Here’s the thing. I think Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck should be required reading for 98% of the population. The other two percent get it, I think. A lot of it is common sense, but some of the book turns our current thinking on its head.

Manson uses my second favorite F word a lot in this book, so if that offends you get over it and read it anyway.

Really, Subtle Art reminds us that we get only so many trips around the sun. So we need to think carefully about where to expend our energies. If we give a fuck about everything, then we can’t really give a fuck about anything, after all.

I’m not overly keen on self help books, but this one has actually changed how I react to a number of situations.  If I picture myself having a finite number of fucks to give for the rest of my life, then I have to carefully consider how I spend them.  I mean, I don’t want to use them all up by 2020 because I may need to really care about something in 2035.  But it does mean that I don’t have to give credence to the inane, unsubstantiated ramblings of some idiot on Facebook.  It also means I can let  go of the driver moving at a ridiculously slow pace whilst attempting to merge onto I-75 when all the traffic around is going 80.

It means that there are some people going all in for, and others that aren’t. It means that life is worth living, fully and authentically, and if we focus on the minutiae, we can’t do that.

Short review, I know, but seriously. If you read no other book in the next year, read this one.  It’s that important and impactful.