Meditations for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman, 2024
In Meditations for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman explores imperfectionism—the idea that your own limitations are not obstacles. Don’t fight them, but accept them to live fully. Only when you no longer expect perfectionism can you engage with full energy. The book covers being finite, taking action, letting go, and showing up imperfectly.
Top 3 Learnings:
It’s worse than you think—and that’s liberating. The psychological shift when you realize something is not just very difficult but impossible. You become as good as you’ll get—when you accept that, you can really think about what you’re good at. “Our suffering is believing there is a way out.” Don’t wait for the perfect system—just do it, regardless of what type you are. Don’t become a “meditator”—just meditate.
Three hours of concentrated work every day—and you’ll get a lot done in a year. Block it in one piece. Accept the chaos in the rest. If it’s 12:40 and the work isn’t done yet: get over it. Finish things—leaving things unfinished is what drains energy. Develop a taste for problems—life is an unending series of complications, so it doesn’t make sense to be surprised by the arrival of the next one.
Operate from sanity instead of striving towards it. Striving towards sanity never works—better to operate from sanity instead. Otherwise you constantly think it’s something far away. Anti-time management: decide who you want to be, act from that identity immediately. Deal with backlog by isolating it. Free up time by renegotiating existing commitments—not just by planning to make fewer. Treat your todo list as a menu.
Why and when to read it:
Read this when you’re struggling with perfectionism, feeling overwhelmed by impossible standards, or trying to do too much. It’s especially valuable for high achievers who feel they’re never doing enough or people who delay starting because conditions aren’t perfect. The book provides a philosophical and practical approach to accepting limitations and taking action anyway, making it perfect for anyone feeling stuck in the gap between where they are and where they think they should be.