The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life

A remarkable guide to the quests that give our lives meaningand how to find your ownfrom the New York Times bestselling author of The $100 Startup and 100 Side Hustles If you like complacency and mediocrity, do not read this book. Its dangerously inspiring.A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All When he set out to visit all of the planets countries by age thirty-five, compulsive goal-seeker Chris Guillebeau never imagined that his journeys biggest revelation would be how many people like himself existeach pursuing a challenging quest. These quests are as diverse as humanity itself, involving exploration, the pursuit of athletic or artistic excellence, or battling against injustice and poverty. Everywhere that Chris visited he found ordinary people working toward extraordinary goals, making daily down payments on their dreams. These questers included a suburban mom pursuing a wildly ambitious culinary project, a DJ producing the worlds largest symphony, a young widower completing the tasks his wife would never accomplishand scores of others writing themselves into the record books. The more Chris spoke with these strivers, the more he began to appreciate the direct link between questing and long-term happiness, and he was compelled to complete a comprehensive study of the phenomenon. In The Happiness of Pursuit, he draws on interviews with hundreds of questers, revealing their secret motivations, their selection criteria, the role played by friends and family, their tricks for solving logistics, and the importance of documentation. Equally fascinating is Chriss examination of questings other side. What happens after the summit is climbed, the painting hung, the endurance record broken, the at-risk community saved? A book that challenges each of us to take controlto make our lives be about something while at the same time remaining clear-eyed about the commitmentThe Happiness of Pursuit will inspire readers of every age and aspiration. Its a playbook for making your life count. The Happiness of Pursuit is smart, honest, and dangerous. Why dangerous? Because it is as practical as it is inspiring. You wont just be daydreaming about your questyoull be packing for it!Bren Brown, Ph.D., LMSW, author of Daring Greatly