Book SummarySlipstream Time Hacking, by Benjamin Hardy

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Slipstream Time Hacking

There’s never enough time. Most of us spend our entire lives chasing deadlines and pursuing goals. We devote most of our waking hours to work, and it sometimes feels like we have little to show for it. Even worse, the best parts of life—like weekends with family and evenings with friends—never last long enough. But what if you could not only change how you spend your time but also alter how you experience the passage of time from day to day and year to year?

In Slipstream Time Hacking, Benjamin Hardy argues that fundamentally changing your experience of time is possible. He says that the key is to look at time as if it were distance. By focusing on how much ground you can cover and making your choices accordingly, you can practice a technique he calls “slipstream time hacking.” This method helps you make the most meaningful use of each moment: Hardy contends that if you...

Slipstream Time Hacking Summary What Is Slipstream Time Hacking?

Hardy argues that you can get more out of your life if you take advantage of the relativity of time. He believes you can live the equivalent of many lifetimes in the years you have by using a technique called “slipstream time hacking.” The word “slipstream” refers to the force that makes it easier to travel faster right behind a fast-moving object. (We’ll discuss this in more detail later on.) “Time hacking” describes making radical changes to get the most out of your days and years. Put them together, and you get slipstream time hacking: a method for finding shortcuts that bring you to your goals in less time and with less effort than you would otherwise have to spend on achieving them.

(Shortform note: While Hardy is speaking metaphorically about living multiple lifetimes, some might argue that it would be literally possible to do so if you could shift how you perceive time. We perceive time as linear, but some experts say that’s an illusion. We can imagine reality as a three-dimensional space where things happen over time or as a space where time is a fourth dimension and the past, present, and future exist all at...

Slipstream Time Hacking Summary Why Is All of This Important?

Relativity, time dilation, slipstream, wormholes: That’s a lot of physics (or science fiction) to wrap your head around. Hardy explains that time hacking involves using all these principles to make the most of your time. People “hack” their bodies, work, or productivity when they use out-of-the-ordinary methods to achieve extraordinary results. So Hardy uses the word “time hacking” to refer to radically slowing time down so that you can accomplish much more in your life than you’d achieve if you proceeded more conventionally.

(Shortform note: Not everyone thinks the modern penchant for life-hacking is good. In Cubed, Nikil Saval explains that the concept of life-hacking recalls the industrial-age obsession with standardizing and systematizing the American workplace to try to...

Slipstream Time Hacking Summary How Can You Actually Slow Time Down?

Unlike wormholes and time travel, slipstream time hacking isn’t just theoretical. Instead, Hardy explains that it’s a practical method to achieve your goals. In this section, we’ll consider the practical steps he recommends for slowing time down. Hardy contends that when you put his method to work, you can speed up your progress toward your most important goals and spend more time living the life you’ve always wanted.

Zero in on Your Core Values and Goals

Hardy writes that the first step to slowing time is to make choices that align with your values and move you closer to the goals that matter most. That requires gaining a clear understanding of what you value and want most in your life. When you start to think about your days in terms of the distances you can travel rather than the hours you can fill, you can more easily determine how it would be most meaningful to use your time.

For example, you might realize that one of your core values is spending time with your family and think about how frequently (or infrequently) you see your parents. You can do the “depressing math” to...

Shortform Exercise: Go Looking for Wormholes

The ultimate goal of slipstream time hacking is to travel farther and experience more in your life. While scientists haven’t yet found wormholes in our universe, Hardy explains that you can find plenty of wormholes that will get you to your goals with astonishing speed. You just have to go looking for them.

Think about one of your most important goals. What is the goal? How much time do you expect it to take if you don’t find any shortcuts and have to travel a linear path? For instance, you might want to publish a memoir and estimate that it will take you three or four years to get it done.