PDF Summary:Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman

Writer and journalist Oliver Burkeman claims that humans make themselves miserable by mistakenly believing they should be able to get through all their tasks, to-dos, and chores in the time they’ve allotted them. The reality is that no matter what time management solutions they implement, humans will never have perfect control over how they spend their time. Instead, people must accept that they’ll never get as much done as they’d like and work within the parameters of a finite life. Burkeman suggests a few ways to do this that not only relieve us of the guilt of not getting everything done but also let us lead happier, more fulfilled lives.

In this guide, we’ll discuss some of the productivity solutions Burkeman feels are misguided and explore if they might have some merit. We’ll also connect his ideas to broader philosophical, scientific, and spiritual concepts about how to best use your time.

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(Shortform note: Burkeman describes how the belief that you can accomplish all your to-dos prevents you from prioritizing critical tasks. According to David Allen, you can make it even harder to prioritize critical tasks by not writing down all your tasks on paper. In Getting Things Done, Allen contends that when you don’t write tasks down, you think about the unimportant ones as much as the important ones. You might thus expend all your mental energy on a minor task and have none left over for a major one.)

Form of Suffering #4: You Obsess About the Future at the Expense of the Present

Finally, Burkeman believes that the delusion that you can get everything done makes you suffer because it causes you to spend all your present time working toward an unattainable future goal. Rather than dedicating your present to enjoyable pursuits that add richness to your life, you dedicate it to the less-rewarding act of catching up on work, because you believe if you try hard enough, you can one day get on top of it all.

(Shortform note: In Who Will Cry When You Die?, Robin Sharma explains that letting enjoyable present moments slip by because you dedicate all your time to work and concerns about the future not only causes you to suffer but also leaves you with regret on your deathbed. In fact, he believes most people prioritize the wrong things—future-oriented concerns about career and status, for example—when they should be prioritizing things like cherishing moments of present beauty.)

Burkeman adds that capitalism causes you to think in this future-oriented way because it’s designed to utilize present resources to make future profits. As a member of a capitalist society, you’re compelled to think about the present in terms of how it can improve the future.

(Shortform note: Capitalism has spawned many other widely accepted beliefs beyond the notion that you should use the present to improve the future. According to Yuval Noah Harari in Sapiens, capitalism is predicated upon the idea that economic growth is inherently good because it helps promote freedom and justice. A capitalist might argue that when a country is wealthy, it spreads wealth to less developed countries, thereby improving their economic and governmental situations. Like the belief that you should dedicate the present toward the improvement of the future, the idea that economic growth is inherently good is up for debate.)

Part 3 | The Solution: Accept Your Limitations and Work Within Them

Now that you know why you’ll never have enough time to do everything you want and how believing that you do causes you to suffer, let’s move on to the solution Burkeman proposes to this problem. The solution involves accepting two unpleasant facts and using tactics to work within the limitations those facts set up.

We’ll describe each fact you must accept and the tactics Burkeman proposes for working within them:

Fact #1: You’ll Never Feel as Though You’ve Mastered Your Time

The first fact about your time you must accept is that you’ll never have enough time to complete all the tasks and work you want to, insists Burkeman. Relatedly, you’ll never be able to meet your and society’s expectation of “getting everything done,” and you’ll never have total control over how you spend your time. When you accept this, you free yourself from the burden of trying to meet unrealistic expectations, and you’ll become happier.

(Shortform note: Burkeman writes that when you stop clinging to the belief that you have control over your time, you become happier. One specific, happiness-generating benefit of letting go of society's unrealistic expectations of productivity is that when you stop trying to do everything, you're more likely to excel. In The 12 Week Year, Brian P. Moran proposes that when you try unrealistically to get everything done, you perform all your tasks poorly. Moran specifically writes about multitasking—a manifestation of the struggle to do everything—and claims that this forces you to spread your attention too thin, so you don’t excel at any task.)

Let’s now turn to the six tactics Burkeman proposes for both getting the most done and maximizing your happiness:

Tactic #1: Make Time for Critical Tasks Now

Prioritize tasks that matter most by making time for them before you do anything else, advises Burkeman. Don’t wait until time opens up (as discussed in Part 2, new tasks will always pop up to occupy freed-up time). Instead, just do them now, accepting that, due to opportunity costs, you likely won’t get to other tasks that matter to you.

