Procrastination is a common but baffling phenomenon that doesn't make logical sense but most of us engage in to some degree. We know we need to do something that we don't really feel like doing, so we put it off until we have no choice but to hustle and get it done. But some of us are habitual procrastinators to the point where we put off things we desperately don't want to procrastinate on. Unless it's something fun or super interesting, a task will get delayed until the last minute, when our panic causes a superhuman ability to kick in that enables us to complete the task in record time. Then we kick ourselves for creating so much stress over procrastinating something that we could have simply done earlier.One such "master procrastinator," Tim Urban, gave us a glimpse inside his mind with an entertaining and oh-so-relatable TED Talk. Using rudimentary illustrations, self-deprecating humor and characters like Rational Decision-Maker, Instant Gratification Monkey and The Panic Monster, Urban demonstrates what happens in a procrastinator's brain at every point in the process.Watch: - YouTube www.youtube.com Urban begins by explaining how he wrote papers in college, not gradually doing a little work on it each day but rather doing it all right before it's due. But then he had a 90-page thesis to write, which should take a year. Theoretically, you would do a little at a time, building up over the course of the school year with a bigger push toward the end. But Urban kept struggling to get started, pushing his plan further and further, until he had only three days to get it done. "And so I did the only thing I could," he said. "I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours, pulling not one but two all-nighters—humans are not supposed to pull two all-nighters—sprinted across campus, dove in slow motion and got it in just at the deadline." Spoiler: It wasn't good. The three characters that live in the mind of a procrastinatorNow a writer and blogger, Urban wanted to explain to non-procrastinators what happens in the brain of a procrastinator. He showed that a normal person's brain has a Rational Decision-Maker at the helm, whereas a procrastinator has both a Rational Decision-Maker and an Instant Gratification Monkey. When the Decision-Maker makes the rational decision that it's time to get some work done, Instant Gratification Monkey resists. "He actually takes the wheel, and he says, 'Actually, let's read the entire Wikipedia page of the Nancy Kerrigan/ Tonya Harding scandal,because I just remembered that that happened,'" Urban says. "'Then we're going to go over to the fridge to see if there's anything new in there since 10 minutes ago. After that, we're going to go on a YouTube spiral that starts with videos of Richard Feynman talking about magnets and ends much, much later with us watching interviews with Justin Bieber's mom. All of that's going to take a while, so we're not going to really have room on the schedule for any work today. Sorry!'" media.giphy.com He explains that the monkey is only interested in two things: Easy and Fun. That causes a conflict when Rational Decision-Maker knows that we need to do something to reach a goal and have a good outcome. "For the procrastinator, that conflict tends to end a certain way every time, leaving him spending a lot of time in this orange zone, an easy and fun place that's entirely out of the Makes Sense circle. I call it the Dark Playground. Now, the Dark Playground is a place that all of you procrastinators out there know very well. It's where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening. The fun you have in the Dark Playground isn't actually fun, because it's completely unearned, and the air is filled with guilt, dread, anxiety, self-hatred—all of those good procrastinator feelings."So how does a procrastinator get out of the Dark Playground? The Panic Monster, of course. Asleep most of the time, The Panic Monster comes out when a deadline gets too close and there's some scary consequence, be it public embarrassment or a career disaster, that looms. The Panic Monster is the only thing Instant Gratification Monkey is afraid of. When he shows up, the monkey flees, allowing Rational Decision-Maker to take the steering wheel once again. "And this entire situation, with the three characters, this is the procrastinator's system," Urban explained. "It's not pretty, but in the end, it works."Procrastination without deadlines is actually harder to manageHowever, he added, there are actually two kinds of procrastination—the kind with a deadline, where The Panic Monster inevitably always shows up, and the kind where there is no deadline, which means The Panic Monster stays asleep. "It's this long-term kind of procrastination that's much less visible and much less talked about than the funnier, short-term deadline-based kind," Urban shared. "It's usually suffered quietly and privately. And it can be the source of a huge amount of long-term unhappiness and regrets." He said that he had heard from people who struggle with this kind of procrastination and come to the conclusion: "The frustration is not that they couldn't achieve their dreams; it's that they weren't even able to start chasing them."Urban concluded his talk by sharing a visual of boxes, each representing a week of a 90-year life. "That's not that many boxes, especially since we've already used a bunch of those," he said. "So I think we need to all take a long, hard look at that calendar. We need to think about what we're really procrastinating on, because everyone is procrastinating on something in life." People in the comments appreciated feeling seen, even though many of them said they'd had the video saved to watch for months or years before finally getting around to it. media.giphy.com "Really the worst part of being a procrastinator is the guilt you endure everyday. Man it legit hurts.""'The frustration wasn't that they couldn't achieve their dreams, but they weren't even able to start chasing them.' That one sentence has beautifully and effectively summed up my feelings in a way I haven't been able to.""The worst feeling is being in the dark playground and something makes you think of the stuff you have to do. You just get that quick hit of anxiety.""As a procrastinator I often feel like everybody else is moving forward and im just standing still.""He just explained my whole life in 14 minutes."Urban's talk doesn't offer much in the way of solving the procrastination problem, but he does have a whole long blog post on his website, complete with more illustrations, with advice for reducing the procrastination habit. Find his "How to Beat Procrastination" tips here.

