Book- How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
In my opinion, a general theme I found in this book is self-reflection and looking in one’s self to find success. The book is all about exactly what the title says, all of our failures over time are what lead us to success. Adams' describes how he looked at success from a different point of view which is what helped him grow as a person.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
In the book, Adams’ describes how his success didn’t come overnight, and how he had to fail many times and try over and over again until he finally found success. I think this relates to what we have learned in ENT 3003 because like Adams’ we have learned the importance of never giving up and knowing success will not come to use on our first try. In this class, we have had to tweak and edit our products and services several times because we know what we created is never going to be perfect from the get-go. Entrepreneurs must be flexible with whatever is thrown at them and sometimes find unconventional ways of doing things.
3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
An exercise I would design for the class based on this book would be to ask the class to think of one of their favorite times they succeeded in something and then ask them to write down all the times they had to fail in order to achieve their ultimate success. Again, like the title of the book states, this will remind the students that their success came with many failures but ultimately with time they got what they were hoping to achieve.
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?
Two big ‘aha’ moments I had when reading this book was first when Adams’ discusses how being selfish is not always bad like people perceive it to be. Being selfish usually has a negative connotation, but Adams’ says if we don’t focus on ourselves and our own needs, how can we tend to the needs of others. The second ‘aha’ moment I had was when Adams’ discussed how he prefers systems over goals. I had never thought about how systems allow you to alter your future plans, whereas goals can be perceived as being a little more concrete.
Hey Marioly,
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lovely read. It reminds me of the part of National Treasure where Nicholas Cage noted Thomas Edison's response to failing over 1,000 times to create the light bulb, where he responded "I succeeded in finding over 1,000 ways how not to create the light bulb."
I read the same book and had some similar takeaways from it that you mentioned in your post. Systems over goals was one of the main things I talked about in mine because it seems like growing up, we were always told to be goal oriented and things like that. I like how you also mentioned the part about being selfish, because that was another cool main point I liked when going through this book.
ReplyDeleteHello Marioly,
ReplyDeleteI was also surprised to see that Adams described being selfish as being not as bad as it is perceived to be. However, after reading the point he made on the subject I can see the reasoning behind this claim as I had not thought about the idea of "how can we take care of others without taking care of ourselves first".