Reading Reflection No.2

How To Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big : Scott Adams

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme of the book is the idea that there is no one right way to succeed, but that there are things everyone can do and that are important when it comes to being successful. Success is also subjective, and failure is inevitable, but doesn't prevent success. Some of the key points made by Scott Adams include the idea that passion does not lead to success, personal health both mental and physical are very important, failures are to be learned from, you can learn from anyone, not only billionaires and CEO's, knowing your talents and when to quit because something isn't working out, and the importance of humor and diet/exercise.

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

The book connected to the ideas of human capital, and enhanced many of the ideas that you can build upon your human capital that human capital can be very important in being successful. Networking with other people is important when it comes to being successful, but Adams also believes that you don't need to know billionaires and CEO's to learn from networking. Anyone including your friends, can provide you with knowledge that you yourself did not know. Another thing that this class and the book has taught me is that passion does not lead to success. Both have also reinforced the idea that failure is inevitable, but that it is something you should learn from. 

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

Off of the ideas presented in this book, I would design an exercise that required you to look at yourself and note ways you could improve personally, including things like diet, exercise, and personality. You could also add to the exercise by writing times where you recall yourself being successful, and how you were able to be successful at the time. Also defining what success is to you, and even thinking of a scenario that you would like to be successful in, to then create steps and ways to improve your chances of succeeding in the given scenario.

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?

Honestly, the one idea that I learned that differed most from my expectations was that passion is does not lead to success, but the opposite. This was slightly shocking to me, because all my life I have learned that if your passionate about something you will be successful at it. While it may not be true for all things, being passionate about something is not as important as I originally thought it was. I still however, believe that I would rather be successful at something that I am passionate about.