A la universitat, estudiava Ciència Política, així que havia de fer un munt de treballs. Normalment, quan has de fer un treball, organitzes la feina més o menys així. Ja sabeu,...
So in college, I was a government major, which means I had to write a lot of papers. Now, when a normal student writes a paper, they might spread the work out a little like this. So, you know --
(Riure)
(Laughter)
comences a poc a poc, fas prou feina la primera setmana, treballes fort uns dies més i ja està. Treball acabat. Tot en ordre.
you get started maybe a little slowly, but you get enough done in the first week that, with some heavier days later on, everything gets done, things stay civil.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Jo volia fer les coses així. Aquest era el pla. Tot estava llest per començar. Tanmateix, a l'hora de fer el treball, això és el que feia en realitat.
And I would want to do that like that. That would be the plan. I would have it all ready to go, but then, actually, the paper would come along, and then I would kind of do this.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Ho feia amb tots els treballs.
And that would happen every single paper.
Però va arribar l'hora de fer la tesi de 90 pàgines. Has de dedicar un any a escriure-la. I sabia que, per a un treball així, no em servia la tàctica habitual. Era un projecte massa gran. Vaig elaborar un pla. Anava així, si fa no fa. La distribució de l'any: començar amb poc volum de feina, augmentar el ritme als mesos del mig, i fer l'esprint final, seguint l'escala. Pujar l'escala no era tan complicat, oi?
But then came my 90-page senior thesis, a paper you're supposed to spend a year on. And I knew for a paper like that, my normal work flow was not an option. It was way too big a project. So I planned things out, and I decided I kind of had to go something like this. This is how the year would go. So I'd start off light, and I'd bump it up in the middle months, and then at the end, I would kick it up into high gear just like a little staircase. How hard could it be to walk up the stairs? No big deal, right?
Però va passar una cosa molt divertida. Aquells primers mesos? Van passar de llarg, i no vaig poder fer feina. Així que vaig refer el meu gran pla.
But then, the funniest thing happened. Those first few months? They came and went, and I couldn't quite do stuff. So we had an awesome new revised plan.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
I llavors...
And then --
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Els mesos del mig també van passar de llarg, i no havia escrit ni mitja paraula. De manera que així estàvem. I dos mesos es van convertir en un, i aquest mes en dues setmanes. I un dia em vaig aixecar: quedaven tres dies per a l'entrega, i no tenia res escrit. Així que vaig fer el següent: vaig escriure 90 pàgines en 72 hores. Vaig passar dues nits sense dormir... No és sa fer aquestes coses... Vaig córrer a través del campus, vaig saltar a càmara lenta, i el vaig entregar just a temps.
But then those middle months actually went by, and I didn't really write words, and so we were here. And then two months turned into one month, which turned into two weeks. And one day I woke up with three days until the deadline, still not having written a word, and so I did the only thing I could: I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours, pulling not one but two all-nighters -- humans are not supposed to pull two all-nighters -- sprinted across campus, dove in slow motion, and got it in just at the deadline.
Vaig pensar que allò era la fi. Però, al cap d'una setmana, em truquen de l'escola. Em pregunten: "És Tim Urban?" I dic: "Sí." I diuen: "Hem de parlar de la seva tesi." I dic: "D'acord." I diuen: "És la millor que hem vist mai."
I thought that was the end of everything. But a week later I get a call, and it's the school. And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?" And I say, "Yeah." And they say, "We need to talk about your thesis." And I say, "OK." And they say, "It's the best one we've ever seen."
(Riure)
(Laughter)
(Aplaudiment)
(Applause)
Això no va passar.
That did not happen.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Era una tesi pèssima.
It was a very, very bad thesis.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Volia gaudir del moment en què heu pensat: "Aquest paio és genial!"
I just wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought, "This guy is amazing!"
(Riure)
(Laughter)
No, no... Era molt, molt dolenta. Tant és... Actualment escric un blog. Escric el blog: "Wait But Why". Fa un parell d'anys, vaig decidir escriure sobre la procrastinació. La meva conducta sempre ha desconcertat els "no procrastinadors", i volia explicar als "no procrastinadors" del món com funciona la ment dels procrastinadors, i per què som així. Vaig arribar a la teoria que el cervell del procrastinador és diferent del de la resta de persones. Volia demostrar-ho amb una IRM. Un escàner del meu cervell i un altre del d'un "no procrastinador", per poder-los comparar. De fet, els he portat avui perquè els veieu. Pareu atenció i intenteu trobar la diferència. Si no ets un expert en processos cerebrals, no és tan obvi, però fem-hi un cop d'ull, d'acord? Aquí tenim el del "no procrastinador".
