The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don't Have with People You Don't Like Doing Things You Don't Want to Do by Sarah Knight Published by Little Brown & Company on December 29, 2015
Genres/Lists: Non-Fiction
Pages: 224
Read synopsis on Goodreads
Buy the book: Amazon/Audible (this post includes affiliate links)
A while back, I reviewed You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero, which I absolutely loved, as did Tamara from Traveling With T. So when Tamara told me that this book complements it, I knew I had to read it. I took me a while but boy, did I need it. Let me back up a little here. I am one of those people who doesn’t drink more than the one glass of wine at work events because I know I’ll spend 4 hours analyzing how offensive I was (which I usually was not). I also care a little too much about how other people perceive me (book bloggers, coworkers, friends, family, etc.), In other words, I give too many you-know-whats in life. So while The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck isn’t a revolutionary concept, it was a great reminder that it’s okay to just live your life and not worry about what other people think of you.
If the title sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve heard of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Not Giving a F*ck is a self-proclaimed parody of it, but rather than focusing on physical clutter, it focuses on mental clutter. The NotSorry approach not giving a f*ck is similar to how you’d approach physical clutter in that you evaluate each thing you care about, determine whether or not it gives you joy, and toss the ones that do not. It’s easier said than done and I spent more time than I care to admit trying to determine what I actually care about versus what I felt I should care about. This is, of course, the crux of the matter, and is the focus of Knight’s how-to guide to not caring about things that don’t really matter.
Care too much about what other people think? Pick up The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck. Click To TweetIt’s a great concept and I had a lot of fun thinking about the things I am no longer going to care about (such as meals that take five minutes to explain), but the book is a little hard to take seriously. First, there’s the blasé attitude the author takes to her own NotSorry method. While she was excited about it at times, most of the book reads as if it was written by someone who just didn’t care about it, which I suppose makes sense given the context. There’s overabundance of satire and while I get that she was going for funny, some of it was a little too much for me. Second, the book felt a little shallow for me. I was expecting something more, although I struggle to pinpoint what that more is. I know this is because of the comparisons to its namesake, but unlike Tidying Up there’s no real substance to the results of the NotSorry method. Yes, you’ll have more time and be happier but these conversations only skim the surface when they could have been more fleshed out. Then again, this is a parody so perhaps I had set my bar too high.
Despite these things, it was a fun read. I appreciate that Knight doesn’t take herself seriously and really enjoyed her discussion of a F*ck Budget, which is a zero sum approach to how many you have to give. So while The Life-Changing Magic of Giving a F*ck lacks substance, it is a fun read and sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
Recommended for: Anyone who needs to prioritize what they care about.
