For my third reading reflection, I chose the novel, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams.
1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? The general theme of Scott Adams' book is that goals are important, but succeeding at them isn't everything. Having an end result in mind is great to guide you along the process of creating a business, but sometimes we get so wrapped up in sticking to our plan to get to the end result that we are completely blind to all the awesome opportunities that present themselves as we progress down a path we think we have to stick to. Adams shares that he has failed 36 times in regards to business, but he doesn't speak negatively of those experiences because each failure taught him valuable skills that helped him succeed with other ideas.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? Adams shares that most of his failures were "high risk, high reward" situations and in those cases, failure is more than likely. He then goes on to say that you can't go into these situations so dead-set on a particular goal that you fail to realize the chances you have to better the outcome. I feel like this aligns with what I've learned in this course. From the lectures and interviews with entrepreneurs, failure seems pretty normal. We've learned so much about how many successful companies started out with completely different goals and plans than what they got successful for. Adams' story was just another example of how failure shouldn't stop you from getting back up and trying again because if you really want something, it's worth fighting for.
3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? Adams talks about knowing the price of what it'll take to get what you want. I think developing an assignment off of this lesson could be very beneficial to future students. This assignment could be done in a blog post where students will have to map out exactly what they'll need to do to make their idea work. I don't mean in a strictly monetary way, but in a personal way. How many hours a day will they need to devote to this project? How will they achieve balance with their work and personal life? Where can they look for other opportunities that could better their original goal? What would it take for them to abandoned their original idea for something else? Answering these questions and a few more would require the student to really dive into the personal aspect of business and that can be a helpful reality check.
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? Adams advocates prioritizing yourself while pursuing business opportunities because if you do not value your health and the people around you, you will create distracting stress that will drain your energy and that will hinder your efforts of being happy. I was surprised to hear him talk so much about health and happiness because most of what I've heard about running a successful business is negative. I feel like people are always quick to tell you how running a business dominates your entire life and they always seem to say it in a very negative way like they are unhappy with their situation even if they are successful. It was uplifting to hear you can practice balance and still strive for success.
No comments:
Post a Comment