Text/Chuijin

01

From ancient times to the present, countless people have been racking their brains to figure out a big question: What is the What important factors determine a person's success?

There is a math teacher in the United States who loves to give students quizzes and exams during class.

When these test papers and assignments are collected, their grades will be calculated. After the test results came out, the teacher was shocked!

The teacher discovered that: IQ is not the only difference between the best and the worst students!

So she continued to research...

She asked companies what kind of salespeople made the most money, and went to West Point Military Academy to observe those people who could best endure extreme training. Finally, she I discovered that those successful people are not the most beautiful in appearance, not the ones with the highest IQ, nor the ones with the most prominent backgrounds, but the ones with the most perseverance and perseverance!

The teacher discovered that the most important quality that determines a person’s success is perseverance!

02

Speaking of perseverance and perseverance, I have to mention one person.

Who is he? He is so mysterious!

He dominated the stage of the late Qing Dynasty. He was originally a stupid kid who was looked down upon by everyone, but through his own efforts, he achieved nirvana in life.

He is Zeng Guofan, who is known as the most perfect man in ancient and modern times.

When he was young, Zeng Guofan was simply a negative example of perseverance and perseverance. The most notable thing was that he quit smoking.

Negative examples can better illustrate the matter of perseverance. Let’s take a look first.

03

When Zeng Guofan was young, he loved to smoke local Hunan cigarettes, and he was very addicted to it. He smoked several packs of cigarettes every day.

When I was studying at Lianbin Academy, all my classmates and teachers hated Zeng Guofan. They thought he was too stupid and stubborn, and they didn't like to play with him.

There is only one exception, he is the dean!

The dean may have studied modern psychology and knew about appreciation education. Therefore, he admired Zeng Guofan very much and often held his hand and said to him: Come on, they think you are stupid, but I think you are not stupid. Very unique and very optimistic about you, young man.

When Zeng Guofan heard this, he was extremely moved. It is the dean who recognizes heroes with his sharp eyes.

However, Zeng Guofan did not stand up for himself and was discovered by the dean while smoking.

The dean took a look: Oh, I value you so much, but you still have this problem, I really missed it!

So he immediately issued a wanted order: If you don’t quit smoking, you are destined to accomplish nothing in this life!

When Zeng Guofan heard this, he thought, "How can this happen? I want to be a saint." He swore at that time: I will quit smoking!

After taking the oath, he pulled his classmates aside and held a "press conference" to let the students supervise his smoking cessation.

They also smashed the smoking utensils and burned the tobacco leaves in public, causing a big fuss. They also made great determination in public and launched a noisy personal version of "Humen Elimination of Tobacco".

The classmates were too scared to speak. They just waited quietly to see how long you, Old Zeng, can take.

04

Quitting smoking can best show a person’s perseverance and perseverance. The same is true for losing weight. As people often say: A person can withstand everything. The temptation, not being greedy and working hard, and finally succeeding in losing weight, then there is nothing he can't accomplish.

At this time, Lao Zeng was accepting this test that related to success or failure in life. Once you successfully quit smoking, this person will have extraordinary perseverance and will become a great person in the future and be able to do great things.

However, this time, Lao Zeng disappointed everyone.

Two months later, he couldn't hold it in any longer and started vaping again, and his addiction became even greater than before.

Lao Zeng failed to quit smoking, which made his classmates very happy: I said from the beginning that you would not succeed, and sure enough, quack quack...

The classmates kept laughing... …

Failure to quit smoking means, as the dean said, that you will accomplish nothing.

Zeng Guofan was extremely frustrated, so he began to reflect. Finally, he said: I can't successfully quit smoking. It's not my fault!

I myself have forbidden smoking, but as for my classmates, although they are not as addicted to cigarettes as me, they usually take several puffs, and they always encourage me: "Old Zeng, what's the big deal, come on" One bite, hey, that’s it!

After reflecting clearly, he decided to transfer to Yuelu Academy, leaving the group of bad friends and going to Yuelu Academy, which had a more elegant environment, a more upright academic style and was one of the four major academies.

Lao Zeng said: A person's success depends to a large extent on the environment in which you live. If you are in a positive and growth-promoting environment, you will also be affected subtly.

The original words are: The success or failure of a life is all related to the virtuousness of friends, so don't be careless.

So he started to quit smoking for the second time.

05

The past is cleared, love and hate follow the wind; success or failure, right or wrong, is here to fight.

Lao Zeng called his new classmates together and announced in public: I have decided to quit smoking again. Please supervise me.

After the first failure experience, he went even more ruthless this time and changed his name: from the original "Zeng Zicheng" to "Zeng Disheng". "Bishui" is taken from: all the things in the past, such as death yesterday; all the things in the future, such as life today.

Cleaning up the past and starting a new life, this time he changed his past and quit smoking.

