Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Four Thousand Weeks
Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It | Oliver Burkeman
'I loved this book' DERREN BROWN What if you stopped trying to do everything, so that you could finally get round to what counts? We're obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, the struggle against distraction, and the sense that our attention spans are shrivelling. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the question of how best to use our ridiculously brief time on the planet, which amounts on average to about four thousand weeks. Four Thousand Weeks is an uplifting, engrossing and deeply realistic exploration of the challenge. Rejecting the futile modern obsession with 'getting everything done,' it introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing rather than denying their limitations. And it shows how the unhelpful ways we've come to think about time aren't inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we've made, as individuals and as a society. Its many revelations will transform the reader's worldview. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman sets out to realign our relationship with time - and in doing so, to liberate us from its tyranny. Embrace your limits. Change your life. Make your four thousand weeks count. 'A much-needed reality check on our culture's crazy assumptions around work, productivity and living a meaningful life' MARK MANSON, bestselling author of THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F*CK 'The most important book ever written about time management' ADAM GRANT, bestselling author of THINK AGAIN 'A celebration of all that is most human... You'll emerge from his writing fortified by wonder' DERREN BROWN, bestselling author of HAPPY
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
quote
CoffeeK8
post image

A great quote for when life gets overwhelming

Bklover Love this!❤️ 3mo
29 likes1 comment
review
Smarkies
post image
Pickpick

I really enjoyed this take on time management. It has a pragmatic view on what is really achievable.

quote
jennirl
post image

finally got another one of my friends to read FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS, excuse me while i take a victory lap

2 likes1 stack add
review
Shievad
Pickpick

This book spoke to my soul 🥰 I‘m all for jomo! Burkeman brings up great points about needing to work on saying no to the things we want to do so we can be more present and happier in the fewer activities we do choose. I also liked his point about how deciding not to settle is in itself settling for a life without an imperfect version of X because you‘re waiting for the perfect, which doesn‘t exist.

review
Bookishlie
post image
Pickpick

5/5 - This book changed my life. Basically if we live to be 80 we get 4,000 weeks to live so at 47 I‘ve got roughly 1500 left. What am I going to do with that? What matters really? I‘ll re-read this again because it was that impactful!

27 likes2 stack adds1 comment
blurb
Moll
post image

National Gallery café reading🫖💛

blurb
Bookishlie
post image

#bookspinbingo Hello! My April card! I‘m not sure how this month is going to go. Wound up with my four year old grandson for six months to forever - not sure yet. So reading this month could be an adventure! Do kid books count? Lol

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Looks great!! Best wishes with your grandson ❤ My niece has lived with my parents a lot because of various circumstances, and it can be hard, but also they have such an important role of being able to provide her with one place of stability that she knows is always there. 13mo
Bookishlie Awww thanks. Yeah that is our goal. We will just be the stability his sister is with her grandparents so we all talk to make sure they know each other. Hopefully Mom gets her stuff together:) 13mo
24 likes2 comments
review
REPollock
post image
Pickpick

Genuinely brilliant. I started this thinking it would be a helpful tool for time management and it turned out to be an engrossing existential examination of the nature of time itself and how to fully live your life. Glad I listened to the audiobook, it‘s read by the author and he has a charming delivery.

21 likes1 stack add
blurb
MatchlessMarie
post image

I didn‘t mean to finish this before #JoyousJanuary got started. Whoops! This was one of my #AuldLangSpine picks and also my January #TBRTarot prompt. This is actually the perfect book to read at the start of the new year if you feel panicked about your productivity. It‘s not another book of shortcuts to doing more. Burkeman discusses how to examine the why behind how we spend the short time we have.

