Reading Reflection #2

HOW TO FAIL AT ALMOST EVERYTHING AND STILL WIN BIG - SCOTT ADAMS

WHAT WAS THE GENERAL THEME OF THE BOOK?

The general theme of the book was how to use failure as a stepping stone toward success. Scott Adams does a great job of sharing his past failures and also showing how and why those failures lead to his success. He makes the reader feel fearless and excited to fail in order to find success. He also writes about what he’s learned from those failures in order for us as readers to be able to avoid pitfalls. He shares how to simplify our lives before we can start optimizing and gives many small tips on how to make our lives simple so our energy levels and attitudes are fresh enough to be able to work on our breakthrough work.

HOW DID THE BOOK CONNECT WITH AND ENHANCE WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING IN ENT 3003?

ENT 3003 is all about execution on an idea and always trying to find the next best thing. Scott Adams captures both of these principles in this book. He gives lots of tips on how to maximize our time, energy, mental capacity, resources, etc. He also talks about not settling and continuing to look for something better. He worked in the corporate industry for 15 + years but throughout those years he was failing at different small projects until he failed his way to his breakthrough project of Dilbert, the comic book series.

DESIGN AN EXERCISE FOR THIS CLASS BASES ON THIS BOOK

I think one of the hardest aspects of being an entrepreneur is being afraid to execute on your idea, or any idea for that matter. A lot of times we have great ideas or even small simple ideas, but they just stay that way, ideas, in our minds forever. The exercise I would design is picking a very simple entrepreneur idea and trying to make it work.  It can be something small, something you might even think will fail. The point of the exercise is to execute on the idea, try to make it come to fruition and then analyze the results. Scott would analyze every failure he had and by doing so he was able to learn from it and eventually it led him to his breakthrough project. So, the goal of this exercise would be to execute and possibly even fail but analyze and learn.

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST SURPRISE WHEN READING THE BOOK?

There were two parts of the book that really hit home for me. First, he shared an experience when he was on a plane on his way to California and he sat next to a CEO of some company. The CEO was very successful and the biggest advice he gave Scott was to never stop looking for a job. He said that as soon as he landed a job with a company, he immediately started his search for a better job. Not only did this help him eventually become CEO of a company but it helped him to keep his mind and eyes sharp and ready for the next great opportunity. He said the best job doesn’t always come when we want it to come or when it is convenient for us, so we have to always be looking and always be ready. Secondly, he talked about maximizing our bodies energy levels. Our bodies energy fluctuates throughout the day and we need to learn to use it to our advantage. For example, he shared how in the mornings his creative juices were flowing so he always took that time to write and work on his comic books. In the afternoon, after working out he would feel energized but not so mentally stimulated, so he would use that time for mundane tasks like paying bills. So, he would use his bodies energy levels to maximize his productivity. Going along with that he also recommended doing things that would increase our energy levels, so we can be happier and get along better with others. For example, he would write for about 30 minutes to an hour to clear his mind and relax and he found that it made him more fun to be around when he was with friends or family.