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His dozens of failures early in life with his entrepreneurial projects like
computer games, full transfer software, meditation program, they were all
considered failures when looking at it from the goal standpoint, but from
the systems standpoint, they gave them the skill of hustle which allowed
him to put in the long hours necessary to get his comic off the ground in the
following years.
His failure to move up the ranks at a certain level at a bank that he was
working at, allowed him to develop enough business skills to market and
manage his comic business. In his time at a big corporate telephone
company, it didn't really lead to him being a CEO or anything grand, but it
gave him all the materials for his Dilbert comic, which in turn obviously was
a useful thing.
But Bill Gates happened to be born at a certain time in history. That's just
plain lucky. Because of that luck, he made billions and billions of dollars. But
having certain skills allowed him to capitalize on the opportunity that was
presented to him.
When you focus on systems, you accelerate skills development and you
leave yourself open to notice opportunities, to pivot and make yourself
more likely to be successful. The openness of systems increases the odds of
luck finding you and success coming your way.
That was the core message that most resonated with me from Scott's book.
I highly recommend getting his book and seeing what experience of his most
help you advance your career."
"Putting the blinders on" -- so of course "to put on" means, in this case, to
wear something and what we are wearing are blinders.
Well this actually comes from a long time ago in the US when we would use
-- well in Europe and the US -- when we would use horses. Putting on
blinders is a way of blinding you or keeping your eyes focused in one
direction.
So he is telling us, "don't be like these horses." He's telling you, don't be like
a horse and be focused in only one direction and don't keep looking in that
one direction for a goal that happens in months or years. Instead focus on
systems.
So here "instead" is the same as "instead of." You can actually use either
word, you just have to change the way that the sentence is written.
And the meaning is, "in lieu" of or "other," "not this but that."
We can get these abilities from our own experience, our knowledge, our
education. These are things that we learn.
So "based" is like a root. We often use the word -- there's a verb, "rooted."
So if something's "based" in it, it's "rooted." You can thing of a plant and how
it has its roots and sits inside the dirt. This is "based," this focused on skills.
So this sentence means that systems -- "systems" are rooted in skills; they're
founded in skills.
"They allow you..." So "they" refers to systems. The "they" in here we're
talking back about the sentence above; we're talking about systems, and
systems are what give us a chance; they're what allow us to do something.
So here -- systems that are rooted in skills gives you the chance to use those
skills in different ways and with different projects.
We know "opportunities," so we'll start there since we've been talking about
this the whole time -- "opportunity."
So "odds of success."
The word "odd" here first -- it can actually mean different things.
"Odd" sometimes means "strange." You can say "he's an odd man," and that
means he's a strange man. It's not a bad word, but it does not mean that
here. Here we're talking about success; it's not a "weird success" it's "odds
of success." It really means in this case, "probability" or "chance."
50% -- your chances are good -- may be likely, sort of likely, that something
would happen.
So again we're dealing with probability, with chance, this is math talk. You
can think in percentages, 0% is very unlikely something will happen, 100%
odds are something very likely will happen.
Alright, so what is Scott trying to tell us in this section. Let's take a look.
So what he's really trying to tell us is that it's better to focus on systems,
because systems are skill-based, they're focused and rooted in improving
your skills and these skills are things that can be used for future projects
and endeavors. You can transfer them, you can carry them to a new place
and a new project and to do new things. They are not limited to a single
opportunity, not to one opportunity, but that can be used with everything
that you do in the future.
So don't blind yourself, don't be that horse, don't put blinders on and focus
on just one thing or one goal or result. You want to look at systems, and
you're more likely to succeed.
It's a lovely word; it's a good word to know; it's a good vocabulary word.
"Endeavors" -- it's a very unique word; it can be used both as a verb -- "he
endeavors to something; he endeavors to become strong; he works at
becoming strong."
So...
You can think of the "ea" as an "eh" sound in "dea" like egg -- more like a
short e -- "en dea vor."
Then this V-O-R is actually not a strong "o" sound; it sounds more like an
"e."
Good word to learn. Means things that you attempt to achieve and they're
usually big things. So if you endeavor, you're attempting to achieve
something important, something big.
This one's good; you can really think about this like you're standing
somewhere high and you can see things in front of you, see things far away
from you -- that's your perspective; that's your point of view. It's the point
where you are standing, and what you can see across from you, around you
-- standpoint.
So if you're using a goal as your point of view, then for Scott this is very
narrow, because your focus is like a horse with blinders -- you can't see very
far in front of you. But with a system -- from Scott's point of view -- you
can see further and taller and farther. You can achieve important things like
endeavors. But if you are looking from a standpoint of a goal, you can't
achieve important things like endeavors; you would be more likely to fail;
this is the word standpoint.
