The Guest
Sarah Knight is the internationally bestselling author of “The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck,” which has been translated into eighteen languages and counting and has hit bestseller lists all over the world. She has also written “How to Get Your Shit Together” and her latest book “You Do You” was released in November 2017.
A former Senior Editor for Simon & Schuster in New York, Sarah decided to make some big changes in her life. After careful planning, she quit her job and she and her husband built a home in the Dominican Republic where they have lived since 2015.
Upon moving to the DR, she began working as a freelance editor. She was then inspired by Marie Kondo’s famous decluttering book to write a mental decluttering self-help book with her newly uncovered creative energy.
The Episode
Our episode today is all about how to stop apologizing and explaining yourself by using the not sorry method. Sarah gives advice on how to quit making excuses or justifying why you can’t do something, and polite but true ways to say no without elaboration.
Sarah shares how to protect yourself and set boundaries to prevent ending up in a situation that will drain your f*ck budget (time, money, and/or energy.) She discusses using mental decluttering techniques to efficiently have the life you want.
Sarah leaves listeners with the advice, “Everybody dies. Your life is getting shorter every single day. This doesn't last forever, so do what you want now. Make the big life changes.”
Topics Covered
- Sarah’s journey from the corporating editing world to freelance editor living on a tropical island with her husband
- How she freed up creative energy to write three books in two years
- Advice on more tactfully caring less
- What a f*ck budget is
- How to stop apologizing for every little thing
- Ways to say no without feeling guilty
- Examples of deflecting your no into something positive
- How to say no without giving a reason why
- Not giving a f*ck around the holidays
- The importance of a Must Do List
- Marie Kondo’s popular decluttering book with a similar name
- Why Sarah stopped being pathologically sorry
- What to do with your newfound F*ck Budget
- Dos and don’ts, wills and won’ts, shoulds and shouldn’ts
- The reality of life in the Dominican Republic
Quotes from the Episode
“Decide what you don't give a f*ck about. Then stop giving a f*ck about those things. Decide what you want to spend your f*ck bucks on (your time, energy, and money).”
“Convey those decisions with honesty and politeness. You have done nothing wrong and you have nothing to feel guilty about. You have explained yourself and acted out your decisions in an honest and polite way. You are not sorry.”
“You can control your own behavior but you can't control other people's opinions. Control your behavior and how you present yourself to the world.”
“Deflects the negative feeling of the no and shows you do care about them and want to spend time with them on terms that are mutually acceptable.”
“Protect and set boundaries.”
“Make a must do list. Take your running to do list. Re-organize them via urgency on any given day. Ignore everything else.”
Resources
Sarah’s TED Talk on The Magic of Not Giving a F***
8 Things Nobody Tells You About Moving to the Caribbean
On Radical Honesty with A.J. Jacobs
You Do You: How to Be Who You Are and Use What You've Got to Get What You Want by Sarah Knight
