by Kristina Karlsson

Grab a pen and a piece of paper. This takes thirty seconds, and I promise it's worth it.

At our first GROW book club call for October, I asked everyone to do a little exercise with me, and I'd love you to try it too.

Write down your age. Now multiply it by 52.

That number is how many weeks you have lived so far. For me, at 53, it's 2,756 weeks.

Then I reminded everyone of the title of the book we're reading together this month: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman.

Why four thousand weeks?

Burkeman's point is simple, and a little confronting. As he writes, "assuming you live to be eighty, you'll have had about four thousand weeks."

Of course the numbers vary for all of us. My dream is to live to 120, which would be 6,240 weeks. But whichever number you choose, the idea is the same. Even a long life is shorter than we like to think.

I didn't choose this book to scare anyone. I chose it because I talk about this all the time, and because I want us to wake up to how precious our weeks are. Not so we can squeeze more in, but so the things that matter most to us actually get a turn.

What happened next surprised me

The room went quiet for a moment. Then one of our members looked at her number in a completely different way. She saw the weeks ahead of her and said that was still a fair chunk of time to achieve something incredible.

I love that, because that is exactly the point. This book isn't about counting down. It's about waking up, and choosing.

It's not about doing more

When most of us, me included, think about managing our time, we think about productivity. Getting it all done. Fitting more in. I live and breathe planning myself, so I understand the appeal.

But I want this month to be a reminder that what's really important to us is probably not about inbox zero or squeezing in another meeting. For me, it's nature, health and wellbeing, the people I love, and books. I love wasting a whole rainy day on the couch, reading a book. That, to me, is time well spent.

Three ideas the women in the room shared

We never know where a GROW conversation will go, and that's part of the magic. Here are three ideas that kept coming back:

• Pick your few. A member who had joined the club only the day before shared a story from the book about writing down your top 25 goals, then choosing just the top five and letting the rest go. When we try to do twenty things, we rarely do any of them well.
• Decide in advance what you'll let slide. Another member put it beautifully. If you choose ahead of time what you won't get to, you're not kicking yourself later. It becomes a decision, not a failure.
• Save your best for where it counts. One very ambitious woman admitted she puts excellence into everything, and most of the time she's the only one who notices. Hands up if you can relate.

As I said on the night, most of us here can do anything, but not all at once.

Is it ever too late?

This is a question I hear so often, and it came up again on the call.

One of my best friends is 63, and she believes she'll be in her prime in her 70s. And I believe her.

So if you don't feel like you're where you want to be right now, there is plenty of time to make it happen, whatever that is for you. It doesn't happen overnight, and it didn't for me either. But it's absolutely possible.

Why I love reading this way, together

78% of the 104 women who took our Dream Life quiz told us they weren't clear where to start. I think that's one of the most important things to know, because so often desire and capability aren't the problem. Knowing where to begin is.

A book, a date in the diary and a group of women who get it is a beautiful place to begin. That's what GROW is:

• One book a month, chosen with intention. We follow our GROW annual reading rhythm, so each book arrives at the right time of year. October is all about time.
• Two live calls a month with me, on the first and fourth Mondays at 8pm Sydney time.
• You read at your own pace. I don't expect anyone to have read the book by the first call. Many new members like to just listen for the first few sessions, and that's completely fine.
• Live author conversations, where you don't just read about the author, you get to ask your question.
• The full back catalogue of our author session recordings, ready whenever you are.

It's a really beautiful, safe environment. Everyone there is a big dreamer and a kind soul.

Join GROW

Start from page one with us in November

Our November book is The Expectation Effect by David Robson. I chose it because it has a lot of science behind it, and because some people think that our mindset is set, or that we can't change it. And we definitely can.

We open page one together at our first November call, on Monday 2 November at 8pm Sydney time. It's the perfect moment to join, because everyone starts at the same place.

If this is the little nudge you've been waiting for, I would love to see you there.

Join GROW and start on 2 November

Make the most of your weeks.