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

4.6 out of 5 stars 7,546 ratings

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.”
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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

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

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00COOFBA4
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Portfolio
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 22, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6.2 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 247 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780698144620
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0698144620
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 7,546 ratings

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Scott Adams
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Scott Adams is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip that is published daily in thousands of newspapers and websites all over the world. Adams also authored several non-Dilbert books as well. He is co-founder of Whenhub.

Dilbert comics: Dilbert.com

WhenHub: WhenHub.com

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
7,546 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book informative and entertaining, particularly appreciating its Dilbert-style humor and practical insights. The writing is simple and quick to read, while the underlying philosophy is spot-on and customers consider it worth the investment. Customers praise the author's talent, with one noting his unique perspective on affirmations. Customers value the book's motivational content, highlighting its unflagging optimism, and find the diet advice helpful for adapting a healthy lifestyle.

782 customers mention "Advice level"765 positive17 negative

Customers find the book's advice level positive, appreciating its practical insights and how it helps structure life, with one customer noting it provides a compendium of excellent psychological strategies.

"...Some writers have helpful suggestions for improving morning rituals, getting more work done, and becoming a better conversation partner...." Read more

"...think it would be like to have the good fortune of knowing a sharp, successful, resolute person who was willing to share his thoughts, over time and..." Read more

"...He's big on adopting healthy, life-expanding, opportunity-generating practices even if they don't result in being instrumental in bringing about..." Read more

"...enjoyed Scott's independent thinking and challenges of conventional wisdom throughout this book, especially as it contrasts with other self-help,..." Read more

403 customers mention "Humor"395 positive8 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor, describing it as quirky-funny in true Dilbert style, with entertaining essays that make it a fun read.

"...not under the guise of self-help, but through thoughtful and entertaining essays that provide can provide benefits...." Read more

"...A fan of any of those things will enjoy this easy, fun read...." Read more

"...In this book he has laid out in a narrative style HOW he got to be a success, and lays out that system for you...." Read more

"...The author’s autobiographical passages were quirky-funny in true Dilbert style...." Read more

302 customers mention "Readability"292 positive10 negative

Customers find the book well-written and easy to read, with one customer noting how simple drawings enhance understanding.

"...Fitness is the lever that moves the world. Simplicity transforms ordinary into amazing. Adams, Scott (2013-10-22)...." Read more

"...his experiences and methods in his own life on making it easier to do the right behaviors, and thus making it easier for him and us to choose the..." Read more

"...This book satisfies that criteria with ease. Thank you for writing it and good luck with the book." Read more

"...Simplicity can produce amazing results Adams writes in a simple style, and makes it easy for the reader to read this book in short bursts, as..." Read more

130 customers mention "System thinking"124 positive6 negative

Customers appreciate the system thinking in the book, with several noting that the underlying philosophy is spot on.

"...This is a book of opinions. That make good sense...." Read more

"...I really enjoyed Scott's independent thinking and challenges of conventional wisdom throughout this book, especially as it contrasts with other self-..." Read more

"...life, he teaches new ways of approaching problem solving, understanding who you are, and discovering what you have to offer so that you can follow..." Read more

"...that Adams consistently urges the reader to experiment, to be open minded, and not to follow the advice of cartoonists...." Read more

53 customers mention "Value for money"50 positive3 negative

Customers find the book to be worth the investment, appreciating its great price and noting it's well worth the time.

"...it is worth the small investment in time and money...." Read more

"...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...." Read more

"...Well worth it." Read more

"...this book and when I read the reviews, I decided it was worth the investment...." Read more

52 customers mention "Talent"52 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate Scott Adams' talent, describing him as a brilliant and intelligent man.

"...Scott Adams is, by any definition of the word, a highly intelligent and successful guy who is an ORIGINAL THINKER...." Read more

"...Scott keeps everything practical and through recounting different times of his life, he teaches new ways of approaching problem solving,..." Read more

"...but (if you want to) buy it to learn about a singular, and engaging personality who is also off-putting at-the-same-time." Read more

"...For example, Scott talks about affirmations. This is no different than what Earl Nightingale talks about in his Strangest Secret...." Read more

46 customers mention "Motivation"46 positive0 negative

Customers find the book encouraging and motivational, appreciating its unflagging optimism and positive attitude, with one customer noting how it helps build life satisfaction.

