Four Thousand Weeks was referred to me by a friend recently. He felt it was not about time management, but focused on our relationship with time itself, and I agree. This book, by Oliver Burkeman is the amount of time you have to live, if you live for roughly 80 to 90 years. The book will not give you the latest “silver bullet” to do list strategies, or focus on perfectly structured daily routines to maximize new levels of productivity that may never satisfy.
The Philosophy of Time
Instead, Burkeman takes a philosophical look at our relationship with time beyond being a space for getting things done. Looking at who and what is important and meaningful to you, he poses this question: how are you present to those relationships in the context of time? Especially, given our limited life-span, Life’s unpredictability and the reality that we do not have control over time itself. Burkeman points out how we are rapidly losing our ability to simply “be,” and in time as our minds constantly oscillate between the past and trying to control the future. As he puts it, “time is not something we manage, but something we are a part of.”
The Role of Devices
Technology has created a new speed of delivery and increased efficiency which seems to give us more time. But no! In our personal lives, we have filled any time gained with more demand and activity, creating the unending day. (A) has created a sense that we are never accomplishing enough. We have more time saving devices than ever before, yet still people feel they have no time for themselves. They feel they are losing touch with the concept of enjoying time. We have begun to believe that we can keep expanding our level of activity into a finite amount of time.
This book may help you take a fresh look at how you think of, and relate to, time as a finite gift of the moment rather than a tool that you have control over. We can all embrace the notion that productivity is the ultimate measure of time well spent.
If read through the lens of spirituality and a life of faith, there are many connections to ancient spiritual wisdom, as the book is packed with insights about how to be more present in the moment of time happening right now. A good read, Bob.
