If, as I do, you prefer hard truth over comfortable fiction, buy this book or borrow it and digest it thoroughly. This is coming from someone who’s not big on the self-help book market but this page-turner is a best-seller for a reason. It’s not a typical self-help book.The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck – A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life’s author,  Mark Manson, is a hugely popular blogger and a young guy, writing to his own generation. But there’s a ton of good stuff for anyone. He doesn’t advocate not giving a f*ck about anything. He argues that we only have so many f*cks to give, so give your f*cks to the things that really matter. He’s very practical and realistic. Every single thing he writes about can be applied to your own life if you want.
Manson also dissects entitlement, freedom of choice, and how media tend to concentrate on a lot of extremes: the biggest, the craziest and the most expensive. (Guilty!) We are bombarded by the prettiest, smartest and richest but most of us will exist right here in the mushy middle. We’re ordinary. We’re not special. And that’s not only okay, in some ways it’s preferable. He points out how we lie to ourselves. He explains ways he messed up his own life and how he corrected them, and continues to f*ck up and repair and repent. He also clearly defines where lines of responsibility are drawn. Stuff, good and bad, happens to everyone. From AA to Stoics to so many others, the message is the same: you can only control how you respond to things, not the things themselves. This book offers an undercurrent of, grow the hell up and just get on with it. Stop wasting your life freaking out over things you can’t control. Pull up your big boy or big girl pants and take care of business. He’s not the first to say it but he says it all in a unique way that permeates our thick skulls.
Manson doesn’t waste words. The Subtle Art isn’t stuffed with a bunch of filler. It’s all meat protein with no by-product and it’s full of ideas that spin your head on its axis. He has something important to say and I’m listening.
Manson’s website offers some free articles along with a subscription service if you want to access his other material. (I signed up for the freebies!) You can find it here: Mark Manson