004Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator
English Script
00:11So in college, I was a government major, which means I had to writea lot of papers. Now, when a normal student writes a paper, they might spread the work outa little like this. So, you know --
00:13
(Laughter)
you get started maybe a little slowly, but you get enough done in the first week that, with some heavier days later on, everything gets done, things stay civil.
00:22
(Laughter)
00:32
And I would want to do that like that. That would be the plan. I would have it all ready to go, but then, actually, the paperwould come along, and then I would kind of do this.
00:34
(Laughter)
00:36
And that would happen every single paper.
01:08
But then came my 90-page senior thesis, a paper you're supposedto spend a year on. And I knew for a paper like that,my normal work flow was not an option. It was way too big a project. So I planned things out, and I decided I kind of hadto go something like this. This is how the year would go. So I'd start off light, and I'd bump it up in the middle months, and then at the end,I would kick it up into high gear just like a little staircase. How hard could it beto walk up the stairs? No big deal, right?
01:17
But then, the funniest thing happened. Those first few months? They came and went, and I couldn't quite do stuff. So we had an awesome new revised plan.
01:19
(Laughter)
01:20
And then --
01:21
(Laughter)
01:57
But then those middle monthsactually went by, and I didn't really write words, and so we were here. And then two months turned into one month, which turned into two weeks. And one day I woke up with three days until the deadline, still not having written a word, and so I did the only thing I could: I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours, pulling not one but two all-nighters -- humans are not supposed to pulltwo all-nighters -- sprinted across campus, dove in slow motion, and got it in just at the deadline.
02:15
I thought that was the end of everything. But a week later I get a call, and it's the school. And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?" And I say, "Yeah." And they say, "We needto talk about your thesis." And I say, "OK." And they say, "It's the best one we've ever seen."
02:17
(Laughter)
02:20
(Applause)
02:24
That did not happen.
02:26
(Laughter)
02:28
It was a very, very bad thesis.
02:31
(Laughter)
02:37
I just wanted to enjoy that one momentwhen all of you thought, "This guy is amazing!"
02:39
(Laughter)
03:28
No, no, it was very, very bad. Anyway, today I'm a writer-blogger guy. I write the blog Wait But Why. And a couple of years ago,I decided to write about procrastination. My behavior has always perplexedthe non-procrastinators around me, and I wanted to explainto the non-procrastinators of the world what goes on in the headsof procrastinators, and why we are the way we are. Now, I had a hypothesis that the brains of procrastinatorswere actually different than the brains of other people. And to test this, I found an MRI lab that actually let me scan both my brain and the brain of a provennon-procrastinator, so I could compare them. I actually brought them hereto show you today. I want you to take a look carefullyto see if you can notice a difference. I know that if you're nota trained brain expert, it's not that obvious,but just take a look, OK? So here's the brainof a non-procrastinator.
03:31
(Laughter)
03:36
Now ... here's my brain.
03:38
(Laughter)
03:55
There is a difference. Both brains have a RationalDecision-Maker in them, but the procrastinator's brain also has an Instant Gratification Monkey. Now, what does this meanfor the procrastinator? Well, it means everything's fineuntil this happens.
03:57
[This is a perfect timeto get some work done.] [Nope!]
04:13
So the Rational Decision-Makerwill make the rational decision to do something productive, but the Monkey doesn't like that plan, so he actually takes the wheel, and he says, "Actually, let's readthe entire Wikipedia page of the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding scandal, because I just rememberedthat that happened.
04:16
(Laughter)
04:17
Then --
04:18
(Laughter)
04:33
Then we're going to go over to the fridge, to see if there's anything newin there since 10 minutes ago. After that, we're going to goon a YouTube spiral that starts with videosof Richard Feynman talking about magnets and ends much, much laterwith us watching interviews with Justin Bieber's mom.
04:35
(Laughter)
04:42
"All of that's going to take a while, so we're not going to really have roomon the schedule for any work today. Sorry!"