No, no, it was very, very bad. Anyway, today I'm a writer-blogger guy. I write the blog Wait But Why. And a couple of years ago, I decided to write about procrastination. My behavior has always perplexed the non-procrastinators around me, and I wanted to explain to the non-procrastinators of the world what goes on in the heads of procrastinators, and why we are the way we are. Now, I had a hypothesis that the brains of procrastinators were actually different than the brains of other people. And to test this, I found an MRI lab that actually let me scan both my brain and the brain of a proven non-procrastinator, so I could compare them. I actually brought them here to show you today. I want you to take a look carefully to see if you can notice a difference. 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.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
I... el meu cervell.
Now ... here's my brain.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Hi ha una diferència. Ambdós poden prendre decisions de manera racional, però el cervell del procrastinador compta amb el Mico de la Satisfacció Instantània. Què significa això per al procrastinador? Significa que tot va bé fins que passa això.
There is a difference. Both brains have a Rational Decision-Maker in them, but the procrastinator's brain also has an Instant Gratification Monkey. Now, what does this mean for the procrastinator? Well, it means everything's fine until this happens.
[El moment perfecte per fer una mica de feina...] [No!]
[This is a perfect time to get some work done.] [Nope!]
La part racional pren la decisió racional de fer alguna cosa productiva, però al Mico no li agrada el pla, així que agafa el timó, i diu: "Millor, llegim la pàgina sencera de la Viquipèdia sobre l'escàndol de Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya, perquè tot just recordo que va passar.
So the Rational Decision-Maker will make the rational decision to do something productive, but the Monkey doesn't like that plan, so he actually takes the wheel, and he says, "Actually, let's read the entire Wikipedia page of the Nancy Kerrigan/ Tonya Harding scandal, because I just remembered that that happened.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
I després,...
Then --
(Riure)
(Laughter)
anirem a la nevera per veure si hi ha alguna cosa que no hi fos fa 10 minuts. Després d'això, entrarem al Youtube per veure vídeos que vagin des del Richard Feynman parlant d'imants per acabar, més tard, mirant entrevistes amb la mare de Justin Bieber.
Then we're going to go over to the fridge, to see if there's anything new in there since 10 minutes ago. After that, we're going to go on a YouTube spiral that starts with videos of Richard Feynman talking about magnets and ends much, much later with us watching interviews with Justin Bieber's mom.
(Riure)
(Laughter)
Tot això ens portarà una bona estona, així que no ens quedarà temps a l'agenda per fer res més avui. Ho sento!"
"All of that's going to take a while, so we're not going to really have room on the schedule for any work today. Sorry!"
(Sospira)
(Sigh)
Bé, doncs, què és el que està passant? El Mico no té pinta de ser el paio que vols al timó. Viu totalment pel present. No se'n recorda del passat, ni coneix el futur, i només té dues coses al cap: "fàcil i divertit".
Now, what is going on here? The Instant Gratification Monkey does not seem like a guy you want behind the wheel. He lives entirely in the present moment. He has no memory of the past, no knowledge of the future, and he only cares about two things: easy and fun.
És cert que al món animal això funciona. Si ets un gos i et passes la vida fent coses fàcils i divertides, ets un triomfador!
Now, in the animal world, that works fine. If you're a dog and you spend your whole life doing nothing other than easy and fun things, you're a huge success!
