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

Translator: Nika Kotnik Reviewer: Matej Divjak

So in college,

Na fakulteti

I was a government major,

sem študiral upravo,

which means I had to write a lot of papers.

kar pomeni, da sem moral napisati veliko seminarskih.

Now, when a normal student writes a paper,

Ko normalen študent piše seminarsko, morda razporedi delo tako.

they might spread the work out a little like this.

So, you know --

Tako da, saj veste -

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

you get started maybe a little slowly,

morda začneš bolj počasi,

but you get enough done in the first week

ampak narediš dovolj v prvem tednu,

that, with some heavier days later on,

da z nekaj težjimi dnevi kasneje

everything gets done, things stay civil.

narediš vse, stvari ostanejo mirne.

(Laughter)

(smeh)

And I would want to do that like that.

In jaz bi to rad naredil tako.

That would be the plan.

To bi bil načrt.

I would have it all ready to go,

Vse bi imel pripravljeno,

but then, actually, the paper would come along,

ampak, ko bi prišla seminarska,

and then I would kind of do this.

bi naredil to.

(Laughter)

(smeh)

And that would happen every single paper.

In to bi se zgodilo čisto vsakič.

But then came my 90-page senior thesis,

A potem je prišla 90-stranska diplomska naloga v zadnjem letniku,

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

delo, na katerem naj bi delal celo leto.

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

In vedel sem, da za tako delo moj običajni način dela ne pride v poštev.

It was way too big a project.

To je bil prevelik projekt.

So I planned things out,

Zato sem splaniral

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

in se odločil, da bom moral delati nekako takole.

This is how the year would go.

Takole bi potekalo leto.

So I'd start off light,

Začel bi počasi

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

in se bolj zagnal v sredini leta

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

in končno prestavil v najvišjo prestavo, bilo bi kot nekakšno stopnišče.

just like a little staircase.

How hard could it be to walk up the stairs?

Kako težko pa je hoditi po stopnicah?

No big deal, right?

Nič takega, kajne?

But then, the funniest thing happened.

A potem se je zgodilo nekaj hecnega.

Those first few months?

Prvih nekaj mesecev?

They came and went,

Prišli so in odšli

and I couldn't quite do stuff.

in nekako nisem mogel delati.

So we had an awesome new revised plan.

Zato sem imel krasen na novo izdelan načrt.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And then --

In potem -

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But then those middle months actually went by,

In nato so prišli meseci na sredini leta

and I didn't really write words,

in pravzaprav nisem napisal nobene besede,

and so we were here.

in bil sem tu.

And then two months turned into one month,

In nato sta se dva meseca spremenila v enega,

which turned into two weeks.

ki se je spremenil v dva tedna.

And one day I woke up

In nekega dne sem se zbudil

with three days until the deadline,

in do roka sem imel še tri dni,

still not having written a word,

napisal nisem niti besede,

and so I did the only thing I could:

in tako sem naredil edino, kar sem lahko:

I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours,

napisal sem 90 strani v 72 urah,

pulling not one but two all-nighters --

pisal celo noč ne samo enkrat, ampak dvakrat -

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

ljudje naj ne bi pisali celo noč dva dni zapored -

sprinted across campus,

tekel čez kampus,

dove in slow motion,

se v počasnem posnetku pognal

and got it in just at the deadline.

in oddal v zadnjem trenutku.

I thought that was the end of everything.

Mislil sem, da je to to.

But a week later I get a call,

A teden dni kasneje sem dobil klic od šole.

and it's the school.

And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?"

Rekli so: "Je to Tim Urban?"

And I say, "Yeah."

In rekel sem: "Ja."

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

In rekli so: "Pogovoriti se moramo o tvoji nalogi."

And I say, "OK."

In rekel sem: "OK."

And they say,

In rekli so:

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

"Najboljša je od vseh."

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

That did not happen.

To se ni zgodilo.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

It was a very, very bad thesis.

Bila je zelo slaba diplomska naloga.

