The Transition From Infinite Fantasies to Finite Fact

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

It's fascinating how sometimes we can be worried about a thing and really stress out about it. And then the bad thing we're worried about happens, so we actually feel some relief in some weird way. Anything that actually happens is finite. So it's left the world of your worst imaginings by definition. I don't think you can ultimately sort of reason your way entirely out of one emotional state into another. That's my descent from stoicism as well.

Read the full transcript here.

How can we leverage our own limitations? Why does converting the average human lifespan from years to other units (like weeks) give us such a shock? What are the most useful kinds of reactions to contemplating our own mortality? What causes our feeling that time speeds up as we age? What is the "importance trap"? How should we handle the frustration or disappointment caused by our inability to do everything we want or need to do? Why is patience important in the world today? What information sets are available to us in various communication media? Is there — and should there be — a disconnect between the "meatspace" world and the internet world? Which kinds of self-help advice are actually useful?

Oliver Burkeman's new book is Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, published in the US on August 10, 2021. He is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, and he wrote a long-running weekly column on psychology, productivity, and self-help culture for The Guardian newspaper called "This Column Will Change Your Life." His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and New Philosopher magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can pre-order Four Thousand Weeks and sign up for Oliver's email newsletter "The Imperfectionist" at oliverburkeman.com or find him on Twitter at @oliverburkeman.

Staff