The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck
- Raghav
- Jun 4, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 6, 2022
The messed up book
Earlier I was afraid to use the F word on the website
but then I read this book
and just didn't give a faaaack.
This book is not all about 'not giving a fuck'. It is a lot more than that. It started with not giving a fuck, then described happiness followed by accepting ourselves, hard work, relationship, and then death.
Clearly, the title cant sum up all of this under one tree. Hence, I couldn't conclude it in one paragraph.
Read it or not, this is my subtle art of not giving a FUCK!
Chapter 1
No matter where you go, there'll always be shit and people who point fingers, it's you who has to choose the shit that's important to you and helps you in your life.
Chapter 2
Happiness is not a thing. It's the suffering which we choose gives us peace.
Happiness comes from solving problems, and you can't be eternally happy sitting ideal, at least I can't.
which you make permanent decisions. Emotional decisions are impractical and illogical.
You have to love the struggle, not the goal. If you can't enjoy the struggle, it is most certainly that you'll fail to achieve your goal.
Chapter 3
You don't need to be extraordinary at every point of life; accepting mediocrity and obsession with improvement, leads to exceptional traits.
We chose to think about the problem. The level of difficulty to impact our lives depends on the degree of our value towards it.
We can't measure our failures and success by other's failures and successes. After all, we came out from different cooch.
If we were left alone in this world, will we pursue the things the same way we pursue them right now?
If yes, then you measure your success by others. Stop think about it
Take a moment to think about this!!
Chapter 5
Even if it's not your fault, it is your responsibility.
Chapter 7
Once you achieve tangible goals, you tend to lose the meaning of life as that was the ultimate goal till now. So now what? Stay like this. Hence, stick to a realistic goal that lasts forever, i.e., passion
Motivation leads to action and those actions lead to inspiration
Even if you are demotivated, the smallest of effort towards your goal (yet it seems unworthy/ unrelatable) creates motivation to push and inspires you. So keep pushing even if it is small.
When you do little, you don't care about failure, so when you do a lot of small things not caring about failure, you end up making something big, for example, this website. haha
Chapter 8
I am afraid I have to disagree with the author about the idea of freedom being useless/meaningless.
Rejection is excellent; it leads to self-respect, happiness, and values in life.
Partners with boundaries define a healthy relationship; Where they don't like whin about problems and rely on each other to solve it. A good relationship means respect, honesty, trust, and BOUNDARIES.
When our highest priority is always to make ourselves feel good or to make our partner feel good, then nobody ends up feeling good.
There were tons of places where Mark started with a different motive and ended with a different one. This confuses the reader. For example, he began with self-responsibility and ended with choosing the right problem.
Chapters 4, 6, and 9 were out of the blue puzzling.
I even read twice to understand some part, but couldn't figure out the crux of it.
I guess the author simply doesn't give a fuck about it.
The technique I used from this book #learning
If you ever feel, not in the authority of the situation. Repeat this in your mind -
State the complete problem in one sentence.
"That guy is making unnecessary noise in the library"
Authorize yourself for the situation.
"It is not my fault, but I am responsible for my own suffering. Nobody else but only I will walk to fix it."
This creates a clear picture in your mind about the problem you are facing and the right solution to it.
"We are always responsible for our experiences. It’s impossible not to be."
Best #quotes from the book
"The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience."
“I used to think the human brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.” by Emo Philips.
"Being “average” has become the new standard of failure."
“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”
"Choosing to not respond to the events in our lives is still a response to the events in our lives."
"We’re all the world’s worst observers of ourselves."
"We are defined by what we choose to reject."
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” by Halley’s Comet
"Happiness comes from the same thing: caring about something greater than yourself"
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