Have you ever found yourself feeling anxious and unable to take action, causing you to put off tasks or responsibilities then feel behind and overwhelmed ? You’re not alone. This pattern of behavior is a lot more common than you might think and can have a significant impact on your daily life. In fact, the link between anxiety and procrastination is often overlooked. In this post, I’ll share some insight on how they’re connected and how you can move forward.
If you’ve noticed that anxiety and procrastination occur simultaneously for you, it’s not by chance. In my almost three decades of providing anxiety therapy I find that they are deeply intertwined.
Whenever you find yourself in a state of anxiety, it can become more difficult to take on even the smallest of tasks. Instead of taking action, you may distract yourself with more fun things or avoid or delay the issue, which can contribute to more stress in your life.
In this article, we’re going to look at why anxiety and procrastination are often linked, as well as how to shift out of this pattern.
Understanding Anxiety
Anxiety is something that many people experience throughout their life. In simple terms, it’s a feeling of worry or fear, which can vary from a mild discomfort to an intense level of nervousness. It can be a reaction to a specific event or situation, or it may be more chronic and without a clear trigger.
Some common symptoms of anxiety include racing thoughts, restlessness, muscle tension, fatigue, and sleep disturbance. On an emotional level, it can feel like a tightness in your chest or an overwhelming sense of dread or worry that follows you around. Tasks that were once easy may now seem insurmountable.
There are several types of anxiety, and understanding how they work can help you recognize what’s going on internally:
1. Generalized Anxiety. With generalized anxiety, you may feel a pervasive sense of unease, even when there is no immediate cause. Your mind may dwell on worst-case scenarios in everyday situations.
For more information about GAD read Understanding Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
2. Social Anxiety. With this type, social situations can feel daunting or overwhelming. You may feel overly self-conscious and fear judgment.
To learn more about social anxiety read Effective Ways To Manage Social Anxiety.
3. Health Anxiety. Health anxiety is a persistent and overwhelming fear of having a serious medical condition, even when there is no evidence of illness.
For more information about health anxiety read Treating Health Anxiety With CBT.
4. Panic Disorder. Panic disorder is characterized by episodes of intense fear, accompanied by physical symptoms such as a racing heart or shortness of breath. Panic attacks may come on suddenly, even when there is no obvious trigger.
Panic attacks can be very scary. Read more about what happens during a panic attack and how to cope in Understanding Panic Attacks & How Therapy Can Help.
What is Procrastination?
Procrastination is the act of avoiding or delaying action on a task. While procrastination can be a form of laziness, most of the time it’s not laziness and is a result of negative emotions, such as feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious.
The next time you catch yourself scrolling through your phone when you know you should be doing something else, it may help to ask yourself what is causing you to do that instead. Is the task at hand too big to know where to begin? Do you fear judgment or disapproval from others about the outcome? Or maybe you’re just plain exhausted.
Procrastination can have some common triggers, such as:
* Large or complex tasks
* Uncertainty about how or where to start
* Fear of judgment or failure regarding the results
* Mental or emotional exhaustion
In some ways, procrastination feels productive. It can serve as a distraction from the uncomfortable feelings you may be experiencing at that moment. The problem is that while the relief may feel good in the moment, it doesn’t last. In fact, it often has the opposite effect, leaving you with even more stress and pressure as you rush to get to that task that you put off.
It’s also important to note that there is often another emotion fueling your procrastination, such as fear or self-doubt. Recognizing this can help shift your understanding of your behavior. The first step to breaking the procrastination habit is often to look a little deeper at what is motivating it.
Procrastination is also a common symptom of ADHD and is linked to neurobiological differences in the ADHD brain. No matter the cause, procrastination can lead to anxiety and being self-critical. I cover these topics in my articles Key Signs of Adult ADHD in Women: What You Need to Know and Understanding Self-Talk and Its Effects on Our Mental Health.
How Anxiety and Procrastination Are Linked
In my therapy sessions, I often see a very strong link between anxiety and procrastination. One can trigger the other, creating a cycle that can be hard to escape.
