Sometimes to make time for what matters, we need to give things up.
The average human lifespan is undoubtedly brief, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make the most of it. With approximately four thousand weeks on earth, if you live to 80, Oliver Burkeman shares his insights on improving our relationship with time and embracing the finite nature of our lives.
Oliver joins Kate Campbell on the show to talk about:
⏳ Why four thousand weeks?
⏳ How do we embrace the fact that our time is finite?
⏳ How to deal with procrastination in a digitally distracted world?
⏳ When can effort and inconvenience enrich our experiences?
⏳ How do you view the idea of balance, rest and work?
Some of Kate’s highlights from Four Thousand Weeks:
“The most fundamental question of time management: What would it mean to spend the only time you ever get in a way that truly feels as though you are making it count?”
Decide in advance what to fail at…
“The great benefit of strategic underachievement—that is, nominating in advance whole areas of life in which you won’t expect excellence of yourself—is that you focus that time and energy more effectively … Fail on a cyclical basis: to aim to do the bare minimum at work for the next two months, for example, while you focus on your children, or let your fitness goals temporarily lapse while you apply yourself to election canvassing. Then switch your energies to whatever you were neglecting.”
Pick your battles…
“Consciously pick your battles in charity, activism, and politics: to decide that your spare time, for the next couple of years, will be spent lobbying for prison reform and helping at a local food pantry—not because fires in the Amazon or the fate of refugees don’t matter, but because you understand that to make a difference, you must focus your finite capacity for care.”
Act on generous impulses…
“Whenever a generous impulse arises in your mind—to give money, check in on a friend, send an email praising someone’s work—act on the impulse right away, rather than putting it off until later.”
5 key questions to ask yourself (from Four Thousand Weeks):
- Where in your life or your work are you currently pursuing comfort, when what’s called for is a little discomfort?
- Are you holding yourself to, and judging yourself by, standards of productivity or performance that are impossible to meet?
- In what ways have you yet to accept the fact that you are who you are, not the person you think you ought to be?
- In which areas of life are you still holding back until you feel like you know what you’re doing?
- How would you spend your days differently if you didn’t care so much about seeing your actions reach fruition?
