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Mark Manson — The Path to ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck,’ The Ups (and Downs) of Success, The Craft of Writing, Personal Reinvention, How to Build a Lean Team, Protecting Boundaries, Decompressing with Fiction, and More (#647)

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“There’s no such thing as a dating problem. Every dating problem is simply a personal emotional/trauma/baggage problem that’s manifesting as a dating problem.”

— Mark Manson

Mark Manson (@IAmMarkManson) is a three-time #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck as well as other titles. His books have sold nearly 20 million copies worldwide and have reached number one in more than a dozen countries.

Since 2008, he has written articles at MarkManson.net, one of the largest personal-development blogs in the world, with more than a million monthly readers. In 2023, a feature film about him and his work will be released in theaters by Universal Pictures. See SubtleArtMovie.com for more details, and click here for the trailer.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the video on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Peloton Row premium rower for an efficient workout, Athletic Greens all-in-one supplement, and Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating.

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

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#647: Mark Manson — The Path to 'The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck,' The Ups (and Downs) of Success, The Craft of Writing, Personal Reinvention, How to Build a Lean Team, Protecting Boundaries, Decompressing with Fiction, and More

This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep! Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover is the easiest and fastest way to sleep at the perfect temperature. It pairs dynamic cooling and heating with biometric tracking to offer the most advanced (and user-friendly) solution on the market. Simply add the Pod Cover to your current mattress and start sleeping as cool as 55°F or as hot as 110°F. It also splits your bed in half, so your partner can choose a totally different temperature.

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This episode is brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG1 further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system. 

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Want to hear an episode with someone who also sold an ungodly amount of books? Listen to my interview with Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert, which explores her creative path, saying no, trusting one’s intuition, index cards, integrity checks, grief, awe, and more.

#430: Elizabeth Gilbert’s Creative Path: Saying No, Trusting Your Intuition, Index Cards, Integrity Checks, Grief, Awe, and Much More

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

  • Connect with Mark Manson:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn

SHOW NOTES

  • [07:02] Difficult changes and modified default behaviors.
  • [10:22] Be careful what you wish for.
  • [12:14] How Mark’s feature film deal came to be.
  • [15:55] The teamwork that makes Mark’s dream work.
  • [20:26] Sourcing talent.
  • [24:45] How Mark knew he’d found the right agent.
  • [28:36] From Entropy to F*ckery.
  • [47:21] Learning the subtle art of strategic F-bombing.
  • [56:31] Prioritizing health maintenance.
  • [1:04:04] Co-authoring a book with Will Smith.
  • [1:11:34] In a post-slap world, what should we know about the real Will Smith?
  • [1:16:36] How Will Smith depends on and interacts with his team.
  • [1:18:41] Setting the course for the next few years.
  • [1:22:51] How Mark says no to financially tempting projects he doesn’t want to do.
  • [1:31:02] The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck‘s cover story.
  • [1:33:39] Why Mark is pivoting to video production rather than podcasting.
  • [1:37:46] What can we expect from Mark’s future video trajectory?
  • [1:42:56] Staying relevant and creatively fulfilled in a crowded market.
  • [1:44:56] The software Mark uses to compose a book.
  • [1:46:10] Recommended reading,
  • [1:56:51] Parting thoughts.

MORE MARK MANSON QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“I like working long-term with people. I like finding exceptional talent, paying them very well, and then sticking with them over a long period of time. So I’ve never had an employee leave. And two of my guys—one’s been with me for 10 years, one’s been with me for almost nine, and then the other two have been with me for about three or four, which in the web world is crazy. And I have entrepreneur friends with online businesses, and they look at me and they’re like, ‘Are you nuts? You could pay these people half as much.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I’d be hiring every six months.'”
— Mark Manson

“I feel like it’s almost a prerequisite to being ‘wealthy’ is you have to spend money on something stupid that you regret. I just feel like that is a nonnegotiable. You’re not really wealthy until you’ve done that at some point. So I went through a couple of those experiences.”
— Mark Manson

“For a number of years I really, really wanted that, for lack of a better term, mainstream media attention. Just that nod of respect of like, ‘Yeah, kid, you did it.’ And when I started getting that and started working and engaging with a lot of legacy media, I was like, ‘Wow, this sucks. I miss my blog. I miss the emails from my readers. I don’t want to do this. This is such a pain in the ass.'”
— Mark Manson

“There’s no such thing as a dating problem. Every dating problem is simply a personal emotional/trauma/baggage problem that’s manifesting as a dating problem.”
— Mark Manson

PEOPLE MENTIONED

The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 900 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.

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7 Replies to “Mark Manson — The Path to ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck,’ The Ups (and Downs) of Success, The Craft of Writing, Personal Reinvention, How to Build a Lean Team, Protecting Boundaries, Decompressing with Fiction, and More (#647)”

  4. I love podcast and listen religiously, however, this one left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. If felt like two guys with a lot of money talking about the things they can do now that they have a lot of money. Not sure we are all there yet…

    Reply

  6. I really like what Tim Ferris does. I think the work week could even be two days. More time for friends and family. More time to take care of our broken world. Thank you.

    Reply

  7. Disappointing that there wasn’t more acknowledgement and discussion of the exceptionally manipulative aspects of men providing other men advice and tips on how to “pick up women”. There was reference to ‘toxic’ aspects of this, but no deeper discussion nor recognition of how this can lead to highly damaging, sometimes abusive, experiences for women. This is something that men with public platforms and influence should give a F*ck about.

    Reply