(Laughter)

(smeh)

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

Želel sem samo uživati v trenutku, ko ste vsi mislili:

"This guy is amazing!"

"Ta tip je neverjeten!"

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

No, no, it was very, very bad.

Ne, ne, bilo je zelo slabo.

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

Kakorkoli, zdaj sem pisatelj in bloger.

I write the blog Wait But Why.

Pišem blog Wait But Why.

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

In pred nekaj leti, sem se odločil, da bom pisal o odlašanju-prokrastinaciji.

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

Moje obnašanje je vedno čudilo tiste okrog mene, ki niso odlašali,

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

in tistim, ki ne odlašajo, sem želel pojasniti,

what goes on in the heads of procrastinators,

kaj se dogaja v glavi odlašalcev in zakaj smo taki, kot smo.

and why we are the way we are.

Now, I had a hypothesis

Imel sem hipotezo,

that the brains of procrastinators were actually different

da so možgani odlašalcev dejansko drugačni

than the brains of other people.

kot možgani drugih ljudi.

And to test this, I found an MRI lab

In da bi to testiral, sem našel MRI laboratorij,

that actually let me scan both my brain

v katerem so skenirali moje možgane

and the brain of a proven non-procrastinator,

in možgane nekoga, ki dokazano ni odlašalec,

so I could compare them.

da bi jih lahko primerjal.

I actually brought them here to show you today.

Prinesel sem jih sem, da bi vam jih pokazal.

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

Želim, da pozorno pogledate, da boste videli, če opazite razliko.

Vem, da če niste strokovnjak za možgane, ni tako očitno, a vseeno poglejte, prav?

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.

Tu so možgani ne-odlašalca.

[Racionalni odločevalec]

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Now ...

Tu pa...

here's my brain.

tu so moji možgani.

[Opica instantne zadovoljitve]

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

There is a difference.

Razlika je.

Both brains have a Rational Decision-Maker in them,

Oba imata v sebi Racionalnega odločevalca,

but the procrastinator's brain

a v možganih odlašalca

also has an Instant Gratification Monkey.

je tudi Opica instantne zadovoljitve.

Now, what does this mean for the procrastinator?

Kaj to pomeni za odlašalca?

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

Vse je v redu, dokler se ne zgodi tole.

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

[Zdaj je odličen čas, da opraviva nekaj dela.] [Ne!]

So the Rational Decision-Maker will make the rational decision

Racionalni odločevalec bo sprejel racionalno odločitev,

to do something productive,

da bi naredil nekaj produktivnega,

but the Monkey doesn't like that plan,

a Opici ta načrt ni všeč,

so he actually takes the wheel,

zato prevzame krmilo

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

in reče: "Rajši preberiva celotno stran na Wikipediji

of the Nancy Kerrigan/ Tonya Harding scandal,

o škandalu Nancy Kerrigan/Tonyi Harding,

because I just remembered that that happened.

ker sem se pravkar spomnil, da se je to zgodilo.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Then --

Potem -

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

Bova šla do hladilnika

in pogledala, če je notri kaj drugega kot pred desetimi minutami.

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

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

Potem bova začela pot po YouTube,

that starts with videos of Richard Feynman talking about magnets

ki se začne z videi Richarda Feynmana o magnetih

and ends much, much later with us watching interviews

in se konča veliko veliko kasneje z gledanjem intervjujev

with Justin Bieber's mom.

z mamo Justina Bieberja.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

"Vse to bo trajalo nekaj časa,

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

zato danes na urniku ni prostora za delo.

Sorry!"

Oprosti!

(Sigh)

(Vzdih)

Now, what is going on here?

Kaj se torej dogaja tukaj?

The Instant Gratification Monkey does not seem like a guy

Opica instantne zadovoljitve se ne zdi kot nekdo, ki bi ga želeli za krmilom.

you want behind the wheel.

He lives entirely in the present moment.

Živi v tem trenutku.

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

Nima spominov na preteklost, ne ve za prihodnost

and he only cares about two things:

in zanimata ga samo dve stvari:

easy and fun.

lahkotnost in zabava.

