A Time Management Book that Suggests to Stop Managing Your Time.
Forever a sucker for contrarianism, the book makes very valid points for those of us who struggle with the pressure to justify life through production.
Rating: ★★★★
[INTRO]
I’ve been on a trajectory of ever increasing to-do lists since the middle of my 20s.
Lost in an aimless sea of post-collegiate life with my worthless degree, I had an age-old thought: time to make something of myself! I targeted what I wanted to be (or so I thought at the time) and laid out a plan to be a physical therapist.
This was no small task. I would have to quit my full-time job, empty my bank account for a year’s worth of pre-requirements while passing them with As, and smash the GRE out of the park to make my application look attractive. This required quite a bit of time management and focus on efficiency.
While I would categorize this as a positive period, the expectations only grew. Next, there was physical therapy school itself, a Sunday to Saturday commitment that grew in requirements each year. This bled into my personal life. Every semester, I was adding another hobby:
- Year 1, Spring – regimented workouts 5 days a week.
- Year 2, Fall – guitar and online lessons.
- Year 2, Spring – this blog itself, writing posts weekly.
There was always enough time, it was only a matter of thinking/figuring how to fit it all in. I was reading the Stoics and listening to ex-military podcasters who told me it was all a matter of “extreme ownership.” I felt like I could accomplish anything.
And then I crashed.
The moment I knew I had a problem was when I took a new job in my mid-30s where I only worked 30 hours a week. Ten years of ever increasing productivity brought me to this point – I now had more time to complete my hobbies the way I wanted to.
Except there was never enough time but always more guilt.
“Why didn’t I practice the guitar,” or “I haven’t written in forever,” or “Why didn’t I get everything done on my to-do list even though I have MORE time.”
I’ve been on the search for the antidote, and I believe Four Thousand Weeks it just the tincture I needed.
[REVIEW]
The book approaches time management from different viewpoints: historical, philosophical, psychological. This leads to some chapters being very meaningful (whenever I read about the history about time and labor, it is an instant reset to my relationship), and then some that don’t land a punch (as more of a lone wolf, I’m not too concerned about synchronous time commitments).
Here are some of the best ideas that resonated with me that pointed out the wrong lesson I learned after a 10-year process of always trying to do more.
LESSON #1 – There is no “life” to live after your to-do list since your to-do list never stops.
What life obliges is a never ending assortment of commitments and duties. The time maximizer essential makes a deal with themselves: I will sacrifice time in the moment for a beautiful time in the future, reaping my investment. Except, that future oasis never comes because your to-do list never stops.
Everything gets funneled through a prism of a future payout, like a certificate of deposit at the bank. Unlike a CD, though, there is no specified maturation date for life. There is no threshold we pass that tells us “oh, that’s enough,” so there is no stopping point where the life you have been building ever comes. Just BLEAK, dude.
LESSON #2 – We ARE time which cannot be separated like a resource to be maximized.
Pre-industrial people did not have this relationship with time. A farmer with an infinite amount of tasks does not race towards completion, because there is no point of completion. It all resets every day like a MMORPG with daily quests.
Only when we get to a production-based view point (maximizing time, to maximize production, to maximize profits) do we get to seeing time as a resource, and once you see it as a resource, you treat it differently.
For me, this maximization of time leads to issues with FOBO – fear of better options. Being awashed in so many choices, I want to make the best option. What if the game I’m playing isn’t as fun as something or else? So even while i’m doing something, there is the nagging feeling it might not be the best thing.
This is just complete nonsense, but where else do the feelings of guilt or remorse come from but the idea that we did not maximize our time? As the sun sets and my day comes to a close, I am analyzing my actions through a production lense which doesn’t make sense with life.
LESSON #3 – Becoming More Efficient Just Makes Your To Do List Fill Up Faster.
Burkeman uses email as the example. If you are really good at clearing out your inbox, you will have sent out multiple responses which will garner replies which will then fill your e-mail box again. Your efficiency has now created an inefficency through a feedback loop.
I did not want to believe this tidbit until I gave it more thought.
What happens to the best therapists who are really efficient and can see more patients? The company gives them MORE patients. This leads to the person having to be more efficient, creating templates and easy to change exercise programs, then they get rewarded with…MORE patients.
A full on boomerang.
This same reward structure was what I created for my personal life: I was so efficient and disciplined that new time created was immediately given to another task. Just like the effective therapist that eventually gets burned out, no wonder I was feeling so unfulfilled and anxious.
Lesson #4 – There is too much to live and experience. You WILL miss out.
Burkman calls this the “icy blast” of reality. It was not the first time I’ve heard it.
I remember a psychologist telling me as an adult you can realistically have “one…maybe two,” hobbies. This never settled well with me – there is so much I want to do! – however I’ve learned more and more that to be an expert takes time. You cannot be an expert on everything.
This also gives you freedom to do things at suboptimal levels.
You know I love to play pokemon cards? Except, I feel like I should be great at it. However, I have several hobbies. I can’t be great at all of them! So I won’t know every card, or every trick, or be prepared for every deck.
The “hard” choice here is to realize that there will be week gaps between playing while I go against players who grind daily. The answer isn’t forcing myself to play everyday, or worse, feeling bad that I’m being inefficient by not playing every day. Now I can just…play?
How silly 😅.
[CONCLUSION]
This productivity stuff is all very silly.
How did I get to a point where if I didn’t play every musical instrument I know daily that I wasn’t budgeting my time right or where I couldn’t enjoy something without looking over my shoulder wondering “…but is there something else? Or maybe a way to be MORE efficient?”
During that period of increased time off (I have now since returned to a 40-hour-a-week work life), I often times would sit poolside with chilled Oakleaf wine, sunbathing, listening to atmospheric music, watching the clouds cover and open the sun. Daydreaming, I would sometimes think back to a pre-25 year old me.
Things weren’t a rigid hierarchy. There didn’t have to be part of a long string of cause and effect leading to an ascendancy into the future. I didn’t worry about wasting time; I just picked and chose things to do, keeping the things I liked, dropping the things I didn’t.
I remember a cold Friday night where I went to the library and checked out a bunch of books. I came home and bundled up in covers reading to 1am or 2am. The rest of the weekend was probably spent with friends, partying, gaming, drinking.
There was no SWAT analysis of each activity nor a weighing of opportunity costs. I wasn’t worried about posting it to social media, or having to justify what I was doing. I just lived. Time was me, and I was time.
Now, it’s time to get back to that.
Other People’s Conclusions:
- Lonely Power Poles: “Most importantly Burkeman cautions us to avoid dreaming of that mythical ‘finally’ the dream reality where you finally have enough time to pursue your hobbies, get around to that thing and get some real exercise.“
- Bookish Blasphemy: “Four Thousand Weeks is a self-help book for people who hate self-help. If you had a visceral negative reaction to the ideas given above, you probably should read it. But even if you didn’t, the philosophy and information provided still make this a compelling read. I say take 5 hours out of your four thousand weeks and give it a try.”
- Thomas Cooper Portfolio: “Our life here on earth is shorter than we would like often and Burkman really makes that hit one emphasizing that instead of looking to be more productive to spend time on what actually matters, one quote that really hits this home for me was “The world is bursting with wonder, and yet it’s the rare productivity guru who seems to have considered the possibility that the ultimate point of all our frenetic doing might be to experience more of that wonder. “
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