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 --
Dakle, na fakultetu, studirao sam političke nauke, što znači da sam morao da napišem mnogo seminarskih. Sad, kad normalan student piše seminarski, mogao bi da započne s radom malčice nalik ovome. Znate -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
započinjete možda nešto sporije, no završite dovoljno posla u prvoj nedelji pa, kad krenu teži dani kasnije, sve se završi, sve ostaje uljudno.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 bih želeo tako da radim. To bi bio plan. Sve bih pripremio, ali onda, zapravo, došao bi red na seminarski i ja bih radio nešto slično ovome.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And that would happen every single paper.
To bi se desilo prilikom pisanja svakog rada.
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?
Ali onda je došao na red diplomski rad od 90 stranica, rad na kome bi trebalo da radite godinu dana. I znao sam da za takav rad, moj normalan ritam rada ne dolazi u obzir. Bio je to preveliki projekat. Pa sam isplanirao sve, i odlučio sam da ću morati da radim na sledeći način. Ovako bi se godina odvijala. Krenuo bih lagano, a onda bih zapeo jače tokom središnjih meseci, a onda bih na kraju prebacio u najvišu brzinu, baš poput malenih stepenica. Koliko je teško peti se po stepenicama? Ništa strašno, je l' da?
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.
Ali onda se nešto smešno desilo. Ti prvi meseci? Došli su i prošli, i ja nekako nisam mogao da radim. Pa smo dobili sjajan nov prerađen plan.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And then --
A onda -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Međutim, onda su i ti središnji meseci prošli, a ja nisam zapravo ni reči napisao, pa smo stigli dovde. A onda su se dva meseca pretvorila u jedan mesec, koji se pretvorio u dve nedelje. I jednog dana sam se probudio s tri dana do krajnjeg roka, a još nisam ni reči bio napisao, pa sam uradio jedino što sam mogao: napisao sam 90 strana za 72 sata, provodeći ne jednu, već dve besane noći - ljudi ne bi trebalo da provode dve besane noći. Jurio sam kroz kampus, uskočio kao na usporenom snimku i stigao tačno pre 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 se time sve završava. No nedelju kasnije su me pozvali sa fakulteta. I pitali: "Da li je to Tim Urban?" A ja sam rekao: "Da." Rekli su: "Moramo razgovarati o vašem diplomskom." Rekao sam: "U redu." A oni su rekli: "To je najbolji rad koji smo ikad videli."
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
That did not happen.
To se nije desilo.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
It was a very, very bad thesis.
Bio je to veoma, veoma loš diplomski.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
I just wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought, "This guy is amazing!"
Samo sam hteo da uživam u tom trenu u kom ste svi vi mislili: "Ovaj lik je neverovatan!"
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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, ne, bio je veoma, veoma loš. U svakom slučaju, ja sam sad pisac blogova. Pišem blog Wait But Why. I pre nekoliko godina sam odlučio da pišem o odugovlačenju. Moje ponašanje je oduvek zbunjivalo neotezala oko mene i želeo sam da objasnim neotezalima u svetu šta se dešava u glavama otezala i zašto smo to što jesmo. Sad, pretpostavljao sam da su mozgovi otezala zapravo drugačiji od mozgova drugih ljudi. Da bih ovo testirao, pronašao sam MRI laboratoriju koja mi je zapravo dopustila da skeniram moj mozak i mozak dokazanog neotezala, kako bih mogao da ih uporedim. Zapravo sam ih doneo da bih vam danas pokazao. Želim da pažljivo pogledate i vidite možete li da zapazite razliku. Znam da ako niste obučeni stručnjak za mozak, nije toliko očigledno, no samo pogledajte, važi? Dakle, ovo je mozak neotezala.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Now ... here's my brain.
Sad... ovo je moj mozak.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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. Oba mozga imaju Racionalnog Donosioca Odluka, ali mozak otezala takođe ima Majmuna Trenutnog Zadovoljenja. Sad, šta to znači za otezalo? Znači da je sve u redu, dok se ovo desi.
[This is a perfect time to get some work done.] [Nope!]
[Ovo je savršen trenutak da se nešto uradi.] [Nikako!]
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.
Pa će Racionalni Donosilac Odluka da racionalno odluči da uradi nešto produktivno, ali Majmunu se ne sviđa taj plan, pa on zapravo preuzima kormilo i kaže: "Zapravo, pročitajmo čitavu stranicu Vikipedije o skandalu sa Nensi Kerigan i Tonjom Harding jer sam se upravo setio da se to desilo."
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Then --
Onda -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
onda ćemo da pođemo do frižidera da vidimo ima li šta novo u njemu od proteklih 10 minuta. Posle toga se bacamo na Jutjub spiralu, koja počinje snimcima Ričarda Fejnmana koji priča o magnetima, a završava se mnogo, mnogo kasnije gledanjem intervjua s majkom Džastina Bibera.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
"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!"
