Does the Procrastination Monkey Rule you?

Tim Urban (his blog) did an amazing TED talk called “Inside the mind of a master procrastinator” which resonated with me deeply.  I agree with Tim that we are all procrastinators with varying degrees of success management.

My own college education had many similar experiences of several large month-long projects.  My partners and I, of course, had full intentions of working hard every day to even out the work.  Naturally, the Instant Gratification Monkey took us to the dark playground where movies, random adventure and computer games seemed to always take precedence.

You see the monkey doesn’t understand the past or the future. This is great for living in the moment with pure joy, but as you all know life is a bit more complicated than that.  Somehow our rational brain can’t seem to overpower the Instant Gratification Monkey also known as the Procrastination Monkey, but there is a secret weapon…

The secret weapon is the Panic Monster.  The Panic Monster is so strong that it throws the system into chaos pushing the monkey up the tree and forcing the rational mind to focus.  This is usually several days if not the day before a deadline.

This is all great for time-bounded items that have social, monetary, or some kind of negative impactor which will trigger the Panic Monster.  The real question is what happens to all the stuff like your life goals,  keeping up with friends, or losing weight.   Since these are not time and consequence bounded the monster never shows up.

This is where accountability groups, SMART goals, and other techniques come into play but Tim’s suggestion is very pointed.

Put up a board for every week of a 90-year life.  Kind of scary there is so few boxes.  Even now just thinking about it, I can hear the panic monster in the background, but this is powerful.   Think if we could summon the Panic Monster on demand,  then we can finally have a balance with the Instant Gratification Monkey.

Let me know your struggles with the Procrastination Monkey and how you have summoned the Panic Monster in the comments below.

 ~ Christos

The Unshackled Lifestyle