My neighbourhood is in the process of being thickly blanketed in snow as I write this, which is delightful for all the usual reasons – but also because, for me, dramatic weather of all kinds has always been an incredibly effective antidote to stress. (See also: dramatic landscapes.) I think it's because weather that calls attention to itself like this has the effect of wrenching part of my focus away from my self-absorbed concerns. The snow in our backyard naturally implies snow covering a ...| Oliver Burkeman
I'm convinced something very strange has happened to the way people relate to the news in recent years, and the day of the US election feels like a good moment to talk about it. (Anyway, what else were you planning to do – stare blankly at Twitter while consuming unwise quantities of alcohol in an effort to subdue the creeping dread?)| Oliver Burkeman
Advance praise for MEDITATIONS FOR MORTALS: | Oliver Burkeman
on productivity, mortality, the power of limits, and building a meaningful life in an age of| Oliver Burkeman
There aren't many hard-and-fast rules of time management that apply to everyone, always, regardless of situation or personality (which is why I tend to emphasise general principles instead). But I think there might be one: you almost certainly can't consistently do the kind of work that demands serious mental focus for more than about three or four hours a day.| Oliver Burkeman
I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that you, like me, have a large pile (or digital equivalent) of books or articles you've been meaning to get around to reading, plus maybe a long queue of podcast episodes to which you'd love to listen, if only you had the time. It's the archetypal "first-world problem", I know. But one worth reflecting on – because it's a microcosm of a broader mistake that makes it more stressful than in needs to be to build a fulfilling and productive life: the...| Oliver Burkeman