Ephemeris of the Mind (Book Review) Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
Time to read: 3 min read
Book Cover
Our obsession with extracting the greatest future value out of our time blinds us to the reality that, in fact, the moment of truth is always now - that life is nothing but a succession of present moments, culminating in death, and that you’ll probably never get to a point where you feel you have things in perfect working order.
Review
This book was suggested to me by someone whom I consider a mentor all the way back in 2021 and it has been on my reading list ever since then. Clearly I need the advice from within the book as it’s now 2023 and I’ve just gotten around to reading it.
The book is technically a self-help book about time management but eschews conventional self-help niches such as tips and tricks to be more productive and instead focuses on the philosophy of time and our relationship to the abstract concept. The language is very colloquial and the book uses many anecdotes to illustrate its many points. The book also references many philosophical views, such as about humanity’s meaning (or lack thereof) in life, which I appreciate.
The three key takeaways for me are as follows:
As of right now, every human being’s time alive is finite (although I do personally hope that one day there is a biotech breakthrough and we can live forever). The finality of our existence has many significant implications, such as coming to terms about not being infinite and not being in control of many aspects of our lives that we believe that we can control.
Many of the time management mistakes we make stem from us not coming to terms with the idea that our time is finite. For instance, procrastination (which is something that I struggle with) stems from our misguided belief that we can accomplish everything that we wish to accomplish, so we neglect to prioritize the important tasks above the non-essential tasks. Only when we acknowledge that we cannot accomplish everything we want to do, can we ruthlessly prioritize the things that matter over those that we are ok with not accomplishing.
Doing more or being more efficient won’t necessarily mean we will have more time, as the more one does, the more there is to be done (new work assignments, more emails, etc.). It’s thus critical to be stoic with time, recognizing the tradeoffs one is making as well as pursuing something that is meaningful to oneself. Burkeman also gives suggestions on how to better enjoy time, such as being mindful of the present and sharing time with people one cares about.
Conclusion
At times a bit repetitive but many interesting ideas in this book.