Nov 30

Nov 30 Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts

About the book

Author: Oliver Burkeman
Publisher: FSG

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

I don’t exaggerate when I tell you that Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals changed my life. It found me at exactly the right moment and gave me the vocabulary and motivation to break out from some very unhealthy patterns (with the help of my therapist). But that was three years ago. So when I heard that he was publishing a follow-up in the form of 28 daily bite-sized essays, I was in.

While this certainly wasn’t as revolutionary as Four Thousand Weeks (for me), I don’t think it’s meant to be. Four Thousand Weeks is Burkeman’s manifesto on letting go of unrealistic productivity expectations and accepting the finitude of your own limitations in order to prioritize the things that are actually important to you. This book works best as a refresher — a reminder, once you’ve inevitably fallen back into your former habits, that reinspires and helps you refocus. I think the 28-day format worked great for this purpose, and I loved that it only took me a couple of minutes to read each day’s essay.

If you’re a chronically busy, list-making, type-A, overachiever like me, please do yourself a favor and pick up Four Thousand Weeks. If you already did that three years ago, pick up Meditations for Mortals.