Here's your detailed report.
Your Main Procrastination Type is Planning
What is it?
If you tend to procrastinate by planning, that means you’re always in search of the ideal plan -- the perfect plan that will lead you to success. Procrastination by planning is very similar to procrastination by Busywork. As Eric Ravenscraft wrote in LifeHacker:
“Procrastinating feels lazy… Planning, brainstorming, and discussing feels productive because you’re talking about doing stuff. If you don’t move to action, though, there’s no difference between the two.”
The important difference to note here is that planning is talking about doing stuff and taking action is actually doing stuff. If we never move on from the planning phase, we haven't actually started working on our goals.
Why does it happen?
“For some people, planning can be a way to organize what might feel chaotic, but it can creep into avoidance,” says Melbourne-based clinical psychologist Dr. Jacqueline Baulch.
The reason we plan, or over-plan, is because we fear uncertainty. “Uncertainty is nebulous and planning is the opposite… But putting something as unwieldy as our future into a few Post-it notes doesn’t really change the uncertainty itself,” says Baulch.
Planning can also be a symptom of perfectionism. It is much easier to plan than to move through the messy middle. We tend to get stuck in creating a plan rather than take action because we feel 'if only I had the perfect plan, I would make little or no mistakes, minimize my chances of experiencing failure, and reach my goal effortlessly.' As Dr. Baulch explains it: “Often we only want to get started if we are certain it will be polished, perfect, or successful.”
What does it feel like?
Just like busywork, planning can feel gratifying because it gives us the illusion that we're working on our big project or goal. Planning can feel like work. It can feel like we're actually accomplishing something but if you take a closer look at what's really happening, you would realize that we're actually doing is stalling the work that needs to get done and not taking action on our big goals.
This is not to say that we shouldn't plan. Planning is an important step in working on any goal or project. The problem comes in when we forget that planning is simply Step 1 of the process. If we never move past the planning phase, we never move past step 1 to achieving our goal.
As far as Step 1's go, planning is great but it is not how things are accomplished. At some point, the amount of time being spent on planning is the amount of time that we could have been spending on our project and knocking out steps 2, 3, 4, etc.
People think that if they could only come up with the perfect plan, they would have the perfect outcome. It is our need for certainty (and fear of uncertainty) that drives over-planning to a degree. It is important to realize and accept that, in life, there are no guarantees. There is no certainty.
Your Possible Root Cause is Perfectionism
What is it?
Perfectionism is a trait that turns life into an endless list of accomplishments. Healthy perfectionism can be self-motivating and drive you to overcome adversity and achieve success. But in its unhealthy form, it can be a root cause of unhappiness.
Why does it happen?
The primary motivation behind perfectionism is internal pressure. Pressure like the desire to avoid failure or harsh judgement. It is possible that there is a social component to perfectionism as well. Perfectionistic tendencies have increased substantially amongst younger people over the last 30 years, regardless of gender or culture.
Increased academic and professional competition is thought to play a part in this as well as the increased penetration of social media in our daily lives. Seeing other people living their best lives on social media forces us to compare our imperfect lives with theirs and increases our internal pressure to appear perfect.
What does it feel like?
Perfectionism — in its unhealthy or extreme form — is toxic because, although the perfectionist desires success, they are ultimately focused on avoiding failure. Perfectionists don't believe in unconditional love because they expect to receive love and affection only if they have given a flawless performance.
Perfectionists have unrealistically high expectations of themselves and others. They are quick to find faults and are extremely critical of mistakes. They procrastinate out of fear of failure and are unable to receive compliments and often don't celebrate their successes. Instead, they look to specific people for approval and validation.
Unhealthy perfectionism is often fuelled by fear of failure, feeling unworthy, having low self-esteem, and adverse childhood experiences. Perfection is an impossibility in reality. Striving for perfection can be very motivating and lead to excellent outcomes. But when this is taken too far, this striving can lead to negative consequences like procrastination, avoiding challenges, rigid 'all-or-nothing' thinking, toxic comparisons, and a lack of creativity.
Perfectionism, like any personality trait, exists on a spectrum and people usually lie somewhere in the middle of the two extremities. Like most traits, perfectionism has its pros and cons. On the positive side of things, perfectionism can push people to be their best and strive to give their maximum performance. On the negative side, it can lead to being overly critical, harsh, and judgemental of themselves and others.
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