Procrastination In Tim Urban's Ted Talk

This Ted Talk was by far one of the most eye-opening and truthful talks I have ever heard. It was not due to the content of the material being presented, but it was how Tim Urban was able to use visible images to connect with variety of audiences. Not only this, but the relevance of procrastination in our daily lives. Tim Urban was able to explain his hypothesis using these two examples while also citing how procrastination has personally affected his life.
Now, procrastination is something that many people have a hard time grasping. During his Ted Talk, Tim Urban explains what goes on in the mind of a master procrastinator. He says, “in the mind of a master procrastinator, there is a rational decision maker, but this rational decision maker

is sometimes affected by the gratification money”. He believes that in a procrastinators brain, there is something (like a monkey) that keeps them from doing the required work. They rather do what is easy and fun, rather than do something that is hard for the bigger picture. However, he does mention that when push comes to shove, the procrastinators are able to go above human abilities in order to get the job done. Now, it may essentially be classified as bad work, but at least they got the job done, right? Urban sees this and tells the audience that everyone is a procrastinator. He believes that there are two forms of procrastination and they generally involve deadlines. These two types of procrastination are short term procrastination (with deadlines) and long term procrastination (without deadlines). While saying this, Urban hypothesizes that we are all procrastinating about something in life, we just have to figure out what it is. He then goes on to talk about some of the emails he has received about people having the same problem as him, but never gives a clear cut answer to a solution. His main goal was to provide the audience with the proper information about why procrastinators are the way that they are.
When examining this talk, I fell in love with it because it even applies to my everyday life. I am a personal victim of procrastination. However, what really stood out to me in this presentation was Urbans use of visual aid. Now, we tend to think of Ted Talks being presented by some of the most prestigious minds in the entire world. While Urban may be smart, his graphics were those of a 5 year old, but they were used in such a way that everyone with a functioning brain could understand. Everything from the stick figure drawings, to the panic monster, and the gratification monkey, everything was used to help explain procrastination from kids all the way to adults. His unique style of presentation allowed him to connect with people of various ages. Secondly, another thing I noted was how he made the crowd laugh. His use of jokes made the crowd laugh and kept their attention. Overall, I have no complaints about Urbans performance because it was one of the best talks I have ever watched. It was not over sophisticated, or specific to one group of people. It applies to everyone and he did a great job of showing how procrastinators think and act.