Brutally Honest Review: Mark Manson Content

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Introduction: Mark Manson Review

People LOVE Mark Manson.

I do, too.

So much so that I’ve read two of his books and signed up for his premium subscription. In this blog, I will review all of my experiences with Mark Manson’s content.

Spoiler Alert: save your money (and time) by reading this review.

Other reviews I’ve read have ultimately recommended the Mark Manson subscription service given the price. I didn’t find a single negative review. For me, money is not the issue.

If I make a purchase of $6 (ie the cost of the Mark Manson subscription) and invest 10 hours of my time to not receive many benefits, that was mostly a waste of my very valuable time, and also a waste of my $6. Herein lies the difference in my thought process and the reason why I’m not recommending Mark Manson content. It doesn’t provide enough value to justify my time investment.

I hope to save you some time.

 [Related: Review of Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck]

Models Book Review

Back in 2018, a friend recommended I read his dating book Models. I read it not knowing what to expect.

I didn’t like it for three reasons. First, lots of fluff.

Second, I don’t like his tone of “I am wiser than you”.

Third, and most importantly, he is rejecting everything that made him exactly who he is today as it relates to dating and relationships.

It’d be like if Kobe Bryant taught a class on basketball where he taught that the things he did to become the best player to ever live, you should not do.

Yea, I’m sure he made some mistakes and regrets on the way, but it made him who he is today.

Crazy, right?

Even if Mark was unhappy with his past, it’s made him who he is today: an undeniable success. Could he have done it differently? Sure. We all can. But he can’t give that advice. It didn’t work for him.

I understand where he’s coming from. His methods would work…just not for physically attractive women.

Remember, it’s a dating book for men to attract women. We all want as physically attractive a woman as we can get. All of us. Take your current girlfriend or wife, personality stays, but make her more physically attractive, would you want her? Of course! You’d prefer the new her. Period.

Unless you’re a selfish asshole and know that having a hot wife would make you, speaking to men here, have to get your fatass off the couch and to the gym to become as desirable as her.

I digress..

Women live in different worlds than men. And attractive girls live in even different worlds from average looking girls.

Recently, I asked my friend ‘what does rejection look like for you?’ She’s got a pretty face and fake boobs, but she’s overweight. After clarifying my question, she confirmed that she does not experience rejection.

Imagine that. Living a life where you simply don’t experience rejection. I’m an above-average looking man and my life is predominantly rejection. Overwhelmingly rejection. Depending on the country I’m in, soul-crushing rejection.

How have men dealt with this? Men learn “game” which optimizes attraction. It allows the man to tip the scale slightly resulting in more success than the average male. It works. I can attest to it fully.

Physically attractive women, who don’t know what it’s like to be rejected, are not going to be interested in an average man, saying and doing average things (ie things that everyone else does). Part of the strategies Mark is rejecting (which worked for him) is learning how to snap her out of her robotic responses she’s developed as a result of being constantly pursued.

So, the entire book should be discounted in the way it’s written. It should be noted that he was a (failed) dating coach himself before writing this book. Personally, I think he just wanted to go against the grain which he did and which proved wildly successful.

The book isn’t all bad. I definitely don’t recommend it, and it’s one of only eight books on my Hall Of Shame digital bookshelf list.

Click here if you want to read more of my review of Models by Mark Manson.

The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck

Another let down by Mark Manson.

I bought this book very hopeful. After reading the first 50 pages, I even pre-emptively purchased one for my Dad

I remember from the beginning an example he gave about the lady in line arguing about a $0.50 coupon at the grocery store. Why? Because she doesn’t have anything else to give a fuck about. I thought that part was enlightening.

The hopefulness wore off quickly.

I don’t recommend this book. I do recommend you watch a summary video on YouTube instead.

Again, he’s speaking from an all-knowing, most-righteous pedestal.

He’s denouncing things that he did to be successful. How can you denounce things that you did to make you a success (barring theft and truly heinous things)?

I think it’s disingenuous to say that you regret what you did to reach success. How can you be happy with your life, but regret your past? If you hadn’t had that past, you may not be where you’re at now.

