How to fail at almost everything and still win big : kind of the story of my life

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Title:

How to fail at almost everything and still win big : kind of the story of my life

Author:

Adams, Scott, 1957- author, artist.

ISBN:

9781591846918

Physical Description:

248 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Contents:

The time I was crazy -- The day of the talk -- Passion is bullshit -- Some of my many failures in summary form -- My absolute favorite spectacular failure -- Goals versus systems -- My system -- My corporate career fizzled -- Deciding versus wanting -- The selfishness illusion -- The energy metric -- Managing your attitude -- It's already working -- My pinkie goes nuts -- My speaking career -- My voice problem gets a name -- The voice solution that didn't work -- Recognizing your talents and knowing when to quit -- Is practice your thing? -- Managing your odds for success -- The math of success -- Pattern recognition -- Humor -- Affirmations -- Timing is luck, too -- A few times affirmations worked -- Voice update -- Experts -- Association programming -- Happiness -- Diet -- Fitness -- Voice update 2 -- Luck -- CalendarTree start-up -- Voice update 3 -- A final note about affirmations.

Personal Subject:

Adams, Scott, 1957-

Subject Term:

Cartoonists -- United States -- Biography.

Vocational guidance -- Humor.

Motivation (Psychology)

Summary:

"Dilbert creator Scott Adams offers his most personal book ever -- a funny memoir of his many failures and what they eventually taught him about success. How do you go from hapless office worker to world-famous cartoonist and bestselling author in just a few years? No career guide can answer that, and not even Scott Adams (who actually did it) can give you a road map that works for everyone. But there's a lot to learn from his personal story, and a lot of humor along the way. In How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Adams admits that he failed at just about everything he's tried, including his corporate career, his inventions, his investments, and his two restaurants. But along the way, Adams discovered some truths you're unlikely to find anywhere else"--

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	921 ADAMS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	921 ADAMS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	921 ADAMS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	741.5 ADA	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

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."

Author Notes

Scott Adams is the creator of Dilbert , one of the most popular and widely-distributed comic strips of the past quarter century. He has been a full-time cartoonist since 1995, after 16 years as a technology worker for companies like Crocker National Bank and Pacific Bell. His many bestsellers include The Dilbert Principle and Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook . He lives outside of San Francisco.

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

Failing and succeeding, the sarcastic comic-stripartist way. Dilbert creator Adams has failed where others have succeeded, and he has a chapter to prove it: a 10-page list of mistakes, misfires and entrepreneurial blunders that humbled him time and again. Not every business venture crashed and burned, of course; the massive success of Dilbert is proof enough of that. As the title of the book suggests, Adams' path to cartooning fame and fortune was uneven, fraught with missteps and largely unrelated to cartooning. Fans of Dilbert will find the author's less-than-orthodox approach to a "win big" guide to be in keeping with the tone of the comic strip. Some of the themes of the book include "goals are for losers," "conquer shyness by being a huge phony (in a good way)," and "simplicity transforms ordinary into amazing." Adams has extensive experience in data-driven office environments, and the long-form writing gives him a chance to examine the many approaches he's tried to making positive changes in his life and career. Many of the themes are common to this type of book--e.g., the importance of a healthy diet and exercise, the benefits of having a "system" to follow over a long period of time instead of passions or goals that leave you feeling empty as soon as you achieve them. Adams has a funny, refreshingly considered set of ideas about how to find success--and what that success will look like when one gets there. While Adams implores readers not to consider this book's suggestions as advice ("It's never a good idea to take advice from cartoonists"), he does turn the many lemons of his work history into something akin to a helpful guide for young adults stumbling through the early career years.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

The creator of the Dilbert comic strip is also the author of several nonfiction books that apply Dilbert's philosophy to the workplace. Here he takes an autobiographical approach, using his own life to illustrate his thesis that failure isn't necessarily a bad thing. Adams' own list of failures is given his spectacular success as a cartoonist surprisingly lengthy: a couple of unsuccessful restaurants as well as computer games, inventions, and online businesses that all tanked. Adams isn't bummed by any of his flops because and this is the key element of his philosophy you learn by trying, not by succeeding. And every failure in life helps point us in the direction of ultimate success. (Adams says he would never have become a cartoonist if it weren't for a combination of personal failures and the successes of some of his friends, who were willing to take personal risks.) Readers familiar with the author's previous nonfiction will note the same easygoing, conversational style here, an approach that works perfectly for blending humor with serious advice.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist

