Meditation, Solved: Is It Actually Worth It?

SOLVED with Mark Manson

Mark Manson

Self-improvement, Education

4.9 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2026

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Meditation has been sold to us as a magic pill for so long that the backlash is almost as overblown as the hype. I spent years deep in Buddhist practice, went on retreats, meditated daily — and then slowly discovered that half the gurus evangelizing it were alcoholics, abusers, or running Rolls-Royce-funded cults. Here's what the more careful research actually shows: there are three things meditation does reliably well, and they’re probably not what you've been promised. More importantly, almost everything you've been told about how to do it is wrong — starting with the idea that the goal is to quiet your mind. If your brain turns into a chaotic mess the moment you close your eyes, that's not a failure. That's the whole point. Get your free episode guide: https://solvedpodcast.com/meditation/ • Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: https://markmanson.net/breakthrough • Get clarity on what actually matters. Try Purpose, Mark's AI mentor app that learns your patterns, challenges your blind spots, and helps you take action. Get 7 days free at purpose.app/solved⁠ Check out our sponsors:• Factor: Head to https://www.factormeals.com/solved202650off to get 50% off and a free breakfast for a year. • Shopify: Sign up for your $1/month trial at https://www.shopify.com/solved• Waking Up: Get a free 30-day trial and $30 off the annual membership at https://www.wakingup.com/solved Chapters: 8:15 CHAPTER 1: Skeptic Claim #1: Meditation Is Overhyped 22:45 CHAPTER 2: Skeptic Claim #2: "Meditation Isn't for Me" 48:33 CHAPTER 3: Skeptic Claim #3: The New-Agey, "Woo-Woo" Crowd Turns Me Off 1:01:01 CHAPTER 3: A Secular, Grounded Alternative: Meditation Without Metaphysics 1:17:35 CHAPTER 4: Conclusion: What Meditation Really Is Follow Mark Mark’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/markmanson Solved IG: https://www.instagram.com/solvedpodcast/ Twitter: https://x.com/markmanson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmanson/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmMarkManson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The weight is over. Last One Laughing is back and it's even more brutal than last time. Share your biggest regrets. I don't regret this haircut. What did you ask for? The Shaggy Slim Shady? Joining us this series we have... Romish Wengrenner Nathan, Diane Morgan, David Mitchell, Mel Gedroich, Amy Gledhill, Alan Carr, Bemi Sola, Ike Mello, Sam Campbell, Maisie Adam, and Bob Mortimer. Anyone want a song?
0:23.3	No.
0:24.3	Last One Laughing, new series, watch now, only on Prime Video.
0:30.2	Welcome to Solved. I am Mark Manson, and today we are talking about meditation, and is it actually
0:36.1	worth it? Have you ever had that moment when you're
0:39.0	lying in bed at night, brain running like a browser with 47 tabs open, half of them playing
0:44.2	audio, and you think to yourself, maybe I should try that meditation thing? And then somehow
0:50.0	that thought alone stresses you out even more? Here's the thing that nobody tells you about
0:55.0	meditation. The people who swear by it the most are often the worst advertisements for it.
1:00.1	I spent years studying Eastern philosophy, reading every guru I could find, and then slowly
1:05.3	realized that most of those gurus were raging alcoholics, serial abusers, and running
1:10.3	cult-like cash grabs with fleets of rolls
1:12.5	Royces. I'm actually not making any of those things up, but we will get into that in a minute.
1:17.5	These were not exactly the poster children for inner peace. And yet, meditation kept getting sold to
1:23.1	us as a magic pill. Less stress, more focus, emotional healing, spiritual awakening, permanent calm,
1:29.6	basically everything short of six-pack abs and a winning lottery ticket, which sucks
1:34.7	because the only thing I actually need are six-pack abs and a winning lottery ticket. God damn it,
1:39.3	meditation. So here's the thing when you meditate for a while that you eventually discover.
1:43.6	You don't suck at meditation because something's wrong with you or you don't have enough willpower
1:48.8	or stamina. You suck at meditation because you've been given the wrong definition of what good
1:54.0	meditation actually is. You think the goal is to empty your mind and find some pure, peaceful
1:58.6	consciousness hiding underneath all the mental clutter,
	...

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