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

by Eric Barker

Ever wonder why it’s so easy to help other people with their problems but often so hard to deal with your own? That distance you feel with your friend’s issues shifts them from emotionally fraught problems to fun challenges.

“You can’t not play politics; you can only play them badly . . . the only place where relationships don’t matter is on a desert island far away from the rest of the world.”

“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.”

You don’t need to constantly revise the inflated stories you tell yourself and you don’t need to slay a dragon every day to prove you’re worth something.

When challenged, focus on improving your skills—not doing well or looking good.

“We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”

We got to the moon and built the pyramids without email and Facebook. You can go a couple of hours without checking them.