- by Mark MansonWhispersync for Voice-ready$ 14 99 $24.99Get it by Monday, Jun 5FREE Shipping on eligible ordersMore Buying Choices
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Jul 26, 2011by Mark MansonWhispersync for Voice-ready$ 11 66 $12.95Get it by Monday, Jun 5FREE Shipping on eligible ordersMore Buying Choices
Other Formats:Audible Audio Edition
Mark Manson
Mark Manson is a blogger, author and entrepreneur. He specializes in writing personal development advice that doesn't suck. His website MarkManson.net is read by over 2 million people each month. He lives in New York City.
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Blog postRoberto Escobar is a short, hunched man. He’s old now and nearly blind and deaf from a letter bomb blowing up in his face years ago. His eye sockets sink into his skull leaving two golf-ball-sized craters in his face. His gaze is lifeless. It passes through you, as if you were some sort of hologram.
Meeting Pablo Escobar’s brother turned out to be one of the more disappointing moments of my life. In Medellin, Colombia, you can go to Roberto’s house. In fact, there’s a whole tourism in11 hours ago Read more -
Blog postIt took me 18 months to write The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck. Over that time period, I wrote somewhere in the vicinity of 150,000 words for the book (about 600 pages). Most of that came in the final three months. In fact, I can confidently say I got far more done in the final three months than I did in the first 12 combined.
Now, is that because I was on a deadline and worked like an insane person? Did I shove Adderall up my ass and work in 36-hour spurts or something?
No2 weeks ago Read more -
Blog postDespite being the greatest and most influential mind in human history, Isaac Newton, by all accounts, was a bit of a headcase,1 as well as a total dick. Newton was famously petty and vindictive. He would go through manic episodes where he would work furiously for days at a time without eating or sleeping. Afterward, he would fall into deep depressions, refuse to see or speak to anyone, and often contemplated suicide. During these darkest episodes, Newton would often have hallucinations and sp1 month ago Read more
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Blog postI go to this boot camp-style class sometimes at a gym near my apartment. It’s one of those classes where a coach stands there and yells at you to do more pushups and squats until you think you’re going to puke. Then you go home and struggle to sit on a toilet for the next three days.
It’s great. I love it. I never miss a week.
Today, as happens many mornings, a couple of people, in between exercises, ran over to the wall to pick up their phones and check… well, I don’t know wh2 months ago Read more -
Blog postWelcome, Player One, to a strategy guide for the game known as Life.
As you’ve undoubtedly discovered, the game of Life is often quite difficult. You will face unexpected challenges and long periods of frustration. You will often struggle with self-doubt, feel overwhelmed by helplessness and loss, and sometimes take a shit when you’re out of toilet paper.
Yes, Life is hard, as the saying goes.
But fear not, this short guide is designed to help you comple2 months ago Read more -
Blog postYou know the question. It’s the ultimate question. The question that you and I and everyone has laid awake at night thinking about. The question that brings equal parts wonder and terror to our feeble minds. Why are we here? What is the point of it all? What is the meaning of life?
Well, fortunately, I figured it out while I was at the gym this morning. I’m pretty sure it’s a ham sandwich. And no, I’m not saying that just because I’m hungry. There’s an explanation here. I’m going to e3 months ago Read more -
Blog postThe world runs on one thing: people’s feelings. And no, I don’t mean the coddled, “Oh, we’re spoiling the youth,” safe-space-type feelings. I mean emotions. Emotions rule the world.
This is because people primarily spend money on things that make them feel good. And where the money flows, power flows. So, technically, the more you’re able to influence the emotions and feelings of people in the world, the more money and power will accumulate to you.
Technology is simply one mea3 months ago Read more -
Blog postSuccess is often the first step toward disaster. The idea of progress is often the enemy of actual progress.
I recently met a guy who, despite having a massively successful business, an awesome lifestyle, a happy relationship, and a great network of friends, told me with a straight face, that he was thinking of hiring a coach to help him “reach the next level.”
When I asked him what this elusive next level was, he said he wasn’t sure, that that’s why he needed a coach, to poin4 months ago Read more -
Blog postThis is an excerpt from my new book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.
Years ago, when I was much younger and stupider, I wrote a blog post and at the end of it I said something like, “And as a great philosopher once said: ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’” It sounded nice and authoritative. I had forgotten who had said it. Google turned up nothing. But I stuck it in there anyway. It fit the post nicely.
