Mark Manson’s best selling book will teach you how to lose and let go, and give fewer fucks.
Quoting his fucks
The problem is that giving too many fucks is bad for your mental health.
Reserve your fucks for what truly matters.
Maturity is what happens when one learns to only give a fuck about what’s truly fuckworthy.
Ask yourself “what pain you want in your life and is willing to struggle for?”
Ever notice that sometimes when you care less, you do better?
You’re not special
Every day, we’re flooded with the truly extraordinary. The best of the best. Or the worst of the worst.
Mass media tells story of only the 99.999th percentile. It screwed up a lot of people’s expectations.
This flood of extreme information has conditioned us to believe that exceptionalism is the new normal.
You think you are special?
Get over it.
You’re not special.
Take the first step (don’t worry about the second)
It is a common myth, or a killer point, to believe you need motivation first, then you can take action.
Motivation -> Action 😔
Usually, instead of doing a project, we indulge in video games etc. We give in to procrastination, or avoidance.
If you fall into this trap, kick start with an action. Because:
Action -> Motivation 🤩
Action will create motivation & inspiration. It is not the other way around.
The simple act of taking the first step will help you figure out the rest.
In no time, you might complete the project.
I experienced this for some of my app projects. Sometimes, I procrastinate for too long, trying to find inspiration. Other times, I simply jump right into doing, and then I indulge in doing more and more, and inspirations just come along automatically.
Choose what you are responsible for
With great power comes great responsiblity.
The inverse is actually a better version.
With great responsibility comes great power.
You should NOT choose (or wait) for great power to be bestowed upon you.
Instead, choose what you are responsible for in your life.
Change what you are responsible for, what fucks matter to you, and you will ultimately change your values.
Immortality Projects
Mark Manson quoted ideas from The Denial of Death, a great philosophical book.
Human constantly try to live beyond the physical self, by means of creating history, impact, politics, art, technology innovation, or having children.
These efforts are “immortality projects” to allow our conceptual self to live on. These are the so called meanings in life.
However, these immortality projects are actually the problem.
The author, at his deathbed, came to the startling realization.
Don’t be blindly driven by your immortality projects.
Be comfortable with the fact of your own death, then you can choose your values more freely, unrestrained by the illogical quest for immortality, and freed from dangerous dogmatic views.