However, I feel this does not apply for me and greatly misses one of the main aspects of procrastination: the fear of disappointment. Can I fulfill my parents expectations? Can I fulfill my own expectations? Will I fail? Will it hurt to face my own demons and my own fears of not succeeding?
Am I just different? I thought this was what procrastination is about for everyone.
This falls pretty squarely into the “expectancy” factor. You don’t have faith that you’ll obtain a pleasing outcome, hence you procrastinate instead.
From the article “Expectancy. Do you expect to succeed? Are you confident in your ability to achieve a great outcome in whatever you aspire to do? If your expectancy is high, then you’ll be more motivated and you’ll procrastinate less. It’s only natural: you’re more motivated to pursue something that gives you a good chance of having a pleasing outcome.”
I feel the simple equation fails to account for that.
New York times article on procrastination was pretty nice called "why you procrastinate"
“I’d rather do $ANYTHING than $B because I don’t actually know how to get started with $B or haven’t yet decided it’s the right next step”
In those moments the gut is trying to tell me something important. Usually $B is not in fact the correct next step and a better option $C exists if I just take the time to look around a little.
Of course sometimes the gut is just afraid or needs more info in which case you gotta give $B a forceful attempt to see how it feels. Often it ends up working just fine or you gain additional info that makes $C super obvious.