Everything Is F*cked aims to bring some hope in a world where everything is f*cked. Mark describes everything wrong with the way we approach happiness and offers solutions from old-school philosophy to solve the problems we face in the modern world. While the book may come off as pessimistic at first, it has timeless principles that will give you some hope at last.

Review

Most of us believe that if we can avoid the pains and discomforts of life, we’ll be happy. With technological advancements and more and more services, we’re trying to make our lives easier. We buy things hoping they will solve all our problems. But as a result, we’re becoming more anxious and depressed. So, what do we do when everything is f*cked? This book is follow-up to his mega-bestseller The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck, Mark Manson suggests that anger and sadness are not the opposite of happiness. According to him, the root cause of unhappiness is hopelessness.

Why Read This Book?

For instance, as kids, we didn’t steal because we feared getting caught. As adults, we should not become thieves because it doesn’t align with our values. You can also use your principles to motivate yourself to do the necessary things, even when they are uncomfortable or painful

Values

Hopelessness is the root of mental illness, anxiety and depression. It is the source of all misery, and cause of all addiction.

1. Pure logic won’t help you make the best decisions, a balanced brain will.2. Hope won’t solve your problems, it takes acceptance and principles to do that.3. The solution to mental illnesses is not chasing happiness, it is to attain true freedom from our addictions and dependencies.

Takeaways

Every religion has one thing in common – it gives a sense of hope and faith to its followers. People love to adopt such views because of their unhappy lives. But the problem with such hope-related beliefs, as the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche identified, is that hope divides people’s perception into “good” and “bad.” It creates more unhappiness and conflict than meaning in life.Nietzsche asked us to look beyond good and evil to accept uncomfortable truths about life, such as insignificance and death. He called this embrace-the-void approach “Amor Fati,” which means “love one’s fate.”

Lesson 2: Hope won’t solve your problems.

Another philosopher, Immanuel Kant, suggested that we stop behaving in transactional ways. For example, you shouldn’t act kindly to get something from another person. Instead, be kind because doing so is a reward in itself. In the same way, don’t steal from others in hope to reach heaven. Avoid theft because it is the right thing to do.To adopt Kant’s philosophy, develop strong principles to build your character and become a person who does the right thing. As children, we did what we felt like doing, but as adults, we can motivate ourselves based on ethics.

Philosophy

Any marketer or buyer knows the power of hitting potential customer’s pain points to get people to make purchases. We’re all trying to buy our way to happiness to make us feel better. Many advertisers take advantage of our desire for happiness to sell us products that we don’t need.Businesses often justify creating more products, claiming they are “giving people what they want.” In competitive markets, people have more products to choose from. While this may sound like more freedom in the hands of consumers, it often leads to more confusion and pain.

3. Pursuit Of Happiness Leads To More Depression And Anxiety.

Meditation is an excellent way to embrace life’s uncomfortable truths. It gives you space to acknowledge, accept, and let go of dark thoughts that cloud your perception. Mindfulness will make you comfortable with the fact that everything is, in fact, f*cked.

Meditation

With the rise in technology, we’re trying to make life easier for ourselves. But as a side effect, we’re giving away our freedom by becoming addicted to services and devices. Our compulsive use leads to less self-control, which causes depression and anxiety. True freedom and happiness come when your well-being is not dependent on the comfort that comes from emerging products and services. When you reduce things from your life and take charge of your behavior on platforms like social media, it gives you liberty by freeing up your time and attention.

Happiness

With hope, we get the strength to move forward as we believe in a better future. But the way we try to fill our current void of hopelessness is destructive. Having unrealistic beliefs about the perfect future is making us mentally ill and self-centered. We lose sight of virtues like courage, honesty, and humility in the pursuit of making our lives more comfortable, easier, and happier.

Hope

For example, if you want to stop eating junk food, your Thinking Brain would tell you that it’s bad for you and you should stop eating it. But the Feeling Brain often decides whether something is “good” or “bad” in the moment. You need to appeal to both the Thinking Brain and the Feeling Brain to make better decisions in the present.

