Time and How to Spend It with James Wallman
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Time is the most precious commodity we have, yet despite all the advances in technology, most of us are more time poor than ever before. Cultural commentator and best-selling author, James Wallman, believes that few of us really understand which experiences bring us joy and success, and which don’t.
In fact, for many of us, free time can be harder to enjoy than time at work. James argues that just as we have learned to spot the differences between junk foods and superfoods, we need to learn the equivalent rules for time.
He has drawn on research from psychology, economics, and culture to create a seven-point checklist that he believes will help you avoid empty experiences and fill your free hours with exciting and enriching ones instead.
We discuss the importance of putting ourselves in challenging or unusual situations, having fulfilling relationships, achieving a state of flow, and being in nature.
James also talks about the importance of having status and significance for happiness and explains how we can all attain this in our lives.
Finally, James gives his top tips for leading a happy and fulfilling life. This is a really lively conversation and James is bursting with anecdotes – I hope you enjoy it!
Further learning:
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book – Flow: The Psychology of Happiness: The Classic Work on How to Achieve Happiness
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Challenge and Skill graph from Flow
- Will Storr’s book – The Science of Storytelling
- Scott Carney’s book – What Doesn’t Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude, and Environmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strength
- Inc.com – This 75-Year Harvard Study Found the 1 Secret to Leading a Fulfilling Life
- Cassie Mogilner Holmes, UCLA – Science Says the Gift You Should Give is…
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Dr Rangan Chatterjee
MbChB, BSc (Hons), MRCP, MRCGP
