27A Reading Reflection 3

For this reading reflection, I chose 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 this book, Scott Adams tells readers about his journey towards his success. He gives a first -person account of all the failures he has endured that ultimately lead him to become a successful cartoonist and author. He goes into detail about many of the failures he has had in his career and how he has taken the lessons from each failure and applied them to being successful. He writes this book not only to share his accounts, but also to share to young entrepreneurs what he feels that led him to success so that they can be successful too.

2)     How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book directly connects with what we are learning in ENT 3003. It is a direct tie in with assignment 26A where we had to reflect on our own personal failures. This book is all about reflecting on failure and figuring out how to use it to find success. All you have to do is find the positives in what you failed in and use it to your advantage. He also teaches you how to think like an entrepreneur. He claims that an entrepreneur should not have goals, but rather have a system for success. He also stresses the importance of gauging your own personal energy, level of happiness (which he claims is the only useful goal in life) and making sure you learn multiple skills in order to increase your chances at success.

3)     If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If I had to design an exercise for this class, I would focus it around peoples’ patterns and systems. I would have the students write about the patterns in their life and have them equate it as a component of success. They would have to justify that pattern on some level. I would also have them write about their systems. I want part of the exercise to focus the differences between goals and systems. They would write about their own systems and reflect on how much those systems lead to success versus how goals lead to success.

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?

I think the biggest surprise to me was when Addams said that “goals are for losers.” I have always been “goal-driven”. I set a goal for myself and try to achieve it. Hearing how goals actually may not lead to success shocked me. He says that goals often lead you to continuous failure and once you achieve a goal you just jump right back into the “cycle of permanent presuccess failure.” Addams said that we should rather focus on systems which he says is “something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run.” To me, this changes my viewpoint on how to approach entrepreneurship and really try to find my system for success.