0:00:00.645,0:00:02.015
So in college,

0:00:03.349,0:00:04.913
I was a government major,

0:00:04.937,0:00:07.399
which means I had to write[br]a lot of papers.

0:00:07.423,0:00:09.471
Now, when a normal student writes a paper,

0:00:09.495,0:00:11.868
they might spread the work out[br]a little like this.

0:00:11.892,0:00:13.043
So, you know --

0:00:13.067,0:00:14.724
(Laughter)

0:00:14.748,0:00:16.575
you get started maybe a little slowly,

0:00:16.599,0:00:18.567
but you get enough done in the first week

0:00:18.591,0:00:20.422
that, with some heavier days later on,

0:00:20.446,0:00:22.603
everything gets done, things stay civil.

0:00:22.627,0:00:23.829
(Laughter)

0:00:23.853,0:00:26.124
And I would want to do that like that.

0:00:26.148,0:00:27.342
That would be the plan.

0:00:27.366,0:00:29.856
I would have it all ready to go,

0:00:29.880,0:00:32.374
but then, actually, the paper[br]would come along,

0:00:32.398,0:00:34.339
and then I would kind of do this.

0:00:34.363,0:00:36.733
(Laughter)

0:00:36.757,0:00:38.900
And that would happen every single paper.

0:00:39.638,0:00:43.520
But then came my 90-page senior thesis,

0:00:43.544,0:00:45.831
a paper you're supposed[br]to spend a year on.

0:00:45.855,0:00:49.474
And I knew for a paper like that,[br]my normal work flow was not an option.

0:00:49.498,0:00:50.899
It was way too big a project.

0:00:50.923,0:00:52.076
So I planned things out,

0:00:52.100,0:00:55.305
and I decided I kind of had[br]to go something like this.

0:00:55.781,0:00:57.233
This is how the year would go.

0:00:57.257,0:00:59.224
So I'd start off light,

0:00:59.248,0:01:01.566
and I'd bump it up in the middle months,

0:01:01.590,0:01:04.216
and then at the end,[br]I would kick it up into high gear

0:01:04.240,0:01:05.679
just like a little staircase.

0:01:05.703,0:01:07.765
How hard could it be[br]to walk up the stairs?

0:01:08.233,0:01:09.552
No big deal, right?

0:01:11.090,0:01:12.900
But then, the funniest thing happened.

0:01:12.924,0:01:14.235
Those first few months?

0:01:14.791,0:01:15.958
They came and went,

0:01:15.982,0:01:17.567
and I couldn't quite do stuff.

0:01:17.591,0:01:19.440
So we had an awesome new revised plan.

0:01:19.464,0:01:20.631
(Laughter)

0:01:20.655,0:01:21.814
And then --

0:01:21.838,0:01:23.720
(Laughter)

0:01:23.744,0:01:26.528
But then those middle months[br]actually went by,

0:01:26.552,0:01:28.734
and I didn't really write words,

0:01:28.758,0:01:30.593
and so we were here.

0:01:31.500,0:01:34.076
And then two months turned into one month,

0:01:34.100,0:01:35.725
which turned into two weeks.

0:01:35.749,0:01:37.058
And one day I woke up

0:01:37.724,0:01:40.343
with three days until the deadline,

0:01:41.502,0:01:43.433
still not having written a word,

0:01:43.457,0:01:45.516
and so I did the only thing I could:

0:01:45.540,0:01:48.147
I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours,

0:01:48.171,0:01:50.447
pulling not one but two all-nighters --

0:01:50.471,0:01:53.040
humans are not supposed to pull[br]two all-nighters --

0:01:54.373,0:01:56.366
sprinted across campus,

0:01:56.390,0:01:57.876
dove in slow motion,

0:01:57.900,0:01:59.956
and got it in just at the deadline.

0:01:59.980,0:02:02.004
I thought that was the end of everything.

0:02:02.028,0:02:03.587
But a week later I get a call,

0:02:03.611,0:02:05.097
and it's the school.

0:02:05.757,0:02:07.396
And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?"

0:02:07.420,0:02:08.888
And I say, "Yeah."

