21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The book that I read is 'How to fail at almost everything and still win big' by Scott Adams. This book is a memoir of Scott Adams that tells his life story and the important lessons that he took away from his life experience. In this book, Scott explains the importance of using systems instead of goals. Goals always feel like a win every time you complete a task while systems make you more vulnerable to failure because you always have more to do. This is great because you are working towards a large achievement but not everyday is a success so it is a lot more realistic. He then discussed the importance of choosing a job that you are most likely to take risks with. Lastly, Scott is a big believe in finding your energy. By this he means that it is important to do something that keeps you feeling energized because if you can learn to manage your energy then you can fail a bunch and still produce big wins.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book enhanced my learning in ENT 3003 by reminding me that failure is apart of entrepreneurship and even part of life. I need to accept failure and learn from it because that is how you grow into a better person. In addition this book reminded me of the importance of patience. Lastly this book helped enhance my learning in ENT by teaching me the importance of systems over goals. It is good to create systems because they keep your energy moving and allow for failure.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If I were to design an exercise based off this book for student then it would bee an assignment where a student picks 5 of his goals. The student then changes his 5 goals to 5 systems. This would help students understand the importance of systems and teach them how this concept can benefit their lives.

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? 

One of the subjects in this book that really stood out to me was the idea of patience. Most people aren't extremely successful before the age of 30. HE used many well known names as examples of people that didn't become known until after their 30's. This made me realize that I need to be more patient. Many people expect that success is going to come as soon as they start working hard but in reality working hard only sets the foundation for being successful. It is important to set short term and long term goals and to be realistic. While setting goals one will face failure and it is important to learn to embrace that failure. If you learn from your mistakes and develop a strong work ethic, the possibility are endless.