Book SummaryMeditations for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Meditations for Mortals

Many people have lofty goals that they pine after but never achieve. As a result, they’re left feeling dissatisfied with their lives and critical of themselves. In Meditations for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman explains that you don’t fail to achieve your lofty goals because you’re incapable or uninspired; rather, you’re focused on the wrong things. Rather than clinging to unachievable dreams, striving for perfection, and fighting immovable obstacles, you need to embrace and work within your limitations.

Burkeman is a journalist known...

Meditations for Mortals Summary Step1: Work Within Your Limitations

According to Burkeman, the first step toward building a happy and successful life is to accept your limitations. As humans, we have finite resources and opportunities. Burkeman says that while it’s good to dream big, it’s also necessary to be realistic—otherwise, you’ll waste your time and energy pining for things you’ll never attain. Instead, you should aim to flourish within your realm of possibility.

In this section, we’ll explore the three strategies Burkeman says can help you learn to work within your limitations.

Strategy 1: Change Your Mindset

According to Burkeman, to work within your limitations, you must first change your mindset. Accurately assess your reality so you can let go of unreachable ideals and focus on what’s currently possible instead of what could be possible in an abstract, unknown future. Shifting to this mindset presents two major advantages.

First, accurately assessing your reality allows you to determine—and pursue—what’s realistically possible for you. For example, you may have a laundry list of things you want to do—start writing a book, act in a TV show, write a song, and so on. However, you’re not a musician or an actor,...

Meditations for Mortals Summary Step 2: Get Moving

Once you’ve altered your mindset to work within your limitations, Burkeman says that it’s time to take action toward your goals—figure out what you need to do and how you’re going to do it, but be reasonable with yourself throughout the process. In this section, we’ll explore Burkeman’s strategies for moving forward.

Strategy 1: Get Decisive

Burkeman says that to take action toward your goals, you must first figure out what you want to do (and what you don’t).

To do so, Burkeman recommends first taking inventory of your current options and deciding what to pursue and what to leave behind. This will simplify your life and propel you from a state of indecision and stagnation to one of action. For example, you can either spend your free time writing your book, renovating your basement, or attending acting classes. You must decide which one to pursue and drop the other two for now; otherwise, you’ll accomplish nothing. Do this with decisions big and small, from where you’ll eat lunch to how you’ll spend your free time, and take action immediately—don’t just make the choice and sit with it.

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Meditations for Mortals Summary Step 3: Loosen Your Grip

Burkeman explains that we generally have a lot of anxiety in life due to our desire for control. This prevents us from enjoying our lives to the fullest. In this section, we’ll focus on methods to help you loosen your grip so you can embrace life and make progress toward your goals.

Strategy 1: Stop Magnifying Situations

Burkeman explains that our anxiety and desire to achieve perfection often cause us to make our goals, problems, and barriers seem bigger than they are. This only exacerbates negative emotions like stress and discourages us from moving forward. To overcome this bad habit, Burkeman makes three recommendations:

First, rather than viewing your goals as big and requiring massive motivation to accomplish, pretend that they’re easy. Taking this perspective can help you feel less overwhelmed and make the goal feel more manageable—especially if you also break the goal down into smaller tasks, a strategy we discussed earlier. Further, imagining that your goals are easy will help you avoid making them unnecessarily complicated—for example, by thinking you need a laptop or a certain program to write your book when you could make do with your notes app or a pen...

Meditations for Mortals Summary Step 4: Find Peace and Happiness in the Present

The final step toward achieving a happier and more successful life, according to Burkeman, is finding peace and happiness in the present. This means making the most of the here and now rather than focusing on the future, and finding peace by detaching from unrealistic expectations. In the following sections, we’ll explore Burkeman's advice for accomplishing these goals.

Strategy 1: Make the Most of Right Now

To find peace and happiness in the present, according to Burkeman, you must make the most of right now. How can you accomplish this?

First, try your hardest and be your best self now—not at some future point. Many people tend to procrastinate or consider the present as practice for a better future. However, this mindset blocks you from ever reaching that potential—if you want something in the future, Burkeman says you should start acting like you’re living that life right now. For example, if you want to be an actor in the future, start practicing today like that actor would practice. If you want to become a more open person, start by practicing vulnerability with your friends today.

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Shortform Exercise: Identify Your Realistic Goals

Burkeman explains that the first step toward reaching your goals is getting realistic—determining which of your dreams are attainable so you can cut the rest and channel your energy where it counts. In this section, we’ll look at some of your goals and determine which one will be most fruitful for you to pursue based on your current circumstances.

List all the goals and dreams you have—for example, moving into a bigger house in a specific neighborhood, changing your career, and so on.