Procrastination.

1. Self-Downing - this happens when you continually minimize your own skills and abilities and express doubt about your ability to succeed. A person who habitually puts himself down tends to disbelieve himself even when he is successful: it was “just dumb luck.” In addition, he may also find it hard to accept praise and compliments for work performed - false modesty. (“Wow, you did so well on the exam!” “Oh, I just lucked out; I really didn't know it all that well.”)
   
   The trouble with self-downing is that, given a long enough time, the person will actually come to believe that he is incapable of certain levels of achievement.
   
   Self-downing results in procrastination because the person who is uncomfortable with success will seek ways to become less successful and less visible. Turn in that important quarterly report late, and soon success will fade. (“Why did they fire you?” “I told them all along I couldn't sustain the pace, and see! I was right. I can't work at that level.”)
   
   

   How to resolve:

   • practice accepting compliments about your work performance by simply saying "Thank you."
   • Figure out why you feel uncomfortable with success. Did significant others in your life often make you feel that way? Were you taught to minimize your success? Why is success so scary? Will it make you stand out in the crowd? Do you feel as though others will not accept you if you are successful?
   • Remember to compliment and praise yourself for work accomplished.

The Inner Workings of Procrastination

A = Activating Event. The activating event is whatever you are putting off, such as studying, tests or unpleasant tasks.

B = Belief System. These are your "hidden" feelings about the task; your feelings govern your motivation. If you have negative feelings, you will tend to put off or delay. These feelings control your response.

C = Consequence. This is what we actually do. There are two approaches: rational and irrational. A rational response is "I don't like writing papers at all, but I had better get going on it anyway." An irrational approach is "I hate writing papers, and even though it's due next week, I'll start it later."

The fact is, all tasks are really neutral. Examine your belief system, understand why you dislike the task, then change your way of thinking.

Steps to the Cure

1. Realize you are delaying something unnecessarily.
2. Discover the real reasons for your delay. List them.
3. Dispute those real reasons and overcome them. Be vigorous.
4. Begin the task.

Practice What You've Learned

• Think of one thing you are currently procrastinating in, and write it on the line below. It might be personal, school or work-related.
• Now write all the reasons for your delay. This may take five or ten minutes because some of them are really hidden from you. These reasons are the controlling influences. Write down as many as possible.
• In the "Arguments Against Delay" column, argue against all the reasons for delay in a convincing manner. If you can argue against them successfully, you will be able to start the task.

http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/procrastination.html

Welcome to my life.