full transcript

From the Ted Talk by TED-Ed: Why you procrastinate even when it feels bad

Unscramble the Blue Letters


It’s 5 p.m. and you’ve just realized that report you’ve been putting off is due tomorrow. It’s time to buckle down, open your computer... and check your phone. Maybe catch up on your frvotiae YouTube channel? Actually, you should probably make dinner first. You usually like cooking, though it’s hard to ejnoy with this work hanging over your head, and oh— it’s actually pretty late! Maybe you should just try again in the morning? This is the clcye of ptaioiartcrosnn, and I promise you, we have all been there. But why do we keep procrastinating even when we know it’s bad for us?

To be clear, putting something off isn’t always procrastinating. Responsible time management requires ddeniicg which takss are important and which ones can wait. Procrastination is when we avoid a task we said we would do, for no good rsaoen, despite etnxpceig our behavior to bring negative consequences. Obviously, it’s irrational to do something you expect to harm you. But ironically, procrastination is the result of our bidoes trying to protect us, specifically by avoiding a task we see as threatening.

Open Cloze


It’s 5 p.m. and you’ve just realized that report you’ve been putting off is due tomorrow. It’s time to buckle down, open your computer... and check your phone. Maybe catch up on your ________ YouTube channel? Actually, you should probably make dinner first. You usually like cooking, though it’s hard to _____ with this work hanging over your head, and oh— it’s actually pretty late! Maybe you should just try again in the morning? This is the _____ of _______________, and I promise you, we have all been there. But why do we keep procrastinating even when we know it’s bad for us?

To be clear, putting something off isn’t always procrastinating. Responsible time management requires ________ which _____ are important and which ones can wait. Procrastination is when we avoid a task we said we would do, for no good ______, despite _________ our behavior to bring negative consequences. Obviously, it’s irrational to do something you expect to harm you. But ironically, procrastination is the result of our ______ trying to protect us, specifically by avoiding a task we see as threatening.

Solution


  1. tasks
  2. enjoy
  3. deciding
  4. reason
  5. procrastination
  6. expecting
  7. favorite
  8. cycle
  9. bodies

Original Text


It’s 5 p.m. and you’ve just realized that report you’ve been putting off is due tomorrow. It’s time to buckle down, open your computer... and check your phone. Maybe catch up on your favorite YouTube channel? Actually, you should probably make dinner first. You usually like cooking, though it’s hard to enjoy with this work hanging over your head, and oh— it’s actually pretty late! Maybe you should just try again in the morning? This is the cycle of procrastination, and I promise you, we have all been there. But why do we keep procrastinating even when we know it’s bad for us?

To be clear, putting something off isn’t always procrastinating. Responsible time management requires deciding which tasks are important and which ones can wait. Procrastination is when we avoid a task we said we would do, for no good reason, despite expecting our behavior to bring negative consequences. Obviously, it’s irrational to do something you expect to harm you. But ironically, procrastination is the result of our bodies trying to protect us, specifically by avoiding a task we see as threatening.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
time management 3
long term 2
procrastination hurts 2


Important Words


  1. avoid
  2. avoiding
  3. bad
  4. behavior
  5. bodies
  6. bring
  7. buckle
  8. catch
  9. channel
  10. check
  11. clear
  12. computer
  13. consequences
  14. cooking
  15. cycle
  16. deciding
  17. dinner
  18. due
  19. enjoy
  20. expect
  21. expecting
  22. favorite
  23. good
  24. hanging
  25. hard
  26. harm
  27. head
  28. important
  29. ironically
  30. irrational
  31. management
  32. morning
  33. negative
  34. open
  35. phone
  36. pretty
  37. procrastinating
  38. procrastination
  39. promise
  40. protect
  41. putting
  42. realized
  43. reason
  44. report
  45. requires
  46. responsible
  47. result
  48. specifically
  49. task
  50. tasks
  51. threatening
  52. time
  53. tomorrow
  54. wait
  55. work
  56. youtube