Mark Manson
Medellin, AT
Male, 28
I am a professional blogger, internet entrepreneur, and world traveler. I've been to over 40 countries and am currently working on my second book about long-term travel and how to work/live abroad. On my blog I write about self development and creating a unique lifestyle for yourself. Feel free to ask me anything.
I have mixed feelings for it. I think on the one hand, it does a lot of good and has some admirable goals -- self improvement, increasing self awareness and self respect in men, helping anti-social men become more social and confident, a support group for men's issues and insecurities. These are all great things. I think some aspects of it are quite toxic as well -- the singular focus and obsession on sex, the objectification of women and occasional misogyny, the narcissistic tendencies some companies teach men to have, and the weird cult mentality many men develop as a result. The major thing that inspired my current site was creating a positive and healthy alternative to the seduction community for men.
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Cats. You don't have to pick up their poop and they have much funnier Youtube videos. And cuter too.
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My ultimate end-goal is to be regarded as one of the most important writers of my generation. Long-term business goals include selling over a million books and getting published in some of the most prestigious periodicals (Harper's, NYT Magazine, etc.). I'm sure radio/TV will come along as part of that success if I achieve it, but those mediums aren't my primary focus. I see myself as a writer first and foremost.
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Ugh... good question. There are two that stand out: 1) I focused way too much of my dating advice on humor and coming across as cute and funny to women -- impressing them, really. Humor is nice and everything, but it's not the crux of attraction like I seemed to think for a while. Focusing on it so much also implies the idea that women must be impressed and entertained if they're going to like you, which is a terrible mindset to have. 2) That having sex with more women somehow changes you on a deep personal level, when in fact, sex is often shallow meaningless or even emotionally harmful. It's the same mistake most of the seduction industry makes, but I'm a little ashamed I bought into it so much wholeheartedly.
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Help Desk Technician
Are people appreciative when you help them or do they just treat you like a support monkey?
School Bus Driver
Why don't school buses have seat belts?
iPhone & iPad Technician
Do you think tablets are just a fad?
Before when I was primarily a pick up and dating site, my competitors were obvious: the other pick up businesses and coaches. Now that I've branched out into more self development and lifestyle and focused much more on my personal brand rather than specific advice, my competition and market has become more ephemeral. I think my biggest competition are the modern men's sites: AskMen.com, ArtofManliness.com, Men's Health, etc. But I think they are competition less in what they sell, and more in the space they occupy in pop culture and in men's perceptions of themselves. Ultimately, the goal of my site is to redefine what masculinity is and how a new generation of men perceive themselves. So while some sites or businesses may compete directly with my style product or my dating product, ultimately I'm competing for a space in the mind's of men at large. It's a lofty goal, but hey, dream big, right?
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It's penetrating further and further. I think it's inevitable, the social and economic changes happening, as well as the philosophies of the younger generations are converging on this type of lifestyle. It's kind of our version of the "free love" revolution I suppose. They are hard ideas to grapple with, but change always is. I think a decade from now people's attitudes towards this type of lifestyle will be quite different it will be considered a lot more mainstream.
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A couple years ago, I had a regular feminist commentator who would often disagree with me respectfully. Although it didn't happen immediately, she slowly, over the course of months, influenced me to start considering other perspectives. Unfortunately, a lot of the reader influence happens because of the bad apples. For instance, if I try to teach a concept in a certain way and some guys with that problem are able to rationalize their way out of the advice, then it forces me to sit down and re-think how I'm explaining concepts. I enjoy good criticism (emphasis on "good") and my work has been criticized a bit over the years that has helped me shore it up and make it stronger. But I can't think of one single reader comment or email that changed everything for me. Most of the influence I've gotten from readers has been a slow, long-term progression.
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