About ten minutes later, the first comment came in: “I th4 months ago Read more -
Blog postI have a secret I want to tell you. It’s something I don’t share very often or with many people, but today, it feels appropriate.
See, I know you think of me as just this random author guy who sometimes writes cool blog articles, but sadly, there’s a little bit more going on behind the scenes than that.
What you didn’t know about me is that I’m actually an omnipresent, hyper-intelligent inter-dimensional being. My knowledge and understanding is so total and complete that it’s4 months ago Read more -
Blog postDid you know more people commit suicide during Christmas season than any other time of year? I know, what a cheery way to start an article during the holiday season. But seriously, you think that’s a coincidence?
It’s that time of year again, where we’re all socially pressured into spending an inordinate amount of time around people that we’ve kinda-sorta known our whole lives, but who also drive us insane and make us feel like there’s no point to it all.
It’s in that warm hol5 months ago Read more -
Blog postHey, guess what? I got married two weeks ago. And like most people, I asked some of the older and wiser folks around me for a couple quick words of advice from their own marriages to make sure my wife and I didn’t shit the (same) bed. I think most newlyweds do this — ask for advice, I mean, not shit the same bed — especially after a few cocktails from the open bar they just paid way too much money for.
But, of course, not being satisfied with just a few wise words, I had to take it a6 months ago Read more -
Blog postImagine this: you’re a kid again, and you want to sell lemonade in your neighborhood. So you set up your little lemonade stand with your cardboard sign written in crayon and get to work.
The first day, one person comes and buys some lemonade. Then the second day, two people come. Then the third, three. And the fourth, four. Within a month, you’re serving dozens of people lemonade every day and the demand just keeps growing.
But it gets better. Not only does the whole neighborh7 months ago Read more -
Blog postImagine for a second that I’m your father. I know that may bring up all sorts of awkward and unpleasant connotations, but stay with me here — and until we’re done, just call me “Dad.”
Now, let’s pretend that we’re having one of those intimate heart-to-heart conversations that we all ideally imagine having with our fathers. Maybe we’re sipping beers on the back patio, listening to the crickets and watching the moon slowly find the horizon. Maybe we’re laughing about some movie we just7 months ago Read more -
Blog postThis is an excerpt from my new book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.
There’s an insidious quirk to your brain that, if you let it, can drive you absolutely batty. Tell me if this sounds familiar to you:
You get anxious about confronting somebody in your life. That anxiety cripples you and you start wondering why you’re so anxious. Now you’re becoming anxious about being anxious. Oh no! Doubly anxious! Now you’re anxious about your anxiety, which is causing more anxiety. Q9 months ago Read more -
Blog postIn the past year, despite hundreds of people asking me, I’m proud to say that I’ve managed to avoid all temptation to write an article about Donald Trump or the slow motion, 20-car pileup that is this year’s US presidential election.
Until now.
Before, I stayed out of the gravitational pull of Trump’s narcissistic publicity machine for a few reasons:
There’s already so much stuff out there about him and how terrifying he is as a presidential candidate, I never felt like th10 months ago Read more -
Blog postI know what you’re thinking. You saw the title and said to yourself, “Who does this guy think he is? Hate myself? Does he know how good-looking I am? Has he even seen my bitching new haircut? Does he know I once trained for a half marathon and actually ran part of it? I’m totally in love with myself. What the fuck does he know?”
Look, I admit, your hair is pretty awesome. But let’s get real here. If we’re really honest with ourselves, we all have a little self-loathing going on from t11 months ago Read more -
Blog postA few weeks ago, for the first time ever, a computer beat the world champion of Go, one of the most complex games known to man. This was another watershed moment in the progress of artificial intelligence.
To give you an idea how complex Go is, there are 2.082 × 10^170 possible board configurations. That is 2 with 170 zeroes after it. Chances are your brain cannot even conceive of a number that large (but a computer can). Or to give you an idea of how big of a number that is, th11 months ago Read more -
Blog postImagine this: there’s a machine that can download your brain onto a computer and save it as a file. All of your hopes, dreams, aspirations, memories, dirty secrets, and kinky fantasies are right there in that file and can be loaded up into a program that would turn the computer into a perfect, if temporary, synthetic replication of “you.”
The computer could then do basic tasks that you find boring with the exact same tastes and preferences as yourself. It could find and order a new ru12 months ago Read more -
Blog postIt was the winter of 2015. The streets were full of their usual festive cheer. The stores were lit with tinsel and lights and those maddeningly familiar Christmas tunes, bringing familiarity and joy to all those who strolled by. Yet, few knew of the disaster that was about to strike.
