Todd Rose: ...prioritizing personal fulfillment is the most reliable path to success and happiness

“Dark Horse” is a term for those who triumph against the odds…for the winners nobody saw coming.   And, “Dark Horse” is the very appropriate title of the new book by Harvard researcher Todd Rose which looks at men and women who’ve achieved impressive success, even though nobody saw them coming.  Todd is an incredible example of this: he was a high school dropout who had two children by the age of twenty and was struggling to support his family on state benefits.  Now, he's the director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a best-selling author.  In this episode, Todd joins us to share his insights into why the standard formula for success may not be the best formula for you.  You can learn more about Todd on his website at http://www.toddrose.com/. Questions asked include where did the term dark horse come from? (1:20), how did you take your own road to go from being on welfare to a Harvard professor? (1:41), what is The Dark Horse Project at Harvard? (3:18), what's typically the turning point for people where they decide it's ok to be a dark horse? (5:12), what role does fear play in making a big life change? (6:20), what should you do if you're considering going on a different path? (7:10), what are the four elements of the dark horse mindset? (9:54), if we haven't found our passion, how do we find it? (14:37), what percentage of the population do you estimate lives their lives according to someone else's notion of success? (16:35), why is sacrifice important? (18:46), what message does your work have for people who are approaching retirement and feel that they always went for the cookie cutter model of success and feel like it might be too late for them to blossom in another area? (20:13), why is there a stigma associated with being a millennial? (21:36), what advice do you have for a college student who needs to declare a major (24:00), what is the one piece of information that you think is most critical to share with new parents or frustrated parents who have children who are not excelling in a traditional environment? (25:40), who are some of the well known, successful dark horses? (26:57), what is your nobody told me lesson? (30:56). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices