The time paradox : the new psychology of time that will change your life

Why time matters -- Time : a retrospective on time perspectives -- The past : how you see yesterday through the lens of today -- The present : an instant for all that is real -- The future: tomorrow through the lens of today -- The transcendental future : new time after death -- Time, your body & your health : more than your biological clock is ticking -- The course of time : life choices and money in balancing the present and the future -- Love and happiness -- Business, politics, and your time -- Resetting your psychological clock : developing your ideal time perspective -- Out of time : making your time matter.;Reveals how your individual time perspective shapes your life and is shaped by the world around you, interacting to create national cultures, economics, and personal destinies. Your every significant choice -- every important decision you make -- is determined by a force operating deep inside your mind: your perspective on time -- your internal, personal time zone. This is the most influential force in your life, yet you are virtually unaware of it. Once you become aware of your personal time zone, you can begin to see and manage your life in exciting new ways. In The Time Paradox, Drs. Zimbardo and Boyd draw on thirty years of pioneering research to reveal, for the first time, how your individual time perspective shapes your life and is shaped by the world around you. Further, they demonstrate that your and every other individual's time zones interact to create national cultures, economics, and personal destinies. You will discover what time zone you live in through Drs. Zimbardo and Boyd's revolutionary tests. Ask yourself: • Does the smell of fresh-baked cookies bring you back to your childhood? • Do you believe that nothing will ever change in your world? • Do you believe that the present encompasses all and the future and past are mere abstractions? • Do you wear a watch, balance your checkbook, and make to-do lists -- every day? • Do you believe that life on earth is merely preparation for life after death? • Do you ruminate over failed relationships? • Are you the life of every party -- always late, always laughing, and always broke? These statements are representative of the seven most common ways people relate to time, each of which, in its extreme, creates benefits and pitfalls. The Time Paradox is a practical plan for optimizing your blend of time perspectives so you get the utmost out of every minute in your personal and professional life as well as a fascinating commentary about the power and paradoxes of time in the modern world. No matter your time perspective, you experience these paradoxes. Only by understanding this new psychological science of time zones will you be able to overcome the mental biases that keep you too attached to the past, too focused on immediate gratification, or unhealthily obsessed with future goals. Time passes no matter what you do -- it's up to you to spend it wisely and enjoy it well. Here's how. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Lucifer Effect comes a breakthrough book that draws on thirty years of pioneering research to reveal, for the first time, how your individual time perspective shapes your life and is shaped by the world around you. This is the first paradox of time: Your attitudes toward time have a profound impact on your life and world, yet you seldom recognize it. Our goal is to help you reclaim yesterday, enjoy today, and master tomorrow with new ways of seeing and working with your past, present, and future. Just as Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences permanently altered our understanding of intelligence and Malcolm Gladwell's Blink gave us an appreciation for the adaptive unconscious, Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd's new book changes the way we think about and experience time. It will give you new insights into how family conflicts can be resolved by ways to enhance your sexuality and sensuality, and mindsets for becoming more successful in business and happier in your life. Based on the latest psychological research, The Time Paradox is both a "big think" guide for living in the twenty-first century and one of those rare self-help books that really does have the power to improve lives. Every significant choice, every important decision we make, is determined by our perception of time. This is the most influential force in our lives, yet we are virtually unaware of it. In this fascinating book, the award-winning past president of the American Psychological Association, Philip Zimbardo, and his co-author, John Boyd, show how: - the way you perceive time is as unique as your fingerprints - these individual time perspectives shape your life, and the world around you - you can change the way you perceive time, so you get the most out of every minute - if you don't, the power of time in the modern world is so immense that it will take its toll on you The Time Paradox is a highly readable, stimulating look at a subject that absorbs us all. Every significant choice, every important decision we make, is determined by our perception of time. This is the most influential force in our lives, yet we are virtually unaware of it. This work shows how you can change the way you perceive time, so you get the most out of every minute.