When I randomly came across this book on a Barnes and Noble table a few years back, the odd title caught my attention. I admit I’ve tried to finish it a couple times since then, but usually I get distracted by all the other reading that catches my interest. In spite of my well developed procrastination abilities I’ve mastered over the years, now seems the time to go back and finish it, but take it all in slowly and see if there is any perks to such a process.
If you’re new around here, I hope you’ll consider following along as well, whether from the start, or jump in wherever you prefer.
Below you’ll find the reading schedule and thoughts how I plan to roll this out. To begin, I’ll start with the Introduction and Chapter 1 beginning next Sunday.
“Four Thousand Weeks is (I hope!) an entertaining and philosophical but ultimately deeply practical guide to the alternative path of embracing your limits: dropping back down into reality, defying cultural pressures to attempt the impossible, and getting started on what’s gloriously possible instead. It’s about actually getting meaningful things done, here and now, in our work and our lives together – in the clear-eyed understanding that there won’t be time for everything, and that we’ll never eliminate life’s uncertainties.”
I confess I have tried my fair share of time management hacks from paper planners, bullet journals, goal setting, and multiple to-do apps that are filled with unchecked items that have been quietly ignored and never spoken of again.
What appealed to me about this book is it seems to take a different approach and considers our human nature and mortality as inevitable forces that often seem uncomfortably tucked away from our attention.
Despite being blessed with habitual creature-hood, I like books that challenge my defense mechanisms and hope this may nudge me in interesting directions as I read through it more slowly. Will it? I have some minor doubts, though I’ve adopted a personal slogan in my life - “be open to alternative outcomes” - which has benefited me more than a few times big and small. So I guess I’ll find out.
Every Sunday, I’ll send out a slow read newsletter discussing that week’s pages. Each newsletter will include the usual: ideas, summaries, interesting passages, and my own reflections. I hope to include other resources and links that seem pertinent as well.
If you decide to follow along, let me know what you think, what stands out, what doesn’t jive and why. Read at the pace that works for you. Maybe you have already read this book once before. Join the discussion or follow along quietly. There’s no wrong way to participate.
Found us in media res? Not an issue. Feel free to check things out as you like. There’s no such thing as being “late”. And I’ll be keeping my eye out across all the weeks’ discussions so your thoughts will be heard.
I decided a chapter a week is where I’ll begin. But I’m learning in the process, so after a couple weeks if it makes sense, I might shift to two or more chapters per week.
Week 1 : Introduction: In the Long Run, We’re All Dead
Week 2: Chapter 1 - The Limit-Embracing Life
Week 3: Chapter 2 - The Efficiency Trap
Week 4: Chapter 3 - Facing Finitude
Week 5: Chapter 4 - Becoming a Better Procrastinator
Week 6: Chapter 5 - The Watermelon Problem
Week 7: Chapter 6 - The Intimate Interrupter
Week 8: Chapter 7 - We Never Really Have Time
Week 9: Chapter 8 - You Are Here
Week 10: Chapter 9 - Rediscovering Rest
Week 11: Chapter 10 - The Impatience Spiral
Week 12: Chapter 11 - Staying on the Bus
Week 13: Chapter 12 - The Loneliness of the Digital Nomad
Week 14: Chapter 13 - Cosmic Insignificance Therapy
Week 15: Chapter 14 - The Human Disease
Week 16: Afterword and Appendix - Beyond Hope and Ten Tools
Week 18: Final Reflections and What’s Next
Each week’s newsletter and discussion thread will be linked here as they become available.
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