“I find it helpful to see the world as a slot machine that doesn’t ask you to put money in. All it asks is your time, focus, and energy to pull the handle over and over. A normal slot machine that requires money will bankrupt any player in the long run. But the machine that has rare yet certain payoffs, and asks for no money up front, is a guaranteed winner if you have what it takes to keep yanking until you get lucky. In that environment, you can fail 99 percent of the time, while knowing success is guaranteed. All you need to do is stay in the game long enough.”
I used to read the newspaper.
No, not the internet version on my phone. The actual newspaper, made from real paper that we helped innourbhands. Every morning I’d buy the Philadelphia Daily News and start from the back which was the sports section. I'd get to the comics section too, especially on Sundays when all the comics were in full color.
Dilbert became one of my favorites. Even though I didn't work in corporate America, I understood the stereotypes and jokes in each Dilbert strip. I even liked how Dilbert resembled the corporate Everyman: same outfit daily, a numbingly boring existence, no one but office mates to call friends.
I also respected the craft of coming up with something funny with such a short space in which to do it. That's a skill.
Scott Adams, it turns out, has that skill.
Scott, if you didn't catch on by now, is author of the Dilbert comic strip which has been nationally syndicated for over 20 years (and which has made Scott a well-paid man). He's written some other books which never got my attention, but the title of this one alone made me buy it.
I found out that Scott worked in corporate America himself, which explains the workplace focus of the strip. Adams goes into many other details about his Winnipeg up to and after Dilbert’s launch, as there was a lot that happened before Dilbert became a household name.
How To Fail is a step-by-step guide to Scott’s life principles, many of which he learned through trial and error. He explains the errors and shares his findings for you to decide on.
Scott shares many of his failures, missteps and business ideas gone wrong, many of which happened before Dilbert was in event one newspaper.
The best thing about the book is Scott’s great conversational writing style, which makes you want to keep reading with every turn or scroll of the page.
You Should Read How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big IF: You like reading writers who write as if they're having a conversation with you. You've ever read Dilbert. You want to learn to succeed despite you lack of evident talent or skill.
#WorkOnYourGame