On one of these mornings, Joshua Feuerstein stopped by his local Starbucks to buy coffee. He said hello to the barista and made his usual order with a smile. But upon receiving his coffee, he noticed some12 months ago Read more -
Blog postJames Warren Jones was a charismatic minister of a church where he built up a congregation by specifically appealing to minorities, the unemployed, and homeless people. He sometimes called his congregation his “Rainbow Family” due to its racial and class diversity — something highly novel in the US in the 50s and 60s. He also had strong socialist political leanings, calling for extremely progressive governmental policies to try and bring more help to the needy and oppressed.
By all ap1 year ago Read more -
Blog postBertrand Russell famously said, “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves and wiser people so full of doubts.”
Over the years, I’ve hammered on the importance of becoming comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity, in questioning all of your most cherished beliefs and dreams, on practicing skepticism, and doubting everything, most importantly yourself. Throughout these posts, I’ve hinted at the fact that our brains are fundamentally unre1 year ago Read more -
Blog postIn the 1920s, women didn’t smoke. Or if they did, they were severely judged for it. It was taboo. Like graduating from college or getting elected to Congress, people believed women should leave the smoking to men. Honey, you might hurt yourself. Or burn your beautiful hair.
This posed a problem for the tobacco industry. Here you had 50% of the population not smoking their cigarettes for no other reason than it was unfashionable or seen as impolite. This wouldn’t do. As George Washingt1 year ago Read more -
Blog postWe sit silently. My friend stares deeply into her empty glass, occasionally shuffling the ice around with her straw. “Wow,” she says. I sit and wait for her to say something else. What started out as a festive night somehow became a long, deep discussion about love, what it consists of, and how rare it actually is.
Finally, I say, “Wow, what?”
“I’m just thinking that I’ve never experienced that.”
“Well, maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet,” I say — the tota1 year ago Read more -
Blog post(Click here for English version)
Querido Brasil,
O Carnaval acabou. O “ano novo” finalmente vai começar e eu estou te deixando para voltar para o meu país.
Assim como vários outros gringos, eu também vim para cá pela primeira vez em busca de festas, lindas praias e garotas. O que eu não poderia imaginar é que eu passaria a maior parte dos 4 últimos anos dentro das suas fronteiras. Aprenderia muito sobre a sua cult1 year ago Read more -
Blog post(Clique aqui para a versão em português)
Dear Brazil,
Carnaval is over. The “real” new year is finally beginning. And tomorrow, I will be leaving, returning to my country.
Like most gringos, I originally came to Brazil for the parties, the beaches, and the girls. Little did I know that I would spend the majority of the next four years within your borders. I would learn a lot about your culture, your language, your customs, and by the end of this year, I wi1 year ago Read more -
Blog postIt’s the new year and let’s pretend for a moment that you have decided that you want to become rich. Maybe you’re sick of your student loan debt. Maybe you’re sick of eating frozen waffles for dinner every night. Maybe you recently became overwhelmingly inspired by your favorite rapper, 50 Cent, and like him, you also want to ‘Get Rich or Die Trying’ …and then go bankrupt a few years later.
Whatever the reasoning is, it’s the new year and you’ve decided that the new you is going to be1 year ago Read more -
Blog postRemember that part in the movie Titanic where those two guys are shivering in the middle of the night and they see the iceberg and they freak out and call the lieutenant and yell, “OMG, iceberg, dead ahead!” and the lieutenant freaks out and swings the steering wheel all the way to one side and then screams on the phone-like thing to the engine room for those lazy fuckheads to put the whole damn ship in reverse, like right this second, and then there’s all these smelly Irish guys screaming an1 year ago Read more
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Blog post“Clean your language. Be a role model. You should use better words than f***. You may have a good message but the words you use are no good!”
“Someone sent me your post on ‘Finding your passion.’ It was good, but it was presented in a rather disrespectful way. Please cut out the bathroom language, and maybe you’ll get more ‘likes.'”
“Do you have to use such horrible language? Expand your vocabulary! You could be a good writer if you cleaned up your act.”
When I started2 years ago Read more -
Blog postRemember back when you were a kid? You would just do things. You never thought to yourself, “What are the relative merits of learning baseball versus football?” You just ran around the playground and played baseball and football. You built sand castles and played tag and asked silly questions and looked for bugs and dug up grass and pretended you were a sewer monster.
