How Fear (Especially of Failure) and Procrastination Are Connected and What To Do About It
Procrastination is a common issue, which occurs when people unnecessarily postpone decisions or actions, generally despite knowing that doing so will likely affect them negatively.
A common reason for procrastination is fear, meaning that people procrastinate because they’re afraid of something, such as failing or being criticized. For example, if a person delays doing a task because they’re afraid of failing, even though it would be better for them to just do the task, then that person is procrastinating due to fear of failure.
The association between fear and procrastination is complex, and can have serious implications, so it’s important to understand it. As such, in the following article you will learn more about how fear and procrastination are connected, and see what you can do about this in practice.
Fear generally causes procrastination by serving as a powerful emotional deterrent, which makes people more averse to certain tasks, and causes those people to delay taking action as a way to delay whatever it is that they’re afraid of. For example, if a person is afraid to fail on a task, then they might postpone the task as a way to delay dealing with their fear.
