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How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life by [Scott Adams]

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Scott Adams

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

by Scott Adams (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

2,722 ratings

in Cartooning in Graphic Design

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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.”

Print length

247 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Portfolio
Publication date

October 22, 2013
Reading age

18 years and up
File size

4883 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

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. --David Pitt --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“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.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Scott Adams has drawn nearly 9,000 Dilbert cartoons since the strip began, in 1989, and his cynical take on management ideas, the effectiveness of bosses, and cubicle life has affected the worldview of millions. But he built his successful career mainly through trial and error—a whole lot of error, to be exact.
—Harvard Business Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

ASIN : B00COOFBA4
Publisher : Portfolio (October 22, 2013)
Publication date : October 22, 2013
Language : English
File size : 4883 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 247 pages
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #50,719 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1 in Cartooning in Graphic Design
- #32 in Biographies of Business Professionals
- #36 in Career Guides

Customer Reviews:
2,722 ratings

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4 star		14%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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LMW

Advice from a Cartoonist

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2016

Verified Purchase

I read this book on the recommendation of a friend who is a life coach. She believes in a "systems approach" ranging from daily organization all the way to getting one's life priorities in order. The book was written as a casual life story with odds and ends thrown in. It wasn't one of those with a series of life-changing revelations about success, followed by a list of changes you MUST make, shifting to wondering where to begin, and ending with nagging disappointment at not reaching ANY of those big goals. Not only was it an easy, conversational read, but I was able to NAIL the results according to the point of the book.

As Adams says, you shouldn't take life advice from a cartoonist, but I did. I would enjoy reading more of his books as he is an interesting and outside-the-box thinker. Though it's not an earth-shattering-revelation tome, I give it 5 stars for ease and likeliness of success.

143 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jason Safdie

We are all moist robots. Program yourself accordingly.

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

I started following Scott Adams during the 2016 presidential campaign and found his analysis using the persuasion filter to predict Trump's win to be valuable and accurate. In support of Scott, I bought and read this book of his. Very glad I did.
I think the most useful pieces of advice were the simplest to convey. Use systems, not goals, to improve your odds of success. Goals are for losers and will let you down after you've failed to reach them and after you've reached them. Learn something new because this doubles your chances of luck finding you. Figure out how much sleep you need and stick to it because that influences your energy and mood, which influences just about everything else. Perhaps the biggest concept pitched in the book is that we are moist robots who can program our energy and moods by changing our inputs from our surroundings.

Yes, some of this is common sense, but much of it isn't.

I found something I had in common with Scott prior to reading in that I don't buy junk food at the grocery store and keep plenty of healthy food around that I can binge on if I want to, with little downside. If you don't have the junk lying around, you won't waste precious energy resisting it or torturing yourself with guilt trips. That energy is better spent on something else.

In any event, Scott's book is an inspirational story of how failures and a different view of reality can change your life. Well done, Scott.

71 people found this helpful

Helpful

Manish

Not quite a home run

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2017

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This is a solid book with useful advice for everyone.

Unfortunately, though, it drops the ball on the central premise of the book: Goals Are Bad vs. Systems Are Good.

After finishing this book I was left with a lot of questions about Systems:
- What are they exactly?
- What are the components of a good system (do's and don'ts)?
- How are they different than a project?

While I understand that it can be a bit subjective, it would've been helpful if Scott spelled out "For Idiots" some of his systems. He alludes to them in the last bit about staying active, where his system allows "slippage". Again, having more visibility into the specifics of one or more of his systems (real or hypothetical examples) with some detail behind it would have made the book much better.

At issue is while I accept the premise that Systems are Better than Goals, I've got no clarity on how to go about setting up systems for myself. That was the big disappointment with the book. Otherwise it's plenty entertaining, and certainly gets to second or third base, but sadly isn't a home run.

I plan to copy / paste this into a tweet for @ScottAdamsSays (who is well worth following) in the hopes that he can direct me to some blog posts or respond to my question about.

