Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator | Tim Urban | TED
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1.My Procrastination Story
0:00 / 4:54Tim Urban shares his personal experience with extreme procrastination during college, culminating in writing a 90-page senior thesis in 72 hours. He humorously recounts the unrealistic plans and the eventual chaotic scramble to meet the deadline, revealing the less-than-stellar outcome of his last-minute effort.
- Procrastination
- Senior Thesis
- Deadline
What's inside this course
- 0:00
1. My Procrastination Story
Tim Urban shares his personal experience with extreme procrastination during college, culminating in writing a 90-page senior thesis in 72 hours. He humorously recounts the unrealistic plans and the eventual chaotic scramble to meet the deadline, revealing the less-than-stellar outcome of his last-minute effort.
- 4:54
2. The Procrastinator's Brain
Urban introduces his hypothesis that procrastinators' brains are different. He uses a humorous MRI comparison to illustrate the presence of an 'Instant Gratification Monkey' in the procrastinator's brain, alongside the 'Rational Decision-Maker'.
- 6:35
3. Monkey Takes the Wheel
This chapter describes how the Instant Gratification Monkey takes control, diverting the Rational Decision-Maker from productive tasks to engaging in easy and fun, often irrelevant, activities like reading Wikipedia or watching YouTube spirals.
- 8:20
4. The Dark Playground
Urban explains the nature of the Instant Gratification Monkey, which lives for easy and fun, contrasting it with the Rational Decision-Maker's ability to plan for the future. He introduces the 'Dark Playground,' a place where procrastinators engage in unearned leisure, filled with guilt and anxiety.
- 11:09
5. Enter the Panic Monster
The speaker reveals the procrastinator's 'guardian angel,' the Panic Monster, who awakens when deadlines approach or public embarrassment looms. This monster is the only thing the Instant Gratification Monkey fears, forcing the procrastinator into action.
- 13:25
6. The Procrastinator's System in Action
Urban illustrates the Panic Monster's effectiveness with his own TED Talk preparation. He describes how the Monkey initially dominated, but the Panic Monster's appearance close to the deadline finally allowed the Rational Decision-Maker to take control and complete the task.
Every chapter ends with a checkpoint (quiz, flashcards, retell, diagram, or prediction) and the course closes with a final boss-fight. More courses →
Full transcript of “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator | Tim Urban | TED”
— 315 segments
0:13So in college,
0:15I was a government major,
0:17which means I had to write
a lot of papers.
0:19Now, when a normal student writes a paper,
0:21they might spread the work out
a little like this.
0:24So, you know --
0:25(Laughter)
0:27you get started maybe a little slowly,
0:29but you get enough done in the first week
0:31that, with some heavier days later on,
0:32everything gets done, things stay civil.
0:35(Laughter)
0:36And I would want to do that like that.
0:38That would be the plan.
0:39I would have it all ready to go,
0:42but then, actually, the paper
would come along,
0:44and then I would kind of do this.
0:46(Laughter)
0:49And that would happen every single paper.
0:52But then came my 90-page senior thesis,
0:56a paper you're supposed
to spend a year on.
0:58And I knew for a paper like that,
my normal work flow was not an option.
1:01It was way too big a project.
1:03So I planned things out,
1:04and I decided I kind of had
to go something like this.
1:08This is how the year would go.
1:09So I'd start off light,
1:11and I'd bump it up in the middle months,
1:14and then at the end,
I would kick it up into high gear
1:16just like a little staircase.
1:18How hard could it be
to walk up the stairs?
1:20No big deal, right?
1:23But then, the funniest thing happened.
1:25Those first few months?
1:27They came and went,
1:28and I couldn't quite do stuff.
1:30So we had an awesome new revised plan.
1:31(Laughter)
1:33And then --
1:34(Laughter)
1:36But then those middle months
actually went by,
1:39and I didn't really write words,
1:41and so we were here.
1:44And then two months turned into one month,
1:46which turned into two weeks.