In the 2020 series finale of the philosophical sitcom “The Good Place,” Kristen Bell’s Eleanor character poignantly reflects on what it means to be human. “Every human is a little bit sad all the time because you know you're going to die. But that knowledge is what gives life meaning,” she says. And it’s true: The fact that our lives will end makes the time we spend on this planet much more meaningful.You only have so much time on this planet; how will you choose to spend it? What goals will you pursue? Who will you help? What will you contribute? What will your job be? Who will you spend your time with? One way to figure out the answers to these big questions is to put it all on paper. Victor Sweeney, 33, a funeral director in Warren, Minnesota, chooses to do so by rewriting his obituary once a year to help him focus on the things that really matter in life. Working in the death business must give one a unique perspective on these matters of life and death.Even though Sweeny has lived another year, he makes more edits to his obituary than additions. “Each year, my obituary gets shorter and shorter,” he told CNBC’s Make It. “It’s not that I’m doing less, but that there are fewer and fewer things that really, truly matter.” — (@) Sweeney tells CNBC that every time he rewrites his obituary, he realizes that what truly matters to him are his family and service to others. Since 2015, Sweeney has slowly removed references to his accomplishments or career. “Now it’s like, ‘He lived, he loved, he had some kids.’ That’s about it,” he says.The significant benefit of writing your own obituary is that you can reverse engineer your own life. You can list everything you set out to do and make your true purpose concrete. As you grow, you can make additions and subtractions as your purpose evolves.Then, you can follow the path laid out in your obituary, which becomes a roadmap for life. “Writing your own obituary helps you uncover your life purpose. This exercise will help you find meaning and focus—live your life the way you want to be remembered,” Gustavo Razzetti writes in Fearless Culture. A woman writing her obituary. via Canva/PhotosWring your own obituary is also a way to “Blue Sky” the way you think about your life. “Blue Sky” speculation is a technique the Imagineers use to design attractions at Disney Parks and generate ideas without limitations. As the engineers say, “If it can be dreamt, it can be built.” What would be your “Blue Sky” dreams for your life? Where do you want to live? What do you want to do for work? What organizations would you like to start or be part of? How many kids would you like to have? Who is your perfect partner? What do you want your impact on the world to be?Some may think that writing an obituary, especially early in life, is a morbid practice that makes them uncomfortable. However, with our limited time on Earth, realizing your own mortality too late in life, could mean the difference between following your dreams and staying in bed. Because when we live without considering our deaths, we are not truly thinking about life itself. That discomfort is a small price to pay for waking up one day and realizing that your time is limited, but you came to that truth too late to do anything about it.

