Reading Reflection No. 3

Brittany Traynor

ENT3003 Reading Reflection No. 3

Due: 12/01/17

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

I chose a book from the second reading list, so I followed the instructions from the “Reading Reflection No. 2” Assignment

1. The general theme of this book was how to succeed based off of an individual’s experiences and opinions. He made a lot of comparisons that allow the reader to have a slightly different outlook on life. In addition, he emphasized that in some ways, that selfishness is important. We as a society usually have a negative connotation associated with the word selfish, but this author has a different opinion. He feels that if you are focusing on your own happiness and well-being (physically, financially, etc.), you are better able to uplift those around you rather than serve as a burden. If you cannot find your own happiness and success, it is hard to help others find those things and sometimes you even end up taking away from other people’s happiness and success.

2. This class teaches us how to become successful on our own. It encourages us to thinks critically and creatively, and find new or untraditional ways of achieving success.  This book relates to that a lot as it focuses on how to create a mindset that will allow you to be successful on your own.

3. If I were to create an assignment based off of this book, I would probably have my students complete an activity that covers some of the main points of the book. For example, the book focuses on energy a lot, so I would probably have a section of the assignment where the students write out what motivates them and allows them to optimize their own personal energy positively. Everyone does this in different ways, so it would be interesting to see how my students differ in that way. In addition, I would probably have them write out a goal of theirs, and then have them transform that goal into a system, the way that the book describes. Another example I would include would relate to pattern recognition. I would challenge them to think about successes that they have experienced throughout their lives, and ask them to reflect upon those experiences and try to identify patterns in their actions or mindsets that allowed them to achieve that success. This assignment would probably be question based, where I would write out questions or topics to think about and they would write in their responses.

4. My biggest “aha” moment while reading this book was the author’s outlook on goals. He views goals as a negative thing, as you are in a constant state of failure until you achieve that goal. In addition, the feeling of success that you have once you achieve the goal is usually pretty short lived, because you are then setting new goals and staying in this constant state of failure. His approach to achieving things was to view it as a system. For example, when trying to lose weight, it would be more fulfilling to decide to eat healthy and exercise more rather than to label the goal as “losing 10 pounds”. With this approach, you are feeling success each time you eat healthy or exercise, rather than feeling successful only when you actually lose the 10 pounds. I think this is an interesting outlook on life, as this outlook allows you to feel rewarded and successful each step of the way when striving to reach a goal, rather than only feeling successful at the very end.