How to Make the Most of Your Mortal Time
“Assuming you live to be eighty, you’ll have had about four thousand weeks.
This is the defining problem of human existence: we’ve been granted the mental capacity to make almost infinitely ambitious plans, yet practically no time at all to put them into action.”
I recently finished the book “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals,” by Oliver Burkeman. I started the book thinking it would be more magical than other time management and productivity books I have read. “Surely, someone has figured out a way to do all the things, without running out of time,” I hoped.
It wasn’t magical, but it did put into perspective some important points. We humans have limited time on this planet, and we must acknowledge that we’ll never get everything done. More importantly, that’s okay.
What’s not okay is the expectation that somehow we are magical individuals who will get more done than any other human ever has. We fall into this trap of thinking that we must control our time. We think we must master it to succeed and feel calm and in control of our lives.
Subconsciously, “staying busy” and spreading ourselves thin numb the pain. They distract from the knowledge that our time on this planet is short. The more we try to fit everything in, the more our lives become unfulfilling.
Productivity isn’t futile, but trading our souls for the sake of it is.
We do not have time to do everything we want. We have to make hard choices about how to spend our time. Following are some of the key themes for making the most of your time, according to the book.
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Work on what’s actually important
Many of us believe we should do urgent tasks before we find the time to do the ones that mean the most to us. This is a fallacy. The important tasks never get done, even if we’ve checked off all the unimportant items from our to-do lists. The cause is the myth that we have endless time. This makes us neglect to check if a task is worth our time.
Adopt a ‘fixed volume’ approach to productivity
Advocating with certainty that we will never finish everything. Burkeman advises making two to-do lists. One is an “open list” and the other a “closed list.” The open list is for everything we must do, yet may never get round to doing. The closed list should have at most ten tasks. You cannot add any new tasks to the closed list until you have accomplished another one. You can also set time limits on work to ensure that it does not spill over into other parts of life.
This is like the advice given by Warren Buffett to someone asking for advice on how to be successful. I’m going to paraphrase here, but I’m sure you can find the story on many business blogs. Warren Buffett says “Make a list of the 25 most important things you want out of life. Then put them in order of importance, most important is #1 and least important is #25.”
Those things in the top 5 are the things you should focus on.
You might be wondering when you work on the bottom 20. According to Warren Buffett, the answer is “you don’t. Let them go.” Ruthlessly prioritize the things you want to succeed on and let go of the rest.
Or as my grandad would say: “You can’t ride two horses at one time. You only got one butt.”
Decide in advance what to fail at
This one was a big “WOW” moment for me. I am a standard Overachiever. I fervently believe that if I ‘work hard enough and fast enough, I WILL be able to do everything I set my mind to.’
And then the ADHD kicks in. And then I beat myself up mentally because I didn’t somehow cram 40 hours of work into a 24 hour period. Unreasonable, right? I bet you do that sometimes, too.
We lack the time to excel in all areas of life. Accepting that you will never have a tidy home may free you to focus more on the projects you love. Deciding that you will fail at housekeeping means you don’t guilt-trip yourself about it.
Give yourself permission to “fail” temporarily in one area of your life while you focus on another.
You don’t need to be perfect.
Focus on what you’ve already completed, not just on what’s left to complete
Keeping a “done” list will counter the negativity that you will inevitably face when there are still items piling up on your to-do list.
When I do something that wasn’t on my to-do list, but that needed to get done, I would add it to my to-do list and get great satisfaction crossing it off. I used to think this was cheating. It’s not. In fact, make a list right now — what have you done today?
Don’t think of it as ‘what have I accomplished?’ because that’s setting the bar too high. What did you get done today? Showering, brushing your teeth and taking a 10 minute walk all count.
Cultivate instantaneous generosity of time and spirit
If you think of something that needs to be done and it will likely take less than 5 minutes to complete, then go ahead and do it. Then cross it off your list!
It will be doubly rewarding if it’s something kind or generous. You’ll have the benefit of both getting something done, but also sharing love and joy in the process.
Don’t put off thanking a colleague or otherwise making someone’s day. Especially don’t do this to focus on controlling your schedule. It is far better to do them in the moment, so that you actually do them rather than putting them off .
Practice doing nothing
Ironically, this is an essential tool for using your limited time effectively. This is because being able to not act means that you will allow decisions the time they need. You will be less likely to rush into foolish choices. You will also make peace with reality and its limits. You won’t rush to be productive in the illusion that you can control time.
One of the practices I’ve been growing this year is meditating more. I’m meditating for at least 30 minutes a day, sometimes an hour in two 30-minute periods. Y’all, it’s hard doing nothing. But it does help clarify what the right next step to make is.
You’re not “lazy” for doing nothing (thanks, Boomer Dad!), you’re being strategic. Harnessing the limited energy you have to bring something amazing into the world. You have permission to do nothing. If that feels weird, set a timer.
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