0:02:08.912,0:02:11.252
And they say, "We need[br]to talk about your thesis."

0:02:11.276,0:02:12.531
And I say, "OK."

0:02:13.468,0:02:14.690
And they say,

0:02:15.230,0:02:17.126
"It's the best one we've ever seen."

0:02:17.150,0:02:18.855
(Laughter)

0:02:20.014,0:02:22.704
(Applause)

0:02:24.945,0:02:26.247
That did not happen.

0:02:26.271,0:02:28.409
(Laughter)

0:02:28.433,0:02:31.056
It was a very, very bad thesis.

0:02:31.080,0:02:33.354
(Laughter)

0:02:33.378,0:02:37.478
I just wanted to enjoy that one moment[br]when all of you thought,

0:02:37.502,0:02:39.407
"This guy is amazing!"

0:02:39.431,0:02:40.779
(Laughter)

0:02:40.803,0:02:42.470
No, no, it was very, very bad.

0:02:43.343,0:02:46.751
Anyway, today I'm a writer-blogger guy.

0:02:46.775,0:02:48.518
I write the blog Wait But Why.

0:02:48.542,0:02:52.278
And a couple of years ago,[br]I decided to write about procrastination.

0:02:52.302,0:02:55.586
My behavior has always perplexed[br]the non-procrastinators around me,

0:02:55.610,0:02:59.298
and I wanted to explain[br]to the non-procrastinators of the world

0:02:59.322,0:03:01.429
what goes on in the heads[br]of procrastinators,

0:03:01.453,0:03:02.893
and why we are the way we are.

0:03:02.917,0:03:04.073
Now, I had a hypothesis

0:03:04.097,0:03:06.952
that the brains of procrastinators[br]were actually different

0:03:06.976,0:03:08.933
than the brains of other people.

0:03:09.698,0:03:11.889
And to test this, I found an MRI lab

0:03:11.913,0:03:14.345
that actually let me scan both my brain

0:03:14.369,0:03:17.024
and the brain of a proven[br]non-procrastinator,

0:03:17.048,0:03:18.483
so I could compare them.

0:03:18.507,0:03:20.708
I actually brought them here[br]to show you today.

0:03:20.732,0:03:24.269
I want you to take a look carefully[br]to see if you can notice a difference.

0:03:24.293,0:03:26.607
I know that if you're not[br]a trained brain expert,

0:03:26.631,0:03:28.894
it's not that obvious,[br]but just take a look, OK?

0:03:28.918,0:03:31.046
So here's the brain[br]of a non-procrastinator.

0:03:31.835,0:03:34.109
(Laughter)

0:03:34.133,0:03:35.284
Now ...

0:03:36.325,0:03:37.639
here's my brain.

0:03:38.280,0:03:41.006
(Laughter)

0:03:43.713,0:03:45.277
There is a difference.

0:03:45.904,0:03:48.292
Both brains have a Rational[br]Decision-Maker in them,

0:03:48.316,0:03:49.968
but the procrastinator's brain

0:03:49.992,0:03:52.978
also has an Instant Gratification Monkey.

0:03:53.002,0:03:55.304
Now, what does this mean[br]for the procrastinator?

0:03:55.328,0:03:57.769
Well, it means everything's fine[br]until this happens.

0:03:57.793,0:04:00.415
[This is a perfect time[br]to get some work done.] [Nope!]

0:04:00.439,0:04:03.372
So the Rational Decision-Maker[br]will make the rational decision

0:04:03.396,0:04:05.292
to do something productive,

0:04:05.316,0:04:07.266
but the Monkey doesn't like that plan,

0:04:07.290,0:04:08.798
so he actually takes the wheel,

0:04:08.822,0:04:11.703
and he says, "Actually, let's read[br]the entire Wikipedia page

0:04:11.727,0:04:13.863
of the Nancy Kerrigan/[br]Tonya Harding scandal,

0:04:13.887,0:04:16.018
because I just remembered[br]that that happened.