82 people found this helpful

Helpful

Alpacas are watching...

I like this guy, but this book could have been a 1,000 word blog post and saved us a lot of time and money.

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2018

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I like this guy, but this book could have been a 1,000 word blog post and saved us a lot of time and money.

50 people found this helpful

Helpful

"Systems over goals" changed my life!

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2019

Verified Purchase

I seriously can't recommend this book enough! It's a super short and easy read, with a deceptively simple, and extremely valuable advice in life and business!

Scott Adam's teaches a deceptively simple concept in this book, on leveraging SYSTEMS rather than GOALS. That chapter and concept has giving me many a great returns. It changed the way I approach weightloss and made it a lasting system that has been extremely successful. It was changed the way I run my business.

22 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

excellent advice

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2013

Verified Purchase

The book was a joy to read

His key ideas are easy to follow because he keeps it simple and Scott Adams writes in a clear and witty manner

For example the chapter on applying a system vs setting goals and trying to follow them was worth the price of the book many times over for me (and this is reinforced through the book). In his own words goals are a reach-it-and-be-done situation (where you are often waiting to achieve it someday in the future) whereas a system is something you do on a regular or daily basis with a reasonable expectation that doing so will get you to a better place in life. Wanting better health or wanting to lose 10 kg are goals. Being active everyday is a system. One is tied to another - but goals people are fighting the feeling of discouragement at each turn and the systems people are feeling good every-time they apply their system.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone smart and weary of reading tired cliches in the self-help genre. The book is a breath of fresh air!

352 people found this helpful

Helpful

Faithful Reader

Tale of rich guy repeatedly blowing money in bad investments and deals

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2020

Verified Purchase

Really wanted to like this book. Agree about the 1000 word blog post, tho. Advice comes to "Eat right and exercise, which will give you enough energy to set up a system approach and don't forget those affirmations." I know he lives in East Bay but this is pure Marin 1970s. Macrobiotics? Wheat grass juice? High colonics? Anybody? He made money, lots and lots of money, on one idea - Dilbert - and the writing/speaking that comes from creating successful intellectual property if the creator is willing to do the lecture circuit. Losses on everything else bailed out by Dilbert cash flow. Very few people reach that situation. Good for Mr Adams, but...subtract that cash flow and then what?

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Mark Moriarty

Helped me internalise helpful ways to look at the world, reduce risk and increase future opportunities

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2017

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I recommend chapters 6 (SYSTEMS — not goals — to keep you winning), 11 (focus on energy), 20 & 21 (success — the best two chapters) and 30 (future-focused happiness). Even if you skip all the rest, this book is worth the purchase price.

Most of the wisdom I appreciated was not "new" to me, per se, but was excellently articulated, such that Scott crystalized some principles I had only vaguely identified and adopted myself. As such, he helped me internalise some useful ways to view the world, and has helped me to explain concepts to others much more clearly since I read this book. I found myself nodding along agreeing with the book as I read (rather than having "aha! that's new!" moments); nonetheless reading it still left me with clearer thought, as I was now armed with clearer language to describe the approaches Scott discussed.

If I had read this while still in college, I may have exposed myself to less risk.

The two main messages I got from this book:
1 - Scott provides some very simple guidance on how to manage the inputs to your brain so you are happy and healthy in the immediate term. You are a "moist robot" so can easily manipulate your environment to benefit yourself.
2 - He also provides simple principles for living via SYSTEMS that ensure you maximise your (career) options in future and increase chances of future success, potentially enjoying some very lucrative upside without having to take a major risk/gamble to get there.

I particularly like his push to use your "talent stack" — your collection of complementary skills at which you are sufficiently "good" — to achieve extraordinary success. The thesis is that sure, if you are an Olympic-level expert in one thing, you can make a lot of money by being an expert in that one thing, but generally most of us are better off using a combination of "good enough" skills to achieve great things. (Examples of this "talent stack" working are Scott Adams himself, or Donald Trump.)

