Up and Down the River: A book review of '4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals' by Oliver Burkeman - The Pioneer

I’ve always said, “Time is our most precious possession,” but what if rather than our possession, we were time itself? Along with the question, “What are we on this earth for?” with the answer being procreation — what if we had no purpose and the universe didn’t care what we did with our lives?

We have very short lives, at 80, only 4,000 weeks. So, the impulse is to manage our time, to make our time worthwhile, packing in as much as we can in a day. Stress follows because we can’t complete our plans in a day, let alone a lifetime. Time is unmanageable, the future uncertain.

Our beings are defined by the time which marks our life. Therefore, instead of “clearing the decks” to make time in the future for what we want, we should do what we want first. Otherwise, it never gets done. And above all, we should be “living in deep time” experiencing what is around us fully.

Instead, we use any distraction to avoid facing the cold reality of our limitations and life span, not making decisions to “keep our options open,” for example not committing to marriage because we might be “missing out” on a better partner. Life is full of choices and we must decide — a word which means “cutting off” options (related to suicide and homicide, also a “cutting off”).

Burkeman gives us history on how we came to be this way. Most importantly, the industrial revolution transformed work into the hours of work, rather than the flexible Middle Ages where employers welcomed workers’ time off work, although it was mostly for religious holidays.

But from the industrial revolution on, we became fanatical about efficiency of time, an achievement-obsessed culture. Yet we cannot do more than we can do. If we are fast workers, we likely will be given more work to do, resulting in greater anxiety.

Same goes for all the technical advances for easier life. But if we can heat something up in a minute, we will want less time to do the job.

Hence, microwaved meals are often pulled out before they’re ready.

Eliminating problems doesn’t make us happier. While a cruise line chef claimed he was “the happiest person on the planet” having no garbage removal or laundry duties — he did not look happy. Often what makes us happy is solving problems, which takes time and patience.

In times of crisis, like ours, we feel the need to help out, however little, but our domestic responsibilities are enough — providing a good meal for our families, helping our aged parents. And hobbies are not demeaning for the very reason that we love them even if we don’t do them well.

Think how liberating it is not to be famous, not to be driven to make a mark upon the world. Very few are recognized over centuries. Even Shakespeare will fade over eons.

Burkeman’s last piece of advice is to fight the work ethic and do nothing, which is actually not that easy to do.

This is a fascinating book because we will see ourselves in our misuse of time, but also Burkeman has pulled in philosophers throughout the ages who back him up. Everyone should read this book, but maybe only those humble enough to accept its stark message which is actually liberating — will do so.

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October 12, 2021 at 04:08PM
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Up and Down the River: A book review of '4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals' by Oliver Burkeman - The Pioneer
"time" - Google News
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