"Sve će to da potraje neko vreme, pa nećemo zaista da imamo mesta u rasporedu za bilo kakav rad danas. Izvini!"
(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.
Sad, šta se ovde dešava? Majmun Trenutnog Zadovoljenja se ne čini kao momak kog želite za kormilom. On u potpunosti živi u sadašnjem trenutku. Nema sećanja na prošlost, nema poimanje o budućnosti i jedino mari za dve stvari: lakoću i zabavu.
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!
Sad, u životinjskom svetu to sasvim dobro funkcioniše. Ako ste pas i provedete čitav život ne radeći bilo šta osim lakih i zabavnih stvari, vi ste šampion!
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
A za Majmuna, ljudi su samo još jedna životinjska vrsta. Morate da budete naspavani, nahranjeni i da podarite novu generaciju, što je u plemensko vreme možda bilo sasvim u redu. No, ako ste primetili, trenutno ne živimo u plemenima. U naprednoj smo civilizaciji, a majmun pojma nema šta je to. Zbog toga imamo još jednog momka u mozgu, Racionalnog Donosioca Odluka, koji nam omogućuje da radimo nešto što druge životinje ne mogu. Možemo da zamislimo budućnost. Možemo da vidimo širu sliku. Možemo dugoročno da planiramo. I on želi sve to da uzme u obzir. Želi prosto da nas natera da radimo, šta god ima smisla da trenutno radimo. Sad, ponekad je smisleno raditi stvari koje su lake i zabavne, kao kad večerate ili idete u krevet ili kad uživate u zasluženoj dokolici. Zato dolazi do preklapanja. Ponekad se slažu. No ponekad više ima smisla raditi stvari koje su teže i manje prijatne, zarad šire slike. I tad nastaje konflikt. A za otezalo, taj konflikt se završava svaki put na određen način, ostavljajući ga da provodi mnogo vremena u ovoj narandžastoj zoni, lagodnom i zabavnom mestu koje je potpuno van Kruga Smisla. Zovem to Mračnim igralištem.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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?
Sad, Mračno igralište je mesto koje svi vi prisutna otezala znate veoma dobro. Tu se dokoliči u vreme kad ne biste trebali da dokoličite. Zabava koju imate na Mračnom igralištu nije zaista zabavna jer je u potpunosti nezaslužena i u vazduhu se oseća krivica, užas, nespokoj, samoprezir - sva ta divna osećanja koja otezala imaju. A pitanje, u ovom slučaju, je: s Majmunom za kormilom, kako otezalo ikad stigne do ove plave zone, manje prijatnog mesta, ali mesta gde se važne stvari dešavaju?
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.
Pa, izgleda da otezalo ima anđela čuvara, nekoga ko ga uvek nadgleda i pazi na njega u najmračnijim trenucima - nekoga po imenu Panično Čudovište.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Sad, Panično Čudovište je uspavano većinu vremena, ali se naglo probudi svaki put kad se krajnji rok primakne ili kad postoji opasnost od javnog sramoćenja, poslovne katastrofe ili neke druge zastrašujuće posledice. A najvažnije je da se Majmun jedino njega plaši. Sad, on je nedavno postao prilično važan u mom životu jer su mi ljudi sa TED-a prišli pre šest meseci i pozvali me da održim TED govor.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Now, of course, I said yes. It's always been a dream of mine to have done a TED Talk in the past.
Sad, naravno da sam pristao. Oduvek mi je bio san da sam održao TED govor u prošlosti.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(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."
(Aplauz) Međutim u sred ovog uzbuđenja, Racionalni Donosilac Odluka je imao nešto drugo na pameti. Pitao je: "Je li nam jasno na šta smo upravo pristali? Razumemo li šta će da se desi jednog dana u budućnosti? Moramo da sednemo i da odmah radimo na ovome." A Majmun je rekao: "Potpuno se slažem, ali hajde da otvorimo Gugl Zemlju i zumirajmo donji deo Indije, nekih 60-ak metara iznad zemlje i pomerajmo se ka gore nekih dva i po sata dok stignemo do vrha države, kako bismo stekli bolji utisak o Indiji."
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So that's what we did that day.
Pa smo to i radili tog dana.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 je šest meseci prešlo u četiri, a onda u dva i u jedan, ljudi sa TED-a su odlučili da objave spisak govornika. Ja sam otvorio vebsajt i tu je bio moj lik kako zuri u mene. I pogodite ko se probudio?
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So the Panic Monster starts losing his mind, and a few seconds later, the whole system's in mayhem.
