I am about halfway through Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2021. The title is the math: assuming you live to 80, you get about four thousand weeks. Written out like that, it is not many.
I picked it up because my calendar has been full in a way that does not feel productive. A studio, a bar, a book series, a small press, a magazine idea, triathlon training and a graduate program on the horizon. I expected tips. Instead Burkeman argues that the tips are part of the problem.
His point is what he calls the efficiency trap. The faster you clear your inbox, the faster it fills. Getting more efficient does not create free time. It creates room for more demands. You will never get on top of everything, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you can choose what actually matters.
A few ideas that have stuck so far:
Choose what to neglect on purpose. Every yes is a no to something else. Better to decide which things will slide than to let it happen by accident.
Patience is a skill. Good work takes the time it takes. Rushing it just makes it worse.
Some things are worth doing for their own sake. Burkeman calls these atelic activities, done for the doing and not for a result. Shooting film is one of mine. So is a long swim.
For designers, this lands hard. Our work never really finishes. There is always another revision, another option, another client. Reading this has made me more honest about which projects get my best hours, and which ones can be good enough.
I will post a fuller review when I finish. So far the most useful thing it has taught me is that a full calendar is not the same as a full life.
