The learning methods and training details of Harvard's top students

Chapter 11 Genius Comes from Diligence
(Harvard representative: Wang Yuan) People always like to find excuses to defend their laziness and slackness. In fact, this kind of defense is nothing but self-deception and meaningless.In the pursuit of life, making excuses is tantamount to failure, because success does not have the right to find excuses.

—Professor Spielger Keel, Harvard University

【Wonderful Guide】

Biography of Wang Yuan
Wang Yuan was born in Changsha in 1980. His father, Dr. Wang Shengqi, was engaged in material research at Hanska Air Force Base in the United States, and his mother, Dr. Duan Xiaoman, was an associate researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Because her parents went to study in the United States, she lived with her aunt in Shanghai. She was an independent child with a strong sense of right and wrong since she was a child.

At the age of nine, Wang Yuan went to the United States to reunite with his parents.

When he first arrived in the United States, his father sent Wang Yuan to a bilingual school in Boston.In less than half a year since the start of school, Wang Yuan has become one of the four A-level students with the highest level in the whole grade from the student with the worst English.From then on, she stood out and became a new star in the Chinese circle in the Boston area.

In 1995, Wang Yuan was admitted to Philip High School with the No.1 score in the eastern United States, and immediately became a news figure on Cambridge TV.

Philip High School has a history of more than 200 years and is one of the best private high schools in the United States. Many celebrities, including former US President Bush and 1997 Nobel Prize winner Vickery, have graduated from this school.In the history of Cambridge, no one has been admitted to this school, and Wang Yuan has broken the "unprecedented" for Cambridge.For this reason, Wang Yuan was awarded the only "Mayor's Award" for junior high school graduates by the Mayor of Cambridge.

In 1997, she was the only winner of the "Student Achievement Award" among the 10th grade students in the United States. She was the only student of Philip High School who received the "Leadership Award" from the principal in 1998-1999. She was also the winner of the National Outstanding Student Award in 1999.Because of Wang Yuan's various honors, she was absorbed into the "Honorary Graduates Association" in the United States, and was also recommended as a special person by "Who's Who in American High School".

Wang Yuan graduated from high school when he was 18 years old. Due to his excellent character and learning, he was admitted to Harvard University in December 1999 with the No.12 score in the East Coast Examination of the United States.

In early February 2000, the White House Presidential Scholar Award Committee notified Wang Yuan in writing that she was selected as a candidate for the 2 Presidential Scholar Award due to her excellent character and learning and her leadership skills. She was expected to fill in the attached form on time and return it to the White House .Wang Yuan was very happy at first, but she decided to give up this opportunity when she found out that the winner must be a U.S. citizen on the notice.

The US Presidential Scholar Award was established in 1964. Among the more than 200 million high school graduates in the United States every year, only 141 people can win the award at most.This award is the coveted honor of every outstanding high school student in the United States.

Wang Yuan's parents once persuaded her that if she becomes an American citizen, she can also contribute to China in the future.Wang Yuan said, "I don't want to exchange my nationality for an award."

When talking about future plans, Wang Yuan said that she plans to get a doctorate in law and economics at Harvard University, and then "do something for China."

【Character Story】

Only fight for the first
Wang Yuan is a Harvard girl who is imitated by Chinese children all over the United States. She has a strong will to pursue excellence since she was a child.Wang Yuan went to the United States with her parents to study at the age of 9. At that time, she could not speak English at all. Her classmates looked down on her, and the teacher did not give her homework.But Wang Yuan is particularly strong, and goes to the library to read books every day after class. After 4 months, her English composition became the first in the class. Nine months later, all the grades were the first in the class, which made her classmates and teachers look at her with admiration.When Wang Yuan graduated from junior high school, he was admitted to the well-known Philips High School in the United States with the No. 9 score in the SSAT test in the eastern United States.During the interview with Wang Yuan, the chief examiner once said: "You are No.1 in junior high school, but you may be the last one in Philips High School." Willingness made her work harder than any of her classmates.She only sleeps 1 hours a day on average, and even sleeps only one or two hours a day before the big exam.With hard work and diligence, she became the top student in the school with all A's every semester, and won the "National Merit Award" in the United States in 4.She also served as the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and the school's literary review magazine in high school, often working until the early hours of the morning to edit articles, and then attending classes as usual.

【Harvard view】

Proficiency in industry and industriousness in playfulness
There is a person who almost does the same thing every day of the year: just after dawn, he crouches in front of the typewriter and starts writing for the day.The man's name is Stephen King, and he is an internationally renowned master of horror novels.

Stephen King's experience was very rough. He was so poor that he couldn't even pay the phone bill, and the phone company cut off his phone line because of this.Later, he became a famous master of horror novels in the world. He kept making manuscripts all day long, and often a novel was still stored in his brain, and the publisher paid him a high deposit.Now, he is considered a rich man in the world, but he still spends his time in diligent creation.

Stephen King's secret is very simple, only two words: hard work.In a year, he has only three days as an exception, and he does not use it for writing.These three days are: Birthday, Christmas, and Independence Day (National Day).The benefit that diligence brings to him is never-ending inspiration.

"Proficiency lies in diligence and lack in play." The amount of knowledge and the size of a person's achievements depend on the degree of diligence.

Smartness comes from hard work.Practice has proved that: in the process of learning, those who are smart and diligent will become smarter; those who are not smart but diligent will gradually become smarter;To become a useful talent in society, one must study hard.

Ability comes from hard work.Mastering knowledge is the premise of developing ability, without knowledge it is difficult to form ability.As long as you are willing to work hard on the word "diligence", pay attention everywhere, and accumulate persistently, you will definitely gain something.

