Rhetorical Analysis

The Inescapable Cycle of Procrastination

In his TED talk, Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator, Tim Urban gives the audience insight into what being a fervent procrastinator entails, in a way that is relatable to people in all walks of life. As Urban jokes about his personal experience with procrastination, he employs a comedic and informal tone to establish commonality and relatability with his audience. Urban begins with examples of ways in which college students procrastinate, and concludes his talk with instances in which adults postpone working towards their short-term and long-term goals. This specifically pertains to Millenials and young adults who have recently entered the workforce and are continuing to justify the mindset of being pushing off tasks with nonexistent deadlines or simply not taking action to achieve their goals.  The speaker’s talk proves to be extremely relevant in a time where people are struggling to find the motivation to take the first steps in breaking the vicious cycle of stalling action. With nearly 27 million views it is evident that this TED talk has captured a large audience. Urban’s intention of informing the audience of the adversity that comes as a result of a lack of action is conveyed through the use of ethos, symbolism, and pathos.

Within seconds of opening, Urban establishes credibility through his extensive use of personal examples. Just as some of the audience members may begin to think of times in which they have procrastinated, the speaker wins the competition by a mile. He begins with the process of writing his 90-page senior thesis, describing it as a frantic time where he knew that he would need to distribute his work efforts over the span of a year, rather than simply waiting until the last moment. In spite of this realization, Urban continued to put off this massive assignment, leaving only three days before the deadline to complete it. He then proceeds to show the audience a graph of how the distribution of work should look like in comparison to how it actually turned out, with a single sky-scraping bar at the end of the graph. Through the use of personal narratives to illustrate the degree to which he procrastinates, he appeals to ethos. While a person may not traditionally establish credibility by being a master procrastinator, in this case, Urban truly demonstrates his knowledge of this practice. In order to truly establish dependability, it is clear that he must create commonality between himself and the audience. To further add relatability, he recalls times where he was sucked into the black hole of the internet, as he “[read] the entire Wikipedia page of the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding scandal.” Additionally, he shares about the countless times where he is on Youtube and ends up watching interviews with Justin Bieber’s mother. All in all, he creates a light environment where the audience is able to connect with what he is saying while laughing at his hysterical anecdotes.

Amongst the most compelling strategies, Urban employs are symbolism and the personification of various components in the human mind. The audience believes that he is about to show them a scientific visual of the differences between the brain of a procrastinator versus that of a non-procrastinator.  Ironically, he assigns characters to the decision making compartments circuits of our brain. He shows a very simple visual of a stick figure of the “rational decision-maker”, which is depicted as a content and level headed personality. Conversely, he also illustrates an elementary sketch of a monkey, that is labeled as the “instant gratification monkey.” The rational decision-maker alerts our brains and prompts us to do work in a timely manner. On the other hand, the instant gratification monkey lives entirely in the present moment and encourages us to give in to our current desires. The monkey does not possess the ability to think about the future, solely focusing on the present. Furthermore, it only wants to engage in activities that can be completed with ease and that are enjoyable. Urban goes on to explain the concept of the dark playground, which is where many procrastinators spend their time participating in leisurely activities they have not rightfully earned. Over-indulging in this leisure time inevitably leads to guilt and anxiety. Urban then poses a highly important question. What does it take for the monkey to complete difficult tasks? This is where the panic monster comes into the equation, being the only things that will get the monkey to where it needs to be. The panic monster remains dormant but is awoken anytime a person is faced with a close deadline or is at risk of danger or embarrassment. 

Finally, Urban constructs a convincing argument by appealing to pathos. While procrastination is often joked about and not taken in a serious manner, the speaker clearly emphasizes how it can be a detriment to individuals and society at large. Countless people struggle with the consequences of postponing their plans, causing them to become frustrated and often hopeless. This long-term procrastination is “much less visible” and hardly talked about, yet it had the greatest consequences. Urban invokes an emotional response from the audience by creating a situation where he opens a vulnerable situation where people are able to see exactly what he is talking about in their own lives.  As a result, this stirs up emotions of remorse and inadequacy, bringing awareness to the fact that a change must be made. He gives examples of non-deadline based procrastination such as at sounding the pursuit of a new career, a healthier lifestyle, or improving a relationship. Near the end of the presentation, Urban leaves the audience with a visual of “life calendar” which shows a box for each year of a 90-year life. This visual puts the short timeframe of our lives into perspective. To some, it may bring a newfound sense of inspiration to go out and work to achieve their goals, which is ultimately the nudge that Urban intended to give. 

From the appeal to ethos to the unique use of symbolism, Urban is effective in bringing awareness to the problem of procrastination. He pushes the audience to ask themselves questions such as “Do I want to continue to live this way?” and “Is this lifestyle sustainable or even beneficial to me?” We may laugh at the silly examples that Urban makes but ultimately, it is evident that his anecdotes are meant to give the audience an epiphany. Our days on this Earth are limited, and we must treat them as such by challenging our inner instant gratification and pursuing our passions.