Bestselling Surrounded By Idiots author Thomas Erickson needed 20 years to get published

It is difficult to imagine Swedish author Thomas Erikson spent two decades trying to get published considering the long list of his accomplishments as a writer. Now 59 years old, he is globally known as the bestselling-author of the Surrounded By series of personal improvement books focused on human behavior and communication. The highly sought-after public speaker gives 120 speeches and lectures per year, including a stop at Amsterdam's Tuschinski Theater on Tuesday.

The confident confidence guru admits he took a gamble when he self-published his 2014 book, Surrounded by Idiots, insisting that a first run start with 10,000 copies, three times more than what he was advised. His bet paid off: there are now seven books in the series in total, and over ten million copies have been sold worldwide.

Erikson claims to be the most-translated Swedish author alive, and he is rather taken aback by the fact that his work is now available in 70 different languages. And he shakes off criticism of his work, prefering instead to focus on the positive interactions he has with readers at his speaking events, which focus on communication skills, self-awareness, manipulation, human behavior, narcissism and leadership.

He stopped by the Dam Yankee podcast, in partnership with NL Times, to discuss finally getting published after 20 years of writing, the lifestyle habits he credits with his personal success, and why he believes family homes are troublingly silent nowadays.

Dam Yankee: Your series has sold over 10 million copies, but it's certainly not the only book that you've written, is it?

Thomas Erikson: That's true. I actually began my writing career as a thriller author. I published a couple of books in 2011 and 2012. They were actually translated into Dutch. That was many years ago. But that was where it started. I wrote for 20 years without getting published. I'm obviously not a natural talent…

I went back to fiction last year and it's actually also published in Dutch as well. The book is called Miljardair, which is Billionaire in English. That's a fun project. It's basically sort of a hobby thing. It's doing okay. It's because I love writing, I love fiction, I love storytelling, and creating universes. And I don't have to keep track of things. I can invent stuff.

When I write my, let's say, "instruction manuals," I have to speak the truth as much as possible, of course. So that's another kind of process, really. But fiction is fantastic.

DY: Speaking of your series, Is the premise of the Surrounded By books to get people to ask alternative questions about themselves and the situations they’re in?

TE: Absolutely, the quality of how you feel, the quality of your performance, the quality of your relationships, the quality of your results, the quality of your life, your presence here on earth—is largely dependent on how good you are at asking questions. Asking the right questions. And it's not that complicated. Asking open-ended questions is really good.

If you can ask them to yourself when someone says, "Would you care for a glass of wine for lunch?" You know you shouldn't drink wine at one o'clock in the afternoon. That's not a good choice. But you took a glass of wine. Ask yourself, "How come I said yes even though I know it's the wrong move?"

DY: Do you feel like we are too open and too willing to distract ourselves from what's going on around us?

TE: Yes, absolutely. One-hundred percent. And I think we are going 100 miles per hour in the absolute wrong direction. We are constantly looking for dopamine kicks, and even grownups are standing at airports, in line, by traffic lights, with their stroller, with the kid and watching their phones.

You know, crossing the street while watching their phone. That is not good behavior.

I gave this talk a couple of weeks ago at a book fair somewhere in Europe. A couple of hundred people were there. One question that came from the audience was from a lady who said she had read a study. She said the homes are getting silent and it's worrisome. Parents are getting quite stressed because the silence is sort of sinking itself into the homes.

Everyone in the family is stuck on their phone or on their laptop. No one can just watch a movie and discuss the narrative in the story because everyone has their phone in their hands simultaneously.

The teenagers are playing some videogames on the phone, because watching a movie is not enough. It's about dopamine, which is highly, highly addictive.

Listen to this entire episode of Dam Yankee wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the full videos on YouTube. Erikson goes on to explain why he doesn’t watch television, the potential next target group of the Surrounded By title, and why you should not ask him about his mother.

To keep track of everything Thomas Erikson is doing, you can sign up for his newsletter. His books and tickets to his speaking engagement tickets can be purchased on his various websites.