Moving into a new home is almost always an exciting experience. You plan out what colors to paint the walls, how you want to decorate and even if you want to plant a garden or not. Most people purchase new homes that meet their needs for that period in their lives or their long term plans. That's why when an Ohio woman purchased a new home she needed it to have enough acreage for her to have room for her horses to play and a pasture for them to graze. She thought she found the perfect place but there was a weird hill in her yard where she wanted to create a pasture for her horses. Upon inspecting the hill she noticed there was a tail light and part of a bumper sticking out so she grabbed a shovel. What transpires next has been captivating the internet for days.The woman uploaded the initial video showing her discovery to social media under the screen name Nemo's Human. People were instantly invested in why a car was buried on the woman's property and why she was digging it up with a shovel without police assistance. Only equipped with her shovel and cat, it took the woman a couple of days to dig out the surface of the vehicle which appears to be covered in bullet holes raising concern among viewers. @radagast09 I found a car buried on my land so there's that #car #weird #fyp ♬ original sound - Nemo's human But the homeowner doesn't seem at all upset about the holes in the vehicle, "there's definitely holes in this car, so maybe they used to shoot at the car. Like maybe they used it for target practice or something, but yeah, I'm definitely finding some holes in it."At this point in the digging process the woman still couldn't identify the make and model of the vehicle which prompted CARFAX to chime in with their best guess. After some back and forth it was determined that the car was a Dodge Caravan, though people were more worried about the bullet holes and what seems to be charred earth around where the woman is digging. It doesn't take a forensic scientist to start to wonder if foul play might have been the reason for the buried car. @radagast09 Update: Still digging. I thought I figured out what kind of car it is, but I did not. #cartok #rugtok #buriedcar ♬ original sound - Nemo's human This isn't the first suspicious item that has been unearthed on TikTok holding the attention of millions and several people harkened back to just a few weeks prior as this new mystery was uncovered."Rug lady 'the rug is in the ground I can’t dig it up myself' Car lady 'I’m going to dig this whole car up by myself'," someone laughs. @radagast09 Apparently some people missed Tom, so he's in this one ? #buriedcar ♬ original sound - Nemo's human Another person compares the two women's completely different attitudes towards their discoveries in their backyards, "rug lady: it's a dead body haunting my house.... car lady: oh it's just an old car nothing suspicious here(ignoring gloves, bullet holes, the fact that it's buried...lol)."Still people were quite worried that the woman was about to dig up more that she is anticipating and try to warn her of just that, saying, "I love the innocence of your theory! But my mind is going in a completely different direction. I feel like it would’ve been easier to haul away. Those are big bullet holes. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are human remains in there. IJS." @radagast09 The car is no longer buried in my back yard but I do kind of wish I never noticed it in the first place #buriedcar #rugtok #cartok ♬ original sound - Nemo's human It seems junior internet sleuths are the only people already jumping to that conclusion since the woman called law enforcement who surmised the same scenario she had–target practice. That is a possibility, especially in a rural area. Either way the police have no intention of coming out to excavate the vehicle from it's resting place in order to investigate. Instead the woman is to give the local police a ring when she gets a vin number, until then it's a woman, her cat and a shovel. After more than a week, heavy machinery rental and keeping social media abuzz, the van is now finally fully unearthed. Much to everyone's relief there was nothing inside that would indicate a crime has occurred outside of the van being full of cinder blocks and the vin nowhere to be found. Turns out the car was essentially covering up a makeshift landfill so the woman's yard is not only filled with pieces from the buried car but trash that the previous owners decided to leave behind. Now that's a buried treasure nobody wants but it sure was a much needed fun distraction.

