Four Thousand Weeks-Oliver Burkeman

This is an antidote to productivity books that promise ways to do more with less time. There are no life hacks in this book. Instead, Burkeman writes a philosophical treatise on what it means to live. You Will Die and Our Lives Are Brief and limited, so Any Decision Eliminates Others. The antidote to this is to Slow Down, Practise Doing Nothing and Embrace the Wonder of Being Alive. It’s a beautiful, funny but also wise book that made me reassess my relationship to productivity and stop trying to do everything. Reading it on a beach in Croatia helped of course.

Key Ideas

• You Will Die and Our Lives Are Brief.
• Be Present and Slow Down. Instead of rushing through everything, [[ Let Tasks Take the Time They Take ]]
• Choose What is Important and eliminate everything else. Remember Any Decision Eliminates Others so you need to narrow down what to focus on. Set Limits.
• Attention is Everything. Try to maintain it but remember Distraction is Inevitable.
• Sit With Discomfort to make it easier to bear. Acknowledge what is difficult and Acknowledge Your Limitations
• There Will Always Be a Gap Between Dreams and Reality
• Social Media is Designed to Capture Our Attention. It also changes what we think is important.
• Productivity Makes You More Rushed
• Things will always take longer than you plan.(Hofstaders Law)
• Worry is an attempt to control the future
• [There Will Always Be a Gap Between Dreams and Reality]

Criticisms

• Accepting life how it is can stop the desire for change. Burkeman acknowledges this within the text but I think it needs more examination, especially on a social level. This is because Self Help Ignores Systemic Solutions.