Scott Adams is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip. He led « Dilbert» to international successes.
What makes the book interesting is his self-reflection on building systems to succeed. He has a remarkable ability to recognize, learn, and rebound from his failures.
The book does not follow particular orders. I trust I can summarize it in two big parts. Success and Happiness and I’ll share here what I’ve learned from Scott Adams.
1.Success
Simplicity
« Simplicity transforms ordinary into amazing.»
Scott writes with a lot of simplicity. He goes directly to the point and shortens sentences. He uses « Simplicity » as a principle.
Being able to simplify is an important quality. The more you simplify, the more you understand. Simplicity drives actions and actions produce results.
Decisions
“Successful people don’t wish for success; they decide to pursue it.”
Success is also a matter of decision. Once you decide, you take action.
Systems Versus Goals
“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.”
“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.”
We play here a bit with the semantic 😀. But I agree on the big picture. You need systems to support your approach.
As the author, I’m a big believer in routines to support systems or goals.
And here again, the simplification comes in. Scott proposes that exercising every day is more manageable than defining a few days per week.
For me, it’s also the case. The systematic approach saves me from emotions. It’s not a feeling but a process.
“Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions »Elizabeth King is an American sculptor and writer
Skill stacking
“The idea is that you can raise your market value by being merely good—not extraordinary—at more than one skill. »
The unique mix of the author :
“When I combined my meager business skills with my bad art skills and my fairly ordinary writing talent, the mixture was powerful. »
In the professional world, a generalist will often find more opportunities than an expert. And combining different skills could make you unique in your field or allow you to invent a new niche like Scott Adams. See Why sales is a great job and a potential career accelerator?
Learning
“Everything you learn becomes a shortcut for understanding something else. »
Here the authors proposed a few skills to learn that are sometimes surprising. He insists on the psychology part, which makes sense for me.
“You’ve heard the old saying that knowledge is power. But knowledge of psychology is the purest form of that power.”
- Public speaking
- Psychology
- Business writing
- Accounting
- Design (the basics)
- Conversation
- Overcoming shyness
- Second language
- Golf
- Proper grammar
- Persuasion
- Technology (hobby level)
- Proper voice technique
Affirmations
“I, Scott Adams, will be a famous cartoonist.”
Scott has a long experience in using affirmations. He recognizes that it seems strange. He can not explain everything, but he just used them as it is simple and working for him.
Pattern recognition
“There’s one more pattern I see in successful people: They treat success as a learnable skill. »
“Look for patterns in every part of life, from diet to exercise to any component of success. »
The ability to analyze, recognize, build, and use patterns is a sure path to success. Life is a giant laboratory, and you are the scientist of your life.
You can learn from others, review what you naturally do, and seek for frames that work.
Spending time with yourself is the key to find and understand these patterns. And it’s a pattern by itself 😀.
Experience is not a success factor; analyzing your experience is one.
Scott’s ability to understands his failures and successes is the secret of his success.
2.Happiness
“No one wants to believe that the formula for happiness is as simple as daydreaming, controlling your schedule, napping, eating right, and being active every day.
That is Scott’s ability to simplify. Recapping the 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.
It looks impossible to reduce happiness to 8 points. But we have to recognize that they are all valid. It’s so simple on paper but so complex to master. And that’s what might lead to happiness.
My formula to detect if an activity is a valuable one:
- It’s difficult to start, but you always feel better after.
- You have to be proactive; it’s an in to out activity.
They all pass the test. So it’s worth considering them in your practice 😀 .
Scott’s humorous and straightforward style, mixed with his reflection quality, gave me a great time.
I’ve learned a lot.
Enjoy the reading.
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