How to Fail at almost Everything and still Win Big by Scott Adams - 2 minute summary

The 3 skills you need to succeed

All of us want to become the experts of our fields. Even when everyone aspires for it, yet not everyone thinks that they are capable of reaching this expertise. Scott Adams in his book ‘How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big’ shares the three universal skills/systems that can increase our odds of professional success. Given are these three skills:

1# Clear Writing
Writing clearly in a precise manner, is an important professional skill. Business writing is all about writing in a direct manner. Usually, we tend to add up extra words which result in embedded noise. The embedded noise makes the document difficult to read for the readers. It also becomes a hurdle in the way of clarity of meaning. in business writing, we should follow the direct structure of ‘Actor-Action-Object’. For instance, we use the words like ‘really’ and ‘already’ to add emphasis apparently. But they do the opposite, they cause reader fatigue. Clear writing is a skill that is required in all fields. It is a skill that allows you to communicate effectively.

2# Making Conversation
The main goal of every conversation is to get people to admire us. In our conversations, we should feel comfortable ourselves to make others feel comfortable. Effective conversation techniques include introducing ourselves, open body language, and smiling. To be a good conversationalist, we must be a good listener. We should give the other person a chance to express themselves. If we want a conversation to keep going, we should look for common interests. In addition to this, following are the five go-to questions which can help in carrying out a smooth conversation with anyone:
· Where do you live?
· Do you have a family?
· What do you do for a living?
· Do you have any hobbies/sports?
· Do you have any travel plans?


3# Persuasion
Most of our interactions revolve around persuading people in one way or the other. It makes persuasion a very crucial skill for professional and personal development. The author is a trained hypnotist and he has shared two tips for effective persuasion in his book. First is to use the word ‘because’, to give reasons. If we are asking people for favors, we need to justify our request in some way. Hence, there should always be a ‘because’ in our requests. Second is to use the phrase, ‘Would you mind?’, to come off as polite. People do not like people who bluntly ask for favors but they like to listen to humble requests. The one phrase can entirely change the tone of our request making it more persuasive.
The skills of writing, conversing and being persuasive are highly required for any field that we are working in. Every job required us to interact with people and these systems are helpful in having meaningful interactions. Do share the challenges that you might face while polishing these skills, I would like to know how you tackle them.