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 --
Studirao sam političke znanosti i morao sam pisati puno seminarskih radova. Kada normalan student piše seminarrski rad, uglavnom ga ovako priprema. Znate --
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
možda počnete polako, no dovoljno toga napravite u prvom tjednu da kad dođe vrijeme da ga predate, ipak ga uspijete dovršiti.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
I ja sam želio biti takav. To mi je bio plan. Sve bih pripremio, ali kada bi došao red na seminarski rad, dogodilo bi se ovo.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
And that would happen every single paper.
I tako sa svakim radom.
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?
Tada je došao red na moj diplomski rad od 90 stranica na kojem bi trebalo raditi godinu dana. Za takav rad moj uobičajeni radni stil ne dolazi u obzir. Bio je to prevelik projekt, pa sam sve isplanirao i odlučio da ću ovako postupiti. Ovako sam isplanirao godinu. Započeo bih polako, zapeo tijekom središnjih mjeseci, a pred kraj bih ubacio u petu brzinu, poput stepenica. Pa nije teško penjati se stepenicama! Ništa strašno, zar ne?
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.
No tada se dogodilo nešto jako čudno. Onih prvih par mjeseci? Došli su i prošli i nisam se ničega primio. Zato sam imao super novi plan.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
And then --
I onda --
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
No onda su oni središnji mjeseci prošli bez da sam ja išta napisao i našao sam se ovdje. Dva mjeseca pretvoriše se u jedan, a on se pretvorio u dva tjedna. Jednog sam se dana probudio s još samo tri dana do roka i još nisam napisao nijednu riječ, pa sam učinio jedino što sam mogao: napisao sam 90 stranica u 72 sata, proveo dvije besane noći -- ljudi ne bi smjeli probdjeti dvije noći zaredom -- letio sam kampusom i kao na usporenoj snimci predao rad točno prije isteka roka.
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."
Mislio sam da je to to. Tjedan dana kasnije primih poziv od fakulteta. Pitali su, "Je li to Tim Urban?" Odgovorih, "Da." Uzvratiše: "Moramo popričati o vašem radu." Odgovorih: "U redu." Uzvratiše: Nikad nismo pročitali bolji rad.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
That did not happen.
To se nije stvarno dogodilo.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
It was a very, very bad thesis.
Bio je to jako loš rad.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
I just wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought, "This guy is amazing!"
Samo sam htio uživati u trenutku u kojem ste svi vi pomislili kako sam nevjerojatan.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Ne, bio je užasan. Uglavnom, danas sam pisac i bloger. Pišem blog pod imenom Čekaj, zašto? Prije nekoliko godina odlučio sam pisati o odlaganju obveza. Moje je ponašanje uvijek čudilo one koji nisu poput mene i htio sam objasniti svim ljudima koji svoje obveze izvršavaju na vrijeme što se događa u umovima nas koji to ne činimo i zašto smo takvi kakvi jesmo. Moja je hipoteza glasila: mozgovi majstora u odlaganju obveza drugačiji su od mozgova drugih ljudi. Našao sam laboratorij za MR da ispitam hipotezu i dozvolili su mi da skeniram i svoj mozak i mozak osobe koja dokazano sve obavlja na vrijeme, za usporedbu. Donio sam ih ovdje da vam ih pokažem. Pažljivo gledajte primjećujete li što. Znam da niste stručni po pitanju mozga, nije to tako očito, ali samo pogledajte. Ovo je mozak osobe koja sve radi na vrijeme.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Now ... here's my brain.
A ovo... ovo je moj mozak.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Postoji razlika. U oba mozga netko donosi racionalne odluke, ali u mozgu odlagivača imamo i Majmunčića koji traži trenutno zadovoljenje potreba. Što to znači za odlagivača? Znači to da je sve u redu dok se ne dogodi ovo.
[This is a perfect time to get some work done.] [Nope!]
[Idealno je vrijeme da nešto radimo.] [Bome nije!]
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.
Gospodin Racionalni donijet će racionalnu odluku da radi nešto produktivno, ali Majmunčiću se taj plan baš i ne sviđa, pa preuzima kormilo i govori: 'ajmo radije pročitati Wikipedijin članak o skandalu između N. Kerrigan i T. Harding jer sam se, evo baš sjetio da se to dogodilo.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Then --
Zatim --
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Zatim ćemo zaviriti u frižider da vidimo je li se u zadnjih 10 minuta štogod promijenilo. Nakon toga prepustit ćemo se bespućima YouTubea, počevši od videa Richarda Feynmana u kojem govori o magnetima da bismo završili na intervjuima s majkom Justina Biebera.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
"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!"
"To će potrajati, pa nam neće ostati vremena za produktivnost. Pardon!"
(Sigh)
(Uzdah)
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.
