Oliver Burkeman: New Year, Same Me

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

Everything Happens Studios

Health & Fitness, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.8 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Does life ever feel like an endless to-do list? Like if you could just wake up tomorrow with a little more discipline, you’d finally master your schedule, achieve balance, and feel… enough?

On today's episode, Oliver Burkeman (bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals) and Kate unravel some of the beautiful lies we cling to about time and control, the fantasy of hyper-efficiency, and what it might look like to embrace the limits that make us who we are.

In this conversation, Kate and Oliver discuss:

Some of the most common self-help myths that stand in our way
Why the relentless pursuit of self-improvement often leaves us feeling empty, anxious, and overwhelmed.
How embracing our limits can lead to more contentment

This is a conversation about limits—not as something to overcome, but as a doorway to something richer, deeper, and (dare I say) more human.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also love:

Katie Couric on The Courage to Try (and Wisdom to Know When to Let Go)
Susan David on Toxic Positivity
Samantha Irby on Doing My Best (Life Now)
Elizabeth Gilbert on Why Your Creativity Matters

Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts.

Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, I'm Rushmastajani, founder of Girls Who Code. Look, I'd consider myself a pretty successful
0:06.8	adult woman. I've written books, founded two successful nonprofits, and I'm raising two incredible kids.
0:13.7	But here's the thing. I still wake up wondering, is this it? And if the best years are yet to come, when's that going to start? Join me on my
0:25.0	so-called midlife, my new podcast with Lemonada Media, where we're building a playbook for navigating
0:31.2	midlife, one episode at a time. Each week, I'll chat with extraordinary guests who've transformed their midlife crisis
0:39.3	into opportunities for growth and newfound purpose. At some point, we all ask ourselves,
0:47.2	is there more to life? I'm here to discover how to thrive in my second act, right alongside you.
0:57.0	My so-called midlife is out now,
1:05.3	wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Kulapvilaysock, and I'm Sujim Pock, and we're your aunties on Ad to Cart, a podcast all about the things we buy, the things we buy into, and what
1:10.1	that says about who we are.
1:11.8	We're real-life friends who love to talk about what we're adding to cart.
1:16.1	Sometimes that means trying the latest snail serum to slather on our faces.
1:20.8	Or a sweater that screams one-third ugly.
1:23.8	That's right, Sue.
1:24.4	Each week we dive into honest, oftentimes TMI conversations about what's taking up space in our shopping carts and in our minds, be it products, trends, or something for our Auntie Book Club.
1:34.6	We also bring guests on the show and take a peek into their carts because the things a person buys or doesn't says a lot about them.
1:41.3	We like to think of ourselves as Auntie's to all. Fun, slightly unhinged, and always
1:47.2	ready to share some sage advice and a good product wreck. Add to Cart is out now, wherever you get
1:53.7	your podcast. Does life ever feel like an endless to-do list?
2:03.7	Like if you could just wake up tomorrow with a little more discipline,
2:07.3	you'd finally master your schedule,
2:10.2	achieve balance, and feel enough?
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -87 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Everything Happens Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Everything Happens Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.