27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams

1) Main theme:

The overall theme of the book is self-improvement through change. Scott Adams preaches that you should take care of yourself first. The book says that one must put one's need in front of anything else before trying to deal with external problems. The novel also tells the types of changes and improvement one must make in order to be successful. Changes like switching from a goal methodology to a systems based approach, trying new things whenever time and responsibility allows and fail whenever possible to learn from the failures.

2) Connection to ENT3003:

This novel has a very strong connection to ENT3003. Like many new business Scott Adams says that we as humans tend to fail a lot and we should. There is very little chance that your first business will succeed since your are prone to multiple threats, but these fails will help you learn and evolve until you hit the right idea, at the right time, with the right plan. Failing is key to any opportunity one decides to pursue because it it from what we learn most as humans. This novel also connects to the course by preaching a switch from goals approach to a systems methodology as the later one allows for adaptability and has less chances of demotivation.

3) Exercise:

A good exercise for this course pertaining to the novel would put failing as the goal. Students should pick from a set list of absurd tasks, such as receiving free food, or applying to crazy jobs or opportunities. Then the students should record their attempts from the initial to final. Then the students should reflect on the changes and improvements in their attempts and how they relate to failures. Then they should talk about their journey with accepting failure and rejection.

4) Moment of surprise:

The only surprise or "aha" moment I had was the way that he was introduced to a systems method as a better alternative to goals. He was on a plane and struck up a conversation with the man next to him. Then the man told him how he used systems instead of goals and how that allowed him to go from regular employee to an executive. I surprised me that he didn't come up with it himself or through a sort of philosophical "think tank" but rather a moment of randomness and coincidence with a stranger in a plane.