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A Map to a More Meaningful Life

Keri Watson
/
KUER

Time is limited. And life is short. So why, asks the writer Oliver Burkeman, do we waste so much of it trying to get on top of things before we can focus on the really meaningful parts of life?

Burkeman, like a lot of high-achievers, has spent his fair share of time frantically playing catch-up with his to-do list. But he came to realize that carrying on in this way drained life of its essential vitality. His latest book is a map, laid out in meditations, to a more meaningful and fulfilling existence. The guiding principle is the embrace of a philosophy he calls “imperfectionism.” What it boils down to is acknowledging our limits, and, rather than trying to exert ever more control, instead giving it up more widely and more often. Doing so, he says, can lead to a saner, freer, and more enchantment-filled life, and he joins us to explain how.

GUEST — 

Oliver Burkeman | Author and journalist. His latest book is “Meditations for Mortals” [Amazon | Bookshop].

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