“The most important form of selfishness involves spending time on your fitness, eating right, pursuing your career, and still spending quality time with your family and friends.”

Success is something most people strive for in their lives. Scott Adams proposes that success is not always based on winning and doing the absolute best, but could be a matter of having the right skills at the right time … and maybe some luck. His journey from a bank employee to a famous and rich cartoonist wasn’t a straight line of steps. He has ventured in many other endeavors and while most of them were failures, he learned lessons with each one that helped him become better for the next step in life.

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big has been on my to-read list for a while. I’ve read the Dilbert cartoon for years, but just started following Scott Adams on social media over the last few years. I read his book Win Bigly and enjoyed it. I put his other books on my to-read list after reading that one.

Scott Adams’ advice can be summed up in three parts – obtain many skills, be selfish and know some things depend on luck. He suggests that people have many skills so they are more marketable when it comes to jobs. Public speaking, accounting, a foreign language, basic Web building skills are all mentioned as things that can separate you from others. Continual learning is a key, though. He also purports that you have to be selfish in taking care of yourself so you can be energized to spend quality time with the people in your life. This covers being active, eating well and pursuing your career. There’s an element of luck to success, though. Being at the right place at the right time with the right people can often make a huge difference. 

Adams relates all of his advice to personal stories in his life, including some major medical conditions he had to deal with. He writes in a relatable way. As a self-help book, it’s not from an expert, but more as a friend sharing his life lessons. It’s an interesting addition to the genre.

Do you have a favorite Dilbert comic? Share in the comments! (Mine is when Wally has to give up coffee.)

Buy How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big here (affiliate link).