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Jordan LaRocca

Lindsay Ferrara

Composition

12 November 2021

Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator

Tim Urban

Procrastination is a terrible habit that everyone has done before. If you say you have never

procrastinated, then you are lying. Everyone puts off something whether it is work, seeing your

family, working on your health, or dealing with a relationship as Tim Urban says in his Ted Talk

Inside of the Mind of a Master Procrastinator. Tim Urban is a blogger, and, on his Ted Talk, he

talks about his behavior of Procrastination. Which is a behavior that I find myself having often.

He gives an amazing talk about why people like me and him procrastinate and how it really

affects us. He talks about putting off homework and projects, but he also talks about other

procrastinations that do not have a deadline. He uses comedy frequently and jokes about

unhealthy habits that everyone is victim to and does an amazing job as well. He ends it off with a

great message about life.

Tim Urban starts his Ted Talk with talking about how he was a government major in college and

explains how he would plan to do his essays. How he would do some work in the beginning then

start doing more in the middle and bump it up a little more nearing the deadlines, but this would

never happen. He would put off his papers and do it all right before the deadline. He does this in

a humorous way, which he does throughout the whole Ted Talk, which is using pathos. He then
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says how he did it for his 90-page thesis that he was supposed to spend the entire year writing.

This I am sure all the procrastinators can relate to. Where we get a big this enormous assignment

and we tell ourselves, okay there is no way we can do this work right before the deadline we

have to start this now. We never do this, we usually do something more interesting like watching

football, which is exactly what I did instead of writing this Rhetorical analysis. Urban does a

fantastic job of using humor and relatable moments to attract people to his message. He also does

not just use humor to relate people to his message, he also just uses it to get people to like him.

Like when he says his school called him and said that his thesis is the best they have ever seen.

The school did not actually call him saying that, he followed that up with, “I just wanted to enjoy

that one moment when all of you thought, ‘this guy is amazing’” (Urban, 2:45 – 2:52). He gets

lots of laughs from the audience, and that little joke really got the people interested in the man

that is speaking.

A substantial chunk of the talk is Tim explaining the “science’ behind the procrastination system.

He uses comedy again by saying he brought MRI scans of a procrastinator and a non-

procrastinator and it's just a drawing of a brain with steering wheel and a stick figure and a

monkey driving it. In this explanation he says procrastinators have a rational decision maker that

makes good choices, but there is also an instant gratification monkey that says no and takes the

steering wheel to do something more fun. This causes people to not really get their work done,

until the panic monster comes in. What he is saying in this analogy of monkeys and monsters is

that people do not plan to do all their work at the last minute, it just somehow happens. You may

plan to do your work but get distracted by more attractive things, like football.

Urban uses ethos when he talks about his college experience and the procrastination system. First

the fact that he was a government major means he is smart. He also wrote a 90-page thesis in just
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72 hours which is impressive. I would not have the willpower to pull two all nighters and finish

90 pages. The fact that Urban produced an entire system of how he procrastinates is also

impressive. He got through college using the system, so he is an expert in procrastination. In his

words, “It's not pretty, but in the end, it works” (Urban, 10:02 – 10:05). This quote also shows

this light tone to the topic for most of the talk. He does talk about the bad parts of procrastination

like dark playground and procrastination without deadlines. The dark playground is when people

have fun when they should not be having fun, and it causes it to not really be fun, because it is

filled with anxiety. While he really is talking about some deep sad stuff, he uses comedy and a

light tone, which makes the audience enjoy it.

Tim Urban made this Ted Talk, so people do not feel alone. Everyone procrastinates and no one

ever talks about actual bad procrastination, which is usually longer. Tim Urban became aware of

this through his blog that he posted. He made a blog about the procrastination system and

received thousands of emails from people who relate to his same problems. He then goes on to

say that if the procrastination system works then why are so many people complaining? He

explains that there are two types of procrastination, procrastination with deadlines, and

procrastination without deadlines. This procrastination without deadlines is the real bad kind that

is not really talked about, and it is what really causes us the most pain. When I first heard this

Ted Talk it really hit me. As I finished it, I said to myself “damn,” it felt like he was talking to

me. He is correct though we all have this problem, and we must realize what we are

procrastinating and stop doing it. Whether you want to be a lawyer or doctor or even a youtuber,

we must stop putting it off and do it.