0:04:16.042,0:04:17.058
(Laughter)

0:04:17.082,0:04:18.240
Then --

0:04:18.264,0:04:19.527
(Laughter)

0:04:19.551,0:04:21.589
Then we're going to go over to the fridge,

0:04:21.613,0:04:24.479
to see if there's anything new[br]in there since 10 minutes ago.

0:04:24.503,0:04:27.141
After that, we're going to go[br]on a YouTube spiral

0:04:27.165,0:04:30.415
that starts with videos[br]of Richard Feynman talking about magnets

0:04:30.439,0:04:33.155
and ends much, much later[br]with us watching interviews

0:04:33.179,0:04:35.059
with Justin Bieber's mom.

0:04:35.083,0:04:37.271
(Laughter)

0:04:37.295,0:04:39.058
"All of that's going to take a while,

0:04:39.082,0:04:42.584
so we're not going to really have room[br]on the schedule for any work today.

0:04:42.608,0:04:43.771
Sorry!"

0:04:43.795,0:04:44.960
(Sigh)

0:04:46.325,0:04:49.694
Now, what is going on here?

0:04:51.481,0:04:54.172
The Instant Gratification Monkey[br]does not seem like a guy

0:04:54.196,0:04:55.450
you want behind the wheel.

0:04:55.474,0:04:57.419
He lives entirely in the present moment.

0:04:57.443,0:05:00.271
He has no memory of the past,[br]no knowledge of the future,

0:05:00.295,0:05:01.992
and he only cares about two things:

0:05:02.016,0:05:03.699
easy and fun.

0:05:04.338,0:05:07.430
Now, in the animal world, that works fine.

0:05:07.454,0:05:08.662
If you're a dog

0:05:08.686,0:05:12.257
and you spend your whole life doing[br]nothing other than easy and fun things,

0:05:12.281,0:05:13.446
you're a huge success!

0:05:13.470,0:05:15.381
(Laughter)

0:05:15.405,0:05:16.691
And to the Monkey,

0:05:17.969,0:05:20.063
humans are just another animal species.

0:05:20.087,0:05:24.593
You have to keep well-slept, well-fed[br]and propagating into the next generation,

0:05:24.617,0:05:26.903
which in tribal times[br]might have worked OK.

0:05:26.927,0:05:29.777
But, if you haven't noticed,[br]now we're not in tribal times.

0:05:29.801,0:05:33.934
We're in an advanced civilization,[br]and the Monkey does not know what that is.

0:05:33.958,0:05:36.239
Which is why we have[br]another guy in our brain,

0:05:36.263,0:05:38.628
the Rational Decision-Maker,

0:05:38.652,0:05:41.679
who gives us the ability to do things[br]no other animal can do.

0:05:41.703,0:05:43.624
We can visualize the future.

0:05:43.648,0:05:45.400
We can see the big picture.

0:05:45.424,0:05:46.774
We can make long-term plans.

0:05:46.798,0:05:49.281
And he wants to take[br]all of that into account.

0:05:50.138,0:05:51.829
And he wants to just have us do

0:05:51.853,0:05:54.801
whatever makes sense[br]to be doing right now.

0:05:54.825,0:05:56.214
Now, sometimes it makes sense

0:05:56.238,0:05:58.267
to be doing things that are easy and fun,

0:05:58.291,0:06:00.442
like when you're having dinner[br]or going to bed

0:06:00.466,0:06:02.294
or enjoying well-earned leisure time.

0:06:02.318,0:06:03.768
That's why there's an overlap.

0:06:03.792,0:06:05.536
Sometimes they agree.

0:06:05.560,0:06:08.382
But other times, it makes much more sense

0:06:08.406,0:06:12.008
to be doing things that are harder[br]and less pleasant,

0:06:12.032,0:06:13.572
for the sake of the big picture.

0:06:13.596,0:06:15.485
And that's when we have a conflict.

0:06:16.017,0:06:17.332
And for the procrastinator,

0:06:17.356,0:06:19.865
that conflict tends to end[br]a certain way every time,

0:06:19.889,0:06:23.609
leaving him spending a lot of time[br]in this orange zone,

0:06:23.633,0:06:27.960
an easy and fun place that's entirely[br]out of the Makes Sense circle.

