What Are You Waiting for?

130 people had breakthroughs this week. Will the next one be you?

Two things for you to think about

Most people tell themselves that if they felt better, they’d do the thing—when it’s actually doing the thing that makes you feel better.

At some point, you realize that the permission you’ve been waiting for all along was your own.

Two things for you to ask yourself

What have you wasted time waiting for “the right” time before doing? What have you excused or neglected in your own life for no other reason than you felt undeserving of it?

One thing for you to try this week

Give yourself permission. Fuck it. Fuck everybody. It’s your life. Go live it. Then let me know how it goes.

New This Week

The Five Principles of Productivity – Most productivity advice out there is all about the hacks, protocols, and techniques. Rarely do you actually learn about the principles underlying getting stuff done. So when this technique or that protocol doesn’t work out, you don’t know why. In this week’s YouTube, I aim to fix that. We take a look at the fundamental principles of productivity and learn how you can adapt them to make them work for you.

6 Ways to Stop Giving a F*ck – We all wish we gave fewer fucks, but wanting to and doing it are two different things. If you’ve read my book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, then you know that not giving a fuck doesn’t mean you don’t care about anything—it means deliberately choosing what you give a fuck about… and ignoring the rest.

In this latest podcast episode, Drew and I dive into the realities of not giving a fuck, the good and the bad. We talk about why there will never be a time when you’re free from others’ judgment, why being “normal” is not something to aspire to, nor is wanting to be liked by everyone. And a whole lot more. Check it out.

Did you miss it? I’m touring Australia and New Zealand!

In case you missed last week’s announcement, after five long years, I’m finally returning to Australia and New Zealand for a live event tour this November.

Join me in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, or Auckland for an evening of laughs—maybe tears—but definitely breakthroughs in a room full of people who want to get their shit together, just like you.

I’ve prepared a few surprises, and there will be chances for Q&A and meet and greets. If you’re around in November, I’d love to see you. Click below to learn more.

Last week’s breakthroughs

In last week’s newsletter, I asked you to cut one thing out of your life that dramatically improves it.

My prompt came at just the right time for Sabrina:

Absolutely love the prompt this week. I’ve recently been feeling as though I’m giving my energy and time to people who have proven to not do the same for me. It’s funny too, because I have so many wonderful people in my life that make me feel loved every day. I should not be afraid to focus more on myself, and cut out the people who are in my life while I am not in theirs. I feel lighter and more myself without the urge to contact people from the past.

Tom let go of some of his ideas and actually got things done:

This advice resonated with me, as I chronically suffer from lack of time. At some point I realized I can’t possibly pull off all the things I have in mind, and I decided to let go of some of my brilliant ideas, no matter how painful.

I used to submerge myself in tons of DIY projects, always hoping to improve upon existing solutions. I was very dedicated to my work, but then I realized it had been four years since the last project I actually finished. Everything I’d done since then was mostly pointless.

The worst of it all, it could have been avoided if only I’d stuck to one of them and not invested time in side projects that later became the main ones. Everything worthwhile took a hit, my health, relations with others, professional career, and I got nothing in return.

Now I turned my hobby into a side job. I am a contractor that designs things for some companies. This helps me focus on one task, keeps me motivated to finish them, and I still enjoy doing what I’m doing. Extra money is just a nice bonus.

Finally, one reader’s experiment of no social media for a month led to questions we’d all do well to ask ourselves:

I actually started this breakthrough on July 10. I cut out social media for one month just to see how it goes. My thought was this: I joined Facebook in grad school almost 20 years ago. I didn’t join it realizing it would be a lifelong commitment. At the time, maybe I checked it once a week. It had turned into scrolling when bored, plus Twitter, plus Instagram, plus TikTok. Even if I was spending 20 minutes a day on each, that was 80 minutes a day, and I don’t know what I have to show for it.

Fast forward almost one month later. I’ve kept the pledge and found that my screen time has decreased by about exactly that—80 minutes per day. In that time, I have more focus at home and at work. I watch more movies and TV shows and actually invest in them rather than have them on for noise while I scroll. I’ve read more physical books. I’ve journaled more. I started meditation.

This is not a ‘social media is evil’ experiment. This is an ‘am I using my time correctly’ experiment. The answer is no. I was making choices I didn’t even realize I was making. When the 30 days are up, I’m not rushing to rejoin social media. I’m also not saying I won’t. But whatever I do, it will be with purpose and thought.

The bottom line on all of this is: do we realize what we’ve added to our lives every day that becomes a habit? And are those habits actually making us happy, or giving us value, or are we just doing it because we’ve always done it, because everyone else is doing it? Once you start asking these questions, you are on the right track. It’s very enlightening, and also, very freeing.

Just sending this email is a great example—I’ve read your newsletter for a year and never responded. Now I have that ‘time’ this morning. Five minutes that could change your life is your slogan right? Imagine what 80 minutes a day did for me.

As always, send your breakthroughs by simply replying to this email. Let me know if you’d prefer to remain anonymous.

Until next week,

Mark Manson

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
My Website — My Books — My YouTube Channel