Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!: How to Take Back Our Time, Attention, and Purpose in a World Designed to Bury Us in Bullshit
Description
Atomic Habits meets The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck in this life-changing guide to freeing yourself from the behaviors, values, and relationships that keep you from being happy.
When the pandemic brought the world to a standstill, author Julio Vincent Gambuto realized a powerful truth: in the pre-pandemic world, Americans were exhausted, lonely, unhappy, wildly overworked and overbooked, drowning in sea of constantly being on the go and needing to buy more, more, more. But when that pressure disappeared, people rediscovered what was important to them. They quit jobs that made them unhappy and moved their families to suburbs. Simple things like outdoor walks replaced gym memberships; home cooking and backyard gardens replaced takeout; less commuting meant more time for family and creative projects; and for perhaps the first time in a long time, people were being honest. Honest about what they wanted, what they believed in. Honest about the problems they were facing within their families, friend groups, workplaces, towns, and society overall.
That honesty, he noticed, had the potential to make the ground shift. It created a capacity for change. But he also knew that it likely wouldn’t last, because the most powerful forces running our world would not allow it to. They wanted control over our clicks, our conversations, our dollars, our work, our votes—our lives. The only way that we could beat those systems, would be to resist the calls to keep moving, and to “go back to normal.” In order to change, we had to unsubscribe.
Now, in Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!, Gambuto gives us a radical blueprint for the ways we can take a deep breath, renew and commit to a life that we really want, individually and collectively, from unsubscribing to emails and automated subscriptions to reevaluating the presence of people and ideas and habits that no longer serve us or make us happy. Infused with the practical advice in James Clear’s Atomic Habits and the humor of Sarah Knight’s The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k, this groundbreaking guide helps us focus on where we find joy in our lives and encourages us to toss out what doesn’t bring us joy in this modern world.
Praise for Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!: How to Take Back Our Time, Attention, and Purpose in a World Designed to Bury Us in Bullshit
“An extraordinary book. Simultaneously hilarious and deadly serious, Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! connects the dots to show how our time and attention got hijacked—and offers brilliant practical advice for seizing this unusual moment in history to build the saner, more joyful and meaningful lives that too often feel just out of reach.” —Oliver Burkeman, New York Times bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks
“A potent slice of social commentary and strategic advice on reclaiming valuable time and personal joy. . . . Gambuto’s enthusiastic delivery and practical self-help tactics will remind readers that significant internal work is necessary to clear out the clutter, making room for beneficial relationships in real life and online. Witty and passionately written, the book shows that ‘there actually is time to process your life’ once you eliminate seductive inbox offers, opt-in links, premium memberships, and toxic ‘people subscriptions.’ It all starts with the ‘deeply gratifying’ process of cutting the subscription cord and being wholly present for renewal with oneself and communion with others.” —Kirkus Reviews
“These years have left so many of us reeling and wondering: Where do we go from here? In Please Unsubscribe, Thanks!, Julio Vincent Gambuto offers answers. And energy. And hope. He recognizes the gravitas that this transformative time in the world demands and he approaches it with empathy and humor and practical solutions to help us cut out the bullshit and be happier, healthier, and more purposeful going forward. I need this book in my life and so do you.” —Sarah Knight, New York Times bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck
“What Marie Kondo did to your closet, Julio Vincent Gambuto will do to every other part of your life—and to your heart. You will be transformed. Joy and fulfillment await you on the other end. Please Unsubscribe. Thanks! will make you question why you didn't unsubscribe earlier.” —Ali Wenzke, author of The Art of Happy Moving: How to Declutter, Pack, and Start Over While Maintaining Your Sanity and Finding Happiness
“Julio Vincent Gambuto is a necessary and urgent voice for our turbulent times. His essay Prepare for The Ultimate Gaslighting was a clarion call for change: individual and collective. I first read it during those dark, early days of the pandemic when the prospect of a return to normalcy seemed both dim and distant. I've read it several times since; it is more relevant now than ever, as we are starting the slow, strange return to ‘normal’. . . . His prose is a rare bird indeed, combining intellectual rigor with th common sense of the Staten Island that we both grew up on. Julio has something to say and knows how to say it.” —Eddie Joyce, author of Small Mercies
