Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator

I found a speech by Tim Urban on ted.com. It sparked my interest as soon as I saw the title, Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator. I immediately became interested in this speech because I procrastinate every single day of my life, and it is honestly the most frustrating thing to me. So I decided to watch it. It turned out to be quite hilarious and very relatable.

He decided to write a blog about procrastinators and why they are the way they are. He then goes on to illustrate the difference between the brains of a procrastinator and of a non-procrastinator with funny yet simple drawings. He uses the character of a ‘rational decision maker’ and an ‘instant gratification monkey’.

The speaker then goes on to say that even though they can overlap, procrastinators tend to spend much more time doing the monkey’s ‘easy and fun’ activities, and he calls that place ‘the dark playground’. He says the fun that you have in the ‘dark playground’ is not actually fun because your mind is filled with guilt, dread, anxiety, self-hatred, etc. He says that the only way to get out of the dark playground is by the monkey’s guardian angel, ‘the panic monster’. He’s dormant most of the time but sometimes wakes up when a deadline is coming up.

He then comes to the conclusion that the procrastinator’s system may be messy, but in the end it works. He then realized that there are two types of procrastinators: procrastinators who procrastinate with deadlines, and the person who start their own businesses. He says that starting your own businesses could cause long term procrastination because you may never even achieve your goals. His final conclusion is that non-procrastinators do not exist. Not all procrastinators are messy though, they just may not realize it. He says everyone is procrastinating something in life and we must all be aware of the instant gratification monkey.

Tim wanted to persuade the audience that everyone is a procrastinator in some way. The argument was quite reasonable and logical. He used Logos by forming arguments in a very chronological order that made the most sense. He used Pathos by using a few personal examples. His speech was very effective especially because of all of his illustrations and humor.