Scott Adams

The creator of the popular Dilbert comic strip presents a lighthearted memoir of what his failures have taught him about success, recounting his journey from a hapless office employee to a world-famous cartoonist while describing the career and monetary setbacks that led to counter-intuitive realizations.

Kind of the Story of My Life

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

'Everything you want out of life is in that bubbling vat of failure. The trick is to get the good stuff out.' Scott Adams has probably failed at more things than anyone you've ever met. So how did he go from hapless office worker and serial failure to the creator of Dilbert, one of the world's most famous comic strips, in just a few years? In this brilliant book, Adams shows us how to invite failure in, embrace it, then pick its pocket. What is the key to success? Hire the right employees! How do you know you hired the right ones? You know because the business is successful. So the key to success is circular reasoning? Yes, because circular reasoning is the key. No career guide can offer advice that works for everyone. Your best bet is to study the ways of others who made it big and try to glean some tricks that make sense for you. So here Scott Adams tells how he turned one failure after another - including a corporate career, inventions, investments and two restaurants - into something successful. Along the way he discovered some unlikely truths. Goals are for losers; systems are for winners. Forget 'passion'; what you need is personal energy. While you laugh at his failures, you'll discover some helpful ideas for your own path to personal victory. As he puts it- 'This is a story of one person's unlikely success within the context of scores of embarrassing failures. Was my eventual success primarily a result of talent, luck, hard work or an accidental just-right balance of each? All I know for sure is that I pursued a strategy of managing my opportunities in a way that would make it easier for luck to find me.'

One of the most shallow books I’ve ever read and only finished by skimming the pages. There are so many better things to read. Skip this one.

Julian Paul

Timeo Williams

Excellent book. I like Scott Adams, abd I've never read his Dilbert comic's, but I find similarities between me and him. 

This book was loaded with sensible advice.Among them, was looking for patterns among people who have succeeded in the domain, rather than one person's individual advice. It mentioned skills to learn, and reasons for learning them. The whole thesis if failing and learning is the same theology behind the Lean startup, being embraced today and the growth mindset. The examples/stories in the book were personal and compelling.

Also, the concept of systems > goals.

Sarah Schumacher

4.5 stars. I knew nothing about this book going in and really enjoyed it. It’s an eclectic mix of good advice on a variety of topics, interspersed with personal stories. I think his concept of weighing your personal experience against the advice of others is particularly important. Could be a good introduction to a life hack mentality.

Warning, rant: I felt the need to leave 5 stars to offset the surprising number of 1 and 2 star reviews from people who apparently didn’t bother actually reading this:

- he came from a small town and he (and I assume his siblings) were the first in his family to go to college.
- his parents didn’t have the money for a private college; he had to help pay his way.
- his so-called dumb college stories were to reveal his lack of knowledge of what was acceptable in the business world (and lack of good advice from the people around him).
- the Dilbert characters stuck in cubicles? He was one of them for years. He got up at 4 am to work on Dilbert because at first it was a side hustle.
- many of his business failures were before Dilbert got big, and some involved hours of learning to code himself. Tell me that’s not perseverance.
- he’s had multiple serious health issues.

These are only the things he’s chosen to write about, and only in this book.

Yes, he’s rich and famous NOW, but the reviewers complaining about how “lucky” he is are missing the entire point of the book, not to mention skipping over what he actually wrote. It’s clear he tried not to come across as out of touch. The general public assumes that an overnight success is actually a thing, simply because they don’t see the blood, sweat and tears that an artist or entrepreneur pour into their work, or all failures that came before. He’s trying to let you in on that and for some people, it didn’t appear to work. I agree with him; your job is to make it easier for luck to find you, which is exactly what this book is about.

In my opinion, the only people with a right to complain that he’s just lucky are the most disadvantaged among us, who could probably level that complaint against anyone on the low end of middle class.

Mark Gibaud

A fun and quick read, and some very interesting advice.

