How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

Date: 18-Jan-2022 (Chapter 1, 2 & 3)

Six filters for truth:

1. Personal Experience

2. Experience of people you know

3. Experts

4. Scientific studies

5. Common Sense

6. Pattern recognition

• The nearest we can get to truth is consistency

• Power of simplicity 

• Look for patterns

Author's point: The loneliness isn't fixed by listening to other people talk. You can cure your loneliness only by doing the talking yourself and most important being heard.

The achievement: I was born for this.

Follow your passion - Big No

Instead, find a small thing that makes you happy -> achieve some success -> it will automatically become a passion.

• Success causes passion more than passion causes success.

• Sometimes passion is simply a by-product of knowing you will be good at something.

• Success is a combination of desire, luck, hard work, determination, brains, and appetite for risk.

When your energy is right you perform better at everything you do. Energy is good. Passion is bullshit. 

Date: 19-Jan-2022 (Chapter 4)
Success, Failure and luck

• Success -> not a thing for lazy people

• Failures are tools. 

• Golden formula to convert failure into success
  Failure -> take advantage -> seek opportunities -> be successful

• Timing role in success -> Timing is often the biggest component of success. Since timing is often hard to get right, it makes sense to try different things until you get the timing right by luck.

• A couple of new ideas Scott tried to code.

Date: 21-Jan-2022 (Chapter - 5,6 & 7)

Goals and Systems

• most Failures = sum(bad luck, ignorance, ordinary stupidity) = experience

• Use System instead of Goal. Goal is the reward in between.

• Achieved a goal? yes, now find a better one to enjoy the purpose.

Date: 21-Jan-2022 (Chapter - 8,9 & 10)

Corporate world and being selfish

• There isn't much of a link b/w job performance in the corporate world and outcomes.

• If you want success, figure out the price, then pay it.

• Wishing also matters in success. Wishing starts in mind and generally stays there.

• If you pick the right system, the price will be a lot nearer what you're willing to pay.

• Appreciate the power of systems over goals. System might lower the price of success just enough to make it worth a go.

• 3 kinds of people on earth:
  a. Selfish
  b. Stupid
  c. Burden on others
  
  Be a selfish successful person.
  How?
  1. Most important form of selfishness involves - spending time on your fitness, eating right, pursuing your career, and still spending time with your family and friends.
  2. Neglect health and career -> stupid person -> burden on society
  3. Take care of yourself first. Generous people take care of their own needs first. In fact, doing so is a moral necessity. The world needs you at your best.
  4. Being selfish means you take the long view of things.
  5. If you pursue your selfish objectives, and you do it well, then start focusing outward. Give back to society, country. => Extraordinary feeling indeed.

Date: 24-Jan-2022 (Chapter - 11)

Energy metric
Making choices that maximize your personal energy (Eating right, exercising, avoiding unnecessary stress, getting enough sleep)

Surround yourself with positive energy. Find your positive energy sources. (Clean room, calm env)

Energy budgeting exercise.

• Simplification vs Optimization
  -> if situation involves communication => choose simplification
  -> if the task is something you can do by yourself, or with a partner who is on your wavelength => choose optimizaiton
  -> Prefer simplicity if you want to develop a system. Since simple system can be followed better than complicated ones.
  -> Simple system => immediate success => begin optimization  (Success mantra for creating a passion)

• Sitting position
  -> Brain is connected with body parts.
  -> The way you sit makes a huge difference in your productivity.

• Wondering how to learn a complex thing ?
  -> figure out how others have done the same before. There might be a simple solution already existing people must have used. Research, talk and find out that thing quickly.
  -> When you know how to something you feel more energized to take it on.

• Priorities:
  P1: Taking care of your own health
  P2: Economics
  P3: Family, friends and lovers
  P4: Local community, country, world (in order)
  
  Priorities are the thing you need to get right so the things you love can thrive

• If you feel a particular path will make you feel more stressed, unhealthy, and drained => that path must be a wrong choice.
  Right choices can be challenging, but they usually charge you up. Right Path => Feeling right.

Date: 25-Jan-2022 (Chapter - 12)

Managing Attitude

Minor superpower : Controlling attitude by manipulating your thoughts, your body, and your environment.Forming a good question: Start with "what if" and negate the statement.

Side projects have the capabilities to change the world.

Ideas change the world routinely, and most of these ideas originate from ordinary people.

Power of smiling:

Acting confident makes you feel more confident.

Smiling can manipulate the brains' functions. (superpower)

Success Premium:
Become good at something, anything => let that feeling propel you to new and better victories

Date: 26-Jan-2022 (Chapter - 13, 14, 15, 16 & 17)

• Power of being a part of a community. (Toastmasters, ReadARs, Employee Engagement Council, etc.)

• At any point in life, if you identify a problem that can't be fixed by the doctor, then start hacking your brain. Broke the pattern in your mind. Give new patterns to mind.

• Story-> Raising price for speech. You don't need to know CEOs and billionaires. Sometimes you just need a friend who knows different things than you do. And you can always find one of those. 

Date: 27-Jan-2022 (Chapter - 18)

Recognizing talents and knowing when to Quit

• Searching for your talent: Consider what you were obsessively doing before you were 10 years old.

• Small successes can grow into big ones, but failures rarely grow into successes. Ex. Cell phones 10 years back and now

• Smart Business Decision: If the first commercial version of your work excites no one to action, it's time to move on to something different. Don't be fooled by the opinions of friends and family. they're all liars.

Date: 28-Jan-2022 (Chapter - 19 & 20)

Is practice your thing?

• First filter in deciding where to spend your time is an honest assessment of your ability to practice.

Managing your odds for Success

Success Formula: Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success
[ Good + Good > Excellent ] - When it comes to skills, Quantity often beats quality

Ex.  Making better resume using formula each unnecessary word = $100
This formula steers your behavior in the right direction.

Knowledge Formula: The more you know, the more you can know