But this time, after only quitting for a month, the students laughed even louder, hahaha, quack, hee hee... one after another.

From then on, Lao Zeng was thrown into the hell farthest away from success. He couldn’t quit smoking, and he still wanted to be a saint!

06

What happened with Zeng Guofan is very similar to many people nowadays. They clamored to go running and lose weight, but the good times did not last long and they were defeated. Back to the same old routine.

In the end, I had to feel sorry for myself: Hey, I’d better be an ordinary person, that’s fine too.

Similarly, Lao Zeng failed to quit smoking, and he began to smoke and smoke for twelve years. His addiction to cigarettes became more and more serious, and he had to smoke ten cigarettes after meals to barely get some immortality.

Twelve years later, in the dead of night, he was sitting at the table writing an article. Halfway through writing, he picked up his smoking utensil and it was obvious that he was addicted to smoking. But he held back, picked up the smoking utensil, looked at it carefully and pondered it in his hand.

Seeing this posture, he wanted to quit smoking again. If it had been before, he would have woken up the whole family and held a "press conference."

This time, accompanied by the silence of the night, I watched the news in silence. After thinking for a long time, he silently took the smoking set, walked to the courtyard, smashed the smoking set to pieces, and poured out all the good tobacco leaves.

After coming back, I wrote my own "Twelve Daily Lessons". He also said: I have always had the disadvantage of being inconstant, but starting from writing this daily lesson book, I can be sure that I will have permanence throughout my life!

From then on, he insisted on sitting in meditation, getting up early, reading, and not going out at night. He adhered to these regulations throughout his life.

07

When admonishing his descendants, he recalled his own youthful past and said: With perseverance, nothing can be accomplished.

——As long as a person has perseverance, there is nothing impossible in the world.

In his family letter, he also wrote: I would like to tell all my brothers that I will always pay attention to this.

It can be seen that he has insisted on these two words throughout his life, and he also has great respect for Youheng.

08

So how do we achieve perseverance? Zeng Guofan has something to say about this;

First: always maintain a heart of awe.

In life, one must have a reverence for life, and learn to be fearless in good times and bad - to be cautious, even if you are alive, you will not forget hell; to be magnanimous, you will have peace of mind in spite of adversity!

If you have a heart of awe, don’t be arrogant when you succeed, and don’t be afraid after failure, everything will go smoothly.

Second: Don’t ask about harvest, but ask about hard work

Many people know that life must be put into practice, but there is always a desire in their hearts, eager to be rewarded immediately after giving. But Zeng Guofan warned people: If you are not a sage, you will be a beast; don't ask about harvest, but ask about hard work.

This is also very suitable for young people who are growing up. Just work hard wholeheartedly in life. When you are young, the harvest you have will definitely not be the biggest. Instead of staying to satisfy the momentary applause , it is better to move forward and pursue the brightest star.

As Zeng Guofan said: Step by step, day by day, it will come to an end. There is no need to calculate the distance and sigh in vain!

Third: Concentrate and learn to concentrate

Countless successful people have benefited from the power of concentration. Zeng Guofan also said: When a mortal does something, he must concentrate on it. One thing. Unremittingly from beginning to end, there is no change in thoughts, doing this, thinking that, sitting on this mountain and looking at that mountain.

——If a person has no perseverance, he will achieve nothing in his life.

Concentration is actually the dividing point between an average person and a successful person. The American billionaire Rockefeller once said: I can be immersed in the joy of doing things in five minutes, while those fools who are good at nothing spend their whole lives. Looking around.

People who truly know how to focus will devote themselves to any small thing, forgetting the passage of time, and only let their hearts flow quietly with every move, allowing their body and mind to be immersed in it. They will be distracted and will not think about things. When it is over, they will only sigh loudly: Ah, five hours passed so quickly!

By learning to focus, people can also cultivate their long-term ambition and taste the joy of immersing themselves in doing things. Slowly, they will also become perseverant and perseverant, able to persevere and stand up.

09

In the past, in math class, the students were busy catching up on English homework. The teacher said: In math class, you are busy catching up on English homework. Wait until you start English class. I thought about making up my math homework again and again, but couldn't do it well.

I used to think it was the math teacher telling us to listen carefully to the lesson, but then I gradually realized that life is actually the same, completely turned upside down.

When I was in class, I thought about the lively spring scenery outside the window. When I was studying, I thought about doing something in the society. After being in society for a long time, I thought about the simplicity and beauty of my student days. Everyone is like this, always unable to live in the moment, always unable to calm down the impetuous heart at this moment, ups and downs, nothing is permanent, and nothing is accomplished in life.

Perhaps we really need to jump out, settle down and live in the present moment. Eating is eating, sleeping is sleeping, with no distracting thoughts, no delusions, and immersed in everything. It will become permanent.