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

by Scott Adams

You’re the best judge of what works for you, as long as you acquire that wisdom through pattern recognition, trial, and observation.

You’re the best judge of what works for you, as long as you acquire that wisdom through pattern recognition, trial, and observation.

Sometimes the only real difference between crazy people and artists is that artists write down what they imagine seeing.

Sometimes the only real difference between crazy people and artists is that artists write down what they imagine seeing.

Research shows that loneliness damages the body in much the same way as aging.

Research shows that loneliness damages the body in much the same way as aging.

Passionate people who fail don’t get a chance to offer their advice to the rest of us. But successful passionate people are writing books and answering interview questions about their secrets for success every day.

Naturally those successful people want you to believe that success is a product of their awesomeness, but they also want to retain some humility. You can’t be humble and say, “I succeeded because I am far smarter than the average person.” But you can say your passion was a key to your success, because everyone can be passionate about something or other. Passion sounds more accessible.

It’s easy to be passionate about things that are working out, and that distorts our impression of the importance of passion.

It’s easy to be passionate about things that are working out, and that distorts our impression of the importance of passion.

easy to be passionate about things that are working out, and that distorts our impression of the importance of passion.

Success caused passion more than passion caused success.

Success caused passion more than passion caused success.

sometimes passion is simply a by-product of knowing you will be good at something.

forget about passion when you’re planning your path to success.

forget about passion when you’re planning your path to success.

failure is where success likes to hide in plain sight. Everything you want out of life is in that huge, bubbling vat of failure. The trick is to get the good stuff out.

failure is where success likes to hide in plain sight. Everything you want out of life is in that huge, bubbling vat of failure. The trick is to get the good stuff out.

failure as a tool, not an outcome.

failure as a tool, not an outcome.

Failure IS a tool, not an outcome

failure as a tool, not an outcome.

Failure IS a tool

Good ideas have no value because the world already has too many of them. The market rewards execution, not ideas.

Good ideas have no value because the world already has too many of them. The market rewards execution, not ideas.

what is selling, I asked rhetorically, if not a form of arguing with customers until you win?

what is selling, I asked rhetorically, if not a form of arguing with customers until you win?

Be VERY careful with your presumptions. They might make you look like a fool when you’re ignorant and arrogant

what is selling, I asked rhetorically, if not a form of arguing with customers until you win?

Be VERY careful with your presumptions. They might make you look like a fool when you’re ignorant and arrogant

timing is often the biggest component of success. And since timing is often hard to get right unless you are psychic, it makes sense to try different things until you get the timing right by luck.

timing is often the biggest component of success. And since timing is often hard to get right unless you are psychic, it makes sense to try different things until you get the timing right by luck.

job seeking was not something one did when necessary. It was an ongoing process. This makes perfect sense if you do the math. Chances are the best job for you won’t become available at precisely the time you declare yourself ready.

goal-oriented people exist in a state of nearly continuous failure that they hope will be temporary. That feeling wears on you. In time, it becomes heavy and uncomfortable.

Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous presuccess 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.

In the world of dieting, losing twenty pounds is a goal, but eating right is a system. In the exercise realm, running a marathon in under four hours is a goal, but exercising daily is a system. In business, making a million dollars is a goal, but being a serial entrepreneur is a system.

A goal is the destinstion but a system is the journey

When goal-oriented people succeed in big ways, it makes news, and it makes an interesting story. That gives you a distorted view of how often goal-driven people succeed.

Careful with statistical biased

people who pursued extraordinarily unlikely goals were overly optimistic at best, delusional at worst, and just plain stupid most of the time.

I figured my competitive edge was creativity. I would try one thing after another until something creative struck a chord with the public. Then I would reproduce it like crazy. In the near term it would mean one failure after another. In the long term I was creating a situation that would allow luck to find me.

Find an edge and exploit it as much as possible

The world offers so many alternatives that you need a quick filter to eliminate some options and pay attention to others. Whatever your plan, focus is always important.

If you want success, figure out the price, then pay it. It sounds trivial and obvious, but if you unpack the idea it has extraordinary power.

Successful people don’t wish for success; they decide to pursue it. And to pursue it effectively, they need a system.

Success always has a price, but the reality is that the price is negotiable. If you pick the right system, the price will be a lot nearer what you’re willing to pay.

During your journey to success you will find yourself continually trying to balance your own needs with the needs of others. You will always wonder if you are being too selfish or not selfish enough.

Society hopes you will handle your selfishness with some grace and compassion. If you do selfishness right, you automatically become a net benefit to society.

Most successful people give more than they personally consume, in the form of taxes, charity work, job creation, and so on.

Selfish successful people don’t cause worry and stress for those who care about them.

We’re raised to believe that giving of ourselves is noble and good. If you’re religious, you might have twice as much pressure to be unselfish. All our lives we are told it’s better to give than to receive.

generous people take care of their own needs first. In fact, doing so is a moral necessity. The world needs you at your best.

Apparently humans are wired to take care of their own needs first, then family, tribe, country, and the world, roughly in that order.

If you pursue your selfish objectives, and you do it well, someday your focus will turn outward. It’s an extraordinary feeling.

Managing your personal energy is like managing budgets in a company. In business, every financial decision in one department is connected to others.

Capitalism is rotten at every level, and yet it adds up to something extraordinarily useful for society over time. The paradox of capitalism is that adding a bunch of bad-sounding ideas together creates something incredible that is far more good than bad.

No one will think worse of me in the long run for being thirty minutes behind for a full day of fun that they have already started. But everyone will appreciate that I’m in a better mood when I show up. That’s the trade-off. Like capitalism, some forms of selfishness are enlightened.

Be a little bit of an asshole of it helps