27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

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

• What was the general theme or argument of the book?
• In my opinion, there were several of themes and arguments of this book that you could talk about but the one I found most powerful was Scott Adams talking about how you should be following a system rather than a goal. In his book, he uses dieting as one of the examples. He states how wanting to lose 20 pounds is a goal, while eating right is a system. Another example I used which I believe to relate to entrepreneurship the most is making millions of dollars is a goal while being a serial entrepreneur is a system. I think a lot of the times especially in college people focus on how much money they are going to be making. This book shows how you will be able to see a bigger difference by being in a system and slowly working rather than just having a set goal. Having a set goal especially one as high as making millions can be very discouraging when you get to a certain point. If you get into a system and use it to keep working you will see a better change in your life rather than having a goal and quitting.
• How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT3003?
• This book in my opinion connected and enhanced what we are learning in ENT3003 because it shows us that there is a recipe to success and it is not having one thought and not allowing a single thing effect it. When you are able to work in a system, you are able to see all of the different ideas that come along that can benefit you. There is more to being an entrepreneur than having an idea and not allowing anyone to prove you wrong. It takes time for an idea to come close to perfect.
• 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 based on this book, I would make an exercise similar to what Adams showed in his book. As I spoke about earlier, I feel as if tons of college kids just want to graduate and make tons of money and expect that. I think using an exercise to make a list of about 20, like Adams showed can be a big help of showing students that you can't just expect certain things to happen because you have a college degree. It will show them that following a system will benefit them way more than setting a goal and they can see changes in their life that they can benefit from.
• 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?
• The biggest surprise to be when reading this book was what it had to offer. When I first began to read it, I did not think it would be as eye opening as it was along with affecting me the way it did. This book was able to show me how much more there is to just setting goals and doing whatever you can to achieve them and if something didn't work to just set another goal. By following a system rather than doing what you want, if you decide to stop it, you will leave the idea or goal a lot better than when you first thought of it and potentially carry some of the learnings with you to your next goal or plan.