Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator

16 September 2021 Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator TED Talks are becoming one of the most popular ways to convey a message in a short and precise way. One remarkable TED Talk was Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator by Tim Urban. Tim graduated from Harvard University with a Government major. In 2007, he cofounded Arbor Bridge, a company that prepares students for SAT exams and for college admissions. Additionally, he is the writer and illustrator of the blog “Wait, but Why.” Tim Urban’s TED Talk, Inside the mind of a Master Procrastinator, should be considered for a possible Liberty convocation because of how he openly talks about his struggle of procrastination and how it can be dangerous in the long term. Tim presented this theme during the fourteen-minute-long presentation posted on the Ted Talk website on April 6, 2016. When he expressed, “A couple of years ago I decided to write about procrastination” (03:00). Tim did not imagine that he would have been doing a TED Talk. While Tim was thinking about what to write in his blog post about procrastination, he realized, "I have a hypothesis that the brains of procrastinators were different than the brain of other people,” (03:14-18). Thus, in his speech on this topic, Tim presents the three main parts of a rhetoric analysis. Let us start with pathos. Urban immersed the audience in the story about creating his thesis in college, capturing everyone’s attention when he said that the university called him to talk about how great the thesis was. Everyone in the audience felt the passion he showed even though he was lying. Urban also made use of the rhetorical appeal of ethos. He described the Dark Playground as, “a place that all of the procrastinators out there know very well. It's where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening” (06:43-50). This example showed that Urban understood his topic well because he himself is a procrastinator, which gave him the credibility he needs to speak on the subject. Lastly, with the logos, he was very clever, as he used powerful illustrations such as the timetable graph comparison on how he planned for his thesis versus how it was executed. When Tim said, "I'd start off light, and I'd bump it up in the middle months, and at the end, I would kick it up into high gear, just like a little staircase,” (01:9- 16) he was explaining how he was intending to execute his plan. Moreover, the illustration of the rational decision-maker versus the monkey and the panic monster showed his ability to connect these three rhetoric appeal elements. Urban said, "The rational decision-maker will make the rational decision to do something productive, but the monkey doesn't like that plan, so takes the wheel” (04:12-19). Something Tim highlighted through the path of the presentation was the ability to insert his life into the audience's mind. He moved well between the ethos, pathos, and logos in just fourteen minutes. The use of data points appealed to those hearing what he had to say. For example, he said, "I did the only thing I could do, I wrote ninety pages over seventy-two hours, pulling not one, but two all-nighters, humans are not supposed to pull two all-nighters" (01:5502:02). In this example, he humanized his procrastination story and appealed to the feelings of his audience. Another way Urban connected with his audience was by explaining the two different types of procrastination. First, the short term, when we have a deadline and when this fictitious character called the Panic Monster comes to your rescue to help you get things done on time. Second, the long term where no deadline is present which makes matters worse by creating frustration that doesn't allow people to chase their dreams. This connection shows a great ability to convince people on how they can change their way of living. A deeper analysis of this topic can guide us to elevate the theme with spiritual meaning and divine connection. The Bible contains multiple verses about procrastination. As written in the book of Proverbs: "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring" (Proverbs 27:1, NIV). This is an important verse, because it tells us how we should not leave the things that we need to do for another and do them immediately. Additionally, the New Testament also teaches about avoiding procrastination in the book of Luke: "You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him" (Luke 12:40, NIV). No one knows when the second coming will be, that is why we must be always prepared and do what has been entrusted to us so that it is not too late. Our time is too precious to waste in leisure activities that shouldn't be happening in our lives. Liberty University has separated itself from the secular universities in America through their passion on training Champions for Christ. Convocations are one of those unique ways of marking that difference within the university community and across the world. Suppose Liberty University ever considers bringing a topic in relation to this topic, in that case, it will provoke a response on those that tend to procrastinate. Moreover, a speakers' reputation to earn a place in a conference must be at the highest level possible. Tim Urban was a very fluent speaker in his TED Talk. One reason is because he showed a great audience connection and control, however, I don't think that is enough to justify having him speak at Convocation. I can't judge his faith and abilities to talk to a Christian community like Liberty solely based off of this TED Talk, and I think that Convocation speakers should understand our Christian worldview here at Liberty. Still, assuming he is a Christian who knows the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ, he will positively impact our campus.