Four Thousand Weeks
Time Management for Mortals
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo first 3 months
Buy Now for $31.47
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Oliver Burkeman
-
Written by:
-
Oliver Burkeman
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“This is the most important book ever written about time management.”
—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of WorkLife
What if you stopped trying to do everything, so that you could finally get around to what counts?
Nobody needs to be told there isn’t enough time. Whether we’re starting our own business, or trying to write a novel during our lunch break, or staring down a pile of deadlines as we’re planning a vacation, we’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and ceaseless struggle against distraction. We’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient and life hacks to optimize our days. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the question of how best to use our ridiculously brief time on the planet, which amounts on average to about four thousand weeks.
Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern obsession with “getting everything done,” Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing that many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we can do things differently.
Embrace your limits. Change your life. Make your four thousand weeks count.
You may also enjoy...
-
Die with Zero
- Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life
- Written by: Bill Perkins
- Narrated by: Bill Perkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Die with Zero presents a startling new and provocative philosophy as well as practical guide on how to get the most out of your money—and out of your life. It's intended for those who place lifelong memorable experiences far ahead of simply making and accumulating money for one's so-called Golden Years. In short, Bill Perkins wants to rescue you from over-saving and under-living. Regardless of your age, Die with Zero will teach you Perkins' plan for optimizing your life, stage by stage, so you're fully engaged and enjoying what you've worked and saved for.
-
-
Interesting
- By Deana Tupper on 2023-03-26
Written by: Bill Perkins
-
The Antidote
- Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking
- Written by: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Antidote is a series of journeys among people who share a single, surprising way of thinking about life. What they have in common is a hunch about human psychology: that it’s our constant effort to eliminate the negative that causes us to feel so anxious, insecure, and unhappy. And that there is an alternative "negative path" to happiness and success that involves embracing the things we spend our lives trying to avoid.
-
-
A limited perspective on positivity
- By Ryan C. on 2020-09-24
Written by: Oliver Burkeman
-
Hidden Potential
- The Science of Achieving Greater Things
- Written by: Adam Grant
- Narrated by: Adam Grant, Maurice Ashley, R. A. Dickey, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world that’s obsessed with talent. We celebrate gifted students in school, natural athletes in sports, and child prodigies in music. But admiring people who start out with innate advantages leads us to overlook the distance we ourselves can travel. We underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. We can all improve at improving. And when opportunity doesn’t knock, there are ways to build a door.
-
-
Didn’t finish
- By S on 2023-12-18
Written by: Adam Grant
-
Outlive
- The Science and Art of Longevity
- Written by: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford - contributor
- Narrated by: Peter Attia MD
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.
-
-
Not what I was expecting
- By stuck in Mobay on 2023-07-20
Written by: Peter Attia MD, and others
-
The Psychology of Money
- Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
- Written by: Morgan Housel
- Narrated by: Chris Hill
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Money - investing, personal finance, and business decisions - is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money.
-
-
I am very disappointed with the psychology on money
- By Persy Wang on 2021-06-29
Written by: Morgan Housel
-
Slow Productivity
- The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
- Written by: Cal Newport
- Narrated by: Cal Newport
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our current definition of “productivity” is broken. It pushes us to treat busyness as a proxy for useful effort, leading to impossibly lengthy task lists and ceaseless meetings. We’re overwhelmed by all we have to do and on the edge of burnout, left to decide between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether. But are these really our only choices?
-
-
Mehh
- By G on 2024-06-27
Written by: Cal Newport
-
Die with Zero
- Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life
- Written by: Bill Perkins
- Narrated by: Bill Perkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Die with Zero presents a startling new and provocative philosophy as well as practical guide on how to get the most out of your money—and out of your life. It's intended for those who place lifelong memorable experiences far ahead of simply making and accumulating money for one's so-called Golden Years. In short, Bill Perkins wants to rescue you from over-saving and under-living. Regardless of your age, Die with Zero will teach you Perkins' plan for optimizing your life, stage by stage, so you're fully engaged and enjoying what you've worked and saved for.
-
-
Interesting
- By Deana Tupper on 2023-03-26
Written by: Bill Perkins
-
The Antidote
- Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking
- Written by: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Antidote is a series of journeys among people who share a single, surprising way of thinking about life. What they have in common is a hunch about human psychology: that it’s our constant effort to eliminate the negative that causes us to feel so anxious, insecure, and unhappy. And that there is an alternative "negative path" to happiness and success that involves embracing the things we spend our lives trying to avoid.
-
-
A limited perspective on positivity
- By Ryan C. on 2020-09-24
Written by: Oliver Burkeman
-
Hidden Potential
- The Science of Achieving Greater Things
- Written by: Adam Grant
- Narrated by: Adam Grant, Maurice Ashley, R. A. Dickey, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world that’s obsessed with talent. We celebrate gifted students in school, natural athletes in sports, and child prodigies in music. But admiring people who start out with innate advantages leads us to overlook the distance we ourselves can travel. We underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. We can all improve at improving. And when opportunity doesn’t knock, there are ways to build a door.
