1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
The theme of the book to me was that no matter how many times you fail, if you have the right mindset and system, you will eventually succeed if you keep trying. When you think of successful entrepreneurs in todays world, you think of the big hit guys like Zuckerberg who started a company in college and have been successful ever since. Scott talks about how if you learn how to take care of yourself, you will be ready for loss or failure (which is almost bound to happen) until you hit that one opportunity that is successful.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
I think what I connected from the book and what I am learning from ENT is the aspect of doing something you love doing. When Scott was working corporate jobs for so many years, he was doing side projects with things he loved to do with any extra time he had in order to keep him going because without them, he would not had much of a motivation or desire to be successful. In ENT we talk about finding things that we love and make us happy as well because if you don't wake up in the morning and want to go do whatever you do for a living then why are you doing it? I also enjoyed his quote about pursuing success instead of wishing for it. In ENT we learn about how to pursue success and not just wish for it, which is what Scott emphasizes.
3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
An exercise that I would try to implement would be an assignment to help students work on developing systems instead of goals. That really hit me when I was reading this book. Nothing against having goals because I have many of my own, but having a system rather than a goal is what represents the difference between wishing for success and pursuing it. We should have an exercise to help us transfer our goals into systems and work on how to go about doing that in order to make us more efficient and effective in improving our opportunities.
4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
Scotts view on goals was what was most shocking to me. Many successful business figures or entrepreneurs talk about making goals and going all out for them until you reach them but Scott has a different approach. At first I did't agree just because it sounded like he wasn't supportive of following something you believe in, but that wasn't the case. He spoke about the two flaws he sees in having goals which were they are in the future and that they are too specific. He said goals have such an unknown date that it is hard to see where they are going and they are so specific at times that usually you end up disappointed if you do not get exactly what you were looking for in the goals. These made sense to me and gave me that "aha" moment and gave me the idea to maybe start doing that myself. Systems can still get you to the same goal you have, but in a more efficient way and actually gives you a way to get there which is what I believe in.
The theme of the book to me was that no matter how many times you fail, if you have the right mindset and system, you will eventually succeed if you keep trying. When you think of successful entrepreneurs in todays world, you think of the big hit guys like Zuckerberg who started a company in college and have been successful ever since. Scott talks about how if you learn how to take care of yourself, you will be ready for loss or failure (which is almost bound to happen) until you hit that one opportunity that is successful.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
I think what I connected from the book and what I am learning from ENT is the aspect of doing something you love doing. When Scott was working corporate jobs for so many years, he was doing side projects with things he loved to do with any extra time he had in order to keep him going because without them, he would not had much of a motivation or desire to be successful. In ENT we talk about finding things that we love and make us happy as well because if you don't wake up in the morning and want to go do whatever you do for a living then why are you doing it? I also enjoyed his quote about pursuing success instead of wishing for it. In ENT we learn about how to pursue success and not just wish for it, which is what Scott emphasizes.
3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
An exercise that I would try to implement would be an assignment to help students work on developing systems instead of goals. That really hit me when I was reading this book. Nothing against having goals because I have many of my own, but having a system rather than a goal is what represents the difference between wishing for success and pursuing it. We should have an exercise to help us transfer our goals into systems and work on how to go about doing that in order to make us more efficient and effective in improving our opportunities.
4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
Scotts view on goals was what was most shocking to me. Many successful business figures or entrepreneurs talk about making goals and going all out for them until you reach them but Scott has a different approach. At first I did't agree just because it sounded like he wasn't supportive of following something you believe in, but that wasn't the case. He spoke about the two flaws he sees in having goals which were they are in the future and that they are too specific. He said goals have such an unknown date that it is hard to see where they are going and they are so specific at times that usually you end up disappointed if you do not get exactly what you were looking for in the goals. These made sense to me and gave me that "aha" moment and gave me the idea to maybe start doing that myself. Systems can still get you to the same goal you have, but in a more efficient way and actually gives you a way to get there which is what I believe in.
Hi Christian,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your key takeaway, you should absolutely be doing something that you love! Professor Pryor and some other professors that I've had express the need to be doing something you love and/or are passionate about. I love the exercise you've come up with, I think creating systems would be much more beneficial than having students list goals. That was also very surprising to me because I was always taught to focus on my goals.