Reading Reflection Number Two

1. The general theme of this book is that success requires perseverance through failure after failure, as well as learning from those failures and improving yourself by focusing on the realistic changes you can make day-by-day to increase your odds of success.

2. I think that this book really connected with the entrepreneurial mindset that we learned about early in the course.  Scott's story of doing many different jobs before finally succeeding as a comic artist reminds me of the story of Colonel Sanders from the beginning of the semester.  I also think his advice on interacting with people, like when he talks about the power of giving honest praise, enhances what I learned about managing the employees in your startup and creating an attractive organizational culture.

3. The exercise I'd design would focus on helping students think about implementing systems instead of just having goals.  The exercise would be conducted early in the semester, and it would involve choosing one goal for your business idea, and a second goal that is something you wish to achieve personally in your life.  For each goal, write down at least one system that can be implemented on a daily basis to move you towards that goal.  Each student will implement the system they developed for their personal goal throughout the rest of the semester, and at the end of the semester, they will reflect on how that system moved them closer to their goal, as well as how it improved their state of being.

4. My biggest "aha" moment was when Scott Adams talks about how having systems is superior to having goals.  He says that doing something every day is a system while waiting to achieve something in the future is a goal.  I've always been told about the benefits of being goal-oriented, but after reading what Adams wrote, I realize that having a goal without using one or more systems to achieve it is useless and will ultimately lead to frustration.  One great example that he gave is that running a marathon in under 4 hours is a goal, but exercising daily is a system.  This has inspired me to start creating and implementing systems to achieve the goals that I have for myself.