Library Journal Review

Cartoonist Adams of "Dilbert" fame dives into the "guide to success" subgenre of self-help with this book, adding in both humorous and serious autobiographical stories to illustrate some of his guiding principles. Much of the content rehashes commonsense ideas found in similar books, such as eating right for more energy, diversifying your skill set to be more marketable, and learning that some failure is a part of overall success. However, the author also provides a few novel insights concerning focusing on systems to create success instead of on goals or passions. Adams speaks with authority throughout the book, sometimes voicing his personal take on events as fact, though he also addresses the limitations of his own knowledge and experience. Although lacking a great deal of originality, the book's content is concise and well organized. Patrick Lawlor's narration gives the book an upbeat feel that will keep listeners engaged. Verdict Recommended for graduating college students, beginning entrepreneurs, and "Dilbert" fans.-Cliff Landis, Georgia State Univ. Lib., Atlanta (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Excerpts

Excerpt: This is not an advice book. If you're ever taken advice from a cartoonist, there's a good chance it didn't end well. For starters, it's hard to know when a cartoonist is being serious and when he or she is constructing an elaborate practical joke. I've crafted pranks that spanned years, sometimes when no one was in on the joke but me. On top of that, I'm getting paid to write this book, and we all know that money distorts truth like a hippo in a thong. And let's not forget I'm a stranger to most of you. It's never a good idea to trust strangers. I'm also not an expert at anything, including my own job. I draw like an inebriated howler monkey and my writing style falls somewhere between baffling and sophomoric. It's an ongoing mystery to me why I keep getting paid. Most advice-like books take the view that the author is an omnipotent source of knowledge and the reader is an empty vessel of dysfunction. I approach this book with a more realistic humility. For starters, anyone who reads this sort of book is likely to be brighter than the average citizen, and, in far too many cases, brighter than me. Excerpted from How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life by Scott Adams All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Introduction	p. 1
Chapter 1 The Time I Was Crazy	p. 7
Chapter 2 The Day of the Talk	p. 10
Chapter 3 Passion Is Bullshit	p. 13
Chapter 4 Some of My Many Failures in Summary Form	p. 16
Chapter 5 My Absolute Favorite Spectacular Failure	p. 28
Chapter 6 Goals Versus Systems	p. 30
Chapter 7 My System	p. 35
Chapter 8 My Corporate Career Fizzled	p. 41
Chapter 9 Deciding Versus Wanting	p. 46
Chapter 10 The Selfishness Illusion	p. 47
Chapter 11 The Energy Metric	p. 51
Chapter 12 Managing Your Attitude	p. 65
Chapter 13 It's Already Working	p. 74
Chapter 14 My Pinkie Goes Nuts	p. 76
Chapter 15 My Speaking Career	p. 80
Chapter 16 My Voice Problem Gets a Name	p. 82
Chapter 17 The Voice Solution That Didn't Work	p. 84
Chapter 18 Recognizing Your Talents and Knowing When to Quit	p. 86
Chapter 19 Is Practice Your Thing?	p. 92
Chapter 20 Managing Your Odds for Success	p. 95
Chapter 21 The Math of Success	p. 101
Chapter 22 Pattern Recognition	p. 145
Chapter 23 Humor	p. 149
Chapter 24 Affirmations	p. 154
Chapter 25 Timing Is Luck Too	p. 158
Chapter 26 A Few Times Affirmations Worked	p. 161
Chapter 27 Voice Update	p. 163
Chapter 28 Experts	p. 165
Chapter 29 Association Programming	p. 167
Chapter 30 Happiness	p. 171
Chapter 31 Diet	p. 180
Chapter 32 Fitness	p. 204
Chapter 33 Voice Update	p. 215
Chapter 34 Luck	p. 218
Chapter 35 CalendarTree Start-up	p. 220
Chapter 36 Voice Update 3	p. 222
Chapter 37 A Final Note About Affirmations	p. 225
Chapter 38 Summary	p. 230
Acknowledgments	p. 233
Notes	p. 235
Index	p. 246

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (3)

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

Excerpts

Excerpts

Table of Contents

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