Scott Adams is a 62 year old cartoonist, blogger and author of several non fiction books. He is widely known for his creation “ Dilbert ”. His work is mostly satirical, funny and easy to read.

In his book “ How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big “, Scott Adams tells us about his path to success through several embarrassing failures and the strategies that might have worked for him.

He presents some new ways to think about your failures and the process of finding happiness/success. Today, I will discuss 3 of those ideas that make perfect sense, but does not come to us intuitively.

Passion is Overrated

Energy is good. Passion is bullshit

“Follow your passion” is a common advice given by successful passionate people. But does it work for everyone?

Passionate people take risks. That means there will be far more failures and a few huge successes. People who do succeed are giving interviews and writing books about being passionate to be successful.

No one says “ I’m successful because of my above average desire/talent/luck “, that sounds arrogant. Attributing success to passion makes it seem accessible to everyone. We all do have something we feel passionate about.

But do we really? We tend to be passionate about things that we are naturally good at. If you are good at photography, you will feel more passionate about it and vice versa

Passion may just be an indication of your ability in that particular field, rather than some form of higher calling.

Moreover, we don’t get to listen to all the unsuccessful passionate people.

So instead of just following a passion, focus on getting better at everything you do. (work, skills, health, family etc )

Goals vs Systems

Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous pre success failure at best, and permanent failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do.

Have a system instead of a goal. Achieving a goal feels good, but only temporarily. And what do you do next? Set another goal?. Goal setting makes you feel like a failure, until you achieve it. And then, the process repeats itself. Being in a state of permanent pre-success failure can get exhausting after a while.

A system is something that you do regularly, that increases your odds of success. Systems have no deadlines , and they make you feel better every time you do them. You are moving in the right direction, after all. Hence, they are more sustainable.

If you do something everyday, its a system. If you’re waiting to achieve it someday in the future, its a goal.

Examples

“I will lose 10 kg” vs “ I will eat clean “

“ I will do 20 pull ups “ vs “ I will workout everyday “

The latter works better, and makes you feel better on a regular basis.You will eventually reach multiple goals by following a simple system.

 Every Skill Matters

Every Skill You Acquire Doubles Your Odds of Success

When it comes to skills, quantity beats quality. Unless your are extremely talented at any particular field, being average at two complementary skills is better than trying to achieve excellence at just one.

Good + Good > Excellent

A combination of mediocre skills that you acquire is greater than the sum of the parts. Also, everything you learn makes it easier to learn something else.

Pursuing excellence and extraordinary talent does work, but it’s probably the hardest approach to success. Being good at multiple complementary skills is easier.

Summary

By focussing on the author’s failures and his acceptance of being mediocre at everything, this book by Scott Adams sets itself apart from the other self help books.

It is also funny, simple and easily relatable to our daily experiences.There is much more in the book than what I chose to discuss here. So, do read it completely!!!

Please subscribe here to get my latest posts delivered straight to your inbox.