Time Anxiety: The Illusion of Urgency and a Better Way to Live

A powerful antidote to deadline dread, time guilt, and chronic rushing—from the New York Times bestselling author of The $100 StartupIn a world obsessed with squeezing the most out of every moment, the fear of falling behind can trap us in a paralyzing stress cycle. Incomplete to-do lists, unanswered emails, and unmet life goals haunt our thoughts, leaving us overstimulated and exhausted.In Time Anxiety, Chris Guillebeau, author of the popular newsletter A Year of Mental Health, reveals that this pervasive sense of time scarcity stems not from a lack of hours in the day but from unrealistic expectations and misaligned priorities. Weaving together eye-opening research on time perception, executive functioning challenges, and the psychological roots of avoidance, he offers a bold path for redefining our relationship with the clock.The first step is to build a tolerance for incomplete to-do lists and the inevitability of disappointing people, abandoning the goal of "catching up.” We have