Lesson 1: Pure logic won’t help you make the best decisions

From the author of the international mega-bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck comes a counterintuitive guide to the problems of hope. We live in an interesting time. Materially, everything is the best it’s ever been—we are freer, healthier and wealthier than any people in human history. Yet, somehow everything seems to be irreparably and horribly f*cked—the planet is warming, governments are failing, economies are collapsing, and everyone is perpetually offended on Twitter. At this moment in history, when we have access to technology, education and communication our ancestors couldn’t even dream of, so many of us come back to an overriding feeling of hopelessness. What’s going on? If anyone can put a name to our current malaise and help fix it, it’s Mark Manson. In 2016, Manson published The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, a book that brilliantly gave shape to the ever-present, low-level hum of anxiety that permeates modern living. He showed us that technology had made it too easy to care about the wrong things, that our culture had convinced us that the world owed us something when it didn’t—and worst of all, that our modern and maddening urge to always find happiness only served to make us unhappier. Instead, the “subtle art” of that title turned out to be a bold challenge: to choose your struggle; to narrow and focus and find the pain you want to sustain. The result was a book that became an international phenomenon, selling millions of copies worldwide while becoming the #1 bestseller in 13 different countries. Now, in Everthing Is F*cked, Manson turns his gaze from the inevitable flaws within each individual self to the endless calamities taking place in the world around us. Drawing from the pool of psychological research on these topics, as well as the timeless wisdom of philosophers such as Plato, Nietzsche, and Tom Waits, he dissects religion and politics and the uncomfortable ways they have come to resemble one another. He looks at our relationships with money, entertainment and the internet, and how too much of a good thing can psychologically eat us alive. He openly defies our definitions of faith, happiness, freedom—and even of hope itself. With his usual mix of erudition and where-the-f*ck-did-that-come-from humor, Manson takes us by the collar and challenges us to be more honest with ourselves and connected with the world in ways we probably haven’t considered before. It’s another counterintuitive romp through the pain in our hearts and the stress of our soul. One of the great modern writers has produced another book that will set the agenda for years to come.

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of the international mega-bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck comes a counterintuitive guide to the problems of hope. We live in an interesting time. Materially, everything is the best it’s ever been—we are freer, healthier and wealthier than any people in human history. Yet, somehow everything seems to be irreparably and horribly f*cked—the planet is warming, governments are failing, economies are collapsing, and everyone is perpetually offended on Twitter. At this moment in history, when we have access to technology, education and communication our ancestors couldn’t even dream of, so many of us come back to an overriding feeling of hopelessness. What’s going on? If anyone can put a name to our current malaise and help fix it, it’s Mark Manson. In 2016, Manson published The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck, a book that brilliantly gave shape to the ever-present, low-level hum of anxiety that permeates modern living. He showed us that technology had made it too easy to care about the wrong things, that our culture had convinced us that the world owed us something when it didn’t—and worst of all, that our modern and maddening urge to always find happiness only served to make us unhappier. Instead, the “subtle art” of that title turned out to be a bold challenge: to choose your struggle; to narrow and focus and find the pain you want to sustain. The result was a book that became an international phenomenon, selling millions of copies worldwide while becoming the #1 bestseller in 13 different countries. Now, in Everthing Is F*cked, Manson turns his gaze from the inevitable flaws within each individual self to the endless calamities taking place in the world around us. Drawing from the pool of psychological research on these topics, as well as the timeless wisdom of philosophers such as Plato, Nietzsche, and Tom Waits, he dissects religion and politics and the uncomfortable ways they have come to resemble one another. He looks at our relationships with money, entertainment and the internet, and how too much of a good thing can psychologically eat us alive. He openly defies our definitions of faith, happiness, freedom—and even of hope itself. With his usual mix of erudition and where-the-f*ck-did-that-come-from humor, Manson takes us by the collar and challenges us to be more honest with ourselves and connected with the world in ways we probably haven’t considered before. It’s another counterintuitive romp through the pain in our hearts and the stress of our soul. One of the great modern writers has produced another book that will set the agenda for years to come.

Mark Manson (born 1984) is a professional blogger, entrepreneur, and former dating coach. Since 2007, he's been helping people with their emotional and relationship problems. He has worked with thousands of people from over 30 different countries. He regularly writes and updates his blog at: www.markmanson.net

MARK MANSON

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Desire = Misery