Be a Man and Do Things Pillow Book

Chapter 23: Be a Strong-willed Person (1)
There is a chance if you don't give up.

Failure and setbacks are inevitable.But not invincible.

No matter what you do, as long as you give up, there is no chance of success.If you don't give up, you will always have the hope of success.

"If you persevere, you can carve gold and stone; if you persevere, it is difficult to carve dead wood."Gold and stone are much harder than rotten wood. Don't give up carving because of its hardness. What awaits you is always disappointment.But as long as you persevere in carving it, you can carve exquisite works of art over time.Isn't it the same with success?As long as you pursue hard, "sincerely, gold and stone are opened".

Success often lies in the effort to persevere after failure.

People often do 90% of the work and then give up the last 10% that made them successful.This not only loses the initial investment, but also loses the joy of discovering the treasure through the final effort.

In 1956 Hamer purchased Occidental Petroleum.At that time, the competition for oil sources was fierce, and the oil-producing areas in the United States were divided up by large oil companies, so Hammer had no way to intervene for a while. In 1960 he spent $1000 million of the exploration fund and got nothing.At this time, a young geologist proposed that an area east of San Francisco abandoned by the Texaco oil company might contain rich natural gas, and suggested that Hamer Company buy it.Hamer raised funds again and started drilling in the abandoned place. When the drilling was 262 meters deep, he finally drilled out the second largest natural gas field in California, worth 2 million US dollars.

Kiyoike Ichimura, a Japanese celebrity, worked as a salesman for Fukoku Life Kumamoto Branch in his youth. He visited everywhere every day, but he didn't even sign a contract.Because insurance was a very unpopular industry at the time.

Within 68 days, he did not receive a salary, only a small amount of traveling expenses. Even if he wanted to save a little, he still didn't even have the most basic living expenses.In the end, Shimura Kiyoike, who was already disheartened, discussed with his wife to rush back to Tokyo overnight, and would not continue to take out insurance.At this time, his wife said to him with tears: "One week, just try hard for another week, if it really doesn't work..."

The next day, he summoned up his energy again to visit a certain headmaster's house, and this time he finally succeeded.He later described the situation at that time and said: "The reason why I couldn't muster up the courage when I rang the bell was that I had already been here seven or eight times, and the other party felt very impatient, and I would not look good if I disturbed him again this time. I don’t know that the other party is ready to take out insurance at this time, so it can be said that there is only one contract that has not been signed. If I have been unable to enter the door at that moment, I don’t think I will be able to sign that contract.”

After signing that contract, many contracts followed one after another, and the insured people were completely different from before. They all expressed their willingness to insure.The voluntary insurance of many people brought him incomparable courage and spirit.Within a month, his performance jumped to become the leader of Fuguo Life Insurance.

Maybe you are not smarter than others, maybe you have certain defects, but you are not necessarily as successful as others, as long as you have more persistence, more patience, and more silent waiting.

Why not try again.

Water drips through stone, and people who work tirelessly can often succeed.Those who fail many times in life, but never give up, often end up being the best achievers.Only when you understand failure can you understand the meaning of success.People grow through failures, and resolutely trying again after failure can often achieve final success.

A young man applied for a job in a company that had not advertised a job.Seeing that the general manager was puzzled, the young man explained in poor English that he happened to pass by here, so he rushed in.The general manager felt that it was very new, so he made an exception and let him try it.The results of the interview were unexpected, and the young man performed poorly.His explanation to the general manager was that there was no preparation in advance, and the general manager thought he was just finding an excuse to step down, so he responded casually: "Try again when you are ready."

A week later, the young man walked into the company's door again, this time he still failed.But he did much better than the first time.The answer given by the general manager was still the same as last time: "Try again when you are ready." In this way, this young man stepped into the company's door five times, and was finally hired by the company and became the company's key training object.

The journey of our life is full of swamps and thorns. Maybe we need to grope in the dark for a long time before we can find the light; Staggering; maybe our pious beliefs will be entangled by the dust and mist of the world, and cannot fly freely... Then, why can't we say to ourselves firmly and confidently with the courage of the brave: "Try again!" Try again , you may reach the other side of success!

Be strong in the face of failure.