Having a bad day or even week is inevitable if you're a conscious human on planet earth. Bad days have no age limit or gender. They happen to the best of us even when we're doing our best to keep everything running as smoothly as possible. But the universe isn't set up to allow anyone to have complete control over everything happening in their lives. It will rain on someone's wedding day and Alanis Morissette will sing all about it.You will will spill coffee on your shirt right before an interview or your new puppy's potty accident will collide with your well meaning robot vacuum. There will always be one seemingly small inconvenience that sets off a chain of events solidifying you in the bad day category. But when that happens, how do you turn it around? One woman has found a simple solution to hack the bad day blues and it just may work for you when you're having a glum day as well.Gigi Peache has been open about her struggles with different mental illnesses including severe bouts of depression so the Aussie is no stranger to bad days. After a more recent encounter with sadness, Peache did what she has done for quite a while, but this time she decided to share her secret in hopes to help others. woman looking at the floor Photo by Tiago Bandeira on Unsplash "Do you ever have a bad day? Because I have a lot of bad days and this is one thing I like to do when I'm having a bad day and it's come to my attention that other people don't do it because whenever I say it out loud they're like, 'oh, what?' And I really want to share it with you because I think it'll be beneficial because it's a nice way to put something positive back out into the universe," the woman says before further explaining that it's a way of making the world a better place.Already, whatever Peache is going to say sounds promising since most people do want to make the world a better place, even if it doesn't always feel like it. So if someone is giving you a simple key to make the world better while also pulling yourself out of a sadness slump, people might be inclined to listen. a woman looking out of a window with blinds Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash Peache then shares something so sweet she can't help to be giddy about it, "so what I like to do is, I like to call and leave a compliment. Where do I call? Anywhere I've been! If I've been to a cafe and the girl that served me just...she just did her job, I'm calling, I'm talking to the manager and I'm leaving a compliment. 'Kelly did an amazing job. I'm blown away."Through giggles the woman shares that she doesn't care where she's been that week, if she's having a bad day she will think back to anywhere she's gone and leave a compliment with the manager. She says she even does this if has no idea what the person's name is."It's just a silly little thing and I know and I know some people when they're having a bad day they want to talk to the manager and they want to complain, but no no no no, turn it around. Call and leave a compliment," Peache says before adding. "For all we know, that person was this far away from getting a promotion and now they've got it. For all we know they were this far away from getting fired and now they're not." @gigi.peache How to have a slightly better bad day ??? #kindness #badday #mentalhealth #goodvibes ♬ original sound - Gigi Peache People love the idea, with one person writing, "omg I love this , I try to compliment someone when I'm out shopping etc when I'm down but this is even better."Another person shares, "this is a great idea, I love it! plus, managers DO tend to want to know positive feedback because customers are far more likely to take the effort to leave a complaint rather than a compliment!""I’m going to start doing this! Adding it to my MH [mental health] Toolbox now," someone else says. woman in gray hoodie smiling Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash "LOVE this idea and will definitely be trying it out! So much negativity in this world - positivity is the way to go," one person chimes in."This is the sweetest thing & such a good mood booster," another writes as someone else points out an alternative for those who don't care for phone calls, "also, leaving good Google reviews and putting in the employees name, if you're too anxious to call. That's great as well!"This trick may seem like it's not a big deal or something that isn't going to work, but it's free to try and the worse that happens is you make someone else smile.

Few moments make a woman's face light up than the moment she realizes a dress she's trying on has pockets. It's such a simple thing, but it's like a whole world of possibilities opens up as soon as she slides her hands into those pockets and spins. That's because women's clothes of all kinds so often don't have pockets. Even pants that look like they have pockets don't actually have pockets half the time, or the pocket is so tiny you can't even squeeze a quarter into it. And there's no real reason for this baffling reality for women—but is there an equivalent complaint for men? Men were asked to weigh in on the male equivalent of "Why do women's clothes not come with pockets?" and a surprising number weighed in. Why do men's products have vague, hyper-masculine names?If something is made for men, it can't just be named what it is. It has to be over-the-top manly sounding."Why can’t I get a health/hygiene product that isn’t labeled something like 'grizzly bear fist fight sleep strips for tough men'?""'Dude Wipes' that cost double what a generic wet wipe costs. I don't get how anyone justifies that kind of wasteful spending these days.""Strongman Righteous Fury Personal Cleansing Wipes.""Right?! What focus group decided I wanted to smell like a bear's leather glove? Why is the bear wearing gloves to begin with? Was