Four Thousand Weeks.

by Oliver Burkeman

Time Management for Mortals.

As someone who has tried plenty of different productivity techniques in a seemingly eternal effort to get “on top of things”, I found this to be a very refreshing, perspective-enhancing read. We are almost arrogant in our belief that we can bend and manipulate time according to our whims and wishes – but time is something that we do not own. We can’t  know when our time will be up – and we would all be wise to focus more on the time we do have - which is only this moment, right now.

Key take outs for me:

·      If we live to 90 years old, that works out to around 4700 weeks. That may sound like a lot or a little, but what’s eye-opening is realizing how much time we may have left (if we’re lucky enough to go strong for long, until 90!)

·      What is the real point of all our frenetic “doing”? Busyness has become a buzzword, a badge, and a boast-worthy status.

·      Our time and attention are limited and valuable – and social media companies hustle to grab as much of it as they can.

·      There are so many life hacks to save time… but should life be hacked, or lived more fully, and enjoyed?

·      Do we have to hate Mondays and live for weekends and holidays? We spend days trying to “get through” tasks, and get them out of the way, so that we can finally get to what matters. Consider rearranging the order of this – it is up to us after all.

·      The day will never arrive where you have everything under control (emails; to do lists; home and work obligations, deadlines). Start by realizing this and admitting defeat. Its okay to accept that you will never be on top of everything!

·      Discover and recover ways of thinking about time that do justice to your real situation, which is the stunning possibilities that 4000 weeks can hold.

Part 1: Choosing to choose

1.     The Limit-embracing Life

Because time is viewed as a resource to be used, we feel pressure to use it well. If you adopt a limit-embracing attitude to time, you will organize your days with the understanding that you won’t have time for everything you (or others) want to do. Decide what to focus on, and what to neglect. Meaningful productivity comes not from hurrying things up, but from letting them take the time they take.

2.     The Efficiency Trap

Making yourself more efficient will not result in more time, because the resulting increase in demands can offset the benefits. In our achievement obsessed culture, it is hard to decide which balls to drop, which people to disappoint, which ambitions to abandon and which roles to fail at. Instead, focus on a few things that count – the items of greatest importance, and consequence, to you.

3.     Facing Finitude

We exist between birth and death, certain that the end will come, but unable to know when. Our limited time = our finitude. Step into a truly authentic relationship with life – be alive in the flow of time! Instead of focusing on what we would rather be doing instead, be thankful that we are doing it at all. Think of it as not having to make choices, but getting to make them.

4.     Becoming a Better Procrastinator

Decide wisely what not to do, and feel at peace about not doing it.

·      Pay yourself first when it comes to time. Try working on your most important project for the first hour of every day, regardless of any “urgency” that comes up. Protect your time by scheduling meetings with yourself in your calendar.

·      Limit your work in progress. Ideally no more than three projects at a time.  You’ll find that you naturally break things down into manageable chunks.

·      Resist the allure of middling priorities. Its okay! You can’t do everything.

Sometimes, when you make a clear decision and can no longer turn back, anxiety falls away – because now there’s only one direction to travel: forward, into the consequences of the choice you have made. It can be incredibly calming to take actions you have been fearing or delaying.

5.     Distraction

What you pay attention to will define, for you, what reality is. The point is that the distracted person isn’t choosing – their attention has been commandeered by forces that don’t have their highest interest at heart. At the end of your life (whenever that is) looking back; whatever you gave your attention to, moment by moment, is what your life would have been.

6.     The Intimate Interrupter

There is internal resistance to giving your full attention to an activity – it can be hard work! Distraction is easier, and requires less energy and focus. When you focus on something you deem important, you are forced to face your limits – an experience that feels uncomfortable precisely because the task at hand is one you value so much. Accept that feeling resistance is part of the commitment to something… and get on with it!

