by Scott Adams
1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
I think the general theme or argument of this book is somewhat obvious that it's bolded in the title. That's the idea of failure and how it can bring the best and worst out of someone who is wanting to chase their dreams or take risks in life that propels them to where they want to be in life. Self-happiness was another theme I got out of reading this book and I was quite surprised of how fully into depth Adams goes into on this concept in his book. Adams is a big supporter on the value of general happiness over riches. What I liked the best out of Adams' approach on being successful is that he strictly nails down the main point of success in the workforce and that is everybody should want work in something that gets them right out of bed in the morning with no dreading or sighing.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? This book in my opinion connects with and enhances the concepts of learning on "how to celebrate failure" for assignment 26A in module fourteen of ENT 3003. I know we haven't got to that point yet in the class, but by looking ahead of all of the assignments we had for this class and reading the detailed description assignment 26A had to offer, really opened my eyes about how this book ties into that segment. Reading Scott Adams' book reached out to me, as I found his philosophy interesting in celebrating and handling failure to be all up to the individual who is seeking success, and how they handle it can tell a lot about that person. In the book, I like Adams' quote on handling failure and seeking success, "Successful people don't wish for success, they pursue it."
3) 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 develop an exercise for this class based off the book I just read, the exercise would specifically include one exercise in the first couple weeks of class and this is kind of like the bug list assignment, but students would list ten things that mean most to them in their life just wanting to be a successful person. The second part of this assignment would be in the middle of the semester of the ten things students want most out of being a successful entrepreneur. The last part of this exercise I would ask students how both lists and the importance of each item will intervene with the entrepreneur side of you and also affect your personal/social life.
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?
The biggest surprise or aha moment I got out of reading this book is that Scott Adams seemed to generate the perfect entrepreneur behavior in having to pursue so many ideas in startups and continually fail. I never really had a good idea on the type of tenacity that can be developed by a entrepreneur and Adams showed that by not changing anything about him when he was failing time after time. Instead he knew that success would be secured one day for him and he wouldn't change anything about him, his daily routine, overall interests, or mainly change himself to find success in a startup opportunity.
Hey Stuart,
ReplyDeleteI actually read the same book for this assignment and I felt that you did a great job in mentioning some of the key arguments that were discussed throughout. It seems you learned a lot more about entrepreneur behavior and persistence through Scott Adam's path to becoming successful. I also really liked your proposition for an assignment based on this book, as one of Adam's major themes is to maximize your personal energy to make it easier to manage your priorities. By having the students create a list and come back to, it lets them decide which aspects of their list are the most important, as well as which are going to help them ultimately find success within their system. Great Post!
Hi Stuart. Well done on your blog post. I found it very thorough! I actually want to go read this book for myself now. Being able to pick yourself up in the face of failure is difficult and that's what I like about the general theme of the book. Failure can make us stronger and better in the end, it just depends how you as a person handle it.
ReplyDeleteHey Stuart, I enjoyed reading your post! I believe that failure is really the key to success in the long run. Seeing your very thorough post shows that you really understand this notion. This seems like a very interesting read and I think I am going to check it out as well. Overall great post and keep up the great work!
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