696: Oliver Burkeman, part 1.5: Removing Obstacles, not Making Arguments
How do you feel when you mean to do something but don’t do it. Do you tell people about it? Do you hide it?
Nearly no one is acting as much on sustainability as we need to to avoid disaster. Beyond not acting, we aren’t facing our inaction.
How do you think a globally recognized productivity guy would feel and if he didn’t yet do what he said he would? I’ve talked to people who have loved Oliver’s book and columns. I think many would both be surprised if he didn’t do something he said he would and would feel bad if they didn’t do something they said they would.
I love his writing. I consider his views on time and values new and valuable. Others share my views. But he’s human, like all of us.
I think the sustainability movement would benefit from more up front acknowledging our fallibility but not give up or rationalize and justify inaction. We benefit from learning from out mistakes and keeping going.
In this episode, we’ll hear how Oliver handles not doing a commitment but not hiding it, complaining, rationalizing, justifying, or giving up.
We also cover the behind-the-scenes of writing his book, developing his views, and living them.
We also continue the parallel between his views on time and mine on energy.