Huang Wentao was born in Shanghai in 1970. He was born blind. He went to a school for the blind since he was a child, left the embrace of his parents, and developed the habit of taking care of himself. He learned about self-reliance, self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-improvement. In 1985, Huang Wentao joined the track and field team of the School for the Blind and started his sports career.His main focus is sprinting and long jumping. It is conceivable how many unimaginable difficulties and accidents will be brought to him by the disabled playing sports.A very backward run-up was used at the time.The running board is supported by a slender iron nail.Once during training, iron nails protruded obliquely. If it was a normal person, it could be easily seen, but he couldn't see anything. As soon as he stepped on it, a piercing pain came from the sole of his foot, and he fainted suddenly. past.It was later learned that the iron nails had passed through the soles of the running shoes and the soles of his feet, and protruded from the surface of the shoes.Because of his congenital defects, he has to pay a lot of price that is very unnecessary for normal people to engage in sports.He couldn't see the coach's demonstration movements clearly, so he could only decompose, figure out and practice them step by step like a "blind man feeling an elephant".Because he has no vision, he often collides and bleeds.The sandpit leading to the long jump was originally covered with grass, but two years later, a runway with no grass appeared under Huang Wentao's feet.

In 1992, Huang Wentao participated in the Paralympic Games in Barcelona.Calm and calm, he played at a super level and defeated Juan of Spain by 3 centimeters to win the championship.When he stood on the podium and listened to the solemn national anthem, he was filled with pride.

If Huang Wentao is pessimistic and disappointed with himself, if he admits defeat to fate after stepping on a nail, and gives up pursuing, if... Once the will is lost in the face of setbacks and failures, people will sink quickly and forever, and fate will step on him underfoot.As long as you get up after you fall, persist after failure, and keep working hard, difficulties will be afraid of you, and setbacks and bad luck will bow to you.

The story of Yugong Yishan also mentioned that "the mountain god heard that he was afraid that it would not stop digging the mountain, so he reported it to the Emperor of Heaven. The Emperor of Heaven was moved by his sincerity, so he ordered people to move the mountain away."

There is a legend that a man dropped a pearl into the sea while swimming. He vowed to retrieve the pearl, so he lifted the sea water bucket by bucket and poured it into the desert. The sea god was also afraid that he would dry the sea water. Hurry up and help him find the pearl.

Whether to persist or give up, the result is very different.

Winners never give up.

Churchill's most wonderful speech in his life was also his last speech.At a graduation ceremony at Cambridge University, there were tens of thousands of students in the entire auditorium, and they were waiting for Churchill to appear.At this moment, Churchill, accompanied by his entourage, walked into the venue and walked slowly towards the podium. He took off his coat and handed it to the entourage, then took off his hat, and watched all the audience silently. After 1 minute Finally, Churchill said a word: never give up.

After Churchill finished speaking, he put on his coat and hat and left the venue.The entire venue was silent, and after 1 minute, there was thunderous applause.

never give up!There are two principles of never giving up. The first principle is: never give up.The second principle is to look back at the first when you feel like giving up: Never give up!

There is not much difference between a winner and a loser, it is just that the loser has taken 99 steps, while the winner has taken a hundred steps.The loser falls down one more time than the winner, and the winner gets up one more time than the loser.When you take a thousand steps, you may also encounter failure, but success often hides behind a corner. Unless you turn a corner, you will never succeed.

In real work, many people often draw conclusions about failure too early. When encountering a little setback, they have doubts about their work, or even give up halfway, and the previous efforts will be in vain.Only those who can stand the wind and rain and all kinds of tests are the final winners. Therefore, if you don’t give up until the last moment, always believe that: the winner will never give up, and the quitter will never succeed!
Only by burying your head can you get ahead.

The ancients said: "Only by burying your head can you get your head out." If the seed does not go through the process of struggling in the hard soil, it will end up as a shriveled seed, and it will never germinate and grow into a big tree.

Many aspiring people ignore the principle that little can make a lot, and they only want to make a big splash instead of doing hard work.One day suddenly, he saw that those who started later than himself and were less talented than himself had already achieved considerable gains, and then he realized that there was still nothing in his field.Only then did he understand that it wasn't that God didn't give him ideals or aspirations, but that he was only waiting for a good harvest, but forgot to sow the seeds.

So it's no use simply lamenting anxiously about your unfulfilled desires.To get there, you have to start from scratch.The so-called "climbing high will make you feel inferior, and traveling far will make you feel inferior".Just like climbing a mountain, you only need to keep your head down and climb carefully and patiently. After you have put in a lot of hard work, you can see how many difficulties you have overcome and how many dangerous roads you have gone through.Small successes like this will gradually accumulate into larger successes that are closer to the ideal goal.

