Does procrastination really signify a disease?

There exist both interesting and shocking cases of potentially unprecedented procrastination in the history of the world. Margaret Atwood, Canada’s maximally famous and admired writer and one of the country’s most prolific personalities, features among the cases. The website, Procrastinatus, highlights “In a celebrated five-decade career stretching back to 1961 she has churned out 14 novels, 9 short story collections, 16 volumes of poetry, 8 children’s books and 10 full-length non-fiction works, not to mention 2 librettoes, 4 ebooks and 3 TV scripts. So how does she do it? Often, apparently, she spends the morning procrastinating and worrying, and then plunges into the manuscript in a frenzy of anxiety around 3:00 p.m.” These cases are interesting cases, since they have achieved formidable success despite their extreme procrastination. They could have assuredly attained success which we can’t manage to describe, if they had been procrastination-free.

In a 19th February 2022 story by the Guardian, the writer of the story featuring Atwood says “So when she describes herself to me as a ‘grade-A procrastinator and goof-off’, I say that seems unlikely, given how much she writes, and she looks abashed.” The story writer whom we have failed to identify adds Atwood said “I know – it’s horrible, isn’t it?”  “When I ask how she managed to whittle her essays down to a mere 500 pages, she cringes again at her own productivity. ‘Horrible!’ But adds, ‘If writing wasn’t a pleasure, I wouldn’t do it.’ And Atwood’s writing is – unfailingly – a pleasure to read. She is one of the all-time great storytellers.” The following are key questions with which this edition seeks to deal:

1.      Does Atwood’s procrastination actually mean a disease?

2.     Does the issue stand as global concern?

3.     What could have materialized, if she had defeated this problem?

Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing tasks or responsibilities, particularly those which are important and require instantaneous attention. It encompasses shunning work which has to be conducted, mostly in favor of less important or more enjoyable activities. Procrastination entails various consequences which include feelings of guilt, stress, anxiety, and negative consequences like missed deadlines, decreased productivity, and unfinished projects.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) constitutes one of the world's largest biomedical libraries, situated in the United States of America. It belongs to the National Institutes of Health, a main medical research center. NLM, established in 1836, has evolved into a vast resource for medical professionals, researchers, and the general public. It states that procrastination often means the voluntary and unnecessary delay in the start or completion of significant tasks, despite recognizing that it will produce harmful consequences for oneself and others.

To overcome procrastination, it demands stern action. For example, Procrastinatus states “Herman Melville, the American author reportedly has [had] his wife chain him to his desk while he was struggling to finish his epic novel Moby-Dick; or, the Whale. It worked: the book, first published in 1851, is often listed among the greatest works of fiction ever written.”

1.      Is Atwood’s procrastination actually an indication of a disease?

Procrastination really signifies a disease, and the case of Atwood’s procrastination conspicuously constitutes a sign of a disease as it is even implied in the introduction of this article.

The first section of the introduction points out that Atwood passes her mornings, procrastinating and worrying and that she eventually plunges into writing in a frenzy of anxiety around 3:00 p.m. Endless worry or anxiety already represents a mental disease. Even the second part of the introduction also suggests that Atwood’s procrastination must be an incessant problem; which corroborates that it actually stands as a disease.

The following details from different sources indicate that procrastination is profoundly connected with an illness or constitutes a symptom of a certain disease.

Forbes published an article, on 13 July 2023, reading “While procrastinating has been shown to possibly lead to anxiety and depression, experiencing either can also cause someone to procrastinate. If someone is feeling depressed, they may lack the motivation needed to get started, even if the task is something they’ve enjoyed in the past.”

In its 19th August 2022 story, the World Economic Forum [WEF]’ says “Procrastination isn't a result of laziness or poor time management but it is linked to poor mood management, research shows. Procrastination correlates with serious health and wellbeing problems, including higher levels of depression and anxiety.”

It adds that research has found that regions of the brain connected with threat detection and emotion regulation differ in people who face chronic procrastination, compared to those who don’t procrastinate frequently. “When we avoid the unpleasant task, we also avoid the negative emotions associated with it. This is rewarding and conditions us to use procrastination to repair our mood. If we engage in more enjoyable tasks instead, we get another mood boost.

Tasks that are emotionally loaded or difficult, such as studying for an exam, or preparing for public speaking are prime candidates for procrastination. People with low self-esteem are more likely to procrastinate as are those high levels of perfectionism who worry their work will be judged harshly by others.”

Though you then feel that procrastination is helping you to navigating the so-called difficult times being caused by engaging in a task which doesn’t please you, procrastination certainly harms you. “How is procrastination harmful? Why is this such a problem? When most people think of the costs of procrastination, they think of the toll on productivity. For example, studies have shown that academic procrastination negatively impacts student performance."

