How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
by Scott Adams
1. The general theme of this book is that failure is 100% natural and thats its more than okay to fail. Changing your perspective from setting goals to implementing systems is Scott Adam's preferred way of succeeding in the future. He specifically enjoys systems because they are not in the future and they are much less specific than goals, however they do include deadlines. Setting deadlines to track progress and maintain motivation is key to succeeding at any endeavor. As long as someone is putting the effort towards something and keeping their chin up, then they will "win big" or at least succeed in the future.
2. This book correlates well with our class because every assignment we complete is still technically a failure in the grand scheme of things. Our repeat assignments and progression allows us to learn from our failures and put that knowledge into our next assignments to better succeed. If we were to get down in the dumps after our first failure, we would not have even reached our second assignment, let alone the last. Whether learned from this book or the class, failure is apart of our process and as long as we learn from it and move past it, the future is ours.
3. The assignment that I would introduce for this class would be to place a stack of coins on top of a dollar bill that is resting on top of an empty glass bottle. The end goal is to take the dollar bill with quickness and finesse in a way that keeps the coins resting on the top of the bottle neck. This exercise would be great as most people would fail many times before eventually reaching their first success (assuming they don't know the tricks). This exercise pairs well my book and this class because it will introduce us to quick and repeated failures with every attempt granting us a little bit more insight into the challenge. As long as everyone continues to try and learn from their mistakes, they will eventually have a successful grab at the dollar bill.
4. The biggest thing I've learned was the concept of systems vs. goals. In my business classes we are trained to think about SMART goals rather than a systems way of thinking. They share their similarities, however systems are much less specific and easier to obtain. It was a very interesting way of looking at things and I could see its implications into many facets of my life such as when I was studying for the LSAT.
That coin and dollar bill trick seems hard. That is kind of like the tablecloth and dish challenge where people end up throwing their dishes all over the floor. The idea of multiple failures before achieving success is very important though. In my profession, when I just started out I would go on like 3 or 4 listing appointments a day. I won none of them for the first like month and a half and wanted to quit. But then, I got one and may whole mindset changed. Now I have ten times the confidence and if not for those multiple failures, I would not be who I am today.
ReplyDeleteI chose the same book to read and I totally agree with the systems vs goals point. I thought that was a unique way to approach progression and milestones. It definitely makes mistakes sting a little less. I like the dollar bill and coins trick, it certainly helps put into perspective the pay off of hard work and effort. I think this is a reason a lot of people enjoy physical challenges or difficult video games, because the result of overcoming is a great feeling.
ReplyDelete