"...- Approach work and life with a positive attitude. “Positivity is far more than a mental preference...." Read more

"...chance has arrived; Read the book, improve your smartness, and live a happier life." Read more

"...Maybe my goal for this year. It has to do with thinking super positive thoughts, and those things will happen...." Read more

"...sure, reading this book expanded my own insights and put me in a very positive frame of mind. Thank you for that, Scott...." Read more

36 customers mention "Diet advice"36 positive0 negative

Customers find the diet advice in the book helpful, with multiple reviews noting its positive impact on health. One customer specifically mentions that the chapters on diet and exercise are spot on.

"...He's big on adopting healthy, life-expanding, opportunity-generating practices even if they don't result in being instrumental in bringing about..." Read more

"...How to conquer shyness, be more outgoing Tips on diet and fitness, via systems Simplicity can produce amazing results..." Read more

"...how to partake in conversation and humor for best effect, the benefits of exercise and how the author uses the best ways of arranging his day, but..." Read more

"...individual business failures, and systems for weight loss, control of dietary intake, and exercise...." Read more

Simply the best book I've read.
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Simply the best book I've read.
I'm changed just by reading it without a need to do anything "more." How so? Buy it, read it, and you'll see what I mean.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2015
    I have a weakness for self-help books. The sad truth is that I’ve known for a long time that my self needs help—of all kinds. I also like to learn and try out new ideas and ways of living. This reading history—this quest—for an improved self hasn’t cured my many flaws, but on the whole, I think I’d be the worse off for not having tried some of the ideas that I’ve encountered. Of course, the quality of the advice that you get from what we call self-help books varies immensely. I think it appropriate, albeit unusual, to consider Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca—even Socrates—as a part of the self-help literature. The Greeks thought of philosophy as a way of life, with concepts, reasoning, and knowledge as tools for leading a good life. And this is the ultimate aim of the self-help literature, isn’t it? Religious practices (as distinct from limiting religion to a set of beliefs) all more or less seek to regulate and thereby improve the self (or soul). (Buddhists also might object to the use of “the self”, as they belief it an illusion, but I think most would agree its a handy one and something—if not someone—benefits from the Noble Eightfold Path). More recently, one can cite Ben Franklin, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and William James as self-help gurus in the their literate and cultured ways. Just this morning I read excerpts and commentary upon Bertrand Russell’s The Conquest of Happiness, wherein the great mathematician and philosopher dispenses advice.

    Of course, a great deal of hokum and P.T. Barnum-like salesmanship pervades the field as well. From Norman Vincent Peale to Dale Carnegie to Napoleon Hill to Stephen Covey, we find a middle-brow sources of advice, often over-sold or simplistic, but good for nuggets of wisdom and for exercising the crap-detector. Some writers have helpful suggestions for improving morning rituals, getting more work done, and becoming a better conversation partner. Nassim Nicolas Taleb provides a good contemporary example of an intellectual who dispenses advice and opinions, not under the guise of self-help, but through thoughtful and entertaining essays that provide can provide benefits. One has to shop carefully, or you end up with a bunch of sale junk in your reading basket, but if you’re discerning, you can provide yourself (it’s who your giving a gift to, right?) some helpful mind-stuff.

    This brings me to Scott Adams. Farnum Street (one my must-read blog list) posted an excerpt and commentary based on Adams’s combination autobiography and self-help book. In fact, the unique blend of personal story and insight into how to conduct a better life makes this a fun read. I’ve never read Dilbert cartoons regularly—Adams’s significant claim to fame—so I wouldn’t have read the book unless Farnum Street had included a blurb about how Adams denigrates “goals” and promotes “systems”. My inner Taoist had rebelled against goals in a way that I had never been able to quite understand. I’ve accomplished things in life, helped raise a family, succeeded in my profession, married well, and so on, without having been a goal-driven person. In fact, I had this inkling that goals were a rather abstract and perhaps in some way faulty way of going about things, and Adams clarified the issue for me. Adams writes:

    To put it bluntly, goals are for losers. That’s literally true most of the time. For example, if your goal is to lose ten pounds, you will spend every moment until you reach the goal— if you reach it at all— feeling as if you were short of your goal. In other words, 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. It might even drive you out of the game. If you achieve your goal, you celebrate and feel terrific, but only until you realize you just lost the thing that gave you purpose and direction. Your options are to feel empty and useless, perhaps enjoying the spoils of your success until they bore you, or set new goals and reenter the cycle of permanent presuccess failure.

