21A- Reading Reflection No. 2

The book I chose from the reading list for this assignment was How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, by Scott Adams. I really enjoyed reading this book since it was so lighthearted and inspiring at the same time.

1.     1. Overall, the theme of the book was that despite failures, you can learn to enhance your skills and lifestyle to turn your losses into major success in the future. Throughout the book Adams discusses his many life failures, and he couples these with insightful advice that he has learned along the way. For example, some of my favorite advice was to find your personal energy in terms of space and time in order to stay motivated and efficient. I liked the way that Adams capitalized on the fact that your needs are unique and specific to you, so it’s essential to find your own fire in order to produce the best work.

2.   2.   In my opinion, this book connected with and enhanced what we are learning in ENT3003 because Adams strays from the concept of being motivated simply by “passion” and encourages people to seek out methods that work. I remember in one lecture, Dr. Pryor discussed how many entrepreneurs fail since they believe their idea will work so strongly that they are unwilling to open their mind to feedback. With this being said, seeking out information systematically and building what we learn to enhance our product is the main focus of this class. In this way I feel that this book correlates well with ENT3003.

3.   3.  If I had to design an exercise based on this book, I would suggest mapping out information about your own energy levels. In this book, Adams advises analyzing the activities you enjoy, the spaces in which you are most effective, and the times you are most effective so that you can tailor your work to what works best for you. I believe doing this may be extremely helpful for individuals like me who work better at random times (like late at night). I intend to analyze these things about myself anyways because I feel as though this information is very useful.

4.     4. One thing I learned that differed from my expectations was the concept that “goals” are not nearly as useful as “systems”. Since goals are far into the future and are extremely specific, they tend to set you up for failure and disappointment. Instead, Adams recommends creating systems that lead you to growth and allow for adjustments to be made.

Overall, I found this book extremely interesting and eye-opening. I loved how Scott took many different perspectives that I have never considered before, and he used a few tools and tactics that I intend to try out.