wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Time to Change Your Life

Monday, September 15, 2008

Most people spend their time less wisely than their money. Find out how a better understanding of the psychology of time can lead to a healthier, happier, and more successful life. Philip Zimbardo’s most recent book is The Time Paradox.

Weigh in: Tell us about time management techniques that have improved your life.

Event:
Philip Zimbardo will be giving a talk:
"Learn How to Rethink Your Timetable"
at the New York Academy of Sciences
Tues. Sept. 16 from 6:30-8:00 PM
Reception and book signing to follow
Tickets and more info here


Comments

  • [1] Valkiria from New Jersey September 15, 2008 - 12:13PM

    Question: Have you thought about time management and long-term goals in countries where there are no seasons? This is the case of many underdeveloped countries. Is there a correlation between climate and success?


  • [2] Sarah from Brooklyn, NY September 15, 2008 - 12:13PM

    I just wanted to comment on the statement that all clinical depression is a preoccupation with a negative past.

    This is overwhelmingly over-simplistic and fundamentally false.

    I am not yet a PhD, but on my way - I spend MY time studying clinical depression in children.


  • [3] Graham from Paris September 15, 2008 - 12:15PM

    Thank you for this topic and, especially, this guest. As for me, you've _never_ done better.

    Brilliant!!!!

    A fascinating scientist doing vitally important work with which the public needs so badly to be better acquainted.


  • [4] anonyme from NY NY September 15, 2008 - 12:17PM

    Time management! Hah! I start flogging myself to get it done - it splits my brain - I do much better when I just get to whatever it is I need to do.

    I can only tolerate so much scheduling. Prioritizing, I buy.


  • [5] anonyme from NY NY September 15, 2008 - 12:18PM

    what does the SAT score have to do with anything! This is really not a helpful segment


  • [6] Jeffrey Slott from East Elmhurst September 15, 2008 - 12:18PM

    Being a diabetic insures that I keep a definite schedule. I wake up everyday at 5:30 (even on weekends) to give myself an injection and then eat breakfast. I eat my meals, more or less, at the same time. Everything else follows from these things that I have to do in keeping myself alive.


  • [7] anonyme from NY NY September 15, 2008 - 12:21PM

    This is so bogus - the scale - it depends WHEN you look at the past and think of - sometimes good, sometimes bad sometimes indifferent as all occurred in everyone's past. This is lame.


  • [8] Anne from Manhattan September 15, 2008 - 12:22PM

    In reference to the "Marshmallow Test": Can you teach an in-the-moment kid to wait and switch them to the other kind? Would that same kid then make higher scores on standardized tests and be less a trouble-maker?

    Or is the marshmallow instinct impossible to overcome?


  • [9] Mike in Manhattan from Inwood, NYC September 15, 2008 - 12:22PM

    This research validates Weber's analysis in "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

    Did anyone involved notice?


  • [10] Graham from Paris September 15, 2008 - 12:26PM

    [9] Mike,

    Yep. No doubt. Weber's "Protestant Ethic" came immediately to mind. Surely Zimbardo is aware of that, too.


  • [11] maggie from morristown nj September 15, 2008 - 12:29PM

    Sorry to sound naive, but

    Isn't time the same thing as life?

    You're born with a certain expected amount of time ahead of you (lifetime). You have this moment right now that you are alive in. You can hope that you will make it to a future time (live longer)and plan for that, but you do not know that.

    When you die, well, you're out of time.


  • [12] Siouxie from Brooklyn, NY September 15, 2008 - 12:36PM

    I spend my time, reading, researching, painting, writing in a journal. I am an introspective person, and have a very strong memory.

    I am middle aged and recently found my grammar school 8th graduation picture. Remember every first and last name, except for one pupil, of a class of 40.

    That's unusual, isn't it?


  • [13] mike from office September 15, 2008 - 12:37PM

    so it sounds like the marshmallow futurists and the mashmallow hedonists are hardwired (unless Dr Zimbardo's 4 year olds are socialized in one direction or the other) .. How then do climate, geography, religion truly influence "time consciousness"? got to say this becomes terribly reminiscent of 19th century paradigms that Northtern peoples are the chosen carriers of civilization (super ego rules)


  • [14] Thomas from Yonkers September 15, 2008 - 12:39PM

    My folks and relatives, who come from Italian parents in the Bronx, inevitably, on holidays or family get-together's, end up talking selfishly, about "the old days."

    At such occasions, we their children, attempt to bring conversation to the present, but they seem to prefer smothering themselves in memories, giving less attention to present and future issues at hand.

    It's a problem. What gives?


  • [15] Joe September 16, 2008 - 01:33PM

    Here's my education / time and life management question:

    My teenage kids seem pretty future oriented. They work very hard in school, and try to cram alot of activities such as sports, clubs and homework into their day. They are not all "brilliant" but are pretty grade oriented. My concern is that I don't think they get enough sleep and don't have enough opportunities for self directed activities.

    Considering that contemporary American adolescence seems to extend well into one's twenties, why not keep or increase educational rigor but lighten the load and give kids 14 years to finish secondary school instead of 12? Subject periods could be longer and time off for commmunity service could be a requirement. The educational model could be broadened. Any thoughts? Of course, it would cost more, and most people don't want to be in HS when they're 20.


  • [16] Nancy Baker from Denton, TX September 19, 2009 - 09:10PM

    Loved the "Late bloomers" story. Makes me angry, in a way, to think that some teachers have such power to make a positive difference and maybe they are mis using (or under using) it. Let's treat all children like they are all late bloomers (and . . . all loved).


Leave a Comment

Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. WNYC reserves the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the WNYC.org Comment Guidelines before posting.

Your comment


* required
The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party.
 
Back to Episode