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2023 Book Club
Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman

Show Notes:

Alright, it's time for the Nancy Ray Book Club 2023 edition, and in these episodes I'm gonna share my three biggest takeaways from the books that I'm reading. I keep a pace of about a book a month, and it's usually the last episode of the month that you'll find me sharing about that current book on my list. Today I'm gonna be giving an honest review of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mere Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.

For the full episode, hit play above or read through below.

Okay. I am a firm believer that when you read you have to kind of, what is it? Take the meat and leave the bones? You pick and choose the things that are good about the things you're reading or consuming and then you kinda leave the rest, right? And that's certainly the case with this book.

Four Thousand Weeks. It was a good read, it was challenging, it was different. If I'm honest, I wish I had kind of looked into it a little bit more before I just slapped it on my list. I didn't know a ton about it, but I just love time management stuff so I was like, oh, I love the title, I love time management, I'm gonna get this book. And I went for it.

Well, totally fine. I always love reading something that's a little bit of a challenge to me, but it just was, it was interesting. I'll dive into that a little bit in this episode. But it was interesting. Sometimes I was like, oh, okay, alright, this is a little depressing. Other times I'm like, okay, that's good. All right. And other times I'm like, all right, this dude and me, we don't believe anything the same at all.

So anyway, I just wanna give that disclaimer upfront, but I still love reading about time management, and He did give some really good practical tips toward the end. But today I'm just gonna be sharing my three biggest takeaways from the book and a little bit of my thoughts on it, as well.

The first big takeaway that I had is to embrace our finitude.

I'm not gonna lie, I googled how to say finitude. I keep wanting to say finite-ude, that's not correct. It's finitude. Basically how we are finite beings, right? And when we face that, when we face our finitude, it brings freedom. And that's one of the big points that he makes in the book and I honestly really liked this point. I really liked the heart behind what he was saying. He basically said, listen, instead of focusing on all that we have to do all the time, all the important things in our lives, which tend to be many, we have so many important things that we want to do and we want to do them efficiently and we want to do them well. He says, guess what? It's just better to stop trying to do it all.

Just embrace the fact that your to-do list will never end. Embrace the fact that it will never all get done. Embrace the fact that you are a finite being. Embrace your physicality.

And with that in mind, he said it shouldn't cause you to be more anxious. That actually lifts the anxiety because you're like, oh yeah, I won't ever be able to do it all so I don't have to work myself into a tizzy trying to do it all, because the sooner we realize we can't, the better off we are. And he gives an antidote to this. He says, instead, choose a few things and then just rest. Knowing that it's not all gonna ever get done. Just choose the few important things that you want to do well, and then just kind of like let go of the rest.

I love when he says to just stop clearing the decks. Like just stop trying to clear the decks and figure it all out. He said, just leave them there. Just leave them in a big messy pile and just choose a few things that matter and focus on doing those well. And one of the things he says at the end of the book, which ties into this point, but I really like it, he's said, instead of waking up every morning and creating a to-do list, wake up and create an empty list. That's your done list. And as you accomplish things that day, write down the things you've done.

That personally is a practice that I really could benefit from. And I think that I need to start doing because I do a lot. I mean, we all do a lot every single day, but when they become rote or they become routine, we don't think about them anymore. If it can feel like we didn't do anything that day, but making meals for our family, folding laundry, doing things that we do every day, they're important and we need to celebrate that those things got done.

He also says to build work hours, concrete boundaries for your work hours. And then be sure to stop with unfinished work and just say, “Hey, it's gonna remain unfinished, but it's more important for me right now to enjoy life.” So embrace your finitude. Embrace the fact that you're a human. Embrace the fact that we're never ever gonna get everything done, and that will bring you a lot of peace.

Now, as a believer, I know that the beautiful thing about this is we were created for eternity. Yes, we are finite human beings. Yes, we have limits. We are mortals. We have the limits of our bodies, we have the limits of time. We have the limits of even our five senses right now. We can't see into the spiritual realm. We can't see past where we are. We have a limited amount of hours that we're given to live here on earth. Four thousand weeks is the equivalent of living about 80 years, and that's not eternity. This is a finite life that we have. And I agree that embracing this, embracing our limits, brings us freedom.

But here's the beautiful thing as a believer that I feel like the author was missing from his book. That's the truth, that one day, if we believe in Jesus, in repent of our sins and turn to him for our salvation and we follow him, then we're gonna be joined with him, with our eternal creator. In the long run, there is an eternity, there is a heaven and there is a hell.

But the beautiful thing is that when we look at time management and the scope of our life here, and then also looking into eternity—which, I'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute—it just shows us like these tensions that we feel of being finite and and embracing that, that's good. But it also points to eternity and it points to the fact that we are created for more.

So yes, embracing our limits. Yes, embracing our finitude. Yes, embracing even the things that cause us tension and then just releasing it, saying, I never will finish this. Jesus is the only one who can finish all of the work. We're gonna die one day and things are gonna be left unfinished. Everything in our life is unfinished. But that's the beauty of God. He's complete and whole and and He's the one who covers our sins and our unfinished work. He's the one we can look to for that finished work.

