“How to Fail at Everything
and Still Win Big” by Scott Adams
- What was the general theme or argument of the book?
- The general theme of the book is that failure is a part of everyone’s life, but there are things we can do to ensure that we learn and grow from it. Scott Adams draws from his life to come up with key takeaways such as happiness derives from health, systems are for winners and goals are for losers, and luck can be managed.
- How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
- Some of the concepts in the books overlap with topics that we are learning in ENT3003. One of the major concepts that I saw overlap were regarding social capital. In class, I learned that it is important to grow your social capital as it is one of the few (if not only) resources that no one can imitate. Adams reinforced this concept by talking about how the biggest obstacle to his success was not knowing people who could have guided him along his journey. He encourages his readers to seek out people who can impart their wisdom upon you.
- If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
- Something that this book emphasized is that goals are for losers and systems are for winners. If I had to design an exercise for this class, I would ask everyone to write down their goals and the systems (if any) that they have in place for these goals. Then, I would ask them to reflect on the effectiveness of their systems. Is it truly helping them get closer to their goals? What could they improve?
- If I wanted to take it a step further, I would encourage the students to seek out people who have similar goals as them and interview them to find out more about systems they might have in place. They can then reflect on the differences. Is there a good difference they should integrate into their own systems?
- 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?
- My biggest ‘aha’ moment in this book was the emphasis placed on health. My mom often told me while growing up that health is wealth, but like any other college student eating Ramen at midnight and skipping most of the food pyramid levels on the daily, I can honestly say that this is something I have neglected in my life. Adams put health back into perspective for me by emphasizing the relations between eating/exercising and productivity/creativity.
Iswarya,
ReplyDeleteI truly enjoyed reading about your interpretation of “How to Fail at Everything and Still win Big” because you thoroughly explain the concepts and general theme of the book. I agree how important it is to intergrade a concrete system towards reaching your goals. I also agree with how special and unique a relationship an be, and one must strive to connect with individuals who can better their life and knowledge of the world. Furthermore, your class exercise is something I would genuinely be interested in participating in and I think everyone should reevaluate their techniques and approaches when reaching their goals. Great work!
Izzy,
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great post! I loved reading this book because I've found myself giving up a couple of times due to failure, so it's great to see that there are actually people who succeed despite their failures. I like your assignment idea! I think it would be very beneficial to talk to people with the same goals as you and find out what they're doing to achieve them, so you can adapt your systems and maybe achieve that same goal. Good job!
Iswarya, I can relate to health being important. I have skipped many levels on the food pyramid in college, and I can honestly say I feel the impacts. I can absolutely agree that health is important for living a happy life. Social capital is another aspect of success that is important but often neglected. It's hard to make connections and even harder to make career changing connections, but without those connections getting a job and working becomes even more difficult. The book you read sounds interesting and enjoyable, and I hope you liked it!
ReplyDeleteHi Izzy,
ReplyDeleteGreat job with your reading reflection! I agree that failure is the key to success. The only way to become successful is by learning from your failures. I came up with a very similar exercise in my reading reflection. I believe it is very important for people to write down their goals and then explain how they are going to achieve each and every goal.