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Meditations for Mortals

A Four Week Guide to Doing What Counts

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Stop trying to sort your life out. Start living.

Our lives can feel defined by the struggle with overwhelm, endless decisions and striving to be productive. Wouldn’t it be good to stop doing all that? What if we could find freedom – and get more of the important things done – by embracing our limitations, and by letting things happen instead of forcing them?

Meditations for Mortals begins with the reality in which we actually find ourselves, not with fantasies of an ideal existence. Reflecting on ideas from philosophy, religion, psychology and self-help, it offers us a powerful and practical new way to do what counts: a guiding outlook Oliver Burkeman calls ‘imperfectionism’.

This book is a profound and liberating crash course in living more fully. It overturns much familiar advice and opens a gateway to a saner, freer and more enchantment-filled life.

‘Full of wisdom and comfort' CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN

‘A practical path toward personal transformation… A must-read' CAL NEWPORT

'If there are two people who have changed my life...then one of them is Oliver Burkeman' PANDORA SYKES

'Oliver Burkeman has a way of giving you the most unexpected productivity advice exactly when you need it’ MARK MANSON
© Oliver Burkeman 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

 Alternative & Complementary Medicine Best of 2024 Buddhism Meditation Personal Development Personal Success Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Spirituality

Critic reviews

Thoughtful, level-headed and useful ... a book to meditate upon
I'm sceptical about self-help - but a four-week 'mind retreat' changed me ... [Meditations for Mortals] teems with good sense, sensibly dispensed
A bracing read ... I'd bet that his audience will finish it in one sitting ... uplifting
Illuminating ... Burkeman's insight [is] always clear-eyed and jargon-free ... reassuring and constructive
Full of wise advice on not getting overburdened by work
Life-changing
Oliver Burkeman has a way of giving you the most unexpected productivity advice exactly when you need it (Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck)
Full of wisdom and comfort. I enjoyed every page and read it in a single sitting. This is a really important book about embracing truth and reality (Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People)
A very special book. We should all read this - for the sake of our aching world as well as the state of our souls (Krista Tippett, author of Becoming Wise)
A practical path towards personal transformation. A must-read (Cal Newport, author of Slow Productivity)
All stars
Most relevant
Cuts through the noise of productivity culture and offers something rare—clarity.

No numbered lists. No promises of a perfect life. Just daily reflections on what it means to live well with limited time, attention, and energy.

Burkeman invites you to let go of the need to optimise everything and instead focus deeply on what matters—whether that’s working consistently for a few good hours a day, or simply accepting that you’ll never get to everything, and that’s okay.

It’s not about figuring life out—it’s about realising you never really will.

If you’re tired of chasing more and ready to appreciate enough, this book is a brilliant place to start.

A refreshingly honest and grounded book.

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it felt a lot like a regular column in a newspaper. I didn't do a chapter daily just whenever I could. but I feel like I could re listen again pretty soon

accessable and interesting

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Forget about everything we know about productivity. Oliver Burkeman gives us another way of doing what is best and at the same time achieving contentment.

Turns Productivity on its head

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Beautifully different take on productivity and what it means to have a meaningful life. Highly recommend this fantastic book.

Wonderfully different

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It hasn't made me a better version of myself but I feel more at peace with that. It's not a book to help you find the giant within, thank god. I just enjoyed listening to it.

It hasn't made me a better version of myself but

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