There were a couple of powerful quotes from The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck which you can read on my digital bookshelf.

Mark Manson Subscription

Ultimately, I decided to purchase, for a third time, from Mark Manson after reading the description for his Connection Course. It sounded great! Long-story-short and in-line with my other experiences, it was a letdown, but not for the money.

Obviously, I don’t recommend subscribing to MarkManson.net for reasons I will get into below.

If you choose to subscribe, I suggest you opt for the one-month $6 subscription, as I did. You’ll realize in that month that you should cancel the subscription, thus saving you $42 of the $48 annual fee (the annual fee has since been lowered to $36). Thank me in the comments.

Mark is a marketer. Like a shitty movie, The Connection Course has a great “trailer” but was bland, super basic, and not worth my time. A complete letdown.

As an author and blogger, I took the Blogging & Writing course. It’s a bunch of podcasts and an 18-page ebook. All recycled material. Nothing profound. I listened to the first two one-hour long presentations and part of a podcast. Another letdown. Just uninspiring stuff.

Stuff you kinda just need to figure out on your own. Not because it’s important, but because it’s not. Your life will not change after watching this course.

At this point, I know that I’m going to write this review so I decided to watch The Dating and Relationships course on 2x speed. Again, a waste of time.

It’s basically a summary of Models.

Mark Manson does make a point to say he thinks the law of attraction is bullshit while, at the same time, arguing for its existence. The oddest inconsistency.

If you follow me you know that the law of attraction is real and believed by almost every successful person.

Mark also says that fixing your partner is not worth it. I strongly disagree. In my article on how to build a strong connection with your partner, I refer to a story of a gentleman I met in Bali. He claimed to have cured his girlfriend’s gluten allergy. That’s amazing. Don’t you think that if you can fix your partner’s health, that would strengthen any bond you already had?

I do. The next week I met her at the gym. She was pregnant and subsequently married to the man.

The only person I think this course can help is someone who wants a really basic, high-level, introduction to dating and relationships. Like someone who’s never had a relationship before.

I feel I’m just repeating myself. But, I hope I can save you some time.

Aren’t I nice?

Next up: The Overcome Anxiety course.

There was one thing in this course that clicked for me. In “Lesson 2: Understanding Anxiety” Mark explains that anxiety is a natural response to anything that we perceive to be a threat to us. Anxiety becomes a problem when we perceive the wrong things as threats.

For example, a date or a social event might give us anxiety. But there’s really no threat with these events.

As someone who shies away from social events due to anxiety, I like this frame of mind.

This is when anxiety becomes a problem and, Marks continues, that’s what this course is going to root out.

It didn’t. But that’s no surprise to you by now. It provides general information and would only be good for those looking for a really quick and brief overview of anxiety.

I’ve saved the best for last. I mean that. The Build a Better Life course can actually be useful if you’ve never done this type of self-reflection. It’s a tremendously good idea to put a microscope on your life as early as possible to know where you want to go.

If you know where you’ll end up, the decisions along the way become easier to make.

That’s not to say there’s anything special about this course, and you could find an identical mindfulness activity for free online, but nevertheless, it’s of value more than anything else in his premium subscription area, by far.

Conclusion: Mark Manson Review

Mark Manson mentions that he used to sell these courses for $29.95 each per month. He must have a very loyal fan base.

While I agree that the price is incredibly low, I’m also taking my time into consideration when I recommend NOT paying for this service, even at $6.

I finished all five courses and the return on investment compared to my time was negative. The value upside is too limited due to the generalness of his content.

Here’s my summary review of MarkManson.net: Mark is a marketer and a good writer. He’s engaging. His stuff is easy to read. It’s light, but not profound.

The only person I would recommend Mark Manson subscription service to is a broke, young person who doesn’t have much knowledge of relationships, anxiety, or life planning and wants to do something introductory and feel productive.

In this case, these courses would make for a great introduction to these topics.

I don’t recommend anyone read either of the books I’ve reviewed: Models or The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. With that said, I know people who love his books.

Are you one of Mark Manson content? If so, convince me in the comments. See you there.