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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Podcast

How to Fear Less, Spark More Creativity, and Choose Better Problems in Life

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Podcast

Mark Manson

Self-improvement, Education

4.83.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Fear of failure isn’t really about failure—it’s about what failure means to us. We’re not scared of messing up; we’re scared of being judged, embarrassed, or proving our worst insecurities right. But the people who actually succeed at anything are the ones willing to suck at it long enough to get good. Today, we break down why failure feels so terrifying, how social comparison messes with our heads, and why the loudest critics are usually the ones who’ve never done a damn thing themselves. Tune in for some practical tips on overcoming all of this.


We also dig into the science of why boredom can spark better ideas, why our addiction to content might be making us less creative, and whether we should all do a digital detox before our brains turn into overstimulated mush. Finally, we wrap things up with a simple but profound question: If life is just an endless series of trade-offs, what are the best problems to have? Because problems never go away—you just get to level up to better ones.


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The Creative Benefits of Boredom: https://hbr.org/2014/09/the-creative-benefits-of-boredom


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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

I made a discovery this morning, Drew.

0:02.0

Okay.

0:02.6

I, I don't know.

0:03.8

Maybe there's actually a lesson for the audience here.

0:05.8

This isn't just me fucking talking about myself, as usual.

0:11.4

I'm not a morning workout person.

0:13.0

I'm, I can't.

0:14.7

Same.

0:15.4

I can't do it.

0:16.8

And I've tried on and off for years.

0:19.6

And, you know, in the last year and a half of the business where I've been shooting a lot more videos and doing the podcast and everything, like there are days where I'm at the studio all day.

0:27.2

And I come home and I usually work out.

0:30.0

I used to work out like four or five p.m. after work.

0:32.9

And, you know, now I get home.

0:34.6

I'm just exhausted.

0:35.5

I don't want to do anything. I just want to like melt into the couch.

0:38.5

And so my wife and a friend of mine, they were like, you know, you should really pick up the morning workout thing.

0:43.3

Like it energizes you for the day and, you know, all this stuff.

0:46.5

So like that's been one of my 2025 things is like I'm going to become a morning workout person.

0:51.7

And not working, huh?

0:52.9

No, man. person and uh not working huh no man I was I was in the gym at like 645 this morning I got

0:58.2

one rep into my second set of dead lives and I was like fuck this shit I'm going home and I left I

...

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