in recent years, some psychologists have reached the conclusion that pessimism may often be as healthy and productive as optimism. - Oliver Burkeman

the core challenge of managing our limited time isn't about how to get everything done — that's never going to happen — but how to decide most wisely what not to do, and how to feel at peace about not doing it.

You have to accept that there will always be too much to do; that you can't avoid tough choices or make the world run at your preferred speed; that no experience, least of all close relationships with other human beings, can ever be guaranteed in advance to turn out painlessly and well — and that from a cosmic viewpoint, when it's all over, it won't have counted for very much anyway.

Ceaseless optimism about the future only makes for a greater shock when things go wrong; by fighting to maintain only positive beliefs about the future, the positive thinker ends up being less prepared, and more acutely distressed, when things eventually happen that he can't persuade himself to believe are good.