As a professional writer and speaker, Mark Twain has achieved great success and is famous all over the world. You may not know that Mark Twain stumbled and suffered a lot when he tried to become a businessman.

Mark Twain invested in the development of typewriters, and finally lost $50,000 and got nothing. Mark Twain saw that publishers made a lot of money by publishing his works. He was not convinced and wanted to make this money, so he started a publishing company.

However, business and writing have nothing to do after all, and Mark Twain soon got into trouble. This short business experience ended in the bankruptcy of the publishing company, and the writer himself was in debt crisis.

After two blows, Mark Twain finally realized that he had no business talent, so he gave up the idea of doing business and began to tour the country. This time, the humorous Mark Twain completely lost the mess in the shopping mall and found his feeling again. In the end, Mark Twain paid off all his debts through his work and speeches.

Shorter feet and longer inches. We should make good use of our strengths and weaknesses, but we should try our best to avoid our weaknesses and shortcomings. The trick of life is to make use of our advantages. All successful people determine and stick to their own life direction according to their own strengths, and succeed as they wish.

Stick to your own leading direction, stand the test of all kinds of temptations, and don't go with the flow.

Smart people can often display their talents and advantages to the maximum extent, thus having eternal charm. Because only by making good use of your strengths can you add value to your life; On the contrary, taking advantage of your own shortcomings will devalue your life. There is a famous saying: "If the baby is misplaced, convenience is a waste."

Story 2

Andy, an American, has only four fingers in his right hand. He is an excellent radio presenter, but his dream is to be a TV presenter. Although Andy has almost all the conditions to be an excellent TV presenter, the heads of various TV stations turned him down when they saw his disabled hand.

After a year and a half of hard work, Andy was finally hired by a TV station. During the audition, Andy put on imitation gloves according to the opinions of the TV station and faced the audience and his own shortcomings with the most natural attitude. Because of Andy's sincere, confident and charming hosting, Andy was warmly welcomed and became an excellent TV presenter.

Letters from the audience kept coming. They warmly praised Andy's hosting art and his frankness in the face of defects, and the audience accepted his defects.

Andy's success has many factors, and his frank attitude towards his shortcomings is one of the reasons for his success.

Story 3

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Tian Ji used inferior horses against superior horses, middle horses against inferior horses, and superior horses against Chinese horses to make up for the shortcomings of his own horses, thus winning; Qian Zhongshu, a famous writer in China, failed in mathematics when he was young, but Tsinghua University made an exception to admit him and eventually became a master of literature.

Story 4

During the Anti-Japanese War, the Central Committee of China gave up the old road of the Soviet Red Army that "the city surrounded the countryside" and decided to give full play to its own advantages and "surround the city with the countryside", and finally won the war. Before the production of Rolex watches, an opponent watch will be developed soon. Rolex ordered a large number of hats after discovering that the other side also produced hats. As a result, the opponent temporarily gave up the watch plan when producing hats, so Rolex produced watches first.

Story 5

Lian Po was a famous soldier of Zhao at the end of the Warring States Period. When Zhao Huiwen proclaimed himself king, he was named Shangqing. He defeated Qi, Wei and other countries many times and made great contributions to Zhao. The battle of Changping was impregnable and blocked for three years. Later, Zhao Haoqi and Cheng Xiao fell into the trap of Qin and replaced Lian Po with Zhao Kuo, which was a fiasco. Yan took the opportunity to attack Zhao. Zhao Haoqi and Cheng Xiao revived Lian Po and defeated the Yan Army.

The Prince of Zhao named Lian Po as Xinping Army and Ren Xiangguo. Zhao mourned the king, but Lian Po was frustrated and defected to Wei. Wei didn't trust him, so he never used it again. He went to Chu State again and became a general of Chu State. Finally, he died of old age in Chu. Lin Xiangru was a minister of Zhao in the Warring States Period. When Zhao Huiwen became king, he got a rare treasure jade from Chu, which Qin Guoqiang exchanged with 15 city. Lin Xiangru was ordered to take the jade to court with the king of Qin and return it to Zhao intact.

Zhao Wang made Xiangru a doctor. In 279 BC, he followed Zhao Huiwen to Mianchi (now Mianchi West, Henan Province) to meet the king of Qin, so that the king of Zhao would not be humiliated in Qin. After returning home, he was named Shangqing for his work, ranking above Lian Po, and Lian Po was indignant. Lin Xiangru puts national security first and tolerates Lian Po. Lian Po endured an epiphany, offered a humble apology, and the two became close friends. Turn the story of Xianghe into a beautiful talk.

Extended data

A famous saying of fostering strengths and avoiding weaknesses

Those who are good at using troops do not attack the long with short strokes, but attack the short with long strokes.

If you take your strengths, you will have nothing to lose; Avoid its shortcomings, there is no abandonment in the world.

If you use it for a long time, you will have nothing, or you will abandon it; If you are short, you can't touch anything.

The light of the bright moon can be seen from a distance, but not from a fine book; In foggy days, you can read carefully instead of being different.

Water is like using a boat, while land is like using a car. It is impossible to ship in water, but it is unusual to push it to land.

Resources to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses _ Baidu Encyclopedia