(Riure)
(Laughter)
I pel Mico, els humans també som animals. Hem de dormir bé, menjar bé, i propagar les noves generacions, cosa que funcionava en temps tribals. Però, per si no us heu adonat, ja no vivim en aquell temps. Vivim en una civilització avançada, i el Mico no sap què és això. Per això tenim l'altre paio al nostre cervell, la part que pren les decisions racionals, que ens permet fer coses que no poden fer altres animals. Podem visualitzar el futur. Mirar les coses amb perspectiva. Fer plans a llarg termini. Aquesta part vol que tinguem totes aquestes coses en compte. I vol que fem allò que cal fer en el moment que toca. Bé, de vegades, cal fer coses fàcils i divertides, com sopar o anar a dormir, o gaudir d'un descans merescut. Per això, coincideixen. De vegades, es posen d'acord. Tanmateix, altres cops, el que cal és fer coses que són més dures i no tant agradables, pel bé del nostre objectiu. I aquí es quan es dóna el conflicte. I per al procrastinador, el conflicte sempre sol acabar de la mateixa manera: passant un munt de temps a la zona taronja,
And to the Monkey, humans are just another animal species. You have to keep well-slept, well-fed and propagating into the next generation, which in tribal times might have worked OK. But, if you haven't noticed, now we're not in tribal times. We're in an advanced civilization, and the Monkey does not know what that is. Which is why we have another guy in our brain, the Rational Decision-Maker, who gives us the ability to do things no other animal can do. We can visualize the future. We can see the big picture. We can make long-term plans. And he wants to take all of that into account. And he wants to just have us do whatever makes sense to be doing right now. Now, sometimes it makes sense to be doing things that are easy and fun, like when you're having dinner or going to bed or enjoying well-earned leisure time. That's why there's an overlap. Sometimes they agree. But other times, it makes much more sense to be doing things that are harder and less pleasant, for the sake of the big picture. And that's when we have a conflict. And for the procrastinator, that conflict tends to end a certain way every time, leaving him spending a lot of time in this orange zone,
un lloc on tot és fàcil i divertit, fora del cercle del "cal". Jo l'anomeno el Pati Obscur. (Riure) El Pati Obscur és un lloc que els procrastinadors coneixen molt bé. Un lloc on passen activitats de lleure en moments en què no hi hauria d'haver activitats de lleure. La diversió al Pati Obscur no és diversió de veritat. No te l'has guanyat. I l'aire té regust de culpabilitat, por, ansietat, ràbia... Sentiments agradables del procrastinador.
an easy and fun place that's entirely out of the Makes Sense circle. I call it the Dark Playground. (Laughter) Now, the Dark Playground is a place that all of you procrastinators out there know very well. It's where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening. The fun you have in the Dark Playground isn't actually fun, because it's completely unearned, and the air is filled with guilt, dread, anxiety, self-hatred -- all of those good procrastinator feelings.
I, en aquesta situació, la pregunta és: quan el Mico pren el timó, com pot arribar mai el procrastinador aquí, a la zona blava, un lloc menys agradable, però on passen les coses importants? Bé, resulta que el procrastinador té un àngel de la guarda,
And the question is, in this situation, with the Monkey behind the wheel, how does the procrastinator ever get himself over here to this blue zone, a less pleasant place, but where really important things happen? Well, turns out the procrastinator has a guardian angel,
que sempre vigila i cuida d'ell
someone who's always looking down on him and watching over him
en els moments més obscurs... algú anomenat el Monstre del Pànic. (Riure) Bé, la majoria del temps, el Monstre està adormit. però sempre es desperta quan s'acosta una data d'entrega o existeix perill d'avergonyiment públic,
in his darkest moments -- someone called the Panic Monster. (Laughter) Now, the Panic Monster is dormant most of the time, but he suddenly wakes up anytime a deadline gets too close or there's danger of public embarrassment,
un desastre profesional o altres perills.
a career disaster or some other scary consequence.
I, important: és l'única cosa de la qual el Mico té por. De fet, fa no gaire, va esdevenir molt significatiu a la meva vida,
And importantly, he's the only thing the Monkey is terrified of. Now, he became very relevant in my life pretty recently,
perquè l'equip de TED em va contactar ara fa sis mesos
because the people of TED reached out to me about six months ago
i em van convidar a fer una TED Talk. (Riure) Evidentment, vaig acceptar. Haver fet una TED Talk sempre ha sigut un dels meus somnis. (Riure) (Aplaudiment) Però enmig de tant entusiasme, la part racional tenia una altra cosa en ment. Ell deia: "Estem segurs d'això que acabem d'acceptar? Sabem com anirá la cosa d'ara endavant?
and invited me to do a TED Talk. (Laughter) Now, of course, I said yes. It's always been a dream of mine to have done a TED Talk in the past. (Laughter) (Applause) But in the middle of all this excitement, the Rational Decision-Maker seemed to have something else on his mind. 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?
Seiem i comencem a treballar ara mateix."
We need to sit down and work on this right now."