Now, in the animal world, that works fine.

V živalskem svetu to dobro deluje.

If you're a dog

Če si pes

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

in celotno življenje počneš samo lahkotne in zabavne stvari,

si zelo uspešen!

you're a huge success!

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And to the Monkey,

In za Opico

humans are just another animal species.

smo ljudje samo še ena živalska vrsta.

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

Biti moraš naspan, sit in se razmnoževati,

which in tribal times might have worked OK.

kar je v plemenskih časih morda bilo ok.

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

A če niste opazili, mi nismo v plemenskih časih.

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

Smo v napredni civilizaciji in Opica ne ve, kaj je to.

Which is why we have another guy in our brain,

Zato imamo v možganih še nekoga,

the Rational Decision-Maker,

Racionalnega Odločevalca,

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

ki nam daje možnost, da naredimo stvari, ki jih druge živali ne.

We can visualize the future.

Lahko si predstavljamo prihodnost.

We can see the big picture.

Lahko vidimo celotno sliko.

We can make long-term plans.

Lahko imamo dolgoročne načrte.

And he wants to take all of that into account.

In vse to hoče vzeti v zakup.

And he wants to just have us do

In želi, da počnemo, karkoli je trenutno smiselno.

whatever makes sense to be doing right now.

Now, sometimes it makes sense

Včasih je smiselno,

to be doing things that are easy and fun,

da počnemo svari, ki so lahkotne in zabavne,

like when you're having dinner or going to bed

kot na primer, ko jeste večerjo ali greste spat

or enjoying well-earned leisure time.

ali uživate v zasluženem prostem času.

That's why there's an overlap.

Tu se stvari prekrivajo.

Sometimes they agree.

Včasih se strinjata.

But other times, it makes much more sense

A včasih je veliko bolj smiselno,

to be doing things that are harder and less pleasant,

da počnemo stvari, ki so težje in manj prijetne

for the sake of the big picture.

zaradi velike slike.

And that's when we have a conflict.

In takrat pride do konflikta.

And for the procrastinator,

In za odlašalca

that conflict tends to end a certain way every time,

se konflikt vsakič konča na določen način,

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

in tako preživi veliko časa v oranžni coni,

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

lahkotnem in zabavnem kraju, ki je popolnoma izven Smiselnega kroga.

I call it the Dark Playground.

Pravim mu Temno Igrišče.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Now, the Dark Playground is a place

Temno Igrišče je kraj,

that all of you procrastinators out there know very well.

ki ga vsi odlašalci dobro poznate.

It's where leisure activities happen

Tu se dogajajo prostočasne dejavnosti

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

v času, ko se prostočasne dejavnosti ne bi smele dogajati.

The fun you have in the Dark Playground

Ko se zabavaš v Temnem igrišču,

to pravzaprav ni zabava, ker si je ne zaslužiš,

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

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

in zrak je poln krivde, strahu, tesnobe, sovraštva do sebe -

all of those good procrastinator feelings.

vseh teh pozitivnih odlaševalskih čustev.

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

In vprašanje je, v tej situaciji, z opico za krmilom,

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

kako odlašalec sploh pride v modro območje,

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

manj prijeten kraj, kjer pa se zgodijo res pomembne stvari?

Well, turns out the procrastinator has a guardian angel,

Izkaže se, da ima odlašalec angela varuha,

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

ki vedno pazi nanj

in his darkest moments --

v najtemnejših trenutkih -

someone called the Panic Monster.

imenuje se Panična Pošast.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

Panična Pošast večino časa počiva,

but he suddenly wakes up anytime a deadline gets too close

a se nenadoma zbudi, ko se skrajni rok preveč približa,

or there's danger of public embarrassment,

ali pa je tu nevarnost javne osramotitve,

a career disaster or some other scary consequence.

karierne katastrofe ali kakšne druge grozne posledice.

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

Pomembno je tudi, da je edina, ki se je Opica boji.

