The Art of Stopping Time

Practical Mindfulness for Busy People

By: Pedram Shojai OMD

Narrated by: Pedram Shojai OMD

Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

We're all struggling to find time in our lives, but somehow there's never enough to go around. We're too tired to think, too wired to focus, less efficient than we want to be, and guilty about not getting enough time with our loved ones.

We all know that we feel starved for time, but what are we actually doing about it? Precious little. In The Art of Stopping Time, New York Times best-selling author Pedram Shojai guides us toward success with what he calls time prosperity - having the time to accomplish what you want in life without feeling compressed, stressed, overburdened, or hurried.

So how do we achieve this time prosperity? We learn to stop time. To do that, Shojai walks us though a 100-day gong, which is based on the Chinese practice of designating an amount of time each day to perform a specific task. The ritual helps you become mindful, train your mind, instill new habits, and fundamentally transform your relationship with time. We can find moments of mental awareness while in the shower, eating a snack, listening to podcasts, and even binge-watching our favorite TV shows.

He shares how to use gongs to reprogram your habits, reduce stress, increase energy, exercise the ancient practice of mindfulness, and become a master of your time. Whether you do one per day, a bunch at a time, or listen to the whole book in one sitting, practicing the gongs is a dedicated act of self-love that snaps us out of our daily trance and brings the light of awareness to our consciousness. The more we practice, the more we wake up, and the better off we are.

©2017 Pedram Shojai (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

some useful concepts

As a whole this book offers a unique perspective on how to own your time and take a deep look at your past achievements/mistakes and future/eventual mortality. some of the tips didn't apply or resonate, but some of them did. I didn't do the 100 day gong, but I have applied the tips that fit me and it has made a difference in my life. Also, if you like meditating he offers a bunch of cool practices

Don’t purchase

The sample is the best part of the book. It is a daily 100 day short “prescription” and rant about everything to do to make your life better-not that if you did the things your life wouldn’t be much more enjoyable, just that the way it is written and narrated, it seems superficial and inauthentic and chintzy. I wish I could return it, but I kept listening to chapter 10 hoping that it would get better. It doesn’t.

I wish that I had never purchased this book

Do yourself a favor and listen to the audio sample for this book. Consider that you have then listened to the best and most engaging part of the book, and then decide whether to purchase it. It absolutely does not get any better then what is contained in the sample that and in my view it actually gets much worse. Hours and hours of content with little depth, substance or interest.

I see that others enjoyed this book assuming that the reviews were not written by people who know that author. I find that surprising, but I suspect if the audio sample is of interest to you then likely it will be a similar case the entire book For me, I wish I had not wasted my time to listen to it or even that I had been sensible enough to just stop listening after the first 10 minutes.

That said, if anyone follows the recommendations in this book it will surely change their life for the better. That is similar to one reading a book about exercise of diet, or even a book that simply tells one to smile more each day and to be kind to others. Still, this fact did nothing to make the book any more enjoyable for me.

Don’t waste your time

This is a daily practice broken up in 60 days. Not what I was looking for.