I el Mico va dir: "Totalment d'acord, però obrim el Google Earth
And the Monkey said, "Totally agree, but let's just open Google Earth
fem zoom in a la part de sota de l'Índia, a uns 61 metres del sòl,
and zoom in to the bottom of India, like 200 feet above the ground,
i tirem cap amunt durant dues hores i mitja fins arribar a la part de dalt, per conèixer millor l'Índia." (Riure) Això vam fer aquell dia. (Riure)
and scroll up for two and a half hours til we get to the top of the country, so we can get a better feel for India." (Laughter) So that's what we did that day. (Laughter)
Mentre sis mesos es van convertir en quatre... en dos... i en un,
As six months turned into four and then two and then one,
l'equip de TED va publicar la llista de conferenciants. Vaig obrir la web, i allà estava la meva cara
the people of TED decided to release the speakers. And I opened up the website, and there was my face
mirant-me als ulls.
staring right back at me.
Adivineu qui es va despertar? (Riure) Bé, el Monstre del Pànic comença a perdre el cap, i uns segons més tard, tot el sistema entra en caos. (Riure)
And guess who woke up? (Laughter) So the Panic Monster starts losing his mind, and a few seconds later, the whole system's in mayhem. (Laughter)
I el Mico, que té por del Monstre del Pànic, puja a dalt de l'arbre! I finalment, la part racional pot prendre el timó i treballar en la xerrada. Bé, el Monstre del Pànic explica tot tipus de conductes esbojarrades del procrastinador, com ara: passar dues setmanes sense ser capaç de començar la primera frase d'un treball, i després rebre la il·luminació d'ètica de treball
And the Monkey -- remember, he's terrified of the Panic Monster -- boom, he's up the tree! And finally, finally, the Rational Decision-Maker can take the wheel and I can start working on the talk. Now, the Panic Monster explains all kinds of pretty insane procrastinator behavior, like how someone like me could spend two weeks unable to start the opening sentence of a paper, and then miraculously find the unbelievable work ethic
que et permet estar despert tota la nit i escriure vuit pàgines. Aquesta situació, amb els tres personatges... Aquest és el sistema del procrastinador. No és maco, però, al final, funciona. D'això és del que vaig decidir escriure fa un parell d'anys. I quan ho vaig fer, vaig quedar sorprès per la resposta.
to stay up all night and write eight pages. And this entire situation, with the three characters -- this is the procrastinator's system. It's not pretty, but in the end, it works. This is what I decided to write about on the blog a couple of years ago. When I did, I was amazed by the response.
Em van arribar milers d'e-mails,
Literally thousands of emails came in,
de gent de tot tipus i d'arreu del món, amb feines d'allò més diverses: infermers, banquers, pintors, enginyers i un bon munt d'estudiants de doctorat. (Riure) Tots m'escrivien i em deien el mateix: "Jo també tinc aquest problema." Però, em va xocar el contrast del to suau de la publicació i la serietat d'aquells e-mails. Aquelles persones escrivien amb frustració
from all different kinds of people from all over the world, doing all different kinds of things. These are people who were nurses, bankers, painters, engineers and lots and lots of PhD students. (Laughter) And they were all writing, saying the same thing: "I have this problem too." But what struck me was the contrast between the light tone of the post and the heaviness of these emails. These people were writing with intense frustration
sobre els efectes de la procrastinació a les seves vides, sobre allò que el Mico els hi havia fet. I vaig pensar sobre això, i vaig dir: "Bé, si el sistema del procrastinador funciona, què està passant? Per què aquestes persones se senten tan malament?" Doncs, resulta que existeixen dos tipus de procrastinació. Tot allò que he explicat avui, els exemples que he donat... tenen data d'entrega. I, amb dates d'entrega, els efectes de la procrastinació es contenen a curt termini perquè el Monstre s'involucra. Però n'existeix un segon tipus que esdevé en situacions sense data d'entrega. Així, si volguessis treballar per compte propi, alguna cosa artística o emprenedora, no existeixen les dates d'entrega al prinicipi, perquè no passa res fins que surts fora i fas la feina dura perquè la cosa funcioni.
about what procrastination had done to their lives, about what this Monkey had done to them. And I thought about this, and I said, well, if the procrastinator's system works, then what's going on? Why are all of these people in such a dark place? Well, it turns out that there's two kinds of procrastination. Everything I've talked about today, the examples I've given, they all have deadlines. And when there's deadlines, the effects of procrastination are contained to the short term because the Panic Monster gets involved. But there's a second kind of procrastination that happens in situations when there is no deadline. So if you wanted a career where you're a self-starter -- something in the arts, something entrepreneurial -- there's no deadlines on those things at first, because nothing's happening, not until you've gone out and done the hard work to get momentum, get things going.