"But academic procrastination may affect other areas of students’ lives. In one study of over 3,000 German students over a six-month period, those who reported procrastinating on their academic work were also more likely to engage in academic misconduct, such as cheating and plagiarism. But the behaviour procrastination was most closely linked with using fraudulent excuses to get deadline extensions.”

The research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It appeared online in March 2014. The research was performed in four German universities to address the effect of academic procrastination on seven different forms of academic misconduct. The forms include using fraudulent excuses, plagiarism, copying from someone else in exams, using forbidden means in exams, carrying forbidden means into exams, copying parts of homework from others, and fabrication or falsification of data and its variety. 

The WEF adds “Procrastination isn’t just a time-sapper but is actually linked to real problems.” In the WEF’s story, Fuschia Sirois-Professor in Social & Health Psychology at Durham University says “Across numerous studies I’ve found people who regularly procrastinate report a greater number of health issues such as headaches, flu and colds, and digestive issues. They also experience higher levels of stress and poor sleep quality."

"They were less likely to practice healthy behaviours, such as eating a healthy diet and regularly exercising, and use destructive coping strategies to manage their stress. In one study of over 700 people, I found people prone to procrastination had a 63% greater risk of poor heart health after accounting for other personality traits and demographics.”

Quality sleep refers to deep, uninterrupted, and restorative sleep. Adequate sleep is vital for overall well-being, since it enables the body and mind to rest, recover, and regenerate. But quality sleep does not just mean the duration but also the quality. Consistently enjoying enough high-quality sleep is associated with improved cognitive function, mood regulation, immune function, and better overall health. Quality sleep includes awakenings at night. Fragmented sleep prompts you to feel unrested even, despite spending enough time in bed. Quality sleep leaves you feeling refreshed and strong upon awaking. If you constantly feel tired or groggy in spite of enough hours of sleep, it shows poor sleep quality.

Research published online by the NLM in March 2023 also echoes that procrastination harms extend from productivity to health. The research reads “Yet, the harms from procrastination are not limited to those involving productivity. Research over the past two decades has documented that procrastination can also have wide-ranging and negative consequences for health and well-being, especially when it becomes a chronic behavioural pattern.”

“For example, procrastination is associated with higher stress, use of less adaptive coping strategies, poor health behaviours, poor quality sleep, poor self-rated health, and a greater number of physical illnesses and symptoms. Research over the past 25 years has provided evidence for the robust links between procrastination and stress.”

2 Does the issue stand as global concern?

Gitnux is a website reporting the latest market trends, statistics and business data. Its market data report 2024 last updated on 16th December 2023 points out that 95% of people acknowledge engaging in procrastination, and that 33% judge themselves serious procrastinators. “This statistic is a powerful indicator of the prevalence of procrastination in our society. It shows that procrastination is a widespread habit, with a large portion of people considering themselves serious procrastinators. This information is essential, as it provides a clear picture of the scope of the issue.”

Though Gitnux doesn’t openly or explicitly state that the report pertains to the entire globe, we are convinced that it applies to the entire planet. Even the quote “This statistic is a powerful indicator of the prevalence of procrastination in our society”- especially with the words ‘in our society’- corroborates it. Those words don’t bear any other context- like a particular country, region or continent- to which they apply. So, the society being said here is conspicuously the world society.

Gitnux further states that 88% of the people associate negative emotions with procrastination. “This statistic is a powerful indicator of the prevalence of procrastination and its associated negative emotions. It shows that the majority of people are familiar with the feeling of procrastination and the negative emotions that come with it. This statistic can be used to emphasize the importance of understanding and managing procrastination in order to improve mental health and productivity.”

It adds that procrastination costs individuals an average of 45% of their annual taxable income in the United States, and that 40% of people meet financial issues due to procrastination. An example of those issues includes submitting tax documents too late. “This statistic is a stark reminder of the financial implications of procrastination. It highlights the fact that procrastination can have a significant impact on an individual’s financial wellbeing, with the potential to cost them almost half of their annual taxable income. This is a powerful reminder of the importance of taking action and avoiding procrastination.”

“This statistic is a stark reminder of the consequences of procrastination. It highlights the fact that procrastination can have a serious impact on people’s financial wellbeing, with 40% of people suffering from financial issues due to putting off filing their taxes. This is an important statistic to consider when discussing procrastination and its effects.”

The following details also imply that procrastination forms a global issue. It signifies that procrastination isn’t limited to certain nations or individuals. Procrastination occurs in every country. Though we can’t argue that procrastination happens to all individuals, we can at least affirm that it affects so numerous ones.

The Forbes article reads “How common is procrastination. While procrastination has likely been around as long as human tasks have, Larry Rosen, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills and the author of The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World, says that procrastination is more common now than in the past.”

