In "Barking Up the Wrong Tree," Eric Barker reveals the extraordinary science behind the main determinants of success, and most importantly, how anyone can achieve it. Drawing upon startling statistics and surprising anecdotes, he helps you understand what works and what doesn’t so you can stop guessing at success and start living the life you want.

Overview

Success is not about being perfect. It is more about knowing what you're best at and being properly aligned with your context

What defines success for you is totally up to you. It's about what you personally need to live a happy and fulfilled life.

Getting good grades in school and graduating the top of your class doesn't guarantee success in life.Academic grades have almost no correlation to intelligence.

To leverage your intensifiers, you have to first know yourself and then choose the right field to play.When you choose your pond wisely, you can best leverage your type, your signature strengths, and your context to create tremendous value.

Ass-kissers aren’t the only ones who thrive in society. Rude people do too.

According to Wharton School professor Adam Grant, there are three kinds of people: <ul><li>The Givers: those who are consistently looking for ways to help others</li><li>The Matchers: people who try to keep an even balance of giving and take</li><li>The Takers: people who selfishly always try to get more and give less.</li></ul>

Following the rules doesn't create success; it just eliminates extremes -both good and bad.

Bad behavior is strong in the short term but good behavior wins over in the long term.

The reason why confidence is such a powerful element is that it gives us a sense of control. When we think we know everything, we stop looking for answers.

You’re more likely to reach the heights of success — and happiness — if you embrace your ‘flaws.

The level of your success in life is directly related to the stories you tell yourself.What determines the kinds of stories you tell yourself is largely your outlook on life, whether it's optimistic or pessimistic.By thinking positively, optimists persevere and end up creating more opportunities for themselves.When you shift your explanatory style from pessimistic to optimistic, you feel better and you become grittier.

To develop self-compassion, start by talking to yourself. Talk to yourself nicely, gently.

Wall Street Journal BestsellerMuch of the advice we’ve been told about achievement is logical, earnest…and downright wrong. In Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Eric Barker reveals the extraordinary science behind what actually determines success and most importantly, how anyone can achieve it. You’ll learn: • Why valedictorians rarely become millionaires, and how your biggest weakness might actually be your greatest strength • Whether nice guys finish last and why the best lessons about cooperation come from gang members, pirates, and serial killers• Why trying to increase confidence fails and how Buddhist philosophy holds a superior solution • The secret ingredient to “grit” that Navy SEALs and disaster survivors leverage to keep going • How to find work-life balance using the strategy of Genghis Khan, the errors of Albert Einstein, and a little lesson from Spider-ManBy looking at what separates the extremely successful from the rest of us, we learn what we can do to be more like them—and find out in some cases why it’s good that we aren’t. Barking Up the Wrong Tree draws on startling statistics and surprising anecdotes to help you understand what works and what doesn’t so you can stop guessing at success and start living the life you want.

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Eric Barker is the author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller Barking Up the Wrong Tree which has been translated into more than 20 languages. Over 500,000 people have subscribed to his weekly newsletter. His work has been covered by The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Financial Times, and others. Eric is also a sought-after speaker, having given talks at MIT, Yale, Google, the United States Military Central Command (CENTCOM), and the Olympic Training Center. His new bestseller, “Plays Well with Others,” was released by HarperCollins in May of 2022.

ERIC BARKER

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