Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator | Tim Urban | TED

Translator: Isabella Møller Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

So in college,

På universitetet

I was a government major,

læste jeg statskundskab,

which means I had to write a lot of papers.

Så jeg havde mange afleveringer.

Now, when a normal student writes a paper,

Når typiske studerende laver en aflevering,

they might spread the work out a little like this.

spreder de muligvis arbejdet ud sådan her.

So, you know --

Altså,

(Laughter)

(Latter)

you get started maybe a little slowly,

man starter måske lidt langsomt ud,

but you get enough done in the first week

men man når nok i løbet af den første uge,

that, with some heavier days later on,

sådan så, når de hårde dage kommer,

everything gets done, things stay civil.

bliver man færdig uden store problemer.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And I would want to do that like that.

Sådan ville jeg også gøre det.

That would be the plan.

Det var planen.

I would have it all ready to go,

Jeg ville have det hele klar,

but then, actually, the paper would come along,

men når jeg så rent faktisk skulle lave en aflevering

and then I would kind of do this.

så det nærmere sådan her ud.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And that would happen every single paper.

Og det skete hver gang.

But then came my 90-page senior thesis,

Men så kom mit 90 sider lange speciale,

a paper you're supposed to spend a year on.

en opgave, man bør bruge et år på at lave.

And I knew for a paper like that, my normal work flow was not an option.

Jeg vidste, at for denne slags opgave, var min normale tilgang ikke mulig.

It was way too big a project.

Projektet var for stort.

So I planned things out,

Så jeg planlagde.

and I decided I kind of had to go something like this.

og besluttede mig for at strukturere tiden nogenlunde sådan her.

This is how the year would go.

Sådan her ville året forløbe.

So I'd start off light,

Jeg ville starte stille og roligt ud,

and I'd bump it up in the middle months,

Øge intensiteten i midterperioden

and then at the end, I would kick it up into high gear

og mod slutningen ville jeg skrue bissen på,

just like a little staircase.

ligesom en lille trappe.

How hard could it be to walk up the stairs?

Hvor svært kunne det være?

No big deal, right?

Ligetil, ikke?

But then, the funniest thing happened.

Men så skete noget sjovt.

Those first few months?

De første par måneder?

They came and went,

De kom og gik,

and I couldn't quite do stuff.

jeg kunne ikke helt komme i gang.

So we had an awesome new revised plan.

Så jeg havde en fantastisk, ny plan.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And then --

Og så -

(Laughter)

(Latter)

But then those middle months actually went by,

Men så forsvandt de næste måneder også,

and I didn't really write words,

jeg skrev ikke rigtigt noget

and so we were here.

og så endte jeg her.

And then two months turned into one month,

To måneder blev til én måned,

which turned into two weeks.

som blev til to uger.

And one day I woke up

Jeg vågnede op en morgen,

with three days until the deadline,

tre dage inden afleveringsfristen,

still not having written a word,

jeg havde stadig ikke skrevet et ord,

and so I did the only thing I could:

så jeg gjorde det eneste mulige:

I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours,

Jeg skrev 90 sider på 72 timer

pulling not one but two all-nighters --

var vågen i to hele døgn -

humans are not supposed to pull two all-nighters --

hvilket mennesker ikke er skabt til -

sprinted across campus,

løb tværs over campus,

dove in slow motion,

i slow-motion over målstregen

and got it in just at the deadline.

og nåede det lige præcis til tiden.

I thought that was the end of everything.

Jeg troede, det var det.

But a week later I get a call,

Men ugen efter blev jeg ringet op

and it's the school.

af universitetet.

And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?"

De spurgte: "Er dette Tim Urban?"

And I say, "Yeah."

Jeg svarede: "Ja."

And they say, "We need to talk about your thesis."

De sagde: "Vi er nødt til at tale om dit speciale"

And I say, "OK."

Jeg svarede: "Ok."

And they say,

De sagde:

"It's the best one we've ever seen."