For example, perhaps you are anxious about giving a presentation at work. You want it to be perfect, so you fear making a mistake and making a fool of yourself. This fear paralyzes you, and you find yourself putting off writing the presentation, opting to clean the house or respond to emails instead. At first, this avoidance feels fine. It allows you to suppress the anxiety without dealing with it. But then the day comes closer and closer, and your dread increases. The more you put it off, the bigger it looms, and the more anxious you become.
This process can repeat itself with other tasks, especially those that are tied to a need for perfectionism, self-doubt, or a fear of failure. When anxiety sets in, it often leads to indecision. You’re not sure if you’re doing the right thing or doing it well enough, so you end up doing nothing at all.
I’ve had clients tell me they know they should move forward but don’t know how to. It’s as if there’s an imaginary wall in front of them, and they can’t move past it. The problem is that it’s not an imaginary wall at all—it’s anxiety holding them back. The procrastination then leads to more anxiety, creating a cycle that can be difficult to break.
Recognizing this cycle is important. Once you can see it, you can take small steps to interrupt it and move forward. This is where talk therapy can be helpful.
Talk Therapy Solutions
One of the ways I support clients in changing these unhelpful patterns is through talk therapy. One method that has been shown to be effective in addressing anxiety and procrastination is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
CBT is based on the understanding that our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected. By helping you identify negative or unhelpful beliefs, you can work to replace them with more balanced thoughts, which can change the way you feel and act.
For more details about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety read CBT For Anxiety: What It is & How It Works!
Another way to tackle procrastination is by breaking large, complex tasks into smaller steps. Instead of facing a big project that needs to be completed in one sitting, you can take 15-minute chunks. Not only will the task itself seem less daunting, but there will also be a clear next step you can take even when you’re low on motivation.
For example, a client who struggles with procrastination may find that when facing a task, there are often beliefs about not being able to handle it or worries about failing. Once those patterns are identified, we can work to shift those thoughts in a more helpful direction.
Creating routines has also been effective for clients. When anxiety starts to take over your mental space, it can be hard to make decisions. Routines create structure and remove some of the decision-making from your day. Simple routines that get you going in the morning, take care of your hygiene, and even tackle your tasks can provide a sense of stability and make action easier.
The goal of therapy is not to make you “not anxious” but to give you the tools to move forward, even when you are.
Moving Forward with Anxiety and Procrastination
Struggling with anxiety and procrastination can make you feel behind or like you are failing. The good news is, this feeling is more common than you think.
If you see yourself in any of these patterns, it doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with you. It just means that your stress response has gotten a little stuck in overdrive. Luckily, support is available and change is possible.
With the right help, you can move out of that loop and start to build more confidence in yourself. Whether that’s through understanding the roots of your anxiety, developing different ways of thinking about the issues you face, creating structure and routine, or setting smaller goals that feel more manageable, there are options that won’t involve beating yourself up.
You don’t have to stay stuck. You just need to find a place to start and experienced, individualized support to help move forward.
Feeling anxiety-ridden and unable to accomplish tasks? You might benefit from anxiety counseling to help you through this. The approach can help you get to the root of both anxiety and procrastination to provide some relief and build up your self-esteem. With my support, you can work through the issues and find a sense of peace again. If you’d like personalized anxiety (or one of the other problems I treat) counseling, reach out to me, Dr. Sarah Allen, on the form below. I see clients in my office in Northbrook, a North Shore Chicago suburb, or virtually across IL, FL and the UK.
If you have any questions, or would like to set up an appointment to work with me and learn how to reduce anxiety, please contact me at 847 791-7722 or on the form below.
If you would like to read more about me and my areas of specialty, please visit Dr. Sarah Allen Bio.
Dr. Allen’s professional licenses only allows her to work with clients who live in IL, FL & the UK and unfortunately does not allow her to give personalized advice via email to people who are not her clients.
Dr. Allen sees clients in person in her Northbrook, IL office or remotely via video or phone.
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