About Tim Urban
Tim Urban is an American writer and illustrator, best known as the author of Wait But Why, a long-form blog that explains big subjects such as artificial intelligence, space, procrastination and human behavior through conversational prose and simple drawings. His 2016 TED talk on procrastination is one of the most watched TED talks ever, and in 2023 he published the book What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies.
Urban grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University in 2004. With his childhood friend Andrew Finn he co-founded education businesses, including ArborBridge, an education technology company for international students planning to attend college in the United States. Before Wait But Why he had written an earlier blog in 2005.
Urban and Finn launched Wait But Why in 2013, with Urban writing and illustrating the posts and Finn running the business side. Posts are often very long and mix humor, research and rough drawings. "The Fermi Paradox" (2014) became one of the site's first widely shared pieces, and his two-part series on artificial intelligence (2015) introduced many readers to arguments about superintelligence. In 2015 he wrote a series on Elon Musk's companies Tesla and SpaceX with Musk's cooperation, and he later explained the ideas behind Neuralink.
His TED talk, "Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator," builds on a 2013 post and introduces characters such as the Instant Gratification Monkey and the Panic Monster; by March 2025 it had more than 74 million views, making it the second most viewed TED talk in history. What's Our Problem?, which can also be read in full on the site, offers a framework for understanding political environments, group dynamics and our own minds, illustrated with hundreds of drawings. Wait But Why is supported partly by readers through Patreon.
What Tim Urban is known for
- Wait But Why
- The TED talk "Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator"
- The Instant Gratification Monkey and the Panic Monster
- The AI Revolution series on superintelligence
- The book What's Our Problem?
Works by Tim Urban
1 essay to practice
More notable works
The Fermi Paradox (opens in a new tab)
Essay · 2014
An explanation of why we have not found alien life, and one of the site's first breakout posts.
The first half of his widely read series on the road to superintelligence.
The final part of his four-part Elon Musk series, contrasting reasoning from first principles with reasoning by analogy.
The Tail End (opens in a new tab)
Essay · 2015
A post on how limited our remaining time with the people we love really is.
A framework for understanding political environments, group dynamics and our own minds, with 303 drawings.
His TED talk on procrastination, one of the most viewed in TED's history.
Tim Urban’s writing style
Urban breaks down complex topics through clear writing, custom illustrations, and humor. He excels at making difficult concepts accessible through analogies and visual explanations. His style is conversational but thorough.
- Characters for abstract forces
- He turns mental processes into cartoon characters, such as the Rational Decision-Maker, the Instant Gratification Monkey and the Panic Monster, so readers can picture what is happening in their own heads.
- Self-deprecating humor
- He mocks his own habits and writes openly about his own psychological shortcomings, which makes long explanations feel personal and approachable.
- Short lines between long riffs
- Brief sentences like "It's a mess." punctuate longer, winding passages full of asides.
- Talking straight to the reader
- He addresses "you" constantly and asks rhetorical questions, like a friend explaining something over dinner.
- Drawings as part of the argument
- Simple illustrations and diagrams carry real explanatory weight rather than decorating the text.
- Huge topics, built from the ground up
- Posts on AI, space or politics start from basic concepts and build step by step, often across multiple parts.
How to write like Tim Urban
Pick a big, intimidating subject you are genuinely curious about, then research it until you could explain it to a smart friend who knows nothing about it. Urban's posts work because he starts from first principles, admits what confused him, and builds the explanation one step at a time. Do not be afraid of length if the reader is always learning something new.
Invent characters and pictures for abstract ideas. If you are describing a mental struggle, give each side a name and a personality. Sketch simple diagrams, even crude ones, to show scale or structure. Keep your voice casual and honest: talk to the reader as "you," make fun of yourself, use short lines for comic timing, and let the jokes serve the explanation rather than replace it.
The quickest way to absorb these habits is to retype one of Tim Urban’s essays above, word for word, then write a paragraph of your own in the same voice. New to this? Read what copywork is and how to do it.
Frequently asked questions about Tim Urban
- Who is Tim Urban?
- Tim Urban is an American writer and illustrator who co-founded Wait But Why with Andrew Finn in 2013 and writes and draws its posts. A Harvard graduate, he previously co-founded education businesses with Finn. He is known for long, funny explainers on topics like AI and the Fermi paradox, for one of the most viewed TED talks ever, on procrastination, and for the 2023 book What's Our Problem?
- What is Wait But Why?
- Wait But Why is a long-form blog founded in 2013 by Tim Urban and Andrew Finn. Urban writes and illustrates the posts, which explain subjects such as artificial intelligence, outer space, procrastination and politics through conversational writing and rough drawings. Breakout posts include "The Fermi Paradox" and a two-part series on AI, and the site is funded partly by readers through Patreon.
- What is Tim Urban's TED talk about procrastination?
- In "Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator" (2016), Urban describes a procrastinator's brain as a Rational Decision-Maker repeatedly overruled by an Instant Gratification Monkey, until a Panic Monster appears near a deadline. The talk, based on his Wait But Why posts, is one of the most viewed in TED's history.
- Has Tim Urban written a book?
- Yes. What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies was published in 2023. It offers a framework for understanding political environments, group dynamics and our own minds, with 303 drawings, and can be read in full on Wait But Why as well as in print, ebook and audio.
- What is Tim Urban's writing style?
- Urban writes long, funny, conversational explainers illustrated with simple drawings. He turns abstract ideas into characters, such as the Instant Gratification Monkey, speaks directly to the reader, makes fun of himself, and builds big topics from first principles. Short, punchy lines break up longer riffs, and the humor always serves the explanation.