Reading Reflection No. 2
1. General theme: The main themes in "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big" are self-motivation, self-reflection, and "having a system, not a goal." Throughout the entire book, Scott Adams builds upon lesson after lesson, explaining that we should try increasing our happy thoughts, focus on energy, and build a system that works for us instead of just pursuing an abstract goal without the means of achieving it.
2. Connecting the book to ENT 3003: In this class, one of the main takeaways that I've learned is that if the entrepreneur doesn't believe in themselves, customers won't believe in them. I believe this is directly in line with Scott Adams' philosophy about self-investment and reflection. In order to achieve your goals in any field, including entrepreneurship, you have to understand yourself, your flaws and strengths, and work with the skills that you have. In addition, we learned in ENT 3003 that you must have a system set up to learn who your customers are and how you reach them. This is similar to Scott's idea of setting up systems to achieve our goals.
3. Class exercise: In order to relate to the class, I would have an exercise in which students list their strengths and weaknesses, and then have them explain how each of them contributes or detracts from their goals as an entrepreneur. Sometimes, a weakness might even be beneficial! This exercise would help set up a system that works for each entrepreneur, while more importantly increasing their awareness of themselves and what they can work on in the future.
4. Surprise: One surprise unrelated to the novel itself was learning that Scott Adams is the creator of the comic strip "Dilbert"! Anyways, my "aha" moment was when Scott Adams wrote, “Happiness has more to do with where you are heading than where you are.” I think this part was illuminating because it emphasizes our over-sensitivity and hyper-focus on the present, and how that may keep us down when the most important source of happiness is our outlook on the future. Sometimes, the work we do today may seem boring or repetitive, but when thinking about life as an adult after college and how this work pays off, it definitely makes me happier than thinking of my assignments due next week.
2. Connecting the book to ENT 3003: In this class, one of the main takeaways that I've learned is that if the entrepreneur doesn't believe in themselves, customers won't believe in them. I believe this is directly in line with Scott Adams' philosophy about self-investment and reflection. In order to achieve your goals in any field, including entrepreneurship, you have to understand yourself, your flaws and strengths, and work with the skills that you have. In addition, we learned in ENT 3003 that you must have a system set up to learn who your customers are and how you reach them. This is similar to Scott's idea of setting up systems to achieve our goals.
3. Class exercise: In order to relate to the class, I would have an exercise in which students list their strengths and weaknesses, and then have them explain how each of them contributes or detracts from their goals as an entrepreneur. Sometimes, a weakness might even be beneficial! This exercise would help set up a system that works for each entrepreneur, while more importantly increasing their awareness of themselves and what they can work on in the future.
4. Surprise: One surprise unrelated to the novel itself was learning that Scott Adams is the creator of the comic strip "Dilbert"! Anyways, my "aha" moment was when Scott Adams wrote, “Happiness has more to do with where you are heading than where you are.” I think this part was illuminating because it emphasizes our over-sensitivity and hyper-focus on the present, and how that may keep us down when the most important source of happiness is our outlook on the future. Sometimes, the work we do today may seem boring or repetitive, but when thinking about life as an adult after college and how this work pays off, it definitely makes me happier than thinking of my assignments due next week.
Hey Jean,
ReplyDeleteI read this book too, and I have to say that I'm glad you reminded me of the quote on happiness. I don't know why, but I forgot about it, and it is a great thing to take away from reading this book. I had no idea either that Scott Adams was the creator of Dilbert. That comic strip may be a little before our generation, or I may just be out of touch.
I like your idea for the class assignment, and it made me think of a little addition to it: they identify their strengths and weaknesses, and maybe think of a "system" to improve their weaknesses, and a system for applying their strengths.
Great review! It's interesting to see someone else's takeaways from a book I read.
Hey Jean,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, if you don't believe in yourself, no one else will. I also think if no one else believes in you, it still doesn't mean that you can't. I think self-esteem is one of the biggest parts to growing an idea, song, invention, and friendship. It applies to all areas of life no doubt. Another one of my favorite quotes is, "The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away.