Four Thousand Weeks

Time Management for Mortals

De: Oliver Burkeman

Narrado por: Oliver Burkeman

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

This program is read by the author.

"Burkeman and his irresistible British accent shifted my paradigm a couple centimeters . . . 'The day will never arrive when you have everything under control,' he calmly whispered in my ear, and I think I believed him." - Vulture

"The philosophical tone of his delivery is perfect for [Burkeman's] thoughtful message: We can enjoy life more if we appreciate the present moment, stay in touch with our deeper selves, and nurture our connections with people and the natural world." - AudioFile Magazine

"Provocative and appealing . . . well worth your extremely limited time." —Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal

The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks.

Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks.

Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on “getting everything done,” Four Thousand Weeks introduces listeners to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we could do things differently.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

©2021 Oliver Burkeman (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Make TIME for this one...

There is a book on procrastination that has been sitting unfinished on my shelf for about 8 years. It mocks my as I walk past and I actively avert my gaze so that I don't have to feel that clenching in my chest that comes with avoiding tasks.

That should tell you everything you need to know about me.

I am a chronic procrastinator with escapist fantasies of being a productivity guru, of arriving at some magical point in the future when my life is perfectly balanced and systematized and I never have to worry about low motivation or indecisiveness or being late ever again... Perhaps you can relate?

Of course, this is the fantasy I go to to avoid actually taking the steps that would get me there. It simultaneously distracts me from my present and paralyzes me with its unrealistic expectations.

I spent so much time living in future anxieties and past regrets that I missed my life in as it is actually happening.

I originally purchased this book for the same reason I do every book I buy: so I don't have to start and / or finish the last one I bought.

However, I immediately felt that this one was different. This is the first time management booked that hasn't merely scratched the surface. It dove deep into the existential dilemma of the anxiety induced by life simply being to short and our feeble attempts to fix, avoid, or transcend that fact.

I deeply needed this book, not another system or self help guru or bullet point article or checklist or any other clever avoidance tactic. I needed to confront what was lurking at the bottom of my neurosis, accept it, and surrender to it.

This was a painful process that involved a considerable amount of grief as I let go of the illusion of infinite potentiality and laid to rest my meticulously constructed avatar of the perfect version of myself. Lots of emotions came up from my past: guilt, resentment, rage, regret, despair... but as I surrendered to these too and just allowed them to be without trying to "fix" them, a funny thing happened: I became lighter.

This book set me free to be the me I currently am, the one who can actually change my present circumstances, and liberated me to live life imperfectly with the knowledge that I can't do everything, be everything, fix everyone, and that I don't need to.

It gave me permission to go slow, experience deep time, and really immerse myself in moments instead of planning for the next thing. As I began to do this, the constant feeling of rush and my compulsive need to try to control time vanished, not at first, but in time. I've realized this is the state I want to spend my life in, not running around trying to do everything only to never experience any of it.

This book even helped me to accept the finitude of life and my own mortality, instead of raging against it by attempting to plan every little thing and desperately clinging to accomplishments, experiences, and possessions.

I feel so content. I am actually enjoying things now that I've stopped trying to "improve" and funnily enough, my motivation is up, my procrastinating has greatly diminished, I no longer feel so burdened by indecision now that all the pressure of choosing is gone, and I spend far less time lying awake in bed at night rehashing the past and worrying about the future.

This book will stay in my cue for times I inevitably spiral into procrastinating or rushing.
That other book on procrastination will likely remain on my bookshelf forever, unfinished, and now, I'm totally fine with that.

Wonderful

Most of what the author is saying won’t be news to anyone above the age of 35 but it is connected and written in such an insightful, wise and gentle way that you actually manage to hear it. And as most things that are true to the core it is at the same time liberating and heartbreaking.

Unalloyed, Practical Truth

This is life-changing stuff. The author, who is an excellent and captivating reader, distills so much wisdom here that I truly believe everyone and anyone will benefit from encounter with this work. Looking back at my own life, I recognize so many things that…had I understood better what was going on…I might have improved with the benefit of some of the knowledge gleaned here. For those looking forward, I can attest to the practical value that some of the approaches identified here will provide. I would enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who understands the value of being curious, not judgmental.

Phenomenal life tools

Phenomenal life tools within these pages. wisdom, wit, wellbeing is well spoken through philosophies interwoven to bring new valuable insights to what moments really mean. Thank you for clearly scribing why I have such joy knowing/accepting my finite self and the "everything is a trade-off" philosophy. Beautiful book!

Incredible book

I highly recommend this book. It has changed the way I think of time and put life into an interesting perspective.

Treats the root causes of our anxieties about time

Not another productivity hack book. Instead, it explores our relationship with the passage of time and the finitude of our existence, and all those things we do to try to "manage" our time, using it as a resource instead of the very substance of our existence.

If you one of those people (as I've been) who perpetualy (and often unsuccessfully) try to have some control over their time, you might enjoy this book.

Our relationship with time

A wonderfully written story about the way we approach Time and why we should change this perspective. The performance by the author is delightful.

This book can change your life.

Stop talking to yourself and actually listen to what this book is telling you .This book is more Philosophy than time management. I have been looking for something to help explain the feelings I have been having about the purpose of life, in goals and directions. That feeling that you feel like you need to be doing more that you’re not doing enough that you’re never enough. This book really help me understand my feelings and how to make changes in what I consider accomplishment

Eye opening

This book profoundly resonated with me as it elegantly put into words what I have been feeling and discovering about my interpretation of “life’s meaning” in the last ~10 years or so (I am 39) but have not been able to express in words. Highly recommend that everyone reads it.

A pleasurable read.

This is a very engaging book written with humor and a shared appreciation of the difficulties we encounter trying to portion out our time. I found it very satisfying to have these decades of concerns finally gathered together and dealt with; a very nice reflection and tweaking of my points of view. I feel better already.