Oliver Burkeman



Profile:
Full name: Oliver Burkeman

Area of interest: Current affairs, U.S. affairs, mental health, education, culture, celebrity

Journals/Organisation: The Guardian

Email: [mailto:oliver.burkeman@guardian.co.uk oliver.burkeman@guardian.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: Guardian.co / Oliver Burkeman

Blogs: OliverBurkemanBlog | guardianblogs | theblogbooks

Representation:

Networks: twitter.com/oliverburkeman



Biography:
About:

Education: Huntington School, York; Cambridge University: BA (Hons) Social and Political Sciences

Career: Guardian and Observer Syndication, writer and sub-editor, 1997/1998; The Observer, sub-editor, 1998/1999; Guardian features, 1999/2001; Guardian correspondent, New York & Washington DC, 2002/2003; Feature Writer, 2004- Current position/role: columnist


 * also writes/has written for:

Other roles/Main role:

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

Broadcast media:

Video:

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours: Foreign Press Association Young Journalist of the Year, 2002

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:


Latest work:

Speaking/Appearances:

Debate: 

The Guardian:
Column name: This column will change your life

Remit/Info: Investigates routes to mental well-being

Section: Guardian Weekend pages

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:oliver.burkeman@guardian.co.uk oliver.burkeman@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / This Column Will Change Your Life

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Saturday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 500 words


 * see also All the president's emails



Articles: 2015

 * Spam might not clog your inbox any longer. But what about your life? - Unwanted emails now take up less than half of our inboxes. But spammers make demands on our attention in many other ways today - 22nd July
 * Facebook at Work is a recipe for utter calamity that only benefits Facebook - It is a manifestly terrible idea which, if adopted in your workplace, will undoubtedly transform it into a dystopian hell-hole of paranoia and confusion - 16th January



Articles: 2014

 * One weird trick to beat the password thieves: stop worrying so much - After a gang of Russian hackers reportedly pulled off the biggest password heist in history, there are precautions you should take. Beyond that, chilling out is the best revenge - 6th August
 * This column will change your life: what not to say - 'Deep down, unhelpful comments are motivated not by an urge to comfort the sufferer, but the selfish desire to make matters less awkward for the consoler' - 2nd August
 * This column will change your life: invisibles - If invisibles work in jobs that are unseen when done perfectly, how do they survive in a culture that seeks endless pats on the back? - 26th July
 * This column will change your life: just sit down and think - 'No wonder we don't dwell on what's inside: that would underline the loneliness of existence' - 19th July
 * This column will change your life: can you think yourself well? - 'Quasi-magically, teachers appear capable of declining to get ill when they can't afford to, postponing the symptoms till later' - 12th July
 * This column will change your life: procrastination - 'The special danger of precrastination is that, unlike procrastination, it doesn't feel naughty' - 5th July
 * This column will change your life: how to think about writing - 'The idea is to help readers discern something you know they'd be able to see, if only they were looking in the right place' - 28th June
 * This column will change your life: we mustn't ignore attention-seekers - 'We think of attention-seeking as a character flaw. Start to see it instead as a universal need and all sorts of things fall into place' - 21st June
 * This column will change your life: are you wasting your warmth? - 'Peach people are soft on the outside, but have a hard stone that protects their inner being. Coconuts have tougher exteriors, but get past that, and they're sweet inside' - 14th June
 * This column will change your life: near enemies - 'Hatred, it won't surprise you to learn, is the far enemy of love. Near enemies are much sneakier and harder to spot' - 7th June
 * This column will change your life: the best dating advice? Wait and see - If you're not one of the beautiful people, take heart. All you need is for others to have the patience to get to know you - 31st May
 * This column will change your life: the what-the-hell effect - The what-the-hell effect is usually interpreted, rightly, as an argument for setting more realistic goals - 24th May
 * This column will change your life: good advice from bad people - 'Leaving aside criminals and charlatans, you could argue we're better off taking advice from those who've struggled with whatever they're addressing' - 17th May
 * This column will change your life: hindsight – it's not just for past events - 'Hindsight makes things look so utterly different that it's impossible, when taking a decision in the moment, even to begin to grasp how it'll strike you later on' - 10th May
 * This column will change your life: open-plan offices - 'The "flexibility" of the modern office mainly just means freedom for the most powerful forces to assert themselves' - 3rd May
 * This column will change your life: profiting from giving isn't always bad - We judge people harshly if we think their charitable actions are partly motivated by gain. But starving people care about food not the motives of the people who provided it - 26th April
 * This column will change your life: stop being busy - 'Most time management advice rests on the unspoken assumption that it's possible to win the game: to find a slot for everything that matters. But if the game's designed to be unwinnable, you can permit yourself to stop trying' - 19th April
 * This column will change your life: the case against hope - 'Scratch the surface of our hope-fixated culture and you discover The Shawshank Redemption lied to us: sometimes, giving up hope sets you free' - 12th April
 * This column will change your life: interestingness v truth - 'Even in the world of academia, most people aren't motivated by the truth. What they want, above all, is not to be bored' - 5th April
 * This column will change your life: want to get ahead? Move to Perth - 'When we're imagining people and things as physically farther away, we see the salient features instead of distracting details, the forest instead of the trees' - 29th March
 * This column will change your life: where heaven and Earth collide - 'We're in the territory, here, of the ineffable: the stuff we can't express because it's beyond the power of language to do so' - 22nd March
 * This column will change your life: other minds - 'It's a useful reminder to be sceptical when it comes to our belief that we know what's going on in other people's heads' - 15th March
 * This column will change your life: the perils of feedback - 'We want to feel we're learning and improving, but we also want appreciating for who we are' - 8th March
 * This column will change your life: the taxi-meter effect - 'Generally speaking, we vastly prefer flat rates over metered costs, even when they end up costing us more' - 1st March
 * This column will change your life: the poor rich - 'The more amazing things get, the less it takes to make you dissatisfied' - 22nd February
 * This column will change your life: inboxes rock! - 'At first, the realisation that inboxes are everywhere will make you feel like the only normal human in a zombie movie, surrounded by the living dead. Really, though, it's good news' - 15th February
 * This column will change your life: obvious answers - 'It's hard not to wonder whether there isn't another reason simple solutions get overlooked. Frankly, they seem too obvious' - 8th February
 * This column will change your life: the taxi-meter effect - 'Generally speaking, we vastly prefer flat rates over metered costs, even when they end up costing us more' - 1st February
 * This column will change your life: consistency bias - 'Believing that change happens only to your environment, or other people, makes life harder to navigate' - 25th January
 * This column will change your life: gut feelings - 'When it comes to judging character, we prefer to believe gut instinct beats box-ticking' - 18th January
 * This column will change your life: triple constraints - 'All too often, we respond to tradeoffs not by choosing, but trying to avoid choosing – and screwing ourselves up in the process' - 11th January
 * This column will change your life: must a year last 52 weeks? - 'What if we switched to a different personal calendar? By adopting a 12-week perspective we might finally abandon the futile, misery-inducing notion of "work-life balance" ' - 4th January



