Wednesday Wonders: Time Matters

Who doesn't think about time?

About how to count it? About not having enough of it? About wishing there were more? About what happened that day 20 years ago? About what could happen 20 years from tomorrow? About needing to be here and now? About being late? About being early? About being on time? About losing time? About gaining time? 

Who doesn't wonder where time goes? Or ask how much time there is, or how much is left? 

Who doesn't know someone who can't manage his time? Who wastes time? Who uses up our time?

Who hasn't been asked, "Just what did you do with all that time?" 

Time matters, we learn early on. But what matters even more than all the seconds minutes hours days months and years that make up the time we have is how we conceive of and think about time.

In this wonderful whiteboard video, "The Secret Powers of Time", psychologist Philip Zimbardo, professor emeritus at Stanford University and the author of The Time Paradox (Free Press, 2008), illustrates how our perspectives on time influence us profoundly — as individuals, cultures, societies, and nations — and in ways that have serious implications for our health, our socialization skills, and our ability to learn, plan, and take action.

Resources

"Philip Zimbardo The Secret Powers of Time" (Complete Presentation at RSA Animate)

"Philip Zimbardo Prescibes a Healthy Take on Time" (Abbreviated Presentation)

Philip Zimbardo's Website

RSA Animate 

"Talking About Time", a poem I wrote in 2009