Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong
by Eric Barker
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7:34
Review and summary of Barker’s book, in animated format
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Jul, 2018
Spoiler:
What we think leads to success is mostly wrong. Most of us focus on money when defining success, but this is the wrong metric. When interviewing unhappy executives, the author identified four areas on which they needed to focus to gain or regain feelings of success: achievement, legacy, significance and happiness. Legacy, for example, means feeling like you’re influencing others in a positive way, passing your values on to them or teaching them something useful. Significance means you feel like you’re needed by the people around you.
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Author in conversation in Talks at Google format + Q&A
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Spoiler:
For people who shy away from networking, the author suggests reconnecting with old friends when you can’t stand to reach out to new people. He also suggests looking through your contacts to identify “super-connectors”; these are people who have a talent for introducing and connecting people and may be delighted when you ask them to help you expand your network. The stories we tell ourselves become self-fulfilling prophecies so we need to be optimistic and positive when talking to ourselves.
:50
Author does short promo for the book in talking-head format
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Spoiler:
The author says that we all hear maxims of success (like “nice guys finish last”) when we’re kids and that he wanted to find out if any of them are actually true. Now that we have access to more science and data, Barker decided to give some of those old maxims “the mythbuster treatment” to find out not only if they’re true but also when they might be true, and if any of them can be used to create success or to enhance existing success.
4:33
“Bonus Insight” from the book explained in animated format
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Spoiler:
Goals can be reached by creating small games for ourselves. The games should have four components: they should be winnable (break larger goals into achievable mini-goals); the games should have novel challenges, such as leveling-up in a video game; the games should have clear goals; and the games should provide frequent feedback. These components can be remembered with the phrase Whiny Neutered Goats Fly, or the acronym WNGF for Winning, Novel, Goals, and Feedback.
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