"Det er det bedste, vi har set."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

(Applause)

(Bifald)

That did not happen.

Det skete ikke.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

It was a very, very bad thesis.

Det var et meget, meget dårligt speciale.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

I just wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought,

Jeg ville bare nyde øjeblikket, hvor I alle tænkte:

"This guy is amazing!"

"Ham her er fantastisk!"

(Laughter)

(Latter)

No, no, it was very, very bad.

Det var virkelig, virkelig dårligt.

Anyway, today I'm a writer-blogger guy.

I dag er jeg skribent og blogger,

I write the blog Wait But Why.

jeg har bloggen Wait But Why.

And a couple of years ago, I decided to write about procrastination.

For et par år siden besluttede jeg at skrive om overspringshandlinger.

My behavior has always perplexed the non-procrastinators around me,

Min adfærd har altid undret de omkring mig, der arbejder koncentreret

and I wanted to explain to the non-procrastinators of the world

og jeg ville derfor gerne forklare, hvad der sker i hovedet på os,

what goes on in the heads of procrastinators,

der overspringshandler,

and why we are the way we are.

og hvorfor vi er som vi er.

Now, I had a hypothesis

Jeg havde en hypotese

that the brains of procrastinators were actually different

om at overspringshandleres hjerner faktisk er anderledes

than the brains of other people.

end andre menneskers hjerner.

And to test this, I found an MRI lab

For at teste det, fandt jeg et MR-laboratorium,

that actually let me scan both my brain

der både scannede min hjerne

and the brain of a proven non-procrastinator,

og hjernen hos en person der ikke overspringshandler,

so I could compare them.

så jeg kunne sammenligne dem.

I actually brought them here to show you today.

Jeg har taget scanningerne med i dag.

I want you to take a look carefully to see if you can notice a difference.

Jeg vil have jer til at se grundigt efter og se om I kan se en forskel.

I know that if you're not a trained brain expert,

Jeg ved, at det ikke er så ligetil at se,

it's not that obvious, but just take a look, OK?

hvis man ikke er hjerne-ekspert, men prøv.

So here's the brain of a non-procrastinator.

Hjernen hos en, der ikke overspringshandler

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Now ...

og...

here's my brain.

Her er min hjerne.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

There is a difference.

Der er forskel.

Both brains have a Rational Decision-Maker in them,

Begge hjerner har en Rationel Beslutningstager,

but the procrastinator's brain

men overspringshandlerens hjerne

also has an Instant Gratification Monkey.

har også en Øjeblikkelig Nydelses-Abe.

Now, what does this mean for the procrastinator?

Og hvad betyder det for overspringshandleren?

Well, it means everything's fine until this happens.

Det betyder, at han har det fint indtil dette sker.

[This is a perfect time to get some work done.] [Nope!]

[Lige nu er et godt tidspunkt at arbejde på.] [Nej!]

So the Rational Decision-Maker will make the rational decision

Den Rationelle Beslutningstager træffer en rationel beslutning

to do something productive,

om at være produktiv,

but the Monkey doesn't like that plan,

men den plan er Aben ikke med på,

so he actually takes the wheel,

så han tager styringen

and he says, "Actually, let's read the entire Wikipedia page

og siger: "Lad os i stedet læse hele Wikipedia-siden

of the Nancy Kerrigan/ Tonya Harding scandal,

om Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding-skandalen,

because I just remembered that that happened.

fordi jeg lige er kommet i tanke om den.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Then --

Og så -

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Then we're going to go over to the fridge,

så går vi over til køleskabet for at se,

to see if there's anything new in there since 10 minutes ago.

om der er kommet ny mad siden for ti minutter siden.

