Lesson 6: Develop a Taste for Life’s Problems | Oliver Burkeman

Negotiating a high-stakes deal, motivating a reluctant team, or even just figuring out how to host a dinner party with only four chairs — problems like these, big and small, are baked into life. It’s easy to view them as frustrations. And sure, they can be. But what if you saw them as chances to get creative, experiment, and uncover strengths you didn’t know you had?

In this video lesson, author Oliver Burkeman challenges us to rethink our approach to challenges. Instead of asking “Why me?” he suggests embracing them as life’s job description — opportunities to tap into your ingenuity and resilience.

Sometimes we think we’ve arrived at a stage in life where we shouldn’t have to deal with problems. But this way of thinking makes things worse: We’re left facing both the problem and our indignation about the problem.

At the most general level, a “problem” arises when our limited capacities run up against reality, creating a need that we must address.

However, as the social theorist Hartmut Rosa puts it, a life without problems loses its resonance: It becomes empty and meaningless. In a sense, problems are the job. They empower us to be creative and energetic in resolving them.

Try viewing problems as an aspect of work that makes it fun and uniquely human.

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About Oliver Burkeman:

Oliver Burkeman is a bestselling author and journalist. He is best known for Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (2021), a self-help book on reframing productivity for happiness. He also publishes The Imperfectionist, an email on productivity, mortality, the power of limits, and building a meaningful life in an age of bewilderment.