Transcript of Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator | Tim Urban | TED
TED
0:12So in college,0:15I was a government major,0:16which 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.0:23So, you know --0:25(Laughter)0:26you get started maybe a little slowly,0:28but you get enough done in the first week0:30that, with some heavier days later on,0:32everything gets done, things stay civil.0:34(Laughter)0:35And I would want to do that like that.0:38That would be the plan.0:39I would have it all ready to go,0:41but then, actually, the paper
would come along,0:44and then I would kind of do this.0:46(Laughter)0:48And that would happen every single paper.0:51But then came my 90-page senior thesis,0:55a paper you're supposed
to spend a year on.0:57And I knew for a paper like that,
my normal work flow was not an option.1:01It was way too big a project.1:02So I planned things out,1:04and I decided I kind of had
to go something like this.1:07This is how the year would go.1:09So I'd start off light,1:11and I'd bump it up in the middle months,1:13and then at the end,
I would kick it up into high gear1:16just like a little staircase.1:17How hard could it be
to walk up the stairs?1:20No big deal, right?1:23But then, the funniest thing happened.1:24Those first few months?1:26They came and went,1:27and I couldn't quite do stuff.1:29So we had an awesome new revised plan.1:31(Laughter)1:32And then --1:33(Laughter)1:35But then those middle months
actually went by,1:38and I didn't really write words,1:40and so we were here.1:43And then two months turned into one month,1:46which turned into two weeks.1:47And one day I woke up1:49with three days until the deadline,1:53still not having written a word,1:55and so I did the only thing I could:1:57I 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,2:09and got it in just at the deadline.2:11I thought that was the end of everything.2:14But a week later I get a call,2:15and it's the school.2:17And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?"2:19And I say, "Yeah."2:20And 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)2:36That 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,2:49"This guy is amazing!"2:51(Laughter)2:52No, no, it was very, very bad.2:55Anyway, today I'm a writer-blogger guy.2:58I write the blog Wait But Why.3:00And a couple of years ago,
I decided to write about procrastination.3:04My behavior has always perplexed
the non-procrastinators around me,3:07and I wanted to explain
to the non-procrastinators of the world3:11what goes on in the heads
of procrastinators,3:13and why we are the way we are.3:14Now, I had a hypothesis3:16that the brains of procrastinators
were actually different3:18than the brains of other people.3:21And to test this, I found an MRI lab3:23that actually let me scan both my brain3:26and the brain of a proven
non-procrastinator,3:29so I could compare them.3:30I actually brought them here
to show you today.3:32I 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,3:38it's not that obvious,
but just take a look, OK?3:40So here's the brain
of a non-procrastinator.3:43(Laughter)3:46Now ...3:48here's my brain.3:50(Laughter)3:55There is a difference.3:57Both brains have a Rational
Decision-Maker in them,4:00but the procrastinator's brain4:01also has an Instant Gratification Monkey.4:05Now, what does this mean
for the procrastinator?4:07Well, it means everything's fine
until this happens.4:09[This is a perfect time
to get some work done.] [Nope!]4:12So the Rational Decision-Maker
will make the rational decision4:15to do something productive,4:17but the Monkey doesn't like that plan,4:19so he actually takes the wheel,4:20and he says, "Actually, let's read
the entire Wikipedia page4:23of the Nancy Kerrigan/
Tonya Harding scandal,4:25because I just remembered
that that happened.4:28(Laughter)4:29Then --4:30(Laughter)4:31Then we're going to go over to the fridge,4:33to see if there's anything new
in there since 10 minutes ago.4:36After that, we're going to go
on a YouTube spiral4:39that starts with videos
of Richard Feynman talking about magnets4:42and ends much, much later
with us watching interviews4:45with 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.4:54Sorry!"4:55(Sigh)4:58Now, what is going on here?5:03The Instant Gratification Monkey
does not seem like a guy5:06you 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 dog5:20and 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,5:29humans are just another animal species.5:32You have to keep well-slept, well-fed
and propagating into the next generation,5:36which in tribal times
might have worked OK.5:38But, if you haven't noticed,
now we're not in tribal times.5:41We're in an advanced civilization,
and the Monkey does not know what that is.5:45Which is why we have
another guy in our brain,5:48the Rational Decision-Maker,5:50who gives us the ability to do things
no other animal can do.5:53We can visualize the future.5:55We can see the big picture.5:57We can make long-term plans.5:58And he wants to take
all of that into account.6:02And he wants to just have us do6:03whatever makes sense
to be doing right now.6:06Now, sometimes it makes sense6:08to be doing things that are easy and fun,6:10like when you're having dinner
or going to bed6:12or enjoying well-earned leisure time.6:14That's why there's an overlap.6:15Sometimes they agree.6:17But other times, it makes much more sense6:20to be doing things that are harder
and less pleasant,6:24for the sake of the big picture.6:25And that's when we have a conflict.6:28And for the procrastinator,6:29that conflict tends to end
a certain way every time,6:31leaving him spending a lot of time
in this orange zone,6:35an easy and fun place that's entirely
out of the Makes Sense circle.6:39I call it the Dark Playground.6:42(Laughter)6:43Now, the Dark Playground is a place6:47that all of you procrastinators
out there know very well.6:50It's where leisure activities happen6:52at times when leisure activities
are not supposed to be happening.6:56The fun you have in the Dark Playground6:58isn't actually fun,
