Reading Reflection #2

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big By: Scott Adams

1) The general theme of the book was that failure leads to success, with the right mindset and work ethic. Adams makes the reader feel as they can achieve anything if they use the right path and have a good attitude. The main takeaway is that most people don't "make it big" before 30, so don't panic! Adams stresses using systems instead of goals and pushes to never give up. 

2) This book greatly enhanced the lesson of ENT3003 because I feel both Adams and Professor Pryor's ideals coincide. Pryor is always stressing that failure leads to success and that when you initially fail, there is always a way to bounce back and find a new way of achieving your goal. Additionally, the book gave me insight on my own ideas. When this class began I didn't know the idea we picked would stick with us throughout the whole class and I wasn't very confident in it. After reading, Adams gave me new ways that I can tweak my idea and turn it into something that I am proud of. Overtime I have done this and embedded some of his ideals into my own company, Jobs4You and if anything, this book has given me confidence that even if my idea fails, I learned some great skills and benefited from the experience. 

3) If I had to design an exercise for this class it would be called "Create the Biggest Failure". The students would have to create a catastrophe of a business idea and pass it along to the person next to them to try and fix. The idea of the exercise is to first think of everything that would make a company fail and put it all into one, to remind the students of what NOT to do in the real world. The challenge would be undoing your peers' failed business plan and turning it into something amazing. Whoever fixes their failure into the best idea wins! This exercise relates to the book because it is all about learning from your losses and moving on with more knowledge than your started. 

4) The biggest surprise of the book was that Adam's stressed using "systems" instead of "goals". I have taken many business classes at UF and in all of them they discuss setting "goals" and outlining "goals", so I was surprised to hear someone recommend the opposite. I like his idea of systems because I think it is much more realistic and doesn't let you down as much if you don't reach them.