The secret power of time - amazing video

I came upon this video a little while ago and saw it again recently on the Creative Something blog. The original link is here and the site contains other interesting lecture topics (such as work motivation and empathetic societies) which are also illustrated in this graphic note-taking flow-chart style.

There are a couple reasons I decided to include this video here. One is that the sketches remind me of doodles, especially doodles one would take during a lecture in a class. Referring back to my blog post on doodling and concentration, the video not only shows the complete illustrations but moves through the process of illustrating while the ideas are being narrated. The process allows the viewer to experience the information visually at the same time one takes it in orally (as if you yourself were the one doodling). The technique of combining the various forms of input, visual cues, keyword note-taking, and audible information, allows for a powerful grasp of an otherwise complex subject.

Another reason I included it was the subject matter. Time is a theme which often keep coming back to. The theme of Time, as far as looking into the past, present, or future, shows itself in many of my doodles and funny enough one of my favorite places to unconsciously start doodling is in the margins of a daily planner or calender. It is as if the concept of time feels so abstract that a visual access seems to be the most accessible way of neatly dealing with it in the mind.

Relating to the video, I find myself often struggling between all perspectives of Time mentioned (Hedonistic present vs. Unplanned present and Past oriented vs. Future oriented). This could be linked, according to the video, to the fact that I have lived in many varying geographical, time-durational environments. Sometimes I find myself jumping between my hedonistic impulses and future oriented ambitions from one minute to the next (and I am pretty sure I'm not alone in this). I have often considered the issue of modern life re-wiring my sense of time and wondered whether my attention span is ever decreasing as a result of it.

As the video's narrator, Professor Philip Zimbardo, explains in this clip "Many of lives puzzles can be solved by simply understanding our own TIME PERSPECTIVE and that of others."

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