Summary and Analysis of
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
Based on the Book by Mark Manson
Contents
Context
Overview
Summary
Direct Quotes and Analysis
Trivia
Top 10 Ways to Live a Life of Zero Fucks
Critical Response
About Mark Manson
For Your Information
Bibliography
Copyright
Context
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a reaction to traditional self-help books, which typically prescribe one of three things: a) staying positive no matter what; b) building up your self-esteem by saying nice things about yourself; or c) adopting the teachings of an exotic belief system or cultlike figure. Mark Manson doesn’t agree with any of these approaches. He’s neither a self-appointed guru nor positivity pusher. Rather, he’s merely a (relatively) young guy with decent ideas worth examining—particularly as they relate to other young people trying, in vain, to figure out their lives. This is a modern book; Manson is both self-aware and sarcastic, two traits closely associated with millennials. Nevertheless, it references a number of different schools of philosophy, resulting in a timeless work that appeals to curious people of all ages.
Overview
Mark Manson wants you to know it’s okay to feel bad. Instead of denying your disappointments and forcing yourself to “put on a happy face,” go ahead and acknowledge that your situation sucks. Done? Good. Now it’s time to move on.
Painful truth is at the heart of Manson’s millennial manifesto, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, which could alternatively be titled “How to Make Peace with Yourself” or “The Subtle Art of Acceptance.” Manson argues that living successfully comes from knowing when to give a fuck. If we’re constantly outraged, upset, or disappointed, this means we’re giving up way too much of our precious supply of fucks. Most of us can’t change our disappointments, but we can decide how we weather them.
Manson has no time for conventional self-help methods, least of all advice from the self-esteem or positivity movements. We are all actually pretty average, says Manson, but accepting our lack of awesomeness can be liberating. It frees us from trying to live up to the insane and unrealistic standards that we’d expect remarkable, unique people to have. It strips us of our sense of entitlement, a major cause of aforementioned disappointments and anxieties. As for positivity in the face of so much suckage, Manson thinks that’s just silly. Positivity for the sake of positivity is hollow and makes us miserable, because it forces us to deny our true feelings. When we acknowledge that something stinks, we can get past it.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is an instruction manual for letting go. Manson exhorts us to face reality, as unpleasant as it may be. His philosophy actually incorporates many aspects of Buddhist thought, which prizes acceptance and nonresistance as virtues. Strength comes from acceptance, and once we are strong enough, negative events just don’t have the same power over us that they used to.
Manson’s book is also a call to reevaluating our beliefs. Much of our anxiety stems from our unthinking acceptance of values that we’ve absorbed since childhood. When we scrutinize them deliberately, we can determine whether or not they actually express who we are today. If our values have changed, Manson has a solution: Just don’t give a fuck.