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SOLVED with Mark Manson

Mark Manson

#13 in Education this week

New episodes every month. Life advice that doesn’t suck by a 3x #1 NYT bestselling author. I’ve spent two decades calling out everything wrong with the self-help world: the bad science, the guru nonsense, and the advice that preys on people's insecurities. This podcast is my no-BS, research-backed answer to all of it.

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  • 22 episodes
  • fortnightly
  • Avg 3 hr
  • English

Episodes 22

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  • September 2 · 4 hr 10 min

    Finding Your Life Path, Solved

    You've been told your whole life to explore, keep your options open, try new things. And you've done exactly that. Moved cities, pivoted careers, taken every personality quiz. But here's what nobody warns you about: all that freedom might be the thing keeping you stuck. This episode digs into a depressed 19th century Danish philosopher who diagnosed our entire modern crisis 180 years before we lived it. We tell the story of Casanova, history's most famous fuckboy, who had more adventures than anyone alive and died completely alone with nothing but 2,000 pages of memories nobody believed. We break down Dan Gilbert's research on why your brain is actually better at justifying your choices than you give it credit for. We walk through Kierkegaard's three stages of commitment, from the aesthetic life of endless options to the point where commitment stops feeling like a choice at all. And we talk about the grief that nobody tells you about when you finally pick one life and let all the others go. Get your free episode guide: https://solvedpodcast.com/commitment/ CHAPTERS Chapters 00:00:00 The Paradox of Too Many Choices 00:08:16 Kierkegaard's Crisis: The Engagement He Couldn't Keep 00:22:26 Anxiety as the Dizziness of Freedom 00:43:30 The Media Environment That Makes Commitment Impossible 01:01:00 Cultural Forces Engineering Indecision 01:11:45 The Aesthetic Life: Casanova and the Trap of Endless Novelty 01:19:24 Five Predictions Kierkegaard Got Right About Modern Life 01:37:55 Why We're Biologically Wired to Keep Our Options Open 02:18:30 The Ethical Life: Learning to Choose With Your Eyes Open 02:41:20 The Cold Pool Metaphor: Why Commitment Feels Like Liberation 02:49:28 Self-Concordance: Aligning Decisions With Who You Actually Are 03:14:01 The Grief of Cutting Off Alternative Selves 03:19:17 The Religious Stage: When Commitment Becomes Absurd 03:30:00 Finding Your Calling: It Chooses You, Not the Other Way Around 03:50:26 Going Pro Before You're a Professional 03:57:10 The Leap of Faith: What It Means to Commit Religiously Check out our sponsors OneSkin: Head to https://manson.deals/oneskin to unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age. Get 15% off OneSkin with the code MARK. Notion: Learn more about how Notion can support your business at https:///manson.deals/notion Surfshark: Go to https://surfshark.com/solvedpod or use code SOLVEDPOD at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark! Shopify: The only thing standing between you and your own income is getting started. Free trial at https://manson.deals/shopify AG1: For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at https://manson.deals/ag1 BrainFM: Go to https://manson.deals/brainfm to get 30 days of unlimited access, completely free. Momentous: Head to https://manson.deals/momentous to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, and use code SOLVED for up to 35% off your entire first order. Purpose: Go to https://solved.deals/purpose to start getting unstuck today. Waking Up: Get started at https://manson.deals/wakingup for a 14 day trial, no risk. ⇨ Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: https://go.markmanson.net/cdi1xzha ⇨ Get clarity on what actually matters. Try Purpose, Mark's AI mentor app that learns your patterns, challenges your blind spots, and helps you take action. Get started at https://go.markmanson.net/217i5ys5 FOLLOW MARK Mark's IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/markmanson⁠ Solved IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/solvedpodcast/⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/markmanson⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmanson/⁠.

