Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

Our chief struggle with time stems from our attempt to master it and thereby feel we have control over it. This might manifest in trying to guard against misfortune by being super-productive or by procrastinating on important projects so we do not face the painful possibility of failure. It might also show up in impatience or an insistence that we do something that will matter to humanity at large. All of these attempts are doomed to fail, given our limited control over the unfolding of events.

Instead, we would do better to embrace Heidegger’s belief that we do not have time, but instead “we are time” (216). We are the moments over which we are trying to achieve mastery and are vulnerable to being altered by incoming events that disrupt our plans. Thus, if our purpose is to gain a secure relationship with time, our lives will feel future-orientated and a provisional dress rehearsal for some future that is always just over the horizon.

Instead, giving up hope of this secure relationship with time means accepting that there will always be too many demands on our time and that we will have to make tough decisions about how to spend it. We also have to accept that life cannot run to our preferred speed or according to our ideal schedule if we are to have meaningful relationships with others.

Burkeman advocates that we ask ourselves five important questions about how we are spending our time.

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

We must accept that pursuing the most worthwhile projects will involve risk and the potential for failure. Many of us avoid this by seeking the comfort of people-pleasing, distraction, or commitment-phobia. Still, it is more satisfying to choose growth over comfort.

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

We know that we are in thrall to the illusion that we have mastery over our time when we set out impossible performance targets for ourselves. We know that they are impossible because we keep postponing them into the future. Burkeman challenges us to reconsider our goals considering that there will not be enough time to accomplish them all. Once we accept our limits we will be able to choose the few meaningful goals and get started today.

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?”

When we prioritize the notion of who we think we ought to be over who we actually are in the present, we fail to live life now and put off “the anxiety-inducing truth that this is it” (222). Often, notions of who we ought to be come from outside authorities, such as parents and society. In Burkeman’s view, these false beliefs get in the way of our doing good work in the world, because it is only when we accept ourselves that we can work with reality to make the most of our talents.

4. “In which areas of life are you still holding back until you feel like you know what you’re doing?”

We can often defer important life-choices until we feel like we are ready, not realizing that everyone, even the most senior and respected authorities, is always improvising. We therefore only stand to gain from acting boldly, as opposed to being overly cautious.

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

This is an important question when it comes to doing the large-scale projects that make the biggest impact in the world. For example, ones that act to reverse climate change. Appreciating that change will be generational as opposed to fulfilled in a single individual’s life-span means finding meaning in daily work and collaborations with others.

Burkeman’s final piece of advice is for us not to become overwhelmed with ideas of how we can better use our time, but to take the next most rewarding action. We would do a better service to ourselves and humanity by embracing our limits and working within them.

Burkeman argues that in a time of climate, political, and immigration crises, time-management is still important because how we spend our allotted 24 hours a day in our average lifespan of 4,000 weeks has a real impact on world events.

Derrick Jensen, co-founder of the radical environmental movement Deep Green Resistance, says that he is suspicious of hope as a catalyst for change because it often prevents people from taking real action to make the world a better place. In contrast, giving up hope means claiming the power we have today to change things. Burkeman thinks of his own book in the same capacity by forcing the reader to give up hope that their relationship with time can transgress limitation.

While this realization could be grounds for despair, there is also the liberation from the thought that you needed “the feeling of complete security you’d previously felt so desperate to attain” (232). He adds that once we no longer can deny the uncertainty of the world, we are free to do our bit to stem the flow of tragedies. On an individual level, once we accept that we cannot possibly do it all, we are free to focus on the few things that matter.

Here, Burkeman has assembled ten pointers for living a fulfilled life within our temporal limits.

1. “Adopt a ‘fixed volume’ approach to productivity”

Advocating with certainty that we will never get everything done, Burkeman advises making two to-do lists, one “open list” and one “closed list” (236). While the open list is for everything we feel we must do, and will never get round to doing, the closed one can have a maximum of ten tasks. No new task can be added to the closed list until another one has been accomplished. You can also set time limits on work to ensure that it does not spill over into other parts of life.

2. “Serialize, serialize, serialize”

Focus on one big project at a time, postponing as much else as possible. This will enable your most important work to get done, even as you go about daily responsibilities, such as bill-paying and childcare.

3. “Decide in advance what to fail at”

We do not have the time to excel in all areas of life, and making peace with the fact that you will never have a tidy, uncluttered home may liberate you to focus more on the projects that you are more passionate about. Deciding that you will fail at housekeeping, means that you will not guilt-trip yourself about your low standards.

You might also give yourself permission to fail temporarily in one area of your life while you prioritize another. For example, you may loosen your professional aspirations for a period where you focus on childcare and then make them up at a later date.

4. “Focus on what you’ve already completed, not just on what’s left to complete”

Keeping a “done” list will counter the negativity that you will inevitably face when there are still items piling up on your to-do list.

5. “Consolidate your caring”

Selecting your humanitarian cause rather than attempting to serve all the campaigns that demand your attention is in the long term more effective in securing real change. This is because your capacity for care is finite.

6. “Embrace boring and single-purpose technology”

Making the chance that you will distract yourself from a meaningful yet arduous project as slim as possible, means ensuring that your technology looks like a tool rather than a toy. You might disable social media apps from your phone, switch your screen from color to grayscale, or choose devices where it is only possible to perform one task at a time, for example, a Kindle e-reader.

7. “Seek out novelty in the mundane”

Try to find the wonder in your everyday experiences, being especially attentive to them, rather than treating them as routine or seeking adventurous forms of novelty. When you experience the present moment more intensely, you will have a more childlike relationship with time.

8. “Be a researcher in relationships”

Adopting a curious attitude in relationships where you try to figure what the other person is about, rather than getting them to conform to your agenda is essential if you are not to seem controlling.

9. “Cultivate instantaneous generosity”

Do not put off actions such as thanking a colleague or otherwise enhancing a person’s day in order to prioritize controlling your schedule. It is far better to do them in the moment, so that you actually do them rather than putting them off indefinitely.

10.  “Practice doing nothing”

Ironically, this is an essential tool for using your limited time wisely. This is because being able to not act means that you will allow decisions the time they need and be less likely to rush into foolish choices. You will also make peace with reality and its limits, rather than rushing off your feet to be productive in the illusion that you can control time.