I'm Oliver Burkeman, author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking (2012) and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done (2011), a collection of my columns for the Guardian newspaper.
My next book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, will be published in 2021 by FSG in the US and The Bodley Head in the UK. It's about making the most of our radically finite lives in a world of impossible demands, relentless distraction and political insanity (and 'productivity techniques' that mainly just make everyone feel busier).
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on productivity, mortality, the power of limits, and building a meaningful life in an age of bewilderment
In my journalism, I've made the case for rediscovering unfashionable old-school psychoanalysis as a path to self-understanding; explored how the news took over reality; and argued that we should stop accusing people of being on the wrong side of history. I've also written about tackling overload by limiting your work-in-progress; tolerating the discomfort involved in getting better at your creative work; how to figure out if you're the underfunctioner or the overfunctioner in your relationship – and how liberating it is to remember that everyone is totally just winging it, all the time.
I've appeared on podcasts including Ten Per Cent Happier, Hurry Slowly, The Art of Charm, Half Hour of Heterodoxy and How I Work. My email is oliver@oliverburkeman.com.
Buy The Antidote
Amazon US | Indiebound | Amazon UK | Waterstones | Hive
Buy The Antidote audiobook
Buy Help!
Amazon US | Indiebound | Amazon UK | Waterstones | Hive