because it's completely unearned,7:00and the air is filled with guilt,
dread, anxiety, self-hatred --7:04all of those good procrastinator feelings.7:06And 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,7:13a 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 him7:25in his darkest moments --7:26someone called the Panic Monster.7:28(Laughter)7:34Now, the Panic Monster
is dormant most of the time,7:39but he suddenly wakes up
anytime a deadline gets too close7:43or there's danger of public embarrassment,7:45a career disaster or some other
scary consequence.7:47And importantly, he's the only thing
the Monkey is terrified of.7:51Now, he became very relevant
in my life pretty recently,7:56because the people of TED
reached out to me about six months ago7:59and invited me to do a TED Talk.8:01(Laughter)8:07Now, of course, I said yes.8:08It's always been a dream of mine
to have done a TED Talk in the past.8:12(Laughter)8:16(Applause)8:24But in the middle of all this excitement,8:26the Rational Decision-Maker seemed
to have something else on his mind.8:29He 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."8:37And the Monkey said, "Totally agree,
but let's just open Google Earth8:40and 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,8:47so we can get a better feel for India."8:49(Laughter)8:55So that's what we did that day.8:56(Laughter)9:00As six months turned into four
and then two and then one,9:04the people of TED decided
to release the speakers.9:07And I opened up the website,
and there was my face9:10staring right back at me.9:11And guess who woke up?9:13(Laughter)9:17So the Panic Monster
starts losing his mind,9:19and a few seconds later,
the whole system's in mayhem.9:22(Laughter)9:27And the Monkey -- remember,
he's terrified of the Panic Monster --9:30boom, he's up the tree!9:31And finally,9:32finally, the Rational Decision-Maker
can take the wheel9:35and I can start working on the talk.9:37Now, the Panic Monster explains9:39all kinds of pretty insane
procrastinator behavior,9:43like how someone like me
could spend two weeks9:45unable to start the opening
sentence of a paper,9:49and then miraculously find
the unbelievable work ethic9:52to 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.10:05This is what I decided to write about
on the blog a couple of years ago.10:09When I did, I was amazed by the response.10:12Literally thousands of emails came in,10:14from all different kinds of people
from all over the world,10:17doing all different kinds of things.10:19These are people who were nurses,
bankers, painters, engineers10:22and lots and lots of PhD students.10:24(Laughter)10:26And 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 post10:34and the heaviness of these emails.10:36These people were writing
with intense frustration10:40about what procrastination
had done to their lives,10:42about what this Monkey had done to them.10:46And I thought about this, and I said,10:49well, if the procrastinator's system
works, then what's going on?10:53Why are all of these people
in such a dark place?10:55Well, it turns out that there's
two kinds of procrastination.10:59Everything I've talked about today,
the examples I've given,11:02they all have deadlines.11:04And when there's deadlines,11:05the effects of procrastination
are contained to the short term11:08because the Panic Monster gets involved.11:10But there's a second kind
of procrastination11:12that happens in situations
when there is no deadline.11:14So if you wanted a career
where you're a self-starter --11:17something in the arts,
something entrepreneurial --11:19there's no deadlines on those things
at first, because nothing's happening,11:23not until you've gone out
and done the hard work11:25to get momentum, get things going.11:27There's also all kinds of important things
outside of your career11:30that don't involve any deadlines,11:32like seeing your family or exercising
and taking care of your health,11:35working on your relationship11:36or getting out of a relationship
that isn't working.11:39Now if the procrastinator's only mechanism
of doing these hard things11:44is the Panic Monster, that's a problem,11:46because in all of these
non-deadline situations,11:49the Panic Monster doesn't show up.11:51He has nothing to wake up for,11:52so the effects of procrastination,
they're not contained;11:55they just extend outward forever.11:57And it's this long-term
kind of procrastination12:00that's much less visible
and much less talked about12:03than the funnier, short-term
deadline-based kind.12:06It's usually suffered
quietly and privately.12:10And it can be the source12:11of a huge amount of long-term
unhappiness, and regrets.12:16And I thought, that's why
those people are emailing,12:19and that's why they're
in such a bad place.12:21It's not that they're cramming
for some project.12:24It's that long-term procrastination
has made them feel like a spectator,12:28at times, in their own lives.12:30The frustration is not
that they couldn't achieve their dreams;12:33it's that they weren't even
able to start chasing them.12:36So I read these emails
and I had a little bit of an epiphany --12:42that I don't think
non-procrastinators exist.12:45That's right -- I think all of you
are procrastinators.12:49Now, you might not all be a mess,12:51like some of us,12:53(Laughter)12:54and some of you may have
a healthy relationship with deadlines,12:58but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest trick13:00is 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,13:14especially since we've already
used a bunch of those.13:18So I think we need to all take a long,
hard look at that calendar.13:24We need to think about what
we're really procrastinating on,13:28because everyone is procrastinating
on something in life.13:32We need to stay aware
of the Instant Gratification Monkey.13:37That's a job for all of us.13:40And because there's not
that many boxes on there,13:42it's a job that should
probably start today.13:45Well, maybe not today, but ...13:48(Laughter)13:49You know.13:51Sometime soon.13:53Thank you.13:54(Applause)
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