it going to do crime? I'm really not the criming type.""Women’s products smell like things while men’s products smell like concepts."via GIPHY"You mean you don't want to, 'smell like naval diplomacy'?""Yeah it's annoying. Soap marketed for women usually has what it smells like right on the bottle, while soap for men do not. When the bottle says 'XTREME ARCTIC SPORT' or 'HYDRA ENERGETIC' I have no idea what to expect.""I use Old Spice 'Fiji and palm tree.' No idea what either of those smell like in real life, but at least the words resemble actual smells."Why is men's formal wear oh-so-hot?Not the good kind of hot—the sweating-at-a-wedding kind of hot."Men’s formal wear is really hot. Like if we go to a fancy wedding in the summer, I’m in a suit and tie, my wife is in a tiny dress.""Was in an August wedding, 30+ celsius outside, bride wanted all the groom's party in wool suits. That day was hell.""Yep. Undershirt, then dress shirt, then vest, then suit jacket.""it really sucks at summer funerals. at least at a wedding its not like super rude to take your jacket off and roll your sleeves up.""It's not just formal wear. Men don't have any short clothes that are 'acceptable' as more than casual wear. In offices, women can wear skirts when it's hot out. Men have no equivalent - they just have to sit there sweating with pants on."via GIPHY"Women like it warm but their formal clothes are skimpy.Men like it cool but their formal clothes have many layers.Seems like it should be the other way around. Suit jackets and tuxedos for women, sheer dresses for men."Why such a lack of variety in men's clothing overall?Women seem to have infinite choices when it comes to style, color, etc. Men's fashion is much more limited, both in variety and quantity."The lack of variety for mens clothing in stores. Women's clothing will fill up 90% of the store while men get a tiny closed off section like here ya go guys""In the back of the store, next to the clearance aisle and the bathrooms.""If the shop has multiple floors, it's always the one furthest from the ground floor. Usually the men's section also has to share the floor with the kid's and home decor sections!"via GIPHY"For some reason, I always seem to find the men's section right next to shoes, which is usually 90% women's shoes. And the women's shoe section is still larger than the entire men's clothing section.""Also in gym clothes. I feel like women has a vast variety in all kinds of colors and patterns that look amazing.Men can pick between black, gray, navy blue, and white. And definitely no patterns at all.""Sometimes there is green. Also, there might be both light gray and dark gray."Why do clothing manufacturers assume men grow out as they grow up?People come in all sizes regardless of gender, but since men's clothing styles are more limited, their sizing issues are notable."Stores assuming that if you're over 6 feet tall, you must also be 6 feet wide.""This is the bane of my existence. Especially for work uniforms. If I go medium-sized shirt, it's way too small. If I get a large, then it looks like I'm wearing a parachute.""Men's shirts get wider with each size but not longer.""Similarly, if your shoulders are wider, your gut must be bigger."via GIPHY"And the sleeve length to size ratio is all over the place. Trying shirt on and it's a little snug and the cuffs are in the middle of your forearms. Go up a size and the torso fits but the sleeves dangle at your knees... or they still don't reach your wrists.""Yes. The men’s shirt paradox.-Long enough- Wide enough- Sleeves/cuffs the correct length(Pick any 2, but you never get all 3)."Men added other things as well, such as jewelry options for men being boring, men's dress shoes having zero traction whatsoever (same goes for women's dress shoes, to be fair), men's bathrooms not coming with changing tables, and how annoying non-elongated toilets are. Women have far more things than "clothes without pockets" they could add to a list as well, which just highlights how hilariously absurd some of these gender-based constructs are.

There are some obvious ways to determine if someone is highly intelligent, like when you see them work out a complex trigonometry problem on a blackboard or when they can easily explain the science behind mRNA vaccines or dark matter.But there are also those we meet at social gatherings who immediately make us think they are very smart. Usually, it isn’t because they are making a long-winded speech about the fall of the Roman Empire or explaining quarks. We know they are intelligent because of the way they interact with people and ideas. A Redditor named SomethingAbout2020 asked people on the AskReddit forum to share the “non-obvious signs” that people are intelligent. Many of their responses centered around how highly intelligent people are open-minded, curious and don’t waste their time arguing with others.Brilliant people are confident in what they know, consider other people’s opinions and readily admit when they don’t know the answer.Here are 15 of the best responses to the question: What are the non-obvious signs of a smart person?1. They know what they don't know"They acknowledge areas where they lack knowledge.""'Never pretend to know something when you don't' is something I always teach. It covers lying and ignorance."2. They consider other people's ideas"They’ll listen to the other's facts and points and take them into account when giving an objection.""One of the best developers at my last job and manager of a project I was at is an extremely intelligent person. ... One thing I noticed is how he would take everyone's opinion into account. He would take my opinions into consideration even if I'm not a smarter person or know less about development."3. They make you feel smart"Talking to a dumb person will make you feel