Articles: 2013

 * This column will change your life: think aikido - Relatives getting on your nerves? Try martial arts - 21st December
 * This column will change your life: don't blame the lazy. It may not be their fault - Willpower is something you might have less of thanks to luck or upbringing, not a magic power that lazy people refuse to use - 14th December
 * This column will change your life: don't let your friendships die of neglect - 'If you fail to get in touch because you've nothing worth saying, or too little time to say much of it, you'll be doing nobody any favours' - 7th December
 * This column will change your life: don't know what to do next? Wait and see - 'When an old technique's not working, stay watchful. Contemplate alternative techniques, explore likely scenarios and focus on general readiness' - 30th November
 * This column will change your life: hairy arm tactics - When is a hairy arm not a hairy arm? When it's a technique for managing your boss - 23rd November
 * This column will change your life: why are ethicists so unethical? - 'Does an overdeveloped sense of morality make you less likely to act ethically in real life?' - 16th November
 * This column will change your life: do you feel a fraud? - 'One of impostorism's frustrating ironies is that true frauds and idiots rarely seem to experience it' - 9th November
 * This column will change your life: cut yourself some slack - 'The human mind has all sorts of frustrating eccentricities that conspire to keep us too busy, no matter what remedies we try' - 2nd November
 * This column will change your life: why confidence is overrated - 'Humble-but-competent leaders are both better-liked and more successful than braggarts' - 26th October
 * This column will change your life: the truth about inefficiency - 'You don't procrastinate, or miss appointments, or fail to communicate with your spouse because you're an idiot who doesn't realise there's a better way. You do it because there's a hidden benefit you're getting' - 19th October
 * This column will change your life: the truth about happiness - 'How can happiness be influenced by things we don't have, were never going to have, and wouldn't have missed, if the thought hadn't occurred?' - 12th October
 * This column will change your life: don't say 'I can't' if you can say 'I don't' - 'Who wouldn't rather be the self-directed, principled type who doesn't have more than one beer, than the rule-oppressed drudge who can't'? - 5th October
 * This column will change your life: the secret of true misery - 'Nobody wants to be unhappy? Nonsense. Consider your friend who's always getting involved with unavailable men, or that colleague who goes hunting for things to get annoyed by' - 28th September
 * This column will change your life: is unhappiness the mother of invention? - 'What psychologists call "experiential avoidance" – the effort not to feel certain feelings, or think certain thoughts – is widely condemned as a bad thing. But could it confer benefits?' - 21st September
 * This column will change your life: stop rating your whole self - 'Trying to think of yourself as a good person dramatically raises the stakes of everything you do and magnifies mistakes' - 14th September
 * This column will change your life: how to tell whether you have a bullshit job - 'Is the job you're doing, or applying for, one the world would be fine without? As life strategies go, this seems a decent one' - 7th September
 * This column will change your life: why terrorists make lousy bosses - 'To me and you, al-Qaida's Ayman al-Zawahiri may be the personification of evil. But to the militants he leads, he's the micromanager from hell' - 31st August
 * This column will change your life: decisions, decisions - 'Don't take refuge in neutrality; trying to stay neutral is fraught with trouble' - 24th August
 * This column will change your life: don't die without an action plan - 'The next time you're struck by some insight into life's true meaning, don't worry about preserving the feeling. Reach for a pen and list two or three things you could do about it' - 17th August
 * The guru who didn't believe in gurus - The Theosophical Society decided Jiddu Krishnamurti was the messiah - 10th August
 * You snooze, you lose - The Money Shredding Alarm Clock is the perfect metaphor for capitalism - 3rd August
 * Why do we undervalue what we're good at? - If a talent has always come naturally, you conclude that it's nothing special - 28th July
 * Abandon book - Fine to abandon books or other projects – but you've got to really abandon them, not let them fade amid vague intentions to finish them some day - 22nd June
 * Embrace schedule - Unhooked from the whims of mood, relieved of the pressure of ceaseless decision-making, the schedule-follower may be freer than the impulse-follower - 15th June
 * Unspeakable emotions - Our daily lives might be full of experiences we never talk about, simply because we lack the words - 8th June
 * Loneliness and temperature - Does coldness really make people feel lonely? - 1st June
 * Deepities - A deepity isn't just any old pseudo-profound bit of drivel. It's a specific kind of statement that can be read in two different ways… - 25th May
 * It's good to tut - Daily life is a finely calibrated system of justice, with violators constantly sanctioned by a volunteer police force, to which we all belong - 18th May