After that, we're going to go on a YouTube spiral

Efter det bevæger vi os ind i en ond YouTube-cirkel,

that starts with videos of Richard Feynman talking about magnets

der begynder med videoer om, hvordan magneter virker

and ends much, much later with us watching interviews

og slutter meget senere med, at vi ser interviews

with Justin Bieber's mom.

med Justin Biebers mor.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

"All of that's going to take a while,

"Alt det kommer til at tage noget tid

so we're not going to really have room on the schedule for any work today.

så vi har ikke rigtigt tid til at arbejde i dag.

Sorry!"

Undskyld!"

(Sigh)

(Suk)

Now, what is going on here?

Hvad er det, der sker?

The Instant Gratification Monkey does not seem like a guy

Øjeblikkelig Nydelses-Aben virker ikke til at være typen

you want behind the wheel.

man vil give styringen.

He lives entirely in the present moment.

Han lever altid i øjeblikket.

He has no memory of the past, no knowledge of the future,

Han har husker ikke fortiden og ved intet om fremtiden,

and he only cares about two things:

og han går kun op i to ting:

easy and fun.

det skal være nemt og sjovt.

Now, in the animal world, that works fine.

I dyreverdenen er det helt fint.

If you're a dog

Hvis du er en hund,

and you spend your whole life doing nothing other than easy and fun things,

og du kun bruger dit liv på at have det nemt og sjovt,

you're a huge success!

så er du en stor succes!

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And to the Monkey,

Og for Aben

humans are just another animal species.

er mennesker bare en anden dyrerace.

You have to keep well-slept, well-fed and propagating into the next generation,

Man skal være udhvilet, mæt og man skal formere sig,

which in tribal times might have worked OK.

hvilket sikkert fungerede fint i oldtiden.

But, if you haven't noticed, now we're not in tribal times.

Men nu er vi ikke længere i oldtiden.

We're in an advanced civilization, and the Monkey does not know what that is.

Vi er blevet en avanceret civilisation, men det ved Aben ikke hvad er.

Which is why we have another guy in our brain,

Derfor har vi også den anden i hjernen,

the Rational Decision-Maker,

den Rationelle Beslutningstager,

who gives us the ability to do things no other animal can do.

som giver os evnerne til at gøre ting som andre dyr ikke kan.

We can visualize the future.

Vi kan visualisere fremtiden.

We can see the big picture.

Vi kan se det store billede.

We can make long-term plans.

Vi kan langsigtede planer.

And he wants to take all of that into account.

Alt det vil han gerne have med i sine overvejelser.

And he wants to just have us do

Og han vil have os til at gøre,

whatever makes sense to be doing right now.

hvad der giver mening her og nu.

Now, sometimes it makes sense

Nogle gange giver det mening

to be doing things that are easy and fun,

at lave ting, der er nemme og sjove,

like when you're having dinner or going to bed

som at spise middag eller at gå i seng

or enjoying well-earned leisure time.

eller at nyde sin velfortjente fritid.

That's why there's an overlap.

Derfor er der et overlap.

Sometimes they agree.

Nogle gange er de enige.

But other times, it makes much more sense

Men andre gange giver det meget mere mening

to be doing things that are harder and less pleasant,

at lave ting, der er sværere og mindre behagelige,

for the sake of the big picture.

set i et større perspektiv.

And that's when we have a conflict.

Og det er der, vi har en konflikt.

And for the procrastinator,

For overspringshandleren

that conflict tends to end a certain way every time,

ender den konflikt typisk på samme måde hver gang,

leaving him spending a lot of time in this orange zone,

hvor han bruger meget tid i dette orange område,

an easy and fun place that's entirely out of the Makes Sense circle.

et nemt og sjovt område, der er helt uden for Rationalitetscirklen.

I call it the Dark Playground.

Jeg kalder det Den Mørke Legeplads.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Now, the Dark Playground is a place

Den Mørke Legeplads er et sted,

that all of you procrastinators out there know very well.

som alle jer overspringshandlere kender utroligt godt.

It's where leisure activities happen

Der hvor fritidsaktiviteter sker

at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening.

på tidspunkter, hvor man ikke skal lave fritidsaktiviteter.

