The Panic Monster

 "Maybe not today. Well, sometime soon." That's right. This post is about procrastination. Why am I writing about this topic again? Duh. Obviously, since I procrastinate a lot? (Honestly, I wrote this post because I didn't come up with a genuine topic and there was an hour left before the week ended.) 

 I wonder if most of you guys enjoy watching TED talks. Because I don't. They all seem too... didactic? Too formal, maybe? Maybe it's just me. Anyway, there's this one TED talk that I remember really clearly. This guy introduced himself as Tim Urban, a blogger. The reason why I remember him is probably just because he was funny. But thanks to that, his message clearly reach out to me to this day. 

 Tim started his speech with some of his experience at college. He was a government major and was supposed to write a 90-page senior thesis. It was something that a person should normally spend a year on. So he planned things out. A little loosely on the first four months, giving some more pressure on the next four, and finally kicking the engine in the final four. 

It seems like a rather well-thought-out plan, doesn't it? Well obviously, things didn't go the way he thought it would. 12 became 6, 6 became 2, 2 became 1, 1 month became 2 weeks, again 2 becomes 1. In the end, he had to write 90 pages in 3 days. I see some of Mr.Ganse's students cringing. Hah. 

 Tim explains a system of the brain that he discovered. A procrastinator's brain(or more correctly, our brain) is composed of three individuals. The rational decision maker, the instant gratification monkey, and the panic monster. Inside a non-procrastinator's brain,  only the rational decision maker exists and things would go smoothly since the person would do things that he should do at that moment at the exact spot. 

 

 Unfortunately, that's not how it works inside a procrastinator's brain. Most of the time, the instant gratification monkey takes the wheel. All it cares about is food, sleep, and youtube. Until the deadline comes into view, the IGM takes the wheel of the brain. Fortunately, there is one thing that it is terrified of, which is the panic monster. For example, if there is an hour left to write your weekly post on your blog, the panic monster wakes up in my...(cough) your brain and starts screaming. The IGM also starts screaming and let goes of the wheel and finally the RDM can finish the post. In conclusion, this system works. You get the job done, however crappy.

 Nevertheless, if this system works, there should be no one who is completely miserable in life right? You get the job done at some point. Unfortunately, Tim explicates about a different kind of procrastination. This kind has no deadline, such as saving up money for future use or exercising for health. In this case, the panic monster does not wake up, therefore, the IGM doesn't move from the wheel. If the panic monster is the sole reason that we move our butts to carry out these goals, then we'll never be able to achieve them. 

 It's not the short-termed homework that we should be scared of. It's life-long goals, goals that are more subtle and out-of-site that we should be wary of. Those long-term problems don't hit as hard, but they become the source of life-long unhappiness like poison. Tim points out that the monkey's sneakiest trick is when the deadline is not there. 

 As I was writing this post while the panic monster inside me roared, a part of me wondered about the long-term problems I was procrastinating. College admission, getting taller,(I hope) maybe losing some weight, making a girlfrie(no not that) We can't rely on the panic monster. We have to move today. Well, not today. Well, sometime soon.