 * Don't let your imaginary friends lead you astray - When you conclude that you're having more or less sex than other people, remember those "others" exist, first and foremost, in your head - 11th May
 * How to take control of your life online - Twitter, Facebook, Google… we know the internet is driving us to distraction. But could sitting at your computer actually calm you down? We investigate the slow web movement - 10th May
 * Niall Ferguson's apology is too good to be true - The celebrity historian's retraction was a model of the genre. That's what makes it so difficult to believe - 6th May
 * Why Rolf Dobelli isn't thinking clearly - For many people a news ban might make sense. But it isn't automatically a path to an objectively 'clearer' way of thinking - 4th May
 * Can you ever know your luck? - Luck is that aspect of events that you can't influence. If you can influence it, then it's not luck - 27th April
 * Boston, the Tsarnaevs and terrorism: no, it really is complicated - To explain the Boston Marathon bombing by blaming violent Islamism may be satisfying to some, but it's not sufficient - 25th April
 * What caused the Boston Marathon bombings? It's complicated … - Blaming religion – let alone 'evil' – is an evasion and shows that the concept of an 'explanation' is irredeemably murky - 23rd April
 * Learn to work like Karl Marx - It's as absurd as seeking advice on business from Jesus or people skills from Genghis Khan. And it's not pretty - 20th April
 * Does choice always come at a price? - Adding the phrase, 'But don't feel obliged' to a request can be extraordinarily persuasive - 13th April
 * Pedalling myths: the anti-bike lobby is flat out of plausible arguments - With the 'bikelash' reduced to incoherent rants, pro-car common sense is losing traction. Allow me to ride to the rescue - 11th April
 * Transformative experiences - We're in the dark when it comes to life's most important decisions. If an experience will make you a different person, you can't know in advance what that person will make of it - 6th April
 * The joy of losing - In some mysterious way, the continuing possibility of failure is what makes games worth playing - 30th March
 * Make the most of your guilt - Attack your most guilt-inducing tasks and you may find, without intending it, that you've attacked the most important ones too - 23rd March
 * Nature and nurture - Even the tiniest kinds of engagement with nature deliver a psychological boost - 16th March
 * Life-choice evangelists - Their real motivation, you suspect, isn't their certainty that marriage, or parenthood, would be best for you. Rather, it's that they worry that it's not best for them - 9th March
 * Running your family like a business - Is the idea of a "productive" family, or a "productive" romantic relationship, inherently absurd? Not necessarily - 2nd March
 * Helsinki Bus Station Theory - The theory claims the secret to a creatively fulfilling career lies in understanding the operations of Helsinki's main bus station - 23rd February
 * Do you believe in brainwashing? - There isn't a hidden switch that lets villains control your thoughts; instead, there are TV ads and manipulative friends and guilt-inducing religions - 16th February
 * Obama's state of the union speech … in an alternate universe - Fellow Americans, we can agree that in testing times nothing is more reassuring than boiler plate and bromides. Let's get it done - 13th February
 * Do you own gadgets – or do they own you? - I bought my phone for its functions, not its beauty. But I got the beauty, too, and that demands upkeep - 9th February
 * Geraldo Rivera for Senate? Mega ego meets media id - News ethicists fret over the Fox News personality's possible run for senator – ignoring the fact that Geraldo is all publicity stunt - 5th February
 * The truth about managers - Imagine a world without managers as a kind of paradise, a place where stuff actually gets done? Time to wake up to reality… - 2nd February
 * David Mamet's nonsensical Newsweek argument against gun control - It's no surprise that the now-conservative playwright would support gun rights, but we might expect him still to make sense - 29th January
 * The trouble with smarter, not harder - A smart solution may be ingenious, but it doesn't follow that implementing it will necessarily be for the best - 26th January
 * The end-of-history illusion - Happy just the way you are? We have some bad news for you… - 19th January
 * Lance Armstrong: how to play the confessor without actually confessing - Oprah Winfrey interview made for compelling viewing, for the most part because Armstrong seemed utterly devoid of emotion - 18th January
 * Sandy Hook 'truthers' and the paranoid quest for meaning where there is none - The truth conspiracy theorists unwittingly reveal is the seductive power of sinister but imaginary causes amid real tragedy - 16th January
 * Creative thinking - If startling insights could be systematically arrived at, they wouldn't be startling - 11th January
 * Settling - Is it ever best to settle for a relationship, career, or anything else that's less than you'd hoped for? - 5th January
 * Let your security blanket slip - Our obsession with feeling safe permeates much of modern life – but three new books suggest we might be better embracing chaos - 4th January
 * Fiscal cliff fatigue? You're not alone - The more we should care about an important issue such as the fiscal cliff, the more likely we are to do something – anything – else - 3rd January