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

V mojem življenju je pred kratkim postala zelo pomembna,

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

ker so me ljudje s TED-a kontaktirali pred šestimi meseci

and invited me to do a TED Talk.

in me povabili, naj naredim TED govor.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Now, of course, I said yes.

Seveda sem privolil.

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

Vedno sem si želel, da bi v preteklosti imel TED govor.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

But in the middle of all this excitement,

A sredi vsega tega navdušenja

je imel Racionalni Odločevalec nekaj drugega v mislih.

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

Rekel je: "Veš, kaj sva pravkar sprejela?

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

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

Sva dojela, kaj se bo dogajalo nekega dne v prihodnosti?

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

Takoj se morava lotiti dela."

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

In Opica je rekla: "Popolnoma se strinjam, a samo odpriva Google Earth

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

in približajva jug Indije, kakšnih 60 metrov nad tlemi,

in se pomikajva do vrha države v dveh urah in pol,

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

da dobiva občutek, kakšna je Indija."

so we can get a better feel for India."

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So that's what we did that day.

In to sva ta dan res storila.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

In šest mesecev se je spremenilo v štiri, nato dva in nato enega,

the people of TED decided to release the speakers.

in ljudje s TED-a so objavili govornike.

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

In odprl sem spletno stran in tam je bil moj obraz,

staring right back at me.

ki je strmel naravnost vame.

And guess who woke up?

In uganite, kdo se je prebudil?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

So the Panic Monster starts losing his mind,

Panični Pošasti se je zmešalo

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

in nekaj sekund kasneje je celoten sistem v kaosu.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

In Opica - spomnite se, Panične Pošasti se boji -

boom, he's up the tree!

bum, gre na drevo!

And finally,

In končno,

finally, the Rational Decision-Maker can take the wheel

Racionalni Odločevalec lahko prevzame krmilo

and I can start working on the talk.

in jaz lahko začnem delati na govoru.

Now, the Panic Monster explains

Panična pošast pojasni

all kinds of pretty insane procrastinator behavior,

vse vrste precej norega odlaševalskega obnašanja,

like how someone like me could spend two weeks

kako nekdo kot jaz dva tedna

unable to start the opening sentence of a paper,

ne more napisati uvodnega stavka,

and then miraculously find the unbelievable work ethic

in nato čudežno najde neverjetno delovno vnemo,

to stay up all night and write eight pages.

da je pokonci celo noč in napiše 8 strani.

And this entire situation, with the three characters --

In ta celotna situacija s temi tremi karakterji -

this is the procrastinator's system.

to je odlašalčev sistem.

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

Ni lepo, a na koncu deluje.

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

O tem sem se odločil pisati na blogu pred nekaj leti.

When I did, I was amazed by the response.

In ko sem, me je izredno presenetil odziv.

Literally thousands of emails came in,

Dobesedno na tisoče e-mailov sem dobil,

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

od različnih ljudi z vsega sveta,

doing all different kinds of things.

ki so počeli različne stvari.

Ljudje kot so medicinske sestre, bankirji, slikarji inženirji

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

and lots and lots of PhD students.

in veliko in veliko doktorskih študentov.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And they were all writing, saying the same thing:

In vsi so mi pisali, rekoč enako:

"Tudi jaz imam ta problem."

"I have this problem too."

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

A kar me je res zadelo, je bil kontrast med lahkotnostjo moje objave

and the heaviness of these emails.

in težo teh pisem.

These people were writing with intense frustration

Ti ljudje so mi pisali z intenzivno frustracijo,

about what procrastination had done to their lives,

kaj je odlašanje naredilo z njihovimi življenji,

about what this Monkey had done to them.

kaj jim je naredila ta Opica.

And I thought about this, and I said,

Razmislil sem o tem in dejal,

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

no, če odlašalčev sistem deluje, kaj se potem dogaja?

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

Zakaj so vsi ti ljudje v tako slabem stanju?

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

Izkaže se, da obstajata dve vrsti odlašanja.

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

Vse, o čemer sem govoril danes, primeri, ki sem jih podal, vsi imajo roke.

they all have deadlines.