    Adams, Scott (2013-10-22). How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life (p. 32). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

    If you have your crap-detector on, you will think that any system as a system must have a goal or purpose, and that any goal must have a means or system for reaching the goal. Adams agrees. He recognizes the inherent relation of goals and systems, but he goes on the identify the fundamental differences in perspective between the two attitudes:

    [T]hinking of goals and systems as very different concepts has power. 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. The goals people are fighting the feeling of discouragement at each turn. The systems people are feeling good every time they apply their system. That’s a big difference in terms of maintaining your personal energy in the right direction. . . . For our purposes, let’s say a goal is a specific objective that you either achieve or don’t sometime in the future. A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run. If you do something every day, it’s a system. If you’re waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it’s a goal.

    Adams, Scott (2013-10-22). How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life (pp. 32-33). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

    This is the gem that convinced me to read the book. I think that Adams is on to something. If my goal is to lose 20 pounds, I can do it and then what? If I’m like most people, I’ll put it right back on. But if my system is to eat smartly and keep myself healthy and fit, then that’s a daily set of tasks that allow to act (with success) each day. However, lest you think he goes to far, much later in the book Adams writes:

    Humans will always think in terms of goals. Our brains are wired that way. But goals make sense only if you also have a system that moves you in the right direction.

    Adams, Scott (2013-10-22). How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life (p. 228). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

    Adams throughout the book proves himself a balanced and nuanced thinker, as well as displaying a fun sense of humor.

    As befits a cartoonist—who must get a message across in a small set of boxes with a few drawings and words—Adams praises the benefits of simplification, even at the expense of optimization. For him, the best way of doing things is usually the simplest because it is the most robust. (Although he doesn’t cite Nassim Taleb here, his reasoning tracks a key argument of Taleb about robustness and antifragility.) Adams goes on to list a number of different practices, acquisitions, and hacks to put yourself in the best way in this world. His list includes:

    Goals are for losers.
    Your mind isn’t magic.
    It’s a moist computer you can program.
    The most important metric to track is your personal energy.
    Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success.
    Happiness is health plus freedom.
    Luck can be managed, sort of.
    Conquer shyness by being a huge phony (in a good way).
    Fitness is the lever that moves the world.
    Simplicity transforms ordinary into amazing.

    Adams, Scott (2013-10-22). How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life (p. 3). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.

    Adams details these fundamentals in the course of the book. As with the biggest points, his tips and practices usually make a lot of sense. On diet, I don’t agree completely—although he’s all over the simple carb problem. However, I’m not sure that any two people on planet Earth agree about diet (where personal bias and taste account for a great deal!). Also, if you follow through to the end the book you find that Adams believes in experimentation and observation: he’s in the pragmatic camp for dealing with the world. This attitude allowed him to locate a unique and crucial cure to a severe voice impairment that he developed. It also led him to recommend affirmations as a way of realizing goals (did he just use that word or was that me?). In other words, he’s dealt with some vexing and troubling issue,s as well as the day-to-day hassles and challenges of life that we’ve all encountered, and he’s enjoyed some success. He’s allowed observation and experience to overcome skepticism, as in his use of affirmations. I appreciate someone who is that open-minded. Sometimes things work in ways we just don’t understand or that don’t make sense to us. But working knowledge can—and should—come before theory.

    If you read one contemporary self-help book this year (sorry, he can’t go ahead of the Greeks, the Romans, or the earlier Americans) and you want some chuckles to go along with many helpful suggestions and insights, then I recommend this book. And, as one final gem, I’ll leave you with Adams’s own recap of his happiness formula:

    Eat right.
    Exercise.
    Get enough sleep.
    Imagine an incredible future (even if you don’t believe it).
    Work toward a flexible schedule.
    Do things you can steadily improve at.
    Help others (if you’ve already helped yourself).
    Reduce daily decisions to routine.

    Adams, Scott (2013-10-22). How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life (pp. 178-179). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.
    33 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2013
    Preface: I randomly bought this book on my kindle when its ad popped up after I opened my kindle cover. I have a habit of impulsively buying/downloading arbitrary books onto my kindle and because thus far I've always been pleased with my stray purchases influenced by Amazon's ads, I don't object to the marketing. I didn't know who Scott Adams is. I've heard of the Dilbert comic strip but that's it; never read them. I've never read any of his works until this book. My opinion of this book? Absolutely worth my time and mere $12. Reading the book was akin somewhat to how I think it would be like to have the good fortune of knowing a sharp, successful, resolute person who was willing to share his thoughts, over time and many coffee get-togethers, on his success and life in general.