Articles: 2012

 * Zig Ziglar and staying Up, Up, Up in a Down, Down, Down world - Britons may have grounds to sneer at positive-thinking gurus, but the late 'Master of Motivation' knew life was also hard work - 23rd December
 * This column will change your life: the perfect Christmas - You, too, can celebrate like a self-help guru - 21st December
 * This column will change your life: posteriorities - Anyone with too much to do is already setting posteriorities. A stop-doing list merely brings things into the open - 14th December
 * This column will change your life: adjust your defaults - 'This notion turns out to be a surprisingly useful way to think about other kinds of habit change' - 7th December
 * This column will change your life: don't let an asshole get to you - The challenge, in dealing with people such as phone-shouters, is that it's hard to resist the temptation to fight on their terms - 30th November
 * This column will change your life: pseudoscience - When does science become pseudoscience? And when is it something else entirely? - 23rd November
 * This column will change your life: consumer options - Have the headache of buying a mattress or choosing a flight? Happiness is also a comparison-based notion full of pitfalls - 16th November
 * This column will change your life: the harsh realities of relationships - Is it really true that men and women can't ever be just friends and that relationships are always a power struggle? - 9th November
 * This column will change your life: information overload - If you're inundated by email, will pause buttons or boomerangs really help hold back the tide? - 2nd November
 * This column will change your life: Richard Branson, master of the bleeding obvious - Be innovative, learn to listen, don't be a bad apple… Mr Virgin shares his business 'secrets' - 26th October
 * This column will change your life: selfishness - There are times when selfishness is the sensible option - 19th October
 * This column will change your life: the unexamined life might be worth living - Sometimes it's best to stop all the clocks, switch off your phone and studiously avoid all mirrors - 12th October
 * This column will change your life: self-perception theory - Want to think of yourself as confident or happy or patient? Then act how confident people act - 5th October
 * This column will change your life: what can we really learn from Obama? - 'When it comes to presidents-as-gurus, I'm sceptical. Why assume that running a country is anything like running a business, let alone a family?' - 28th September
 * This column will change your life: complainers - Is it time to stop moaning about moaners? - 21st September
 * This column will change your life: how do you know what you don't know? - It's only when you realise you've been tying your shoelaces the wrong way your whole life that you can get properly knotted - 15th September
 * This column will change your life: structured procrastination - Don't be put off putting it off - 7th September
 * This column will change your life: has Pelmanism's time come at last? - Almost 100 years since its invention, a long-forgotten 19th-century mind-training system may be due a resurrection - 31st August
 * This column will change your life: were we living the Olympic dream, or was it mass delirium? - Was Britain's two weeks of Olympic bliss just a moment of mental illness? - 24th August
 * This column will change your life: other people's schedules - 'At any hour of the day, I can tell you what four or five famous people are probably doing, should you wish to know' - 17th August
 * This column will change your life: make time for yourself by giving time to others - 'Giving time enhances your sense that time is voluminous – and that you're capable of making future time voluminous, too' - 10th August
 * This column will change your life: will as a skill - The crusty Victorian notion of willpower is back on the agenda – but is there more to it than meets the eye? - 3rd August
 * This column will change your life: morbid curiosity - Can gawping at disaster be good for us? - 27th July
 * This column will change your life: inner labelling - Do we actually need to manipulate what's going on in our minds? - 20th July
 * This column will change your life: operations management - Even the most passionate love affair, in the end, will benefit from good systems for ensuring that someone gets the groceries - 13th July
 * This column will change your life: anal retentives of the world, unite! - 'True, pleasure-in-neatness can be taken too far…' - 6th July
 * This column will change your life: unsung skills - 'Until recently, I'd assumed I'd go to my grave with these strengths unremarked, reduced to hoping future historians might notice what my contemporaries had missed' - 29th June
 * This column will change your life: cut us some slack - The internet era means friends, colleagues, employers, even enemies can track what we are – and aren't – doing at any time of day. So there's no hiding place for slackers - 22nd June
 * This column will change your life: just say no - Why hard-and-fast rules can be strangely freeing - 8th June
 * This column will change your life: use cash, save money - Is it time to abandon your credit card? - 1st June
 * This column will change your life: outsourcing yourself - You might pay someone to clean your house – but would you pay them to be your friend, or visit a family grave? - 25th May
 * This column will change your life: underachieving - Is it an appealing option for the lazy-minded or a path to a superior kind of achievement? - 18th May
 * This column will change your life: savour the fantasies of others - The secret of a healthy relationship? Embrace your differences - 11th May
 * This column will change your life: when is a brick not a brick? - Or how overcoming functional fixedness can help solve a candle problem or two… - 4th May
 * This column will change your life: the mind-body connection - Are they both essentially the same thing, asks Oliver Burkeman - 27th April
 * This column will change your life: restaurant rules - In search of a great meal? Follow some foodie advice - 20th April
 * This column will change your life: honesty - If I find a phone but don't get round to returning it, am I dishonest or selfish? - 13th April
 * This column will change your life: reverse incentives - Reverse is sometimes the best way forwards - 31st March
 * This column will change your life: anti-inspiration - Think you're too insecure, disorganised or lazy to be a success? Think again - 23rd March
 * This column will change your life: when present self meets future self - 'Me at 43 is just me at 36 with an even dickier knee; but 50-year-old me is some other chap entirely' - 16th March
 * This column will change your life: asked a tricky question? Answer an easier one - We all do it, all the time. So how can we get rid of this eccentricity? - 9th March
 * This column will change your life: new seekers - Is it always bad to look for new experiences? - 2nd March
 * This column will change your life: the two things - Is it true that for every subject, there are only two things you need to know? - 24th February
 * This column will change your life: is there such a thing as an afternoon person? - 'Nobody feels that they come into their own about an hour after lunch' - 17th February
 * This column will change your life: rudeness - Is it always bad to be rude? - 10th February
 * This column will change your life: introverts - Look out, here come the introverts - 3rd February
 * This column will change your life: emotions as equations - Can all your problems be solved by simply getting your sums right? - 27th January
 * This column will change your life: the art of forgetting - Want to blank out that screw-up at work today? Here's how - 20th January
 * Oliver Burkeman: third person perfect - Thinking about yourself in the third person can be a direct path to self-knowledge - 13th January
 * This column will change your life: staying calm - 'What if we could harness technology itself to induce serenity?' - 6th January



