Tim Urban

Extracted Attributes

• Blog

  Wait But Why

• Full Name

  Timothy Joseph Urban

• Blog Reach

  600,000+ subscribers and 10,000,000 peak monthly visitors

• Occupations

  Singer, Writer, Illustrator, Blogger, Speaker

• Date of Birth

  1989-05-01

• Place of Birth

  Tacoma, Washington, United States

• TED Talk Views

  74,000,000+ (as of March 2025)

• Conceptual Framework

  The Thinking Ladder (Scientist, Sports Fan, Attorney, Zealot)

• American Idol Achievement

  7th Place Finalist (Season 9)

Timeline

• Born in Tacoma, Washington. (Source: Wikidata)

  1989-05-01

• Finished in seventh place on the ninth season of American Idol. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2010-05-01

• Released his debut EP titled "Heart of Me." (Source: Wikipedia)

  2010-11-01

• Co-founded the long-form, illustrated blog Wait But Why with Andrew Finn. (Source: Web Search)

  2013-01-01

• Published the highly popular blog post "The Fermi Paradox." (Source: Web Search)

  2014-05-21

• Released his second EP titled "New York Sessions." (Source: Wikipedia)

  2014-11-01

• Delivered the TED Talk "Inside the mind of a master procrastinator" at TED2016. (Source: Web Search)

  2016-02-01

• Highlighted by the All-In Podcast for his role in exposing TED's suppression of a talk by Coleman Hughes. (Source: Document 2cf5ab1f-dc45-42bf-972a-e8b91910262b)

  2023-09-29

Tim Urban

Timothy Joseph Urban (born May 1, 1989) is an American singer who was the seventh place finalist on the ninth season of American Idol. Following his participation in the series, he released two EPs: Heart of Me in 2010 and New York Sessions in 2014.

Web Search Results

• Tim Urban TED Speaker & Speaking Fees

  ## Tim Urban biography Speaker Tim Urban is a renowned writer, illustrator, and co-founder of Wait But Why, a popular long-form, stick-figure-illustrated blog that boasts over 600,000 subscribers and attracts around half a million visitors each month. Tim has gained widespread recognition for his engaging and insightful articles, which have gone viral on numerous occasions. His work covers an impressive array of topics, including artificial intelligence, social anxiety, and humanity’s potential to become a multi-planetary species. Notably, Tim’s 2016 TED Talk on procrastination quickly became a sensation, earning the distinction of being the first TED video to surpass 10 million views within its first year and now ranks among the top five most-watched TED Talks of all time. [...] In this transformative talk, Tim Urban explores the dynamics of individual and group thinking and how these processes are interconnected. Through his signature illustrations, Tim breaks down the Thinking Ladder into four types of thinking: “The Scientist” and “The Sports Fan,” who operate on the high rungs, maintaining open and flexible thinking; and “The Attorney” and “The Zealot,” who occupy the lower rungs, where dogmatic and outdated ideas persist. Tim explains why “high-rung thinking” is more conducive to innovation and effective teamwork. [...] Through his unique ability to simplify complex subjects, speaker Tim Urban has helped countless individuals think more critically and understand intricate concepts more clearly. His writing delves into leadership, technology, AI, creativity, innovation, and the human experience, making him a sought-after speaker on stages worldwide. Tim has captivated audiences at prestigious organizations like Adobe, Goldman Sachs, Indeed, HubSpot, Johnson & Johnson, Target, Uber, and Wells Fargo, among many others.

• Tim Urban

  Since he started writing the long-form, stick-figure-illustrated blog Wait But Why in 2013, Tim Urban has become one of the internet’s most popular writers. Urban, according to Fast Company,has “captured a level of reader engagement that even the new-media giants would be envious of.” Vox describes Urban’s articles as “a feast. At the end, you feel sated, like you just learned the shit out of something, like you get something in a way you didn't before … you will understand the world better for reading them.” A world tired of a flood of short, shallow listicles quickly noticed—two months after Wait But Why was born, Urban’s article Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappyswept the internet, becoming both the most shared and most commented-on article of the month on all of Facebook. Urban has [...] Since he started writing the long-form, stick-figure-illustrated blog Wait But Why in 2013, Tim Urban has become one of the internet’s most popular writers. Urban, according to Fast Company,has “captured a level of reader engagement that even the new-media giants would be envious of.” Vox describes Urban’s articles as “a feast. At the end, you feel sated, like you just learned the shit out of something, like you get something in a way you didn't before … you will understand the world better for reading them.” A world tired of a flood of short, shallow listicles quickly noticed—two months after Wait But Why was born, Urban’s article Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappyswept the internet, becoming both the most shared and most commented-on article of the month on all of Facebook. Urban has [...] Topics: Career, Habits & Productivity, Technology, Happiness, Design, Creativity