-
-
Didn’t finish
- By S on 2023-12-18
Written by: Adam Grant
-
Outlive
- The Science and Art of Longevity
- Written by: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford - contributor
- Narrated by: Peter Attia MD
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.
-
-
Not what I was expecting
- By stuck in Mobay on 2023-07-20
Written by: Peter Attia MD, and others
-
The Psychology of Money
- Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
- Written by: Morgan Housel
- Narrated by: Chris Hill
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Money - investing, personal finance, and business decisions - is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money.
-
-
I am very disappointed with the psychology on money
- By Persy Wang on 2021-06-29
Written by: Morgan Housel
-
Slow Productivity
- The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
- Written by: Cal Newport
- Narrated by: Cal Newport
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our current definition of “productivity” is broken. It pushes us to treat busyness as a proxy for useful effort, leading to impossibly lengthy task lists and ceaseless meetings. We’re overwhelmed by all we have to do and on the edge of burnout, left to decide between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether. But are these really our only choices?
-
-
Mehh
- By G on 2024-06-27
Written by: Cal Newport
-
The Comfort Crisis
- Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
- Written by: Michael Easter
- Narrated by: Michael Easter
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort.
-
-
Interesting
- By JoeCar on 2021-12-08
Written by: Michael Easter
-
Think Again
- The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know
- Written by: Adam Grant
- Narrated by: Adam Grant
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In our daily lives, too many of us favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn.
-
-
Woke academic with a bit of scientific insight.
- By Norm on 2021-03-09
Written by: Adam Grant
-
The Power of Negative Thinking
- And How It Can Be a Powerful Route to Joy, Success and Satisfaction
- Written by: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
- Length: 1 hr and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oliver Burkeman explores why people are often more successful - as are organisations, armies and governments - when they focus on reasons they are likely to fail; asks where happiness comes from, and whether we look for it in the wrong places; explores a phenomenon that has come to be called 'fungineering' – attempts to boost happiness in the workplace; and confronts what many of us see as the most negative of all experiences: death.
Written by: Oliver Burkeman
-
Oliver Burkeman: Epidemics of Modern Life
- A BBC Radio 4 Collection
- Written by: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman, Various
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Journalist and author Oliver Burkeman is well-known for his long-running Guardian column, 'How to Change Your Life', and has written three best-selling books on happiness, productivity and time management. In this radio collection, he looks at four central ills of modernity—busyness, anger, the insistence on positivity and the decline of nuance. Talking to a range of experts, he discovers how these problems became so widespread, and how we can go about tackling them.
Written by: Oliver Burkeman
-
Dopamine Nation
- Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
- Written by: Dr. Anna Lembke
- Narrated by: Dr. Anna Lembke
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is about pleasure. It’s also about pain. Most important, it’s about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential. We’re living in a time of unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli: drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting....
-
-
I listened to this audiobook on 1.4 X speed
- By JMS on 2021-09-09
Written by: Dr. Anna Lembke
-
Be Useful
- Seven Tools for Life
- Written by: Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Narrated by: Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world’s greatest bodybuilder. The world’s highest-paid movie star. The leader of the world’s sixth-largest economy. That these are the same person sounds like the setup to a joke, but this is no joke. This is Arnold Schwarzenegger. And this did not happen by accident. Arnold’s stratospheric success happened as part of a process. As the result of clear vision, big thinking, hard work, direct communication, resilient problem-solving, open-minded curiosity, and a commitment to giving back. All of it guided by the one lesson Arnold’s father hammered into him above all: be useful.
-
-
More than just being useful
- By Fizzlewit's Fairy Finding on 2024-01-17
Written by: Arnold Schwarzenegger
-
Supercommunicators
- How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
- Written by: Charles Duhigg
- Narrated by: Charles Duhigg
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Come inside a jury room as one juror leads a starkly divided room to consensus. Join a young CIA officer as he recruits a reluctant foreign agent. And sit with an accomplished surgeon as he tries, and fails, to convince yet another cancer patient to opt for the less risky course of treatment. In Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg blends deep research and his trademark storytelling skills to show how we can all learn to identify and leverage the hidden layers that lurk beneath every conversation.
-
-
Good info, but the covid/vax section didn't age well.
- By Sam on 2024-06-12
Written by: Charles Duhigg
-
Deep Work
- Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
- Written by: Cal Newport
- Narrated by: Jeff Bottoms
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Master one of our economy’s most rare skills and achieve groundbreaking results with this “exciting” audiobook (Daniel H. Pink) from an “exceptional” author (New York Times Book Review). Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep Work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship.
-
-
So good. An essential read.
- By Bradly Helm on 2018-08-02
Written by: Cal Newport
-
Courage Is Calling
- Fortune Favors the Brave
- Written by: Ryan Holiday
- Narrated by: Ryan Holiday
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost every religion, spiritual practice, philosophy and person grapples with fear. The most repeated phrase in the Bible is “Be not afraid.” The ancient Greeks spoke of phobos, panic and terror. It is natural to feel fear, the Stoics believed, but it cannot rule you. Courage, then, is the ability to rise above fear, to do what’s right, to do what’s needed, to do what is true. And so it rests at the heart of the works of Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, and CS Lewis, alongside temperance, justice, and wisdom.
