Paralysis
"I should fix bug A before I look at bug B because bug A is more important" is a great way to make sure I don't get either fixed anytime soon.
I'm sure it's useful to figure out what prerequisites are, but too often I fail to weigh their difficulty (and remember to include procrastination and self-control difficulties) against how required they really are.
Maybe it's partly because of this that, when I heard "learn the rules so that you can break them effectively" as "learn the rules before you break them", I reacted so vehemently.
If I can predict when I'm about to stall this way, then I have a chance of escaping by telling myself, "Just DO something-anything!" In my more lucid moments, I might even get myself to plow through bug A first-by reminding myself that I can't count on bug A being any less of a problem or my motivation being any better once bug B is fixed.
...but that's all I've managed to figure out, and my self-control is apparently not enough to afford me escape reliably. Do any of you have this problem? How do you deal with it?