What Is an Interruption, Anyway?
Embrace life's unpredictability, rather than resisting it.
Inconceivable
Uncertainty can immobilize us—or inspire us to action.
The Habit of Force
We can endure life’s tasks with discipline—or welcome them with enjoyment.
It's Worse Than You Think
It isn’t difficult to accomplish everything you want to. It’s impossible.
Too Many Needles
Our task isn’t to comb through haystacks, but to maximize what we’ve already found.
The 333 Technique
Spend 3 hours on a project. Complete 3 tasks. Invest time in 3 healthy activities.
The Reverse Golden Rule
Don’t treat yourself in ways that you wouldn’t treat other people.
Against Good Habits
Instead of planning to become a very productive person, do a small productive act.
Find the Life Task
Seek what’s challenging but doable, daunting but important, personal but transformative.
How to Forget What You Read
Acquire knowledge to engage with the present—not to prepare for the future.
The Menu Principle
Crossing to-dos off your list doesn’t make life full. Savoring their abundance does.
Act Fast
Good ideas fade when you dawdle, but they flourish when you usher them into reality.
The Upside of Awkwardness
Discomfort is often a sign of meaningful change, not reason for reflexive quitting.
Does It Matter?
Feelings of urgency are poor signs of importance, and they rob us of joy and presence.
Who’s in Charge?
Satisfaction comes not from outside endorsement, but from taking personal responsibility.
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You Are Here
In You Are Here, author and journalist Oliver Burkeman offers a collection of essays exploring the nature of limitation, uncertainty, unpredictability, accomplishment, enjoyment, and more.
“Life is so intrinsically confusing and precarious,” Burkeman says. But when we stop struggling against that reality, we are “liberated at last to give this admittedly rather preposterous business of being a human absolutely everything we’ve got.”
to listen to all 15 sessions in this series.
Artwork by Marta Ryczko