Reading Reflection No. 2

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

1. The general theme of the book is to have a system, not a goal. Adams states that a system provides a method and requires activity on a regular basis. Success creates passion more than passion creates success, as many people are passionate about things but don’t follow through with them. Systems are a great way to approach something so that you get lasting results. The book focuses on utilizing a repeated process to solve problems that can deal with failure. He reasons that the simple “follow your passion” advice could sometimes be detrimentally misleading. So passion is great and all, but it is not the only factor to succeeding. Adams also says that before you embark on anything important in life, the first thing you should do is to ask someone who traveled a similar path and how that turned out. While you won’t follow that same plan, it gives you a good starting place to compare your skills and aspirations. It provides a framework from which you can customize based on your characteristics. He also discusses his philosophy for choosing an opportunity. One should choose an opportunity for which one has some inherent advantage rather than the “you can do whatever you want” advice. Adams talks about his mental model of not wanting to sell his time due to limited upside and finding a product that is infinitely scalable.

2. In my opinion, the book connected with the curriculum of ENT 3003 by making use of experience and observed patterns. This course is "hands-on" and focused on gaining experience from assignments rather than memorizing how information can be applied to an exam question. It also discussed a more realistic perspective on entrepreneurship. For example, one of the ideas from the book is to “simplify your systems, thus simplifying your life.” It also emphasizes practical aspects of life – which is something that is probably found in most business philosophy books. One of the topics was dialing in one’s personal energy. The number one tip is to exercise daily. Not a surprising answer, but a proven one.

3. If I had to design an exercise based on the book, it would involve designing some kind of simple system that could be applied towards one’s definition personal success.
One quote from the book that could be applied to an assignment was one that noted the difference between goal-oriented people and systems people according to Adams:

"Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous presuccess failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do."

4. After reading the book, the biggest surprise was probably the idea that you should “always be looking for your next better job options as soon as you get your current job.” The phrase, “as soon as” is what interested me because seems like weird advice on the surface. While it does make a lot of sense from a college student’s point of view, it seems like weird advice to give someone who is an established professional in their field. After some thought, perhaps the phrase conveys the idea of consistently finding and thinking of ways to improve oneself.