Dilbert creator Scott Adams' funny memoir about his many failures and what they eventually taught him about success Scott Adams has probably failed at more things than anyone you've ever met. So how did he go from hapless office worker and serial failure to the creator of Dilbert, one of the world's most famous comic strips, in just a few years? No career guide can offer advice that works for everyone. Your best bet is to study the ways of others who made it big and try to glean some tricks that make sense for you. So here Scott Adams tells how he turned one failure after another - including a corporate career, inventions, investments, and two restaurants - into something successful. Along the way he discovered some unlikely truths. Goals are for losers; systems are for winners. Forget 'passion'; what you need is personal energy. In this brilliant book, Adams shows us how to invite failure in, embrace it, then pick its pocket. While you laugh at his failures, you'll discover some helpful ideas for your own path to personal victory.

Keven Wang

I think Scott Adams is an acquired taste. But I did enjoy reading this book. Probably better in audiobook version if he narratives it.

Colin

Rating: 8.4/10

Started out very strong with the concept of energy being the most important thing in life, driving all goals. Also stressed the idea of systems over goals that I have been striving to follow. Adams falters in the second half in the Fitness and Diet sections where his advice is merely anecdotal and prescriptive.

John Elbing

Some interesting concepts, but he over does it, over thinks it, over plans it, over scrutinizes it...
I felt you would need to be a robot, always working on how you are.
The idea that you would practice telling your stories beforehand to be more comfortable at social gatherings seems a little extreme.
I like the idea that "goals are for losers", it is better to have a system. Each day, instead of not reaching your goal, you are successful at your system.

Cams Campbell

It didn't blow me away and I found that disappointing as I really enjoy Scott's blog. It was just a bit too scattered and surface-level for me to get any real value from it. Shame.

Cindy Lieberman

Surprisingly serious and useful suggestions on creating your own "system" for living a longer, happier and more productive life.

Ivaylo Durmonski

If you’re a fan of Dilbert and Stott Adams in particular, you’ll surely enjoy the read.

The book is exactly what the title entails: the unfiltered story of Scott Adam’s life. How he failed at almost everything but eventually managed to succeed.

Yet, the book is nothing special – a guy sharing his story and the lessons he learned along the way. Yes, there are few nuggets that are worth checking if your planning to start your own business, no matter the industry – most of them are already mentioned above – but nothing groundbreaking.

My key takeaway is the following: There is good selfishness and bad selfishness. Bad is when you’re can’t stop talking about yourself, good is when you want to improve your life so you can improve the lives of others. You need to focus on the second kind.

Read more: https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/...

Ilia Markov

Not a bad book, but I was hoping for something more. 

The book gets repetitive in places, and beyond that, it's your typical "wisdom from a rich guy" type of thing

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YuCheng Kuo

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Taylor Murphy

John Manoogian III

Blasting clichéd career advice, the contrarian pundit and creator of Dilbert recounts the humorous ups and downs of his career, revealing the outsized role of luck in our lives and how best to play the system. Scott Adams has likely failed at more things than anyone you’ve ever met or anyone you’ve even heard of. So how did he go from hapless office worker and serial failure to the creator of Dilbert, one of the world’s most famous syndicated comic strips, in just a few years? In How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Adams shares the game plan he’s followed since he was a teen: invite failure in, embrace it, then pick its pocket. No career guide can offer advice that works for everyone. As Adams explains, your best bet is to study the ways of others who made it big and try to glean some tricks and strategies that make sense for you. Adams pulls back the covers on his own unusual life and shares how he turned one failure after another—including his corporate career, his inventions, his investments, and his two restaurants—into something good and lasting. There’s a lot to learn from his personal story, and a lot of entertainment along the way. Adams discovered some unlikely truths that helped to propel him forward. For instance: • Goals are for losers. Systems are for winners. • “Passion” is bull. What you need is personal energy. • A combination of mediocre skills can make you surprisingly valuable. • You can manage your odds in a way that makes you look lucky to others. Adams hopes you can laugh at his failures while discovering some unique and helpful ideas on your own path to personal victory. As he writes: “This is a story of one person’s unlikely success within the context of scores of embarrassing failures. Was my eventual success primarily a result of talent, luck, hard work, or an accidental just-right balance of each? All I know for sure is that I pursued a conscious strategy of managing my opportunities in a way that would make it easier for luck to find me.”

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big Kind of the Story of My Life

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