The Book That Made Me Stop Wearing a Watch
An hour before it’s time to clock out. You’re looking at the top right-hand corner of your Mac, waiting for the clock to go faster. Instead, it goes slower. You’re dreading the time as you’re focusing on each moment that passes.
What if we approached it a different way?
Letting things go to the way side and continuing as the clock ticked on its own. Oliver Burkeman, the author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, depicts this and provides a different vantage point of viewing our time.
Rather than going into productivity hacks and making the most of your time, he instead surrenders to the movement of time and journeys through it:
“Letting time use you, approaching life not as an opportunity to implement your predetermined plans for success but as a matter of responding to the needs of your place and your moment in history.” – Ch. 1, The Limit-Embracing Life
The vantage points are similar to other self-help books discussing productivity, but it adds a spin to it. Rather than optimizing everything, Burkeman tends towards the opposite end of letting that go. The different point of view provides a refreshing appeal as the book dives into other topics like the loneliness of the digital nomad, the meaning of life, and where we focus. Burkeman presents a unique for utilizing our estimated Four Thousand Weeks to the fullest. Some of these lessons even changed my actions, like:
Wearing a Fitbit watch & measuring my sleep → not wearing a watch at all.
Checking the time and going by hour → flowing with time and doing things as they feel.
A deep dive of the different parts he goes into are summarized in my Substack posts: Choosing to Choose, Beyond Control & Together.
Ratings (Each rated 0 = sucks, 0.5 = okay, 1 = fascinating)
Entertainment = 0.5
Insights = 1
Storytelling = 0.5
Relevance = 1
Clarity = 1
Overall = 4
Not the most entertaining book, but the insights, relevance, and clarity were enriching. The changes induced through letting go of time challenge the day-to-day occurrences with how we normally discuss time.
Overall, Four Thousand Weeks is a change-inducing book. Not the most transformative, but hey, it sets up the foundation for getting to that spot.
Curious about another book that may be more change-inducing? Consider Finite & Infinite Games - a book that will knock your socks off for navigating how to use our time playfully.