And so, I don't know, I feel like that piece was missing just because, I mean, I don't think this author's a believer. He talks about that in the book. He doesn't believe, I don't think he believes there's an eternity or an afterlife or anything like that. But it just, it made me sad because I was like, Hey, yes, we get to embrace finitude, but also we get to look towards wholeness and eternity and the fact that Jesus completed the works. And while we feel that tension and feel like things are unfinished, we have hope to look forward to.

Okay, moving on to point number two.

My second biggest takeaway: anything worth pursuing in this life means relinquishing control of time.

Those are my words, not his. I kind of paraphrased a point that he was making that just really stood out to me. I don't even know that this was like a chapter of the book. I think this may have been just a point that he made within a chapter, but it just stuck with me, and I think just because I could relate so deeply to it. But he talked about how when he was single and working all the time, he had so much control over his time and it was glorious.

He could map it out, he could get things done, he could follow it. He could learn about all these time management principles and just really make the most of it. But when you choose something worthwhile, like marriage, in a lot of ways, you kind of give up that control of your time. You have to give up the things that you're used to doing or the way that you're used to spending your time in the hope of a greater thing, which would be to be to get married and to stay married to that person your whole life. And then let's add kids into the mix. Talk about not being in control of your time. Anything that you try to control or schedule, it's, you can't totally guarantee that a kid's not gonna get hurt or break their arm or get sick or I don't know, like there's different growing milestones that just tie you to your home and you can't do as much as you once could.

And yeah, but you think about it, I mean, is there anything more worthwhile than raising children and teaching them? No. Like being married and having a family is the foundation of society and personally the most fulfilling parts of my own life, and that ultimately means relinquishing control of my time.

I mean, I think back to when I was single or a newlywed and man, how different does life look? How different does my personal life look and how I spend my time? It's so different, but this is just so beautiful and so worthwhile and just an amazing trade. But you do have to be willing to relinquish your control of time.

I think about the scripture that says you gotta die to yourself. And when you, when you die to yourself, that's when you'll truly live. I love that, and I think that applies here even though he doesn't talk about that in the book. Oh, I also think about worship, okay. Times that I've spent in worship where it's just kind of been like unending, prolonged worship. That's another time in my life where I feel like, man, relinquishing the control of time. I have to let go of that. I have to let go of any kind of agenda that I have and just spend time in the presence of God. That's another thing worth pursuing in this life where you just kind of have to let go of your control of time.

Okay, so I mentioned this once before, the author’s not a believer, totally get that we have like different world views and I can totally respect that and I still believe I can learn so much from him. And I have. But one interesting part of the book that I honestly disagreed with was when he addressed heaven and the afterlife. And you know, it was just interesting because it was like he kind of kept going back and forth between this thought. And he started out by quoting a Swedish philosopher named Martin Halan. He started out one of his chapters by quoting him and he said, if you really thought life would never end, he argues that nothing could ever genuinely matter. I'd never be seized with the need to do anything with my time.

And so he talks a lot about, hey listen, if you believe in eternity, eternity like makes you think that this whole life is pointless here. And why even try? He's like, if you believe in an afterlife, why even try here? Because you're just gonna be given days upon days, upon days, upon days. And there's no urgency to anything. And I get the point that he's making. But then on the flip side, if you don't believe in eternity or in afterlife, as he puts it, or heaven or hell or whatever, if you don't believe that, he argues this is it. This is the one shot in life you get. It's what makes vacations special because you know, you have like a limited amount of vacations every year and when you kick the bucket, you're gone and those vacations are done or you know, everything in this life is just so fleeting, but also there's nothing after it. So you have to make this life count and get the most out of it.

I just, it made me sad to read that because I feel like for me eternity is of massive consequence. I mean massive consequence in everything that we do in this life and the choices that we make in this life determine our eternity.

And I know that my views are very different than his. And like I said, I respect his, but I do believe that having this view, this belief that's based on a biblical worldview where after we die, we either go to heaven or hell. And it is based on the works that Jesus did for us and the cross and whether or not we have accepted His work and His grace in our life, whether or not we have repented from our sin that separated us from a holy God, and if we turn around and repent and say, Jesus, I'm so sorry for my sins, the things that have hurt you and separated me from you, and I wanna be with you forever, please forgive me. And if we choose to walk and follow him and do our best to listen to his voice and walk in a relationship with him that one day when we die, we'll just be joined with this beautiful God that created us.

And for me, it like gives me so much purpose in this life to enjoy it and to not want to squander it and to manage my time well. That's why I love time management books. I like to learn about that. But it's more than that. It's more than just managing my time. It's always doing everything with this eternal perspective of like, how is this podcast I'm recording right now, how is this gonna affect things for all of eternity?