-
-
Stay in your lane, Ryan.
- By Cherokee199X on 2023-01-23
Written by: Ryan Holiday
-
Thinking, Fast and Slow
- Written by: Daniel Kahneman
- Narrated by: Patrick Egan
- Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The guru to the gurus at last shares his knowledge with the rest of us. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's seminal studies in behavioral psychology, behavioral economics, and happiness studies have influenced numerous other authors, including Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman at last offers his own, first book for the general public. It is a lucid and enlightening summary of his life's work. It will change the way you think about thinking. Two systems drive the way we think and make choices, Kahneman explains....
-
-
Very difficult to follow in audio format
- By Amazon Customer on 2017-10-06
Written by: Daniel Kahneman
-
Finite and Infinite Games
- Written by: James Carse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“There are at least two kinds of games,” states James P. Carse as he begins this extraordinary book. “One could be called finite, the other infinite.” Finite games are the familiar contests of everyday life; they are played in order to be won, which is when they end. But infinite games are more mysterious. Their object is not winning but ensuring the continuation of play. The rules may change, the boundaries may change, even the participants may change - as long as the game is never allowed to come to an end.
-
-
Wow. Must read/listen
- By Dallas on 2024-11-15
Written by: James Carse
-
Stolen Focus
- Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again
- Written by: Johann Hari
- Narrated by: Johann Hari
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Like so many of us, Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live. He tried all sorts of self-help solutions—even abandoning his phone for three months—but nothing seemed to work. So Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention—and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong.
-
-
Sleep Data, Sleep.
- By David Lakhan on 2022-02-14
Written by: Johann Hari
What the critics say
2021, Axiom Business Book Award - Personal Finance / Retirement Planning / Investing, Short-listed
“Burkeman’s work could sit comfortably on a shelf next to the books published by Alain de Botton’s School of Life, literary-flavored advice on love, friendship, work and other conundrums. . . . “Four Thousand Weeks” is [also] just good company; it addresses large, even existential, issues with a sense of humor and an even-keeled perspective. I found that reading it — Burkeman might balk at this particular way of describing it — was a good use of my time.” (The New York Times)
“We all know our time is limited. What we don’t know—but what Oliver Burkeman is here to teach us—is that our control over that time is also limited. This profound (and often hilarious) book will prompt you to rethink your worship of efficiency, reject the cult of busyness, and reconfigure your life around what truly matters.” (Daniel H. Pink, author of When, Drive, and To Sell is Human)
What listeners say about Four Thousand Weeks
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A
- 2021-09-07
about the follies of typical time management
this is a really good book in that it explains the problem with most systems of time management and people's conception of the topic. the problem being that we do not have enough time to do everything and until we accept this we will be filled with anxiety about what we are doing and what we are not. presents some challenging ideas and offers ways to evaluate what we should spend our limited time on. definitely worth a read! especially for those that are interested in more philosophical arguments
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sita
- 2022-05-04
excellent
This was written in a brief and to the point manner. It gave enough examples or story to bring understanding without wasting a bunch of time. I re-listened to the end "10 tools" and took notes that are proving extremely useful in deciding how to use my time the way I want. Excellent reading by author.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Douglas Tsang
- 2021-08-20
Phenomenal book - very helpful and unique ideas
The author explains his ideas in a very straightforward way and he provides novel insights which have helped me prioritize my life and curb my workaholism. He also does a great job narrating the book (British accent). Already half way through my second-listen of the audiobook. A must have.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-01-04
Refreshing
I love how this book was written with current issues in mind. gave lots of practical tips and tricks to increasing your ability to enjoy the moment. not necessarily the book that will coach you to get more things crammed in to your day. this is a great read for a chronic over doer overly busy type person.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- NewMom1520
- 2022-04-19
Outstanding, thought provoking
I listened to this book twice because it was so good that I needed to go back to it again. I added countless bookmarks. There are so many interesting concepts and things that make you ponder your viewpoints. There are also some useful time management strategies too at the end but this isn’t a time management book…it’s a book about living.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- aydimir
- 2023-12-27
Do the Next Right Thing
The essence of the book is to do the next right thing.
Do as little tasks a day, focusing on what matters to you most.
You will always be off when planning something with too much details and anticipation, so it’s much better to start small, plan with less expectations, treat everything as a learning/testing opportunity, be a mad scientist that doesn’t care much about results but is more focused on the journey and running more tests, you will be able to learn more and be happier along the way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Donna
- 2024-01-24
Fantastic
This was one of the best books I’ve read or listened to in years. Fascinating and insightful from beginning to end. It also doesn’t hurt that the narration by the author is superb.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-01-13
An all time classic
One of my favourite audiobooks ever. Will be listening to it over and over again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Meg
- 2022-03-13
42
Excellent book. The Total Perspective Vortex come to Earth. Finally.
four more words remaining.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jonathan Edwards
- 2023-01-26
This book is way more than a book on time management.
This book is now in my top 10 of all time, and I have thousands of books on my bookshelf. I was so surprised by this book. I had heard a number of people recommend it but kind of casually, and not merely with the gravitas that this book deserves. I can’t recommend this enough.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!