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  • #24
    August 5 · 3 hr 48 min

    How to Get Lucky, Solved

    Ask most successful people how they got where they are, and the answer is usually some version of "good timing." Everyone else swears they earned it. We're terrible at seeing our own luck clearly, and even worse at realizing how much of it we could create. In this episode, Drew and I get into why: the psychology that makes us deny luck even exists, and what changes the moment you stop pretending everything is earned. We start with Warren Buffett - why a man worth tens of billions says the single most important thing that ever happened to him was where and when he was born. Then there's Napoleon, who picked his generals by skipping the résumé and asking one question: "Is he lucky?" And we brought in Annie Duke, a former World Series of Poker champion who’s spent more than a decade studying decision-making, to explain why we keep confusing good decisions with lucky outcomes. There's also a stretch on survivorship bias that'll make you rethink every success story you've ever heard. Luck comes in three layers. And the research shows you have far more say over two of them than anyone ever told you. If you want to take the hand you were dealt and play it better, this episode is for you. Get your free episode guide: https://solvedpodcast.com/luck/ CHAPTERS: Chapters 00:00:00 Will Smith's Dad and the Luck Paradox: When Success Meets Fortune 00:02:23 Why We Avoid Thinking About Luck: The Uncomfortable Truth 00:16:13 The West's Struggle With Luck: From Greek Goddesses to Probability 00:21:05 The Three Types of Luck: Introducing the Sansai Framework 00:36:18 Heaven Luck: The Birth Lottery You Can't Control 00:40:56 The Norway vs Sierra Leone Thought Experiment: Luck Is Always Relative 00:46:20 The Farmer and the Horse: Good Luck, Bad Luck, Who Knows? 00:54:01 Gratitude as Expanding Your Frame of Reference 01:00:48 The Two Ways to Screw Up Heaven Luck 01:07:23 Napoleon: The Bullied Boy Who Mastered Earth Luck 01:09:32 Spotting High-Leverage Opportunities: Artillery and Knowledge 01:13:55 Acting Ferociously on Openings: Crossing the Alps 01:23:30 Richard Wiseman's Four Principles of Luck 01:25:26 Maximizing Opportunities and Surface Area 01:47:35 The Environment Matters More Than Personality 01:59:47 Power Laws and Game Selection: Why the Table You Choose Matters Most 02:05:19 Power Law Moments in History: Catching the Wave 02:12:50 Meet Annie Duke: Poker Champion Turned Decision Scientist 02:13:42 Why Every Decision Is Actually a Bet 02:20:15 The Marriage Bet: Choosing Under Uncertainty 02:22:08 No Decision Is Ever 100 Percent or 0 Percent 02:32:31 Resulting: Why Good Decisions Can Have Bad Outcomes 02:41:38 The Self-Serving Bias: Protecting Present You vs Future You 02:44:25 Loss Aversion: Why We're Afraid to Quit Bad Jobs 02:53:34 Making Decisions Explicit: Pre-Mortems and Forecasting 03:09:56 The Volume Approach: Why More Reps Equal Less Volatility 03:16:45 Annie's Bad Decision That Worked Out: The King-Queen Bluff 03:42:43 The Luck Paradox: Full Control Forward, Honest Reflection Backward 03:43:39 Four Practical Ways to Get Luckier Starting Today 03:47:36 Closing: When Opportunity Meets Preparation CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS ⏹ Simple: Join the 21 million people who’ve started already. Go take the quiz at simple.life/solved and use the code SOLVED at checkout for 85% off your plan. ⏹ Quo: Always say hello with QUO. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to https://www.quo.com/solved ⏹ Factor: Factor: Let’s eat real. Head to https://www.factormeals.com/solved202650off and use code SOLVED202650OFF to get 50% off and 1 free breakfast item per box for 1 year, while supplies last. See website for more details. ⏹ Shopify: The best businesses aren’t built in boardrooms. They’re built by people who just started. Free trial at shopify.com/solved ⏹ Purpose App: Get clarity on what actually matters. Try Purpose, Mark's AI mentor app that learns your patterns, challenges your blind spots, and helps you take action. Get started at https://solved.deals/purpose ⇨ Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: https://go.markmanson.net/cdi1xzha FOLLOW MARK Mark's IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/markmanson⁠ Solved IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/solvedpodcast/⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/markmanson⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmanson/⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@IAmMarkManson

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  • #24
    July 1 · 3 hr 56 min

    How to Build Confidence, Solved

    Confidence isn't something you build. It's what's left over. Mark and Drew take confidence apart and rebuild it from the research up, revealing why almost everything you've been told about it is backwards.

