You Are Going to Die
The Atlantic|November 2024
Oliver Burkeman has become an unlikely self-help guru by reminding everyone of their mortality.
Hillary Kelly
You Are Going to Die

"The average human lifespan," Oliver Burkeman begins his 2021 megabest seller, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, "is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short." In that relatively brief period, he does not want you to maximize your output at work or optimize your leisure activities for supreme enjoyment. He does not want you to wake up at 5 a.m. or block out your schedule in a strictly labeled timeline.

What he does want you to do is remind yourself, regularly, that the human life span is finite that someday your heart will stop pumping, your neurons will stop firing, and this three-dimensional ride we call consciousness will just... end. He also wants you to know that he's aware of how elusive those reminders can feel-how hard their meaning is to internalize.

Burkeman's opening sentence, with its cascade of unexpected adjectives, is the prelude to his countercultural message that no one can hustle or bullet journal or inbox-zero their way to mastering time.

Such control, and the sense of completion and command it implies, is literally impossible, Burkeman argues. In fact, impossible is one of the words he uses most frequently, though it sounds oddly hopeful when he says it. He is perhaps best known for the idea that "productivity is a trap" that leaves strivers spinning in circles when they race to get ahead. In Burkeman's telling, once you abandon the "depressingly narrow-minded affair" that is the modern discipline of time management, you can "do justice to our real situation: to the outrageous brevity and shimmering possibilities of our four thousand weeks." That is, you will find that an average 80-year life span is about far more than getting stuff done.

This story is from the November 2024 edition of The Atlantic.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the November 2024 edition of The Atlantic.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM THE ATLANTICView All
What Zoya Sees
The Atlantic

What Zoya Sees

Long a fearless critic of Israeli society, since October 7 Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi has made wrenching portraits of her nation's sufferingand become a target of protest.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
Malcolm Gladwell, Meet Mark Zuckerberg
The Atlantic

Malcolm Gladwell, Meet Mark Zuckerberg

The writer’ insistence on ignoring the web is an even bigger blind spot today than it was when The Tipping Point came out.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
You Are Going to Die
The Atlantic

You Are Going to Die

Oliver Burkeman has become an unlikely self-help guru by reminding everyone of their mortality.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
Alan Hollinghurst's Lost England
The Atlantic

Alan Hollinghurst's Lost England

In his new novel, the present isnt much better than the past—and its a lot less sexy.

time-read
8 mins  |
November 2024
Scent of a Man
The Atlantic

Scent of a Man

In a new memoir, Al Pacino promises to reveal the person behind the actor. But is he holding something back?

time-read
5 mins  |
November 2024
CATCHING THE CARJACKERS
The Atlantic

CATCHING THE CARJACKERS

ON THE ROAD WITH AN ELITE POLICE UNIT AS IT COMBATS A CRIME WAVE

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
THE RIGHT-WING PLAN TO MAKE EVERYONE AN INFORMANT
The Atlantic

THE RIGHT-WING PLAN TO MAKE EVERYONE AN INFORMANT

In Texas and elsewhere, new laws and policies have encouraged neighbors to report neighbors to the government.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
The Playwright in the Age of AI
The Atlantic

The Playwright in the Age of AI

In his new play, McNeal, Ayad Akhtar confronts, and subverts, the idea that artificial intelligence threatens human ingenuity.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
Is Forgiveness Possible?
The Atlantic

Is Forgiveness Possible?

Thirty years after the genocide in Rwanda

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024
WASHINGTON'S NIGHTMARE
The Atlantic

WASHINGTON'S NIGHTMARE

DONALD TRUMP IS THE TYRANT THE FIRST PRESIDENT FEARED.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2024