"They were actually successes from the standpoint of systems because they
gave him skills that transferred to the next career move."
When you move to the next career, you get a new opportunity to do
something new. Scott's skills transferred to each new career move allowing
him to be successful.
So we're talking about the next career, so these are your new opportunities.
Scott tried a lot of different things. He went from next career to next career.
A move is exactly that, it's to change, it's motion -- a car moves, a person
moves. So "going from place to place" -- you can think of it that way.
So this person -- if you move career, you go from career to career. The next
career move is to try new opportunities.
Scott liked going from career to career because it would give him new skills
and he was trying different things; some of them failed by goal standards,
but in the end hopefully, he came out alright, and allowed him to "be
successful in the long run."
For example, if you buy a more expensive computer now, you will save
money in the long run.
The opposite might be, "in the short run." You're thinking over a short time
period. A cheap computer may save money in the short run, but it will
eventually cost you more.
Scott was successful over a long time because he gained skills he could use,
skills he could transfer when he moved from career to career. So in the short
term seemed like a failure, but in the long term it was a success. His long
term success, making comics and making millions of people laugh every day.
"Dozens of" -- so this is in plural then, if you see it has an "s" here. Dozens
of something means "a lot."
You can think of it as it means "times twelve." So it could be 24, 36, 48...
Here, we don't know; we're not counting the specifics, but it means "a lot
of."
Poor Scott, he had dozens of failures, he could have 12, 24, 36 -- he had a
lot of failures. But in the end he proved successful, in the long run.
So what is he trying to tell us here? What the writer is trying to tell us here
about Scott is that Scott may not have won his goals, which were short term,
or in the short run; he may have failed in many many ways -- and that's
dozens of failures -- but from the point of a system, he was able to learn
from his endeavors, learn from the things that he was trying to achieve, to
learn from moving from career to career, and use those skills and abilities
for the next move, the next win, which just happened to be making a comic
that made millions of people laugh and that made him a lot of money.
Let's continue.
OK, we talked about his dozens of failures and now let's look --
"They gave him the skill of hustle." So we're talking about his failures, these
two sentences are connected.
So what did Scott... In this case, what did he learn from his dozens of
failures? He learned how to hustle.
But be careful how you use this word. Of course in this case it can be to be
busy. To hustle he learned the skill, the art of being busy.
The reason we have to be careful how we use this word is because it doesn't
always have a nice meaning.
So I'll give you an example. You can use it to describe a person, but if you
describe a person as a "hustler," this actually means they are a thief or a
cheater. So you don't really want to describe Scott as a "hustler," unless he's
a cheater. I hope he's not a cheater, because we want to read his book.
No, he's an active, busy person. He learned the skill of "hustle," or the art of
keeping busy.
Also if you use this in the past tense it can also sound negative too.
So for example, "he hustled." E-D -- past tense. "He hustled me." Well then
it sounds like you're telling someone that you were cheated by someone.
So it's important just to know that you have to be careful how you use this
phrase "he hustled."
OK, he's very busy, right? So he's putting in these long hours.
What does this mean? So this phrase means, "to work for a long time" or "to
work for many hours."
Here, "put in" -- "put in" can actually be used with different words.
So "put in" can be used with time and effort. So of course "long hours"
means to work for many hours or "to put in effort" means to work hard. So
if you put in time, we're talking about working for many hours. But if you
say, "put in effort" then we're saying he worked hard.
"Get his comic off the ground" -- these are good phrases.
"Get his comic off the ground..." [aside] Make this bigger.
"Taking flight." To get something off the ground literally or directly related
to airplanes taking off and flying.
So here, getting something off the ground -- he got his comic off the ground;
it went up; it took off. It took flight.
Entrepreneurs, like Scott are often trying to get the business off the ground;
they want to make them sustainable and successful. Scott was able to get
his Dilbert comic off the ground. It was able to take flight and soar. It's a
success; it's a win.
So what is Scott saying here? Well, he learned many things... Well, he failed
at many things -- we should say that -- he failed at things like computer
games, file transfer, a meditation program, but he learned the most
important thing, and that was this -- the skill of the art of the hustle.
And B) This skill taught him how to work, how to put in long hours, how to
make effort where he could finally make his project soar and win in the
following years.
What is this? Moving "up the ranks." Moving up the ranks. To move up the
ranks.
