How to Stop Wasting Your Life (ft. Oliver Burkeman)

Do you worry that you might be wasting your life? That you’re doing things that don’t feel important? Are you constantly anxious about your to-do list? Is your mind blown that it’s 2024 already?!? This week, I’ve enlisted the help of my friend Oliver Burkeman, author of the bestseller Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, to help us get a handle on using time wisely. In this episode, we’re going to look at how our perception of time shapes our self-image, how it’s often advantageous to choose to be bad at something, why people-pleasing doesn’t actually please people, and a whole lot more. Oliver Burkeman is a renowned journalist and author, known for his unique ability to seamlessly blend philosophy and psychology to bring a fresh and counterintuitive take to classic self-help subjects. CHAPTERS Chapters 00:00:00 | Introduction 00:03:22 | Our relationship with time 00:05:49 | A better way of looking at time 00:07:32 | “Strategic underachievement” 00:11:16 | How to stop people-pleasing 00:14:58 | Being a net positive at social events 00:18:45 | “Don’t try to change the world” 00:21:01 | Our toxic relationship with time and the art of “being present” 00:30:41 | “Effortless action” 00:32:53 | Buddhist influences on Oliver’s work 00:37:51 | Our primary misconception about time management 00:39:01 | Oliver’s final word of wisdom ⇨ Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: ⁠⁠⁠⁨ ⇨ Get clarity on what actually matters. Try Purpose, Mark's AI mentor app that learns your patterns, challenges your blind spots, and helps you take action. Get started at ⁠⁠⁠⁨https://bit.ly/4w46FMH⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW MARK Mark's IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/markmanson⁠ Solved IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/solvedpodcast/⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/markmanson⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmanson/⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@IAmMarkManson