fbpx
Facing Main

Time Management for Mortals

Confronting the limitations of a business puts you very close to the uncomfortable reality that is the finitude of life

By Maggie Doherty

Sometimes, delightfully, a book seeks me out. My “to-be-read” stacks teeter and totter on shelves, nightstands, desks and, as I’m reluctant to admit, also on my office floor. I have lists and lists of books I want to read, so I found it surprising that my husband recommended a book to me. Although both of us are devoted readers, and our love of books was one of those sparks that first ignited attraction, we have very different tastes. He’s fond of nonfiction books about mountains, running and adventure, and when he finds his footing in fiction, mysteries and thrillers claim his attention. We have some overlap, usually in the classics or our love for Peter Mayle’s books about the pleasures of eating well in France. I was surprised to see him reading a book I had also wanted. 

The book is about time management – not something I normally gravitate toward. But I couldn’t imagine Cole would be interested in it, too. To help illustrate the difference between Cole and me: he is the person who alphabetizes his bookshelves. I, on the other hand, group my books together by topics, authors that I imagine would like to reside next to each other, or titles that came from a specific time period in my life like college or research on nature writing. After Cole finished the book, I started reading it, unable to put it down. “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals” by Oliver Burkeman somehow managed to hook both of us and make us think deeply about our relationship with time and what it means to conduct a meaningful life. 

As two people who recently sold a business that largely defined our lives together maybe it’s not such a shock that we are looking for ways to move through this transition. We’re likely not explicitly aware of this, which is how many profound movements in life occur, isn’t it? We had arrived at a point in our business plan where we had to review everything and realized that a once long-held dream no longer held true. It was a reckoning with limitations, and the desire to leave something behind and take yet another leap into the unknown, the undefined. When viewed from this perspective, it’s little to no wonder why we’d both seek a book that helps us understand time, productivity, and mortality. After all, confronting the limitations of a business puts you very close to the uncomfortable reality that is the finitude of life. 

So, the book found me via my spouse, and it was a delightful albeit uncomfortable discovery. A little nighttime reading about confronting death makes for an interesting way to end the day but what I can take away from closing our small brewery is life is nothing but a series of uncomfortable, stretching events that launch us into points of joy. A book is a fine way to understand these fleeting 4,000 weeks. 

Maggie Doherty is a writer and book reviewer who lives in Kalispell with her family.