Ep. 41: Skip Prichard — How to Avoid the Biggest Obstacles to Happiness and Success

by Seth Gillihan

What is the surest path to success and contentment in life, and what are the mistakes to avoid along the way? My guest this week is Skip Prichard, who has thought a lot about these questions. He’s distilled his insights into his Wall Street Journal bestselling book, The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future.

We explored some of the nine secrets as we discussed his book,  and the many benefits of avoiding these mistakes. Topics we explored included:

  • Why some people are wildly successful and others are struggling
  • The author’s takeaways from observing or interviewing over 1000 people
  • The power of storytelling to convey important principles
  • The problem with following someone else’s dream
  • The value of learning crucial lessons as early in life as possible
  • The role of struggle and mistakes in our growth
  • How to live your dream while working for someone else
  • What holds us back from authoring our own lives
  • Our tendency to drift through our lives, and then wonder, “How did I get here?”
  • Placing blame rather than taking personal responsibility
  • The downsides of surrounding ourselves with people who encourage our excuses
  • Why we limit ourselves, and the scarcity vs. abundance mentality
  • How acting in line with our purpose energizes us

Skip and I briefly discussed the climber featured in Free Solo—you can check him out here: Alex Honnold—as well as Alex’s fellow climber Tommy Caldwell. 

Learn more about The Book of Mistakes at this website. Skip mentioned the quiz you can take there; here’s the direct link. (When I took it, it said I fit with the “Trainer.”)

Skip’s book is available on Amazon (affiliate link).

Skip Prichard currently serves as President and CEO of OCLC, and previously was President and CEO of Ingram Content Group, Inc. He is a growth-oriented business leader, turnaround specialist, and keynote speaker.

Skip is known for his track record of successfully repositioning companies and dramatically improving results while improving the corporate culture. His views have been featured in print and broadcast media including the BBC, The New York Times, CNN, NPR, The Daily Beast, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Writer’s Digest, Information Today, The Bookseller, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Forbes. He is also an Inc. Top 100 Leadership Speaker.

For more information, please visit his website and follow him on Twitter.

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