Functional Analysis of Self-Sabotage
Trace any self-sabotaging behaviour back to the fear it lets you avoid
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 85%
Borrowing the clinical technique of functional analysis, Corey Wilks reframes self-sabotage as behaviour that serves a purpose: it lets you avoid a fear. Perfectionism is 'procrastination masquerading as quality control' because the longer you tweak, the longer you avoid the ridicule of shipping. Imposter syndrome is the same coin, another route to dodge ridicule. Procrastination on work you care about usually shields you from possible failure: drag your feet long enough and you never put anything out to fail. The method is to catch the behaviour, ask what function it serves and what fear it lets you avoid, then act on that fear. Once you rob the fear of its power, the behaviour no longer serves a function and falls away.
Origin
Adapted by Dr. Corey Wilks from the clinical psychology practice of functional analysis (asking what purpose a behaviour serves) and applied to the self-sabotage he sees in high performers.
Core principles
- 01The behaviour is a symptom, not the problem
- 02Every self-sabotaging behaviour serves a hidden function
- 03Most of those functions are avoidance of a specific fear
- 04Name the fear and the behaviour loses its purpose
How to run it
- 1
Spot the behaviour
Notice when you're dragging your feet, over-complicating, tweaking endlessly, or taking on too many projects at once.
- 2
Run the functional analysis
Ask what function this behaviour serves and what purpose it has, exactly as a psychologist would with any behaviour.
Pro tip Say to yourself: 'How might this be rooted in my fear? What might I be afraid of that this is letting me avoid?'
- 3
Name the underlying fear
Connect the behaviour to a specific fear: perfectionism and imposter syndrome to ridicule, procrastination to failure.
Watch out Don't accept 'I'm just a perfectionist' or 'I procrastinate' as the answer; those are the excuses, not the cause.
- 4
Act on the fear, not the symptom
Take action against the named fear so the behaviour no longer serves its avoidance function and stops.
Pro tip The sooner you pinpoint the fear, the sooner the self-sabotage loses its job and dissolves.
In the wild
In grad school, doing outreach for people experiencing homelessness in sub-freezing Appalachia, Corey felt useless offering deep-breathing techniques to people fighting for their lives. He asked two supervisors with 50 years of combined experience when the feeling of not knowing what he was doing would go away. They said, 'We'll let you know.' From that day he never had imposter syndrome again, because he realised nobody fully knows what they're doing, so using it as an excuse to avoid the fear of ridicule made no sense.
→ He permanently reframed imposter syndrome as an avoidance excuse rather than a verdict on his competence.
Common mistakes
Accepting the label as the diagnosis
Saying 'I'm a perfectionist' or 'I just procrastinate' stops the inquiry exactly where it should start; those are the excuses protecting the fear.
Blaming every stall on fear
Procrastination can also come from distraction, bad habits, or lack of focus, so don't force a fear explanation onto behaviour that has a simpler cause.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators and entrepreneurs who keep not shipping and can't explain the pattern.
Not ideal for
Procrastination genuinely caused by distraction, bad habits, or lack of focus rather than fear.
From the transcript
“the function of perfectionism is to allow you to continue to avoid this fear of ridicule because the longer you put off hitting publish the…”
“it isn't the behavior the behavior is a symptom what the f*** are you afraid of... anytime I start to see that I'm dragging my…”
From the episode
How To Identify Your Internal Fears - Corey Wilks - #487
Corey Wilks