Three Summer Reads

Before I take off for a few weeks’ break, here are three books I think you’ll enjoy reading or listening to over the summer (or winter if you’re in the northern hemisphere).

Enjoy!

Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It

If you’re looking to get some perspective on life, this book won’t disappoint. Four thousand weeks is the average human lifespan. How will you use it? Oliver Burkeman’s question here is an invitation for us to get deliberate about how we craft our life. It’s not necessarily about living a full life (as so many of us do) but rather living a fulfilled life. He challenges many social norms about what we think is important, and invites us to reflect on how we can spend our time meaningfully without burning out. Both insightful and practical, this book will get you thinking.

The New Long Life: A Framework for Flourishing in a Changing World

Four thousand weeks ain’t what it used to be. These days, more of us can expect to live longer. This book shines a light on the realities that a longer life presents us with. The model of the three stage life (learn, earn, retire) is no longer sustainable nor relevant in a new age of longevity. How can we learn to reinvent ourselves, our careers, and our relationships over such a long period? Economist Andrew Scott and psychologist Lynda Gratton give us a framework for how individuals, organisations and governments can adapt to the opportunities and challenges in front of us. Written as a practical follow up to The 100 Year Life, it makes a brilliant companion to Four Thousand Weeks.

Effortless: Make It Easier To Do What Matters Most

Greg McKeown’s preceding book, Essentialism, helped me commit to the disciplined pursuit of less. His new book builds on that idea. If Essentialism is about deciding what matters, Effortless is about making it easier to do that. His ideas link beautifully into my work on Unhurried Productivity, which is all about attaining a sustainable flow state. Effortless has nothing astoundingly new in it, yet what I most like about this book is how he’s packaged timeless wisdom into an easily digestible form.

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