    Tongue in cheek title but quite a fresh, enlightening book that actually is more aptly described as 'How to Think towards and about Success'. This is a book of opinions. That make good sense. Nothing earth shattering but rarely is anything that is simultaneously difficult and easy to do novel or original. Jim Rohn used to explain that behaviors that are conducive to the path toward success are easy to do but also easy not to do. The value in Adam's thoughts come in the form of offering his experiences and methods in his own life on making it easier to do the right behaviors, and thus making it easier for him and us to choose the successful habits. Adam's book offers his macro view of what allows for success, what greases the wheels for success. And how not to get hung up on popular concepts like "passion". Great short chapter on the fallacy behind being fed advice to "follow your passion" which Adams reasons can be detrimentally misleading. In short, readers will be better off simply reading this single chapter and understanding Adam's explanation that success is more a factor in causing passion than passion is in causing success and that energy is good but the concept of passion can be bullcrap, as Adams says.

    I don't mind reading opinionated thoughts because I am sufficiently confident that I can ferret out what I need and want from them without getting hung up on them. (There are some weird opinions on hypnosis and notion of humans as holograms in a computer software program that were wasted on me...but it's all good; I still like the book....) I very much liked Adam's "How to Fail at Almost Everything" precisely because he didn't strain over proving his logic or overwhelm us with justifications for his methods. He shares with us his thoughts: he shares a simplified extract of his personal thought processes and offers them as an example of how such might facilitate our own path toward our ideas of success. Adams offers patterns he's observed in his life that can prove useful and ways to think of concepts that are more practical over popular alternatives that tend to weigh us down with intricate methodical scientifically proven plans that may not be easy to sustain in the long-run.

    There are some core, foundational aspects in our lives that Adams lays out that need attention in order for us to find our success. Adams believes that you need to tend to the groundwork for success by tending to your mind and body so as to allow yourself and your own set of talents and strengths to surface and flourish. Success is not easy but it's achievable...for anyone. Adams provides a set of skills and areas of knowledge towards which he thinks we should all vow a lifetime commitment to honing, learning and mastering. These make up a manageable and sensible list that will help in dealing with life and other people.

    There are a lot of great thoughts packed into this book, little nuggets here and there that you really must extract for yourself because your nuggets will undoubtedly differ from mine. My personal favorite system-based concepts include the following, all of which cannot be adequately expressed through such a list without reading Adam's presentation of them:

    1. "If you believe people use reason for the important decisions in life, you will go through life feeling confused and frustrated that others seem to have bad reasoning skills." So damn true, Mr. Adams.
    2. Success/Passion fallacy of thinking. It's all comes down to your personal energy.
    3. Simplify your systems, thus simplifying your life.
    4. Good ideas have no value - it's all about execution, Baby.
    5. Always be looking for your next better job options as soon as you get your current job.
    6. Appearance matters (don't shrug...common sense yet not common)
    7. Systems are ongoing; it doesn't matter if you can't tell their components are moving you towards the right direction on a daily basis.
    8. Wishing is for losers. Decide to pay the price and then pay it.
    9. Manage your illusions wisely and you might get what you want even if you don't understand why or how it worked.
    10. Careful who you surround yourself with.
    11. Everyone "is a basket case on the inside."
    12. "If you do selfishness right, you automatically become a net benefit to society."
    50 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Good book

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  • almeida
    5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book
    Reviewed in Mexico on September 25, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I loved it, amazing way to change perspective on the view of success really helpfull and well written and also funny!
    Report
  • Enis Zuferi
    5.0 out of 5 stars Von erfolgreichen Menschen lernen
    Reviewed in Germany on February 26, 2020
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Viele Leute kennen das Gefühl, am Boden zu sein. In der heutigen von Social Media dominierten Zeit ist es einfach, in ein Loch zu fallen. Sei es durch die schlechten Nachrichten auf der Welt oder die Posts der Freunde. Seien wir ehrlich: auf Instagram postet man nur, wenn es einem gut geht und wenn man etwas erreicht hat. Im Bezug auf Beauty werden wir von so vielen Menschen beeinflusst, die scheinbar einfach gut aussehen (auch wenn Vieles auf Instagram bearbeitet ist). Es geschieht schnell, sich minderwertig zu fühlen.

    Scott Adams nimmt diesbezüglich kein Blatt vor den Mund. Er geht offen damit um, dass es für ihn in seiner Jugend-/Studienzeit extrem schwer war, Kontakte zu knüpfen. Er bezeichnet sich selbst nicht als Adonis. Seine spasmodische Dysphonie (Sprechkrampf) hätte beinahe nicht nur seine Karriere beendet, sondern auch sein Leben fast zerstört.