Pa je Panično Čudovište počelo da gubi razum i nekoliko sekundi kasnije čitav sistem je u haosu.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
A Majmun - sećate se, on se plaši Paničnog Čudovišta - hop, odvera se uz drvo! I konačno, konačno, Racionalni Donosilac Odluka može preuzeti kormilo i ja mogu početi da radim 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.
Sad, Panično Čudovište objašnjava sve vidove otezalovog krajnje nenormalnog ponašanja, kao kako neko kao ja može da provede dve nedelje u nemogućnosti da započne uvodnu rečenicu rada, a onda nekim čudom otkrije neverovatnu radnu etiku da ostane budan celu noć i napiše osam stranica. A čitava ova situacija sa ova tri lika - to je otezalov sistem. Nije lepo, ali naposletku funkcioniše. O ovome sam odlučio da pišem pre nekoliko godina 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 sam završio, reakcije su me oduševile. Bukvalno sam primio na hiljade imejlova od raznih ljudi iz čitavog sveta, koji se bave raznim stvarima. Bilo je tu medicinskih sestara, bankara, slikara, inženjera i mnogo, mnogo doktoranada.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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?
I svi su mi pisali, govoreći jedno te isto: "I ja imam ovaj problem." No zatekao me je kontrast između svetlog tona mog članka i natmurenosti ovih imejlova. Ovi ljudi su pisali vidno isfrustrirani zbog toga šta im je odugovlačenje napravilo od života, zbog toga šta im je ovaj Majmun uradio. I ja sam razmislio o ovome i rekao: dobro, ako otezalov sistem funkcioniše, onda o čemu se radi? Zašto su svi ovi ljudi tako neraspoloženi?
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.
Pa, izgleda da postoje dva tipa odugovlačenja. Sve o čemu sam danas govorio, svi navedeni primeri, svi su imali rokove. A kad postoje rokovi, efekti odugovlačenja su obuzdani kratkoročnošću jer se umeša Panično Čudovište. Ali postoji drugi vid odugovlačenja koji se dešava u situacijama koje nemaju rokove. Pa, ako želite karijeru gde ste samozaposleni - nešto iz umetnosti, neki vid preduzetništva - ne postoje rokovi za te stvari u početku jer se ništa ne dešava, sve dok ne izađete i vredno radite da biste dobili zalet, pokrenuli stvari. Tu su i razne druge važne stvari mimo vaših karijera koje ne uključuju rokove, poput posećivanja porodice ili vežbanja ili brige o zdravlju, rada na vašoj ljubavnoj vezi ili izlaska iz ljubavne veze koja ne funkcioniše.
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.
Sad, ako je jedini mehanizam otezala da odradi teške stvari Panično Čudovište, onda je to problem jer se tokom svih ovih situacija bez rokova Panično Čudovište ne pojavljuje. Nema razloga za buđenje, pa efekti odugovlačenja nisu obuzdani; prosto se razvlače u beskonačnost. A o ovom dugoročnom vidu odugovlačenja koje je daleko manje vidljivo i manje se o njemu priča nego o zabavnijem, kratkoročnom, zasnovanom na rokovima. Obično patimo od njega tiho i u samoći. I može da bude uzrok velike količine dugoročnog jada i kajanja. I pomislio sam kako je to razlog zašto mi ti ljudi pišu i zato su u tako lošem stanju. Ne jadikuju oni zbog nekog projekta. Već su se zbog dugoročnog odugovlačenja ponekad osećali kao posmatrači sopstvenog života. Nisu bili razočarani jer nisu mogli da ostvare snove; već čak nisu bili u stanju da počnu da ih jure.
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,
Pa sam iščitavao ove imejlove i imao sam maleno otkrovenje - došao sam do zaključka da ne postoje neotezala. Tako je - mislim da ste svi vi otezala. Sad, možda svi niste nered, poput nekih od nas,
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
a neki od vas možda imate zdrave odnose s rokovima, ali upamtite: najprepredeniji Majmunov trik je kad nema rokova.
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.
Sad želim da vam pokažem poslednju stvar. Ovo zovem Životnim kalendarom. Imamo jedno polje za svaku nedelju 90-ogodišnjeg života. Nema previše polja, naročito jer smo ih već gomilu iskoristili. Mislim da bi svi trebalo da se pažljivo zagledamo u taj kalendar. Trebalo bi da razmislimo šta zaista odugovlačimo jer svako odugovlači nešto u životu. Moramo da budemo svesni Majmuna Trenutnog Zadovoljenja. To je posao za sve nas. I kako tu nema previše polja, to je posao koji bi verovatno trebalo započeti danas.
Well, maybe not today, but ...
Pa, možda ne danas, ali...
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
You know. Sometime soon.
Znate. Nekad uskoro.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)