21 - reading reflection 2

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adam

1)    What was the general theme or argument of the book?

·      Well, with this book I felt very identified and grateful to have read it. Scott Adams, an animator, tells his advice and his autobiography. The first tip is to eat well, with foods that give you energy and creativity. The second is to exercise to increase your energy and execute what you propose. The third is to create affirmations, to believe in you. The fourth is to have happiness as a goal, to be at peace. He also advises having a lot of knowledge, studying, educating ourselves, he says that is the key to success. He also advises to look for patterns, and reports that failure is necessary to tell which are the ideal patterns. He says that failure is his best friend and that we must learn from it.

2)    How did the book in your opinion connect with and enhance what you are learning on this class?

·      Well, I consider that this book is ideal for entrepreneurs, in this class most of the assignments are about creating and developing a business idea, looking for potential clients, how big and how successful it can be and if it is really necessary the creation of a product or service. This book says that things that do not work or do not work out as expected, teach us very important things and that we must learn from them without giving up. Also, somehow explains how the best ideas could come out of mistakes. For example, I noticed that from the first elevator pitch and with feedback and comments from other students who advise how to improve the video, the final result (video 3) is much better than the first one.

3)    If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

·      I think I would like to implement Scott Adams' advice on looking for patterns, for example, he says that even in our diet there are patterns. If you notice that when you eat carbohydrates you are tired and want to rest a little, it is better to eat carbohydrates at night and not at times where you need to be productive, otherwise, it says that if you realize that eating an apple helps you in your productivity giving you energy you should take advantage of that.

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?

·      I was surprised by the goals systems, as it says that we often are demotivated because we reach the deadline and we have not met the goal, that is why we should set short-term goals that we can meet and we can be satisfied with in order to reach our final goal without giving up.