19: Barking up the Wrong Tree, Again!

October 1, 2017

We tried having Barking Up The Wrong Tree as our book of the week again because we weren’t satisfied with our first attempt. Our hunch was that we’ve got a few months of experience podcasting so we’d do a better job this time around.

Our hunch was wrong.

Still, we showed up and it’s an episode. Here’s what we discussed in the episode.

• Spider-Man and his alien symbiote suit. Sometimes we mess up work/life balance and end up with work being more like an alien symbiote suit. It drains you.
• Four metrics to have a successful life: happiness, achievement, significance, legacy. Perfectly balancing these metrics probably isn’t possible. It’s good to keep an eye on which ones you’re furthest behind on.
• This podcast will be the entirety of our legacy. Okay, maybe not. But it will be some part of it. It’s part of why I consider this podcast a success even if we aren’t nailing the more traditional metrics of podcast success (e.g. actual listeners, interesting episodes). By next year, we’ll have 40+ hours of audio that we can pass on and bore future generations with. What’s more successful than that?
• The top 0.1% in many fields are available to see online. Through the internet, top performers are more accessible than they were at any time in history. Don’t measure your success against them. Or at least don’t base your happiness on that comparison. If you’re inspired by it, good. If you’re depressed by it, stop.
• Einstein’s not-so-romantic letter to his wife

Someday we will do a better job with this book. I believe that. It’s 100x better than our shows about it. As mentioned in the show, go check out Eric Barker’s blog. It’s the best newsletter on the internet.