Nobody told you to do it, you just did it. You were led merely by your curiosity and excitement.
And the beaut2 years ago Read more -
Blog postRomance is like alcohol. It can heal and it can hurt. It can create joy and it can create pain. It’s often responsible for some of the best and some of the worst moments of your life. It can obscure a terrible idea into a brilliant one; it can distort a terrible person into a fate-filled lover.
Romance is like alcohol. It invents emotions out of thin air. It can create a mirage of love; it can intoxicate us with an imagined happiness. It can generate anger and jealousy where none is d2 years ago Read more -
Blog postDo you struggle to find meaning in your life? Are you overworked and constantly broke? Do you wish you had better relationships with less conflict and more genuine love and intimacy?
What if I told you that you could solve all of your life’s problems and live a life full of abundance and freedom while surrounded by adoring friends and loved ones? What if I told you it was easy and you could even get started right now? Does that sound too good to be true?
Well, it’s not. In fac2 years ago Read more -
Blog postLong distance relationships are the worst. “Is he/she worth waiting for? Are they feeling the same way I do?” “Am I kidding myself thinking this can work?” “Would I be better off dating the mailman instead? At least he comes to my house every day.” “Does my girlfriend even exist or is this just a Nigerian guy conducting an elaborate credit card scam?”
I get it. I’ve been there. Long distance relationships suck. There’s no way around it. In all of my years I’ve never met someone who ha2 years ago Read more -
Blog postLet’s be honest: our education system is fucked.
I mean, almost all of the important history I learned between grades 5 and 12 I could probably find on Wikipedia and understand within a few weeks now. And pretty much any basic scientific knowledge you could ever want to learn is explained with pretty videos on YouTube. On top of that, you have the most unstable job market in almost 100 years, technology developing so rapidly that robots will be doing half the work in another decade, c2 years ago Read more -
Blog postI have something important to tell you. Something really important. I’m talking about life-changing, paradigm-shifting, plane-of-reality-transcending, poop-your-pants-and-call-your-mother important.
But I don’t feel like writing it down right now. So let’s watch this video of a guy doing overhead barbell splits:
Aaanndd, I’m suddenly motivated now. OK, let’s do this!
It’s ironic, but for two days now, I’ve been procrastinating writing a post on procrastination. I’ve do2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThere’s this guy. World-renowned billionaire. Tech genius. Inventor and entrepreneur. Athletic and talented and handsome with a jaw so chiseled it looks like Zeus came down from Olympus and carved the fucker himself.
This guy’s got a small fleet of sports cars, a few yachts, and when he’s not giving millions of dollars to charities, he’s changing out supermodel girlfriends like other people change their socks.
This guy’s smile can melt the damn room. His charm is so thick you2 years ago Read more -
Blog postLife is a bitch. Then you die. So while staring at my navel the other day, I decided that that bitch happens in four stages. Here they are.
Stage One: Mimicry We are born helpless. We can’t walk, can’t talk, can’t feed ourselves, can’t even do our own damn taxes.
As children, the way we’re wired to learn is by watching and mimicking others. First we learn to do physical skills like walk and talk. Then we develop social skills by watching and mimicking our peers around us. Then2 years ago Read more -
Blog postGenghis Khan married his wife when he was 16 and together they had four kids. Today, geneticists estimate that 16 million men in Asia (that’s 1 out of every 200) are direct descendants of Khan.
Now, I’m not saying Khan cheated on his wife or anything. After all, I wasn’t there. But Khan is on the historical record claiming that his absolute favorite thing in the world, aside from murdering his enemies and stealing their horses, was to rape their wives and daughters. And considering he2 years ago Read more -
Blog postIf you’re a human and you have a brain, then you probably like using your brain. And if you like using your brain, then you love having those epiphany moments where your hair blows back and you go “Whoa” like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix when he learns Kung Fu from a USB drive in his neck.
I know it’s not what the cool kids like to do, but I like to read non-fiction. Lots of non-fiction. And my favorite moments reading non-fiction are when a book bitchslaps my brain and reconfigures my2 years ago Read more -
Blog postHow are you supposed to be confident about something when you have nothing to feel confident about?
Like, how are you supposed to be confident at your new job if you’ve never done this type of work before? Or how are you supposed to be confident in social situations when no one has ever liked you before? Or how are you supposed to be confident in your relationship when you’ve never been in a successful relationship before?
