The Dilbert Blog: In Over My Head

Scott Adams, the Creator of the Dilbert cartoons has a terrific blog post today regarding success and (perceived) failure. When you start reading his post you might think, "Gosh, this guy is a braggart." But read on, there's a point to his citations of success. Mr. Adams writes:

I mention these stories because over the course of my life, every time I try something different or unlikely, someone says the equivalent of “don’t quit your day job.” When I venture into areas clearly outside of my expertise, I hear “You’re in way over your head.” You’ve probably seen some of those comments in this blog.

Somehow I have to square that seemingly good advice with the fact that I’ve so often been successful against long odds, especially when I’m in way over my head. In fact, that’s when I do my best work. I gave you several examples, but trust me when I say there are plenty more. To put all of this in context, and before you start . . . [emphasis added]

and don't miss this crucial point:

To put all of this in context, and before you start to vomit at my bragging, I must confess that I fail miserably about ten times for every one success. (That’s an accurate estimate. I’ve literally kept score.) But interestingly, the failures always involved activities that seemed entirely feasible. I was completely qualified for all of the things that failed. Ironically, I couldn’t even “keep my day job.” [emphasis added]

I've included the main points here so you understand why I think this is an important read. But you've got to check out his description of his successes. They're inspiring when read in the proper context.