Zeng Guofan: Men want to become great, and connections are second!Four mantras, sooner or later, get ahead
Zeng Guofan was a model of a rural baby's counterattack, he was born in a rural farming family, but eventually became one of the four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty, and was called three and a half saints along with Confucius, Wang Yangming, and Zhuge Liang.
The reason why Zeng Guofan was able to achieve such great achievements is closely related to the four mantras that he comprehended in practice, and as long as he can fully understand and apply these mantras, sooner or later he will achieve something.
Resilient support builds extraordinary careers.
In Tsang's view, tenacity is essential to achieve great causes. Zeng Guofan was born in a rural farming family, and his family made a living from farming, which was not much different from most ordinary people. As the eldest son in the family, Zeng Guofan is highly valued by the elders and is also the hope of the Zeng family's prosperity.
Although his family is okay, it is not wealthy. Since childhood, Tsang's parents attached great importance to his education, and he began studying in a private school at the age of 6. However, Zeng Guofan was not a gifted scholar, and it can even be said that his academic Xi grades were mediocre and sometimes difficult.
Like many readers, Zeng Guofan also hoped to be able to gain fame, but his Xi results were not satisfactory. He tried the exam six times in a row, but without success. Despite this, he did not give up and continued to study Xi until he was 27 years old, when he finally passed the examination and began his career.
Compared to some gifted people, they may have achieved high school jinshi grades in the first exam, but Zeng Guofan put in seven efforts. If it weren't for the tenacity of his heart, I'm afraid he would have given up on this path a long time ago. After entering the official career, Zeng Guofan once again showed his perseverance and perseverance, and in ten years, he always adhered to the road of official career, and was promoted seven levels in a row to become a second-class member.
Becoming a ** does not mean that Zeng Guofan has given up studying Xi. Even in old age, he still reads books regularly. It is this spirit of perseverance that has enabled him to regain his confidence in the face of failure, defeat after defeat, and finally to success.
In today's society, if you want to make a career, you also need to have a tenacious mindset. When we face setbacks and difficulties, we should maintain lasting perseverance and keep working towards our goals. We may not be able to achieve such brilliant success as Zeng Guofan, but we will definitely be able to achieve good results.
As a well-known Internet entrepreneur, Ma Yun has failed the college entrance examination twice. When others did not have hope for him, he worked during the day and studied at night, persevered until the third college entrance examination, and finally successfully entered Hangzhou Normal University. On the road to entrepreneurship, Jack Ma has also experienced many difficulties and setbacks.
He borrowed money to start his first venture, but it didn't work, and the next three ventures ended in failure. Many people think that Jack Ma is a "fool" and a "clown". Most people may feel frustrated after the failure of their first venture, but Jack Ma, like Zeng Guofan, has become more and more courageous. Eventually, after a successful fifth venture, Alibaba was founded.
Therefore, all those who pursue great things need to have a tenacious mentality and dare to face difficulties and challenges. Only by surpassing the perseverance of ordinary people can we stand out from the crowd and build a great cause.
Respect for others is also respect for yourself.
China is a country that pays attention to etiquette, and respect for others is one of the most basic etiquette. If you can't do even the most basic respect, then whatever you do will not go well, and you will even provoke many enemies.
In ancient times, people's lives were often not guaranteed and could be killed by the enemy at any time. Therefore, the ancients focused on turning enemies into friends, hoping to make more friends and reduce hostile relations. This is true of both the people and the imperial court. Because the emperor may punish the minister for being unhappy at any time, or even let him die.
Just like Zeng Guofan, it is difficult to secure a life in a high position, and you need to be cautious and careful every day. To gain a foothold in the court and avoid being sued by colleagues, it is necessary to keep a low profile and respect each courtier.
Zeng Guofan took this as a criterion, and no matter which colleague he treated, regardless of his status and official position, he was courteous and sincere when dealing with them. In this way, the ministers in the court were also very friendly to Zeng Guofan, and no one would deliberately frame him. Because he worked beside the emperor, he could die if he was not careful, so Zeng Guofan took respecting others as an official, and through respect for the low-level **, he gained widespread support and made himself gain a firm foothold in the court.
