[00:00:12.620] - Speaker 1
So in college.
[00:00:15.450] - Speaker 1
I was a government major which means I had to write a lot of papers. Now when a normal student
writes a paper they might spread the work out a little like this. So you know. You get started maybe a
little slowly but you get enough done in the first week that some have your days later on everything
gets done things stay civil and I would want to do that like that. That would be the plan. I would I
would have it all ready to go. But then than that the people would come along and then I would kind of
do this.
[00:00:48.840] - Speaker 1
And that would happen every single paper.
[00:00:51.660] - Speaker 1
But then came my 90 page senior thesis paper you're supposed to spend a year on. I knew for a paper
like that my normal workflow was not an option. It was way too big a project. So I planned things out
and I decided I kind of had to go something like this. This is how the year would go. So it started off
light. And I bumped it up in the middle months. And then at the end I would kick it up into high gears a
little staircase. How hard could it be just walk up the stairs. No big deal right. But then funniest thing
happened those first few months they came and went. And I I couldn't quite do stuff. So we had an
awesome new revised plan. And then. But. Then those middle months actually went by. And I didn't
really write words. And so we were here. And then two months turned into one month 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 put two all nighters.
[00:02:06.460] - Speaker 1
Sprinted across campus dove in slow motion and got it in of the deadline. Now I thought that was the
end of everything. But a week later I get a call. It's the school. And they say is this Tim Urban. And I
say Yeah. And they say we need to talk about your thesis. And I say Okay. And they say it's the best
one we've ever seen.
[00:02:37.060] - Speaker 1
That did not happen.
[00:02:40.350] - Speaker 1
It was a very very bad. I just.
[00:02:46.560] - Speaker 1
Wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought this guy's amazing.
[00:02:52.840] - Speaker 1
No no. It was very very bad.
[00:02:55.470] - Speaker 1
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 Krastev nation my behaviors are always perplexed the non procrastinators
around me and I wanted to explain to the non procrastinators of the world. What goes on in the heads
of procrastinators and why we are the where we are now. I had a hypothesis that the brains of
procrastinators were actually different than the brains of other people and to testis I found an MRI lab
that she'd let me scan both my brain and the brain of a proven non procrastinator and I so I could
compare them and I actually brought them here to show you today. And I want you to take a look
carefully to see if you can notice the difference and I know that if you're not a trained brain expert it's
not that obvious but just take a look. OK so here's the brain of a non procrastinator. Now. Here's my
brain. There is a difference. Both brains have a rational decision maker in them but the
procrastinators brain also has an Instant Gratification Monkey. Now what does this mean for the
So in college.
[00:00:15.450] - Speaker 1
I was a government major which means I had to write a lot of papers. Now when a normal student
writes a paper they might spread the work out a little like this. So you know. You get started maybe a
little slowly but you get enough done in the first week that some have your days later on everything
gets done things stay civil and I would want to do that like that. That would be the plan. I would I
would have it all ready to go. But then than that the people would come along and then I would kind of
do this.
[00:00:48.840] - Speaker 1
And that would happen every single paper.
[00:00:51.660] - Speaker 1
But then came my 90 page senior thesis paper you're supposed to spend a year on. I knew for a paper
like that my normal workflow was not an option. It was way too big a project. So I planned things out
and I decided I kind of had to go something like this. This is how the year would go. So it started off
light. And I bumped it up in the middle months. And then at the end I would kick it up into high gears a
little staircase. How hard could it be just walk up the stairs. No big deal right. But then funniest thing
happened those first few months they came and went. And I I couldn't quite do stuff. So we had an
awesome new revised plan. And then. But. Then those middle months actually went by. And I didn't
really write words. And so we were here. And then two months turned into one month 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 put two all nighters.
[00:02:06.460] - Speaker 1
Sprinted across campus dove in slow motion and got it in of the deadline. Now I thought that was the
end of everything. But a week later I get a call. It's the school. And they say is this Tim Urban. And I
say Yeah. And they say we need to talk about your thesis. And I say Okay. And they say it's the best
one we've ever seen.
[00:02:37.060] - Speaker 1
That did not happen.
[00:02:40.350] - Speaker 1
It was a very very bad. I just.
[00:02:46.560] - Speaker 1
Wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought this guy's amazing.
[00:02:52.840] - Speaker 1
No no. It was very very bad.
[00:02:55.470] - Speaker 1
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 Krastev nation my behaviors are always perplexed the non procrastinators
around me and I wanted to explain to the non procrastinators of the world. What goes on in the heads
of procrastinators and why we are the where we are now. I had a hypothesis that the brains of
procrastinators were actually different than the brains of other people and to testis I found an MRI lab
that she'd let me scan both my brain and the brain of a proven non procrastinator and I so I could
compare them and I actually brought them here to show you today. And I want you to take a look
carefully to see if you can notice the difference and I know that if you're not a trained brain expert it's
not that obvious but just take a look. OK so here's the brain of a non procrastinator. Now. Here's my
brain. There is a difference. Both brains have a rational decision maker in them but the
procrastinators brain also has an Instant Gratification Monkey. Now what does this mean for the
