Procrastination is the thief of time, but what is it really stealing from you?

Edward Young once wrote, “procrastination is the thief of time” (Young, 1743, p. 13). The term procrastination comes from the Latin words pro, meaning“in favor of,” and crastinus, meaning “of tomorrow”. Most people put off what they need to do today and tell themselves that they will get it tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes. For many, procrastination becomes a chronic problem where they cannot finish their school work, house work, or personal tasks. Now you may be thinking “what’s the big deal, I eventually get it done?” – but at what cost? Procrastination is known to be a negative behaviour that also has negative consequences to your life. These negative outcomes can be poor grades (Moon & Illingwroth, 2005), and poor health (e.g., visits to health care professionals, Tice & Baumeister, 1997). Procrastination is also related to feeling worse, including more anxiety (Beswick, Rothblum, & Mann, 1988; Saddler & Buley, 1999; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984), shame (Fee & Tangney, 2000), guilt (Pychyl, Lee, et al., 2000), and boredom (Blunt & Pychyl, 1998). 

Edward Young once wrote that “procrastination is the thief of time” (Young, 1743, p. 13). The word procrastination comes from the Latin pro, meaning “in favor of,” and crastinus, meaning “of tomorrow”.

Most people recognize the pattern: putting off what needs to be done today with the belief that it will get done tomorrow. And often, it does — eventually. But the real question is not whether the task gets done, but what it costs along the way.

Research has consistently shown that procrastination is associated with a range of negative outcomes, including poorer academic performance (Moon & Illingwroth, 2005) and adverse health-related behaviors (Tice & Baumeister, 1997). Beyond outcomes, it is also linked to increased psychological distress, including anxiety (Beswick, Rothblum, & Mann, 1988; Saddler & Buley, 1999; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984), shame (Fee & Tangney, 2000), guilt (Pychyl, Lee, et al., 2000), and boredom (Blunt & Pychyl, 1998).

Procrastination can seem harmless and a simple delay that still leads you to completing your goals. But this framing misses something very important. It misses that procrastination is not just about time management, it’s also about our experiences with ourselves while we avoiding our work. Procrastination leaves us feeling guilty and anxious while we stall to start to complete our work. 

One of the most overlooked consequences is the way it fragments time. Tasks are not simply delayed; they remain psychologically active in the background, creating a persistent sense of unfinishedness. Even during moments of rest, attention is partially occupied by what is being avoided. In this way, procrastination does not remove tasks from experience—it keeps them present in a different form. It also carries an opportunity cost that is rarely visible: time spent avoiding a task is not neutral, but time in which future pressure quietly accumulates. Over time, repeated delay can also affect self-trust, as intentions become less reliable predictors of action.