Top all-time · #1272
Mark Manson
Personal blog · markmanson.netphilosophycultureproductivity
Mark Manson's personal blog at markmanson.net covers philosophy, culture and productivity. Since 2013, 55 different Hacker News readers have linked it 76 times, most often “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-12-26, and you can follow it by feed.
Often recommended · 23 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Mark Manson's blog for self-help essays on procrastination, relationships, attention, values and being average, and often point to his book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.
- Recommended for · 23 comments
- Called best procrastination essay, life-changing, great on being average, and best relationship advice guide; the book is called incredible.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Mark Manson — Author of the #1 NYTimes bestselling books, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Everything is F*cked
Most-linked posts?
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2016-11-20
- /screw-finding-your-passion3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-12-29
- /attention2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2015-07-05
- /books/subtle-art2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-09-15
- /personal-values2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-04-01
- /you-cant-have-it-all2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-12-24
- /being-average2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-08-29
- /relationship-advice2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-06-29
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-11-11
- /how-to-get-better2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-11-18
What Hacker News says?
If we replace the word "asshole" with "criminals", few except a couple of hardline conservatives would assume that one's destiny in life is being a criminal from the day you are born. Instead, as far as I understand most research, lots of external factors play a major role here. That probably is exactly the same here. These men have been socially conditioned to be assholes. Which, in my eyes, means that there actual…
Comment linking /whats-the-problem-with-men
on “Silicon Valley Women, in Cultural Shift, Frankly Describe Sexual Harassment”Submitted Things Sex Education Should Have Taught Us But Didn't as a story · 11 points
HN discussionAbsolutely no need to buy the book. Just read his original blog post that is more or less a TLDR; version of this bloated Amazon book. It made a huge difference in my work life. Everytime I found myself in a dumb user or arrogant dev or inept manager type situation (in meetings or emails or face-2-face), I would think back to this blog post and instantly feel better. Mark Manson "THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F_CK"…
Comment linking /not-giving-a-fuck
on “Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It”Submitted Fuck Yes or No as a story · 11 points
HN discussionIn Mark Manson's new book[0] he talks about how humans can excel at very few things, often barely one, and that "being a good person" for lack of a better phrase counts as one. It seems obvious in hindsight, but struck me because I hadn't thought of it that way before. (The book is incredible, by the way. I've already read it twice, just like Derek Sivers. Recommend it highly.) [0]: https://markmanson.net/books/subt…
Comment linking /books/subtle-art
on “Elon Musk on How to Build the Future”Submitted Stupid Things People Care Way Too Much About as a story · 5 points
HN discussionHave you read the subtle art of not giving a fuck? - you are a perfect example of what happens when someone achieve their goal. They feel empty, with nothing to do. Sad And alone. https://markmanson.net/not-giving-a-fuck Now you need to find yourself a new purpose. Only you can find it, maybe that can help: figure out that plants are the top of the food chain, and the more we treat them well... the most fun we have…
Comment linking /not-giving-a-fuck
on “I am rich and have no idea what to do”Submitted The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI think it is a lot about values, see: https://markmanson.net/personal-values "For the last few years, I’ve had an idea for a satirical self-help article called, “The Productivity Secrets of Adolf Hitler.” The article would feature all the popular self-help tropes—goals, visualizations, morning routines—except expressed through the exploits of Hitler." Being productive for the sake of productivity is a fetish here,…
Comment linking /personal-values
on “Productivity Is About Attention Management”Submitted Screw Finding Your Passion as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI am at work, but I don't give a fuck. This is the best thing I've read for a long time: "Because when we give too many fucks, when we choose to give a fuck about everything, then we feel as though we are perpetually entitled to feel comfortable and happy at all times, that’s when life fucks us." [1] 1. https://markmanson.net/not-giving-a-fuck
Comment linking /not-giving-a-fuck
on “Why I Quit Being So Accommodating (1922)”Submitted Why Some Dreams Should Not Be Pursued as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIndeed, as Mark Manson puts it[1]: "For a relationship to be healthy, both parties need to be able to both give and receive rejection". Eye-opening for me, and explained many of the unhealthy relationships in my life (including employee-employer dynamics). [1] https://markmanson.net/books/subtle-art (quasi-NSFW)
Comment linking /books/subtle-art
on “Why I Quit Being So Accommodating (1922)”Submitted Why I Am Not a Stoic as a story · 2 points
HN discussionMark Manson actually wrote a great article on this: In defense of being average => https://markmanson.net/being-average
Comment linking /being-average
on “Being OK with not being extraordinary”Submitted Everything Is Fucked, and I'm Pretty Sure It's the Internet's Fault as a story · 2 points
HN discussionJust gonna leave this here -- https://markmanson.net/attention
Comment linking /attention
on “Why Nukemap Isn't on Google Maps Anymore”Submitted Is It Just Me, or Is the World Going Crazy? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://markmanson.net/question This has changed my entire perception of what it means (or could possibly mean) to be happy and, by implication, of the entire self-improvement industry.
Comment linking /question
on “Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?”Submitted Why Young Americans Should Work Overseas as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe best relationship advice guide is here in my opinion: https://markmanson.net/relationship-advice If not for the tactical advice inside of the article, it's a launching pad for other resources to dive into (such as the 5 language of love).
Comment linking /relationship-advice
on “Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?”Submitted The Attention Economy: In the Future, Our Attention Will Be Sold as a story · 1 points
HN discussionIt's important to learn to be ok with our own limitations, our proximity to the average. I like Mark Manson's writing on the subject, e.g. https://markmanson.net/being-average or his book "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck"
Comment linking /being-average
on “Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing”Submitted Change your actions, not yourself as a story · 1 points
HN discussionMy experience with therapy is similar to yours, albeit with one therapist (so far). The guard rail is not a bad thing, but all in all the process does not seem to lead to actually solving deeper issues. Interestingly, in talk therapy it seems to be the patient's own talking that helps, rather than how the therapy is done or who's the therapist. Mark Manson sums the research up nicely in this piece: https://markmanso…
Comment linking /how-to-get-better
on “Ask HN: What is the best money you have spent on professional development?”Submitted How Terrorism Works (2013) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionFunny, the comment reminded me of a slightly different piece of advice which goes like this: Decide not what passion you should follow or what goals you want to achieve but what problems you want in your life. I think the first time I read about this idea was in this article by Mark Manson: https://markmanson.net/question
Comment linking /question
on “Hire me and pay what you want, just give me interesting work”Submitted Being Special Isn't So Special as a story · 1 points
HN discussionRecommended related: If Self-discipline Feels Difficult, Then You’re Doing It Wrong [1] by author of "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life" 1. https://markmanson.net/self-discipline-youre-doing-it-wrong?... 2. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8529755.Mark_Manson
Comment linking /self-discipline-youre-doing-it-wrong?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-posts&utm_content=2019-02-08
on “Procrastination Has Nothing to Do with Self-Control”> I'm very outgoing, but I have love shyness or something like that. I basically don't date. I find the entire thing extremely stressful and unbearable. I've always been alone. I can relate to this a lot. If I may make a recommendation - despite the awful name, Models[0] by Mark Manson[1] did a lot to re-frame my interaction with women I'm romantically interested in. It takes the refreshing approach that rather than…
Comment linking /archive
on “Ask HN: What do you struggle with?”