Move up the ranks. Well, this actually has to deal with the military. So of
course originally, in the military you have ranks, or you have a hierarchy --
this is a fancy word for "ranks" -- or levels. Hierarchy. Levels.
So when you have ranks, or you have a hierarchy, you have a sequence of
levels. You start with a lower position, and you end with a higher position.
That's the idea -- start low, and end high. So to "move up the ranks" means
to rise from a lower level to a higher level of leadership.
So here, he started low, and then he was supposed to move up high, but he
didn't.
"In his time," or phase of something. Mostly we say life, but it's referring to
a time period, a phase of something. This is referring to Scott's life, where
he worked at this corporate telephone company. So there was a time in his
life -- a certain time period -- where he was this worker at a phone company.
You can use this in your own life. You can say, "my time as a student." You
can say, "my time as a pilot."
So in your own time, in your own life, how you experienced a phase of your
life -- that's what this phrase is used for.
Sometimes when you use "in my time," you also mean "generation." So lots
of older folks, lots of older adults like to use this for younger kids.
It didn't really lead to him being a CEO. Remember? He did not move up the
ranks, so it did not "lead to..."
So, "lead to," here is talking about "result." "Did not result in..." you could
say.
"In turn" means "then." So Scott felt "in turn..." then he found success.
Example -- Scott suffered failures in the business world which helped him
to become successful through the Dilbert comics.
So -- "which in turn" -- which then... Then there was a result; then something
happened.
Which in turn... Which then... It was a useful thing. Because he actually got
a lot of material for his Dilbert comic.
OK, so let's look at the whole meaning of this passage, what he's trying to
tell us.
So, "ultimately" -- it can actually mean two things. One, it can mean "finally."
When you're talking about a series of things or ideas, and you use the
opening words like "first," "next," and then "ultimately" will mean the final
thing in the series.
"In the end the most important thing is that the systems will lead you to
success."
So "bad luck" here in this case would be something like, "he happened to be
on that bus that caught fire" -- yes, that's very unlucky.
So what would be good luck? What are the good odds? "I happened to win
the lottery." Yay lottery.
OK so for Bill Gates it means Bill Gates was "lucky" that he was born at a
very certain time in history, it was the beginning of the Internet and it was
the beginning of the computer age. "That's just plain lucky."
"Plain lucky."
So "plain lucky," this is kind of slang. It just means "very." Of course lucky -
- remember, we're referring to our odds, but "plain" -- "Plain" usually is an
adjective; it's used to describe something kind of neutral. "Plain" sometimes
can be not pretty, but it's not ugly either. It's kind of neutral. It's kind of a
neutral word. "That's plain lucky."
In this case very, very lucky. Or plain can also be "clearly." Very lucky. Clearly
lucky.
So here, Gates was able to make the most of the chance he had. So Gates
was able to capitalize, he was able to make the most of the chance he had
that was presented to him using the skills that he had.
So from "ultimately..."
From "ultimately," this is really talking about systems, and what they can get
you. Systems are important, they help you build skills. These skills can then
be used when you find the right opportunity, just like Bill Gates had. He was
very lucky but he also had the skills and the opportunity or chance to use
them, to capitalize on them.
Let's look at this this next blue word here -- "to notice."
So what is "notice?" We'll say what is "to notice." This is "to see" or "to pay
attention to something." When you notice something you see something;
you pay attention to something.
So this word comes from dancing, and it means to turn quickly. But it means
to turn quickly in a circle or you can say "a circular motion." So to turn
quickly in a circle, is to pivot.
This is very frequently used when you talk about dancing. So you would say
we would turn or spin on a pivot and the pivot or the center of the circle is
your foot, and you're turning in a circle around your foot.
"That was the core message that most resonated with me from Scott's
book."
"Resonate" -- this means a deep full sound. Usually this refers to sounds we
hear, music, deep full sound. An example would be -- the sound of the ocean
"resonates" inside a seashell; when you put a seashell up to your ear you
can hear the deep full sound of the ocean -- sounds like the ocean. So it's a
sound that fills the body of the shell.
Well, in the sentence, it's not a sound that fills our body, but a message --
the message the writer heard most deeply and connected with. The
message the writer heard most deeply and connected with, their heart and
mind is about systems.
"Get it" -- he recommends the book; he wants you to read the book; he
thinks there's an important message that will resonate with you. So go buy
his book; go get Scott's book.
When you focus on systems, it allows you to build skills and then you can
be open to connect your skills to more opportunities. This is the main lesson
that the writer learned.
OK, we'll finish there. I hope you enjoyed today's passage. See you next
time. Bye.