Articles: 2011

 * This column will change your life: the language police - Why do they adopt an error-hunting mindset? - 16th December
 * This column will change your life: outsourcing ignorance - Why a crisis can bring out the ostrich in us - 9th December
 * This column will change your life: design thinking - What can designers teach us about real life? - 2nd December
 * Here's some dynamite advice: don't make bomb jokes in airports - Confused about whether to make a terrorism-related wisecrack as you pass through security? Consult this handy guide - 28th November
 * This column will change your life: age and creativity - Is it true you're never too old to achieve your dreams? - 25th November
 * This column will change your life: burning bridges - Could Bernie Madoff have an insight worth mulling? - 18th November
 * This column will change your life: the just world bias - 'Deep down, and whatever our political opinions, many of us seem to believe that life is fair – that by and large people get what they deserve' - 11th November
 * This column will change your life: automaticity - 'Our lives are full of sequences we perform automatically… one happy consequence is the hope of reprogramming them for our benefit' - 4th November
 * This column will change your life: inspirational quotes - Self-help books are brimming with the inspiring words of Nelson Mandela… But did he really say those things? - 28th October
 * This column will change your life: macho creativity advice - 'Does it really make sense to view creative work as a battle?' - 21st October
 * This column will change your life: A question of small talk - Asking, 'So, what do you do?' is both boringly predictable and likely to offend - 14th October
 * This column will change your life: closure - I want closure on it, says Oliver Burkeman - 7th October
 * This column will change your life: flattery - 'We want almost nothing in life, it seems, quite so acutely as just to feel better about ourselves' - 30th September
 * This column will change your life: the secret to winning the war on email - Inbox bursting? The solution is simple… - 23rd September
 * This column will change your life: but is it contagious? - Why do we recoil from some ideas as if to embrace them might be catching? - 16th September
 * This column will change your life: small victories - 'The challenge is remembering to notice the smaller things you've achieved. Keep a "done" list, as well as or instead of a to-do list' - 9th September
 * This column will change your life: contrast - You've got to feel cold to feel warm, says Oliver Burkeman - 2nd September
 * This column will change your life: Signs - We're pathetically obedient. We queue and walk where we're told to, and all because it's printed on a sign. (Would-be fascist dictators, take note) - 26th August
 * This column will change your life: Should memory boxes be given the boot? - If you keep every object from your past as proof of your existence, here's something else to print out and keep… - 19th August
 * This column will change your life: the labour illusion - If a worker sweats, will you pay them more? - 12th August
 * This column will change your life: Clocking off - Is it time to go to the pub now? - 5th August
 * This column will change your life: Do you really need a brand called you? - 'Being hyperconscious of how you're presenting yourself is a hindrance, not a help' - 29th July
 * This column will change your life: Poverty and willpower - Are the 'psychic costs' of resisting temptation heavier if you're poor? - 22nd July
 * This column will change your life: Yes, yes, yes - It's time to rethink the way we negotiate - 15th July
 * This column will change your life: Feel the ugh and do it anyway - Can the psychological flinch mechanism be beaten? - 8th July
 * This column will change your life: Tempo trouble - What happens to relationships when partners march to the beats of different drums? - 1st July
 * This column will change your life: An alternative to Ritalin and hugs - 'As long as you don't waste half your life fiddling with your to-do list, test-driving new ways of working can be galvanising' - 24th June
 * This column will change your life: Radical? Really? - When 'revolutionary' advice is anything but - 18th June
 * This column will change your life: The final frontier? - Why do we freight borders with meaning, asks Oliver Burkeman - 11th June
 * This column will change your life: The Golden Rule of Triggers - Before you press send, take a deep breath, says Oliver Burkeman - 4th June
 * This column will change your life: Military manoeuvres - 'For years, shelves have heaved with titles offering business tips from Lord Nelson, Ulysses S Grant, Norman Schwarzkopf, Attila the Hun' - 28th May
 * This column will change your life: Decision Quicksand -Buying toothpaste just got harder, says Oliver Burkeman - 21st May
 * This column will change your life: The science of happiness - How accurate can it really be? - 7th May
 * This column will change your life: Rules - Perhaps what we need is some rules for interpreting all these rules... - 30th April
 * into the habit of random rewards'' - Can 'intermittent variable rewards' help you become addicted to more positive behaviours? - 23rd April
 * get physical'' - Can mental challenges have simple physical fixes - 16th April
 * makeover: decluttering'' - Does clutter indicate a spiritual burden – or a full life? - 9th April
 * indifference'' - Am I really bovvered if my life lacks meaning - 2nd April
 * from the dying'' - Before you go, make a to-do list... - 26th March
 * calm before the storm'' - Calmness is over-rated. But then again, being hyper isn't the answer either. Maybe there's a third way… - 19th March
 * emotional calendar'' - In a funk? It must be sprin - 12th March
 * issues'' - Can a diet plan double as a new life plan - 5th March
 * Rumsfeld does the book tour'' - The former US defence secretary's appearance on The Daily Show was far from funny – America can't expect comics to hold politicians to account - 2nd March
 * waiting-for list'' - Happiness is luxuriating in the satisfaction of knowing you're more organised than others - 26th February
 * issues'' - Can a diet plan double as a new life plan - 19th February
 * sucks, but who cares?'' - Others being lazy and selfish merely gives us a good excuse to behave likewise - 12th February
 * multitasker's lot is not always a happy one the best'' - The pros and cons of uni- and multitasking - 5th February
 * thinking outside the box had its day?'' - A rethink can be just as good as a whole new thought-process - 29th January
 * Tim Ferriss for real?'' - Success means people hate what you do… or so many self-help gurus would have us believe - 22nd January
 * all over your face?'' - Can people really see what we are thinking? - 15th January
 * familiar'' - Life's too short to spend chasing specific goals all the time; that would be both exhausting and dispiriting. It pays to vague out every now and then - 8th January
 * your resolutions. Stop looking for your soulmate. Reject positive thinking'' - Our new year issue kicks off with advice on how to be a better person in 2011 (and it's not what you think) - 1st January



