94: Eric Barker - Mythbusting the Quest for Success

May 12, 2017

“This [book] took more than two years of my life and 20cc’s of my soul to complete. It contains the answers I wish I’d had many years ago about what leads to a successful life, all drawn from scientific research and expert insight.”

- Eric Barker, on his book Barking Up the Wrong Tree

How do we know what success is? Is happiness still an undefined destination? What have we got right, and where do we have room for improvement?

 These are the questions Eric Barker spends his time answering. His style of research-based self-improvement helps his readers to live happier, more fulfilling lives. After eight years of researching and writing over 5,000 posts on his blog about his findings, he’s here to share some of what he’s learned with us.

[Note: For the complete set of show notes, links, and contact info, head to https://www.wholelifechallenge.com/podcast]

Here are the highlights:

• 17:05 — Why quantity is king when it comes to creative work.

• 20:22 — Creating your own work-life balance.

• 32:53 — Schedule work, not interruptions.

• 36:21 — How interruptions ruin your effectiveness.

• 45:40 — Why transactional networking is a sad failure, and the alternative.

• 48:10 — Who the most productive networking prospects are in your life.

• 52:30 — The two most important contributors to job burnout are.

• 53:20 — The four most important metrics for predicting happiness are.

• 54:15 — How to consciously build your vision of success.

• 56:58 — Why self-compassion is a critical skill.

• 58:49 — The relationship between risk acceptance and happiness.

• 1:01:30 — The most important starting point to achieve personally meaningful success.