Hi ha moltes altres coses importants a part de la teva carrera que no impliquen dates d'entrega, com veure la teva familia, fer exercici, tenir cura d'un mateix i de la relació de parella, o deixar la relació si no funciona. Bé, si l'únic mecanisme del procrastinador per fer aquestes coses és el Monstre del Pànic, malament, perquè en aquests contextos "sense entrega", el Monstre del Pànic no apareix. No té raons per despertar-se, així que els efectes de la procrastinació no es limiten; sinó que s'allarguen per sempre. I aquesta procrastinació a llarg temini, menys visible i no tan coneguda com la més divertida, a curt termini i subjecta a entregues, és la que es pateix en silenci i en privat. I pot ser l'arrel d'un munt d'infelicitat i penediment a llarg termini. Aquella era la raó per la qual aquelles persones escrivien, per això se sentien tan malament.
There's also all kinds of important things outside of your career that don't involve any deadlines, like seeing your family or exercising and taking care of your health, working on your relationship or getting out of a relationship that isn't working. Now if the procrastinator's only mechanism of doing these hard things is the Panic Monster, that's a problem, because in all of these non-deadline situations, the Panic Monster doesn't show up. He has nothing to wake up for, so the effects of procrastination, they're not contained; they just extend outward forever. And it's this long-term kind of procrastination that's much less visible and much less talked about than the funnier, short-term deadline-based kind. It's usually suffered quietly and privately. And it can be the source of a huge amount of long-term unhappiness, and regrets. And I thought, that's why those people are emailing, and that's why they're in such a bad place.
No es tracta de què es preparin per a un projecte. Es tracta de què la procrastinació els ha convertit en espectadors, a vegades, de la seva vida. la frustració no és perquè no puguin assolir els seus somnis; sinó perquè no són capaços ni de començar a cercar-los.
It's not that they're cramming for some project. It's that long-term procrastination has made them feel like a spectator, at times, in their own lives. The frustration is not that they couldn't achieve their dreams; it's that they weren't even able to start chasing them.
Així que mentre llegia els e-mails, em vaig il·luminar;
So I read these emails and I had a little bit of an epiphany --
no crec que els "no procrastinadors" existeixin. Exacte. Tots vosaltres sou procrastinadors. Potser no sou un desastre,
that I don't think non-procrastinators exist. That's right -- I think all of you are procrastinators. Now, you might not all be a mess,
com alguns de nosaltres, (Riure) i alguns de vosaltres conviviu en pau amb les dates d'entrega, però recordeu: la trampa més astuta del Mico és quan no hi ha data d'entrega. Bé, vull ensenyar-vos una última cosa. Ho anomeno: Calendari de Vida. Hi ha un quadradet per cada setmana d'una vida de 90 anys. No són tants quadradets, sobretot perquè ja n'hem utilitzat un munt. Així que hauríem de mirar amb atenció aquest calendari. Hauríem de pensar en les coses que estem postergant,
like some of us, (Laughter) and some of you may have a healthy relationship with deadlines, but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest trick is when the deadlines aren't there. Now, I want to show you one last thing. I call this a Life Calendar. That's one box for every week of a 90-year life. That's not that many boxes, especially since we've already used a bunch of those. So I think we need to all take a long, hard look at that calendar. We need to think about what we're really procrastinating on,
perquè tots posterguem coses a la vida.
because everyone is procrastinating on something in life.
Hem d'anar amb compte amb el Mico de la Satisfacció Instantània.
We need to stay aware of the Instant Gratification Monkey.
Tots ho hem de fer. I, ja que no ens queden tants quadradets, és una tasca que hauríem de començar avui mateix.
That's a job for all of us. And because there's not that many boxes on there, it's a job that should probably start today.
Bé, potser no avui, però...
Well, maybe not today, but ...
(Riure) Ja sabeu... Aviat. Gràcies. (Aplaudiment)
(Laughter) You know. Sometime soon. Thank you. (Applause)