A review of the book “Four Thousand Weeks” by Oliver Burkeman (2021)
For many years, Burkeman wrote a column on psychology for the “Guardian” newspaper entitled ‘This Column Will Change Your Life’ which I read often. This work could be subtitled ‘This Book Will Change Your Life’ and it was recommended to me by a friend who works for Facebook. The title rests on the calculation that, assuming you live to be 80, then you will have about 4,000 weeks. For me personally, the sobering implication is that I would have already lived 96.25% of my life or, put another way, I might only have left less than 4% or about 150 weeks.
Burkeman quotes many philosophers but not the one (Marcus Aurelius) whose stoicism is perhaps most descriptive of his approach: “You have to accept that there will always be too much to do, that you can’t avoid tough choices or make the world run at your preferred speed; that no experience, least of all close relationships with other human beings, can ever be guaranteed in advance to turn out painlessly and well – and that, from a cosmic viewpoint, when’s it’s over, it won’t have counted for very much anyway.”
The fundamental message of Burkeman’s book will seem obvious and yet, if truly accepted and embraced, can bring about a transformational view of one’s life: “The core challenge of managing our limited time isn’t about how to get everything done – that’s never going to happen – but how to decide wisely what not to do, and how to feel at peace about not doing it.”
The book is well-written and very readable with lots of insights, aphorisms and tips, but nothing mind-blowingly original. If I had to highlight and summarise three particularly important points, they would be: 1) Decide what you want to do with your limited time and leave the rest alone; 2) Really focus on what you have prioritised and don’t allow yourself to be distracted or diverted; 3) Plan each day and enjoy ticking off what you’ve completed that day. Not rocket science – but, done well, life changing.
Links:
author’s website click here
my advice of “How To Use Time Well” click here