I wish someone had told me about Mark Manson’s website sooner

“I wish someone had told me” is a series of posts that feed into our inquisitive nature at CN&CO. Each week we hear from someone in our network about something interesting or surprising that’s recently happened or occurred to them – or lessons they learnt. These blogs are a way to pay it forward and form part of CN&CO’s belief that the world can be a better place – and we all have a responsibility to make it so. This week’s post is by Emiliana and is about author Mark Manson. 

Reading has never been my forte. This fact horrifies many of my colleagues at CN&CO as reading is a big part of what we do here. But despite my inability to sit through an entire book from front to back, I recently got my nose stuck into the pages of “The subtle art of not giving a f*ck: A counterintuitive approach to living a good life” by Mark Manson. Much to my surprise, not only did I read the book, I also spent a bit of time investing in it. In so doing, I found myself pondering the approaches he speaks of in his writing.

In a recent chapter I read, Manson writes:

There is a simple realization from which all personal improvement and growth emerges. This is the realization that we, individually, are responsible for everything in our lives, no matter the external circumstances. We don’t always control what happens to us. But we always control how we interpret what happens to us, as well as how we respond. Whether we consciously recognize it or not, we are always responsible for our experiences. It’s impossible not to be. Choosing to not consciously interpret events in our lives is still an interpretation of the events of our lives. Choosing.

In a recent interview for The Huffington Post, Manson said:

If seeing things online or hearing things your co-workers say is really affecting you that much then you need to look at the values in your life. If your emotions are constantly being pushed this way or that way, and you feel like you’re never in control, it’s probably because you’re valuing a lot of the wrong things.

I became so engrossed in his writing that I began wanted to read more (a definite first). With the internet at our fingertips, finding more of Manson’s writing was by no means a difficult task. Much to my excitement – and with the help of Rob on what seemed to be a very long Friday – I was directed to markmanson.net, which consists of numerous blogs and articles written by Manson on a number of different topics. These include self improvement, life choices, dating and relationships, and culture.

Trying to choose my top five was somewhat impossible but after reading and rereading, here are my five top blogs:

  • 10 life lessons I learned from surviving my 20s
    “In our instant gratification culture, it’s easy to forget that most personal change does not occur as a single static event in time, but rather as a long, gradual evolution where we’re hardly aware of it as it’s happening.”
    The saying goes that our 20s are our selfish years. We’re old enough to make the right decisions and young enough still to make the wrong ones. Ultimately we are growing through what we are growing through. With six of us at CN&CO still being in our 20s, this blog certainly made me reflect on my personal change, my career and what it is I am hoping to achieve. For now, I am simply enjoying being 20-something, with all the hardships, chaos and uncertainty that it brings, with endless lessons to be learnt.
  • Stop trying to be happy
    “Happiness is not something you obtain, but rather something you inhabit.”
    Enough said…
  • Three important life skills that nobody ever taught you
    “Stop making everything you do about accomplishing some fucking goal.”
    S
    top taking things personally; be persuaded and change your mind; act without knowing the result.
  • The most important question of your life
    “This is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes. So choose your struggles wisely, my friend.”
    Don’t play small with your life: live bold, live loud and live unapologetically.
  • The subtle art of not giving a fuck
    “In my life, I have given a fuck about many people and many things. I have also not given a fuck about many people and many things. And like the road not taken, it was the fucks not given that made all the difference.”
    Life is way too short; leave the key to your happiness in your own pocket.

So just to end off with one of my favorite Mark Manson quotes:

“Don’t just sit there. Do something. The answer will follow.”