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.