1)
I analyzed and read the book 'How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams'. The argument of the book is that no matter how many times you fail at any specific task in life if you have the determination and stop thinking like everyone else, you will win big.
2)
The book starts off with different funny stories which present the failures of the author. He had a lot of people telling him that he would never make it as a cartoonist, but Scott just never gave up. He was painting cartoons for hours until he got diagnosed with an illness that produced his little finger to make uncontrolled movements. The doctors told them that they had never seen such an illness like that and that he should immediately stop painting. Even when all the odds were against him, Scott's mentality as completely different. According to him, it is extremely important to be the first one at something so he took it as an incentive to be the first person to cure this disease. In relating this to the class, ENT 3003 prepares us for getting constant negative feedback concerning our business idea or business plan, but we should not get discouraged by it if we truly believe we can become successful with it.
3)
According to Scott, we spend too much time thinking and worrying about our goals. Instead, we should be spending this valuable time in the construction of our systems, since by having a good and well-balanced system and we have the discipline to stick to it, our goals will come by themselves. Knowing this, a good exercise in class would be that everyone should write down on paper by which system they think would increase their productivity and their overall well-being.
4)
One important surprise moment was when I realized while reading the book that when Scott was describing the "basic" behavior of people that are not improving and literally are just loosing too much time I personally shared most of their characteristics. It instantly caught my attention and while I kept reading the book, there were just basic parts that instantly made sense and I am now trying to adapt my personal lifestyle to it.
One example would be that I never really knew what I wanted, I liked a lot of stuff but I never really knew what I wanted. So after spending some time on deciding what that was, I made a plan to how to achieve it and that is it. No more thinking if I should or not or if I should wait for a second opinion. From now one if I really want something I just go for it.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteIt is always a good thing to laugh at your own failures. It is good to always have a sense of humor and to see how you can improve from that. If you have never failed then you haven't tried enough things in your life. The greatest business people have failed but are still successful because they take risks.
I think that you chose a great book, one that looks very interesting to me. I have definitely felt that I fit into that "basic" behavior of people who are not improving and have switched up my lifestyle because of it. It is great that you have changed for the better because of this book.
ReplyDeleteI think that what the author says about us worrying about our goals too much is extremely valuable. I often times find myself getting caught up in what the long term goal of something I am doing is. I find that this can get in the way of the task at hand if it isn't directly related to what I want to accomplish. Even though sometimes knowing my goal drives me further to want to succeed, a lot of times it makes me stressed and anxious about achieving my goal which offers me no help at all.
ReplyDeleteAlexandro,
ReplyDeleteI had not read the book you chose or seen anyone else talk about it, so it was refreshing to read your take. I didn’t initially recognize Scott Adams, but after a quick google, I realized he is the creator of Dilbert. I enjoyed hearing your summary of a lot of Adams’ funny stories, and think you did a fantastic job pulling pieces from the book. I am glad that the book taught you to strike while the iron is hot, as that is a very important tool that many people do not possess or are afraid to utilize.