Articles: 2010

 * Tis the season to get work done - 'Meetings stop, managers relax, the phone stops ringing, and (in my experience, anyhow) stuff can finally get done' - 18th December
 * friends like these…'' - We all know not to judge a book by its cover, so why do we take people we 'meet' on social networking sites at face value? - 12th December
 * power of persuasion'' - Is reasoning your way to a decision, or being convinced by others' arguments, any better than trusting your gut? - 27th November
 * - There's been a revolution in this alarmingly complex, cognitive affair that has plagued humanity for centuries - 20th November
 * column will change your life: Watch out for superachievers'' - They could wear you out - 13th November
 * the worst that could happen?'' - Failure is an inevitable consequence of the human condition. It's how we deal with it that's more important - 6th November
 * truth about cats and dogs'' - What do our relationships with pets tell us about ourselves? - 30th October
 * choice'' - Our impulses are often contradictory – the shopaholic versus the wise spender, the exercise fiend versus the couch potato – but we can control which one prevails - 23rd October
 * wit and wisdom of Mark Twain'' - Today's happiness gurus should follow the master and learn how to laugh - 16th October
 * off worries'' - 'This is an old notion, surfacing in the idea of the "worry jar" ' - 9th October
 * 'cult of less''' - Is the decluttering trend simply an exercise in obsession? - 2nd October
 * be or not to be taken for granted'' - 'There's something about taking people for granted that's indicative of a good relationship' - 25th September
 * cares if Christine O'Donnell's a witch'' - I'm not sure I'd mind a genuinely Wiccan president just so long as there's a sensible rationalist in charge of America's science policy - 21st September (Comment)
 * just got weirder'' - We're all born Weird, but some are born more weird than others - 18th September
 * Protestant work ethic'' - No pain, no gain? Not if you want to get some real work done... - 11th September
 * column will change your life: Power to the people… or not'' - 'To be happier you have to turn sad thoughts and feelings into happy ones. Right?' - 4th September
 * enforcement tactics'' - Is that your bag on my seat? asks Oliver Burkeman, politely - 28th August
 * potatoes v creators'' - Is one really better than the other? - 21st August
 * the job'' - Living to work? Working to live? There is another way… - 14th August
 * column will change your life: The art of remembering'' - Want a better memory? Here's how - 7th August
 * - If hanging on to old resentments is bad for your health, what's the solution? - 31st July
 * step in the right direction'' - A simple walk out in the fresh air often helps focus the mind and clear it of those everyday concerns. But why? - 24th July
 * column will change your life: What I wish I'd known'' - Advice based on hindsight is false wisdom - 17th July
 * column will change your life: How real are your memories?'' - When it comes to recalling experiences, intensity matters more than duration - 10th July
 * it really a case of innovate and die?'' - Is it better to be a copycat - 3rd July
 * in cognitive therapy'' - Thirty years ago, a young pyschiatrist published a book called Feeling Good. What happened next? - 26th June
 * column will change your life: From alief to belief'' - How does even the rational mind respond to things that are not as they seem? - 19th June
 * look up'' - Being downbeat – can it really lead to joy - 12th June
 * limiting the hours worked will increase output'' - 5th June
 * column will change your life: Make a book of your own'' - Don't know where to store all those random bits of information you scribble on Post-its, then lose? Oliver Burkeman has the answer - 29th May
 * column will change your life: Can't sleep, don't sleep'' - Should insomniacs embrace those unhappy sleepless hours and explore their existential possibilities? - 22nd May 2010
 * trivia is so important'' - 15th May
 * column will change your life'' - Are you an Asker or a Guesser? - 8th May
 * with your hands: the secret to happiness?'' - Feel empty and unfulfilled? Tired all the time? Do you sit at your desk wondering what use your job is to anyone? Maybe you should do something practical - 8th May
 * beauty in imperfection'' - Take something irregular, rough-hewn, off-kilter, incomplete… and it's all the more desirable for its flaws - 24th April
 * - is email only the start?'' - We thought we'd dealt with Spam - but is it turning into a way of life? - 17th April
 * the man with no head blow your mind?'' - Totally off-the-planet, but delightfully down-to-earth: Douglas Harding's memoir could be the most ridiculous or wisest thing you've ever read… - 10th April
 * self-discipline the key to success?'' - Even a committed hedonistic life requires plenty of self-discipline: you need it actually to book the flight to Bali or to arrange the circumstances for wild sexual encounters - 3rd April
 * secret of good leadership'' - Are leaders simply the ones who decide they've got what it takes to lead? - 27th March
 * your problem?'' - We live in a self-help culture that encourages us to fix ourselves – but are we sure we're really broken? - 20th March
 * frightening prospect'' - Why is it that we enjoy being scared half to death by films and books? - 13th March
 * friends like these…'' - Are our friends really little more than marketing tools with which we should improve our own lives? - 6th March
 * column will change your life: Is it really hip to be glum?'' - The surlier creative types and celebrities appear, the more we seem to revere and imitate them. But is there good reason to do so? - 27th February
 * column will change your life: Is the easy option simply mental laziness?'' - If something is easy to think about, we're more likely to think it preferable - 20th February
 * change: calling planet birth'' - Family size has become the great unmentionable of the campaign for more environmentally friendly lifestyles - 13th February
 * - a magic number?'' - Why are our lives ruled by this digit - 13th February
 * insulted and the injured'' - In former times, insulting someone's honour might lead to getting shot in the head, or sliced by a sword - 6th February
 * wondered why your friends seem so much more popular than you are? There's a reason for that'' - 30th January
 * cuts for taking everyday decisions'' - We often find everyday decisions the most problematical, so it pays to have a few short cuts to help you reach the right ones - 23rd January
 * be or not to be…'' - It's 45 years since David Bourland suggested doing away with the verb "to be". A silly suggestion, one might think, but look a little closer and it makes a weird kind of sense - 16th January
 * Sundays'' - You couldn't invent a more dispiriting day if you tried, but why is that? - 9th January
 * number's up'' - When it comes to visualising huge sums – the distance to the moon, say, or the hole the economy is in – we're pretty useless really - 2nd January



