Ponder Post: Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Barking Up the Wrong Tree, by Eric Barker, is subtitled The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong. Occasionally I read a non-fiction book because the topic intrigues me and that was the case here. The front flap teases "why valedictorians rarely become millionaires", "whether nice guys finish last", and "why trying to increase confidence fails". Have I sparked your interest yet?

I found the chapters to be well written with summary points at the end of each. What I especially liked about this book was the relaxed conversational style of the author. Although statistics and percentages are cited throughout to prove a point scientifically, both viewpoints on a question are addressed. In the introduction the author states,

• In each chapter we'll review both sides of the story. We'll see the strengths of each perspective. So if anything seems like a slam-dunk or a contradiction, hang with me. Both angles will present their case, much like a trial. Then we'll settle on the answer that gives the best upside with the least downside.

Other than the teasers in the front flap of the book, why would a book on "how to get ahead", so to speak, appeal to me?  Could it be possibly because I may want to look back and assess what I'd been remiss in doing in my career years, to explore what I could have done to get farther and, more importantly, to assess if it would have been worth it? But that is water under the bridge now and am pretty content with how much flood control of that elusive work-life balance commodity I managed. But what about looking forward in these retirement years? How can I apply the principles of this book to make these upcoming years "successful"? This tidbit of observation brought a smile of realization to my face.

• Most of us use our calendars all wrong; we don't schedule work; we schedule interruptions. Meetings get scheduled. Phone calls get scheduled. Doctor appointments get scheduled. You know what doesn't get scheduled? Real work. 

This tendency can be a realization about a retirement calendar, too. Doctors appointments get scheduled. And boy, do they ever! Volunteer commitments get scheduled - and sometimes over-scheduled. What does not get scheduled? Real fun! Frank and I keep saying we are going to take some day trips for pleasure only. I am going to add a few of those ideas on the calendar so they get promoted from "some day" status to "let's do it" status. To our credit though, we do schedule a yearly get-together with college friends and a monthly game afternoon with another couple.

Eric Barker's book cites a quote from an executive at Time Warner.

• There are three categories of people – the person who goes into the office, puts his feet up on his desk, and dreams for twelve hours; the person who arrives five A.M. and works sixteen hours, never once stopping to dream; and the person who puts his feet up, dreams for one hour, then does something about those dreams.

Retirement is the time to clarify those dreams and act on them. Some dreams are not pleasurable in the doing but are pleasurable in the result. I dream of a clutter free home but told Frank I did not want to spend my retirement cleaning up. Little by little we are making progress. Here is a clever tip in setting up your "work space".

• Make the things you should do twenty seconds easier to start and make the things you shouldn't be doing twenty seconds harder."

Surfing the web, chasing down the rabbit hole of click baits, is in the shouldn't category. I close all those extra browser tabs before I am tempting to investigate, "How to lose 50 lbs in five days" or "Which celebrities have the highest IQ's". I minimize my time on Facebook by only looking up names of those I am interested in and checking only a couple times a week. Planned relaxation is in the should category - reading, blogging, quilting. I transfer cell phone photos of my sewing, activities, and travels immediately to my computer so they are readily available to upload to my blog. I keep books for which I have yet to write and post a review right near my keyboard. I have a backlog of four there now. I stack books I am about to read near my comfy blue leather reading chair. They are stacked by size so they do not topple over and not by order of planned reading. Granted this violates the minimize clutter rule but, hey, life is a compromise.

I also bought Barking Up the Wrong Tree with the intention of gifting it to my son after I'd read it and blogged about it, clearly a decluttering effort. Dan, after getting his MBA, likes to read a variety of topics on business. I am glad I read it first, though, before sending it off since he and I will have some topics of conversation to discuss. In the original career-minded intent of the book, there is wise advice about working hard but making sure it gets noticed and a delightful anecdotal story of a tactical delusion during the war. I enjoyed a very thought-provoking comparison between self-confidence and self-compassion and which is more productive. Work life balance is discussed in terms of the difficulty to achieve it since today's technology makes it so very easy to bring your work home with you. I look forward to getting the perspective of his generation's work force. I recommend this book as an interesting, easy-flowing read, for those in all stages of life.

If you are still undecided, here is a peek at the table of contents, clickable as posted on Amazon. Where else can you read about Pirates, Serial Killers, Batman, Albert Einstein, Genghis Khan, Chess Masters, and Professional Wrestlers all in one location?