Quotessence
Home / Authors / Oliver Burkeman
Oliver Burkeman

Oliver Burkeman Quotes

Journalist

Filter quotes by topic

AllFeelingsNegativeEffortEmotionFeelsHappensIfsThinkingTime ManagementAnxietyArtistBeliefCasesHoursInsecurityLife PhilosophyMiserableMotivatedNotesPeople

Famous Oliver Burkeman Quotes

“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
Author:Oliver Burkeman
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image