Mark Manson's Blog, page 5

What in the World Are You Doing?

This is a Mindf*ck Monthly newsletter from January 3, 2022. Every month, I send out big ideas I’ve been chewing on in the hopes that it makes you less of a shitty person.

Let’s dive right in.

Table of ContentsYour Focus for the New YearThe Subtle Art SchoolYour Focus for the New Year

Welcome to the first Monday of the new year. It’s 2022 and if you’re like me, it still feels like 2019 was last year. Talk about a mindfuck.

This is that time of year where most productive and growth-minded...

The Point Is to Stop

This is a Mindf*ck Monthly newsletter from December 13, 2021. Every month, I send out big ideas I’ve been chewing on and stuff I’ve enjoyed reading that month in the hopes that it makes you less of a shitty person.

Let’s dive right in.

Table of ContentsThe Point Is to StopThe Subtle Art SchoolSigned Books for the HolidaysThe Point Is to Stop

Years ago, I wrote an article that claimed the best way to judge the usefulness of self-help advice is by how many people eventually leave it behi...

The Limits of Belief

This is a Mindf*ck Monthly newsletter from November 8, 2021. Every month, I send out big ideas I’ve been chewing on and stuff I’ve enjoyed reading that month in the hopes that it makes you less of a shitty person.

Let’s dive right in.

Table of ContentsThe Limits of BeliefStuff Worth ReadingThe Limits of Belief

In 1959, a surgeon named Leonard Cobb called bullshit. At the time, the most common procedure to help people with chest pain caused by heart disease was something called “internal...

3 Life Lessons I Learned From Will Smith

In the course of writing Will together, I ended up spending dozens of hours with Will Smith, both observing him while he worked and in private conversations.

Aside from sharing great content for the book, he said a number of things that influenced me personally. I’ve included three of them below.

“The Trick Is, You Bite Off More Than You Can Chew… Then You Chew It.”

In 2018, I was writing three books at the same time: my book, Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope; the Audible original, Lov...

You Are What You Consume

This is a Mindf*ck Monthly newsletter from October 4, 2021. Every month, I send out big ideas I’ve been chewing on and stuff I’ve enjoyed reading that month in the hopes that it makes you less of a shitty person.

Let’s dive right in.

Table of ContentsYou Are What You ConsumeStuff Worth ReadingYou Are What You Consume

In 1964, the media theorist Marshall McLuhan famously wrote, “The medium is the message.” His point was that the way in which we receive information is often just as influe...

25 Tips to Learn a Foreign Language

When I arrived in Buenos Aires in the beginning of 2010, I could barely order food in a local restaurant. Two years later, I calmly explained the mechanics of Russian grammar to a Guatemalan friend… in her native Spanish.

Today, I’m conversationally fluent in both Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, and low conversational in Russian.

I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass and tell you it was easy or that there’s some shortcut or hack. I practiced my ass off. Honestly, I’ve seen the supposed “hac...

What Is Wisdom?

This is a Mindf*ck Monthly newsletter from September 6, 2021. Every month, I send out big ideas I’ve been chewing on and stuff I’ve enjoyed reading that month in the hopes that it makes you less of a shitty person.

Let’s dive right in.

Table of ContentsWhat Is Wisdom?Stuff Worth ReadingWhat Is Wisdom?1. What Evolution Tells Us

When most people think of evolution, they assume that it’s an all-or-nothing affair. Ducks with a big beak are able to eat more than ducks with little beaks, the...

The Benefits of Time

This is a Mindf*ck Monthly newsletter from August 9, 2021. Every month, I send out big ideas I’ve been chewing on and stuff I’ve enjoyed reading that month in the hopes that it makes you less of a shitty person.

Let’s dive right in.

Table of ContentsThe Benefits of TimeStuff Worth ReadingThe Benefits of Time

After a month off, I’m back. Thank you to those of you who reached out wondering where I was or whether I was okay. I’m doing great. The time off was just what I needed.

I’ve long w...

Social Media Isn’t the Problem… We Are

When I was a kid, there were serious discussions in churches, schools, and in front of Congress about whether the music my friends and I listened to might be satanic.

I remember my friend’s mother making him throw away all of his Metallica tapes. I remember hiding the parental warning labels when asking my mom to buy the new Pantera album. I can still see my father breaking my Bone Thugs-N-Harmony CD in half when he realized they dropped more F-Bombs than Nixon in Cambodia.

In case anyone asks,...

Meditation: Why You Should Do It

Take a moment. Breathe. Focus your mind. Slow down and read each word. Become aware of yourself reading this sentence, this paragraph. You, sitting there, focusing on each word, one by one. Become aware of each sound as it echoes in your mind, the one you’re hearing right now, and this one, and again and again and again. The voice in your mind reading this to you, is that you? If so, then who is doing the listening?

Ideally, the above paragraph forced you into some form of meditation. It forced...