On the surface, confidence appears to be an area where2 years ago Read more -
Blog postI hate The Secret. There, I said it. I know I’m a self-development blogger and I’m supposed to keep everything light and airy and full of poop jokes, but fuck it — I hate it. It’s an awful book. And it needs to be said.
Every generation in the past century has had a breakout self-help book that sells a bazillion copies and bulldozes through a few million people’s wallets. Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich did it first in 1936. Then it was Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive2 years ago Read more -
Blog postIn my life, I have given a fuck about many people and many things. I have also not given a fuck about many people and many things. And those fucks I have not given have made all the difference.
People often say the key to confidence and success in life is to simply “not give a fuck.” Indeed, we often refer to the strongest, most admirable people we know in terms of their lack of fucks given. Like “Oh, look at Susie working weekends again, she doesn’t give a fuck.” Or “Did you hear tha2 years ago Read more -
Blog postLast week, I logged onto Facebook to see a story about a man who got drunk, cut off his friend’s penis and then fed it to a dog. This was followed by a story of a 100-year-old woman who had never seen the ocean before. Then eight ways I can totally know I’m a 90’s kid. Then 11 steps to make me a “smarter Black Friday shopper,” an oxymoron if I ever saw one.
This is life now: one constant, never-ending stream of non sequiturs and self-referential garbage that passes in through our eyes2 years ago Read more -
Blog postStep 1: Slap yourself in the face. Hard, preferably. Because if a slap in the face seems too painful to consider, then whatever problem you’re dealing with right now is really not that big of a problem. You’re likely just milking it for attention or the chance to feel sorry for yourself.
It’s only when you’re truly wallowing in the depths of pain and failure that you think, “Hah! Slap myself in the face? That’s nothing compared to my problem. Watch, I’ll do it three times.”
So3 years ago Read more -
Blog postWhen I was young, any time my family got a new VCR or stereo, I would press every button, plug and unplug every cord and cable, just to see what everything did. With time, I learned how it all worked. And because I knew how it all worked, I was often the only person in the house who would use the stuff.
Like many millennial children, my parents looked on as if I were some sort of prodigy. To them, the fact that I could program the VCR without looking at the instruction manual made me3 years ago Read more -
Blog postI saw a story on Facebook the other day. Like most stories that get passed around Facebook, it’s probably only 38% true and written by a 16-year-old. But regardless, I found it cool, and at the very least, thought-provoking.
It was about a man named Mohammed El-Erian. Mohammed was the CEO of an uber $2 trillion bond fund called PIMCO and earned upwards of $100 million per year. In January, he unexpectedly resigned in order to spend more time with his 10-year-old daughter.
Now3 years ago Read more -
Blog postOne day, when my brother was 18, he waltzed into the living room and proudly announced to my mother and me that one day he was going to be a senator. My mom probably gave him the “That’s nice, dear,” treatment while I’m sure I was distracted by a bowl of Cheerios or something.
But for fifteen years, this purpose informed all of my brother’s life decisions: what he studied in school, where he chose to live, who he connected with and even what he did with many of his vacations and weeke3 years ago Read more -
Blog postAlmost five years ago today, my apartment lease expired, I shipped a few boxes to my mom’s house, packed a suitcase to (hopefully) last me a few months, and took off across the Atlantic. I had less than $1,000 in my bank account.
The first stop was Paris, where, still reeling from breaking up with my girlfriend, selling all of my possessions, and maintaining an online business that was hardly making any money, I proceeded to sulk and gripe my way through the streets of La Ville-Lumi&e3 years ago Read more -
Blog postSigmund Freud was one of the fathers of modern psychology and the inventor of sit-on-the-couch-and-tell-me-about-your-feelings therapy. He also spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about penises.
Freud got a lot right. But Freud also got a lot wrong. Both of these statements are indisputable.
One of Freud’s big ideas was that parents play a defining role in shaping the personalities and emotional health of their children. It’s an idea that persists to this day.
3 years ago Read more -
Blog postIn 1967, John Lennon wrote a song called, “All You Need is Love.” He also beat both of his wives, abandoned one of his children, verbally abused his gay Jewish manager with homophobic and anti-semitic slurs, and once had a camera crew film him lying naked in his bed for an entire day.
Thirty-five years later, Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails wrote a song called “Love is Not Enough.” Reznor, despite being famous for his shocking stage performances and his grotesque and disturbing vide3 years ago Read more
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