04:43
(Sigh)
05:02
Now, what is going on here? The Instant Gratification Monkeydoes 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.
05:12
Now, in the animal world, that works fine. If you're a dog and you spend your whole life doingnothing other than easy and fun things, you're a huge success!
05:13
(Laughter)
06:27
And to the Monkey, humans are just another animal species. You have to keep well-slept, well-fedand propagating into the next generation, which in tribal timesmight 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 haveanother guy in our brain, the Rational Decision-Maker, who gives us the ability to do thingsno 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 takeall of that into account. And he wants to just have us do whatever makes senseto be doing right now. Now, sometimes it makes sense to be doing things that are easy and fun, like when you're having dinneror 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 harderand 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 enda certain way every time, leaving him spending a lot of timein this orange zone, an easy and fun place that's entirelyout of the Makes Sense circle. I call it the Dark Playground.
06:30
(Laughter)
07:01
Now, the Dark Playground is a place that all of you procrastinatorsout there know very well. It's where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activitiesare 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 gethimself over here to this blue zone, a less pleasant place, but wherereally important things happen?
07:14
Well, turns out the procrastinatorhas a guardian angel, someone who's always lookingdown on him and watching over him in his darkest moments -- someone called the Panic Monster.
07:16
(Laughter)
07:47
Now, the Panic Monsteris dormant most of the time, but he suddenly wakes upanytime a deadline gets too close or there's danger of public embarrassment, a career disaster or some otherscary consequence. And importantly, he's the only thingthe Monkey is terrified of. Now, he became very relevantin my life pretty recently, because the people of TEDreached out to me about six months ago and invited me to do a TED Talk.
07:49
(Laughter)
07:56
Now, of course, I said yes. It's always been a dream of mineto have done a TED Talk in the past.
08:00
(Laughter)
08:35
(Applause) But in the middle of all this excitement, the Rational Decision-Maker seemedto have something else on his mind. He was saying, "Are we clearon what we just accepted? Do we get what's going to be nowhappening one day in the future? We need to sit downand 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 hourstil we get to the top of the country, so we can get a better feel for India."
08:37
(Laughter)
08:43
So that's what we did that day.
08:44
(Laughter)
08:59
As six months turned into fourand then two and then one, the people of TED decidedto release the speakers. And I opened up the website,and there was my face staring right back at me. And guess who woke up?
09:01
(Laughter)
09:07
So the Panic Monsterstarts losing his mind, and a few seconds later,the whole system's in mayhem.
09:10
(Laughter)
09:23
And the Monkey -- remember,he's terrified of the Panic Monster -- boom, he's up the tree! And finally, finally, the Rational Decision-Makercan take the wheel and I can start working on the talk.
09:53
Now, the Panic Monster explains all kinds of pretty insaneprocrastinator behavior, like how someone like mecould spend two weeks unable to start the openingsentence of a paper, and then miraculously findthe unbelievable work ethic to stay up all nightand write eight pages. And this entire situation,with the three characters -- this is the procrastinator's system. It's not pretty, but in the end, it works. This is what I decided to write abouton the blog a couple of years ago.
10:10
When I did, I was amazed by the response. Literally thousands of emails came in, from all different kinds of peoplefrom all over the world, doing all different kinds of things. These are people who were nurses,bankers, painters, engineers and lots and lots of PhD students.
10:12
(Laughter)
10:41
And they were all writing,saying the same thing: "I have this problem too." But what struck me was the contrastbetween the light tone of the post and the heaviness of these emails. These people were writingwith intense frustration about what procrastinationhad done to their lives, about what this Monkey had done to them. And I thought about this, and I said, well, if the procrastinator's systemworks, then what's going on? Why are all of these peoplein such a dark place?
