TL;DR - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

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Introduction

When I first got to know this book – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – I was like WTF … what a title … it sure got my attention. Anyway, the title somehow gave me the right groove that I decided to dive into it.

The book’s main objective is to help you in choosing the important stuff in your life which you choose to give a f*ck about. Very often, we are not aware how much time and focus we are wasting on something that is not important.

Manson warns against devoting too much importance to self-help tips and how to begin focusing on what that really matters.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck was the most-read non-fiction book in 2017 (Amazon) and has sold over 13 million copies.

TL;DR – The Extracts & Essence

Avoid constantly pursuing positivity – The pursuit of positive experience is itself a negative one; constantly pursuing satisfaction will reinforce that you might lack it in the first place.
You are not unique; you do not need to believe that you are unique. You should not expect the entitlement that you deserve to be happy without sacrificing for it.
Accept reality; we should not be aiming for problem free life but a life full of good problems. Success is often a result of solving problem.
Happiness is a science; uncertainty is inevitable and it’s a vital element to success. There is no such thing as perfection; there is always imperfection.
Values are the cornerstones for happiness and success. Good values are reality-based, internally achieved and socially constructive.
Take responsibility – When you take responsibility for a problem, you take responsibility for how that problem makes you feel.
Your reaction is all that matters – often times you cannot choose the outcome of our decisions, but you can choose the way you respond to the situation … emotionally.
Challenge your beliefs – “doubting” ourselves and our actions will help us to improve over time.
Be humble – reducing your ego to allow yourself to grow.
Failure is the mother of success – seriously, accept that things will fail; you only become an expert when you learn and improve through those failures. Instead of worrying about failure, we should just keep trying.
Do something – instead of motivation leading to action, it’s often that action leads to motivation. Never try, never know.
Be open-minded and receptive – The mind is like a parachute, it will only work when it’s open. Learn how to choose (or reject) alternatives wisely.

About the Author

Mark Manson is an American writer and blogger specialized in self-help. He started his first blog on dating in 2008 and it quickly became renowned, gathering hundreds of thousands of readers. In 2009, Manson chose to travel around the world for the following seven years while still doing his job remotely. He ended up visiting over 65 nations.

In 2010, he started a new niche blog providing general life advice for men. He published an article on this niche blog under the same name as this book. The article was so popular that he decided to turn it into a book – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck which became a New York Times best seller and has been translated into more than 60 languages.

Manson has been featured on NBC, CNN, Fox News, the BBC and Time magazine. In October 2018, Penguin Random House proclaimed that Manson would collaborate with Will Smith to compose the actor’s memoir.

Conclusion

I must admit that I’m a little biased when I first got to know this book – assuming it’s just trying to catch your attention with the F word in the title.

I must also confess that not only I do not regret investing my time to read it, I actually enjoyed it. While many self-help books argue we should constantly seek happiness and success – which will lead to exhaustion and even less satisfied, this book is full of practical advice to live a better live.

To gain a deeper understanding and to show your support for the author, purchase the book or acquire the audiobook for free from Amazon.