Time is running out

I finished reading 4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. I didn’t do the math to see how many weeks I have left, but as I was reading, the song Time Is Running Out by Muse kept playing in my mind. The song has something both suffocating and liberating about it at the same time. Maybe that’s why it kept coming back while I was reading the book.

Let’s take a closer look at the book. Of course, it talks about time, but it’s not focused on making things faster in order to be more productive, as someone might expect. Instead, it explores how we perceive time as something separate from life, as though time is a thing to be utilized. Rather than living in the moment and being fully immersed in time, we evaluate every moment based on its usefulness toward achieving a goal.

The book briefly references Warren Buffett, who was once asked how he prioritizes what he wants to do. He said a person should make a list of the 25 things they want to do in life, and then prioritize them from most to least important. The key, he says, is to focus on the first 5 items and avoid the other 20 at all costs. Why? Because these aspirations are important to you, but not so important that you should pursue them all. In other words, sometimes you have to say “no” to the things you want to do, because life is short, and there’s no time for everything. In a strange way, in order to live life at full blast, we have to compromise.

Another interesting aspect of the book is its discussion on attention. To me, it’s a big problem in our lives that we spend time without much thought. I realized my attention deserves better management, because ultimately, my life is shaped by where I choose to focus it. I spent time on Instagram—content that I obviously enjoy—but I didn’t want to spend my mornings scrolling through parenting tips, food advice, home decor, and fashion. I like all of these, but I realized I want to make more conscious choices about how I spend my time. So, I stopped using Instagram daily.

So, is that it? Is checking our phones just an addictive, distracting behavior? And will simply putting the phone in another room solve the problem? Oliver Burkeman says we often think of our phone as a distraction during meaningful moments, like conversations with loved ones. But he suggests it might be the other way around: It’s not that the phone is distracting us from the conversation, but that the conversation itself is hard. Listening is difficult, so we check our phones because it’s a more pleasant task. Sometimes, all the discomfort we feel is due to our attempt to avoid the uncomfortable. If you try to be more present and accept that things often unfold differently than you expect, paradoxically, you’ll be more present—and, I believe, happier in the moment.

Here’s a personal example I noticed in my own life. One day, one of my kids couldn’t sleep, so I took them out for a walk in the stroller to help them drift off. I was feeling rushed—thinking about how time was running out and that my other child would wake up soon. My mind was focused on the near future, where I could rest for a bit. But then, I stopped. I noticed how peaceful everything was: the bright sky, the rhythm of the stroller, and the fact that I was singing to my child, someone I genuinely enjoy spending time with. Of course, I wanted rest, but this moment was inevitable. So, I embraced it, taking in the walk and singing a lullaby. It felt surprisingly easy to enjoy the moment once I let go of the need for it to be different. To me, the difficult part sometimes is simply noticing.

Oliver Burkeman also discusses how rest or fun is often seen as something that serves a future purpose. One example he gives reminded me of the way people behave on social media. He says that even traveling the world—if done with the mindset of gathering experiences for future gain—can lose its joy. The experience becomes less about truly exploring and more about preparing for future profit or showing off on social media.

All in all, “Time is running out. You can’t push it underground. You can’t stop it screaming out.” Just be there, and maybe time will show you mercy.