The fun you have in the Dark Playground

Det sjov man har på Den Mørke Legeplads

isn't actually fun, because it's completely unearned,

er ikke rigtigt sjovt, fordi det er helt ufortjent,

and the air is filled with guilt, dread, anxiety, self-hatred --

og luften er fyldt med skyld, frygt, angst og selvhad -

all of those good procrastinator feelings.

alle de gode overspringshandlings- følelser.

And the question is, in this situation, with the Monkey behind the wheel,

Med Aben ved roret er spørgsmålet så,

how does the procrastinator ever get himself over here to this blue zone,

hvordan overspringshandleren får sig selv over til det her blå område -

a less pleasant place, but where really important things happen?

et mindre rart sted, men der hvor de vigtige ting finder sted?

Well, turns out the procrastinator has a guardian angel,

Det viser sig, at overspringshandleren har en skytsengel,

someone who's always looking down on him and watching over him

en som altid kigger ned og passer på ham

in his darkest moments --

i hans mørkeste øjeblikke -

someone called the Panic Monster.

en skytsengel kaldet Panikmonsteret.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Now, the Panic Monster is dormant most of the time,

Panikmonsteret er i dvale det meste af tiden,

but he suddenly wakes up anytime a deadline gets too close

men han vågner pludseligt, så snart en deadline kommer for tæt på,

or there's danger of public embarrassment,

hvis der er fare for offentlig forlegenhed,

a career disaster or some other scary consequence.

en karrierekatastrofe eller andet skræmmende.

And importantly, he's the only thing the Monkey is terrified of.

Og vigtigst er alt er han den eneste som Aben er bange for.

Now, he became very relevant in my life pretty recently,

Han kom ind i mit liv igen for ganske nyligt,

because the people of TED reached out to me about six months ago

fordi folkene hos TED kontaktede mig for omkring seks måneder siden

and invited me to do a TED Talk.

og inviterede mig til at holde en TED Talk

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Now, of course, I said yes.

Jeg sagde selvfølgelig ja.

It's always been a dream of mine to have done a TED Talk in the past.

Det har altid været en drøm at have holdt en TED Talk i fortiden.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

(Applause)

(Bifald)

But in the middle of all this excitement,

Men midt i al begejstringen

the Rational Decision-Maker seemed to have something else on his mind.

tænkte den Rationelle Beslutningstager tydeligvis på noget andet.

He was saying, "Are we clear on what we just accepted?

Han sagde: "Er du med på, hvad vi har sagt ja til?

Do we get what's going to be now happening one day in the future?

Ved du, hvad der kommer til at ske en dag i fremtiden?

We need to sit down and work on this right now."

Vi er nødt til at lægge en plan lige nu."

And the Monkey said, "Totally agree, but let's just open Google Earth

Og Aben siger: "Helt enig, men lad os åbne Google Earth

and zoom in to the bottom of India, like 200 feet above the ground,

og zoome ind på det sydligste Indien cirka 60 meter over jorden

and scroll up for two and a half hours til we get to the top of the country,

og scrolle op i to og en halv time, til vi når toppen af landet,

so we can get a better feel for India."

så vi bedre kan fornemme Indien.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

So that's what we did that day.

Så det var det, vi gjorde.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

As six months turned into four and then two and then one,

Da de seks måneder blev til fire og herefter to og så én,

the people of TED decided to release the speakers.

besluttede folkene ved TED at offentliggøre talerne.

And I opened up the website, and there was my face

Jeg åbnede hjemmesiden, og der stirrede mit ansigt

staring right back at me.

direkte tilbage på mig.

And guess who woke up?

Og gæt, hvem der vågnede?

(Laughter)

(Latter)

So the Panic Monster starts losing his mind,

Panikmonsteret begyndte at gå fra forstanden

and a few seconds later, the whole system's in mayhem.

og få sekunder senere brød systemet ud i kaos.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And the Monkey -- remember, he's terrified of the Panic Monster --

Og Aben - som er bange for Panikmonsteret -

boom, he's up the tree!

kravlede op i et træ!

