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by Scott Adams
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How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big is the memoir of Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, in which he shares how he learned to take care of himself, so he could go from loss to loss, until eventually winning big.
How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big is the memoir of Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, in which he shares how he learned to take care of himself, so he could go from loss to loss, until eventually winning big.
Adams first learned about systems from a man he sat next to on a flight. The man said systems had helped him go from employee to CEO, one in particular: going from job to job, always trying to find something better. It was simple enough and the more Adams thought about it, the more he preferred systems over goals in general. He says goals have two problems:
They’re in the future. To get an outcome on an unknown day far out, you have to put in work today. That’s depressing. They’re specific. Unless you get exactly what you set out to get, you’ll be disappointed, even if you end up with something that’s pretty close or even better.
For example, if Scott had focused on trying to publish 365 comics in a year, each day would have been a potential failure until he had actually drawn something and no individual day would really have felt like a win, because it’s just 1/365th of the mission.
Systems, however, leave room to adjust your plans and make timing irrelevant. When you just focus on, say, publishing a blog post each day, every day when you do it feels like a win, the others are just rest days. And even if it takes 500 days until your work takes off, that won’t matter, because you never set a deadline.
Goofs use goals, winners use systems.
We all have specific skills we’re good and bad at, but identifying those isn’t always easy. If you can’t think of certain hobbies from your past that you were obsessed with, and thus likely good at, Adams has an interesting question that might help you find them:
Which areas in life are you comfortable taking risks in?
For example, public speaking is a big fear for most people, but maybe it’s easy for you to start talking in front of a crowd. That’s something you can work with, whether it means leading a group at work or starting a stand up comedy show on the side. With this guideline in mind, you can then start job sampling, which is just trying different things, until you find something that sticks.
Adams doesn’t believe in finding your passion. He believes in finding your energy. It makes sense. As long as you stay energetic and motivated, it doesn’t matter how many iterations of failure you have to go through until you figure out what works, because you’ll enjoy life…
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Get the complete summary in the appBuild your life around systems, not goals.
Sample jobs in which you’re comfortable taking risks to find the best one.
Use space and time to manage your energy.
"How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big" is a strong fit if you want practical ideas around biography, business, career—especially themes like build your life around systems, not goals; sample jobs in which you’re comfortable taking risks to find the best one. The MinuteRead summary distills these concepts into a focused read, whether you're deciding whether to buy the book or applying its lessons at work.
Scott Adams is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip that is published daily in thousands of newspapers and websites all over the world. Adams also authored several non-Dilbert books as well. He is co-founder of Whenhub. Dilbert comics: Dilbert.com WhenHub: WhenHub.com
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