Lessons From Scott Adams’s Book “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big” - review
I came across Scott Adams a few times. First time I found his blog thanks to Naval Ravikant's recommendation. Then I came across Scott in Tim Ferris’s book “Tools of Titans”. The Scott Adams chapter contains two concepts that changed my point of view in terms of achievements great things. At first, these concepts seemed very obvious to me, but as I delved deeper into them, I found - this is how the world works. Then I almost fell in love with his content.
I decided that I have to share with you these concepts as well as other things that I learned from his book “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big”.
This book has a lot of valuable insights about life and simple lessons that can take you to the next level if you embrace them.
1. System vs goals
Each of us has goals and wants to achieve them very much. So why do so few people succeed? The reason lies in the goal. People are goal-focused, which doesn’t have any coverage because they don’t have a solid foundation within which they operate. People have to run on a customized system to achieve goals.
Scott Adams once said:
“Goals are for the losers, systems are for the winners”
It seems that each of us is by nature more oriented towards the goal itself than actually acting towards achieving it. This is where the system comes in handy, but what does the system mean in this case? The answer is simple. Let me explain based on a few examples.
Let’s take health and lose weight. Your goal is to lose 80 pounds.
So in terms of goal, it is: I’ll lose 80 pounds. But your system is: I’ll eat healthy food and run three days a week.
Operating within a system, which is eating healthy and running three days a week will make you lose 80 pounds. But The goal itself, which is I’ll lose 80 pounds is an empty statement that doesn’t bring any real action toward actually achieving what you want.
The system is the foundation of all our organized activities aimed at achieving the goal. The main difference is that system is based on knowledge, the goal is based on willpower.
It’s better to have a stable system built upon which you operate than to rely on a goal and wait until you run out of willpower.
Another example, let’s say blogging. Your goal is to have a blog that will be viewed by 100,000 unique users per month. Your system is: I’ll be publishing 3 posts a week and promoting the blog on social media. Sooner or later, based on the system, you will achieve your goal. But if you say my goal is to have a popular blog, it’s an empty statement, that doesn’t bring anything to the table.
The system is focused on action, not the object itself. But operating following the system will get you to your goal, so worrying about whether you can achieve your goal is gone.
A great example that explains how the system works is writing a blog by the creator of Dilbert. His future wife kept asking why he spends so much time writing a blog when the results are inadequate to the work involved. She couldn't understand Scott, and that was because she saw writing a blog as a goal, not a system.
Let’s break it down, looking holistically at writing a blog as a system.
1) Writing is a skill that requires practice - it forms a habit and improves our ability to communicate.
2) R&D for writing - he touched upon a variety of topics, trying different writing styles, some humorous, some direct, some a bit aggressive, provocative, playful, and checked which style appealed to the readers the most.
3) the Wall Street Journal discovered his blog and offered him to write an article - due to the combination of all his skills, which he developed through daily practice, the articles began to enjoy high popularity.
4) His writing for the WSJ caught the attention of book publishers, and that attention grew into a book deal that turned out to be lucrative.
His blog has opened up many possibilities for him that would not be so clear from the point of view of the goal itself, but if we look at it as a system, blogging is highly useful - set a habit, practice patience, it combines a lot of skills and grow your network. 2. Talent Stack
There are two ways to achieve excellence. The first is extremely difficult, the second seems to be easier.
First method: you have to be in the top 1% in a given field, which is very difficult to achieve, almost impossible for an ordinary person.
Second method: you have to be above average in two or three areas, which can be done by almost everyone.
The second method can be called Talent stacking. This method is about combining fairly common skills into a unique and unprecedented set of skills. Combining skills that go well together is like the snowball effect that gives you an extraordinary advantage. It’s about increasing the odds of success.
Achieving leverage, in this case, seems quite achievable, for example:
If you are a college student, it means that in one field you are already above average - e.g. programming, design, add to it some of the communication skills - public speaking, persuasion skills or writing and on top of that add business knowledge. You're on the right track.
Here’s a more fancy example:
Kanye West isn’t the best musician, songwriter, producer, and fashion designer, but combining his skills is what makes him unique and valuable. Plus you can add his dedication and ego - you will not find the same person. On top of that, his uniqueness has commercial value.
One of the best examples of talent stack is Scott Adams itself. A famous syndicated cartoonist, but as he said he’s not the best at drawing, he doesn’t have much artistic talent and he has never taken a college-level writing class. But few people are good at both drawing and writing. When you add his ordinary business skills (he earned an MBA). He also has a strong work ethic, risk tolerance, and a good sense of humor. All things together highlight his uniqueness.
Note: None of his skills is remarkable but his set of skills is unique.
Skills stacking this way can make you build a mix that no one else has made, making you unique and the market is willing to pay a lot for it. Then you become a person with no competition. You no longer work as a programmer, graphic designer, doctor, or lawyer, but your industry is your first and last name.
As Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal said, the competition is overrated, find your monopoly.
3. Success is better than passion
The supervisor at the bank told Scott, don't give credit to someone who wants to run a business out of passion, give it to someone who wants to earn a lot of money.
