The book I picked was, How to fail at almost everything and still win big by Scott Adams, the creator of the comic strip Dilbert. It focuses on how to be successful in life. This general theme is embedded in the personal experience and career path of the author, who highlights the most useful elements and strategies to become successful.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
I think that many aspects highlighted by Adams connect with what I’m learning in this class. First of all, the author stresses the importance of social and human capital, saying that if you acquire many different skills and you’ become good enough at them you have a higher chance of becoming successful. Also, Scott Adams believes that failures need to be embraced because it is likely that you’ll encounter many failures before reaching success and because through them not only can you learn from your mistakes, but you can also acquire new skills or knowledge thank to your experience.
3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
The exercise I would design for this class would involve goals and systems, following Adams’ perspective. Since Adams considers goals to be unproductive, in my exercise each student would firstly set a series of goals regarding their businesses and then turn them into long-lasting systems, adding personal ways to stay energized and motivated.
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 chapter about goals and systems surprised me particularly because I had never thought about the importance of the latter. In his book, Adams talks about how he first learnt about systems and how he realized they are better than goals. In fact, since goals are set in the future and are very specific, it is more likely to collect failures and get demoralized. On the contrary, systems are strategies to follow through time no matter what, so that eventually you will achieve something and feel satisfied. This part differed from my expectations because I am used to setting concrete goals anytime I have something to do, so that I often focus more on goals than systems and I sometimes can’t reach my goals.
Cesar,
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis of the book. The title was very intriguing to me but I ended up choosing to read another book. I think it was awesome that the book tied into what we were leaning in class, along the lines of human capital. Also, the exercise you designed seemed really cool also! Failures really do shape our future and it is important to always remember that. Great job!