Što se sad događa? Ovaj Majmunčić ne čini se kao netko tko bi trebao upravljati. On u potpunosti živi u sadašnjosti, ne sjeća se prošlosti, ne zna za budućnost i zanimaju ga samo dvije stvari: jednostavnost i zabava,
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!
što je i u redu u životinjskom svijetu. Ako ste pas i cijeli svoj život provodite ne radeći ništa osim lakih i zabavnih stvari, uspjeli ste u životu!
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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, an easy and fun place that's entirely out of the Makes Sense circle. I call it the Dark Playground.
Za Majmunčića ljudi su tek još jedna životinjska vrsta. Morate biti naspavani, siti i stvarati novu generaciju, što je u vremenima plemena možda i funkcioniralo, no, ako niste primijetili, ovo nisu ta vremena. Nalazimo se u naprednoj civilizaciji, a Majmunčić ne zna što je to. Zato u mozgu imamo ovog drugog momka koji donosi racionalne odluke i omogućava da činimo ono što nijedna druga životinja ne može. Možemo zamišljati budućnost, vidjeti širu sliku, donositi dugoročne planove i želi da sve to uzmemo u obzir i da činimo ono što ima smisla činiti u ovom trenutku. Nekada ima smisla činiti jednostavne i zabavne stvari, kao kad večerate, spremate se na počinak, uživate u zasluženom slobodnom vremenu. Tu se ove stvari preklapaju, nekad se slažu, ali nekada ima puno više smisla raditi teže i manje ugodne stvari da bi nam kasnije bilo bolje. Tada se javlja konflikt. Za odlagivača taj konflikt u većini slučajeva završi na način da provodi puno vremena u ovoj narančastoj zoni koja je lako i zabavno mjesto potpuno izvan kruga postupaka koji imaju smisla, a ja ga nazivam Igralištem sjena.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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. 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?
Igralište sjena mjesto je koje svi vi odlagivači obveza jako dobro poznajete. Tu se odvijaju slobodnovremenske aktivnosti u vrijeme koje nije namijenjeno za njih. Zabava koju vam pruža Igralište sjena nije zaista zabava jer je potpuno nezaslužena i osjećate krivicu, strepnju, nervozu, samoprezir -- sve te osjećaje namijenjene lijenčinama. U ovoj situaciji, s Majmunčićem za kormilom, pitanje glasi: kako da lijenčina dođe u plavu zonu, manje ugodno mjesto na kojem se odvijaju važne stvari?
Well, turns out the procrastinator has a guardian angel, someone who's always looking down on him and watching over him in his darkest moments -- someone called the Panic Monster.
Po svemu sudeći, lijenčina ima anđela čuvara koji na njega pazi i u najmračnijim trenutcima -- Čudovišnog paničara.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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, a career disaster or some other scary consequence. And importantly, he's the only thing the Monkey is terrified of. Now, he became very relevant in my life pretty recently, because the people of TED reached out to me about six months ago and invited me to do a TED Talk.
Čudovišni paničar većinu vremena provodi u stanju mirovanja, ali iznenada se probudi svaki put kad se krajnji rok previše približi, u slučaju opasnosti od javnog sramoćenja, poslovne katastrofe ili druge strašne posljedice. Što je najbitnije, on je jedino čega se Majmunčić boji. Nedavno je u mom životu postao prilično bitan jer su mi se ljudi s TED-a javili prije šest mjeseci i pozvali me da održim govor.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Now, of course, I said yes. It's always been a dream of mine to have done a TED Talk in the past.
Naravno da sam pristao, oduvijek sam sanjao o tome da sam u prošlosti održao TED-govor.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
(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? We need to sit down and work on this right now." And the Monkey said, "Totally agree, but let's just open Google Earth and zoom in to the bottom of India, like 200 feet above the ground, 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."
(Pljesak) Usred ovog uzbuđenja, dio zadužen za donošenje racionalnih odluka imao je nešto drugo na umu i upitao je: "Shvaćamo li na što smo pristali. Shvaćamo li što će se dogoditi u skoroj budućnosti? Moramo sjesti i odmah raditi na tome." Majmunčić reče: "Potpuno se slažem, al' 'ajd da otvorimo Google Earth i zumiramo donji dio Indije, 60-ak metara iznad površine i mičemo mišem dva i pol sata dok ne dođemo do gornjeg dijela da bolje shvatimo Indiju."
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
So that's what we did that day.
I tako je prošao i taj dan.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
As six months turned into four and then two and then one, the people of TED decided to release the speakers. And I opened up the website, and there was my face staring right back at me. And guess who woke up?
Kako se šest mjeseci topilo u četiri, pa u dva pa u jedan, TED-ovci odlučiše objaviti popis govornika. Otvorio sam stranicu i ugledao svoje lice kako me gleda. I znate li tko se tada probudio?
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
So the Panic Monster starts losing his mind, and a few seconds later, the whole system's in mayhem.
