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Book Review: Subtle Art of Not Giving A F#(k

by John on 05/30/2017

book cover subtle art of not giving a fuckThe Subtle Art of Not Giving A F#ck by Mark Manson is really worth your time.

Who should read it:

  • Anyone on social media; it really might make you stop and think before you hit send.
  • Anyone dealing with the public.
  • High school and college kids who, through inexperience, can be over dramatic like boycotting on-campus speakers or ideas.
  • Anyone starting out in business.
  • Anyone changing careers or making major life changes.
  • Anyone fed up with the craziness in the world.

The title sounds like a societal withdrawal guide, but it’s more about focusing on what is really important.

The Subtle Art — to use the vernacular – tells you what to give a shit about.  The book’s subtitle, A Counterintuitive Approach To Living A Good Life,  could also be “cool it ” or “get real”.

Mark Manson is a young man with the wisdom of an 80-year-old who also understands the new economy.

Some of his pearls which we should remind ourselves of constantly:

  • Happiness comes from solving problems.
  • The best thing to do is question yourself; be a little uncertain.
  • Instead of talking about your goals ask about the pain you’ll endure to get the goal.
  • Don’t be in love with the goal, but the process.
  • The 1960s gave us self-awareness, leading to everyone telling us how great we are — which led to things like grade inflation and giving trophies just for participating.
  • Too many self-help goals revolve around only wealth.

More appropriate, since you are reading this online, are his guidelines for social media – which are dead-on.

  • The two main problems are: people don’t understand what the real problems are; and they see themselves as victims.
  • Victimhood is now chic for the left and the right while responsibility is for someone else.
  • Our brains work in very biased ways.
  • We take in information based on our biases and evaluate it that way.
  • Certain dogma might not be right for you, but for someone else.

Subtle Art is similar to The Code of The Extraordinary Mind which helps you remove everything not important by creating a similar attitude of being un-fuck-with-able.

But Subtle Art seems to help you find or refine goals that are reachable compared to many self-help books that allow you to “dream big.”  Manson points out that too many times we have lofty goals that cause more problems because were either really don’t want them or we are in capable of achieving them.

I listened to Subtle Art in about two workout sessions and a couple of dog walks.

(Informed Not Inflamed book reviews are; short so you will read the book not me and; only about books worth reading.  Most of these books are available on audio books so you can exercise, walk the dog, or travel while you gain more knowledge.)

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