(Shortform note: The idea that you must make time for important tasks is the foundation of Robin Sharma’s book The 5 AM Club. In it, he advocates for making time for key tasks by waking up at 5 a.m. and taking an hour to engage in important activities: exercise, personal reflection, and personal growth. Unlike Burkeman, though, Sharma doesn’t believe there must be an opportunity cost to making time for these important tasks, because you wouldn’t be doing anything else between 5 and 6 a.m. (other than sleeping).)

Tactic #2: Limit Your In-Progress Projects

As part of working effectively within your time limitations, don’t take on more commitments than you can handle just to feel that you’re being productive, recommends Burkeman. Limit yourself to three projects, and only take on new ones once old ones are done. Because you only have a few items to do, this will relieve you of a feeling of overwhelm.

(Shortform note: Burkeman recommends taking on only three projects at a time, but this can mean saying no to people who want you to do something for or with them, which can be difficult and awkward. According to Greg McKeown, you can strengthen your ability to say ‘no’ by thinking about the opportunity costs of saying ‘yes.' If you remind yourself that accepting an invitation to drinks would mean not spending time with your kids, it becomes easier to decline, for instance.)

Tactic #3: Resist Distraction by Being Okay With Discomfort

To work within your time constraints, avoid distracting yourself from high-priority tasks that force you to confront your limitations (as discussed in Part 2) by developing a tolerance for discomfort, suggests Burkeman. This makes the task less unpleasant and allows you to see it through to completion. For instance, when editing a movie you made (which is important to you), you feel you fell short of achieving your vision. This could cause you to distract yourself from editing by watching TV so you don’t have to confront the limitations of your talent and skill. Instead, if you acclimate to the discomfort of editing your sub-par movie, you can see the task through to the end.

(Shortform note: A tolerance for discomfort isn’t just necessary to complete important and challenging tasks: It’s also critical to personal growth. In The 12 Week Year, Brian Moran argues that improving yourself and swapping bad behaviors for good ones is uncomfortable because you’re stretching yourself in new ways. Most people dislike this discomfort so much that they abandon their self-improvement efforts. However, Moran believes that if you can tolerate the discomfort, you can grow into the person you want to be.)

To develop a tolerance for discomfort, Burkeman proposes that when you notice yourself being distracted from an important task, immerse yourself more in it by paying closer attention to it. For example, if you become distracted from the important task of learning how to play the violin, pay even more attention to the details of your practice: Notice how some of the notes sound bad and others good, how your hands feel, and how the bow glides across the strings.

(Shortform note: In Indistractable, Nir Eyal provides a more elaborate, four-step framework for how to resist distraction: First, identify the trigger that makes you want to distract yourself. Next, write down what the trigger is. Third, pay attention to the feeling of discomfort that accompanies the need to distract yourself (as Burkeman recommends). Finally, resist the cravings for distraction by telling yourself you’ll give in and distract yourself in 10 minutes. Usually, the urge to distract yourself passes in that time.)

Tactic #4: Stop Expecting the Future to Unfold Exactly as Planned

Having accepted that you’ll never master your time, work within that restraint by being open to the future veering from the plans you’ve created, advises Burkeman. The future is unknowable, and you have little real control over it. When you develop expectations of what should happen in the future and those expectations aren’t met, you both waste time planning and also become unhappy.

For example, you might build an in-home panic room to assure your future safety. However, a new job might force you to move into a new home, rendering your attempt to control the future futile and leaving you unhappy over your wasted efforts.

(Shortform note: Burkeman advises you to stop planning the future as though you can predict exactly how it will unfold. However, for people who suffer from anxiety, trying to control the future can be more of a compulsion than a conscious choice. Anxiety-prone people strongly need to feel in control of their lives, so they plan meticulously to ensure they know what will happen in the future. Beyond the wasted time and unhappiness such behavior generates, highly controlling and anxious people also often cause conflict because they want others to fall in step with their plans.)

Burkeman adds that you can help yourself become okay with the idea of not having control over the future by considering how little control you’ve had over your life until now. Most of your life has been a series of events over which you had no say: the event of being born, your upbringing in a certain area, your chance meeting with your partner-to-be, and so on. If you’ve succeeded thus far in life merely by happenstance—not through your iron control—then it will probably be okay in the future when things occur by happenstance, too.

