1"But I Don't Know How"

Skill deficits are one of the most basic
reasons for procrastination. If you lack the
skills to complete certain tasks, it is only
natural to avoid doing them. For example, you
may be a slow reader. If you have several
lengthy articles to read before you can write a
paper, you may postpone the reading because
it is difficult. You may even have trouble
admitting your poor reading skills because you
do not want to be seen as seem "dumb." Thus
procrastinating may seem better than facing
your need to improve your reading skills.
The key to solving skill problems, is to identify
what the problems are. Often a counselor, an
instructor, or another professional can help
you to make this determination. When you
know the problem, then you can take action to
correct it.

2"This Stuff Is Just Plain Boring"
Lack of interest seems to play a role in
procrastination. All students from time to
time lack interest in a course, however, not all
of these students delay in studying or
completing assignments.
If your natural interests are not stimulated
by the course content, one solution to
procrastinating may be to "just do it" (i.e.,
simply continue to attend class and do the
assigned work on time). This will give you more
"guilt-free" time to do those things that are
more interesting to you. Of course, it won't
necessarily make the class or assignment
interesting, but at least you will not cloud the
"good times" with worry.

3"I Don't Feel Like Doing It"
Lack of motivation is a commonly given reason
for not attending to an unpleasant task. Most
procrastinators believe that something is
wrong with them if they do not feel motivated
to begin a task. This simply is not true. How
many folks do you imagine feel motivated and
energized by the prospect of raking leaves, or
changing the oil in the car, or doing taxes?
These tasks are often seen as unpleasant and
less than exciting. To believe that you must
feel motivated in order to begin a task has
the order of events in reverse .

4"But What If I Can't Cut It?"
Fear of failure is another reason people
procrastinate. It goes something like this: If I really try hard and fail, that is worse than
if I don't try and end up failing. In the
former case, I gave it my best and failed. In
the latter, because I really did not try, I truly
did not fail. For example, you may postpone
studying for a major test and then pull an "all-
nighter." The resulting grade may be poor or
mediocre, but you can say, "I could have done
better if I had had more time to study."

5"How Can I Top This?"
"Fear of success" can be the other side of
"fear of failure." Here you procrastinate
because you are fearful of the consequences
of your achievements. Maybe you fear that if
you do well, then next time, even more will be
expected of you. Or, perhaps, succeeding may
place you in the spotlight when you prefer the
background.
Procrastination of this kind may indicate an
internal identity conflict. If your self
worth is tied to your level of achievement,
then you may constantly question yourself
about how much you must do to be "good
enough.

6"You Can't Make Me"
Rebellion and resistance constitute the final
set of issues
which can underlie procrastinating behavior.
Delaying tactics can
be a form of rebellion against imposed
schedules, standards, and
expectations. The expectations are often
those of a power struggle,
usually not on a conscious level. As an example,
your father has
an accounting business and has alwaysplanned
on having you become
his partner after college. You are enrolled in
the College of Business
and like accounting, but since you started
college you have been
wanting to explore some other careers
unrelated to business. Your
father says, "No, you'll stick to accounting
and like it."
As a result, you don't turn in work on time,
"forget"
to do assignments, and earn low grades,
sometimes flunking a course.
Rebellion against external evaluation is
another facet of
this sort of procrastination. For example, if a
teacher has offended
or angered you in some way, you may retaliate
by turning something
in late or procrastinating indefinitely.
Sometimes these same tactics
are used on classmates in a group project
setting or with parents.
The thing to remember is that you ultimately
lose (i.e., getting
the bad grade, loss of self-respect, etc.).
Rebellion and resistance are re-actions not
actions, thus,
the control of your behavior rests with
whatever or whomever you are
rebelling or resisting. If you are rebelling
against your parents,
then they have a great deal of power in your
life--probably more than
you really want. Decide what you want for your
life--don't just react
to someone else's decisions for your life.