And finally,

Og endelig

finally, the Rational Decision-Maker can take the wheel

fik den Rationelle Beslutningstager lov til at styre

and I can start working on the talk.

og jeg kunne arbejde på talen.

Now, the Panic Monster explains

Panikmonsteret forklarer

all kinds of pretty insane procrastinator behavior,

mange former for vanvittig adfærd hos overspringshandleren,

like how someone like me could spend two weeks

som hvordan en som mig kunne bruge to uger

unable to start the opening sentence of a paper,

uden at være i stand til at skrive første sætning på et stykke papir

and then miraculously find the unbelievable work ethic

og på mirakuløs vis finde en utrolig evne

to stay up all night and write eight pages.

til at blive oppe hele natten og skrive otte sider.

And this entire situation, with the three characters --

Og hele denne situation med de tre skabninger -

this is the procrastinator's system.

det er overspringshandlerens system.

It's not pretty, but in the end, it works.

Det er ikke kønt, men i sidste ende fungerer det.

This is what I decided to write about on the blog a couple of years ago.

Det besluttede jeg mig for at skrive om på bloggen for et par år siden.

When I did, I was amazed by the response.

Da jeg skrev det, blev jeg overrasket af responsen på det.

Literally thousands of emails came in,

Jeg modtog tusindvis af mails

from all different kinds of people from all over the world,

fra alle mulige mennesker i hele verden

doing all different kinds of things.

med vidt forskellige jobs.

These are people who were nurses, bankers, painters, engineers

Det var sygeplejersker, bankmænd, malere, ingeniører

and lots and lots of PhD students.

og massevis af Ph.D-studerende.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And they were all writing, saying the same thing:

De skrev allesammen det samme:

"I have this problem too."

"Det problem har jeg også."

But what struck me was the contrast between the light tone of the post

Men det, der slog mig var kontrasten mellem den lette tone

and the heaviness of these emails.

og tyngden i disse mails.

These people were writing with intense frustration

Disse personer skrev i dyb frustration

about what procrastination had done to their lives,

om hvad overspringshandlinger havde gjort ved deres liv

about what this Monkey had done to them.

og hvad Aben havde gjort ved dem.

And I thought about this, and I said,

Jeg tænkte over det og sagde:

well, if the procrastinator's system works, then what's going on?

hvis overspringshandlerens system virker, hvad er der så galt?

Why are all of these people in such a dark place?

Hvorfor er alle disse mennesker sådan et mørkt sted?

Well, it turns out that there's two kinds of procrastination.

Det viser sig, at der er to typer overspringshandlinger.

Everything I've talked about today, the examples I've given,

Dem jeg har talt om i dag, de eksempler, jeg har givet,

they all have deadlines.

havde alle en deadline.

And when there's deadlines,

Og når der er en deadline,

the effects of procrastination are contained to the short term

kan effekten af overspringshandlingen styres på kort sigt

because the Panic Monster gets involved.

fordi Panikmonsteret er involveret.

But there's a second kind of procrastination

Men der er en anden type overspringshandling

that happens in situations when there is no deadline.

der finder sted, når der ikke er en deadline.

So if you wanted a career where you're a self-starter --

Så hvis du ville gøre karriere som selvstændig

something in the arts, something entrepreneurial --

inden for kunst eller som entreprenør

there's no deadlines on those things at first, because nothing's happening,

så er der ingen umiddelbare deadlines fordi intet sker

not until you've gone out and done the hard work

før du går ud og lægger en reel indsats

to get momentum, get things going.

for at skabe momentum.

There's also all kinds of important things outside of your career

Der er også vigtige ting uden for ens karriere,

that don't involve any deadlines,

der ikke involverer deadlines,

like seeing your family or exercising and taking care of your health,

som at besøge sin familie eller at træne og holde sig sund,

working on your relationship

arbejde på sit forhold

or getting out of a relationship that isn't working.

eller at komme ud af et forhold der ikke fungerer.

