For the last month I’ve been listening to Neil Fiore’s Conquering Procrastination CD set from Nightingale-Conant.

It was yesterday that I had a profound insight into how procrastination was affecting my life.

For ages I have been saying to myself “I want to work on my website” or “I want to develop some software”. Yesterday I realised that every time I sit down to do that I feel:

• That the project I have to do is huge
• That the piece of the project I have chosen to do is vague and potentially huge
• That I have to do this piece perfectly
• That I have do to it right, first time
• That it should be easy for me to do, that I already have to know how to do it

This manifests itself as a sense of foreboding; and that is when I procrastinate.

With that realisation I know that I have perfectionistic tenancies, a fear of failure and that my goals are not specific enough to be measurable.

With this realisation now comes an understanding of what I have to do:

1. Look out for the times when I sit down to do a vague task and notice any and all feelings that I feel.
2. Look at how I set goals. I think I need to be more specific and really narrow down what small thing I choose to do, and do humanly with a rough first draft, each time.

I wouldn’t say I’m cured.
Just on the road to recovery .