Overall it reads a bit like a combination of:
(a) Some illustrative stories from Scott's life, that are either entertaining or drive home one particular point (e.g., reviewing his own particular "failures" and how he made sure he benefitted from each)
and (b) Some general "life advice" that reads a bit like advice a parent might write to leave their child, if the parent had been diagnosed with a terminal disease and wouldn't be around to coach their child through young adulthood (for example: advice on how to tell a funny story; which conversation topics are boring and should be avoided; how to adhere to a simple system for eating healthily; motherly reminders to make sure you get enough sleep and exercise).

I'm grateful Scott did NOT fall in the trap of adding pages to make the book seem more substantial. It's succinct enough.
That said, some story-telling chapters (such as details about his journey to recover his voice) appealed to me less, so I just quickly skimmed.

Since enjoying this book, I have gifted it and will continue to do so.

27 people found this helpful

Nick Lincoln

DALE CARNEGIE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

Scot Adams is the creator of "Dilbert", the office-centred comic strip. I find it occasionally funny when I occasionally come across it.

Adams' books, however, are relentlessly excellent, including 2013's "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life".

It's a lucid, entertaining self-help guide, drawing on the lessons Adams has learnt from his various life failures. And that's the point of the book: you have to try things, to go places that you fear if you want to be a success. Failure is to be embraced as long - and this is important - as you learn lessons from it, and adapt accordingly.

Thoroughly recommend this book to anyone, of any age. Read it, laugh, and learn.

4 people found this helpful

Arron Tolan

A fresh take on mastering life and harnessing ambition

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

I read this after being impressed by Scott Adams' newest book 'Win Bigly' and am delighted I did.

Adams' easy writing style and stick-to-the-bigger-picture method of presentation is refreshing in a world saturated by gurus who think endless layers of complexity and personal commitment are the only ways to achieve higher status or realise a dream. The title speaks to the books main idea: specific goals are for idiots, systems that guarantee success are for winners (literally).

Highly recommended to anyone who desires more happiness, personal improvement or simply an entertaining piece of literature from a seasoned and pragmatic entrepreneur.

9 people found this helpful

live4footy.com

I love this book but is the Author as confident?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

First things first. This is a good book. I purchased it yesterday via Kindle and am enjoying it. I am an avid Dilbert fan and also subscribe to Scott's blog so enjoy his longer writing. However, I have a massive issue. Although I am nowhere near the end of the book, I am sick to death of Scott's endless qualifying of his points. Constant reminders that he's no nutritionist or Personal Trainer or Business Guru. I can't work out if the author has no real confidence in his words, is worried sick about a law suit or is just desperate for filler.

This is a massive shame as people who buy this book are probably huge Adams fans and know he is a cartoonist and not any of the above. I bought the book to hear Scott's take on these matters and don't need constant disclaimers that start to sound like apologies for his thoughts.

The Dilbert work is so clear and confident but the great ideas in this book start to look swamped and less sure. This is true despite a whole Introduction that is little but a disclaimer for the whole book. Surely this was enough?

22 people found this helpful

J. Parkinson

Breezy, feel good, with some practical tips

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

You really feel the authors sharing of his story comes from a place of caring and hoping to give the reader informed choices if they find themselves in similar predicaments. And he comes across as very open minded so the lessons are broad enough to be applied to numerous situations, making it valuable to readers looking for life advice, especially those with some confidence issues. It obviously helps that he's led an interesting life but his glass half full approach leaves you feeing this would've been inevitable whatever career he would've chosen. I'll take his advice to continually acquire new skills with me and look more closely at my life style and how what we feed our body, both mentally and physically has a knock on effect on what we have "left in the tank" for the rest of our life, and make my "moist robot" more efficient in terms of achieving the life I strive for :)

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