Barking Up the Wrong Tree

By  Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

Money is not everything is what this book is all about.  Money is not the only measurement of success.  So, what else should we be measuring?  The author, Eric Barker, comes up with four subjective measurements of success from his book, “Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong.”  His four are:

achievement, legacy, significance and happiness.  Below are the descriptions of each one.

Achievement: Do You Feel Like You’re Winning?

To feel like you’re winning you need to consistently accomplish meaningful goals. Start by setting and hitting small but meaningful goals each day. For me it’s writing 500 words for my next newspaper article or getting the materials or resources that leads me to complete my article that gives a feeling of achievement and sense that I’m winning. Hitting small goals like this every day leads to a larger achievement like writing a book that I can look back on and be proud of.

Legacy: Do You Feel Like You’re Influencing Others in a Positive Way?

To feel like you’re influencing others in a positive way you need to pass on your values and help others find success. If you’re a parent, you might generate a feeling of influence by taking the time to teach and instill your values in your children, who go on to pass their values on to their children.

Significance: Do you Feel Like You’re Needed by the People Closest to You?

To feel you are useful and needed by your colleagues at work for example, gives you a sense of purpose and satisfaction.  If you want to achieve more significance in the workplace, try taking on tougher tasks or projects that will make you acquire unique skills and make you indispensable in the company.   Or just try to be more helpful to your officemates and you would have achieved that sense of usefulness to the others.  You can apply the same thing with your friends and relatives by being there for them when it matters the most.

Happiness: Do You Feel Like You’re Enjoying Life?

I’ll have to deviate a bit from the author of the book on this.  The question on how to achieve happiness in life is more than just being grateful every day, or listening to your favorite music as the author would recommend.  The question on happiness is something deep.  It touches the very core of our being.  It’s like asking what is the purpose of life.  If you get to answer the purpose of life you will have the answers to the happiness question or what truly makes us happy. It’s a deep question that requires deep answers.  For me the happiness question is a spiritual question or it involves God, because only God the maker of man, who knows man inside out has the key to man’s true joy.  For me the answers to what makes us truly happy are healthy relationships, a sense of growth, practice of the virtues, living a life of purpose and acquiring God’s gifts of peace and joy.  The details on each of them are in my book “The Purpose of our Life is to Become a Saint.”  I recommend you get hold of the book and get more than just answers to the happiness question there but answers to what life is really all about as well.