Four Thousand Weeks
"You have to accept that there will always be too much to do; that you can’t avoid tough choices or make the world run at your preferred speed; that no experience, least of all close relationships with other human beings, can ever be guaranteed in advance to turn out painlessly and well—and that from a cosmic viewpoint, when it’s all over, it won’t have counted for very much anyway."
— Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks (2021)
Introduction
| Four Thousand Weeks | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Full title | Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals |
| Author | Oliver Burkeman |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Time management; Philosophy; Happiness; Personal development |
| Genre | Nonfiction; Self-help |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
Publication date | 10 August 2021 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback); e-book; audiobook |
| Pages | 271 |
| ISBN | 978-0-374-15912-2 |
| Website | oliverburkeman.com |
Chapter summary
This outline follows the Farrar, Straus and Giroux hardcover edition (10 August 2021; ISBN 978-0-374-15912-2).[1][2]
I – Choosing to Choose
🧗 1 – The Limit-Embracing Life.
⚙️ 2 – The Efficiency Trap.
⏳ 3 – Facing Finitude.
🐢 4 – Becoming a Better Procrastinator.
🍉 5 – The Watermelon Problem.
📱 6 – The Intimate Interrupter.
II – Beyond Control
🕰️ 7 – We Never Really Have Time.
📍 8 – You Are Here.
🛌 9 – Rediscovering Rest.
🌀 10 – The Impatience Spiral.
🚌 11 – Staying on the Bus.
🧑💻 12 – The Loneliness of the Digital Nomad.
🌌 13 – Cosmic Insignificance Therapy.
🦠 14 – The Human Disease.
Related content & more
YouTube videos
CapSach articles
References
- ↑ "Four Thousand Weeks". Macmillan Publishers. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 10 August 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
- ↑ "Four thousand weeks: time management for mortals — First edition". Colorado Mountain College Library Catalog. Colorado Mountain College. Retrieved 4 November 2025.