The Art of Stopping Time Book Summary - The Art of Stopping Time Book explained in key points
Listen to the Intro
00:00

The Art of Stopping Time summary

Pedram Shojai

Practical Mindfulness for Busy People

4.5 (930 ratings)
25 mins

What is The Art of Stopping Time about?

The Art of Stopping Time (2017) answers the questions on many of our minds these days: Where does all our time go? And how can we get it back? Fusing practical time-management principles with the philosophical ideas of mindfulness, author Pedram Shojai shows us how we can make the most of our limited time on Earth.

Table of Contents

    The Art of Stopping Time
    summarized in 9 key ideas

    Audio & text in the Blinkist app
    Key idea 1 of 9

    What you get out of your time depends on how you spend it, how much energy you have, and how mindful you are.

    Imagine you could stop time – not just figuratively, but literally. Snap your fingers, and poof – the clock stops ticking. Congratulations. You now have unlimited time to finish that work project, write that memoir, or do anything else you want.

    But what if you ended up just messing around with your phone instead? And what if you were too tired or scatterbrained to focus on anything more worthwhile? Well, in that case, you might as well take all of that newly created time and flush it down the toilet.

    The key message here is: What you get out of your time depends on how you spend it, how much energy you have, and how mindful you are.

    On one level, time is something very fixed and finite. There are only so many hours in a day, a week, and a lifetime. Meanwhile, an hour is an hour, no matter how you slice it: 60 minutes, 3,600 seconds – it’s always the same. And there’s only so much you can do with an hour. A good workout? Sure. A vacation? Obviously not.

    But on another level, time is a much more fluid phenomenon. What you get out of it depends on three factors.

    First, how are you spending it? Are you doing something interesting, useful, meaningful, or pleasurable with your time? If the answer is yes, you’ll end up getting much more out of an hour than if the answer is no. Going for a run? More endurance. Working on a side hustle? More money. Reading a book? More knowledge. But just sitting around, looking at photos of other people’s lives on social media? You won’t have much to show for that.

    Alright, now the second factor: How much energy do you have? If you’re feeling revved up and ready to go, you can spend that hour pleasurably and productively. But if you’re exhausted, you’ll barely be able to do anything, let alone enjoy it. Maybe you’ll end up flopped on the sofa, zoning out in front of the television.

    Finally, the third factor: How mindful are you being? Are you paying attention to what you’re experiencing? If the answer is no, you’re essentially losing that hour. Even if you’re doing something amazing, like hiking through a beautiful forest, the time will slip by as if you barely experienced it.

    So no, we can’t actually stop time. And we can’t change the fact that our time is limited. But we can get more out of it. And we can stop losing so much of it.

    Want to see all full key ideas from The Art of Stopping Time?

    Key ideas in The Art of Stopping Time

    More knowledge in less time
    Read or listen
    Read or listen
    Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
    Find your next read
    Find your next read
    Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
    Shortcasts
    Shortcasts New
    We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

    About the Author

    Pedram Shojai is an ordained priest of the Yellow Dragon Monastery in China, a Qigong master, and a Doctor of Oriental Medicine. His previous books include The Urban Monk, a New York Times best seller. He also hosts a podcast by the same name.

    Who should read The Art of Stopping Time?

    • Busy people wishing they had more time
    • Meditation fans looking for more practical applications of mindfulness
    • Anyone who wants to make the most of their time

    Categories with The Art of Stopping Time

    Books like The Art of Stopping Time

    People ❤️ Blinkist
    Sven O.

    It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

    Thi Viet Quynh N.

    Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

    Jonathan A.

    Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

    Renee D.

    Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.

    People also liked

    Start growing with Blinkist now
    26 Million
    Downloads on all platforms
    4.7 Stars
    Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
    91%
    Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
    *Based on survey data from Blinkist customers
    Powerful ideas from top nonfiction

    Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.

    Start your free trial