches and the stress rises.
• Fear of looking incompetent: students focused on avoiding looking worse than their peers procrastinated to avoid demonstrating a lack of ability.
• Perfectionism that feels like a problem: perfectionists who saw their perfectionism as a problem had high levels of procrastination and anxiety, while those comfortable with their high standards were less likely to procrastinate than non-perfectionists.

There is a counterpoint. Piers Steel argued in 2010 that anxiety is just as likely to make people start early as late, and that it leads to delay only in people who are also impulsive. On that view, fear may explain why a task feels bad, while impulsiveness explains why you reach for the escape.

How do you recognize the cover story?

The article lists coping responses procrastinators use to manage the discomfort of not doing the task. You may recognize one:

• Avoidance: staying away from the place where the task happens.
• Denial and trivialization: telling yourself the task is not urgent, or that what you are doing instead is more important.
• Distraction: immersing yourself in something else so you stop noticing the task.
• Valorisation: pointing with satisfaction to what you got done in the meantime.
• Blaming: putting the delay down to outside forces beyond your control.

What does it cost?

The pattern can feed itself. With a distant deadline, the article notes, procrastinators report less stress than others, but as the deadline approaches the relationship reverses, and overall they experience more stress and health problems. Guilt and a sense of crisis can then promote further delay. Some people find it hard to seek support because of the belief that task aversion is just laziness or lack of willpower.

Which treatments have been tested?

Fewer than you might expect. A 2018 systematic review and meta-analysis by Rozental and colleagues found 12 randomized controlled trials of psychological treatments for procrastination. On average the treatments had small benefits, with significant variation between studies. Cognitive behavioral therapy showed a moderate benefit, but in only three studies, and the reviewers rated the included studies as carrying some risk of bias.

In cognitive behavioral therapy, as the procrastination article describes it, you identify the thoughts around a task, label the unhelpful ones, correct them, and connect the corrected thoughts to action.

What can you try on your own?

The procrastination article lists practical steps, including:

• Becoming aware of the habits and thoughts that lead to delay.
• Working in small blocks of time instead of facing the whole problem at once.
• Changing your environment: cutting noise and distraction.
• Linking the task to a goal that matters to you, and setting realistic goals.
• Rewarding yourself in a balanced way for finished work.

Can hypnosis help with the fear behind the delay?

At the start line. In a session you can picture sitting down, opening the file and working for one short block, and rehearse staying with the first few uncomfortable minutes instead of reaching for your usual cover story. If your usual move is distraction, you can practice noticing the urge to check something else and returning to the task. No trial in the Rozental review tested hypnosis, so treat it as practice for starting, not as a treatment.

When is it more than a habit?

When procrastination is persistent and seriously disrupts daily life, the article notes, it may point to an underlying condition; it has been linked to depression, anxiety and ADHD. If delay affects every part of your life, or comes with low mood or trouble concentrating on anything, ask a doctor about an assessment.

Tomorrow morning

Choose the task you have been avoiding and decide the first physical action, such as opening the document or writing one sentence. Before you sleep, run through that action once in a short self-hypnosis routine. In the morning, do only that action and one short block of work, then stop if you want to. Notice which cover story showed up, and write its name down.

This article is general information, not medical or psychological advice; talk with a licensed clinician about your own situation.