21A- Reading Reflection No.2

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The theme of this book is to accept failure into one's life. Failure needs to be embraced and be learned from to help leverage your future success. With these failures and life lessons, the author, Scott Adams, elaborates on his beliefs to stay motivated, fit, healthy, and happy will being slapped in the face when hit with a hard no. Adams revolves success around a couple of concepts. For example, goals versus systems. Creating a systems will lead to success compared to being fixed on a goal. Systems allow one to understand the means and inputs to reaching an outcome while focusing on the present; while goals are a specific and narrow outcome and many people can loose sign of their ambitions and self when trying to achieve their future outcome. In addition, systems are not fixed and one can adjust their plans and timing. Another concept is the act of being selfish. Adams explains one needs to be selfish by prioritizing their life correctly. This can be done by diet, exercise, sleep, eliminating unnecessary stressors and by looking out for yourself before others. There are two quotes that stuck out to me in regards to this:

• "Priorities are things you need to get right so the things you love can thrive."
• "The most important form of selfishness involves spending time on your fitness, eating right, pursuing your career, and still spending quality time with your family and friends.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book connected greatly with ENT3003. Scott Adams is an entrepreneur himself . He has failed many times trying to develop technological products, services, start ups, patents, and the list goes on. From these failures he has understood the basic connection between humans, their desire to succeed, and how to achieve it. He has come up with a list of items he has done wrong or have change in his system of life to succeed. The book enhances one's understanding of the entrepreneur's mind and the factors the affect life and the journey to be a winner. The book brings irony too the class because it contradicts many expectations students believe how an entrepreneur acts, thinks, and lives their life.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

The exercise would be called "Failing is an Option." This exercise would all students to gain wisdom from their failures, to reduce stress about future failures, and how to learn from them.  First, the exercise would make the student define failure, Second, the student would make a table listing three times they have failed. In another column, they would write any valuable wisdom they learned from those three failures. After the assignment is submitted, classmates would comment their personal wisdoms in the dialogue box. This will prove everyone fails at life and everyone can learn from those experiences 

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

The biggest "aha" moment is reading about these character traits to be successful and realizing I implement many of these techniques into my life. Prior this novel, I had many preconceived notions to entrepreneurship and what it takes to be successful. Adam Scott knocks down these myths and proves to readers anyone, in their basic human sense, can succeed at what ever they desire. He also proves one can live an enjoyable, and humorous, life while pursuing these goals.