Oliver Burkeman @ Town Hall

For anyone who’s ever waited for life to “finally get on track,” Oliver Burkeman has a bracing message: that moment may never arrive. And according to him, that’s not a reason for despair, but an invitation to live more fully now.

The British writer and former Guardian columnist, best known for his bestseller “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals,” comes to Town Hall Seattle on Oct. 11 to discuss his new book, “Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts.” In it, Burkeman lays out what he calls “imperfectionism,” a guiding philosophy for navigating a world of finite time, constant distraction and impossible expectations.

Structured as a series of short reflections on sources ranging from philosophy to psychology to self-help, “Meditations for Mortals” offers practical ways to resist the illusion that happiness lies just over the horizon — when we’re more productive, more organized or finally “on top of everything.” Instead, Burkeman suggests, liberation comes from facing limits head-on: finishing the things we start, choosing what matters most and letting go of the rest. (One sample chapter is called: “It’s worse than you think: On the liberation of defeat.”)

It’s an argument that feels particularly resonant in a time when headlines seem designed to stoke anxiety and social media amplifies everyone else’s highlight reels. Burkeman’s talk promises not a quick fix, but something subtler: a chance to rethink how we spend our hours and attention, and perhaps to find freedom in the very constraints we most often resist.