11:24
Well, it turns out that there'stwo kinds of procrastination. Everything I've talked about today,the examples I've given, they all have deadlines. And when there's deadlines, the effects of procrastinationare contained to the short term because the Panic Monster gets involved. But there's a second kindof procrastination that happens in situationswhen there is no deadline. So if you wanted a careerwhere you're a self-starter -- something in the arts,something entrepreneurial -- there's no deadlines on those thingsat first, because nothing's happening, not until you've gone outand done the hard work to get momentum, get things going. There's also all kinds of important thingsoutside of your career that don't involve any deadlines, like seeing your family or exercisingand taking care of your health, working on your relationship or getting out of a relationshipthat isn't working.
12:21
Now if the procrastinator's only mechanismof doing these hard things is the Panic Monster, that's a problem, because in all of thesenon-deadline situations, the Panic Monster doesn't show up. He has nothing to wake up for, so the effects of procrastination,they're not contained; they just extend outward forever. And it's this long-termkind of procrastination that's much less visibleand much less talked about than the funnier, short-termdeadline-based kind. It's usually sufferedquietly and privately. And it can be the source of a huge amount of long-termunhappiness, and regrets. And I thought, that's whythose people are emailing, and that's why they'rein such a bad place. It's not that they're crammingfor some project. It's that long-term procrastinationhas made them feel like a spectator, at times, in their own lives. The frustration is notthat they couldn't achieve their dreams; it's that they weren't evenable to start chasing them.
12:39
So I read these emailsand I had a little bit of an epiphany -- that I don't thinknon-procrastinators exist. That's right -- I think all of youare procrastinators. Now, you might not all be a mess, like some of us,
12:41
(Laughter)
12:48
and some of you may havea healthy relationship with deadlines, but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest trick is when the deadlines aren't there.
13:30
Now, I want to show you one last thing. I call this a Life Calendar. That's one box for every weekof a 90-year life. That's not that many boxes, especially since we've alreadyused a bunch of those. So I think we need to all take a long,hard look at that calendar. We need to think about whatwe're really procrastinating on, because everyone is procrastinatingon something in life. We need to stay awareof the Instant Gratification Monkey. That's a job for all of us. And because there's notthat many boxes on there, it's a job that shouldprobably start today.
13:33
Well, maybe not today, but ...
13:36
(Laughter)
13:39
You know. Sometime soon.
13:41
Thank you.
13:42
(Applause)
Chinese script
00:11上大學(xué)那會兒， 我是學(xué)政務(wù)專業(yè)的， 意味著我得寫很多論文。 當一名普通的學(xué)生寫論文時， 他們也許會像這樣，把任務(wù)分攤開。 所以，你明白
00:13
（笑聲）
00:20
開始可能有點慢， 但是一個星期過后已經(jīng)寫了不少， 接下來有時寫的更多一些， 最后一切搞定，事情不會搞砸。
00:22
（笑聲）
00:32
我也想這樣。 至少我的計劃是這樣。 我準備好開始， 然而，事實上，到寫論文的時候， 我是這么做的。
00:34
（笑聲）
00:36
而且每次寫論文都這樣。
01:08
最后到了寫90頁畢業(yè)論文的時候， 本應(yīng)該花一年時間去寫的論文。 我知道對于這樣一篇論文來說，我平常的做法行不通。 畢業(yè)論文是個大項目。 于是我計劃好， 決定這么去做。 一年的工作就這么安排。 起初少干點兒， 中間幾個月持續(xù)干多一點兒， 最后高速檔全力以赴 就像小臺階一樣。 爬臺階能有多難？ 沒什么大不了的，對吧？
01:17
但是接下來，有趣的事發(fā)生了。 起初那幾個月？ 來了又走， 我基本沒干什么。 于是就有了這個很棒的修改計劃。
01:19
（笑聲）
01:20
再然后......
