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Oliver Burkeman

Oliver Burkeman Biography

Journalist

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“But as society accelerates, something shifts. In more and more contexts, patience becomes a form of power. In a world geared for hurry, the capacity to resist the urge to hurry - to allow things to take the time they take - is a way to gain purchase on the world, to do the work that counts, and to derive satisfaction from the doing itself, instead of deferring all your fulfillment to the future.”

Patience
Book:Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
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“Treat your to-read pile like a river, not a bucket To return to information overload: this means treating your "to read" pile like a river (a stream that flows past you, and from which you pluck a few choice items, here and there) instead of a bucket (which demands that you empty it). [ ...] Coming at life this way definitely entails tough choices. But it's liberating, too, as you slowly begin to grasp that you never had any other option. There's no point beating yourself up for failing to clear a backlog (of unread books, undone tasks, unrealized dreams) that it was always inherently unfeasible to clear in the first place. oliverburkeman dot com slash river”

Reading
Author:Oliver Burkeman
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“Maybe you are familiar with the experience of returning to your daily routines, following an unusually satisfying weekend in nature or with old friends, and being struck by the thought that more of life should feel that way -- that it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that deeply engrossing parts to be more than rare exceptions. The modern world is specially lacking in good responses to such feelings. Religion no longer provides the universal ready-made sense of purpose it once did, while consumerism mislead us into seeking meaning where it can't be found. But the sentiment itself is an acient one, the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes, among many others, would instantly have recognized the suffering of Hollis's patient: "Then I considered all that my hands had done, and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”

PhilosophyPsychology
Author:Oliver Burkeman
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“...Но аз съм благодарен за мястото си, защото, доколкото мога да преценя, съм се озовал до един от малкото циници в залата - добродушен, едър лесничей на име Джим, който от време на време скача на крака и се повиква "Страхотно съм мотивиран!" с тон, преливащ от сарказъм.”

българскищастиемисленебъркманоливътпозитивнопротивоотровасарказъм
Book:The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking
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“Through positive thinking and related approaches, we seek the safety and solid ground of certainty, of knowing how the future will turn out, of a time in the future when we'll be ceaselessly happy and never have to fear negative emotions again. But in chasing all that, we close down the very faculties that permit the happiness we crave.”

ThinkingTurnsEmotionKnowingPositive ThinkingApproachNegativeSafetyCertaintyRelatedFacultyPermitChasingCraveNegative Emotions
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“What made Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein such creative geniuses? It wasn't reading books or watching YouTube talks about How To Be More Creative, that's for sure... If startling insights could be systematically arrived at, they wouldn't be startling. The best you can do is to create a conducive environment: put in the hours; take time to daydream; avoid mind-corroding substances.”

IfsMindMadeBookReadingCan DoHoursCreativeEnvironmentGeniusInsightSubstanceReading BooksTake TimeYoutubeDaydreamingLeonardoCreative Genius
Author:Oliver Burkeman
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“Who says you need to wait until you 'feel like' doing something in order to start doing it? The problem, from this perspective, isn't that you don't feel motivated; it's that you imagine you need to feel motivated. If you can regard your thoughts and emotions about whatever you're procrastinating on as passing weather, you'll realise that your reluctance about working isn't something that needs to be eradicated or transformed into positivity. You can coexist with it. You can note the procrastinatory feelings and act anyway.”

IfsNeedsFeelsFeelingsProblemOrderWaitingEmotionImaginePerspectiveRegardNotesPositivityPassingPassingsWeatherMotivatedRealisingTransformedProcrastinatingCoexistReluctanceThoughts And Emotions
Author:Oliver Burkeman
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“The routines of almost all famous writers, from Charles Darwin to John Grisham, similarly emphasise specific starting times, or number of hours worked, or words written. Such rituals provide a structure to work in, whether or not the feeling of motivation or inspiration happens to be present. They let people work alongside negative or positive emotions, instead of getting distracted by the effort of cultivating only positive ones. ‘Inspiration is for amateurs,’ the artist Chuck Close once memorably observed. ‘The rest of us just show up and get to work.”

PeopleShowsFeelingsInspirationHappensArtistMotivationHoursNumbersEffortEmotionWrittenNegativeStructureStartingRitualDistractedChuckCultivatingFamous WritersPositive Emotions
Author:Oliver Burkeman
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“It is illuminating to note, here, how the daily rituals and working routines of prolific authors and artists - people who really do get a lot done - very rarely include techniques for 'getting motivated' or 'feeling inspired'. Quite the opposite: they tend to emphasise the mechanics of the working process, focusing not on generating the right mood, but on accomplishing certain physical actions, regardless of mood.”

PeopleDoneFeelingsActionArtistCertainProcessOppositesNotesInspiredTechniqueMoodRitualMotivatedMechanicIlluminating
Author:Oliver Burkeman
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