We’ve Got 4,000 Weeks To Live

What is ticking is not time. It is our life. Assuming we’ll live to be 80 years old, we have about four thousand weeks.

In Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, the author, Oliver Burkeman, attacks the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Two of the takeaways:

• There will always be too much to do — As the author puts it: Finite creatures can’t do an infinite number of things—that’s just math. The sooner we accept this, the better. Focus on what matters most and forget the rest. You can’t do everything.
• Patience is a superpower — Let things take the time they need to take. No rushing. The author reminds us that the ability to let things take the time they take is actually an incredibly powerful way to exert influence over the world.

Bonus: A related resource to put things into perspective: The Tail End by Tim Urban. Tim Urban assumed a human lifespan of 90 years and made incredible visuals on how much time we have left. One of his takeaways: Priorities matter.