I usually write these newsletters on a Thursday afternoon. But this week I was editing the Science section, to cover for a colleague who was away. That took me until after 10pm on Wednesday. The following day I was tired and still a bit cross-eyed from all the close proofreading, so I ended up putting the job off. Now I have to write it just as the deadline is looming.

Procrastination, as the saying goes, is the thief of time. It’s also the subject of this week’s column. Without wanting to sound too dour and Calvinist about it, putting things off does seem to come at a heavy price. As we report, one study found that when people were asked to rank their tendency to leave things until later on a scale of one to five, each one-point increase was associated with a $15,000 drop in their annual earnings. Nor is it just money. Ditherers also seem more prone to anxiety, stress and loneliness, though which way the causation runs is not clear.

Fortunately, the trait does not seem to be fixed. Exercise and some mental exercises seem to encourage even committed procrastinators to do things more promptly. You’ll need to read the column for the details—though it’s worth knowing that earnestly pointing out the downsides of putting things off does not seem to be effective. 

How do you avoid procrastination? Email your tips to wellinformed@economist.com.

Putting things off exacts a hefty toll. One study published in 2013 ranked 22,053 people on a procrastination scale of one to five. Each increase of one point was associated with a drop of nearly $15,000 in annual earnings. Those who habitually engage in “self-regulatory failure”, as procrastination is also known, are more prone to delaying medical treatment. A study of 3,525 Swedish university students published in 2023 found that those who scored highly for procrastination were more likely to suffer debilitating pain.