Scott Adams, like Marc Andreessen, says that following a passion is stupid. Many people may feel offended but take it easy. Adams concludes that success is stronger than passion, yes, passion can make us take more risks or just spend more time doing something. However, passion follows success. Our achievements make us fascinated by something.
You may not be interested in something at first, but if you are successful in this area, passion will start to emerge and it will follow your success. A popular example that comes to my mind is learning math in elementary school. Many students dislike math because no one can explain it well enough, leaving them with poor grades and their commitment disappearing.
On the other hand, many students who understand mathematics and achieve good results in it develop their interest in science over the years. They very often choose fields of study that are somehow related to mathematics.
I have had similar experiences with creating graphics. I went to study related to it and within 3 months I got my first job in the profession, which led to further activities - publishing a portfolio, describing projects on the Internet, and so on. The combination of my interest in graphics and other things made me create "Play For Thoughts". I started blogging and describing more complex issues. And my success in Photoshop was only the little spark that awakened passion.
Scott Adams says that people who have achieved great success in a highly competitive field, such as technology or art, advise others to "follow the passion", because everyone wants to hear about passion, not about hard work, commitment being highly intelligent, or lucky.
Passion seems to be attractive to everyone and everyone can apply it in life as opposed to hard work. Not everyone can say I worked all weekend, but everyone can say that they are passionate about something, even watching TV.
I think this advice can be trusted, I wish you the same results :)
4. Focus on increasing energy, not time management.
We are busy. We have a lot to do - school, friends, work, passions, maybe even kids. The problem with focusing only on one thing is that other aspects of your life don't work out properly.
You probably ask yourself how to find the time for all this. I can tell you: don't even try. You should only be focused on one metric: energy.
Instead of learning perfect time management, learn how you can keep your energy high.
This is a very good tip because when we have the energy it is easier for us to manage various aspects of our lives. When I say energy, I mean deep, focused energy, not the energy stimulated by coffee. This one is good but for the short term. We, on the other hand, are talking about a system that will allow us to maintain a high level of our energy in the long term without side effects.
It is extremely important to create a system that fosters energy and productivity. In my case, things that work great are:
A low-carb diet, which makes me less sleepy and able to be productive most of the day. I also tested intermittent fasting at one time, and I also noticed being more focused and increased energy.
6,5 hours of sleep. For me, this is the ideal length of sleep that makes me wake up refreshed and ready to take an action.
Weightlifting before or after 9-5. even two or three series of lifting a dumbbell is like salvation for me. I try to exercise every 2 days.
Jogging in the evening, before going to bed. I don't use it as an energy boost per se, of course, it helps. However, jogging makes me fall asleep easier and improves my sleep quality in general. So I see the indirect effects of jogging the next day when I wake up.
All these things build my system, which results in the increased energy that I use to write a blog before going to work in the morning. But we talk about the whole system, so we have to mention things that are worth avoiding, the things that are energy killers. In my case, such things are: going shopping, especially shopping malls, and dealing with official matters. I am always looking for ways to do these things while losing as little energy as possible. So, figure out your energy killers.
Everyone should adjust the system to themselves. Scott Adams says he gets up at 5 a.m. and creates immediately because it is easier for him to create in the morning when he is in the creator mode. On the other hand, in the afternoon and evening, he doesn't create, he learns new stuff because he's working in a copier mode.
My system also looks similar. I wake up around 5:30 a.m. and create before work, after work I exercise, then write new concepts, go jogging, and at the very evening I do not create anything, I just absorb new things, reading about mental models, listening to podcasts, and so on.
Having a system that increases energy is a worthy long-term goal. I encourage you to develop a system that will suit you. Then it is easier to function and not get aroused in a multitude of matters.
Measure energy, not time. It's better to run out of time than energy. In the long term, it will make more sense.
5. Thoughts ratio - positive thinking and affirmations
A very interesting concept where Adams compares our brain to a bookshelf. In a way, it is limited to what is in it. Look at it this way. Only the books you put are on the shelf. If you have a lot of math books on it, I suppose you are fascinated by science. It's the same with our brain. Our mind is filled with thoughts that we will put there ourselves, just like with books on a shelf. Therefore, it makes sense to even force-feed yourself with positive thoughts.
Even if your life is not full of roses and has more worries than causes for optimism, it is worth trying to keep our mind occupied with other thoughts, happier. Adams recommends daydreaming of wonderful things in your future. The power of daydreaming is quite strong as it affects our mind and body. And it is worth adding that our mind has problems distinguishing our thoughts from reality.
When you watch comedy on TV, you laugh, you think about what you are watching, and your body reacts to it by increasing the number of happiness hormones.
Reality and thoughts go hand in hand.
Summary:
Create a system that you work on daily.
Mix ordinary skills to get an unordinary skillset that makes you unique.
Passion will follow your results.
Everyone has too little time, learn to manage energy instead of managing time.
Increase the ratio of positive thoughts to negative thoughts.
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