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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
It saw me through. Worth it more than a therapy session (or at least I now have something to start it with!)
I listened to it in audiobook, then I got the physical copy because I need to take notes. THAT'S how much I needed this book.
I listened to it in audiobook, then I got the physical copy because I need to take notes. THAT'S how much I needed this book.
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
this is the type of book that doesn’t pretend to tell you things you don’t already know and i appreciate that most of all. it serves a worthwhile purpose to be reminded of these things, especially when so many people try to convince you otherwise, that you are or can be the exception to the rule if you just try hard enough. it’s liberating to be told that you don’t have to do the impossible, which you might not even have realized you were striving toward. i benefitted immensely from having learned a lot of these lessons in a college class: the science of happiness. i was extremely lucky to have learned so much about the psychology of subjective well-being and how to achieve it, but that background further serves to show that reminders of what we intuitively know are extremely valuable. i was explicitly taught these things and still forget to implement them in favor of the strive for the impossible. if i have any criticism it is for two things. firstly that the many references to the pandemic and its effect on this book does age its contents. the wisdom imparted feels less timeless and more suited to an audience still reeling from the effects of covid. secondly, and this is not necessarily an indictment of the book, it lacks much consideration or mention of mental disability, for which i’m sure very different coping mechanisms must also apply. it’s not lost on me that there would be too much to cover if that was taken into account and also that this book doesn’t purport to address those specific concerns. still, it felt like an oversight especially on the topic of our neuroses. overall, i can definitely see myself both recommending and returning to this book very often.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
one part philosophy, one part practical advice. Not as practical as I would like, but not bad either.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
informative
reflective
fast-paced
I'm finding the self help genre to be repetitive, which i think is intentional but not the most riveting. However, there were some nuggets of wisdom to help put our modern lives in a bit of perspective and confront reality.
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
British author and journalist Oliver Burkeman calls himself a ‘productivity geek’ aka “someone who is passionate about crossing items off their to-do lists”. And do I plead guilty at that! Under the false pretense to get the things out of my head, I even make virtually daily to-do lists for my 8 to 10 pm week time. And, obviously predictably so, get frustrated when I do not get through them before going to bed. So yes, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals does burst one of this century’s biggest myths or what Burkeman refers to as ‘the efficiency trap’: the more you get done, the more you will attract to do, never leaving you truly ‘done’. As in: you can never win! Another truth to truly embrace is to de-instrumentalise time and foster the patience to solve problems, go for radical incrementalism and to stay at it. No matter what. This take-away I for one will put immediately into practice: focus on one big project at a time as in ‘serialise, serialise, serialise’. Definitely a book to reread.