Day 2 — Tim Urban | 100 Days 100 Thoughts |

100 Days 100 Thoughts | Day 2 — Tim Urban

Howdy Folks,

I thought of sharing this video as my penultimate of ultimate post in this series. But why wait for a long time to share something as good as this, so I am sharing the TED Talk which inspired me to start this series in the first place.

The TED Talk is named Inside the mind of a Procrastinator by Tim Urban. This is what I would call a must watch video for majority of us. Please watch the video linked below and then lets move to my rantings of the same.

I am sure most of us have been procrastinating something or other over a period of time. As the Speaker mentions, we are struggling with the Instant Gratification Monkey because of the lack of Panic Monster. Tim gives us a checkbox at the end to show that this can give you the push you needed.

But there is another big issue here. When we see the same box, we might even think “Oh My God !! I have only few weeks left and I need to do so and so !!!!” And the panic mode starts. In this case the panic monster shoo away both the Instant Gratification Monkey(IGM) and Rational Decision Maker(RDM). As mentioned by Tim Urban, it is essential to maintain a healthy relationship with Panic Monster. Only then we can be a successful procrastinator. So on the other hand, how to ensure that the Panic Monster doesn’t shoo away the RDM from the picture. This is where the self confidence and self worth comes in to the picture. These self evaluation and confidence building helps us to strengthen the RDM in us.

Here comes the most important part I wish to discuss and share with all of you. When there is no Panic Monster to motivate us, what can we do? The checkbox won’t essentially help you in that way like it did for many. In that case all you need to do is create a Panic Monster or rather simpler words, create a deadline. As many of you might have known that I was working on a book. But it didn’t have any deadlines and I wanted the book to take its own sweet time to grow and at the end it is dead and stuck in a limbo. This happened to many of my works, So I needed a push, a deadline to work on. This led me to start this 100 Day Challenge, so that I keep sharing. Essentially, you can take up a challenge, set up goals, write journals and so on. It is essential to create a deadline for yourself and work on it.

And do share your goals on Social Media or to your friends. This gives you a sense of responsibility to continue your journey. Also, it doesn’t matter if you fail, you can always start fresh but it matters if you didn’t even try. I have failed multiple times in these challenges and yet I start again hoping to complete it, that should be your Panic Monster to push you do things.