Čudovišni paničar je odlijepio i za nekoliko sekundi cijeli je sustav bio u kaosu.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Majmunčić, sjećate se, smrtno se boji Čudovišnog paničara, pa je pobjegao na drvo. Konačno, konačno je Gospodin Racionalni preuzeo kormilo, pa sam mogao početi raditi na govoru.
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 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.
Čudovišni paničar objašnjava kojekakve lude obrasce ponašanja jednog majstora u odlaganju obveza, kao npr. kako netko poput mene dva tjedna nije u stanju napisati uvodnu rečenicu da bi iznenada u sebi našao nevjerojatnu radnu etiku koja mu omogućava da probdije cijelu noć pišući osam stranica. Cijela ova situacija s tri glavna lika čine sustav majstora u odlaganju obveza. Nije lijep, ali na kraju krajeva - funkcionira. O tome sam prije nekoliko godina odlučio pisati na svom blogu.
When I did, I was amazed by the response. Literally thousands of emails came in, 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.
Kad konačno jesam, iznenadio sam se odgovorima. Stiglo mi je doslovno na tisuće mejlova različitih vrsta ljudi diljem svijeta koji se bave različitim stvarima. Medicinske sestre, bankari, slikari, inženjeri i gomila doktoranada.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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 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?
Svi su govorili istu stvar: "I ja imam taj problem." Iznenadio me kontrast između šaljivog tona originalnog teksta i ozbiljnog tona tih mejlova. Ti ljudi bili su vidno frustrirani time što im odugovlačenje čini, time što im je ovaj Majmunčić napravio. Razmišljao sam o tome i rekao: ako sustav zgubidana funkcionira, što se ovdje događa? Zašto su ovi ljudi u takvom crnjaku?
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. 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.
Zaključio sam da postoje dva oblika odlaganja obveza. Sve o čemu sam danas govorio, svi primjeri koje sam navodio, imaju vremenski okvir. Kada imamo vremenski okvir, posljedice odugovlačenja su kratkoročne jer Čudovišni paničar uplete svoje prste. No, postoji još jedan oblik odlaganja koji se javlja kada ne postoji vremenski okvir. Ako želite karijeru u nečemu što ćete sami pokrenuti, nešto umjetničko, poduzetnički, tu u početku ne postoji vremenski okvir jer se ništa ne događa dok ne izađete, potrudite se oko nečega da dobijete zamah. Postoje i bitne stvari izvan područja karijere koji nemaju vremenske okvire, poput druženja s obitelji ili vježbanja i brige za vlastito zdravlje, truda oko veze ili prekidanja veze koja ne funkcionira.
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. 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.
Ako je jedini mehanizam odlagivača obveza koji ga tjera da čini te teške stvari Čudovišni paničar, imamo problem jer u svim ovim slučajevima koji nemaju vremenski okvir, Čudovišni paničar miruje. Nema se razloga buditi, pa posljedice odlaganja nisu vremenski ograničene, već se šire do u beskonačnost. O takvom dugoročnom obliku odlaganja obveza koji je manje vidljiv manje se govori nego o ovom smiješnom, kratkoročnom, vremenski ograničenom. Od njega se inače pati u tišini i u privatnosti, a može biti izvor ogromne dugoročne nesreće i žaljenja. Pomislih, zato me toliki ljudi kontaktiraju i zato su tako nezadovoljni. Nije da štrebaju za neki projekt, već ih je dugoročno odlaganje obveza učinilo promatračima ponekada i vlastitog života. Frustracija nije u tome da nisu mogli ostvariti svoje snove, već da ih nisu mogli ni početi slijediti.
So I read these emails and I had a little bit of an epiphany -- 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, like some of us,
Pročitao sam te mejlove i nešto sam shvatio -- ne postoje ljudi koji ne odlažu svoje obveze. Tako je - za mene ste svi vi odlagivači. Možda niste svi u kaosu, kao neki od nas,
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
i neki od vas možda imaju zdrav odnos s vremenskim okvirima, ali zapamtite: Majmunčićev najpodliji trik javlja se kad nema vremenskog okvira.
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, because everyone is procrastinating on something in life. We need to stay aware of the Instant Gratification Monkey. 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.
Želim vam pokazati još nešto. Ovo je životni kalendar. Jedna kućica za svaki tjedan 90-ogodišnjeg života. Nema tu tako puno kućica, pogotovo kad uzmete u obzir da smo dosta njih već iskoristili. Mislim da se svi trebamo dobro zagledati u taj kalendar. Moramo razmisliti što zaista odlažemo jer svi to činimo s nečim u našim životima. Moramo biti svjesni Majmunčića. To je zadatak svih nas. Budući da ovdje nema tako puno kućica, već danas se trebamo početi baviti tim zadatkom.
Well, maybe not today, but ...
Dobro, možda ne baš danas, ali...
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
You know. Sometime soon.
Znate. Uskoro.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)