frozen in procrastination

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How do you deal with going somewhere and doing something that you really need to do ( or want to do) but that pretty much petrifies you? I need to accomplish something that will benefit me and my kids (I'll leave the specifics out) but it involves interacting with people. This has been on my "have to do" list for over a year.

I don't really have a solution for you. I can only commiserate with you. Do you have a partner, trusted friend or adult family member? Maybe you could tell them about it and ask them to come along with you / help push you, so to speak. It's never going to be a pleasant thing to do.

I alternate between just nothing thinking about it, and doing what I've heard is called "chunking" (terrible name). I break up the big, scary task into small, manageable tasks, and then I do those small, manageable tasks one at a time. Frequently when I do the chunking thing, I still avoid thinking about the huge, scary picture. I only let myself think about the next step I need to take.

oh i'm a terrible one for this

I put things off until i am stressed out to the point that i'm literally sweating about it..
it makes me think faster and get things done quicker.

/i'm 23 and sometimes i don't get carded at stores so.. perhaps i should stop that...

If it petrifies me, it usually includes phone calls, in which case I have my father do it for me. That's a bit embarrassing as I'm 28 years old, but it's better than never getting it done.

I'm huge at procrastinating when it comes to other tasks too though, sometimes even if I like them. I tend to wait until it's either too embarrassing not getting it done (freelance work, favors for friends etc), or until I have to get them done to avoid screwing things up (assignments, reading for exams, etc).

I appreciate this a lot. I hate myself for the amount of time I procrastinate. The daft thing is that I make myself even more stressed by putting stuff off and I've even put my job at risk, because I can't overcome the inertia.

In fact I should be working now, but instead I'm putting stuff off because I can't get going on them. And then the longer it's left, the worse it gets

I'm afraid I'm not sure what the answer is - I've done all the courses my work can send me on (Time Management and all that) and it still doesn't help

It's bizarre - I must have more fear of starting something I am perfectly capable of doing than I have of getting in trouble for not doing it.

OhGod I *hate* cold calls. I *know* it's a who-cares person about a who-cares problem, but I hate that first breaking the ice awkwardness. Once I asked a friend to do something for me, calling someone who had crashed my car to get their insurance info, and that friend didn't want to (which is totally okay for them, but I was bummed). So it ended up I incurred some substantial $$$$ cost. But I still couldn't get around to doing it. This "feature" is something that's been so hard for me to accept about myself.

Occasionally I have the same thing come up with contacting someone I know, but it is most often with unknown people.

I do procrastinate about other things as well. Sometimes a way I cope is to create the situation where I have to act, eg arrange an appointment for a certain time, then I have to fill in the forms and get ready for it.

I haven’t voted in the poll yet. I’ll get around to it later.

Can I vote twice for "yes" and 3 times for "avoiding thinking about it"?

After you put it off, for over a year now, forgetting about it kind of blends in. I mean I did that already, unless someone or something reminds me. Thanks for this, sheezus. It isn't that I wouldn't vote, I just don't know which, now. Actually the pain reminds me every day, I still choose to forget it. Pain hasn't killed me yet, don't think pain does, think it's when it stops, you have to ask, am I dead now? Actually, it doesn't hurt as much as it burns...hey wait, let me rethink this, if it burns more, I might be in...where am I and how did I get in this hand basket? Parts wear out, oh well.