Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | TED

Tim Urban knows that procrastination doesn’t make sense, but he’s never been able to shake his habit of waiting until the last minute to get things done. In this hilarious and insightful talk, Urban takes us on a journey through YouTube binges, Wikipedia rabbit holes and bouts of staring out the window — and encourages us to think harder about what we’re really procrastinating on, before we run out of time.

For more from Tim Urban, visit Wait But Why: http://www.waitbutwhy.com/

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41 Comments

  1. After finishing this video I know why this is the most viewed video on this channel😂😂😂

  2. the long term procrastination then hits in form of a midlife crisis, questioning and reevaluating what you did with all your life

  3. I'm going to watch this later today.

  4. watching this while planning to miss tomorrow class

  5. man i really gotta stop procrastinating on most things

  6. You PhD and master's students! Oh my!

  7. me always in an awe when somebody finish their tasks ahead of the deadline, meanwhile I'm always know I should start and finish the task little by little, BUT! I always had the urge to do thing when it's close to deadline – the true meaning of procrastinator 😗

    how can I get rid of this 🐒?! 🙃

  8. شاهدة هذا المقطع لي تعلم اللغة الانكليزية
    لكن تعلمت من هو الكثير

  9. My girlfriend is that monkey

  10. Can someone summarize this?

  11. watching it while procrastinating my work task for the sprint which is to end tomorrow, yes we all are procrastinators!

  12. If you really strongly vibe with this vid and also find you can't see a task through to the end without getting sidetracked (e.g start one household task, then midway notice something else and start that, then midway find another thing and start that and then finally come back to the first task and your other half is confused why there are half finished things all over the house) you might want to look into ADHD. It comes in multiple flavours (inattentive, hyperactive and combined) and a lot of folks don't get diagnosed in childhood because they are smart enough to deliver decent work cramming at the last second and not studying as much as their peers. I'm recently diagnosed and the charts on how he works on papers are exactly what I was like in school and uni. Utilising anxiety to light the motivation engine because we lack enough dopamine to fire it up the normal way is classic for ADHD folks.

  13. An intelligent dude spreading wisdom 🙌🏾

  14. I came here bcoz I'm one of procrastinators 😂

  15. What is the role of teamwork in their success?

  16. This must be the funniest TED talk ever. Funniest and very very accurate.

  17. I came to the comment and forgot I already liked them all

  18. Shout out to the procrastinators procrastinating by watching a video about procrastination!

  19. I have watched this video 6 years ago for the first time. Since then many more times. Still today I always think about the 'Instant Gratification Monkey' whenever the thought of "Procrastination" crosses my mind. It even inspired me to make a video on my tiny channel about "How to Stop Procrastinating". Thank you very much. I will certainly keep watching it.

  20. ChatGPT suggested this video to me But I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ why

  21. Every time when I want to procrastinate, I watch this video to remind me how procrastinating works …

  22. I'm supposed to be preparing for my own speech but here, watching a video about procrastination while procrastinating.

    You know I'm not the only one.

  23. Have to do violin but I’m watching this for the 20th time now

  24. most funny the people laughing at you because you can make propaganda on someone especially the jews people and we know you tactics blaming! We always watch you speak because the CIA FBI and Mossad watch your channel YouTube 👏🏻

  25. I was shown this video in 8th grade, and I'm about to graduate high school. To say I think about this video daily is an understatement.

  26. procrastinating from my tomorrow exam preparation and watching this 🥲🥲

  27. fun fact: this slideshow was actually the drafted version of the disney pixar movie, Inside Out

  28. The is the BEST TED talk ever. Awesome!!!🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

  29. Y’know what? Maybe I should go work on that research paper now

  30. If procrastination was a game I would be at top 1%

  31. Guilty. And I’ve already watched this video several times before.

  32. I have a Gorilla. haha Love it!

  33. Watching this to procrastinate

  34. I agree with all that but can't get a escape from this monkey

  35. 3000 word essay for the current term, due 1st May 2023
    3500 word essay for the current term, due 16th May 2023
    8000 – 10000 word dissertation, due 16th May 2023
    4000 word essay from last term, due 14th August 2023
    3500 word essay from last term, due 14th August 2023
    ~ list compiled very, very late on the cloudy night of 28th February 2023

    Here's to hoping I can beat my perfectionism-induced procrastination and successfully get my degree 🙌

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