You Lost Yourself Trying To Fit In

When I sat down to write my second book, I made a huge mistake.

I started writing what I thought fans of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck wanted to read.

Subtle Art had sold over 10 million copies at the time, so my encore had to be better. And it had to be full of new ideas. But it also had to be very “Mark Manson-y,” I thought.

And this time, everyone was watching.

So I’d spew out a bunch of words, read them, hate them, and start over. Until one day I got fed up and finally got it through my thick skull:

The only way forward was to write something I loved first.

Not what I thought would sell or what I thought people wanted to read—but what I loved.

Because if the work doesn’t mean something to me, how can it ever mean anything to anyone else?

This isn’t just true for books. It’s true for jobs, relationships, goals—everything in life.

You begin by tweaking your words… then your values… then your entire life. Before long, you’ve edited your entire self just to echo what you think people around you want to hear.

But the moment you start bending to those expectations, you lose the thing people actually showed up for:

You.

See you Monday,
Mark Manson

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
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