1:48And one day I woke up
1:50with three days until the deadline,
1:54still not having written a word,
1:55and so I did the only thing I could:
1:58I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours,
2:00pulling not one but two all-nighters --
2:02humans are not supposed to pull
two all-nighters --
2:06sprinted across campus,
2:08dove in slow motion,
2:10and got it in just at the deadline.
2:12I thought that was the end of everything.
2:14But a week later I get a call,
2:16and it's the school.
2:18And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?"
2:19And I say, "Yeah."
2:21And they say, "We need
to talk about your thesis."
2:23And I say, "OK."
2:25And they say,
2:27"It's the best one we've ever seen."
2:29(Laughter)
2:32(Applause)
2:37That did not happen.
2:38(Laughter)
2:40It was a very, very bad thesis.
2:43(Laughter)
2:45I just wanted to enjoy that one moment
when all of you thought,
2:50"This guy is amazing!"
2:51(Laughter)
2:53No, no, it was very, very bad.
2:55Anyway, today I'm a writer-blogger guy.
2:59I write the blog Wait But Why.
3:01And a couple of years ago,
I decided to write about procrastination.
3:04My behavior has always perplexed
the non-procrastinators around me,
3:08and I wanted to explain
to the non-procrastinators of the world
3:11what goes on in the heads
of procrastinators,
3:13and why we are the way we are.
3:15Now, I had a hypothesis
3:16that the brains of procrastinators
were actually different
3:19than the brains of other people.
3:22And to test this, I found an MRI lab
3:24that actually let me scan both my brain
3:26and the brain of a proven
non-procrastinator,
3:29so I could compare them.
3:31I actually brought them here
to show you today.
3:33I want you to take a look carefully
to see if you can notice a difference.
3:36I know that if you're not
a trained brain expert,
3:39it's not that obvious,
but just take a look, OK?
3:41So here's the brain
of a non-procrastinator.
3:44(Laughter)
3:46Now ...
3:48here's my brain.
3:50(Laughter)
3:56There is a difference.
3:58Both brains have a Rational
Decision-Maker in them,
4:00but the procrastinator's brain
4:02also has an Instant Gratification Monkey.
4:05Now, what does this mean
for the procrastinator?
4:07Well, it means everything's fine
until this happens.
4:10[This is a perfect time
to get some work done.] [Nope!]
4:12So the Rational Decision-Maker
will make the rational decision
4:15to do something productive,
4:17but the Monkey doesn't like that plan,
4:19so he actually takes the wheel,
4:21and he says, "Actually, let's read
the entire Wikipedia page
4:24of the Nancy Kerrigan/
Tonya Harding scandal,
4:26because I just remembered
that that happened.
4:28(Laughter)
4:29Then --
4:30(Laughter)
4:32Then we're going to go over to the fridge,
4:34to see if there's anything new
in there since 10 minutes ago.
4:37After that, we're going to go
on a YouTube spiral
4:39that starts with videos
of Richard Feynman talking about magnets
4:42and ends much, much later
with us watching interviews
4:45with Justin Bieber's mom.
4:47(Laughter)
4:49"All of that's going to take a while,
4:51so we're not going to really have room
on the schedule for any work today.
4:55Sorry!"
4:56(Sigh)
4:58Now, what is going on here?
5:03The Instant Gratification Monkey
does not seem like a guy
5:06you want behind the wheel.
5:07He lives entirely in the present moment.
5:09He has no memory of the past,
no knowledge of the future,
5:12and he only cares about two things:
5:14easy and fun.
5:16Now, in the animal world, that works fine.
5:19If you're a dog
5:21and you spend your whole life doing
nothing other than easy and fun things,
5:24you're a huge success!
5:25(Laughter)
5:27And to the Monkey,
5:30humans are just another animal species.
5:32You have to keep well-slept, well-fed
and propagating into the next generation,
5:37which in tribal times
might have worked OK.
5:39But, if you haven't noticed,
now we're not in tribal times.