Diligent study is not to imprison students in books and houses all day long, but to spend less entertainment and more struggle, devote the limited time and energy of life to learning, learn to arrange time reasonably, use brain scientifically, and establish that learning is hard, The correct concept of learning more happiness makes "hard-working learners" become "happy willing learners".

[Easy interaction]

1. Do you usually study hard?

2. If you have the habit of being lazy and lazy, write down the reasons and ask the teacher to help you.

【Parent-child total product】

In the eyes of many people, Bill Gates has many adjectives, such as technical genius, richest man, forecaster, etc. However, in the eyes of some Microsoft insiders, Gates' biggest characteristic is "diligence".The case of Harvard Business School describes Gates like this: "Gates seems to live in the office. After he comes to the office at about 9 o'clock in the morning every day, he stays there until midnight. The rest time seems to be to order a pizza delivery for dinner."

It is said that Gates' time in China is counted down to the second, and the schedule is very tight.At one point, Gates was scheduled for a dozen signing ceremonies within 6 hours, with only 3 minutes of toilet time in between, and Gates later applied for a "10-minute break."

【Harvard view】

Opportunities are only meaningful to hard-working people
In Chinese and foreign history, the success of an outstanding person is inseparable from opportunities.But they didn't make it all by the occasional rabbit bumping into a stake.

In fact, what we often call a turning point in our fortunes is just an opportunity to build up the achievements of our previous efforts.The famous school motto of Harvard University in the United States brilliantly interprets the relationship between diligence, opportunity and success: always be prepared, and you will be successful when the opportunity comes.

In a speech, Wang Yongqing, the richest man in Taiwan, revealed the secret of his success to the students in the audience: "Young man, I can tell you responsibly that I have worked hard all my life to prove that my luck is better than others!"

Wang Yongqing worked hard all his life and helped his mother to collect firewood and water when he was seven years old. Although he was only educated in the third grade of elementary school, the children of poor people were already in charge of the family. In 1931, Wang Yongqing, who was 15 years old, went out to work in a rice store. My father raised 16 yuan to open a rice shop, and maintained his business by earning a penny a catty of rice.The good habit of diligence he developed in his life began when he opened a rice shop.Later, Wang Yongqing opened a rice mill, a brick factory, and a wood processing factory, and was forced to flee to Japan due to deforestation. In the 200s, the United States assisted Taiwan in developing its industry, and Wang Yongqing was invited back to Taiwan to build polyvinyl chloride, a basic raw material for the petrochemical industry.At the age of 20, Wang Yongqing boldly took over the project that no one was optimistic about at the time, and established Taiwan Plastics Industry Co., Ltd.After that, Wang Yongqing, who achieved great success in the field of plastics, successively established a large number of enterprises such as Nanya Plastic Factory and Taiwan Chemical Fiber Industry Corporation, thus becoming a generation of plastic kings.

General MacArthur said: "The sound of the bugle calling the army to the battlefield is an opportunity for the soldiers. However, this loud bugle sound will never make the soldiers brave, nor will it help them win the war. Opportunity It's up to them to grasp it." It is his personality, his personal ability that makes a person seize the opportunity of his life and go to success.

Chance is only meaningful to those who are diligent.

The secret to success is that you are ready to take advantage of the opportunity when it comes your way.For those who are lazy, no matter how good the opportunity is, it is worthless; for those who are not prepared, no matter how great the opportunity is, it can only show his incompetence and ugliness, making him ridiculous.

Remember the Harvard motto: Always be ready, and when the opportunity comes you will be successful.

[Easy interaction]

1. Do you think a person's success depends on hard work or opportunity?

2. Find some examples of outstanding people and compare the relationship between their efforts and opportunities.

【Parent-child total product】

Let us see the hardworking story of Harvard girl Chen Yuhua:
In 1990, she was recommended to Renmin University of China by Xiamen No. 1 Middle School with the No.1993 score in liberal arts in Xiamen; in 1995, she was admitted to Stanford University in the United States as the only undergraduate student in mainland China; Ernie Consulting...

When Kearney was in full swing, Chen Yuhua had a higher goal—to get a Harvard MBA and recharge himself.

At this time, she was presiding over a very important project, and the process was extremely difficult.She has to work from 7:1 am every day until late at night.Then, after leaving the work of consulting projects, Chen Yuhua had to devote himself to applying to Harvard.The application essay is the most difficult and critical part of the entire application process.At that time, Chen Yuhua wrote from 6 am to 7 am, and then fell asleep for an hour. When the alarm clock went off at [-], she was up again to finish her consulting project.On Christmas that year, according to Western customs, companies were on holiday until New Year's Day.During these few rare holidays, Chen Yuhua locked himself in the apartment and wrote papers day and night.In order to save time, she only cooks one meal and eats the leftovers for the next three days.For the longest time, Chen Yuhua didn't sleep for four days and four nights.

Generally speaking, at least three or four years of work experience is required to study for an MBA at Harvard.And Chen Yuhua has been working for less than two years, what did she rely on to get into Harvard?
She said confidently: "At that time, I worked more than 100 hours a week, and usually one person worked 40 hours a week, so I worked for 1 year and 8 months, which was equivalent to other people working for three or four years. Learning in a short period of time what ordinary people can learn in a long time shows that your potential for improvement is very fast.”

Perhaps this is what Harvard appreciates. In the autumn of 1997, Chen Yuhua flew to Boston, USA, to start life on the Harvard campus.

(End of this chapter)