Book number two in my goal to read or reread a self-development book every month in 2025 is Four Thousand Weeks - Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.
This isn't your average time management book. There is no new scheduling trick discussed and no perfect planner. Four Thousand Weeks is for anyone looking to change their relationship with time.
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Summary
First, let me say that simply understanding the title was enough to make me stop and pause. 4000 Weeks...about the length of a person's average lifespan. What? Clearly, I've never done the math before. Just that thought alone left me in a slight state of anxiety as I continued to read.
Burkeman spends a bit of time discussing his history as what he terms a "productivity geek". He's tried all the popular time management techniques like Inbox Zero, the Pomodoro Technique, and many others. He shares a lot about what he learned with these, which is essentially if you get really good at responding to emails, you become the person people email. That often, simply being more efficient means more gets piled on you and these things are rarely the things you truly prioritize in your life.
He talks a lot about coming to terms with the very large truth, that we simply do not have time to do everything we might think we want to do in life. Ugh, I get it! I was starting to feel a little depressed at this point. The message I was receiving was putting pressure on me to correctly prioritize everything in my life, to not waste a moment of time. I mean, I only had 4000 Weeks to begin with, and how many are still left?
Then, not too far into the book I picked up on a different message. Once you come to terms with the fact that you can't do everything, yes, it does bring some priorities into laser focus (for me that was the importance of relationships, creativity, and fun), but it also became clear that the highest priority is to simply be grateful that we have this life to live in the first place and to enjoy what we make of it and stop stressing about what we can't do.
The 262 pages of content offer a lot more than what I'm sharing. It's a good read if you want to simply open up your mind and consider how your choices and your distractions all play into the life you create. If you are looking for a method to better schedule your day, this probably isn't the book for you.
Favorite Quote
On the inevitability of "settling"...p85 - "you can't become an ultra-successful lawyer or artist or politician without first 'settling' on law, or art, or politics, and therefore deciding to forgo the potential rewards of other careers. If you flit between them all, you'll succeed in none of them." This thought is such an eye-opener and attitude changer for those of us who struggle to make life decisions. Just make a decision and go with it!
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If it sounds like something you might enjoy, pick up a copy of the book HERE.
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