Part 2: Beyond Control

7.     We never really have Time

Any task you’re planning to tackle will always take longer than you expect, even if you allocate more time to it. Time never actually comes into our possession as a guaranteed. Give yourself permission to stop engaging in the struggle for certainty. Let your lack of control be soothing rather than a source of anxiety. Still plan; but worry less.

8.     You are Here

Our future focused mindsets take us away from our present. Our lives are inevitably filled with activities that we are doing for the last time – we should treat everyday experiences with more reverence. It takes effort to be present. But actually, you never have any other option but to be here now!

9.     Rediscovering Rest

We are starting to feel pressure to use our leisure time more productively too. As long as you’re filling every hour of the day with some form of striving, you get to believe that all this striving is leading you somewhere. Seek to incorporate into our daily lives more things we do for their sake alone – where the only thing we’re trying to get from them is the doing itself. (Examples: walking, dancing, reading, listening to music, crafting.) If a good hobby feels a little embarrassing then it’s a sign you’re doing it for its own sake. (Whilst typing this, it’s just dawned on me that these book summaries that I write are my personal little embarrassing hobby that I love doing!) 

10.  The Impatience Spiral

Despite having a decreasing tolerance for any delays, we are starting to realize that hurrying doesn’t help. Face the truth that you cannot dictate how fast things go, and stop trying to outrun your anxiety. If you manage to do that, then your anxiety can transform: digging into a challenging work project becomes a bracing act of choice, or reading a difficult novel becomes a source of relish. Have patience, and have a clear-eyed awareness of your expectations, and cultivate an appreciation for endurance.

11.  Staying on the Bus

Patience seems disturbingly passive, but it can actually be a form of power. If you endure the discomfort of not knowing (and persevering), a solution will often present itself. This applies to machine mechanics, creative work, relationship troubles, politics, and parenting! There are three principles of patience:

·      Develop a taste for having problems. (A problem is simply something that demands that you address yourself to it.)

·      Embrace radical incrementalism. (If something is a smaller part of a daily routine its easier and more feasible to keep it going, day after day.)

·      Originality lies on the far side of unoriginality. (Be patient, and travel the well-trodden path first. The distinctive work begins after doing the groundwork, and staying the course.)

12.  The Loneliness of the Digital Nomad

Having all the time in the world isn’t much use if you’re forced to experience most of it on your own. We actually do have time for some things, but we struggle to synchronize it with others. We want to set our own schedules, make our own choices, and be free from other people’s intrusions – but also feel a connection with the rest of the world, and  be free to engage in worthwhile collaborative endeavors.

13.  Cosmic Insignificance Theory

Face the truth about your irrelevance in the grand scheme of things – our lives are miniscule, and the universe is indifferent. The anxieties that clutter us should shrink by comparison. Many of the things we are already doing with our lives are more meaningful than we realize and recognize. Virtually any career is a worthwhile way to spend a working life, if it makes things even slightly better for those it serves.

14.  The Human Disease

Because your quantity of time is so limited, you’ll never reach the position of being able to handle every demand thrown at you – you’ll be obliged to make tough choices instead. In exchange for accepting that you cannot control time, you can choose to spend your finite time focused on a few things that matter to you, right now, in this moment.

Five questions for ongoing consideration – try living by these questions:

1.     Where in your life or your work are you currently pursuing comfort, when what’s called for is a little discomfort?

2.     Are you holding yourself to, and judging yourself by, standards of productivity that are impossible to meet?

3.     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?

4.     In which areas of life are you still holding back, until you feel like you know what you are doing?

5.     How would you spend your days differently if you didn’t care so much about seeing your actions reach fruition?

I so enjoyed reading this book – it wasn’t an easy read; it certainly required concentration, but I found myself nodding in recognition, sometimes slowly and often vigorously, at many points.

So; we need to simplify, and stop fighting time, and just, as Carl Jung says, “quietly do the next and most necessary thing.” With this mindset, Burkeman finishes with reminding us that, working within the limits of our moment in history, and our finite time and talents, we can then get around to whatever magnificent task, or weird little thing (or anywhere in-between) it was that we came here for.