Four Thousand Weeks - Oliver Burkeman

⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Beans)

4,000 weeks equals to about 76 years, which is roughly the life span of the average person depending where you live. This book explores how we use those 4,000 weeks.

I wouldn’t call this a time management book, at least not in that sense. The author explores many different approaches to time but urges the reader to release themselves from the shackles of productivity. He argues that no matter how convenient our life gets (phones, cars, washing machines, robot vacuums) our lives are busier than ever. There is no such thing as getting it all done, and the sooner we accept that fate, the sooner we can live better.

He talks about confronting our finitude, and to take inventory that we are not invincible and death is inevitable, but that isn’t a bad thing, because that means we can sooner live more meaningful lives than if we were to live forever.

He gets quite philosophical at times and quotes a lot of the greats. He talks about slipping into this state of timeless-ness: where the clock doesn’t matter, we don’t check our phone, we are simply in the moment. I would say that being present is a huge theme in this book, and contentment is the ultimate goal for all of this.

I have a ton of thoughts on all this, because obviously time matters (the author admits this as well) and what we do here with our life is important. And yet, we are just a vapour in the wind: here today, gone tomorrow. Our lives aren’t that serious. Being present is a huge struggle for me, and this book really spoke to my soul.

I have this theory about that afterlife that we will be able to do a lot of living in the newly redeemed world when we live with Jesus and YHWH. I can console myself that if I don’t get to do all the things now, I’ll just do them later, and that gives me some hope.