Burned Out? Start Here.

Burned Out? Start Here.

I like to begin each year with an episode about something I’m working through more personally. And at the end of last year, the thing I needed to work through was a pretty bad case of burnout.

So I picked up Oliver Burkeman’s latest book, “Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts.” Burkeman’s big idea, which he also explores in his best seller “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals,” is that the desire to be more productive, to squeeze out the most from each day, to try to feel on top of our lives, is ultimately insatiable. He argues that addressing burnout requires a shift in outlook — accepting that our time and energy are finite, and that there will always be something more to do. In other words: What if you began with a deeper appreciation of your own limits? How, then, would you live?

Burkeman’s book is structured as 28 short essays on this question. In this conversation, I ask him to walk me through some of them. We discuss what burnout is; what it means to accept your limitations and let go of control; the messages children absorb about productivity and work; navigating the overwhelm of information and news; and more.

This episode contains strong language.

Mentioned:

How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation” by Anne Helen Petersen

Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Stop. Breathe. We Can’t Keep Working Like This.” with Cal Newport on “The Ezra Klein Show”

The Man Who Knew Too Little” by Sam Dolnick

Book Recommendations:

The Uncontrollability of the World by Hartmut Rosa

Fully Alive by Elizabeth Oldfield

Death by Joan Tollifson

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Kristin Lin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker. Mixing by Isaac Jones, with Efim Shapiro and Aman Sahota. Our supervising editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith and Jack McCordick. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(499)

Ibram X. Kendi on What Conservatives—and Liberals—Get Wrong About Antiracism

Ibram X. Kendi on What Conservatives—and Liberals—Get Wrong About Antiracism

“What if instead of a feelings advocacy we had an outcome advocacy that put equitable outcomes before our guilt and anguish?” wrote Ibram X. Kendi in his 2019 book “How to Be an Antiracist.” “What if ...

16 Heinä 20211h 5min

How Octopuses Upend What We Know About Ourselves

How Octopuses Upend What We Know About Ourselves

I’ve spent the past few months on an octopus kick. In that, I don’t seem to be alone. Octopuses (it’s incorrect to say “octopi,” to my despair) are having a moment: There are award-winning books, docu...

13 Heinä 202156min

Critical Race Theory, Comic Books and the Power of Public Schools

Critical Race Theory, Comic Books and the Power of Public Schools

Eve Ewing’s work as a sociologist, poet, visual artist, podcaster and comic book writer manages to do two things that are often in tension: it gives us a clear picture of how race, power and education...

9 Heinä 20211h 26min

Best of: What ‘Drained-Pool’ Politics Costs America

Best of: What ‘Drained-Pool’ Politics Costs America

In February, I spoke with Heather McGhee. I’ve been thinking about the conversation ever since. “The American landscape was once graced with resplendent public swimming pools, some big enough to hold ...

6 Heinä 20211h 8min

Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy Wants You to Be Bad at Something. It’s for Your Own Good.

Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy Wants You to Be Bad at Something. It’s for Your Own Good.

Recently, I picked up Jeff Tweedy’s “How to Write One Song.” It was a bit of a lark. Tweedy is the frontman for Wilco, one of my favorite bands, but I’m not a songwriter, and I don’t plan to become on...

2 Heinä 20211h 11min

Why Do We Work So Damn Much?

Why Do We Work So Damn Much?

Historically speaking, we live in an age of extraordinary abundance. We have long since passed the income thresholds when past economists believed our needs would be more than met and we’d be working ...

29 Kesä 20211h 22min

Republicans Are Setting Off a ‘Doom Loop’ for Democracy

Republicans Are Setting Off a ‘Doom Loop’ for Democracy

The insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 failed. Donald Trump is not the president. But at the state level, the Republican war on elections is posting startling wins. They are trying to do what Trump...

25 Kesä 20211h 18min

Sarah Schulman’s Radical Approach to Conflict, Communication and Change

Sarah Schulman’s Radical Approach to Conflict, Communication and Change

Sarah Schulman’s work — as a nonfiction writer, novelist, activist, playwright and filmmaker — confronts the very thing most people try to avoid: conflict. Schulman, far from running from it, believes...

22 Kesä 20211h 1min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
viisupodi
rss-podme-livebox
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-pinnalla
otetaan-yhdet
the-ulkopolitist
aihe
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka
rss-asiastudio
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
rss-vain-talouselamaa