Oliver Burkeman

Arts & Culture

You know that phrase, “We compare our insides to other people’s outsides”? We’re bombarded with others’ achievements but see less of the steps – internal and external – it took to get there. These days, we feel an increased pressure to achieve, to pursue greatness. We reach for this mythical, impossible standard. Drawing from his book, Meditations for Mortals, Burkeman believes that if you accept the fact that you will never “get there,” you can actually start making good choices that lead to a meaningful life.

Through this guiding philosophy, Burkeman calls “imperfectionism,” we can tackle challenges in our daily lives: our finite time, the lure of distraction, the impossibility of doing anything perfectly, the feeling that the world is spinning out of control. How can we embrace our limitations? Or make good decisions when there’s always too much to do? How do we shed the illusion that life will really begin as soon as we can “get on top of everything”? Pulling from the fields of philosophy, religion, literature, psychology, and self-help, Burkeman explores a combination of practical tools and daily shifts in perspective.

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