The Meaning of Life looks like a great guide to
finding purpose in life. Who is your
target market for the book?
Honestly, the audience is anyone as curious as I was about how
life works. It’s particularly useful for
anyone who is lost, confused, looking for something more, or lacking direction
in life, but anyone who is genuinely interested in what science can tell us
about humanity’s sense of purpose will love it.
Most importantly, people who want answers to life’s big questions but don’t
want the author imposing his own ideas of what the “right” way to live is will
appreciate this material.
How did you come up with the ideas and concepts in the book?
I studied human behavior, psychology, philosophy, and related
fields for decades trying to understand it all.
When I started noticing patterns across both philosophical texts and
psychological studies as to how people find meaning and purpose, I knew I had
stumbled upon something that everyone would want to know about: an ultimate
formula for a meaningful life. It was
very important to me, though, that all my concepts were understood
scientifically and had practical guidance so that people could apply them.
What will readers get out of your book?
If they are lacking a sense of meaning in their lives, they will
have identified a list of growth areas to pursue and built a complete plan to
get started. This is where this book
differs from other personal development books, which usually start assuming you
have already identified a desired outcome and they give you a formula that
worked for the author. Those books tell
readers how to approach a goal that they have; this book tells you how to
figure out what that goal should be for you—without dictating what that goal
should be in any way.
What inspired you when writing The Meaning of Life?
Oh, man. So many
things—the writing and editing took almost seven years! I needed constant inspiration. My first and foremost inspiration was my
colleague and mentor, Jitendra Subramanyam.
He encouraged me to take a shot at writing the book—after I
explained it to him. Early in writing, I
was motivated by the great insights from the work I reviewed to prepare my
points and the not-so-great recommendations from people who didn’t bother
explaining why they might apply to someone.
The fallacies being pushed around motivated me to not refute them—though
that was tempting—but rather to provide a better answer for people. During editing, I was worried if I could do
the topic justice and really help people.
When I’d watch people like Daryl Davis and Cassie Jaye put themselves
out there and face the blowback that comes with speaking the truth and doing
the right thing, I was reminded that anyone can make a difference.
When did you decide to become a writer?
September 2009. I’ll never
forget because I bought a MacBook Pro with the justification that I’d use it to
write a book. Unfortunately, the first
outline I wrote, while not wrong, was just another book criticizing other
people’s ideas and not putting forth a good alternative. I told myself that I wasn’t going to just be
another voice railing against bad ideas but that I was going to think of the
best way to articulate good ideas. When
I figured it out around 2013, I knew that I had just decided to become the
writer of The Meaning of Life.
When writing The Meaning of Life did anything stand out
as particularly challenging?
Interestingly enough, I was able to draw up a structure for the
book in just days: chapter title, quotes, key principles, essay section,
questions, exercises, outcome. It was
the essay section that was the challenge.
I found that just jotting down my string of thoughts got me going, and
then I could come back and remember everything I missed when I read it. I rewrote that section of each chapter
completely about two to four times.
Trying to write about ethics without recommending specific ethics was
the most difficult part. I also had to
remove any passages that were overly harsh toward other philosophies or too
sarcastic for the written word. My
natural temptation to use figures of speech and make jokes when I talk had to
be suppressed constantly while writing on such a serious, intimate topic.
What do you like to do when not writing?
I spend most of my days advising executives on their toughest
challenges. Outside of that and writing,
I like movies, TV shows, video games, books, and exercise. I like non-fiction material about psychology and
human behavior, and I like psychological thrillers or anything that makes you
think differently about the world. It’s
kind of an obsession, if you can’t tell.
Finally, I love to eat. My
favorite cuisines would have to be Italian, East Asian (e.g., Chinese/Thai),
Mexican, American, and Indian. The theme
across those is that they all have delicious starches and sauces.
Where can readers find out more about your work?
I have a site, yourmeaninginlife.com,
along with the usual social media pages and author pages:
Social Media Pages:
Book Pages:
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-meaning-of-life-nathanael-garrett-novosel/1135680135?ean=9781948220019
Author Pages: