Event Announcement: Living the Imperfect Life with Oliver Burkeman
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Reading Oliver Burkeman feels as if someone reached into your thoughts and pulled out all the advice you’ve ever received on productivity, time-management, work-life balance, burnout, and well-being so you could get a clear look at it.
With everything in the open, you’re able to see what’s useful and what’s junk. It feels like mental spring-cleaning. You can discard all that overconfident and contradictory advice you collected over the years. Advice that, at one time, probably seemed like “the way.” But now, you realize, it’s just in the way.
Instead of accumulating productivity systems or hoarding life hacks in pursuit of the life you want, Burkeman advocates an approach with greater philosophical and practical value—“imperfectionism.”
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Imperfectionism, he writes, is “a freeing and energizing outlook based on the conviction that your limitations aren’t obstacles to a meaningful existence, which you must spend your days struggling to overcome, en route to some imaginary point when you’ll finally get to feel fulfilled.”
Burkeman’s latest book, Meditations for Mortals, which featured in our list of Notable Books of 2024, explores living imperfectly.
“Meditations for Mortals is my attempt to begin where the sort-your-life-out, get-on-top-of-everything school of thinking fails,” he writes, “and instead go somewhere more meaningful and productive, and importantly also more fun.”
About the event
In March, we’ll host Burkeman for a live conversation to discuss what it means to live an imperfect life, and you’re invited. (Full details below.)
In addition to joining for the live conversation, there’s an opportunity to participate in a deeper way. Meditations for Mortals comprises 28 brief chapters meant to be read at a pace of about one per day, which adds up to a four-week “retreat for the mind.” With February on the horizon, we have the ideal 28-day month to take the retreat. So we’re inviting you to read the book in February and then join us for a conversation with Burkeman on March 12.
Reading the book is not a prerequisite to attend the event. There are two ways to participate in the conversation:
- Read Meditation for Mortals during February and join other readers for a discussion of the book immediately before a live conversation with Oliver.
- Join just for the conversation with Oliver—use it as your introduction to the book and the ideas.
The event is open to Supporters of Behavioral Scientist—readers with a paid monthly or annual subscription—or those who purchase a ticket. This financial support helps power our work as an independent, nonprofit magazine. Find out more about becoming a Supporter or purchasing a ticket here.
Supporters also get a plus one—you can give one colleague, friend, or family member full access to the event. Share the registration form with your plus one, and make sure they indicate you as the source of the invitation.
To get a sense for Burkeman’s idea of imperfectionism and the book, you can read an excerpt from Meditations for Mortals on Behavioral Scientist.
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I plan to re-read the book in February, one chapter per day. Of course, it’s not likely to go perfectly to plan. I’ll keep pace for a few days, miss a few, or read a handful of chapters in one sitting. And this is exactly how Burkeman would expect it to go.
We hope to see you at the event. If you have any questions feel free to get in touch by emailing us at editor@behavioralscientist.org.
See you there,
Evan Nesterak, Editor-in-Chief
Full event details
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Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Book Discussion (30-minutes, optional): 8:30 am San Francisco | 11:30 am New York | 3:30 pm London | 4:30 pm Berlin
Conversation with Oliver: 9:00 am San Francisco | 12:00 pm New York | 4:00 pm London | 5:00 pm Berlin
*Note this is a date when the U.S. has started daylight saving time, but Europe has not. The times above reflect this.
Duration:
- Book discussion (optional): 30 minutes immediately before the conversation with Oliver
- Conversation with Oliver: 45 minutes
Platform: Zoom
Register: Sign up here
The event is open to Supporters of Behavioral Scientist—readers with a paid monthly or annual subscription—or those who purchase a ticket. This financial support helps power our work as an independent, nonprofit magazine. Find out more about becoming a Supporter or purchasing a ticket here.