Time Management for Mortals
The phrase “time management” says efficiency to me, in a business sense. But Oliver Burkeman means something very different in his book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. His book is philosophical — what should I spend time on during the limited 4,000 weeks of my life?
Traditional time management tries to get everything on my “To Do” list done by the end of the time period. Most of those items are mundane: answering emails, cleaning out the closet, checking Facebook, paying bills. Getting these things done gives me a feeling of satisfaction, of accomplishing something. However, how important are those accomplishments?
What is it that I really want to accomplish before I die? Because that’s what being mortal means. For me, leaving a daughter with the understanding to lead a good life is a worthy endeavor. Spending time with someone I love is worthy use. Enjoying a sunset, playing a symphony, walking in the woods, listening deeply to someone, petting my cat, or making a Dutch apple pie is also worthy of my time.
I have other goals that are important to me. Communicating with my prison pen pal is a current one. Helping to birth a new CDFI is another. Decluttering my house will save my daughter the thankless task.
Now is my gift to use however I choose. May I choose wisely in this new year.
If you are curious about this view of time, listen to the podcast of On Being’s 1/14 radio program, broadcast on Sunday at 9 am on WNIJ-FM. You can listen, download or read the transcript at:
https://onbeing.org/series/podcast/
Submitted by Teresa Wilmot
2 min readJan 31, 2022