5:42We're in an advanced civilization,
and the Monkey does not know what that is.
5:46Which is why we have
another guy in our brain,
5:48the Rational Decision-Maker,
5:51who gives us the ability to do things
no other animal can do.
5:54We can visualize the future.
5:56We can see the big picture.
5:57We can make long-term plans.
5:59And he wants to take
all of that into account.
6:02And he wants to just have us do
6:04whatever makes sense
to be doing right now.
6:07Now, sometimes it makes sense
6:08to be doing things that are easy and fun,
6:10like when you're having dinner
or going to bed
6:12or enjoying well-earned leisure time.
6:14That's why there's an overlap.
6:16Sometimes they agree.
6:18But other times, it makes much more sense
6:20to be doing things that are harder
and less pleasant,
6:24for the sake of the big picture.
6:26And that's when we have a conflict.
6:28And for the procrastinator,
6:29that conflict tends to end
a certain way every time,
6:32leaving him spending a lot of time
in this orange zone,
6:36an easy and fun place that's entirely
out of the Makes Sense circle.
6:40I call it the Dark Playground.
6:42(Laughter)
6:44Now, the Dark Playground is a place
6:47that all of you procrastinators
out there know very well.
6:51It's where leisure activities happen
6:53at times when leisure activities
are not supposed to be happening.
6:56The fun you have in the Dark Playground
6:58isn't actually fun,
because it's completely unearned,
7:01and the air is filled with guilt,
dread, anxiety, self-hatred --
7:04all of those good procrastinator feelings.
7:07And the question is, in this situation,
with the Monkey behind the wheel,
7:10how does the procrastinator ever get
himself over here to this blue zone,
7:14a less pleasant place, but where
really important things happen?
7:17Well, turns out the procrastinator
has a guardian angel,
7:22someone who's always looking
down on him and watching over him
7:25in his darkest moments --
7:27someone called the Panic Monster.
7:29(Laughter)
7:34Now, the Panic Monster
is dormant most of the time,
7:39but he suddenly wakes up
anytime a deadline gets too close
7:43or there's danger of public embarrassment,
7:45a career disaster or some other
scary consequence.
7:48And importantly, he's the only thing
the Monkey is terrified of.
7:52Now, he became very relevant
in my life pretty recently,
7:57because the people of TED
reached out to me about six months ago
8:00and invited me to do a TED Talk.
8:02(Laughter)
8:07Now, of course, I said yes.
8:09It's always been a dream of mine
to have done a TED Talk in the past.
8:13(Laughter)
8:17(Applause)
8:24But in the middle of all this excitement,
8:26the Rational Decision-Maker seemed
to have something else on his mind.
8:30He was saying, "Are we clear
on what we just accepted?
8:32Do we get what's going to be now
happening one day in the future?
8:35We need to sit down
and work on this right now."
8:38And the Monkey said, "Totally agree,
but let's just open Google Earth
8:41and zoom in to the bottom of India,
like 200 feet above the ground,
8:44and scroll up for two and a half hours
til we get to the top of the country,
8:48so we can get a better feel for India."
8:50(Laughter)
8:55So that's what we did that day.
8:57(Laughter)
9:01As six months turned into four
and then two and then one,
9:05the people of TED decided
to release the speakers.
9:08And I opened up the website,
and there was my face
9:10staring right back at me.
9:12And guess who woke up?
9:13(Laughter)
9:17So the Panic Monster
starts losing his mind,
9:20and a few seconds later,
the whole system's in mayhem.
9:23(Laughter)
9:28And the Monkey -- remember,
he's terrified of the Panic Monster --
9:31boom, he's up the tree!
9:32And finally,
9:33finally, the Rational Decision-Maker
can take the wheel
9:36and I can start working on the talk.
9:37Now, the Panic Monster explains
9:40all kinds of pretty insane
procrastinator behavior,
9:43like how someone like me
could spend two weeks
9:46unable to start the opening
sentence of a paper,
9:49and then miraculously find
the unbelievable work ethic
9:52to stay up all night
and write eight pages.
