Reading Reflection No. 3

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

1. What was the general theme or argument of the book?
• This book follows the life of writer and cartoonist Scott Adams and how he learned to persevere after several failures. Although he is famous for the Dilbert comic strips, he had years of failed jobs, start-ups, and patents before finding success. Through a series of lessons, he explains how he stayed motivated and continued to work hard.
2. How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
• I think this book is the epitome of the entrepreneurship process. It is impossible to create a best-selling service or product right off the bat with an idea. From what we've done in our own venture ideas throughout the semester, I have had to change tactics, input feedback I'd never thought about, and even adopt a new opportunity towards the end because I was "failing". 
3. If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
• I would create an exercise that would involve listing up to 5 failures, ones that have actually happened or potential ones, and then have the class think of at least 2 success that could come from those failures. This would help create the mindset that failure isn't the end of the world and can actually be the driver of 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 found the lesson Adams gave on focusing on systems rather than goals to be the biggest surprise in this book. We've been conditioned to set goals when we plan to do something. However, the problem with goals are that they are specific and have deadlines, so when we don't reach them we feel like we've failed, even if we were making good progress up until then. Systems are more open-ended and allow you to make adjustments when necessary and leave more room for potential successes rather than potential failures.