01:21
（笑聲）
01:57
中間幾個月竟然就這么過去了， 我基本上沒寫幾個字， 所以變成了這樣。 然后從還有兩個月到還有一個月， 再到只剩兩星期。 然后有一天我突然意識到 離截止期只剩三天了， 而我還一個字都沒寫呢， 于是我做了我唯一能做的事： 我花了72小時寫出90頁， 通宵整整兩天趕工 人不應(yīng)該連續(xù)熬兩個通宵 全速穿過校園， 慢動作潛入， 趕在截止期之前交了論文。
02:15
我以為一切就這么結(jié)束了。 結(jié)果一個星期之后我接到一通電話， 是學(xué)校打來的。 他們問：“你是蒂姆·爾班嗎？” 我說，“沒錯”。 他們說：“我們得和你談一下論文的事兒?！?我回答，”好“ 對方接著說, "這是我們看過最棒的一篇論文。“
02:17
（笑聲）
02:20
（鼓掌）
02:24
那并未發(fā)生。
02:26
（笑聲）
02:28
這篇論文寫得非常非常爛。
02:31
（笑聲）
02:37
我只是想享受一下這個時刻，當你們?nèi)恳詾椋?“這家伙太牛了！“
02:39
（笑聲）
03:28
不是這樣的，那篇論文超級爛。 不管怎么樣，我現(xiàn)在是個博文作者。 我為“打破砂鍋問到底”寫博文。 幾年前我決定寫一篇關(guān)于拖延的文章。 我的拖延行為總是讓我身邊那些不拖延的人感到困惑， 所以我想向不拖延的人解釋一下 拖延者腦袋里到底是怎么想的， 還有為什么我們這些拖延者會這樣。 我的假設(shè)是 拖延者的大腦 和不拖延者的大腦是不同的。 為了證明這一點，我找到一個核磁共振實驗室 讓我可以掃描自己的大腦 和一個經(jīng)證實不是拖延者的大腦， 然后我就可以對比這兩種大腦。 今天我把它們都帶來了。 我希望大家能認真比較這二者之間是否有什么差別。 我知道大家不是受過訓(xùn)練的腦科專家， 看起來可能不明顯，但是讓我們來看一下，好嗎？ 這是一個不拖延者的大腦。
03:31
（笑聲）
03:36
現(xiàn)在， 這是我的大腦。
03:38
（笑聲）
03:55
這二者之間有一個區(qū)別。 兩種大腦里頭都有一個理性的決策制定者， 但是拖延者的大腦里， 還有一只叫即時滿足的猴子。 對拖延者來說這意味著什么呢？ 它意味著在這件事發(fā)生之前一切都挺好的。
03:57
[現(xiàn)在是開始干活的最佳時機.] [才不是呢!]
04:13
于是當理性的決策制定者做出理性的決策， 想做一些富有成效的事時， 猴子不想這么做， 于是他開始掌控方向盤， 而且他說：“實際上，讓我們來讀一下維基百科上關(guān)于 南茜·克里根/湯妮·雅哈丁的丑聞案吧， 因為我剛想起來這件事。
04:16
（笑聲）
04:17
然后
04:18
（笑聲）
04:33
然后讓我們走到冰箱， 翻翻看這10分鐘以來有沒什么新東西。 之后，讓我們繼續(xù)在視頻網(wǎng)站上瀏覽， 從理查德·費曼談磁性的視頻開始看， 一直看到對賈斯汀·比伯老媽的采訪 看到地老天荒。
04:35
（笑聲）
04:42
“這一切都花時間, 所以我們今天的日程安排沒辦法抽空干活。 很抱歉！“
04:43
（嘆氣）
05:02