9:56And this entire situation,
with the three characters --
9:59this is the procrastinator's system.
10:02It's not pretty, but in the end, it works.
10:06This is what I decided to write about
on the blog a couple of years ago.
10:10When I did, I was amazed by the response.
10:13Literally thousands of emails came in,
10:15from all different kinds of people
from all over the world,
10:18doing all different kinds of things.
10:19These are people who were nurses,
bankers, painters, engineers
10:22and lots and lots of PhD students.
10:25(Laughter)
10:27And they were all writing,
saying the same thing:
10:29"I have this problem too."
10:31But what struck me was the contrast
between the light tone of the post
10:35and the heaviness of these emails.
10:37These people were writing
with intense frustration
10:40about what procrastination
had done to their lives,
10:43about what this Monkey had done to them.
10:47And I thought about this, and I said,
10:50well, if the procrastinator's system
works, then what's going on?
10:53Why are all of these people
in such a dark place?
10:56Well, it turns out that there's
two kinds of procrastination.
11:00Everything I've talked about today,
the examples I've given,
11:03they all have deadlines.
11:04And when there's deadlines,
11:05the effects of procrastination
are contained to the short term
11:08because the Panic Monster gets involved.
11:10But there's a second kind
of procrastination
11:12that happens in situations
when there is no deadline.
11:15So if you wanted a career
where you're a self-starter --
11:18something in the arts,
something entrepreneurial --
11:20there's no deadlines on those things
at first, because nothing's happening,
11:24not until you've gone out
and done the hard work
11:26to get momentum, get things going.
11:27There's also all kinds of important things
outside of your career
11:31that don't involve any deadlines,
11:32like seeing your family or exercising
and taking care of your health,
11:35working on your relationship
11:37or getting out of a relationship
that isn't working.
11:40Now if the procrastinator's only mechanism
of doing these hard things
11:45is the Panic Monster, that's a problem,
11:47because in all of these
non-deadline situations,
11:49the Panic Monster doesn't show up.
11:51He has nothing to wake up for,
11:53so the effects of procrastination,
they're not contained;
11:55they just extend outward forever.
11:58And it's this long-term
kind of procrastination
12:01that's much less visible
and much less talked about
12:04than the funnier, short-term
deadline-based kind.
12:07It's usually suffered
quietly and privately.
12:11And it can be the source
12:12of a huge amount of long-term
unhappiness, and regrets.
12:17And I thought, that's why
those people are emailing,
12:19and that's why they're
in such a bad place.
12:22It's not that they're cramming
for some project.
12:25It's that long-term procrastination
has made them feel like a spectator,
12:28at times, in their own lives.
12:31The frustration is not
that they couldn't achieve their dreams;
12:34it's that they weren't even
able to start chasing them.
12:37So I read these emails
and I had a little bit of an epiphany --
12:42that I don't think
non-procrastinators exist.
12:46That's right -- I think all of you
are procrastinators.
12:50Now, you might not all be a mess,
12:52like some of us,
12:53(Laughter)
12:55and some of you may have
a healthy relationship with deadlines,
12:58but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest trick
13:01is when the deadlines aren't there.
13:03Now, I want to show you one last thing.
13:05I call this a Life Calendar.
13:08That's one box for every week
of a 90-year life.
13:13That's not that many boxes,
13:15especially since we've already
used a bunch of those.
13:19So I think we need to all take a long,
hard look at that calendar.
13:25We need to think about what
we're really procrastinating on,
13:28because everyone is procrastinating
on something in life.
13:33We need to stay aware
of the Instant Gratification Monkey.
13:37That's a job for all of us.
13:41And because there's not
that many boxes on there,
13:43it's a job that should
probably start today.
13:45Well, maybe not today, but ...
13:48(Laughter)
13:50You know.
13:52Sometime soon.
13:53Thank you.
13:55(Applause)