(Shortform note: Burkeman suggests that you can develop comfort with the idea of not having control over the future by reflecting on how little control you’ve had over your life thus far. You might also develop comfort with your lack of control over the future by becoming aware of how much you’ll change in the future—a process that’s also arguably outside of your control. According to David Epstein, author of Range, humans’ needs, wants, and even personalities change over the course of their lives. Reminding yourself that you don’t know for sure what you’ll want in the future may help you worry less about achieving future goals. )

Tactic #5: Develop Patience for the Current Pace of Life

Rather than expecting the pace of everything in your life to accelerate (as discussed in Part 2), cultivate patience for how long activities take now, advises Burkeman.

(Shortform note: Burkeman writes that you should cultivate patience for how long things currently take as part of accepting your limitations, but he doesn’t propose ways to become more patient. You can cultivate patience by simply paying greater attention to the world around you. When you force yourself to notice things, you also force your mind to slow down.)

According to Burkeman, you can strengthen your patience muscle by breaking a large task into short periods of work and forbidding yourself from doing any additional work after that period has elapsed. Every time you force yourself to stop working before you want to, you confront the feeling of impatience and become a little more comfortable with it. Over time, you’ll get much more accomplished than those who rush through all their tasks and burn themselves out.

(Shortform note: To help yourself break a large task into shorter, repeated periods of work, consider transforming the task into a tiny habit, as described by BJ Fogg in Tiny Habits. Tiny habits don’t demand much time, are actions you can perform right away, and are low-risk. If you make a tiny habit out of the big task, you’ll be able to easily return to it over short periods of time, thereby building your patience as you slowly work toward the long-term goal.)

Tactic #6: Align Your Free Time With That of Your Friends

Finally, having accepted that you’ll never wield total control over your time, align your schedule with that of the people you want to spend time with, counsels Burkeman. Even though structuring your free time around other people’s schedules initially seems restrictive, you’ll be much happier and feel less isolated.

(Shortform note: Burkeman proposes that you align your schedule with those of the people you want to spend time with. But not only does spending time with others free you from the burden of needing to control your time fully, it also has positive physiological effects, like lowering the level of cortisol, a stress hormone, in your body. Relinquishing control and reducing stress can together greatly increase your happiness.)

Burkeman suggests you sacrifice control for community by joining after-work activities that force you to be with people at a set time. You might join an amateur theater troupe or running group that meets regularly, for example.

(Shortform note: Joining after-work group activities, as Burkeman suggests, can be more difficult for introverts, who need alone time to recharge. To participate in group activities with minimal stress, introverts can balance stimulating activities with less stimulating ones. An introvert might spend an hour at home relaxing before going to a running group, for example.)

Fact #2: Your Life Is Finite

For Burkeman, the second fact about time to accept is that your life is finite and extremely brief in the context of the universe. If you live to be 76, you’ll only have about 4,000 weeks on Earth. This has two implications, continues Burkeman. First, because you only have limited time on Earth, you’ll never be able to accrue all the experiences you want to have. This is due to opportunity cost: Whenever you make a choice about what to do with your life, you preclude other choices. For example, if you choose to pursue a career in music, you can’t also pursue a career as an astronaut.

(Shortform note: Burkeman argues that your life is finite and that because of this time constraint, you’ll never be able to do everything you want to do in life. Others fundamentally disagree, saying that you can do everything you want to do (specifically in the context of your career) and that this will make you happier and more fulfilled than limiting yourself to just a few pursuits. To do everything, though, you may need to find roles that subsidize those that don’t bring in much money—which is still a form of constraint on your time.)

The second implication of a finite life is that you must use your time carefully and in service of projects and activities that matter to you and make you happy, stresses Burkeman. Don’t waste time trying to get through your to-do list, but rather dedicate it toward meaningful activities—like spending time with family, for example.

(Shortform note: Burkeman advises you to avoid wasting time on unimportant chores and tasks and instead spend as much time on meaningful activities as possible. However, he doesn’t provide help in identifying such meaningful activities. We can turn back to Who Will Cry When You Die?, in which Robin Sharma suggests you identify meaningful activities by reflecting on your strengths and how you can use them to help others. For example, if you’re a great listener, a meaningful activity could be providing empathetic support to your friends and family.)

Let’s now discuss the four tactics Burkeman provides for working within the limitations of a finite existence:

Tactic #1: Commit to Your Life Choices

Make and strongly commit to your life choices, insists Burkeman. As we just discussed, you’ll never be able to do everything you want in life, so it will make you happier to choose one option and do it well.

Burkeman elaborates that many people fear committing to choices because they think something better will come up if they keep their options open. However, this makes people unhappy because they constantly worry if there’s a superior alternative to what they’re doing, and it keeps them from experiencing the deeper joy of commitment.

