Advice To Avoid, The Dark Side of Therapy, and Taking Your Own Medicine

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Podcast

Mark Manson

Self-improvement, Education

4.8 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2024

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You ever notice how some people can’t stand being told what to do—even when the advice is good? Yeah, that’s me. In this episode, Drew and I dig into why so many of us rebel against advice, why others chase it like their life depends on it, and whether all that “actionable advice” we’re constantly fed is actually helping anyone. Spoiler: I’m not a fan of cookie-cutter solutions, and I’ve got some opinions about the self-help industry’s obsession with telling people exactly what to do.

We also get into the bigger picture—how advice often misses the mark when it’s not tailored to someone’s unique situation, and how therapy culture might be trying to replace something deeper that’s missing in our lives. I’ll share why I don’t give rigid life hacks, the trouble with universal solutions, and the surprising reason why most breakthroughs aren’t about the advice at all. If you’re tired of “do this, don’t do that” advice, this one’s for you.

Enjoy.

Get a free sample pack of LMNT with your purchase when you use my exclusive link: https://drinklmnt.com/idgaf

Get 10% off your first month of therapy at BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/idgaf

Chapters

01:26 - The F*ck of the Week: Actionable Advice

21:26 - Brilliant or Bullsh*t: Therapy vs Therapy Culture

38:04 - Q&A: Taking Your Own Medicine

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Theme song: Icarus Lives by Periphery, used with permission from Periphery.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Drew, I feel like I have this like chronic inability to do what people tell me to do.
0:05.2	Like I just, anytime somebody suggests something for me to do, especially if they're like an authority figure, my immediate reaction is to do the opposite.
0:14.4	Yeah.
0:14.7	Yeah, you are a little bit of a rebel.
0:17.4	Would you call yourself a rebel?
0:18.4	A compulsive contrarian is actually something that I have I've actually come to terms with
0:24.7	and communicated to some people in my life.
0:27.2	How's that going for you, Mark?
0:29.4	I see it's okay, maybe.
0:31.0	Yeah.
0:31.4	You know, when it pays off, it really pays off, right?
0:35.7	Because it's if you're contrarian and correct, that's when the huge
0:42.1	payoff's gone.
0:42.6	Okay, yeah.
0:43.0	But if you're contrarian and incorrect, you just look like an asshole.
0:46.2	Right, right.
0:47.5	And that happens quite a bit too.
0:48.4	And that happens just as much as, yeah, probably more so.
0:51.5	Probably more so, yeah.
0:52.6	Yeah.
0:53.6	What about you? Do you? I hate being told what to do, too.
0:55.6	I get, I've noticed.
	...

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