Medical Malpractice

Some thing's holding these people back. Bob misses the deadline for handing in his term paper and has to repeat the course the following semester. Kathy fills her garage with so many boxes and junk that she can't park her car in it. Anthony keeps postponing taking the test that will allow him to practice medicine in his state, and Beverly puts off finding an office for her new business. What do these four people have in common? "That's easy," you may think. "They are all procrastinators."

Yes, that's true, but why are they willing to put up with the dire consequences of dragging their feet? Bob can't graduate on time. Kathy's boyfriend is on the verge of breaking up with her because she's so messy, and Anthony isn't earning any money. No, they aren't lazy, stupid or weak. Their lack of initiative is caused by fear. What kind of fear could be so intense that a person would rather hold back and be willing to suffer the negative outcome rather than go ahead with things that seem simple or desirable to most of us?

The most common fear that debilitates procrastinators is failure or judgment by others. Those who are terrified of not being good enough usually put off finishing anything to avoid criticism. Their greatest fear is looking foolish or stupid. That is why Bob doesn't hand in his term paper. He isn't sure he can get an A and believes that anything less is a sign of failure. The more he struggles to get it right the more time passes until it's too late.

Beverly has a fear of success. Beverly, a woman in her late thirties, wants to start her own business. Each time she goes office hunting and imagines her name on the door, a small voice inside her head whispers that if she is too successful no man will want to marry her and take care of her. Her mother's generation were mostly housewives who thought their mission in life was to look good and make a lovely home for their husbands. What if mother is right? Would she jeopardize her chances if she competes successfully with men?

Anthony is a remarkable man who has finished his medical residency and wants to open a medical practice but hasn't taken the test that will license him to begin. He can't make himself follow through. He is afraid of the future. Anthony's worst nightmare is that he will make a mistake, kill a patient and be sued for malpractice. He is unable to move forward because he thinks he knows what the future will bring and he can't chance it.

Lots of people have messy garages and most of them have the same fear as Kathy, a fear of authority figures. I call it, "I don't want to and you can't make me!" In her teens, Kathy's father rarely let her meet her friends at the mall on Saturday until she had done all the chores he set out for her He was mean, and she was still angry with him. Procrastinators like Kathy are still ruled by their rebellious inner child. The more her boyfriend nags her, the more she procrastinates. No one is going to boss her around anymore, no matter what.

Are you still wondering why you are having a hard time completing a task that appears to be simple according to your friends, family or co-workers? Which of the four fears are yours? Fear of failure, Fear of success, Fear of the future, or Fear of authority? Are you ready to let go of them and move forward?