Why a procrastinator postpones work
“I want to explain to all the non-procrastinators of this world about the brains of a procrastinator and why we are the way we are,” said Tim Urban , blogger/ journalist.
Urban, who was delivering aTed Talk at Vancouver , Canada on “Inside the mind of a procrastinator,” explained how the brain of a procrastinator works. The speaker said the brains of a procrastinator and a non-procrastinator are actually very different.
System of a procrastinators mind
The brain of a non-procrastinator has:
‘A Rational Decision-Maker’ and so does a procrastinator but, there’s a difference because a procrastinators brain also has
‘An Instant Gratification Monkey’. Now, what does the monkey do? The monkey only understands two things ‘Easy and Fun’, it entirely lives in the present, has no memory of the past and no knowledge of the future.
Animal World versus Human Mind
Now, in the animal world, this may work fine because if you’re a dog and you spend you’re whole life doing nothing other than easy and fun things you are huge success. But we’re humans of advanced civilization, that is why, we have another person in our mind, ‘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 future plans and the rational decision-maker is the one who wants us to do whatever’s right and makes sense.
So, whenever the rational decision-maker decides to do something productive, the monkey doesn’t like that plan so, he takes over the wheel and says, “lets read the entire page of the Wikipedia of the Nancy Karrigan scandal because I just remembered that, then, we are going the fridge and check if there’s something new in there since 10 minutes ago, after that, we are going on a Youtube spiral watching videos about Richard Feynman talking about magnets and ending up watching interview with Justin Bieber’s mom. So we don’t really have any time do anything productive now, sorry.”
Taking the wheel
The question now is, how does the rational decision-maker take the wheel from the monkey? Well, turns out the rational decision-maker has a guardian angel, someone who watches down him in his darkest moments, someone called the ‘Panic Monster’. The Panic Monster is dormant most of the times, 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 consequences. And the monkey is terrified of the Panic Monster.
So, the Panic Monster starts losing his mind and the entire system is in mayhem and the monkey is now up the tree and finally, the Rational Decision-Maker can take the wheel and start working. Hence this how the brain of a procrastinator works and these three characters are the system of a procrastinators mind. It’s not pretty, but in the end, it works.
You can access the full talk at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU
Urban, who was delivering a
System of a procrastinators mind
The brain of a non-procrastinator has:
‘A Rational Decision-Maker’ and so does a procrastinator but, there’s a difference because a procrastinators brain also has
‘An Instant Gratification Monkey’. Now, what does the monkey do? The monkey only understands two things ‘Easy and Fun’, it entirely lives in the present, has no memory of the past and no knowledge of the future.
Animal World versus Human Mind
Now, in the animal world, this may work fine because if you’re a dog and you spend you’re whole life doing nothing other than easy and fun things you are huge success. But we’re humans of advanced civilization, that is why, we have another person in our mind, ‘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 future plans and the rational decision-maker is the one who wants us to do whatever’s right and makes sense.
So, whenever the rational decision-maker decides to do something productive, the monkey doesn’t like that plan so, he takes over the wheel and says, “lets read the entire page of the Wikipedia of the Nancy Karrigan scandal because I just remembered that, then, we are going the fridge and check if there’s something new in there since 10 minutes ago, after that, we are going on a Youtube spiral watching videos about Richard Feynman talking about magnets and ending up watching interview with Justin Bieber’s mom. So we don’t really have any time do anything productive now, sorry.”
Taking the wheel
The question now is, how does the rational decision-maker take the wheel from the monkey? Well, turns out the rational decision-maker has a guardian angel, someone who watches down him in his darkest moments, someone called the ‘Panic Monster’. The Panic Monster is dormant most of the times, 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 consequences. And the monkey is terrified of the Panic Monster.
So, the Panic Monster starts losing his mind and the entire system is in mayhem and the monkey is now up the tree and finally, the Rational Decision-Maker can take the wheel and start working. Hence this how the brain of a procrastinator works and these three characters are the system of a procrastinators mind. It’s not pretty, but in the end, it works.
You can access the full talk at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU
Recent Messages ()
Please rate before posting your Review
SIGN IN WITH
Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive. Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.