Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
It’s ironic that I haven’t written a review for this book yet (I’m writing these words fully six months after I read the book).
This book might have affected my life more than any other. I have recommended it to thousands of people via social media, and dozens of people in multiple countries have told me they read it because I recommended it. I bought a “workbook” for it, and I keep watching YouTube videos about it.
I haven’t reviewed it because it’s just too groundbreaking for me to totally wrap my head around, I think.
So, in the spirit of explaining just what the book is about, I present one sentence chapter summaries that I wrote in pen on the title page of each chapter.
In the Long Run, We're All Dead
“Time Management” has failed because time cannot be “managed”
The Limit-Embracing Life
Time doesn’t exist “outside us” – our lives are time. Life is a series of choices about what to do.
The Efficiency Trap
We do more just so we can do more. We just try to fit more and more into our lives, instead of doing something with the extra time.
Facing Finitude
Life only has meaning because it is finite.
Become a Better Procrastinator
Actively decide what not to do.
The Watermelon Problem
We want to be distracted. We can never gain total control over our attention.
The Intimate Interrupter
Distraction is a coping mechanism to avoid confronting our limitations.
The Never Really Have Time
You can’t control the future. This moment is the only one you have.
You Are Here
We defer happiness. We spend so much time preparing for a future that never comes.
Rediscovering Rest
We often “rest” only for productive reasons. We rarely just literally do nothing.
The Impatience Spiral
We are impatient because it forces us to confront the limitations of time.
Staying on the Bus
Good things happen we resign ourselves to just letting things take the time they take.
The Loneliness of the Digital Nomad
We enjoy activities more when we do them with other people.
Cosmic Insignificance Therapy
We have unrealistic expectations of how amazing we need to be be, to the point where we undervalue what we actually are.
The Human Disease
The human condition has no cure. Accept that and you will be happier.
That’s it for now. Perhaps I’ll write more later.
Book Info
- Author
- Oliver Burkeman
- Year
- Pages
- 288
- Acquired
- I have read this book. According to my records, I completed it on .
- A hardcover copy of this book is currently in my home library.