Oliver Burkeman

Ceaseless optimism about the future only makes for a greater shock when things go wrong; by fighting to maintain only positive beliefs…

— Oliver Burkeman

“And here lies the essential between Stoicism and the modern-day 'cult of optimism.' For the Stoics, the ideal state of mind was…

— Oliver Burkeman

“By the second day, the song lyrics had faded, but in their place came darker irritations. Gradually, I started to become aware…

— Oliver Burkeman

Through positive thinking and related approaches, we seek the safety and solid ground of certainty, of knowing how the future will turn…

— Oliver Burkeman

“All these counterproductive ways of thinking about failure manifest themselves most acutely in the phenomenon of perfectionism. This is one of those…

— Oliver Burkeman

“Ceaseless optimism about the future only makes for a greater shock when things go wrong; by fighting to maintain only positive beliefs…

— Oliver Burkeman

“The greatest benefit of negative capability—the true power of negative thinking—is that it lets the mystery back in.”

— Oliver Burkeman

What made Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein such creative geniuses? It wasn't reading books or watching YouTube talks about…

— Oliver Burkeman

“Perhaps you don’t need telling that self-help books, the modern-day apotheosis of the quest for happiness, are among the things that fail…

— Oliver Burkeman

Who says you need to wait until you 'feel like' doing something in order to start doing it? The problem, from this…

— Oliver Burkeman

“Incremental theory’ people are different. Because they think of abilities as emerging through tackling challenges, the experience of failure has a completely…

— Oliver Burkeman

It is illuminating to note, here, how the daily rituals and working routines of prolific authors and artists - people who really…

— Oliver Burkeman

“Pilots were not excused all these rigorous new checks, and when Woodie Menear’s turn came, the security screener expressed concern about the…

— Oliver Burkeman

“...no matter how much success you may experience in life, your eventual story - no offence intended - will be one of…

— Oliver Burkeman

The routines of almost all famous writers, from Charles Darwin to John Grisham, similarly emphasise specific starting times, or number of hours…

— Oliver Burkeman

“I was going to buy a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking, and then I thought, ‘What the hell good would…

— Oliver Burkeman

The effort to feel happy is often precisely the thing that makes us miserable. And that it is out constant efforts to…

— Oliver Burkeman

“Dennis' book is far less annoying than most such works, thanks largely to his disarming sense of humour about being worth £700…

— Oliver Burkeman

The effort to try to feel happy is often precisely the thing that makes us miserable,

— Oliver Burkeman

“...it pointed to an alternative approach, a ‘negative path’ to happiness, that entailed taking a radically different stance towards those things that…

— Oliver Burkeman

“Part of the problem with positive thinking, and many related approaches to happiness, is exactly this desire to reduce big questions to…

— Oliver Burkeman

“If I had my life over I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practice,…

— Oliver Burkeman

“Never have I trusted Fortune,' writes Seneca, 'even when she seemed to be at peace. All her generous bounties - money, office,…

— Oliver Burkeman

The real trick to producing great work isn't to find ways to eliminate the edgy, nervous feeling that you might be swimming…

— Oliver Burkeman

“But sometimes you simply can't make yourself feel like acting. And in those situations, motivational advice risks making things worse, by surreptitiously…

— Oliver Burkeman