Living is solving.
Life is not a problem to be solved. Because life itself is nothing but a never-ending stream of problems to be solved. Grasping this is both an enormous relief and tremendously energizing – because now you get to pour your finite time and energy into something infinitely more absorbing than trying to keep life under control, which is actually living it.
The idea here is that we often treat life as a puzzle that will be finished once we get everything right: the perfect job, a clear inbox, finances in order, relationships settled. Burkeman points out that this finish line doesn't exist. Solving one problem simply makes room for the next, so the problems are not an obstacle to living but what living consists of. Seeing this is a relief because you can stop feeling behind, and it's energizing because the effort once spent on achieving total control can go into actually being present.
This fits with Burkeman's wider concern with human finitude, the theme of his best-known book, Four Thousand Weeks, and it echoes older traditions. The Stoics asked us to accept what we can't control, and Buddhist and existentialist thinkers likewise suggest that struggle and uncertainty are part of existence, not a malfunction of it.
A practical example: someone who keeps telling themselves they'll start painting, calling friends, or taking walks once their to-do list is under control could notice that the list will never be empty. They might choose one small thing from it, leave the rest unfinished, and spend the evening on something they care about.