Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong by Eric Barker

“Fundamentally, your brain doesn’t like or want to believe in randomness. It always believes you have some control, even when you don’t. It may be delusional but we’re happier deluded. And delusion ironically makes us perform better on average.” Eric Barker

Eric Barker is an interesting dude. Why? It’s because of his fascination and curiosity for learning and teaching others how to create and live an awesome life. He asks questions that relate to success that many of us don’t. He seeks to find insight to the flip side of everything we’ve been told and everything most of us believe about what determines success.

Eric is a prolific writer with a very popular blog, called Barking Up the Wrong Tree, that addresses the science behind achieving success. Lessons that we can all benefit from in achieve success in our own right. This book is a clear extension of his blog.

It is jam packed with interesting insight. Some which are curiously entertaining and other very informative and useful. It is a book that has you bouncing from one thought to the next keeping you very involved but importantly, it constantly makes you question what’s right and what’s wrong as you reflect on your own personality, behaviors, beliefs, and thoughts.

Eric doesn’t try sway the reader in one direction of or another. In each chapter, he presents a topic on common advice that most of us have been given, with counter arguments and science-based evidence that contradicts some of what we’ve been told and that which supports it.

I certainly found myself reflecting on my own beliefs and behaviors. This lead me questioning how my beliefs and behaviors are conducive or counter-purposeful to achieving success in my own life. And this is one of the greatest benefits of this book.

It makes us questions what we think we know. It opens us to differing thoughts and perspectives. I believe that the ability to be open and confident to question everything in life helps us better understand life. Understanding is really the gathering and assessment of information and the more of that we have the better we can make decisions and live with purpose.

What we have been told is not always right. If we go about our lives accepting what we know as gospel we may miss the opportunities that are available to us that might take us down paths and on journeys that may make life more beautiful. As it relates to achievement and success, Eric truly stimulates the mind with thought provoking questions.

Each of the 6 chapters presents a broad topic on advice we’ve been told but the wormholes of science and research within each go deep. And such is life. There is not one way to live this journey and there is certainly not one way to success.

The greatest value this book left me with is that success is highly individual. Just because Einstein was an amazing theoretical physicist who created the theory of relativity doesn’t mean his life in other aspects was perfect. Eric touches on this in the final chapter about whether the key to success is all about work, work, work or if there is potential greatness in creating quality work-life balance.

We are not like the other guys and girls who achieve amazing success and at the same time, we are all very similar. What do I mean? I believe we all have the ability to create success in life as we wish but to do this it requires that we all define what success looks like to us personally. The best success is achieved by internal guidance.

There is a multitude of paths to success and it is up to us to choose those paths that best suit us. And on a final note, if we attempt to achieve success in an unethical or immoral manner we may not find it. It will destroy the quality of one’s character and character is not only all we have when it comes to enjoying the success and happiness we’ve created but it’s how we are remembered.

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If this book sounds of interest you can purchase Barking Up the Wrong Tree here.

Please leave your thoughts, comments & questions below.

Peace, passion, and purpose…

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