In ko so tu roki, so učinki odlašanja omejeni na kratek čas,

And when there's deadlines,

the effects of procrastination are contained to the short term

saj se vplete Panična Pošast.

because the Panic Monster gets involved.

A tu je še druga vrsta odlašanja,

But there's a second kind of procrastination

ki se zgodi v situacijah, ko roka ni.

that happens in situations when there is no deadline.

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

Če si torej želite kariere, kjer morate začeti sami -

something in the arts, something entrepreneurial --

kaj v umetnosti, kaj podjetniškega -

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

tu na začetku ni nobenega roka, ker se sprva nič ne dogaja,

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

ne, dokler ne greš in opraviš težkega dela,

to get momentum, get things going.

da se stvari začnejo premikati.

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

Tu so tudi vse vrste pomembnih stvari izven kariere,

that don't involve any deadlines,

ki nimajo nobenih rokov,

kot naprimer obisk družine ali telovadba in skrb za zdravje,

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

working on your relationship

ali skrb za odnos,

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

ali pa zaključiti z razmerjem, ki ne deluje.

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

Če je odlašalčev edini mehanizem, da naredi te stvari,

is the Panic Monster, that's a problem,

Panična pošast, je to težava,

because in all of these non-deadline situations,

ker se v vseh teh situacijah brez roka

the Panic Monster doesn't show up.

Panična Pošast ne pojavi.

He has nothing to wake up for,

Ni se mu treba zbuditi,

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

zato učinki odlašanja niso omejeni;

raztezajo se v večnost.

they just extend outward forever.

And it's this long-term kind of procrastination

In to je dolgoročna vrsta odlašanja,

that's much less visible and much less talked about

ki je manj vidna in se o njej manj govori,

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

kot o tisti bolj smešni, ki se pojavi pri zadevah z rokom.

It's usually suffered quietly and privately.

Ponavadi se v njej trpi tiho in zasebno.

And it can be the source

In lahko je vir

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

velike dolgotrajne nesreče in obžalovanj.

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

In pomislil sem, zato mi ti ljudje pišejo

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

in zato so v tako slabem stanju.

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

Ne hitijo z nekim projektom.

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

Zaradi tega dolgotrajnega odlašanja se včasih počutijo kot opazovalec

at times, in their own lives.

v lastnem življenju.

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

Frustracija ni v tem, da niso mogli doseči svojih sanj,

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

niso jih bili sposobni niti začeti preganjati.

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

Ko sem bral vsa ta pisma, sem imel malo razodetje -

that I don't think non-procrastinators exist.

menim, da ne-odlašalci ne obstajajo.

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

Tako je - menim, da ste vsi odlašalci.

Now, you might not all be a mess,

Morda niste taka zmešnjava

like some of us,

kot nekateri izmed nas,

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

in morda imate nekateri zdravo razmerje z roki,

but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest trick

a zapomnite si: najbolj zvit trik Opice je,

is when the deadlines aren't there.

ko rokov ni.

Now, I want to show you one last thing.

Želim vam pokazati še zadnjo stvar.

I call this a Life Calendar.

Temu pravim življenjski koledar.

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

To je en kvadratek za vsak teden 90-letnega življenja.

That's not that many boxes,

To ni tako veliko kvadratkov,

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

še posebej, ker smo jih kar nekaj porabili.

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

Zato mislim, da moramo dobro pogledati ta koledar.

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

Razmisliti moramo, s čim zares odlašamo,

because everyone is procrastinating on something in life.

ker vsak odlaša z nečim v življenju.

We need to stay aware of the Instant Gratification Monkey.

Zavedati se moramo Opice instantne zadovoljitve.

That's a job for all of us.

To je naloga za vse nas.

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

In zato, ker tu ni tako veliko kvadratkov,

it's a job that should probably start today.

moramo s tem začeti danes.

Well, maybe not today, but ...

No, morda ne danes, ampak...

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

You know.

Saj veste.

Sometime soon.

Enkrat kmalu.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)