| Author | Oliver Burkeman |
| Genres | Productivity |
| Rating | 💖💖💖💖💖 |
| Date Finished | 26/03/2026 |
🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences
- Time, attention and life are one and the same.
- Surrender the illusion of control.
- Accept that you can’t do everything. You will not experience most of life.
🎨 Impressions
TBD.
How I Discovered It
Probably a Reddit or YouTube recommendation of a productivity “guru”.
Who Should Read It?
Found on my quest to optimize my time, to get the most out of it and to be as productive as possible. Needless to say that reading it was like a cold shower. When I placed it down after I had finished it, I reached a state of calm never achieved before. If you, like me, and like most people, are pressured to optimize your time, to get the most out of it, and to be as productive as possible every waking moment, then this is the book for you. It will recontextualize your approach to time, time management and life in general. This is the last “time management” book you will read.
🍀 How the Book Changed Me
I have implemented the Open and Closed Todo method. I keep a Closed list of 10 times that I’m currenly focusing on and an unlimited Open Todo list that is split by category (ie novels, technical books, articles).
The most profund change however happened internally. I now understand that I won’t be able to do everything I set my mind to and that it’s better to focus on one thing at a time. As said by Carmack:
“Focus is a matter of deciding what things you’re not going to do.” ― John Carmack
📒 Summary + Notes
TBD.