Butler: The first step toward overcoming procrastination is recognizing that shame is the demon in the closet. It's not that your skills aren't up to par. It's that you're avoiding a very particular emotion that has grown out of proportion within your unconscious mind. The way to cure that shame is to stay with it and to experience it. Pay attention to how you're feeling, and catch yourself when you're rationalizing in order to make yourself feel better. Don't say to yourself, "Well, if I complete the project and it's not perfect, that's okay, because no one is perfect." Stay with the shame for 45 seconds. Then do something else. Turn away from it. You're gradually inoculating yourself against the pain. You have shame in your bloodstream now, so it doesn't seem so foreign or so demonic. Now you can tolerate a little shame. Feeling embarrassed is part of being alive.

Jill Rosenfeld (jrosenfeld@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior writer. Contact James Waldroop (waldroop@careerleader.com) and Timothy Butler (butler@careerleader.com) by email.

Sidebar: Job Interviews -- The Dark Side

Behavior patterns that get in the way at work can also trip you up during a job interview. How should you prepare in order to avoid such a blunder? "Go through the questions that the interviewer is likely to ask. If you find yourself dreading a question, then stop," says Timothy Butler. "Pay attention to the images that the question conjures up for you. You may find yourself thinking, 'I don't even want to remember. That was such an embarrassing moment.' That's how you'll begin to learn about yourself and how to deal with the interview question."

Several years ago, a graduate from a top MBA program came to James Waldroop for advice. "Right out of school, she decided that she wanted to start a chain of pizzerias that were of better quality than California Pizza Kitchen," Waldroop recounts. "So she spent six months on the idea, raising capital and talking to some consultants. She finally determined -- and I agreed -- that her idea wouldn't work. So she pulled the plug. She had an interview coming up for a marketing job that she wanted to land more than anything in the world. But she felt this great embarrassment over the pizzeria experience. I walked her through the questions that the interviewer was probably going to ask, and she realized that pulling out of the venture was actually a very mature decision -- which was a great point to make in the interview. The weight was lifted from her shoulders, and she got the job. The point is that even just discussing things that you feel embarrassed about can be enormously relieving. It doesn't have to be a therapist; it can be anybody at all. It's a great relief to find that other people don't find your burdens as loathsome and horrible as you do."