這是怎么回事呢？ 即時滿足猴子似乎不是那個 你想讓他操控方向盤的人。 他完全活在當下。 他沒有過去的記憶，沒有對未來的認識， 他只關(guān)心兩件事： 簡單和快樂。
05:12
在動物世界里，這樣沒問題。 如果你是一條狗， 你簡單、快樂地度過這一生， 就已經(jīng)是巨大的成功！
05:13
（笑聲）
06:27
而對于猴子來說， 人類是另外一種動物。 你睡好、吃飽、繁殖下一代， 這么做在部落時代或許沒問題。 但是，假如你還沒注意到，我們現(xiàn)在不是生活在部落時代。 我們處于一個先進的文明，而猴子根本不懂那是什么。 這就是為什么我們腦袋里還有另外一個家伙， 理性的決策制定者， 他讓我們有能力去做其他動物無法做到的事情。 我們可以預(yù)見未來。 我們可以顧全大局。 我們可以做長期打算。 而且他想把這些都考慮進去。 他想讓我們做 任何值得現(xiàn)在去做的事兒。 有時做簡單快樂的事 是有意義的， 比如吃飯、睡覺 或者享受應(yīng)得的休閑時光。 這就是為什么即時滿足猴子和理性的決策制定者之間有重合。 有時他們意見一致。 但是有時，更有意義的是 去做那些比較難而且不那么讓人享受的事情， 這是出于全局的考慮。 此時二者之間會產(chǎn)生沖突。 對于拖延者來說， 每次沖突都以這種方式結(jié)束， 就是他在橙色區(qū)域花費了大量時間， 這是那個簡單又快樂，但是又沒有意義的那個區(qū)域。 我把這片區(qū)域稱為黑暗的操場。
06:30
（笑聲）
07:01
黑暗的操場是一個 所有拖延者都很了解的地方。 這里是在本來不應(yīng)該休閑的時候 的休閑娛樂的活動場所。 在黑暗的操場得到的快樂 其實并不是快樂，因為它完全是不勞而獲的， 這會帶來內(nèi)疚、恐懼、焦慮、自我憎恨 這是所有拖延者的感受。 而且問題是，在這種情況下，由猴子掌控著方向盤， 怎么能讓拖延者把自己帶去藍色區(qū)域那邊呢， 那邊雖然沒那么舒適，但是有很多重要的事情要做。
07:14
其實拖延者有個守護天使， 總是看不起他并且看守著他， 在那些最黑暗的時刻 它被稱為恐慌怪獸。
07:16
（笑聲）
07:47
恐慌怪獸大部分時間都在冬眠， 但是截止期很靠近的時候或者處于在公眾面前出丑的危險中時， 或面臨事業(yè)災(zāi)難時， 或有其他可怕的后果時，它就會突然醒來。 而且重要的是，他是猴子唯一害怕的東西。 最近在我的生活里，恐慌怪獸變得相當重要， 因為TED的工作人員6個月之前聯(lián)絡(luò)過我， 邀請我做一次演講。
07:49
（笑聲）
07:56
當然，我答應(yīng)啦。 我以前一直夢想著可以做一次TED演講。
08:00
（笑聲）
08:35
（鼓掌） 但是在這種興奮中， 理性的決策制定者似乎在想別的事。 他會說：“我們清楚剛才答應(yīng)了什么嗎？ 我們現(xiàn)在具有完成將來那個任務(wù)所需的能力嗎？ 我們得坐下來開始干活。” 而猴子說：“完全同意，但是讓我們打開谷歌地球 把鏡頭推進到印度地下200尺， 然后花兩個半小時向上滾動到這個國家的地表， 讓我們更好地感受一下印度?！?
