Don’t Try
- it’s giving a fuck about less, giving a fuck about only what is true and immediate and important.
The Feedback Loop from Hell
- 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.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck
- Not giving a fuck does not mean being indifferent; it means being comfortable with being different.
- To not give a fuck about adversity, you must first give a fuck about something more important than adversity.
- Whether you realise it or not, you are always choosing what to give a fuck about.
Happiness Is a Problem
- Dissatisfaction and unease are inherent parts of human nature.
The Misadventures of Disappointment Panda
- Don’t hope for a life without problems.Hope for a life full of good problems.
- Happiness Comes from Solving Problems
- Emotions Are Overrated
- Choose Your Struggle
You Are Not Special
- Things Fall Apart
- The Tyranny of Exceptionalism
- If I’m Not Going to Be Special or Extraordinary, What’s the Point? — have a growing appreciation for life’s basic experiences
The Value of Suffering
- We get to control what our problems mean based on how we choose to think about them, the standard by which we choose to measure them
Shitty Values
- Pleasure
- Material Success
- Always Being Right
- Staying Positive
Defining Good and Bad Values
- Good values are 1) reality-based, 2) socially constructive, and 3) immediate and controllable.
- Bad values are 1) superstitious, 2) socially destructive, and 3) not immediate or controllable.
You Are Always Choosing
- When we feel that we’re choosing our problems, we feel empowered. When we feel that our problems are being forced upon us against our will, we feel victimised and miserable.
- Taking responsibility for our problems is far more important, because that’s where the real learning comes from
You’re Wrong About Everything (But So Am I)
- We are Architects of Our Own Beliefs
- Most of our beliefs are wrong. Or, to be more exact, all beliefs are wrong
- we’re all wrong, all the time, then isn’t self-skepticism and the rigorous challenging of our own beliefs and assumptions the only logical route to progress.
- The more something threatens your identity, the more you will avoid it.
How to Be a Little Less Certain of Yourself
- What if I’m wrong?
- What would it mean if I were wrong?
- Would being wrong create a better or a worse problem than my current problem, for both myself and others?
Failure Is the Way Forward
- Pain Is Part of the Process
- Don’t just sit there. Do something. The answers will follow.
- Inspiration → Motivation → Action → Inspiration → Motivation → Action → Etc.
- the standard of success becomes merely acting
The Importance of Saying No
- Rejection Makes Your Life Better
- it’s about giving a fuck about your partner regardless of the fucks he or she gives.
Freedom Through Commitment
And Then You Die
- we can then choose our values more freely, unrestrained by the illogical quest for immortality, and freed from dangerous dogmatic views.
- You are already great because in the face of endless confusion and certain death, you continue to choose what to give a fuck about and what not to.
