Mark Manson's Blog, page 8
October 25, 2020
It’s a Slow-Moving Car Wreck and We’re All In It
Im not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s an election going on. Seems like a pretty dull affair, to be honest. Not much to discuss. In a country that is the shining example for governmental efficiency and democratic representation for the rest of the world, I expect nothing but continued solidarity between political parties, not to mention widespread approval of the country’s leadership. So…
…congratulations New Zealand!
You did it, kiwis. As usual, you were so functional and reasonable that we...
October 20, 2020
Personal Values: How to Know Who You Really Are
For the last few years, I’ve had an idea for a satirical self-help article called, “The Productivity Secrets of Adolf Hitler.” The article would feature all the popular self-help tropes—goals, visualizations, morning routines—except expressed through the exploits of Hitler.
“Hitler starts his day at 5 AM each morning with a quick round of yoga and five minutes of journaling. With these strategies, he’s able to focus his mind on his highly ambitious goals.”
“Hitler discovered his life purpose in...
October 17, 2020
The Law of Unintended Consequences
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake rattled the ocean floor off the coast of Japan. It was the fourth largest earthquake ever recorded. It was so powerful, it moved Japan’s main island by 2.4 meters. It shifted the Earth’s axis by about 10 centimeters and sped up the planet’s rotation by a few microseconds.1
The damage from the earthquake and the tsunami it produced was biblical in scale. With only eight minutes of warning, waves swept as far as ten kilometers inland, killing thousand...
October 11, 2020
The Best Way to Resolve Your Shame
Take a moment and think about something in your life that you are terrified of anyone knowing about you. It could be a belief, a personality trait, a sick desire, or some horrible failure in your past that you’d rather pretend never happened. Whatever it is, the thought of this thing being exposed mortifies you. It causes you to want to curl up in a ball, pull a blanket over your head and hide from the world.
This feeling is what psychologists call “shame,” and we all have it to some degree.1 D...
October 8, 2020
How to Overcome Loneliness
In December of 2003, Joyce Vincent died of an apparent asthma attack in her north London flat. The television was left on. The mail continued to be delivered. Her rent was set up to be automatically deducted from her bank account. The days rolled by and no one noticed she was gone.
Those days turned into weeks and the weeks into months. There were large trash dumpsters on the side of the building next to her unit, so the neighbors never thought much of the smell emanating from her flat. The flo...
September 27, 2020
8 Logical Fallacies that Mess Us All Up
I’m going to be honest: most courses you take in university aren’t worth a whole lot. That’s not because the professors are bad or the coursework is pointless (although sometimes that is definitely the case). I mean that most of the courses you take will never be all that relevant to the rest of your life.
But then, every once in a while, often by accident, you stumble into a course that is hugely impactful on your life. That happened to me in my sophomore year. I needed to take an elective fro...
September 20, 2020
The Cognitive Biases that Make Us All Terrible People
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “How are there so many idiots in the world who can’t seem to see what is right in front of them?” You’re thinking, “Why do *I* seem to be blessed (or cursed) with the ability to see truth through a torrential downpour of bullshit?” You’re thinking “What can I do to make people understand? How can I make them see what I see?”
I know you think this because everyone thinks this. The perception that we understand life in a way that nobody else does is a...
September 6, 2020
Why We All Need Philosophy
“To win true freedom, you must be a slave to philosophy.”—Epicurus
The great philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein was once sitting in a park having a philosophical discussion with a friend when his friend, quite animated, stood up and said loudly, “That is a tree! I know for a fact that that is a tree!” An awkward pause ensued as the two men realized that passersby had stopped and were now staring at them. Wittgenstein, thinking quickly, turned to the people and said, “Do not worry, this fellow is no...
August 2, 2020
5 Steps to Becoming Insanely, Spectacularly, Wildly Successful… or Whatever
Look, I know you want to be that big badass with the sweet ass house and all the fancy letters after your name, but let’s be honest for a second. Insane, spectacular success is achieved by doing something exceptional and extraordinary.
To achieve something exceptional and extraordinary, you must—by definition—do something that few or no other people are doing or willing to do. Therefore, wild, insane, spectacular s...
July 15, 2020
Understanding Your Emotions
Contents
What are emotions?
Where emotions come from
Managing your emotions
Finding Happiness
Escaping Sadness
Managing Anger
Facing Fear
Overcoming Shame
Falling in Love
What are emotions and what do they do for us?
Experiencing an emotion is kind of like going through high school: when you’re in it, nothing feels more important. But when it’s over, you’re left wondering what the fuck that was all about.
Over the years, I’ve made a regular habit of criticizing our overreliance on our emot...