CBee Awesome 👏🏻 1y
Moll Yay!! Nice - I'm so glad you liked it! I agree - it made me find time management SO much less stressful and I found it all really meaningful😊 1y
Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 1y
49 likes1 stack add3 comments
blurb
Sophronisba
post image

My Storygraph reading wrap-up!

https://app.thestorygraph.com/wrap-up/2022/sophronisba

(I love all the graphs and charts you get on Storygraph.)

quote
Lunakay
post image

"So in order to be a source of fulfillment, a good hobby probably should feel a bit embarrassing. That's a sign you're doing it for it's own sake"

quote
charl08
post image

Productivity is a trap. Becoming more efficient just makes you more rushed, and trying to clear the decks simply makes them fill up again faster. Nobody in the history of humanity has ever achieved 'work-life balance', whatever that might be, and you certainly won't get there by copying the 'six things successful people do before 7 a.m'. The day will never arrive when you finally have everything under control...

Can I put this on the wall?

IuliaC Great quote!! 2y
Lunakay This is so true, those productivity books just make you feel like you're failing at being a human being 2y
charl08 @IuliaC @Lunakay really enjoying this book so far, ended up getting my own copy after failing to read the library one. 2y
Lunakay @charl08 I actually started the audio book today thanks to your post! :) 2y
IuliaC @charl08 I've got this one on my to read list too. I'm glad you're enjoying it 😊 2y
52 likes1 stack add5 comments
quote
charl08
post image

...we've been deluged with advice on living the fully optimised life, in books with titles such as Extreme Productivity and The 4-Hour Workweek and Smarter Faster Better, plus websites full of 'life hacks' for whittling seconds off everyday chores. (Note the curious suggestion, in the term 'life hack', that your life is best thought of as some kind of faulty contraption, in need of modification so as to stop it from performing suboptimally.)

blurb
wen4blu
post image

“The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short.”

Interesting start for this #firstlinefriday

#currentlyreading

38 likes1 stack add
review
Kristin_Reads
post image
Pickpick

📖 6-17-22 || Philosophy | Hopeful | Time-Management
Ironically, I skimmed this one because it‘s overdue at the library. More philosophical than practical, it offers ideas for letting go of expectations and releasing ourselves from worry about managing our time perfectly.

Suet624 How lovely. 2y
Kristin_Reads @Suet624 The book is a refreshing take on typical time-management how-tos. The photo is from a road trip to central Idaho! 2y
DivineDiana Gorgeous photograph! ⛅️ 2y
48 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
fredthemoose
post image
Pickpick

This was exactly the right book at exactly the right time for me. Instead of hacks for how to be more productive, it offered an opportunity to step back and think about what you most want to do and how to accept that we can only do so much and that to do what matters most to you, some other things will need to slide. Loved it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

42 likes1 stack add
review
Moll
post image
Pickpick

I genuinely think this is the only book on time management that I'll ever need to read; very glad I picked it up! Focuses on the freedom and meaning that comes from accepting that you could never get everything you wanted done

rockpools Huh. Interesting. I got a couple of copies of this for work a few months ago - and there‘s still a 4 month wait list on them. I might add myself to the end of the queue! 2y
Moll @rockpools I'd recommend! I can see why it wouldn't be for everyone depending on how willing you are to get on board with the ideas in it, but definitely worth a try 2y
17 likes2 stack adds2 comments
review
Smartypants
post image
Mehso-so

I‘m not sure what I thought this book would be about but it wasn‘t what I thought it would be. A good perspective on time, as human beings, however.

review
Mogoeg
post image
Pickpick

This is the one! The 'time management' book we all need AND deserve! Get it, read it, and free yourself from the tyranny of 'productivity culture' for good! (or at least make inroads in that direction - it's a process, at least for me)

“The peace of mind on offer here is of a higher order: it lies in the recognition that being unable to escape from the problems of finitude is not, in itself, a problem.“

Mogoeg A couple of years ago, I wrote in my review of Burnout (also great!) that I'm not much for self-help books. That was a lie (if only to myself)! I'm a sucker for a certain kind of self-help; the kind that skirts right up the edge of 'time management.' And my 'personal journey' over the past few years has been to fully reexamine my relationship with time and my unrelenting & unrealistic expectations for what I could & SHOULD be accomplishing. 2y
DogMomIrene Looks like a book I really need to read. About 16 weeks for this hold to come to me. 🙂 2y
81 likes4 stack adds2 comments
quote
GondorGirl
post image

I easily could have shared more than three quotes from this incredibly meta book on time management. It's goal is not so much to tell you how to manage your time to fit everything in, and more to help you realize that you're never going to do it all and you need to prioritize what's important to you.

