Meditations for Mortals - Oliver Burkeman

BookNotes

Author: Oliver-Burkeman

Series of daily thoughts around being limited beings, following on from Four-Thousand-Weeks-by-Oliver-Burkeman-2021. I read as recommended, one a day. Unlike the how the book recommends, I also made notes on it because it helps me think.(Writing-is-Thinking).

Key ideas

• Death is a blessing because you have to choose what to do with your time. You-Will-Die and that’s ok because it limits what you can do. Acknowledge-Your-Limitations
• you-have-to-do-the-thing-instead-of-learning-about-it, Do it consistently. do-it-with-no-hope-of-doing-it-again. Always just have now and the choices you make with it.
• That said, aim-to-do-things-daily-ish. Regular, but you’re not a failure if you don’t.
• You can do anything, but you have to accept the consequences. Eg don’t tidy up, but accept the house will be messy.
• [[ Keep a done list ]].
• [[ Lists and to read piles are rivers ]] or a menu, not an obligation.
• [[ It is impossible to pay attention to everything ]]
• the-future-is-unknowable. Accept that and don’t worry.
• Make a decisioin and follow it when uncertain. doing-is-often-better-than-thinking.
• What does done look like? If you’re writing a book it might be writing a chapter, not writing the whole thing. Break-big-tasks-into-tiny-steps(Getting-Things-Done-David-Allen-2016 in a chapter)
• [[ Face what you fear ]]
• [[ What if it was easy ]]?
• Other people can have their problems - it doesn’t affect you.
• Problems lead to good stories.
• [[ Life cant be hoarded ]]. Once again: Life can’t be hoarded