The Imperfect Life

Oliver Burkeman

08 Feb 2025 — 1 min read

In March, Behavioral Scientist will host author Oliver Burkeman for a conversation about living the imperfect life. The excerpt below is from his book Meditation for Mortals, which is designed as a four-week "retreat of the mind." The book comprises 28 brief chapters meant to be read at a pace of about one per day. We're encouraging readers to take February to read the book—one chapter for each day of the month—then join us for a conversation with Burkeman on March 12. You can — Evan Nesterak, Editor-in-Chief

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Meditations for Mortals is about how the world opens up once you realize you’re never going to sort your life out. It’s about how marvelously productive you become when you give up the grim-faced quest to make yourself more and more productive; and how much easier it gets to do bold and important things once you accept that you’ll never get around to more than a handful of them (and that, strictly speaking, you don’t absolutely need to do any of them at all).

Three Weeks In - Information Flows

We’re now three weeks into living the imperfect life. Something that’s been on my mind recently is the idea of “information flows” (my working term), and I want to share that idea with you. Feel free to add your comments and thoughts about it below. The idea is

The Spark File: Add Your Connections, Questions, and Ideas

The Spark File is a favorite tool of writers. It's incredibly simple. It's a document of running bullet points containing ideas, connections, questions, and leads. New idea? Add a bullet point. New question that might be worth thinking about later? Add a bullet point. (I first

One Week In

We’re now one week into living the imperfect life. This is the first of a handful of notes I’ll send to all those who registered for the event—both those reading the book and those planning to use the conversation with Oliver as their jumping off point. The

Event Announcement: Living the Imperfect Life with Oliver Burkeman

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

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Three Weeks In - Information Flows

The Spark File: Add Your Connections, Questions, and Ideas

One Week In

Event Announcement: Living the Imperfect Life with Oliver Burkeman