The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

by Mark Manson

life advice—all the positive and happy self-help stuff we hear all the time—is actually fixating on what you lack. It lasers in on what you perceive your personal shortcomings and failures to already be, and then emphasizes them for you.

Pain, in all of its forms, is our body’s most effective means of spurring action.

People who become great at something become great because they understand that they’re not already great—they are mediocre, they are average—and that they could be so much better.

If you want to change how you see your problems, you have to change what you value and/or how you measure failure/success.

When we feel that we’re choosing our problems, we feel empowered. When we feel that our problems are being forced upon us against our will, we feel victimized and miserable.

If someone is better than you at something, then it’s likely because she has failed at it more than you have.