Meditation for Mortals

Why Optimization Culture Is Making You Miserable

The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway, 20 October 2026. The author is the guest. The book comes up at 19 min 31 sec in.

Oliver Berkman discusses 'Meditation for Mortals,' his latest book, which argues against building elaborate productivity systems as a form of avoidance of doing the actual work. The book opens with a chapter called 'it's worse than you think,' making a case for radical acceptance. He also introduces the concept of 'imperfectionism,' arguing that perfectionism—including optimization culture's version—pursues something impossible in the finite material world.

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