E45 - Mark Manson: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Know Thyself
André Duqum
4.8 • 658 Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2023
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mark Manson, Author of "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" explains why most self help is backwards, and how to actually improve your life and wellbeing.
He shares his perspective on life, death, success, and finding our purpose. Mark recounts how the surprising death of his friend shifted his view on life, and why it's important that we lean how to die before we die. He describes the challenges he faced after becoming 'an overnight success' and selling 10 million copies of his book - challenging the idea that success can make you happy. He uses 'The Paradox of Progress' to explain why the wealthiest countries are also the most unhappy. Mark also explains the fundamentals for building a healthy relationship, and how to use the context of the past to inspire gratitude for the present.
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Timecodes:
0:00 Intro
1:45 The Death of My Childhood Friend
8:12 How to Die Before You Die
9:56 The Painful Reality of Personal Growth and Change
12:44 The Challenges of Success and Happiness on the Macro and Micro Level
19:44 What to Give a F*ck About
23:37 Stopping BS’ing Yourself
25:55 Why the Rich are Unhappy - The Paradox of Progress
32:05 Finding Meaning Beyond Success and Dealing with Exponential Swings
37:20 Overcoming Depression after Massive Success
40:12 The Backwards Law and the Pursuit of Positive Experiences
43:44 Letting Go: A Pathway to More
47:10 Self Sabotage: Manson's Law of Avoidance
54:11 The never-ending wheel of self-improvement
57:17 Taking LSD & Seeing God
1:03:56 Finding Your Unique Combination of Skills and Gifts
1:12:28 The Limitations of Identity and Finding Meaning Beyond Success
1:14:57 The Importance of Maintaining Separate Identities in a Romantic Partnership.
1:17:53 Historical Context & Understanding Progress
1:27:44 Conclusion
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Mark Manson:
Mark is the three-time #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, as well as other titles. His books have sold around 20 million copies, been translated into more than 65 languages, and reached number one in more than a dozen countries. In 2023, a feature film about his life and ideas was released worldwide by Universal Pictures.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markmanson/
Website: https://markmanson.net
Books: https://markmanson.net/books
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmMarkManson
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Know Thyself
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André Duqum
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | As a civilization, when we solve the problems of physical scarcity, we introduce a very difficult |
| 0:06.2 | psychological problem to ourselves, which is like, you're safe, you have everything you need. |
| 0:10.1 | Now, who do you want to be? The velocity of the success really made me feel trapped. |
| 0:15.7 | I always feel weird when I talk about this on podcast, because what is more unrelatable than a guy |
| 0:20.6 | who, like like sold 10 million |
| 0:21.6 | books and then got the press? What amazes me is that the solution's exactly the same. So here's the |
| 0:26.4 | dirty little secret about all your favorite personal development authors. The reason we write, |
| 0:31.1 | the books we write, is because it's the advice we need to hear ourselves. I found the conventional |
| 0:36.2 | personal development approach to, quote unquote, |
| 0:38.7 | improving yourself was a little bit naive. Everything is backwards. If you want to be happy, |
| 0:43.1 | then don't chase happiness. If you want to stop being sad, let yourself be sad. Figuring out |
| 0:49.5 | what to give a fuck about, it's a question that never ends because we're always growing and |
| 0:53.6 | evolving and changing. The world're always growing and evolving and |
| 0:54.1 | changing. The world is always growing and evolving and changing. And so you've got to ask some of these |
| 0:58.8 | questions. Hello, beautiful beings. Welcome back to the Know Theyself podcast where every single |
| 1:09.1 | week we get the honor and privilege |
| 1:10.9 | to sit down with a brilliant mind and open heart to see how we can learn more about ourselves |
| 1:15.0 | and the world around us. My guest today is a prolific author and content creator. He wrote |
| 1:20.2 | the infamous book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, which has sold over 10 million copies |
| 1:24.7 | and has been a huge success worldwide. I personally love how he |
| 1:29.1 | approaches a lot of these perennial questions of life, such as what's their purpose, how to be |
| 1:33.8 | happy, how to be fulfilled, but from an unexpected lens that you typically don't find in the |
... |
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