0:06:27.984,0:06:30.263
I call it the Dark Playground.

0:06:30.287,0:06:31.911
(Laughter)

0:06:31.935,0:06:35.063
Now, the Dark Playground is a place

0:06:35.087,0:06:38.279
that all of you procrastinators[br]out there know very well.

0:06:38.892,0:06:40.696
It's where leisure activities happen

0:06:40.720,0:06:44.030
at times when leisure activities[br]are not supposed to be happening.

0:06:44.418,0:06:46.308
The fun you have in the Dark Playground

0:06:46.332,0:06:48.815
isn't actually fun,[br]because it's completely unearned,

0:06:48.839,0:06:52.054
and the air is filled with guilt,[br]dread, anxiety, self-hatred --

0:06:52.078,0:06:54.196
all of those good procrastinator feelings.

0:06:54.703,0:06:58.179
And the question is, in this situation,[br]with the Monkey behind the wheel,

0:06:58.203,0:07:01.796
how does the procrastinator ever get[br]himself over here to this blue zone,

0:07:01.820,0:07:05.101
a less pleasant place, but where[br]really important things happen?

0:07:05.125,0:07:10.162
Well, turns out the procrastinator[br]has a guardian angel,

0:07:10.186,0:07:13.394
someone who's always looking[br]down on him and watching over him

0:07:13.418,0:07:14.848
in his darkest moments --

0:07:14.872,0:07:16.967
someone called the Panic Monster.

0:07:16.991,0:07:20.069
(Laughter)

0:07:22.386,0:07:27.246
Now, the Panic Monster[br]is dormant most of the time,

0:07:27.270,0:07:31.172
but he suddenly wakes up[br]anytime a deadline gets too close

0:07:31.196,0:07:33.241
or there's danger of public embarrassment,

0:07:33.265,0:07:35.776
a career disaster or some other[br]scary consequence.

0:07:35.800,0:07:39.972
And importantly, he's the only thing[br]the Monkey is terrified of.

0:07:39.996,0:07:44.574
Now, he became very relevant[br]in my life pretty recently,

0:07:44.598,0:07:47.844
because the people of TED[br]reached out to me about six months ago

0:07:47.868,0:07:49.889
and invited me to do a TED Talk.

0:07:49.913,0:07:52.341
(Laughter)

0:07:55.058,0:07:56.965
Now, of course, I said yes.

0:07:56.989,0:08:00.794
It's always been a dream of mine[br]to have done a TED Talk in the past.

0:08:00.818,0:08:04.790
(Laughter)

0:08:04.814,0:08:08.511
(Applause)

0:08:12.203,0:08:14.172
But in the middle of all this excitement,

0:08:14.196,0:08:17.497
the Rational Decision-Maker seemed[br]to have something else on his mind.

0:08:17.521,0:08:20.069
He was saying, "Are we clear[br]on what we just accepted?

0:08:20.093,0:08:23.342
Do we get what's going to be now[br]happening one day in the future?

0:08:23.366,0:08:25.633
We need to sit down[br]and work on this right now."

0:08:25.657,0:08:28.922
And the Monkey said, "Totally agree,[br]but let's just open Google Earth

0:08:28.946,0:08:32.106
and zoom in to the bottom of India,[br]like 200 feet above the ground,

0:08:32.130,0:08:35.751
and scroll up for two and a half hours[br]til we get to the top of the country,

0:08:35.775,0:08:37.753
so we can get a better feel for India."

0:08:37.777,0:08:42.212
(Laughter)

0:08:43.149,0:08:44.634
So that's what we did that day.

0:08:44.658,0:08:47.328
(Laughter)

0:08:48.604,0:08:52.500
As six months turned into four[br]and then two and then one,

0:08:52.524,0:08:55.619
the people of TED decided[br]to release the speakers.

0:08:55.643,0:08:58.255
And I opened up the website,[br]and there was my face

0:08:58.279,0:08:59.635
staring right back at me.

0:08:59.659,0:09:01.259
And guess who woke up?

