This interview got a lot of (shocked!) feedback, so I figured I’d run it again as we start thinking about heading back to work. Again. And contemplating “what it’s all about”.
British writer Oliver Burkeman has investigated pretty much every productivity hack, mindfulness trick, list-making system and happiness boost we've ever been fed. He concludes, almost none work. Ha!
I followed Oliver's column in The Guardian, which he wrote from his home in Brooklyn, New York, for about 10 years and he is definitely my favourite anti-self-help self-help writer!
It's been a few years since his last book, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, and just as I found myself asking where Oliver Burkeman was at since quitting his popular column last year, I noticed he had a new book out that makes the startling point - we have a very short time on this planet, about Four Thousand Weeks (also the title of the book).
This is the wild idea we discuss in this episode. Oliver asks, given life is short, what are you going to do about it?
Oliver’s books that we spoke about:
The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking
Four Thousand Weeks
The Pomodoro timer app here
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Ask Me Anything - Part 2
Ask Me Anything - Part 1
TIM BROWN: Sarah’s meditation teacher joins the show
JAMES HOLLIS: The Jungian take on 2021
RUTGER BREGMAN: Author of Humankind on how to trust each other
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