According to him, it is current technologies which intervene to compound the problem. “The reason why people procrastinate more now is that we are easily distracted by our phones and any other tech that vibrates, beeps or buzzes,” he says, according to Forbes which adds “To this point, research shows that the average person touches their phone 2,600 times a day. While technology may be causing people to become more easily distracted and procrastinate more, it is not the only reason why people procrastinate.” This also suggests that procrastination forms a world phenomenon.

The WEF’s story states that research indicates that employees in general averagely pass a quarter of their workday, procrastinating; which begets worse effects. “In one US survey of over 22 000 employees, participants who said they regularly procrastinated had lower annual incomes and less job stability. For every one-point increase on a measure of chronic procrastination, salary decreased by US$15,000 (£12,450).”

Human Resources says that a Music Magpie survey of 2,000 full time workers across the United Kingdom has revealed that the average person spends 2 hours 11 minutes every day procrastinating, “costing businesses over £21 billion* each year! By sector, beauty workers were procrastinating the most (4 hours 57 minutes), spending 46 minutes of their day gossiping, 38 minutes on Facebook and 45 minutes messaging others on their phones. This was followed by those in IT/digital, clocking in 4 hours 2 minutes a day, and employees in art and design (3 hours 38 minutes)”, highlights Human Resources.

“On the other side of the spectrum, agriculture and environment workers procrastinated the least - for only 57 minutes every day. Those in childcare & education, as well as law, politics & government were also relatively productive, procrastinating only for 1 hour 16 minutes and 1 hour 34 minutes respectively.”

3. What could have materialized, if Atwood had defeated this problem?

We won’t really dwell upon this point, since it is self-explanatory. Time constitutes the 2nd most important resource which you and every other person possess in equal quantity. This resource comes after your 1st most important asset which is you: your good health. It signifies that you ( normal or healthy), and your time are the vital resources that you basically need, to achieve success that you aspire.

All successful people essentially employ these resources, especially because nobody experiences for example a day of 40 hours, a week of 12 days, a month of 45 days or a year of 20 months. We all equalize time; we only differ on how we exploit this scarce resource.

We have been informed that Atwood starts working at around 15h00. Take a bit of time to reflect upon this immense amount of time she wastes every day. Afterwards, also take time to think about achievements which she has realized.

Berret Koehler Publishers also affirms Atwood’s outstanding procrastination in these words “Margaret Atwood readily confesses to a procrastinatory spirit. Yes, she has 14 novels, 15 volumes of poetry, 7 children's books, and 11 short story collections under her belt, but, according to Atwood herself, she is a serious procrastinator who is not at all good with deadlines”.

Though there lies slight difference in some numbers, of Atwood’s works, provided Procrastinatus and Berret Koehler Publishers [ for example 15 volumes of poetry versus 16 ones], the difference doesn't really affect the numbers. The remain so significant that they highlight Atwood's success. Can we doubt contending that she could have exceeded these numbers by far, if she had managed to overcome procrastination?

In a few words, we can argue that she could have performed miracles. It signifies that you can also eventually accomplish wonders, if you cease to procrastinate. This means that you can achieve marvels, if you exploit your time, by ensuring that you sleep well and lose no portion of time meant for work.

I also used to be an extremely serious procrastinator whereby I could even spend a week, performing almost nothing. In the past, there was time when I could only work for 18 hours a week. This was especially due to the nature of work I was then doing. I could fulfill the work for only around 12 hours so that the remaining time (6 hours) was allocated to the production of the report. Because of this, I then frequently procrastinated so that I remained idle for 22 hours [ 40 hours of formal work per wok minus 18 hours].

When I remember it, I regret intensely because I could have certainly exploited this huge volume of time, which I squandered, in a number of ways like writing as I am working today. Fortunately, I have eliminated it so that I’m now optimizing this scarce resource. Chiefly since last July when I undertook to write seriously, I can rarely procrastinate and I even work day and night including week-ends. For example it's at 08:45 a.m. on Saturday 11th May 2024 that I finalize this article. I began at 06:30 a.m. I will share approaches that I have utilized in one of our next series on this thought-provoking but underreported topic of procrastination.

By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye- Media, Empowerment& MBA.

Management and Journalism Professional/Consultant with a demonstrated history/experience of involvement in women’s empowerment, project/program management, peace-building/conflict transformation, training, public awareness campaigns, governance and budget transparency, advocacy, documentation, the broadcast media industry, and community justice, among others.

He is skilled, among others, in English and French, Project& Program Management, Media Production, Peace-building, Leadership, Advocacy, and Kinyarwanda- English-French Translation, and Mind-Body Connection and its Link with Health through extensive reading and investigation about these two fields as well as Health Reporting and Communication. Strong management, media and communication professional with a Bachelor's and Master's focused in Journalism& Communication and MBA-Project Management respectively from University of Rwanda and Mount Kenya University.