How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adamsby Scott Adams
Shares rank 6 of 22 self-help books by recommenders
Recommended for its ideas on systems over goals, habits, and career thinking, and by readers who say it shaped how they think about success.
Recommended for its ideas on systems over goals, habits, and career thinking, and by readers who say it shaped how they think about success.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Systems and habits over goals
“It taught me to focus on systems and habits as a preference over goals”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Scott Adams has passed away” “the key to many types of success is consistently repeated action”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “Dilbert creator Scott Adams doesn't expect to live much longer” Enjoyable read readers appreciated
“I really appreciated "How to Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big".”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Scott Adams has passed away” “I really enjoyed How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.”
Comment from 17 Jan 2026 in “The Dilbert Afterlife (By Scott Alexander)” Influential and widely imitated ideas
“That book turned out to be a huge success, often imitated, and influencing a wide variety of people.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Scott Adams has passed away” “particularly impacted me early and exposed me to First Principles, biases”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Scott Adams has passed away”
Other self-help books people recommend
The four most recommended other self-help books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How to Win Friends and Influence Peopleby Dale Carnegie | 67 | 25 | 73% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Atomic Habitsby James Clear | 20 | 2 | 91% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Easy Way to Stop Smokingby Allen Carr | 9 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Feeling Goodby David Burns | 8 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Bigby Scott AdamsThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Your job isn’t your job. Your job is to find your next career step.”
“I really enjoyed How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.”
“particularly impacted me early and exposed me to First Principles, biases”
“That book turned out to be a huge success, often imitated, and influencing a wide variety of people.”
“I really appreciated "How to Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big".”
“It taught me to focus on systems and habits as a preference over goals”
“the key to many types of success is consistently repeated action”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.