When a perfect performance or the achievement of a specific goal becomes the sole measure of your self-worth, too much is at stake to just start working without some leverage, such as procrastination, to break the equation of self-worth=performance.

In order to protect ourselves from being disliked, we question our abilities and downplay our achievements, especially in the presence of others. We put ourselves down before others can.

The more insecure or self-doubting we are, the more likely we are to turn any disappointment, any defeat, any failure to get what we want into evidence of our incompetence, inadequacy, and unworthiness. But that is a correctable problem, not a built-in one.

Insecure overachievement, as we call it, is the (somewhat neurotic) quality of never quite feeling comfortable with your output, despite knowing at a deep level that it is good. The quality often comes with critical self-talk and a high level of aspiration.