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If you’re overwhelmed, read this

2025-06-09 · Short · Ali · recording, 1:13 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books and reading · mode: Review and recommendation · tags: Lesson from a book

For anyone feeling overwhelmed with work or life, Ali recommends three books: Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang's Rest and Paul Millerd's The Pathless Path.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Three books for feeling overwhelmed: Four Thousand Weeks, Rest and The Pathless Path

  • ★★ For anyone feeling overwhelmed with work or life, Ali recommends Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, a deeply comforting book that encourages us to embrace our limitations and the fact that we will die. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Ali takes from Four Thousand Weeks that the productivity, hustle, achievement and success we try to seek may not be all they are cracked up to be, and that we can be a little kinder to ourselves. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★ Ali calls Four Thousand Weeks a very fun read, along with its companion book by Oliver Burkeman, Meditations for Mortals. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Ali recommends Alex Soojung-Kim Pang's Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, which he has read many times, as a comforting read on how resting is sometimes the most productive thing you can do. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Ali recommends Paul Millerd's The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story for Work and Life to anyone feeling overwhelmed. — 00:00:29
  • ★ Ali says Paul Millerd quit a very high-paying management consultancy job in New York and has been doing his own thing for several years. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ In The Pathless Path, Ali says, Paul Millerd writes that although he now makes much less money than he could have in management consultancy, his life is a lot happier because it is not just about the money. — 00:00:58

Mentioned

Central: Four Thousand Weeks · Rest · The Pathless Path

Also: Alex Soojung-Kim Pang · Meditations for Mortals · New York · Oliver Burkeman · Paul Millerd

Also centred on Four Thousand Weeks: 15 Books To Read to Change Your Life · Life Is 4,000 Weeks. You’re Already Burning Through Them. · How I Manage My Time - The System That Changed My Life · 3 Books to Master Time Management 📚

Also centred on Rest: 19 Books to Transform Your 2026

Also centred on The Pathless Path: 15 Incredible Books to Read in 2026 · How to figure out what to do with your life #shorts · This book made me quit my job

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