Be Useful

A Tribute to Scott Adams

Jan 14, 2026

Several weeks ago I wrote about how Scott Adams’ “reframe” trick affected my life:

My transformation in middle age started with two quotes. One from Moses and one from Greg Gutfeld. In a PragerU video, Gutfeld noted, “Exercise is the best example of conservative thinking at your disposal.” He also said, “Fitness is one bank where you deposit effort and you build a portfolio of reward.”
Then in 2018 at my first Bible study, one verse hit me like a lightning bolt, changing my view of weight loss. In Deuteronomy 30:19, Moses told the Israelites, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life.”
Those words were the “reframe,” as Scott Adams puts it, that have guided me through tremendous change. Similarly, in 2024, Adams said, “When life gets dark, I ramp up my risk of embarrassment in the pursuit of something worthy. Works every time.”
I could be embarrassed about being public about my weight loss and massive debt — or I could use it as a catalyst to write a book (and help people)!
…
If you’re scared about the future, reframe it as Scott Adams says and use it as motivation for “relentless improvement.” You owe it to yourself to not just embrace America’s Golden Age but also your own.

We don’t often get to tell the people we’ve never met in person how they changed our lives. However, Scott was a different sort of guru.

Until the very end he made himself available to his friends and fans in nearly daily livestreams. It’s comforting that in his last days he knew how much he brought to the world. We don’t often get to say goodbye to the people who touched our lives. What a gift he gave us.

C.S. Lewis said, “My hope is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I’m out of the fight.”

Over the next couple days, you will see ghouls in the media tell lies about Scott. I’ve already seen it from People, New York Times and The Washington Post. His “crime” was supporting Donald Trump. He said in an October 2025 livestream, “When I decided that I would throw away my entire social life to back Trump and when I eventually threw away my entire career - which even before I was canceled, my licensing business and book sales went to almost nothing - because I was supporting Trump.” He continued, “I sacrificed everything. I sacrificed my social life. I sacrificed my career. I sacrificed my reputation. I may have sacrificed my health. And I did that because I believed it was worth it.”

His other crime was making being canceled by the Left irrelevant. After his comic strip, Dilbert, was canceled, it was reborn on his own platforms. He even produced the popular desk calendar himself. The 2026 desk calendar is now sold out.

Scott Adams canceled being canceled.

Don’t give the ghouls in the media or online the power to affect your emotions. Instead, as Scott lived and said in his final letter, “Be useful.”