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Four Thousand Weeks

Embrace your limits. Change your life. Make your four thousand weeks count.

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Four Thousand Weeks

By: Oliver Burkeman
Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The instant Sunday Times bestseller

A FINANCIAL TIMES, GUARDIAN AND OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR

ONE OF THE DAILY TELEGRAPH'S 75 BEST BOOKS OF 2021

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.

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.

'Life is finite. You don't have to fit everything in... Read this book and wake up to a new way of thinking and living' EMMA GANNON

'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

'Comforting, fascinating, engaging, inspiring and USEFUL, actually genuinely useful' MARIAN KEYES

© Oliver Burkeman 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Personal Development Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Science Social Psychology & Interactions Society Stress Management Time Management Feel-Good Inspiring

Critic Reviews

This book is wonderful. Instead of offering new tips on how to cram more into your day, it questions why we feel the need to ... My favourite kind of book is this one ... it examines the human struggle with intelligence, wisdom, humour and humility. (Marianne Power)
Perfectly pitched somewhere between practical self-help book and philosophical quest ... as with all the best quests, its many pleasures don't require a fast-forward button, but happen along the way (Tim Adams)
Life is finite. You don't have to fit everything in. Enjoy your life. Breathe out. Read this book and wake up to a new way of thinking and living
A wonderfully honest book, Four Thousand Weeks is a much-needed reality check on our culture's crazy assumptions around work, productivity and living a meaningful life (Mark Manson, bestselling author of Everything is F*cked and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck)
His book will challenge and amuse you. And it may even spur you on to change your life. At the very least reading it would be a good use of one of your four thousand weeks (Robbie Smith)
I loved this book - it's a celebration of all that is most human: a deep dive into the value and potency of our finitude. Where we might buckle under pressure and uncertainty, Oliver quietly restores our centre of gravity within. You'll emerge from his writing fortified by wonder (Derren Brown)
A beautiful, uplifting read. Reading Oliver Burkeman, I feel my shoulders relax and my mouth curl into a smile of admiration. Witty, modest and refreshingly sane (Robert Webb, author of How Not to Be a Boy)
Comforting, fascinating, engaging, inspiring and USEFUL, actually genuinely useful (Marian Keyes)
Oliver Burkeman provides an important and insightful reassessment of productivity. The drive to get more done can become an excuse to avoid figuring out what we actually want to accomplish. Only by confronting this latter question can we unlock a calmer, more meaningful, more resilient approach to organizing our time (Cal Newport, bestselling author of A World Without Email and Deep Work)
We all know our time is limited. What we don't know - but what Oliver Burkeman is here to teach us - is that our control over that time is also limited. This profound (and often hilarious) book will prompt you to rethink your worship of efficiency, reject the cult of busyness, and reconfigure your life around what truly matters (Daniel H. Pink, author of When, Drive, and To Sell is Human)
All stars
Most relevant
the author definitely has some good takes on life and how to life it and this book might apply more to someone working a 9-5 desk job who is hating their life. essential message is stop living as if you're preparing for some moment in the future when you'll finally have everything organised because it will never come. do the things you want to do now. there is no point worrying about trying to do an impossible workload because it's inherently impossible.

Worth the listen however nothing to life-changing

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It’s about time philosophy and the meaning of life was presented in a time management book. Age old religions and thinking weaved into the how and why of managing time. Dam sight better than the usual tips to improve email. I love the English sense of humour that Oliver Burkeman uses throughout, but maybe don’t need to reinforce the same point so many times

Nice mix of philosophy and time

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I could feel the tension lifting from my shoulders. This book was a revelation for me. The equivalent of comforting hug, with a 'there, there, everything will be alright".

Lightbulb moments!

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I read this after quitting my job due to bad workplace behaviour. It really helped me not to rush into finding the first “good” role that I came across and to think deliberately before deciding what I wanted the next chapter of my life to look like. I care about having impact in the world, and after reading this, I have way more balance in mind with how I will approach this. I read 2-3 chapters in one hit every fortnight, and by not rushing through it, it sortof gradually nudged me in to taking on the key concepts of this book, and kept me on track when I got distracted (!) by unhelpful expectations of myself and others. This book has fundamentally changed the way I view the world, and I’m so very glad I read it. If you are having a career, personal or relationship crisis or pause of any kind, read this and really lean into the discomfort of the ideas it lays before you. If you do this, it will positively shift the way you view your life and the world around you. Now — back to my jigsaw puzzle.

Positively life-changing

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Other than a few simplistic and misguided comments about early parenting, this is a wonderful book, read in an engaging manner.

Balanced, insightful and meaningful

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