0:09:01.283,0:09:04.398
(Laughter)

0:09:05.430,0:09:07.880
So the Panic Monster[br]starts losing his mind,

0:09:07.904,0:09:10.650
and a few seconds later,[br]the whole system's in mayhem.

0:09:10.674,0:09:13.120
(Laughter)

0:09:15.511,0:09:18.612
And the Monkey -- remember,[br]he's terrified of the Panic Monster --

0:09:18.636,0:09:19.794
boom, he's up the tree!

0:09:19.818,0:09:20.969
And finally,

0:09:20.993,0:09:23.589
finally, the Rational Decision-Maker[br]can take the wheel

0:09:23.613,0:09:25.331
and I can start working on the talk.

0:09:25.355,0:09:27.643
Now, the Panic Monster explains

0:09:27.667,0:09:31.148
all kinds of pretty insane[br]procrastinator behavior,

0:09:31.172,0:09:33.506
like how someone like me[br]could spend two weeks

0:09:33.530,0:09:37.374
unable to start the opening[br]sentence of a paper,

0:09:37.398,0:09:40.169
and then miraculously find[br]the unbelievable work ethic

0:09:40.193,0:09:43.289
to stay up all night[br]and write eight pages.

0:09:44.385,0:09:47.367
And this entire situation,[br]with the three characters --

0:09:47.391,0:09:49.411
this is the procrastinator's system.

0:09:50.096,0:09:53.521
It's not pretty, but in the end, it works.

0:09:53.545,0:09:57.607
This is what I decided to write about[br]on the blog a couple of years ago.

0:09:57.631,0:10:00.602
When I did, I was amazed by the response.

0:10:00.626,0:10:02.779
Literally thousands of emails came in,

0:10:02.803,0:10:05.580
from all different kinds of people[br]from all over the world,

0:10:05.604,0:10:07.342
doing all different kinds of things.

0:10:07.366,0:10:10.332
These are people who were nurses,[br]bankers, painters, engineers

0:10:10.356,0:10:12.678
and lots and lots of PhD students.

0:10:12.702,0:10:14.703
(Laughter)

0:10:14.727,0:10:17.015
And they were all writing,[br]saying the same thing:

0:10:17.039,0:10:18.991
"I have this problem too."

0:10:19.015,0:10:22.844
But what struck me was the contrast[br]between the light tone of the post

0:10:22.868,0:10:24.963
and the heaviness of these emails.

0:10:24.987,0:10:28.070
These people were writing[br]with intense frustration

0:10:28.094,0:10:30.856
about what procrastination[br]had done to their lives,

0:10:30.880,0:10:32.910
about what this Monkey had done to them.

0:10:34.902,0:10:37.868
And I thought about this, and I said,

0:10:37.892,0:10:41.004
well, if the procrastinator's system[br]works, then what's going on?

0:10:41.028,0:10:43.514
Why are all of these people[br]in such a dark place?

0:10:43.538,0:10:46.836
Well, it turns out that there's[br]two kinds of procrastination.

0:10:47.987,0:10:50.821
Everything I've talked about today,[br]the examples I've given,

0:10:50.845,0:10:51.996
they all have deadlines.

0:10:52.020,0:10:53.318
And when there's deadlines,

0:10:53.342,0:10:56.267
the effects of procrastination[br]are contained to the short term

0:10:56.291,0:10:58.204
because the Panic Monster gets involved.

0:10:58.228,0:11:00.282
But there's a second kind[br]of procrastination

0:11:00.306,0:11:02.793
that happens in situations[br]when there is no deadline.

0:11:02.817,0:11:05.507
So if you wanted a career[br]where you're a self-starter --

0:11:05.531,0:11:07.944
something in the arts,[br]something entrepreneurial --

0:11:07.968,0:11:11.493
there's no deadlines on those things[br]at first, because nothing's happening,

0:11:11.517,0:11:13.761
not until you've gone out[br]and done the hard work

0:11:13.785,0:11:15.411
to get momentum, get things going.