Articles: 2009

 * out checklist'' - They've saved lives, you know - 19th December
 * column will change your life: The passion for passions'' - Is it just a dangerous fiction? - 12th December
 * friends like these...'' - We know our best friends almost as well as know ourselves, right? Maybe not... - 5th December
 * timing'' - Is there a 'best time' to buy shoes or ask for a pay rise? - 28t November
 * column will change your life: Terrible analogies'' - Are our lives a journey, a river or even, perhaps, a pizza? - 21st November
 * - Is it the best fun you can have with your clothes on - 14th November
 * column will change your life: Hands up who's got a backlog'' - 7 Nov 2009: There's a perverse comfort in being behind, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try to deal with it - 7th November
 * exposure'' - From sunshine to oversleeping, transient, external factors can trigger all manner of reactions - 31st October
 * in a name?'' - Quite a lot, actually, whether you're called David or Moon Unit - 24th October
 * long does it really take to change a habit?'' - Self-help culture clings to the fiction of the 28-day rule - 10th October
 * some emotions untranslatable?'' - Oliver Burkeman wonders whether not being able to find the right word for our feelings could be bad news for our emotional lives - 3rd October
 * masters will rarely give advice about their field'' - Even when advice comes from an unimpeachable source, there are complications - 26th September
 * not easy always being right'' - Being right all the time can get pretty confusing - 19th September
 * or free and easy?'' - There is an alternative to the 9-to-5, but is it a realistic option? - 12th September
 * off about excessive noise'' - Can't hear yourself think above the unwanted din of modern life? Join the club - 5th September
 * column will change your life:'' - The energy needed to obtain information when required has diminished to almost nothing, so why bother learning stuff? - 29th August
 * consumption'' - In paying extra for organic vegetables, you may be subconsciously signalling your genetic fitness - 22nd August
 * starts'' - Whose life is so perfect they don't think they'd make a better job of it the second time around? - 8th August
 * we make ourselves interesting?'' - Boringness in a conversation partner is much easier to define than interestingness - 1st August
 * v knowledge'' - Is it brainless to champion stupidity? Maybe there's such a thing as healthy ignorance - 25th July
 * been tempted by the call of the perverse'' - 18th July
 * case of the disobedient shower'' - 11th July
 * worst that could happen? Bring it on'' - 4th July
 * to achieve? Will telling others hel'' - 27th June
 * the strange incidence of coincidence'' - 20th June
 * yourself younger? Really?'' - 13th June
 * it work? Is it play?'' - the trouble with weisure - 6th June
 * curious mind is an active mind'' - 30th May
 * it best to be, or not to be, ordinary?'' - 23rd May
 * the kindness of strangers'' - 16th May
 * all you like, index cards are pretty cool'' - 9th May
 * a worst-case scenario really just that?'' - 2nd May
 * ain't all it's cracked up to be'' - 25th April
 * are bad only if you can't handle them'' - 18th April
 * we too careful with money these days?'' - 11th April
 * Chopra's bestselling book on coincidence'' - 4th April
 * personal informatics has obvious benefits as well as subtler ones'' - 28th March
 * only way is up - or is it down'' - 21st March
 * apples or just a rotten barrel?'' - 14th March
 * all too busy, but is it just an excuse?'' - 7th March
 * no joke - frugality can be fun'' - 28th February
 * If you know your limits, you'll be happier'' - 21st February
 * years of wisdom be boiled down to a slogan?'' - 14th February
 * can put in the graft, but can you control the outcome'' - 7th February
 * we end up happier if we hang out with people we don't like?'' - 31st January
 * to make big money telling people how to change their lives? You've got to have a system'' - 24th January
 * amount of work by experimenters has dispelled the fundamental weirdness of embarrassment'' - 17th January
 * no accident that companies and governments are filled with bunglers'' - 10th January
 * now plenty of evidence that actively pursuing unfamiliar experiences keeps the brain limber, and makes time pass less fleetingly'' - 3rd January



