Today we welcome three-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Mark Manson. Before becoming an author, he was a blogger. His blog started in 2007 and within a few years it was being read by more than a million people each month. Today, his site is read by more than 15 million people each year. Mark’s books have sold over 14 million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than 65 languages. According to Amazon Charts, his book The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck was the most-read non-fiction book worldwide in 2017. 

For this episode, we did something a little different. Mark Manson and I had an unstructured chat about issues that we both care deeply about. We tackled all sorts of questions like: What makes social media so polarizing? Why are self-help quotes so cheesy? Are all pick-up artists narcissists? Does free will exist? We hope you enjoy the conversation about relationships, politics, self-esteem, and neurodiversity as much as we did.

Website: markmanson.net

Twitter: @IAmMarkManson

Topics

02:03 Mark and Scott as adolescents 

04:30 Online discourse in a hyper-connected world   

11:36 Troll behavior and non-verbal cues

17:18 Extreme curiosity and criticism of politics

25:00 Mark hates Tiny Buddha?

29:59 The self-help industry 

33:24 Neurodiversity and empathy 

39:30 Are all traits double-edged swords? 

46:26 Co-dependency of grandiose and vulnerable narcissists

54:48 Scott’s unique value proposition

57:08 The bachelor life vs the married life

1:04:22 Co-writing Will Smith’s biography

1:08:53 Free will, law and punishment

1:12:53 Overrated or underrated: meditation

1:15:49 Overrated or underrated: twin studies

1:18:31 Overrated or underrated: self-esteem

1:21:22 Overrated or underrated: social media