• Wait But Why

  Wait But Why (WBW) is a website founded by Tim Urban "Tim Urban (author)") and Andrew Finn and written and illustrated by Urban. The site covers a range of subjects as a long-form blog. Typical posts involve long-form discussions of various topics, including artificial intelligence, outer space, and procrastination, using a combination of prose and rough illustrations. On May 21, 2014, Urban posted "The Fermi Paradox", a post that became extremely popular. A 2016 Ted Talk by Urban on procrastination, based on concepts from the blog, had garnered over 74 million views by March 2025, making it the second most viewed TED Talk in history. A post on the blog about Elon Musk and Neuralink was produced with involvement from Musk himself.

• Tim Urban: How He Turned His Blog Into A Global Movement

  Tim Urban: Andrew and I started Wait But Why in 2013, at the time knowing almost nothing about growing a blogging community. Some things I've learned since then: • Social media, for all its faults, is a beautiful engine for blog growth - not as much in your own ability to self-promote as in the ability for something you do to go viral if it's really good. I think more than any time in the past, in today's world, if you do something really consistently good, it's fairly likely to end up being noticed by a bunch of people. [...] Urban has become one of the Internet’s most popular writers. With wry stick-figure illustrations and occasionally epic prose on everything from procrastination to artificial intelligence, Urban's blog, Wait But Why, has garnered millions of unique page views, thousands of patrons and famous fans like Elon Musk and Evan Williams. He has authored dozens of viral articles on subjects ranging from why we procrastinate to why we haven’t yet encountered alien life forms. Wait But Why has topped 10 million unique visitors during peak months. Watch on Forbes: 4 Essential Tips To Becoming A Better Leader WATCH 0:51 PROMOTED Dan Schawbel: How did you originally start your blog and what lessons did you learn about growing a blogging community? [...] This article is more than 9 years old. Credit:Tim Urban I spoke to Tim Urban, one of the most popular bloggers and a TED Annual Conference speaker, about how he started his blog, what he's learned about growing a community, why he incorporates drawing as part of his posts, where he gets his creativity from and his best advice to you.

• Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | TED Talk

  TED is supported by ads and partners 提姆．厄本知道拖拖拉拉不合理，但他一直沒有辦法甩掉這個一定要拖到最後一刻才開始趕工的習慣。在這個富有洞察力的爆笑演講裡，厄本帶我們走上一段 YouTube 癮、維基百科兔子洞，或是猛盯著窗外發呆的旅程──並鼓勵我們在時間不夠之前，更加認真思考真的在拖延的事情是什麼。 entertainment time work brain comedy visualizations decision-making humor writing productivity Internet goals This talk was presented at an official TED conference. Read our curation guidelines. If you liked this talk, try the Wait But Why email list. Tim describes it as follows: "It's very un-annoying — I just email you each new post I write, but I only write 1-3 posts a month, so I won't be up in your grill, I promise." join ## About the speaker Tim Urban Writer, illustrator See speaker profile [...] Tim Urban Writer, illustrator See speaker profile With Wait But Why, Tim Urban demonstrates that complex and long-form writing can stand out in an online wilderness choked with listicles and clickbait. This talk was presented at an official TED conference. Read our curation guidelines. If you liked this talk, try the Wait But Why email list. Tim describes it as follows: "It's very un-annoying — I just email you each new post I write, but I only write 1-3 posts a month, so I won't be up in your grill, I promise." join [...] Ideas change everything SIGN IN MEMBERSHIP TED is supported by ads and partners # Inside the mind of a master procrastinator 77,694,154 plays| 提姆．厄本 | TED2016 • February 2016 Tim Urban knows that procrastination doesn't make sense, but he's never been able to shake his habit of waiting until the last minute to get things done. In this hilarious and insightful talk, Urban takes us on a journey through YouTube binges, Wikipedia rabbit holes and bouts of staring out the window -- and encourages us to think harder about what we're really procrastinating on, before we run out of time. entertainment time work brain comedy visualizations decision-making humor writing productivity Internet goals TED is supported by ads and partners

• Image

  

• Gender

  male

• Instance Of

  Q5

• Occupation

  singer

• Citizenship

  United States

• Date Of Birth

  5/1/1989

• Place Of Birth

  Tacoma