The pandemic showed us a glimpse of how the world could be if we spent less time on the grind and more time thinking of others.

CONT.

GondorGirl There are so many talking points I want to cover, but I won't be able to explain them as well as this book did. This is probably one of most thoughtful and affecting nonfiction books I've ever read. I found some really powerful ideas, but also a lot of explanations that help make sense of things I was already experienced. I'd highly recommend this one to any mortal. 2y
40 likes3 stack adds1 comment
quote
GondorGirl
post image

blurb
GondorGirl
post image

review
cant_i'm_booked
post image
Pickpick

I LOVED this. Finally, a “self-help” philosophy read I find instantly applicable to the everyday, and for everyone. It‘s a more appealing and realistic exploration of the cliche, “be here now.” As you read, you feel your mental desktop of anxious “must-do”s getting swept clear. Note: author is former productivity columnist for the Guardian, this is his turning point in realizing “productivity” should become a passe word. More on that in the book.

danx This looks great, I‘ve just bought a copy! 2y
14 likes1 comment
review
Sophronisba
post image
Pickpick

I loved this book. I'm not usually one for self-help books but I thought that the way this put daily chores and big projects in perspective was really useful.

blurb
Flaneurette
post image

Tell you how old I am without telling you how old I am- new #audiopuzzle edition. Well, some of these cartoons are before my time but Saturday morning cartoons in the 70‘s were definitely a big part of my childhood. The book is apt as it addresses existential angst induced by the passing of time.

DrexEdit I recognize a lot of those! lol! 😃 2y
mrp27 Great puzzle! I watched many of those cartoons on Saturday mornings. 2y
Kimzey Love audiopuzzling! ❤️📚 🧩 My cartoon era: Jetsons, Flintstones, Looney tunes, Scooby Doo! 2y
BarbaraBB Hope you are well! Join our ToB anytime you like 🤍 2y
46 likes4 comments
review
squirrelbrain
post image
Mehso-so

I didn‘t love this one, and I had such high hopes. It was a bit too academic and abstract for me; there weren‘t enough ‘things to try‘ to manage your time better.

I certainly didn‘t find it uplifting, as on the quote. In fact, it was rather depressing and worrying! 😬

rockpools Oh no! That‘s not what we need! 2y
quietlycuriouskate How disappointing! I heard him talking about it on a podcast recently (with Krista Tippett, possibly) and it sounded really interesting. 2y
squirrelbrain I thought it sounded fascinating @kathedron but it just wasn‘t for me; you might like it though. 2y
Caroline2 Oh that‘s disappointing. I had high hopes for this one too. 🙄 2y
70 likes4 comments
review
Sparklemn
post image
Pickpick

A thought that kept running through my head as I read this book was how much the word “should” can really mess with your mind. I‘m making a conscious effort to replace “should” with “could”, giving me permission to choose how I spend my four thousand weeks. 🙂

review
arkei
Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An easy read that encourages a life lived to the fullest at the limited time it is granted to have. Facing your limited self can be freeing.

7 likes2 stack adds
review
underground_bks
post image
Pickpick

“The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks.” So begins this philosophical guide to time management, narrated with warmth and commiseration by the author, a reformed efficiency junkie who will give you all the permission you need to not get EVERYTHING on your checklist done every day. I really appreciated the frame of mind this book got me into while listening.

23 likes2 stack adds