08:37
（笑聲）
08:43
那天我就是這么做的。
08:44
（笑聲）
08:59
當6個月變成4個月，然后2個月，然后1個月時， TED工作人員開始發(fā)布演講者。 我打開網(wǎng)站看到自己的臉 盯著自己看。 你猜這個時候誰醒了？
09:01
（笑聲）
09:07
于是恐慌怪獸開始發(fā)瘋， 幾秒鐘之后，整個系統(tǒng)一片混亂。
09:10
（笑聲）
09:23
而猴子，還記得嗎？他害怕恐慌怪獸 嘣的一聲，他爬到樹上去了！ 于是終于， 理性的決策制定者終于可以操控方向盤， 我可以開始準備這次演講。
09:53
恐慌怪獸的存在解釋了 所有這些相當愚蠢的拖延行為 就比如我這樣的人花了兩個星期 還沒辦法開始寫論文的開頭語， 然后奇跡般地又擁有了令人難以置信的工作熱情 整晚熬夜寫了8頁。 整個情況中的三種角色 構(gòu)建了拖延者的系統(tǒng)。 不美好，但是至少還有用。 這是我?guī)啄昵皼Q定在博客寫的東西。
10:10
發(fā)布之后，收到的回應(yīng)讓我大吃一驚。 我收到幾千封郵件， 來自世界各地不同地方的人， 他們做著各種不同的事兒。 有護士、銀行家、畫家、工程師 還有很多很多博士生。
10:12
（笑聲）
10:41
內(nèi)容基本上差不多： “我也有這個問題?！?但是讓我印象深刻的是那種反差，帖子的輕松口吻 和那些郵件的沉重語氣的反差。 這些人有強烈的挫敗感 因為拖延影響到他們的生活， 因為猴子控制了他們的想法。 思考之后，我的問題是 如果拖延者的系統(tǒng)是有效的，那么到底是怎么回事？ 為什么這些人身陷如此灰暗的境地？
12:21
結(jié)果我發(fā)現(xiàn)原來有兩種拖延。 我今天談到的，上面舉過的例子 都有截止期。 有截止期的時候， 拖延的影響被限制在一個較短的期限內(nèi) 因為恐慌怪獸會介入。 但是對于第二種拖延來說 它發(fā)生在沒有截止期的情況下。 比如你想自己創(chuàng)業(yè) 或者從事藝術(shù)類的工作， 起初并沒有截止期，因為在你還沒有開始努力干活之前 不會有任何事情發(fā)生 沒有產(chǎn)生推進力讓事情繼續(xù)進行。 除了事業(yè)之外那些重要的事情 也沒有截止期， 比如看望你的家庭，或者鍛煉身體保持身體健康， 努力改善戀人關(guān)系 或者離開一段不滿意的關(guān)系。 如果拖延者做這些困難的事只有一種機制 即恐慌怪獸，那么問題來了， 因為在這些沒有截止期的情況下， 恐慌怪獸根本不會出現(xiàn)。 他沒有需要醒來的時候， 于是拖延的后果是不受限制的， 他們只會無限延期。 而這種長期的拖延 比起更有趣、更短期、基于截止期的那種拖延來說， 不那么明顯，也不經(jīng)常被談?wù)摗?它通常是安靜地、悄悄地影響我們。 它可能是 大量長期不快樂、內(nèi)疚的來源。 我覺得，這才是那些人發(fā)來郵件的原因， 這才是他們處于如此糟糕狀況的原因。 不是因為他們?yōu)榱四硞€項目狂趕， 而是這種長期拖延使他們感覺在他們自己的生活中 有時好像只是一個旁觀者。 他們的沮喪不是因為他們無法實現(xiàn)自己的夢想； 而是他們甚至無法開始去追逐自己的夢想。
12:39
所以讀完這些郵件之后，我有一點領(lǐng)悟 我認為不存在不拖延的人。 沒錯，我認為大家都是拖延者。 你也許并不是像我們這樣， 每方面都一團糟，
12:41
（笑聲）
12:48
也許有些人可以很好的面對截止日期， 但是請記?。汉镒幼畋氨傻募總z 在于沒有截止日期的部分。
13:30
現(xiàn)在我想給大家最后看一樣?xùn)|西。 我把它叫做生命日歷。 假設(shè)一個人可以活到90歲，每個星期是一個格子。 其實沒多少格子， 尤其是我們已經(jīng)活了這么多年。 我認為我們都需要花些時間，認真看一下這個生命日歷。 我們需要認真思考我們真正拖延的是什么， 因為每個人都在拖延某件事。 我們得時刻意識到即時滿足這個猴子的存在。 這是我們所有人都應(yīng)該做的事兒。 而且因為格子并不多， 這項工作也許應(yīng)該從今天就開始。
13:33
好吧，也許不是今天，但是...
13:36
（笑聲）
13:39
你懂的。 不久的將來。
13:41
謝謝。
13:42
(掌聲）
