Meditations for Mortals takes us on a liberating, invigorating journey toward a more meaningful life—a journey that begins not with fantasies of the ideal existence but with the reality in which we actually find ourselves. It brings themes at the heart of Oliver Burkeman’s bestselling Four Thousand Weeks—our finite time, the lure of distraction, the productivity trap—into our daily lives. Looking beyond the challenges of time management to the most fundamental questions about how to live, he offers here a powerful new way to take action on what counts: a guiding philosophy of life that he calls “imperfectionism.”

How can we embrace our nonnegotiable limitations? Or make good decisions when there’s always too much to do? How to shed the illusion that life will really begin as soon as we can “get on top of everything”?

Reflecting on quotations drawn from philosophy, religion, literature, psychology, and self-help, Burkeman explores a combination of practical tools and daily shifts in perspective. The result is a life-enhancing and surprising challenge to much familiar advice—and a profound yet entertaining crash course in living more fully. Designed either as a four-week “retreat of the mind” or to be devoured in one or two sittings, Meditations for Mortals will be a source of solace and inspiration and an aid to a saner, freer, and more enchantment-filled life. In our anxiety-inducing times, it is rich in truths we have never needed more.