There are many people in history who have become arrogant and domineering after holding high positions and do not take anyone seriously. These people were often condemned by the ministers of the court, and even framed by some people with bad intentions. As a result, these people often don't end well.
This is still the case today. At work, no matter how good your work skills are, it is difficult to succeed in the workplace if you do not respect your colleagues and superiors. It's even harder to move up the ranks, because who likes someone who has no one in their sights?Unless there is no other option, it is difficult to reuse.
Be decisive and don't hesitate. A manly man should act decisively when making decisions and not hesitate like a woman. Many opportunities and outlets are short-lived, and once missed, they are difficult to come across again. Therefore, in order to achieve results, it is necessary to act decisively and avoid hesitation and missed opportunities.
As an important person in a country, he must be decisive, not soft-hearted, hesitant and indecisive. Zeng Guofan is known as half of the three saints, but this does not mean that he is only a gentle literati, on the contrary, he is a decisive and unhesitating doer.
After the outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing court urgently dispatched troops to suppress it, and at the same time encouraged local organizations to organize regimental exercises to suppress the Taiping Rebellion. At that time, most of the landlord class hesitated, and only Zeng Guofan took immediate action, recruited soldiers and horses in his hometown, and established the Hunan army.
It was the rise of the Hunan army that greatly improved Zeng Guofan's status in the imperial court and became one of the important ** in the late Qing Dynasty, and no one dared to question his identity. Zeng Guofan's belief that "troubled times need to be re-enacted" means that he must be decisive and ruthless in dealing with bandits, and would rather kill a thousand by mistake than let go of one.
Zeng Guofan's decisiveness and ruthlessness greatly increased his prestige, and it was important ministers like him in the late Qing Dynasty that enabled the Qing Dynasty to spend decades in the last years. Until today, it is difficult for a leader to effectively manage his employees if he cannot make decisive decisions.
Tolerating the shortcomings of others is the behavior of heroes. Since ancient times, people who have been able to achieve great achievements without exception have broad minds, such as Liu Bang, Liu Bei, Cao Cao, etc. There is also a proverb "the prime minister can hold the boat in his belly", which is used to describe the breadth of a person's mind.
Zeng Guofan, as a representative of Wenchen in the late Qing Dynasty, often had disputes with Zuo Zongtang, who represented the generals, and was even accused by Zuo Zongtang in the court. However, Zeng Guofan did not regard Zuo Zongtang as an enemy, and actively communicated with him in private to resolve the dispute between the two parties.
After the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao became the most powerful prince in the north, while Yuan Shao was defeated and fled. While sorting through Yuan Shao's relics, Cao Cao's subordinates found many envelopes containing the concerns and betrayals of Cao Cao's subordinates towards Yuan Shao before the Battle of Guandu, and the existence of these envelopes could be seen as disloyalty to Cao Cao.
However, Cao Cao understood that these people were writing these letters for self-preservation, and his position was understandable. Coupled with the large number of letters, Cao Cao did not hesitate to choose to burn all these envelopes without even looking at them. In addition, after Guan Yu surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was very important to him. When Guan Yu wanted to leave to look for Liu Bei, Cao Cao chose to let him go.
You must know that Guan Yu has invincible bravery, if such a person can't be used for himself, it stands to reason that he should be killed, otherwise he may become a huge threat in the future. However, Cao Cao eventually chose to let Guan Yu go and let him go to reunite with Liu Bei. He would rather have one more strong enemy than kill Guan Yu for violating his faith, which shows his broad mind.
In today's society, it is essential to have a broad mind to succeed. We must be able to tolerate the shortcomings of others, because no one is perfect and everyone has their own shortcomings. Only with an open mind can we live in harmony with others and become true heroes.
To sum up, Zeng Guofan was born in the countryside, and although he studied hard Xi when he was young, he failed to rank among the top in many exams. However, he was eventually able to achieve outstanding results and become one of the four famous ministers of the late Qing Dynasty, which fully demonstrated his extraordinary ability to deal with people.
In Tsang's view, connections are important in order to achieve great things, but it is more important to understand four key words: firmness, reverence, decisiveness and tolerance. It is only with these qualities that we can become strong, and our connections will naturally form and ultimately succeed.