The book I read was: “How to Fail at Almost Everything, and
Still Win Big”
1)
The general theme of this book is explaining to
the reader that no matter how many times you fail, there is almost always in a
worse situation than you are in, and you can almost always find a way to
correct yourself and still be a success. This book has changed a lot of the way
that I look at the way I do things just over the past week and starting to get
through a lot of the main points that Scott Adams tells about in his book. I
think that him putting in a lot of his negative life experiences and showing
how he overcame them really helps to put things into perspective for younger
people that read the book and can relate to some of the points.
2)
Many things he mentioned he failed at were
inventions that he had come up with trying to help to improve everyday life.
Many entrepreneurs in general are in business either because they know it is a profitable
business, or they just really enjoy helping to improve the quality of life of
other human beings. The other thing I put together earlier this semester with
all my classes, is the systems approach vs. goals approach, this was probably
my favorite piece in the book because it described more in depth how I should
lay out my life headed towards success, not strive for success and when it
happens stop striving for it, or if I fail, give up on it. The system approach
at task allows me to do things to better myself without setting a goal except
to improve.
3)
If I had to design an exercise for this book for
this class it would be something simple, since I liked the systems vs. goals
approach so much I think I would have students write out a list of things they
could do to help them succeed rather than a list of things they to make them succeed.
Instead of writing down a list of things to do saying “study pages 45-62 by 9
pm” write down that they needed to “study chapter 2 and try to understand main
concepts for upcoming exam” even though time oriented things usually present
better results I think by giving the studying a more relaxed feel that more would
be taken in rather than stressed about because of a tight deadline and how much
knowing the material meant.
4)
My biggest surprise in the book is just seeing
how many times this guy failed at such simple task. He failed to dress properly
for an important interview, failed to apply to college on time, etc. Another
thing that I saw so relatable in the text is when he talks about almost failing
his first semester. I am struggling in a few of my classes being that this is
my first semester here at UF I completely understood what he felt like. Given
he was parting, then came down with a severe illness that nearly forced him to
drop out because he was in the hospital for a month, I still felt like it was relatable.
I rarely ever go out since I have started this semester and feel so pressured
even with all the effort I put in. His experience really has made me feel the
urge to study harder, and give myself the reinforcement in my brain, that I can
do it.
I think we sometimes believe that famous people or successful people never fail in life ( I am very guilty of that). It can be very had to talk about failure to yourself and others. I think that this is a good book to read in an entrepreneurship class since there are many opportunities to fail when starting new ideas. I think if we are able to learn from our mistakes we can find success in life.
ReplyDeleteKeegan, I think this is the perfect book for anyone who aspires to be an entrepreneur. If we can't learn to deal with adversity, we would all give up before we ever even reached success. In fact, I think the theme of this book is applicable to nearly all aspects of life. College can be difficult and stressful, but that's exactly what makes us into more tenacious, well-rounded individuals.
ReplyDeleteI chose to read a different book and going through your responses it made me wish I had chose this one. I thought everything the author failed at made it all the more admirable that he was still able to make it for himself. I also liked how the things he did fail at (applying to college, dressing wrong, etc.) is very relatable and can ease many college students minds about not having everything go perfectly.
ReplyDeleteKeegan, as always I really enjoyed reading you post and seeing what book that you chose to read of of the ENT3003 reading list. I found this to be a hard assignment because of my course load with my other classes. I hope that you did not have this problem and instead enjoyed reading the book and learning about your entrepreneur.
ReplyDelete