Assignment 27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

For the third and final reading reflection, I read How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, by Scott Adams. The theme in general was a reflection on his life experience, challenges he has faced, and valuable lessons he has learned along the way. He was very open with the fact that, while not particularly gifted in any one thing, a compilation of a lifetime of skillsets led to great success. This includes a self-admitted realization, from the creator of Dilbert, that he is not even the best animator! He talks extensively about not being afraid to try different things, and that failure is a tool not an outcome, because the experience learned in failure is often the most beneficial (while also being strangely enjoyable).

There were a couple of main themes that stood out to me in this book that echoed loudly what we are learning in ENT3003 lectures and weekly assignments. The first is that seeking advice from others is critical to help steer clear of mistakes and leverage the life experiences of others. But, people only know what they know, and that knowledge is not everything. If you have conviction, have done your research, and believe you have a viable idea, it’s your opportunity to lose not theirs! The author also very much agrees that when it comes to your ideas, your friends and family will lie to you!

A very powerful theme was also apparent to me throughout this book. It is that the market rewards execution of work, not the sharing of ideas. That (excuse the quoted profanity) “passion is bullshit” because it is not passion that drives us to success, but rather that passion is a product of it. He goes on to say that these goals, ideas, or passion are not some generalized concepts that either steer, guide us, or we reach once and complete our journey, but rather we set up a systematic way on a regular basis over time to achieve reasonable and measurable expectations we set for ourselves. Plainly stated, it is the point we stop imagining or saying what we want, and start putting words into action and doing it! And we have created the plan to actually execute to achieve it.

Chapter 21, The Math of Success, covered strategic, calculated ways to increase your chances at success. There is a section on pages 122-128 that give practical tips to sharpen conversation skills in social situations, including how to formulate a story. The basic parts of a story are listed as follows: Setup, Pattern, Foreshadowing, The Characters, Relatabilty, The Twist, and lastly Topics to Avoid. Based on the story structure and tips provided in the book, my exercise for the class would be to write a story to tell as part of a one-on-one or group conversation in a social setting of people you don’t know. The exercise would be conversation starter practice for learning to engage new people into further conversations for relationship building.

While I would not call it an ‘aha’ moment, the author’s fascination with affirmations was definitely my biggest surprise. It took me awhile to appreciate why he included it in this book and, ultimately for whatever personal meaning affirmations held or still holds for him, it was and is part of his success journey. With that being said, and despite his best and explicitly stated attempts at trying to explain it in order to keep his harshest critics at bay, I feel like he only made the arguably controversial topic for this book worse. For entrepreneurial practicality purposes, promoting self-belief and confidence in an ability to accomplish something is one thing. While maybe less honest, I wish he had stuck with that for the purposes of the book instead of acknowledging his obvious belief in some sort of mystical cosmic wish granting machine that he cannot explain.