0:11:15.435,0:11:18.513
There's also all kinds of important things[br]outside of your career

0:11:18.537,0:11:20.142
that don't involve any deadlines,

0:11:20.166,0:11:23.431
like seeing your family or exercising[br]and taking care of your health,

0:11:23.455,0:11:24.859
working on your relationship

0:11:24.883,0:11:27.564
or getting out of a relationship[br]that isn't working.

0:11:27.588,0:11:32.736
Now if the procrastinator's only mechanism[br]of doing these hard things

0:11:32.760,0:11:34.645
is the Panic Monster, that's a problem,

0:11:34.669,0:11:37.469
because in all of these[br]non-deadline situations,

0:11:37.493,0:11:39.121
the Panic Monster doesn't show up.

0:11:39.145,0:11:40.597
He has nothing to wake up for,

0:11:40.621,0:11:43.319
so the effects of procrastination,[br]they're not contained;

0:11:43.343,0:11:45.083
they just extend outward forever.

0:11:45.953,0:11:48.693
And it's this long-term[br]kind of procrastination

0:11:48.717,0:11:51.798
that's much less visible[br]and much less talked about

0:11:51.822,0:11:54.723
than the funnier, short-term[br]deadline-based kind.

0:11:54.747,0:11:57.850
It's usually suffered[br]quietly and privately.

0:11:58.816,0:11:59.970
And it can be the source

0:11:59.994,0:12:03.729
of a huge amount of long-term[br]unhappiness, and regrets.

0:12:04.576,0:12:07.448
And I thought, that's why[br]those people are emailing,

0:12:07.472,0:12:09.974
and that's why they're[br]in such a bad place.

0:12:09.998,0:12:12.742
It's not that they're cramming[br]for some project.

0:12:12.766,0:12:16.187
It's that long-term procrastination[br]has made them feel like a spectator,

0:12:16.211,0:12:18.250
at times, in their own lives.

0:12:18.594,0:12:21.576
The frustration is not[br]that they couldn't achieve their dreams;

0:12:21.600,0:12:24.689
it's that they weren't even[br]able to start chasing them.

0:12:24.713,0:12:28.896
So I read these emails[br]and I had a little bit of an epiphany --

0:12:30.182,0:12:33.582
that I don't think[br]non-procrastinators exist.

0:12:33.979,0:12:37.215
That's right -- I think all of you[br]are procrastinators.

0:12:37.898,0:12:39.812
Now, you might not all be a mess,

0:12:39.836,0:12:41.186
like some of us,

0:12:41.210,0:12:42.739
(Laughter)

0:12:42.763,0:12:46.079
and some of you may have[br]a healthy relationship with deadlines,

0:12:46.103,0:12:48.627
but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest trick

0:12:48.651,0:12:50.491
is when the deadlines aren't there.

0:12:51.249,0:12:53.281
Now, I want to show you one last thing.

0:12:53.305,0:12:55.678
I call this a Life Calendar.

0:12:56.352,0:13:00.631
That's one box for every week[br]of a 90-year life.

0:13:01.345,0:13:02.934
That's not that many boxes,

0:13:02.958,0:13:05.932
especially since we've already[br]used a bunch of those.

0:13:06.607,0:13:11.739
So I think we need to all take a long,[br]hard look at that calendar.

0:13:12.977,0:13:15.990
We need to think about what[br]we're really procrastinating on,

0:13:16.014,0:13:19.379
because everyone is procrastinating[br]on something in life.

0:13:20.782,0:13:23.812
We need to stay aware[br]of the Instant Gratification Monkey.

0:13:25.455,0:13:27.947
That's a job for all of us.

0:13:28.669,0:13:30.969
And because there's not[br]that many boxes on there,

0:13:30.993,0:13:33.283
it's a job that should[br]probably start today.

0:13:33.307,0:13:36.307
Well, maybe not today, but ...

0:13:36.331,0:13:37.972
(Laughter)

0:13:37.996,0:13:39.146
You know.

0:13:39.576,0:13:40.726
Sometime soon.

0:13:41.393,0:13:42.602
Thank you.

0:13:42.626,0:13:50.624
(Applause)