Meditations for Mortals

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1. fcatalanJun 2026
   Thank you for this recommendation. This last week I have read this, and then also Meditations for Mortals, and they felt illuminating and like written specifically for me.

   And without really changing anything about what I am actually doing, I now feel much better about it, because these are the right things to be doing now and anguishing about the ones that I can't get to is just sabotaging myself for no gain. It looks so simple now...

   I still have a lot to digest, but having read thousands of books in my life, including dozens of self-help and productivity manuals, these have felt instantly life-changing.

   Again thank you.

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2. babblingfishOct 2025
   This reminds me of Oliver Burkeman's insight in "Meditations for Mortals" that we can only control quantity, not quality. He suggests we focus on what's within our control: showing up consistently and doing the work, rather than obsessing over outcomes. Another piece of his advice is to choose pursuits where you have a natural aptitude. Otherwise, there's too much friction. People enjoy being competent.

   Haruki Murakami describes a similar discovery in his memoir "Novelist as a Vocation." He didn't set out knowing he had talent for writing, he discovered it through consistent practice. Only by writing his first novel did he realize he might have aptitude for it. Talent wasn't something he was born knowing about, but something he uncovered through action.

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3. albert_eFeb 2025
   I am in same camp.

   I recently read the book Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.

   Resonates a lot with my experience and struggle with trying to stay productive.

   I may not have learnt any new skills from this book but at least feel a tad bit more at peace with things as they as and as they unfold.

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4. albert_eFeb 2025
   Author Oliver Burkeman discusses this marshmallow test in his book Meditations for Mortals.

   Paraphrasing from memory -

   Who is to say that stockpiling as many marshmallows as you can is inherently more virtuous or objectively more positive than enjoying one marshmallow in the moment you and the marshmallow are ready for each other.

   "Now" is the one moment you are truly alive. Rest is a concept.

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