So this title originally referred to a blog post somewhat discussed here in the Forum, but that author has turned it into a book now, and I've read it, and got a lot out of it, of which the blog post focus is a very small amount.
Because although it's pretty easy to say "I'm going to be different and not give a fuck about X", how do you choose what to give a fuck about? Is there a more efficient way to decide, other than "life experience"?
I particularly liked the meat of the book, which is: There are popular ideas that are actually Shitty Values, destructive to the holder and society at large; and some Useful Values, and how to tell the difference. Manson proposes 5 Useful Values, which align very well with Alain de Botton's YouTube channel 'The School of Life' (another worthwhile time investment):
- Take responsibility for everything in your life regardless who's at fault. Crap will happen to you that isn't your fault; but you can decide how you feel about it, and what your response will be.
- Uncertainty: acknowledge your own ignorance, cultivate constant doubt in own beliefs.
- Be willing to discover your own flaws and mistakes in order to improve.
- Be able to both say and hear no, to define what's allowed in your life.
- Keep your own death in mind, to keep perspective.
Has anyone else read it? I'm thinking I'll try it again in a year, and see how I've done over that period. #4 is a super hard balance for me: I'm very curious about experiences, and the 'opportunity cost' of checking into Interesting Things really intrudes into other goals I want to achieve. So #5 helps - when I die, what things do I want to be sure of having done. Choices, it's all choices.