    Wie er die Krankheit als wohl erster Mensch komplett besiegt hat, ist im Buch nachzulesen. Neben einer risikoreichen Operation setzte Herr Adams auf seine Systeme, um Erfolg zu haben.

    Damit kommen wir zum ersten und einen der wichtigsten Punkte des Buches: erfolgreiche Menschen denken laut Adams nicht in Zielen, sondern in Systemen. Einen wissenschaftlich belastbaren Beleg gibt es dafür freilich nicht. Das erwähnt Adams auch des Öfteren im Buch. Primär stützt sich Adams dabei auf seine Lebenserfahrungen, auch die negativen. Die alte Weisheit „aus Fehlern lernt man“ greift Adams gekonnt auf und untermauert sie mit zahlreichen Beispielen aus dem eigenen Leben.

    Im Verlaufe des Buches, parallel zu Adams‘ Lebensgeschichte, werden weitere Skills und Informationen vorgestellt, welche laut Adams für die Allgemeinheit hilfreich seien, Beispiele daraus:
    - öffentliches Sprechen
    - Grundwissen Psychologie
    - richtige Ernährung und körperliche Aktivität sind Schlüssel für geistige Wachheit
    - Überredungskunst
    - und vieles mehr...

    Wer einen frischen Blick aufs Leben sucht, hat hier vielleicht eine Inspiration. Neben dem Informationsgehalt ist das Buch auch ziemlich unterhaltsam - auch wenn Humor eine Sache des Geschmacks ist, gibt Adams auch hierzu Tipps für das alltägliche Leben.

    Natürlich ist jeder Mensch anders und hat eine eigene Lebensgeschichte. Einen Gedanken hatte ich während des Lesens auf jeden Fall: „Der Typ hat doch Geld, hatte vorher studiert, für ihn war es einfacher als für mich, Erfolg zu haben.“
    Das mag korrekt sein. Herr Adams geht auch hierauf ein. Er behauptet nicht, dass die Vorstellung seiner Lebensgeschichte ein Allheilmittel à la „one size fits all“ ist. Vielmehr sollen die Leser dazu angeregt werden, das eigene Leben inklusive Misserfolgen im Bezug auf die von Herrn Adams vorgestellten „soft Skills“ zu reflektieren. Es kann genauso gut sein, dass man zum Schluss kommt, es ganz anders als Herr Adams zu tun und erfolgreich zu sein.

    Insgesamt eine deutliche Empfehlung meinerseits.
  • Shawn
    5.0 out of 5 stars Goals are for losers...
    Reviewed in Canada on June 26, 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Have habits and systems. You can always rely on them for consistency and success. This book was well written...has a great sense of humor and high quality ideas and suggestions. Only the master of the Dilbert comic Mr Scott Adams could have put together something so brilliant and sincere and intelligence as this book right here. I would recommend others to but it and read it. I learned quite a bit and will apply these principles to my own life and improve it in every way I can. Thank you kindly for letting me share this feedback with you.
  • Madkey31
    5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
    Reviewed in Spain on January 2, 2018
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Very fast shipping and perfectly safe packaging . The pages seemed to be recycled paper but it was awesome for this price and we didn’t mind. It was a gift for my boyfriend who is a huge fan of Adams
  • Random techie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Odd combination of self-help and autobiography
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2014
    It's not an autobiography, that's for sure. Although you get to find out quite a lot about what makes the Dilbert bloke tick, where he came from and how he got to where he is.

    It's not a self-help book -- it's not quite self-congratulatory enough, nor is it a recipe for success.

    It's not humour.As such. Although there are a few bits that are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny.

    It's a combination of all of the above, I guess. I think you probably need to be fairly open-minded to enjoy it, let alone benefit from it, and you certainly won't know by the end whether it's made you a better person, or someone who's prepared to embrace the lessons learned from failure and turn them into the seeds of future success.

    But it's well worth reading, and if your idea of success is that it's mostly something other people have because they're smarter than you, or luckier than you, or live somewhere nicer than where you are, this might help you look at the world a little differently. In one respect, I think Adams has something nailed: if I'd read this aged 25, I'd probably have made some different choices here and there.

    It's easy to read, very well written, thought-provoking and (yes!) often extremely entertaining. It might change your life. (It might not, but it's a very affordable risk!)

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