Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator
Tim Urban on the Instant Gratification Monkey, the Panic Monster, and the deadlines that never come.
Video by Tim Urban · TED . Summary and takeaways below are our own.
In short
The funniest, most accurate map of the procrastinating brain going around, and a sharp point about the goals that have no deadline at all.
Tim Urban's TED talk is the funniest, most accurate map of the procrastinating brain going around. He describes two characters fighting for the wheel: the Rational Decision-Maker, who wants to do sensible things, and the Instant Gratification Monkey, who hijacks the controls the second there's an easier, more fun option.
The only thing that scares the Monkey off is the Panic Monster, which wakes up near a deadline and finally lets the rational side take over. That system limps along fine for anything with a due date. Urban's real point lands at the end, when he turns to the goals with no deadline at all: the side project, the relationship, the health you keep meaning to sort out. With nothing to summon the Panic Monster, those are the areas where procrastination does its quiet, lifelong damage.
Watch it, then go and look at your own list of things that have no due date.
