Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

If you are going to read one book on productivity, this should be it. Burkeman wrote a series of articles for The Guardian on this topic, with the tongue-in-cheek title “This Column Will Change Your Life.” The outcome of that column is this book.

Four Thousand Weeks makes the case that there is never enough time to complete all the tasks that come our way. Nor should this be our goal. Burkeman notes that many of our actions are attempts to gain control not over our tasks but over our time – an impossible endeavor.

“Procrastination, distraction, commitment-phobia, clearing the decks, and taking on too many projects at once are all ways of trying to maintain the illusion that you’re in charge of things.” (p. 220)

Burkeman advocates instead for first accepting that we only have so much time, both for our work and for our lives in general. (The title cleverly points to the fact that the average human life span is 4000 weeks.) Once we accept the “finitude of time,” we start to prioritize what’s most important each day.

Leadership takeaway: The fact that our days are limited is a message that every school leader needs to hear, and often. Use this book as a constant reminder when prioritizing your time and tasks.