Young and Profiting with Hala Taha (Entrepreneurship, Sales, Marketing)
Mark Manson: The Hard Truth About Success & Happiness | Human Behavior | E342
17 Mar 2025
Chapter 1: How did Mark Manson's travels shape his mindset?
Young Improfiters, what is the key to a fulfilling life lies not in chasing happiness, but embracing discomfort. Today, I'm sitting down with Mark Manson. He's the best-selling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck and the host of the podcast of the same name. Mark was on the show on episode number 65. This was during the early days of the pandemic.
Young Improfiters, what is the key to a fulfilling life lies not in chasing happiness, but embracing discomfort. Today, I'm sitting down with Mark Manson. He's the best-selling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck and the host of the podcast of the same name. Mark was on the show on episode number 65. This was during the early days of the pandemic.
And in that conversation, we talked about adulting and his book, Everything is Fucked. Today, I'm so excited to have him back on the pod because we're not in lockdown and we get a chance to explore some of his transformative rules for living.
And in that conversation, we talked about adulting and his book, Everything is Fucked. Today, I'm so excited to have him back on the pod because we're not in lockdown and we get a chance to explore some of his transformative rules for living.
In this episode, Mark is going to share his always refreshingly blunt insights and give us some actionable strategies that challenge conventional wisdom and will help you redefine your past to a more meaningful life. Mark, welcome back to Young and Profiting. Mark, welcome to Young and Profiting podcast.
In this episode, Mark is gonna share his always refreshingly blunt insights and give us some actionable strategies that challenge conventional wisdom and will help you redefine your past to a more meaningful life. Mark, welcome back to Young and Profiting. Mark, welcome to Young and Profiting podcast.
It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
So you last came back on the show in 2020, and we were actually in the thick of the pandemic. We talked about your views on adulting, your book, Everything is F'd. And today, I'd love to just get your advice on a whole slew of topics. So let's get right into it. You turned 40 last year.
It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
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Chapter 2: How did Mark Manson transition from blogging to bestselling author?
observing and commenting on human nature, noticing psychological concepts, cultural trends, being able to appeal and address a wide international audience. I do think that lifestyle ended up kind of inadvertently helping me quite a bit in my career for those reasons. I did technically meet all my career goals at 32.
But ultimately, I think because of the nature of the industry that I'm in, which essentially is observing and commenting on human nature, noticing psychological concepts, cultural trends, being able to appeal and address a wide international audience, I do think that lifestyle ended up kind of inadvertently helping me quite a bit in my career for those reasons.
Part of that is that I think the success of my book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, just vastly outstripped any expectation I ever had. And part of that too is that I was probably thinking too small at the time. And I guess we could get into each of those things individually if you want. But that's my 20s in a nutshell, I think.
I did technically meet all my career goals at 32. Part of that is that I think the success of my book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, just vastly outstripped any expectation I ever had. And part of that too is that I was probably thinking too small at the time. And I guess we could get into each of those things individually if you want. But that's my 20s in a nutshell, I think.
Why don't you take us to the story of writing your first book? What expectations did you have and how did it surprise you? Why don't you take us to the story of writing your first book? What expectations did you have and how did it surprise you?
It was a very different time back then. So just to give a little background, I started blogging in 2007. By 2009, I'd eked out a very small full-time income. And by 2012 or 13, I'd grown a pretty significant audience online. So by the time my stuff really started to take off, I was five or six years in. I'd been scraping by. I'd been living in a lot of countries that were very cheap to live in.
It was a very different time back then. So just to give a little background, I started blogging in 2007. By 2009, I'd eked out a very small full-time income. And by 2012 or 13, I'd grown a pretty significant audience online. So by the time my stuff really started to take off, I was five or six years in. I'd been scraping by. I'd been living in a lot of countries that were very cheap to live in.
And suddenly I find myself, I have a bunch of articles going viral on Facebook and Twitter at the time. And I find myself with millions of readers. And back then, what's known today as the creator economy didn't really exist back then.
And suddenly I find myself, I have a bunch of articles going viral on Facebook and Twitter at the time. And I find myself with millions of readers. And back then, what's known today as the creator economy didn't really exist back then.
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Chapter 3: Why does Mark Manson believe happiness is overrated?
Generally speaking, I think it's useful to think of yourself in the broadest and most ambiguous terms. I'll give you an example. I think I suffered quite a bit because I adopted the identity of I am a best-selling author. That became what I was known for that became what I had been most successful at.
Generally speaking, I think it's useful to think of yourself in the broadest and most ambiguous terms. I'll give you an example. I think I suffered quite a bit because I adopted the identity of I am a best-selling author. That became what I was known for. That became what I had been most successful at.
And this happens to all of us, is that when we become successful at something or when people start recognizing us for something, we just assume that that's who we are. And I spent many years feeling a lot of pressure and a lot of anxiety. And anytime I went to write a book or write something, it put a lot of pressure on myself. Well, I'm supposed to be this big best-selling author guy.
And this happens to all of us is that when we become successful at something or when people start recognizing us for something, we just assume that that's who we are. And I spent many years feeling a lot of pressure and a lot of anxiety, and any time I went to write a book or write something, it put a lot of pressure on myself. Well, I'm supposed to be this big, best-selling author guy.
This is supposed to be what I'm amazing at. And it took something that used to be fun and felt kind of low stakes, and it turned it into something that felt very high stakes and very anxiety-ridden. And then... Something happened a few years ago, which is I took some time off. And then I kind of realized, I'm like, wait a second. Before all this author stuff, I was an entrepreneur.
This is supposed to be what I'm amazing at. And it took something that used to be fun and felt kind of low stakes And it turned it into something that felt very high stakes and very anxiety ridden.
And then something happened a few years ago, which is I took some time off and then I kind of realized I'm like, wait a second, before all this author stuff, I was an entrepreneur and I built an online business and that was a ton of fun. And I actually missed that a lot.
And I built an online business. And that was a ton of fun. And I actually missed that a lot. And I was like, you know, just because being an author was the thing I was most successful at doesn't mean I have to be an author. I can be an entrepreneur who happens to write books. And they happened to sell really well.
And I was like, you know, just because being an author was the thing I was most successful at doesn't mean I have to be an author. I can be an entrepreneur who happens to write books and they happen to sell really well. And that simple shift in my head, it just gave me so much internal freedom, unstifled me in so many ways.
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