21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme of this book was always striving to be your best self. Being your best self is what will help your success in life. Adam Scott made it very apparent that you and your happiness should be the priority in your life. He said some key facts that support this argument.

1.    Look at yourself first. Eating properly, exercising and getting enough sleep is key.

2.    Look after your economics. This would include your job and any investments you make in life

3.    Look after all other things. This includes your friends and family and your community.

4.    Goals vs. Systems. Goals become a constant state of failure until you read your goal. If you focus on systems, you can focus on your goal as a whole and change your life to attain the system.

Scott also made it clear that energy should be a main focus for succeeding. He said to focus on how you use your energy and decide what you should put your energy into. Energy could come from bringing excitement and happiness into your life. For example, Scott would wake up at 4:00 AM every morning to work on mini projects for him to find happiness. If happiness doesn’t come from your job, then you need to find other things that bring you fulfillment.

How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book connected with what we are learning in ENT3003 for a few different reasons. In the beginning of this class, we completed many different exercises about ourselves which are unique to us. We were forced to dig deep and really think about how we view the world and what we can bring to the table. I find this to line up with what Adam Scott said, to look at ourselves first. From that, we chose to create a product or service that we found did not exist in the world yet. Since this idea came from our own thoughts, it should have made it possible for us to put energy into something that we find important. This was another idea that Adam Scott brought to the table, the idea of energy and happiness.

If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I would create an exercise that involves looking at ourselves and trying to improve our day to day. An idea would be trying to get at least 8 hours of sleep for an entire week and doing any form of exercise for at least 5 days of the week. After the week of self-care, I would say “Did you have a better week? “Were you less stressed this week with the extra sleep and exercise?” Sometimes college students don’t get the chance to sleep as much as they want or exercise as much as they want. This week would be dedicated to doing so and seeing if any positives came out of it.

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?

Something that I found to be different than what I usually learn was Scott’s mention of goal vs. system. All my life I have been told that setting goals were a great thing. Ever since we were young, we were taught to set goals. I thought that his goal vs. system idea was very interesting. When you think about it, he is right. When you set a short-term goal, it is your only focus which could make the goal hard to achieve and seem impossible. When you change your ways, and use your goal as a system, your mentality totally changes which makes it more achievable.