In psychology, procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of low-priority, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time. Some psychologists cite such behavior as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. Other psychologists indicate that anxiety is just as likely to get people to start working early as late and the focus should be impulsiveness. That is, anxiety will cause people to delay only if they are impulsive.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination

The point from this article about procrastination that most strikes a chord in me is "Some psychologists cite such behavior as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision." Pretty sure this is right on for me, although it doesn’t specify why I feel anxiety about these things, only that I do.

I would suggest that the reasons I personally feel anxiety is that I am often afraid of making the wrong choice or doing the wrong thing so that when it’s all done, I’ll have made a mistake. I seem to have a fear of action, not because of the consequences of being wrong, but because of the knowledge that I will have wasted effort. That kind of makes me feel like laziness might be the key factor here. If I make the wrong choice I’ll have to do it all again, and what if I choose wrongly that time too? It would be a never-ending cycle of doing doing doing, for nothing nothing nothing…

I am rational and practical but with a touch of emotional thrown in just to mess things up for me. :) However, I can feel that 2012 is a year for change and I see some major things on my horizon. I am determined to change my ways this year. It’s my year of doing, being, and enjoying. Forget the theory, forget the worry. Decisions have become a seesaw for me. I go back and forth, up and down, changing my mind at the slightest sign. Choices is a word that still holds connotations of finality. So, it’s a year of choices–and sticking them out.

Here’s one of my 2012 resolutions I’ve been scribbling around, in an attempt to come up with a list that will have the most staying power for me.

1) No self-help books–of any kind. Basically I’m going to read only fiction for the next 12 months. Too much self-help doesn’t really help. Analysis only takes you so far.

That’s not to say I have these issues in all parts of my life. Let’s be real. Most people have spot problems. While they have difficulties with procrastination in some areas of their lives, in other areas they deal just fine. That’s the same for me.

I’m sure there will be more to come.