Now if the procrastinator's only mechanism of doing these hard things

Hvis overspringshandlerens eneste mekanisme til at få gjort alt dette

is the Panic Monster, that's a problem,

er Panikmonsteret, er det et problem

because in all of these non-deadline situations,

fordi Panikmonsteret ikke dukker op

the Panic Monster doesn't show up.

i disse situationer uden deadline.

He has nothing to wake up for,

Der er intet at vågne for,

so the effects of procrastination, they're not contained;

så effekterne af overspringshandlingen kan ikke styres;

they just extend outward forever.

de fortsætter i uendelighed.

And it's this long-term kind of procrastination

Og det er denne type langsigtede overspringshandlinger

that's much less visible and much less talked about

som er mindre synlige og som sjældnere taler om

than the funnier, short-term deadline-based kind.

end den sjove, kortsigtede, deadline-baserede type.

It's usually suffered quietly and privately.

Man lider typisk under den alene i stilhed.

And it can be the source

Det kan være kilden

of a huge amount of long-term unhappiness, and regrets.

til langvarig ulykkelighed og fortrydelser.

And I thought, that's why those people are emailing,

Og jeg tænkte, at det var derfor alle disse personer skrev

and that's why they're in such a bad place.

og at det er derfor, de er et så dårligt sted.

It's not that they're cramming for some project.

Det er ikke fordi de maser på for et projekt.

It's that long-term procrastination has made them feel like a spectator,

Det er overspringshandlingerne der til tider får dem til at føle sig

at times, in their own lives.

som tilskuere i deres eget liv.

The frustration is not that they couldn't achieve their dreams;

Frustrationen ligger ikke i, at de ikke kunne nå deres drømme;

it's that they weren't even able to start chasing them.

det er, at de ikke var i stand til at begynde at jagte dem.

So I read these emails and I had a little bit of an epiphany --

Så da jeg læste disse mails fik jeg en lille åbenbaring -

that I don't think non-procrastinators exist.

Jeg tror ikke, der findes mennesker der ikke overspringshandler.

That's right -- I think all of you are procrastinators.

Præcis! Jeg tror, at alle jer er overspringshandlere.

Now, you might not all be a mess,

I er måske ikke allesammen et rod,

like some of us,

som nogle af os andre,

(Laughter)

(Latter)

and some of you may have a healthy relationship with deadlines,

og nogle af jer har muligvis et sundt forhold til deadlines,

but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest trick

men husk: Abens snedigste trick er

is when the deadlines aren't there.

når der ingen deadline er.

Now, I want to show you one last thing.

Jeg vil vise jer en sidste ting.

I call this a Life Calendar.

Jeg kalder det her en Livskalender.

That's one box for every week of a 90-year life.

Der er en kasse for hver uge i et 90 år langt liv.

That's not that many boxes,

Det er ikke mange kasser,

especially since we've already used a bunch of those.

især ikke fordi vi allerede har brugt nogle af dem.

So I think we need to all take a long, hard look at that calendar.

Så jeg tror, vi er nødt til at kigge grundigt på kalenderen.

We need to think about what we're really procrastinating on,

Vi skal overveje, hvad det er vi springer over,

because everyone is procrastinating on something in life.

fordi alle springer over noget i livet.

We need to stay aware of the Instant Gratification Monkey.

Vi skal være opmærksomme på Øjeblikkelig Nydelses-aben.

That's a job for all of us.

Det er en opgave for os allesammen.

And because there's not that many boxes on there,

Og fordi der ikke er så mange kasser,

it's a job that should probably start today.

bør vi nok begynde den opgave i dag.

Well, maybe not today, but ...

Altså, måske ikke i dag...

(Laughter)

(Latter)

You know.

men...

Sometime soon.

Snart.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)