This book has compelled me to do my first-ever book review (which may be obvious), but I believe that, because it’s a message to every living human, it could be the most delightfully compulsory read you’ve ever picked off the shelf.
I don’t recall ever dog-earring so many pages in a book as I have with Four Thousand Weeks. It is masterfully written, intelligently and intuitively observed and unputdownable. And because Burkeman speaks so truthfully about our short time here on earth, one is compelled to question, “Is this a good use of my time reading this?” What a dichotomy?!
The answer is, “Unquestionably!”
The premise
The premise of Four Thousand Weeks is that if we complete the current average lifespan of 86 years for women and 82 years for men, we are given approximately 4470 and 4260 weeks, respectively. So, it comes down to how we spend every single one of them and the meaning that we give to our lives that must be packed into this ridiculously short blink of time, as eons go.
Burkeman addresses FOMO and asserts that missing out is actually what makes our choices meaningful in the first place. And missing out on something (or almost everything, for that matter) is basically guaranteed. Events with friends, education decisions, marriage, partnerships, reproduction, entrepreneurial desires and health choices all determine how we contribute to the planet, and maybe we should feel the thrill of making a good choice and letting the rest go.
My take-aways
For me, as I glide (or more like gallop) past my 3,175th week on earth, choosing to blend into the agricultural landscape, I am all the better for having read, re-read and hopefully understood why it feels like the weeks are getting shorter and what I need to do about it. It has a subliminal message throughout its pages that echoes, “So, what are you waiting for?”
Four Thousand Weeks is a mirror held in front of me that brings me closer to a contentedness that I will achieve what’s possible in my life by letting go of the myth that I can achieve the impossible. And I’m good with that.
Find out more. Visit Oliver Burkeman’s website here.