How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life

Foreshadowing means you leave some clues about where the story is going.

Good health is a baseline requirement for success. But I’m not talking about the obvious fact that sick people can’t get much done. I’m talking about the extra energy and vitality that good health brings.

so on. My best estimate is that I will personally consume about 10 percent of the total wealth I create over my career. The rest goes to taxes, future generations, start-up investments, charity, and stimulating the economy. As a future or current rich person, you might pay far more than your share of taxes because of your selfish pursuit of income.

There have been times I stuck with bad ideas for far too long out of a misguided sense that persistence is a virtue. The pattern I noticed was this: Things that will someday work out well start out well. Things that will never work start out bad and stay that way. What you rarely see is a stillborn failure that transmogrifies into a stellar success

If you want people to like you, for business or for your personal life, pay special attention to the quality of your thanks. Thank-you notes sent by snail mail are always appreciated and still a must for the bigger occasions.

failing forward. Any time you learn something useful, you come out ahead.

But I think you’ve seen examples in your life in which a person changes dramatically upon becoming a member of a group or getting a promotion or anything that redefines a person. The most striking example of this effect happened to me. My cartooning skills improved dramatically within a week of United Media’s offering to syndicate Dilbert. The simp

“Energy” is a simple word that captures a mind-boggling array of complicated happenings. For our purposes I’ll define your personal energy as anything that gives you a positive lift, either mentally or physically. Like art, you know it when you see it. Examples will help. For me, shopping is an energy killer. The moment I walk into a busy store, I

we all know that money distorts truth like a hippo in a thong.