Reviews
In this book, Zimbardo and Boyd expose a model for describing our relation to time and how that affects the decisions we make and what we value in our lives. The model doesn't try to be The One Truth, it is just a way to look at things and explain behaviors. It shows: * How being obsessed with the Past blinds you to the Future consequences of your actions, or rather, prevents you wholly from even thinking they're worth considering. * How it's impossible to change behaviors of Present-focused people (the poor, addicts, children) with Future-oriented motivations, without first making them aware that there is a Future to be considered. * How being too focused on the Future prevents you from enjoying the Present. Our attitudes towards Time are generally not chosen and we're mostly unaware of them. Because it is always passing, invisible, abundant (for most of our lives), we tragically ignore it until too much of it has gone by, or our "reserve" is for some reason severely cut short. It's at this moment that we think back on how we've used our Time and the conclusions can be tragic. I'll avoid writing a CliffsNotes of the book: the authors will propose a healthy approach to the Past, Present and Future that aims to maximize our satisfaction with life and what we achieve with our given Time. But most importantly, for me at least, the authors aim to spur you into deliberate action, out of the auto-pilot we're in most of our lives, into reflection of what our purpose is and whether we're spending our time according to our values and in ways that we'll look back to with pride. It's a literary memento mori that will have you reviewing your decisions throughout. Zimbardo and Boyd have found purpose in helping us use our time in better ways, not by telling us how, but by making us aware of it. And awareness is, as always, half of the solution.
