I sat down with Mark Manson while he was visiting my home town, Toronto!
Have you by chance heard of a book called The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck?
I’m guessing you have since it’s sold, oh, no big deal, over six million copies over the past three years in the US alone. Is there a bigger book in the world right now? No. There is not. And there hasn’t been a non-fiction book this big and this disruptive in a long, long time… So: Is Mark Manson a one-hit wonder? A one-trick pony? Was the success of his book a total random fluke? His fifteen minutes of fame?
I met Mark at The Drake Hotel, a boutique hotel in the downtown core.
I’m gonna say it straight up.
No.
Absolutely not.
Mark’s first book, and it’s meteoric success, is the ultimate product of an unbelievably large mind which has mastered the art of taking the biggest, densest books on the planet and then simmering, simmering, and simmering them down into beautifully simple, profanity-laced models and stories that hit you like a ton of bricks.
The world is so loud! So busy. So full. Everything is screaming at us to buy this, buy that, do this, do that. And you know what we need in this wild crazy world? We need guides. We need clear voices. We need people to give us simple and practical advice that we can follow and put into place…
A blurry selfie of me and Mark in his hotel room!
Mark Manson is one of those guides for me and millions of others.
So in his cramped hotel room at The Drake Hotel in Toronto, on the eve of his release of his second book Everything is Fucked: A Book About Hope (which is mind-expandingly beautiful), Mark and I go deep, really deep, on how to build trust in an era of clutter, why he swears so much in his writing, why he poo-poos self-help gurus, what is the root problem with the “advertising model”, why Mark played video games for months straight after the success of his first book, and what his writing routines and principles are…
Welcome to Chapter 28 with Mark Manson.
Listen to Chapter 28:
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What You'll Learn:
Why is it important to be selfish when it comes to your writing?
Why is swearing an important form of self expression?
What is the root problem with the “advertising model”?
How do we make the most of our time in our short, tiny lives?
How are science and spirituality interrelated?
How does knowledge from ancient philosophers relate to modern psychology?
How do we choose the path that’s most aligned with our morals instead of most profitable?
Why is there no such thing as atheism?
Why do we need to be more comfortable with quitting?
How can you chew on and digest huge, complicated topics?
Why should you consider unfollowing all news?
How can you read more without losing your free time?
notable quotes from mark manson:
“The purpose of profanity is to put a fence around words. A side effect is that those words grab attention more than anything else. They kind of shock you.” — Mark Manson | 3 Books Podcast
“I didn’t want to be like Tony Robbins and sell out arenas … because if people are not discovering the answers for themselves then it’s not worth anything.” — Mark Manson | 3 Books Podcast
“Ultimately, what I love is playing with ideas. And writing is just a byproduct of that. Getting caught up in the success and business side of The Subtle Art made me lose track of that for a while.” — Mark Manson | 3 Books Podcast
"I was very into the self-help world when I was younger and I became very disillusioned with it. I don't want to violate that trust in any way. I want to be very transparent about who I am and what I'm doing." — Mark Manson | 3 Books Podcast
"Finding coherence in everything, finding certainty in everything, to me it's elegant. It's beautiful." — Mark Manson | 3 Books Podcast
"I wanted to build a category of self-help that doesn't give you any answers." — Mark Manson | 3 Books Podcast
"Writing is similar to meditation. You're left alone with your thoughts and nothing but your thoughts. There's nobody else. You can't wait for validation from anybody." — Mark Manson | 3 Books Podcast
CONNECT With Mark:
word of the chapter:
Resources Mentioned:
Mark’s first book [11:53]
Mark’s second book [32:25]
Mark’s third book [1:12:47]
The Book of EST by Luke Rhinehart
#Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso
Lion by Saroo Brierley
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
On The Come Up by Angie Thomas
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Everything is F*cked by Mark Manson
How to Read and Retain More by Mark Manson
The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha
David Sedaris, Carrie Fisher among summer’s stimulating beach reads by Neil Pasricha
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden
The Rise and Fall of Ken Wilber by Mark Manson
Awesome is Everywhere by Neil Pasricha
Who The F*ck Am I? by Mark Manson
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai
Tweet from Kyle Dubas of Steve Nash basketball hall of fame speech
Reasons and Persons by Derek Parfit
The Nature of the Fun by David Foster Wallace
This is Water by David Foster Wallace
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
On The Shortness of Life by Seneca
Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter
The Republic by Plato