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  • #23
    June 3 · 4 hr 58 min

    How to Change Your Life, Solved

    Most people fail at change because they spend years trying to change the wrong layer of themselves. Mark Manson and Drew Birnie break down the three-layer model of identity that actually predicts what you can change, how fast, and what it takes.

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  • #22
    May 20 · 1 hr 42 min

    Why We Stay in Bad Relationships, Solved

    Mark Manson breaks down the seven psychological mechanisms that trap people in bad relationships and why "just leave" is the most useless advice you can give someone stuck in a toxic relationship.

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  • #21
    May 6 · 2 hr 10 min

    How to Overcome Anxiety, Solved

    Mark Manson and Drew rank 17 of the most common anti-anxiety interventions. They break down what actually works, what's placebo, and why the most effective solutions are the ones nobody wants to hear.

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  • #18
    April 1 · 2 hr 2 min

    Self-Help, Solved

    Mark Manson and his research team reviewed over 2,600 studies to rank 19 of the most popular self-improvement techniques to break down what works, what's placebo, and what might be making things worse.

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  • #16
    March 4 · 3 hr 14 min

    Focus, Solved

    Mark Manson digs into the science of attention: why your brain isn't broken, why the common 'try harder' advice backfires, and what's truly preventing you from sitting down and getting things done.

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  • #15
    February 18 · 1 hr 34 min

    Romantic Love, Solved

    Mark and Drew put romantic love on trial: is it a neurochemical hijack that makes us delusional, or a vital foundation worth defending? This episode is a sharp, evidence-oriented debate on brain chemistry, how attraction can mask toxicity, and the arguments for love’s value.

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  • #14
    February 4 · 4 hr 28 min

    Dating, Solved: Why Finding the Right Person Feels So Hard

    Most people aren’t bad at dating — they’re solving the wrong problem. Mark Manson breaks down why dating feels confusing, why people blame each other, and what to focus on to move closer to finding the right person. Evidence-based, practical dating advice for clearer decision-making.

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  • #13
    January 15 · 2 hr 31 min

    How to Quiet Your Ego (Without Losing Yourself), Solved

    Mark Manson examines what ego really is, how it evolved, and how it silently shapes decisions. Drawing on Freud, David Hume, Jung’s shadow self, Buddhist perspectives, and Navy SEAL mental training, this episode delivers evidence-based, practical steps to recognize and manage your ego without losing yourself. Expect clear definitions, psychological frameworks, and daily practices to increase self-awareness and better decision-making.

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  • #12
    January 1 · 4 hr 2 min

    How to Set (And Keep) Your Boundaries, Solved

    Mark Manson delivers a comprehensive, no‑BS breakdown of boundaries: what they really are (not just telling people to f*ck off), why they shape relationships, mental health, identity and career, and how to set and keep them.

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  • #10
    Dec 4, 2025 · 4 hr 44 min

    Finding Your Purpose, Solved

    Mark Manson digs into finding purpose and meaning — from Viktor Frankl’s survival lessons to debunking the “one true purpose” myth.

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  • #9
    Nov 15, 2025 · 2 hr 4 min

    Comparing Yourself to Others, Solved

    Mark Manson and Drew dive into why we compare ourselves to friends, coworkers, and strangers online—and why it usually makes us feel worse.

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  • #8
    Nov 1, 2025 · 4 hr 36 min

    How to Make Friends as an Adult, Solved

    Mark Manson and Drew unpack why adult friendships fall apart and what actually helps them endure: loneliness statistics, Darwin’s puzzle about cooperation, and the emotional mechanics of being a better friend (and finding one).

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  • #7
    Oct 15, 2025 · 2 hr 53 min

    Stoicism (ft. Ryan Holiday), Solved

    Ryan Holiday unpacks Stoic philosophy from ancient Greece and Rome, why it rose during turbulent times, and step-by-step ways to apply courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom to reduce anxiety and navigate uncertainty.

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Showing 1–20 of 22 episodes