The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck

Recommendations

Info

culture’s standard of success is to “be extraordinary,” it then becomes betterto be at the extreme low end of the bell curve than to be in the middle,because at least there you’re still special and deserve attention. Many peoplechoose this strategy: to prove to everyone that they are the most miserable, orthe most oppressed, or the most victimized.A lot of people are afraid to accept mediocrity because they believe that ifthey accept it, they’ll never achieve anything, never improve, and that theirlife won’t matter.This sort of thinking is dangerous. Once you accept the premise that a lifeis worthwhile only if it is truly notable and great, then you basically acceptthe fact that most of the human population (including yourself) sucks and isworthless. And this mindset can quickly turn dangerous, to both yourself andothers.The rare people who do become truly exceptional at something do so notbecause they believe they’re exceptional. On the contrary, they becomeamazing because they’re obsessed with improvement. And that obsessionwith improvement stems from an unerring belief that they are, in fact, not thatgreat at all. It’s anti-entitlement. People who become great at somethingbecome great because they understand that they’re not already great—theyare mediocre, they are average—and that they could be so much better.All of this “every person can be extraordinary and achieve greatness”stuff is basically just jerking off your ego. It’s a message that tastes goodgoing down, but in reality is nothing more than empty calories that make youemotionally fat and bloated, the proverbial Big Mac for your heart and yourbrain.The ticket to emotional health, like that to physical health, comes fromeating your veggies—that is, accepting the bland and mundane truths of life:truths such as “Your actions actually don’t matter that much in the grandscheme of things” and “The vast majority of your life will be boring and notnoteworthy, and that’s okay.” This vegetable course will taste bad at first.Very bad. You will avoid accepting it.But once ingested, your body will wake up feeling more potent and morealive. After all, that constant pressure to be something amazing, to be the nextbig thing, will be lifted off your back. The stress and anxiety of alwaysfeeling inadequate and constantly needing to prove yourself will dissipate.And the knowledge and acceptance of your own mundane existence will
actually free you to accomplish what you truly wish to accomplish, withoutjudgment or lofty expectations.You will have a growing appreciation for life’s basic experiences: thepleasures of simple friendship, creating something, helping a person in need,reading a good book, laughing with someone you care about.Sounds boring, doesn’t it? That’s because these things are ordinary. Butmaybe they’re ordinary for a reason: because they are what actually matters.
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTSCHAPTER 1: Don’t TryThe F
Page 5 and 6: CHAPTER 1Don’t TryCharles Bukowsk
Page 7 and 8: nuggets before breakfast each morni
Page 9 and 10: to begin with, but we humans have t
Page 11 and 12: It’s like this one time I tripped
Page 13 and 14: and Everybody Loves Raymond.Look, t
Page 15 and 16: noble. We mean that Mark Manson is
Page 17 and 18: As we get older, with the benefit o
Page 19 and 20: CHAPTER 2Happiness Is a ProblemAbou
Page 21 and 22: Years later, the prince would build
Page 23 and 24: don’t register much difference be
Page 25 and 26: 1. Denial. Some people deny that th
Page 27 and 28: An obsession and overinvestment in
Page 29 and 30: happiness is a path full of shithea
Page 31 and 32: CHAPTER 3You Are Not SpecialI once
Page 33 and 34: people to believe they’re excepti
Page 35 and 36: improving their lives in any lastin
Page 37 and 38: floor, I want to cry.Mr. Price scan
Page 39 and 40: hearing, “Nobody cheated on anybo
Page 41 and 42: But for some reason, it appears tha
Page 43: the tendency toward entitlement is
Page 47 and 48: thousands of leaflets throughout th
Page 49 and 50: became sorta-kinda friends.Suzuki a
Page 51 and 52: HER. What’s wrong?ME. Nothing’s
Page 53 and 54: ask yourself why it bugs you. Chanc
Page 55 and 56: TV, hearing him on the radio, seein
Page 57 and 58: thought he should be the face of th
Page 59 and 60: thousand dollars a year would affec
Page 61 and 62: moments of one’s life are not ple
Page 63 and 64: happiness, pleasure, and success as
Page 65 and 66: suffered life-threatening health is
Page 67 and 68: We don’t always control what happ
Page 69 and 70: superficial and vain and will never
Page 71 and 72: chapters.)Then, about a year later,
Page 73 and 74: and the man shot her in the head in
Page 75 and 76: infecting him.The goal is to get th
Page 77 and 78: Sure, some people get saddled with
Page 79 and 80: no ‘how.’ ”You are already ch
Page 81 and 82: life, I’ve been flat-out wrong ab
Page 83 and 84: what a positive or negative experie
Page 85 and 86: Second, once we create meaning for
Page 87 and 88: what we feel to be true in that mom
Page 89 and 90: courtrooms operate. Thousands of th
Page 91 and 92: respectfully or replied angrily, no
Page 93 and 94: don’t know.Uncertainty removes ou
Page 95 and 96:
being An Artist Nobody’s Heard Of
Page 97 and 98:
emotional highs that you’ve been
Page 99 and 100:
Question #3: Would being wrong crea
Page 101 and 102:
CHAPTER 7Failure Is the Way Forward
Page 103 and 104:
“Sure,” Picasso replied. “Twe
Page 105 and 106:
Pain Is Part of the ProcessIn the 1
Page 107 and 108:
out more than anything. Yet she fee
Page 109 and 110:
I was entirely responsible for all
Page 111 and 112:
“Two hundred crappy words per day
Page 113 and 114:
Armed with this grandiose sense of
Page 115 and 116:
what seems obvious in your own life
Page 117 and 118:
valueless, pleasure-driven, and sel
Page 119 and 120:
Unhealthy love is based on two peop
Page 121 and 122:
your partner or be helped and suppo
Page 123 and 124:
of their relational emotional rolle
Page 125 and 126:
response at face value, and don’t
Page 127 and 128:
craft for half your lifetime. Now t
Page 129 and 130:
CHAPTER 9. . . And Then You DieSeek
Page 131 and 132:
that’s when it all came out: the
Page 133 and 134:
Because it wasn’t just his anti-e
Page 135 and 136:
But, when our immortality projects
Page 137 and 138:
At three feet, your body goes into
Page 139 and 140:
whittle their days chasing another
Page 141 and 142:
and flattened by life’s trivialit
Page 143 and 144:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis book began as a
Page 145:
ABOUT THE AUTHORMARK MANSON is a st
Page 148 and 149:
COPYRIGHTTHE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVI
Page 150:
www.harpercollins.com
show all

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?