For example, if you’re deciding between becoming a lawyer or a business owner, don’t spend years indecisively trying jobs in both fields or seeking jobs that give you the best of both worlds. Instead, commit to one career and dedicate yourself fully to being good at it. You’ll experience greater joy from being good at your work than from keeping your options open.

(Shortform note: In Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert provides a scientific explanation of why you’re happier when you commit to a choice: You have a psychological happiness-protecting response. When something bad happens to you (a car accident, for instance), this response kicks in and allows you to feel happy—or at least less distressed—that it happened (you feel grateful that your kids weren’t in the car, for example). The same response kicks in when you make a firm commitment to a choice: Even if you’re not initially thrilled about that choice, the happiness-protecting response will allow you to become happy about it because you can no longer alter your circumstances.)

Tactic #2: Focus on What’s Happening in the Present, Not the Future

As another solution to making the most of your limited time on earth, Burkeman suggests you focus on the only period of time you can completely control: the present. As discussed in Part 2, the delusion of control over your time encourages you to sacrifice your present time in service of improving your future time use. But because you can’t control the future, instead spend more time thinking about how you can make the most of the present.

For instance, if you’re tempted to spend your free afternoon preparing your business’s marketing campaign for next month rather than enjoying the nice weather, consider that you can guarantee your happiness now by going outside, but you can’t guarantee that your marketing campaign will be successful next month: Perhaps your competitors will lower their prices, and you’ll have to change the campaign to include a deal. You might thus opt to go outside, rather than work.

Living in the Past, Present, and Future

Burkeman suggests that you should focus more on the present than the past or future because you can take action now to make the present better. However, others feel that you shouldn’t focus on existing merely in the present and instead balance living in the past, present, and future. In The Lucifer Effect, Philip Zimbardo argues that you should consciously apply a past-, present-, or future-oriented perspective depending on the situation you’re in.

For example, when planning a trip, you should likely apply a future-oriented perspective to create an effective itinerary. However, if spending time with family, it’s better to be past-oriented, as your shared experiences will help you appreciate them more, and present-oriented, to better enjoy the moment.)

Tactic #3: Incorporate Purposeless Time Into Your Schedule

To spend your limited time pursuing activities that matter to you, Burkeman advises intentionally incorporating purposeless time into your schedule. Purposeless time is time spent doing something you like to do for its own sake, which doesn’t promise a payoff. This could be a hobby or activity like reading or knitting.

(Shortform note: In Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport provides a counterpoint to Burkeman’s claim that you should pursue leisure activities that don’t promise a payoff. He claims that when you use your leisure time doing demanding activities with set goals, you feel accomplished and proud when you meet the goal. Perhaps a blend of both demanding leisure activities (like fixing a bike) and fully purposeless activities (like reading) might provide the greatest happiness.)

Incorporating purposeless time into your life keeps you from thinking exclusively about the future in a way that erodes your ability to enjoy the present, elaborates Burkeman. You refrain from orienting all your present pursuits toward a future outcome and instead orient yourself toward deriving the most enjoyment from the present.

(Shortform note: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow might provide additional context for why purposeless time keeps you rooted mentally in the present: Purposeless activities promote a “flow state.” Flow states are characterized by total absorption in and extended concentration on a task. Csikszentmihalyi adds that you feel happy when in a flow state because you have greater control over your thoughts and feelings than when not in flow.)

Tactic #4: Don’t Dedicate Your Time to Changing the World, Because You Can’t

Finally, refrain from trying to live your life in a grand, meaningful way because you will fail at this, asserts Burkeman. In the broader context of the universe, your life has very little significance, and you won’t be able to make long-lasting change. When you recognize this, you free yourself from the pressure of having to make a huge difference and can focus on making a difference in the smaller ways available to you, writes Burkeman. For example, you might simply visit your grandparents more frequently to bring them joy.

(Shortform note: The Tao Te Ching supplements Burkeman’s somewhat pessimistic assertion that you shouldn’t try to change the world with the advice to instead uncover what your specific function in the world is. It states that you don’t have the ability to improve the world because the world is in a state of sacred balance and order, referred to as the Tao. Any attempt to alter that order by “doing good” will fail. The best you can do is to understand what role the Tao needs you to play and then fulfill that role to the best of your abilities. This may involve simply performing small acts of generosity and kindness, as Burkeman recommends.)