How To Properly Manage Your Time - Oliver Burkeman | Modern Wisdom Podcast 365

Oliver Burkeman is a journalist and an author. Time is something we all wish we had more of and tons of productivity gurus have proposed strategies to stop it from slipping through our fingers. After years of investigating and reporting on cutting-edge productivity for The Guardian, Oliver has arrived at a slightly different worldview of time and how we should manage it. Expect to learn why becoming more efficient often just leads to you getting more useless work done, the fundamental problems which all time management strategies fail to address, how deciding what you're going to fail at is a superpower, the danger of seeing your leisure time as an arena for self-improvement and much more... Sponsors: Get a free gift from Tiege Hanley when you try their skincare range at http://tiege.com/modernwisdom (deal automatically applied) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and Free Shipping from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Extra Stuff: Buy Four Thousand Weeks - https://amzn.to/3BhqQJR Follow Oliver on Twitter - https://twitter.com/oliverburkeman Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom #timemanagement #productivity #efficiency - 00:00 Intro 00:29 Unique Challenges of Time 09:34 The Dangers of Over-productivity 19:24 Solving the Efficiency Trap 26:18 What to Say ‘No’ To 38:07 Letting Go of To-Do List Anxiety 46:39 Forsaking Present for Future 56:03 Productivity as Denial of Mortality 1:01:33 Seeing Life as a Gift - Listen to all episodes online. Search "Modern Wisdom" on any Podcast App or click here: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/modern-wisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Oliver BurkemanguestChris Williamsonhost

Aug 29, 20211h 5mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Stop Chasing Perfect Productivity: Embrace Finitude To Use Time Well

Oliver Burkeman argues that most modern time management is a doomed quest for total control over an inherently uncontrollable, finite life. We live as if we can and should do more than is humanly possible, generating chronic overwhelm and the illusion that the right system will finally let us “catch up.”
Instead, he proposes a kind of active surrender: accept limitation, choose consciously what to neglect, and focus on doing fewer but more meaningful things, one at a time. This shift turns efficiency from an end in itself into a tool in service of what genuinely matters, including real leisure and presence in the moment.
Burkeman and Williamson explore how infinite inputs (email, opportunities, social media, self‑improvement goals) collide with our finite weeks, why leisure has become another form of work, and how rethinking plans, goals, and ‘being busy’ can reduce anxiety and increase fulfillment.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

You cannot ‘win’ against time, only decide how to lose well.

Treating time as something you can finally dominate produces endless stress and bad decisions; recognizing that time will always ‘win’ lets you stop chasing impossible control and start making deliberate, humane trade-offs.

Efficiency without priorities just attracts more low-value work.

Getting faster and more organized in a world of infinite inputs doesn’t create freedom by default; it usually fills your schedule with more emails, requests, and tasks that never passed a meaningful importance filter.

Accept that important things will be left undone—by choice.

There will always be more meaningful projects than you can complete, so you must consciously decide which worthy domains to neglect (for now) instead of trying to be excellent at everything and failing everywhere.

Limit work-in-progress to focus and finish what matters.

Methods like time-boxing, Kanban-style ‘one big goal per domain,’ or a five-item max to-do list force you to confront trade-offs, reduce task-switching, and move meaningful projects over the finish line.

Use time as time, not just as fuel for future outcomes.

When every moment is judged only by what it produces later, you never actually inhabit your life; allowing some time to be intrinsically valuable (rest, play, presence) counters the impulse to turn leisure into self-improvement work.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

You can't win the battle with time. In the end, time is going to win that battle.

— Oliver Burkeman

As you get really good at getting things done, you realize you're getting really good at getting the unimportant things done.

— Oliver Burkeman

You can't have to do more than you can do.

— Oliver Burkeman

The only way to really efficiently care about something in your life is to be okay with not caring about other things.

— Oliver Burkeman

You might as well spend your time doing things that matter to you. What have you got to lose, compared to someone who never got to be born?

— Oliver Burkeman

The impossibility of total control over time and the illusion of masteryModern busyness, overwhelm, and the evolution of time anxietyThe efficiency trap and becoming a “limitless reservoir” for others’ expectationsFinitude, limitation, and the psychological denial of deathChoosing what to fail at and narrowing focus for deeper progressTime-boxing, constrained to-do lists, and practical ways to work within limitsLeisure, presence, and the danger of instrumentalizing every moment for future gains

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