Mark Manson, Postmasculine.com

Mark Manson, Postmasculine.com

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.

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Last Answer on October 05, 2012

Best Rated

Were you an entrepreneur from the moment you stepped out of college, or did you work any regular jobs before "seeing the light?"

Asked by micah_88 over 13 years ago

I worked in a bank for a short period of time, maybe 2-3 months before quitting. My entrepreneurialism was unplanned and a bit serendipitous. I wrote about it on my site here: http://postmasculine.com/kill-your-day-job

I've noticed a snowball effect. The more I improve with women, the more entitled I feel and the more my overall lifestyle and mindset improves. Controlling that aspect of my life, I feel like I can control anything. Have you experienced this?

Asked by legendart over 13 years ago

Yes. Improving with women can be a means for increasing your self-esteem, especially if it's an area you carried around a lot of emotional baggage. So yes, my quality of life and general confidence increased greatly when I became better with women. The bad news is that there's a limit to it. Everyone hits a point eventually where dating and sleeping with more/hotter women no longer affects their self-perception very much. At some point, any form of external validation stops fulfilling you. When this happens, you want to move your focus on to improving other areas of your life. Also, BE WARNED that men like us who regain a lot of our lost self-esteem through successful sexual and romantic relationships, we have a tendency to get hooked or even addicted to the validation that it brings. Don't become one of these men.

What's a piece of advice that you used to dole out regularly that you later realized was totally wrong?

Asked by anon over 13 years ago

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.

Do you use deadlines regarding to your work on the blog ? How and why ?


...Mark, thanks for answering my first question about the time you wake up. I was actually waking up myself, now that I'm out the shower I have this one...

Asked by Nicolas over 13 years ago

For articles and blog posts I set deadlines for myself because it's important to post content consistently and keep readers regularly engaged. For larger projects like books or products, I don't set deadlines but rather progress goals, i.e., "I want to write 5,000 words this week," etc.

Who do you see as your primary competitors? Do you monitor them closely, or just kinda do your own thing?

Asked by Friar Buck over 13 years ago

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?

Do you eventually want to settle down with one woman? Would it have to be a woman who's willing to country-hop with you indefinitely?

Asked by Sumeet over 13 years ago

Yes, I do. And although she wouldn't need to be willing to country hop, she would have to be passionate about travel and different cultures.

Was there ever any one piece of reader feedback that resonated so much that it actually made you rethink something you were doing/writing/living?

Asked by The Innkeeper over 13 years ago

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.