How to Get Worse

Stop striving for perfection--and start running a little wild.

Over the past decade self-help and wellness have surged into trillion-dollar industries, all by making a simple promise: that you are one purchase away from finally being finished. Perfect. Happy.

But what if the cost of personal optimization is our humanity?

In How to Get Worse, New York Times bestselling author Kyle Prue uses hilarious personal stories, sharp cultural critique, and just enough psychology to sound legitimate to advocate for eschewing perfection and embracing the bad behaviors that have been vilified by wellness culture.

The philosophy of Prue urges readers to start a cult, learn to fight, have a fling, and party on, among other forms of socially unacceptable behavior. Why? To pursue something greater than personal optimization: the preservation of our humanness. Instead of endlessly protecting your peace or chasing the next round of self-improvement, Prue makes the case for finding community, building intimacy, and embracing the messy connections that make life worth living. Beneath the irreverence, snark, and occasional scumbaggery is a surprisingly sincere idea: being flawed, embarrassing, rude, and occasionally awful may be less a sign of failure than proof that we're alive.