21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

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

The main argument within this book is the idea that you don’t have be hugely success/talented in order to be successful at life. This book is a recollection of cartoonist Scott Adams, which he continuously loses and fails until the creation of the famous cartoon Dilbert. Adam’s approaches the book with a series of steps in which he feels can help guide the reader along his stream of conscious. I won’t go through all of them but some of my personal favorites. The first step he says is to do your creative work first. The idea is that you should put most of creative energy in the morning so when night comes around you are not burnt out by the trivial things in life. Another would be the idea that you should focus on yourself that being selfish is important for success as if don’t take time for yourself you’ll never be able purse your goals. Finally, humor as a resource to improve as you’ll be able to use it build connections and enjoy what you are creating. An assignment that I would create based on this book would be an assignment that would have students make something every morning. This could be a morning dairy to an art book that make additions to every morning for a week. Then the following week create something in the evening. Idea is to expose the students to the difference between the two and why it is so important to create in the morning ( or in the rare case create in the evening). The idea is that every student will find a creative method that works best for them. The biggest “aha” moment was the realization that in order to be successful you need to create and invest in yourself.