Articles: 2008

 * the halo effect at Christmas dinner. Food tastes better when attractively presented'' - 20th December 2008
 * rare to open a self-help book and to know, from page one, that you're in a better state of mind than its author'' - 13th December
 * battle to decide what merits your attention at any moment is a constant, low-level war of all against all'' - 6th December
 * people get ill more, die sooner and do intellectual tasks less well. One recent study found they even feel, literally, colder'' - 29th November
 * too hard to be happy and you'll find yourself on a misery-inducing treadmill of self-improvement'' - 22nd November
 * truly happy aren't locked in constant striving after a single goal'' - 15th November
 * bring sharply into focus how much of our lives we spend in a queue-like state of mind'' - 8th November
 * 1838, Charles Darwin took out his notebook and made two lists that have since become famous. One was headed "Marry", the other "Not Marry"'' - 1st November
 * at original thinking as 'iconoclastic' turns out to be quite useful'' - 25th October
 * word nostalgia conjures images of Queen Mother tea-towels'' - 18th October
 * I tried to stop gossiping I had a paralysing insight: almost everything is gossip'' - 11th October
 * am astonished afresh each time I'm reminded that there are people who don't use to-do lists'' - 4th October
 * everyone knows, a successful self-help book cover must feature three things ...'' - 27th September
 * was invented in 1936 and defined as 'the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change''' - 20th September
 * of the most useful psychological insights are also the schmaltziest'' - 13th September
 * a popular subgenre of books about writing known informally as 'writer porn''' - 6th September
 * By the end of the 19th century, self-help culture was already well-established in America, and its leading advocates exuded an overbearingly preppy, go-get-'em spirit...'' - 30th August
 * things doesn't mean putting up with them; indeed, it seems to be a precondition for real change'' - 23rd August
 * everyone hates meetings, and yet the idea of doing away with them is seen as revolutionary'' - 16th August
 * Secret reveals new depths of forehead-smacking idiocy every time'' - 9th August
 * We know everything always takes longer than expected; we just seem to forget, again and again - 2nd August
 * can now buy Chicken Soup For The Chocolate Lover's Soul, which is a gift box containing a book and a bar of chocolate'' - 26th July
 * There's a slightly less obvious problem with the current vogue for simplicity: a lot of it isn't particularly simple - 19th July
 * One finding that emerges consistently from social psychology is this: some people are just really strange - 12th July
 *  The annoying thing about positive emotions - happiness, wonder, love - is that when you pressure yourself into trying to feel them, you can't - 5th July
 * New Age guru Wayne Dyer helps himself to a really, really big piece of introspection - 28th June
 * personal time management'' - 14th June
 * The word "awesome", it's fair to say, has become devalued through overuse - 7th June
 * "Know thyself", said the Oracle at Delphi, which sounds a good prescription for living wisely and well - 31st May
 * There are - put it this way - numerous self-help gurus... it's easier to like than Napoleon Hill, author of the 1937 classic Think And Grow Rich - 24th May



Articles: 2007

 * Delusions of grandeur - 17th November
 * Quick, look busy! - 10th November
 * Taking responsibility - 3rd November
 * Specialists vs the non-specialists - 27th October
 * The "seless emotion" - 20th October
 * Pro-active procrastination - 13th October
 * Why we make the stupid choices we make - 6th October
 * The relativity of time - 29th September
 * Longing for nature - 22nd September
 * Self-help books - 15th September
 * Email junkies - 1st September
 * The artful economist - 25h August
 * Feel good, feel bad - 18th August
 * No laughing matter - 11th August
 * Break the routine - 4th August
 * Is less really the new more? - 28th July 2007
 * Tricks of the self-improvement - 21st July 2007
 * Achieving your goals - 14th July
 * Reverse psychology - 7th July
 * Know who you are - 30th June
 * The elusive secret of wealth - 23rd June
 * The rise of the anti-self-help movement - 16th June
 * Names and faces - 9th June
 * Gay abandon - 2nd June
 * The power of writing - 19th May
 * Days that shook the world - 28th April
 * The anti-secret - 21st April
 * Selling sleep - 14th April
 * Does life always have to be about fighting - 7th April
 * Brian teaser - 31st March
 * The happiest village in Britain - 24th March
 * Grey matter - 17th March
 * Mild irritation - 10th March
 * Wealth and happiness - 3rd March
 * Right out of order - 24th February
 * Eradicate interruptions - 17th February
 * Help yourself - 10th February
 * Rise and shine - 3rd February
 * A right mess - 27th January
 * The joy of giving - 20th January
 * Pack up your troubles - 13th January
 * Cheque mate - 6th January



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[[Category:Lifestyle and celebrity|Burkeman, Oliver]