Tag: Scott Adams

Replacing goals with systems more effective for personal development [Article]

Scott Adams believes the research that says everyone has a limited supply of willpower. And when you use it for one goal, you have less left for the other. Goals are good, but for most of us,

we have no idea where we’ll be in five years, what opportunities will arise, or what we’ll want or need by then. So our best bet is to move from a place of low odds to a place of better odds. That means living someplace that has opportunities, paying attention to your health, continuously upgrading your skills, networking, and perhaps dabbling in lots of different areas…. Systems simply move you from a game with low odds to a game with better odds. With a system you are less likely to miss one opportunity because you were too focused on another. With a system, you are always scanning for any opportunity.

Scott’s new book “How to fail at almost everything & still win big: kind of the story of my life” is now available.

Get your name into a Dilbert’ish book [Article]

Scott Adams has a book coming, titled How to Fail Almost Every Time and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life (why do books always seem to have the funny Camel Case sentences?), & is looking for “author blurbs”. Here’s a chance to get your name on the back cover of his book…

My publisher has agreed to print blurbs from you, my blog readers, knowing that none of you have read the actual book. What’s in it for you is that you might see your name on the back cover of the book. 

Want to share your office jokes to the world? [Article]

If you have a skype ID and are in the middle of a boring office meeting, which you think will be a great Dilbert cartoon, you’re in luck. Scott Adams wants you to add “Dogbertiswatching”. Seriously!

Okay, I decided to go ahead and set up a Skype ID called Dogbertiswatching. Add that to your contact list and Skype me if you’re in a particularly ridiculous meeting. I’ll usually be looking for comic fodder between 6:30 AM and 8:30 AM Pacific Time. But please don’t expect me to be chatty because I’ll be working. I’ll just send a “hi” message and listen in.

And start lining up your next job now. You might need it.

The Monty Hall Problem and Schrodinger’s Cat [Article]

Scott Adams discusses the Monty Hall Problem & Schrodinger’s Cat, and our brains inability to understand reality at its most basic level.

Monty Hall is a game show host. You are given a choice of three doors. One has a car behind it, the other two have goats. If you pick the door with the car, you win it. Your odds are 1-in-3.

So you pick a door, but before it opens, Monty opens one of the other two doors to reveal a goat. He asks if you want to switch from the door you initially picked to the other closed door. Your brain says the odds are the same for any closed door, so you stay. But in fact, the odds are twice as good if you switch doors.

Bull crap special: Management/ Success/ Leadership [Article]

There’s a reason that Scott Adams’ Dilbert cartoons resonate with most people working in industry (or even otherwise). Scott’s latest missive on his blog calls the bluff on “charisma”, “success”, “leadership”, & “management”. In true Scott Adams’ style, he backs it up with his reasoning.

Consider the thousands of different books on management/success/leadership. If any of this were real science, all managers would learn the same half-dozen secrets to success and go on to great things. The reality of the business world is more like infinite monkeys with typewriters. Sooner or later a monkey with an ass pimple will type something that makes sense and every management expert in the world will attribute the success to the ass pimple.