smart. Talking to a smart person will make you feel dumb. Talking to a very smart person will make you feel smart."4. They see patterns"Part of the reason smart people throughout history are well-known is because they discovered something new and figured out how to maximize its potential. Darwin was a guy who discovered a bunch of islands with slightly different animals. He then collected and analyzed that data to come up with the theory of evolution, which was largely correct. Einstein’s theory of relativity was based off of his observation that physics acted on everything equally. He figured out that “exceptions” were because of the way high-speed objects interact with the universe’s speed limit (the speed of light). He recognized these exceptions by gathering them and recognizing the pattern between them all, then created his theory of relativity based on that."5. They consider multiple intelligences"They realize not everyone is smart the same way. Your 'stupid hick neighbor' might have dropped out of school in 8th grade, but he can drive your car once and tell you exactly what's wrong, then fix it. That a**hole in school that had no empathy for anyone and showed no emotion made that sci-fi sh*t you thought would never be real. Yeah, she's dingy and her worldview is tiny, but she's the best teacher you've ever met and inspires tons of kids to go on and do great things with themselves. There's no one-size-fits-all answer here, really." People who are super smart are probably familiar with Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The theory suggests that people have more than just one type of just one type of intelligence, like being good at mathematics. Gardener says there are several, including musical, spatial, linguistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and kinesthetic intelligence. This theory opens the door for people to appreciate different forms of intelligence that may not be of the academic variety. 6. They choose their battles"When another person is not able to process something and, therefore, sticks with his opinion, after a few tries, the smart person just gives up. There is no use in trying to make someone understand something while they already have an uneducated opinion."7. They speak to their audience"They know how to explain concepts on just about any level, tailoring that level to their intended audience, and without coming across as condescending in any way.""I heard a saying that went 'you have to be an expert to explain it simply.'"8. They're confident in their intelligence"Not constantly bragging about their intelligence. If they truly are smart, people can figure that out pretty quickly without them doing anything to show it.""You generally only brag about things you're insecure about because you seek validation. If you are very comfortable with your intelligence then you may not care if someone misinterprets you and makes you look dumb or something. You have nothing to prove. That's not just for intelligence but for anything."9. They're funny"I think the smart people are even more funny than stupid people because smart people understand the complexity behind humor and can make their jokes reflect that."Scientific studies show that people who are funny, especially those who have a dark sense of humor, are more intelligent than their not-so-funny peers. Researchers argue that it takes cognitive and emotional ability to make people laugh, and analysis shows that funny people have higher verbal and non-verbal intelligence. 10. They mind their own business"This is a big one. They keep to themselves and deal with their own drama."11. They aren't necessarily great students"Believe it or not 'average' or 'above average' students are often smarter than those with straight A’s on the report cards. They do enough to pass well and get what they want but don’t let the academic system control them. Life isn’t all about booksmarts. This shows they are independent thinkers and don’t get wrapped up in designed systems. Not all, but many. Many kids who are forced to always be exceptional in school can end up the worst off and can develop deeper issues."12. They are good listeners"They actually listen to who they are talking to as opposed to waiting for their turn to talk."13. Curiosity"It really does seem to be one of the single greatest differentiators between average and smart."14. Comfortable in silence"Being comfortable enough to allow a moment of complete silence while you think when the natural instinct of most is to immediately start replying tells me that you are, at the very least, mindful of what you want to say."15. Unattached to their opinions"Most of the smart people I know are not pushy with their opinions; by contrast, most of the opinionated people I know are flaming morons. I don't know if there's a correlation there, but my anecdotal experience has always been that the more eager someone is to state their opinion, the less that opinion is probably worth."This article originally appeared on 8.7.24

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by Rick Findlay, Reclaim The Net: During this election season, the US presidential race not only captured extensive media attention but also significantly impacted the live-streaming world. As the election unfolded on November 5th, hundreds of streamers worldwide provided live updates on state-by-state voting results. This led to a notable increase in viewership for many […]

by Ethan Huff, Natural News: During a recent conversation with CNN‘s Jake Tapper, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) expressed concerns about how Donald Trump might throw her in a government prison camp if he gets reelected. Dingell, 70, worried openly that Trump might end up lumping her in with “Muslims and Arabs” when he decides that the time is […]