Because I also believe that if you don't repent from your sins, if you don't choose Jesus, if you don't accept his loving, saving grace where he sacrificed everything so we could be with him, then you'll be spending hell in eternity apart from him. And that is, that's a hard thing. That's a hard thing to really look at and face head on. But man, we're talking about eternity. So I think it's good to face it now. And that's why this life is so precious and so important is to stop and, and face it now and think, how are we living and spending our life right now? Are we doing it with eternity in mind? Are we keeping our eyes on Jesus? Are we allowing him to lead us and guide us?

And so, I felt a little bit as I was reading, like, sad to think that this is it, you know, there's no eternity after this. That's a really sad thing. And then also kind of sad when he quoted the guy who thought there was an afterlife, but the afterlife was like of no consequence. It just was like days on days on days and you don't even need to do anything now versus the Christian perspective of like, yes, there's an afterlife, but it's beautiful and it is of consequence and yes, you have this life here and it is also of consequence and it's all wrapped up in my relationship with the Lord and it's just, it's amazing.

Okay, I am getting on a big tangent here, but sorry, I can't like not share my heart on this because I just kept flipping the pages in this book like, okay, wow, there so many people who live and believe this. And it just kind of, it was like a sobering thought, made me a little bit sad, actually a lot sad. And also I just was like, man, I just really wanna share the truth of how inspiring and fulfilling life is when you do it in relationship with the God of the universe who made you and who knows you better than anyone else.

It's just such a beautiful, fulfilling way to live with eyes on this earth and eyes on this life and also eyes constantly on the next.

Okay, I'm gonna end that whole thought and move on to my third takeaway, which kind of actually flows out of this. It's, it's pretty neat.

My third takeaway is how much he emphasized slowing down and embracing rest and embracing leisure for leisure's sake.

He talks a lot about his kind of productive background and how he really was addicted to that productive lifestyle for so long. And I totally, totally relate to that. But it's so funny because he kind of in one chapter was like knocking people of faith like, oh you crazy people who believe in the afterlife. And then, and the next chapter turned around and was like, okay, I realized that I just said that, but also let's talk about the Jewish Sabbath and the boundaries that we humans have to have around work because we have to rest.

He talks about the value of leisure. He talked a lot about kind of what that looks like now in our culture, in life right now versus even like a hundred years ago or 200 years ago. Then he talks about the medieval farmer and what life looked like then and how even the invention of the clock changed everything for humans.

That was a very interesting thought. Like what would life look like right now if we didn't have a clock to go by, if we just went by sun up and sundown? Because that's how people live for so long. I mean, it's just incredible to think about that and my first thought was, oh, we would live a lot slower of a life. And my second thought was we'd live together in community more because we would just be working together, and that's how we would base everything. Meals, family time, everything would just be off of the daylight hours.

We probably wouldn't travel as much or go other places. I mean, there's trade-offs. I love my clock. I think it's great. It helps me feel like I'm flourishing during the day as I manage my time, but also it's just good to stop and think about what life looked like for a really long time without it and what we can learn from that. And I agree with him, we can learn to slow down, we can learn to just enjoy work at a much slower pace and not think of it as like strict working hours and then strict like off-working hours, clocking in and clocking out of work, but letting it be kinda like the farmer was more of just like an ebb and flow of life from sun up to sun down and just having a slower pace of life in general. I really loved that thought and that picture and I just really loved how he went back to scripture and talked about the Sabbath and he was pointing back to the fact that we need that rest.

We have to have hard boundaries around our work because we tend to never stop working. And I just am experiencing this again in my own life so much right now as Will and I are really trying to protect our Sabbath day as a family. It has been so incredibly life giving and so incredibly hard to stick to. So yeah, it was just really interesting to hear just the way that he's processing and thinking of this and also just the importance of resting, of the value of leisure for no other reason than leisure. Not to like go on a run to train for a half marathon, but just go on a run to enjoy a run, that kind of thing.

And then the last thing I'll say is he talked a lot about this assignment that a professor gave to her students. She was an art professor and the assignment was to stare at a painting for three hours. You’re not allowed to look at your phone. The only thing you could get up to do is go to the bathroom. That's it. And he said that he contacted her and was like, I wanna do this assignment because I wanna see if I can and I just wanna learn from it.

And he said it, he goes through it in the book. It was really interesting. He goes through how fidgety he was and how frustrated the first like 18 minutes, how he was so frustrated and just wanting to switch paintings and wanting to get up and reaching for his phone, and then it started to unfold like this slower pace where he was looking at the painting and realizing new things and on and on.

And the professor did this to give her students permission to slow down when it comes to art and really just embrace the whole process of it. And I really enjoyed that example and that idea. So there were a lot of good things in this book, a lot of great points that he made. You know, I felt like he was missing the most important piece of it, but I also just really gained a lot of wisdom.

And the last chapter was really good. He went through like 10 quick points of kind of how to manage your time a little bit better, how to be free of the burden of productivity all the time.

So that's it for Four Thousand Weeks. I'm going to close with words from this book by Oliver Burkeman,