The ultimate goal is by no means achievable in a blink of an eye. It is useless to worry about the distant goal before paying the price of hard work and sacrifice.And only by starting from the basics and moving towards the goal step by step will we slowly approach it and reach it.

Sometimes, it's not that we break our word to ourselves, it's that we lack the grit and persistence that success requires of us.In fact, many times, adults and children are the same.Adults also love to have fun, love games, procrastinate, and perhaps have less self-control than children.Pain comes when we need to confront our plans for success, when we need to start taking concrete action.Let’s take a simple example. You are planning to study abroad for an MBA. This is your short-term goal. Your long-term goal is to find a job in a multinational company in an international metropolis when you get your degree. Then start a new struggle in life from that starting point, and become an all-round senior international management talent.This goal is undoubtedly wonderful, but you have to start working hard to achieve it.

First of all, you have to prepare TOEFL, GRE, GMAT.When you need to sit at the table and face English materials, you will feel hard.The real test of you is the kind of practical effort you need to put in every day, every night.A lot of memory and repetitive boring work will make you feel bored easily.Movies, books, entertainment, and food tempt you all the time.At this time, if you don't have enough perseverance, you will easily relax your requirements and surrender to these temptations.

More often than not, things go wrong.

There is an interesting story in "Think Tank 100" written by Taiwanese writer Guo Tai:

A child found a chrysalis in the grass.He picked it up and took it home to see how the chrysalis would evolve into a butterfly.A few days later, a small crack appeared on the chrysalis, and the butterfly inside struggled for several hours, as if its body was stuck by something and could not get out.The child couldn't bear it, and thought: "I must help it." So, he picked up the scissors and cut open the pupa, helping the butterfly to escape from the pupa.But the butterfly's body is bloated and its wings are shriveled, so it can't fly at all.This butterfly is doomed to crawl for a lifetime with its clumsy body and underdeveloped wings, and will never be able to fly.

This story illustrates a truth that the growth of every thing has a process of ripening and success.This process is a step-by-step process.

On the contrary, haste makes waste.

As far back as half a century ago, in the suburbs of Los Angeles, USA, there was a child who had never seen the world. He was only 15 years old, but he drew up a form entitled "Lifetime Volunteers", which listed: "To the Nile, the Amazon, River and Congo River expeditions; climb Mount Everest, Kilimanjaro and Metterhorn; ride elephants, camels, ostriches and wild horses; retrace the paths of Marco Polo and Alexander I; star in a Movies like 'Tarzan'; take off and land a flying machine; read Shakespeare, Plato, and Aristotle; compose a piece of music; write a book; visit every country in the world, marry and have children; visit The moon..." He numbered each item, 127 targets in total.

After he had solemnly written his dream on paper, he began to implement it step by step. At the age of 16, he and his father explored the Okefenokee Everglades in Georgia and the Everolades in Florida.Since then, he has achieved his goals one by one according to the plan. At the age of 9, he has completed 127 of the 106 goals.The American name is John Goddard.He was honored as much as an explorer can be.In previous years, he was still working tirelessly to achieve goals including visiting the Great Wall (No. 9) and visiting the moon (No. 125).

Leave a string of solid steps behind you!One day you will find yourself the one who goes the furthest!And therein lies the chance for success.

Waiting patiently for the next spring.

Adversity can make us anxious, make us nervous, and make us pessimistic.But sometimes, adversity can make us calm down, reconsider our position, and think about the problems we face. Maybe at this time, things will turn around, and you will embark on a shortcut to success. .

John ran a farm in Wisconsin that he relied on when he was paralyzed by a stroke.

Since his relatives were convinced that there was no hope for him, they moved him to the bed and kept him there.Although John couldn't move his body, he still used his brain from time to time.Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind, and this idea was destined to make up for his misfortunes and shortcomings.

He summoned all his relatives.And asked them to grow grain on his farm.The grain will be used as feed for a herd of pigs, which will be slaughtered and used to make sausages.

Within a few years, John's sausages were displayed and sold in shops all over the country. As a result, John and his relatives became very rich.

The reason for such a beautiful result is that John's misfortune forced him to use a resource that he never really used: ideas.He set a definite aim, and drew up a plan for its attainment, which he and his relatives, forming a brain-tank, carried out with due confidence.Don't forget, this plan came about after John had a stroke.

When you encounter setbacks, don't waste time counting how much you have lost; instead, you should count how many gains and assets you can gain from the setback.You will find that what you gain is much more than what you lose.

(End of this chapter)