Tim Urban shares his experience with procrastination in college and while writing his 90-page senior thesis.

• Urban was a government major in college which required writing numerous papers.
• He would procrastinate until the last moment, a habit that persisted until his senior thesis.
• Faced with a year-long project, he planned to spread out his work but ended up writing the entire thesis in a 72-hour session.

Urban introduces the Instant Gratification Monkey and how it derails the Rational Decision-Maker in procrastinators' minds.

• Urban hypothesized that procrastinators' brains are different, using the metaphor of the Instant Gratification Monkey.
• This Monkey distracts the Rational Decision-Maker, leading to procrastination and unproductive activities.
• The Monkey only cares about easy and fun tasks, which can be detrimental in a modern advanced civilization.

Urban explains the Dark Playground of procrastination and introduces the Panic Monster.

• The Dark Playground is where procrastinators spend time on unearned leisure activities, filled with negative emotions.
• The Panic Monster awakens when there's a threat of a missed deadline or embarrassment, scaring the Instant Gratification Monkey.

Urban describes the mayhem of preparing for his TED Talk due to procrastination.

• Invited to do a TED Talk, Urban procrastinated until the Panic Monster was triggered by the announcement of speaker release.
• This allowed the Rational Decision-Maker to finally take action and work on the talk.
• The process illustrates the typical system of a procrastinator involving the Monkey, the Decision-Maker, and the Panic Monster.

Urban discusses the two types of procrastination, short-term with deadlines and long-term without deadlines.

• Short-term procrastination is contained due to deadlines and the Panic Monster's involvement.
• Long-term procrastination lacks deadlines, leading to ongoing issues in personal and professional life without the Panic Monster's intervention.

Urban concludes with the Life Calendar concept, urging people to manage procrastination and start working towards their goals.

• The Life Calendar visualizes a 90-year life in weeks, highlighting the limited time available.
• Urban emphasizes the importance of recognizing and dealing with procrastination, especially in long-term aspects of life.
• He suggests that everyone is a procrastinator in some way and stresses the need to start managing it sooner rather than later.