On Procrastination

Video 1: On Procrastination 3

Now, what is going on here? 

The Instant Gratification Monkey does not seem like a guy you want behind the wheel. 

He lives entirely in the present moment. 

He has no memory of the past, no knowledge of the future, and he only cares about two things: easy and fun. 

Now, in the animal world, that works fine. 

If you're a dog and you spend your whole life doing nothing other than easy and fun things, you're a huge success!

And to the Monkey, humans are just another animal species. 

You have to keep well-slept, well-fed and propagating into the next generation, which in tribal times might have worked OK. 

But, if you haven't noticed, now we're not in tribal times. 

We're in an advanced civilization, and the Monkey does not know what that is. 

Which is why we have another guy in our brain, the Rational Decision-Maker, who gives us the ability to do things no other animal can do. 

We can visualize the future. We can see the big picture.

We can make long-term plans. 

And he wants to take all of that into account. 

And he wants to just have us do whatever makes sense to be doing right now.

Now, sometimes it makes sense to be doing things that are easy and fun, like when you're having dinner or going to bed or enjoying well-earned leisure time. 

That's why there's an overlap. 

Sometimes they agree. 

But other times, it makes much more sense to be doing things that are harder and less pleasant, for the sake of the big picture. 

And that's when we have a conflict. 

And for the procrastinator, that conflict tends to end a certain way every time, leaving him spending a lot of time in this orange zone, an easy and fun place that's entirely out of the Makes Sense circle. 

I call it the Dark Playground.

Now, the Dark Playground is a place that all of you procrastinators out there know very well. 

It's where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening. 

The fun you have in the Dark Playground isn't actually fun, because it's completely unearned, and the air is filled with guilt, dread, anxiety, self-hatred -- all of those good procrastinator feelings. 

And the question is, in this situation, with the Monkey behind the wheel, how does the procrastinator ever get himself over here to this blue zone, a less pleasant place, but where really important things happen?

Well, turns out the procrastinator has a guardian angel, someone who's always looking down on him and watching over him in his darkest moments -- someone called the Panic Monster. 

Now, the Panic Monster is dormant most of the time, but he suddenly wakes up anytime a deadline gets too close or there's danger of public embarrassment, a career disaster or some other scary consequence. 

And importantly, he's the only thing the Monkey is terrified of.

Now, he became very relevant in my life pretty recently, because the people of TED reached out to me about six months ago and invited me to do a TED Talk. 

Now, of course, I said yes. 

It's always been a dream of mine to have done a TED Talk in the past. 

But in the middle of all this excitement, the Rational Decision-Maker seemed to have something else on his mind.

He was saying, "Are we clear on what we just accepted? 

Do we get what's going to be now happening one day in the future? 

We need to sit down and work on this right now." 

And the Monkey said, "Totally agree, but let's just open Google Earth and zoom in to the bottom of India, like 200 feet above the ground, and scroll up for two and a half hours till we get to the top of the country, so we can get a better feel for India." 

So that's what we did that day.

As six months turned into four and then two and then one, the people of TED decided to release the speakers. 

And I opened up the website, and there was my face staring right back at me. 

And guess who woke up? 

So the Panic Monster starts losing his mind, and a few seconds later, the whole system's in mayhem. 

And the Monkey -- remember, he's terrified of the Panic Monster -- boom, he's up the tree! 

And finally, finally, the Rational Decision-Maker can take the wheel and I can start working on the talk. 

Questions

According to Urban why does the Instant Gratification Monkey exist? 

>It reflects humans' earlier animal instincts.

According to Urban what does the darkplayground represent?

>the way people procrastinate when they should be working.

According to Urban what does the  Rational Decision-Maker allow people to do?

>focus on long-term goals and plans.

What is main conflict between the gratification and decision maker?

>Short-term gratification can hurt long-term goals.

According to Urban, why do procrasiators  panic as a deadline approaches?

>They're worried or scared of what might happen if they don't finish.

After Urban agreed to do his TED talk, he...

>put off working on it for five months.

If something lies dormant, it is...

>not active at the present time.