Tribulation, for the weak, is the grave of death, and for the strong, it is the clay of ambition (Rousseau).
Li Ka-shing, senior advisor of Cheung Kong Hutchison Holdings*** and Cheung Kong Asset Group***, has been the richest man in Hong Kong for 21 consecutive years. Since 1999, he has been the richest Chinese for 15 consecutive years. In September 2018, he was selected as one of the "Top Ten Most Influential Chinese Entrepreneurs in the World".
One of the important reasons why Li Ka-shing has achieved so much is his suffering experience in his early years. The hardships of his early years tempered him, and the society of the time tempered him and made him an outstanding business wizard. In the words of the ancients, it is "Therefore, the heavens will descend on people, and they must first suffer their minds, strain their muscles and bones, starve their bodies and skins, empty their bodies, and act chaotically. ”
Li Ka-shing's wife, Zhuang Yueming, once said: "If it weren't for the Japanese invasion and the expulsion of your father and son to Hong Kong, I'm afraid you would be a teacher engaged in education now."Li Ka-shing said again and again: "Yes!".Yes!I must be a teacher now!”
1937 "VII. After the "Seven Incidents", Li Ka-shing's dream of studying was also shattered. On June 22, 1939, after the Japanese occupation of Anbu Town in Chao'an County, Guangdong Province, the school where Li Ka-shing's father worked was closed, and his father was unemployed. His father took Li Ka-shing back to his home in Chao'an. Forced to make a living, the next winter, Li Ka-shing and his younger brother and sister went through a lot of hardships with their father, arrived in Hong Kong, and came to live in the house of his uncle Zhuang Jing'an. In 1943, his father died, and the young Li Ka-shing had to go out to work.
Li Ka-shing's first job was as a teahouse man. He cherishes this job very much, and is always the first to arrive at the teahouse every day, and is always the last to leave the teahouse after cleaning the hall, working more than 13 hours a day. Afraid of being late, he set the alarm clock 10 minutes faster, a habit he kept for more than half a century, and today, everyone knows that Li Ka-shing's watch is always 10 minutes faster than others. The experience of working in a tea house has taught him many tricks of doing business.
Li Ka-shing's second job was as an apprentice to his uncle, Zhuang Ching-an's watch company. Responsible for sweeping the floor, making tea, pouring water, running errands, etc. As soon as I have free time, I learn techniques from the watchmakers in the company. In just half a year, he mastered the assembly and repair process of various clocks. Later, Zhuang Jing'an sent him to work as a clerk in a watch shop on Gao Sheng Street, where he continued to study and figure out, and soon mastered the skills of selling watches.
At the beginning of 1946, Li Ka-shing went to work as a salesman in a hardware factory, and his sales performance far exceeded that of his colleagues.
He judged the situation and realized that the plastic industry was a promising industry in the future, so he applied for a job as a salesman in a plastic factory, and his sales were 7 times that of the second place.
The experience of the plastic factory laid a solid foundation for him to start his own business and establish the Changjiang Plastic Factory in the future.
Li Ka-shing's success illustrates a truth: tribulation is the rarest wealth in life.
In the face of tribulation, some people are willing to sink and complain about others. Complaining about society, not encountering a good era, complaining about parents, not being born in a good family. It just doesn't look for reasons from one's own subjectivity.
Hardships and hardships, Yuru Yucheng "Some people can stimulate their fighting spirit more in the face of tempering." They will take the initiative to meet the ordeal, they have a strong internal drive;They recognize that suffering is an opportunity and a catalyst for their growth;They recognize that through tribulation, they will become stronger. They learned the skill and wisdom to overcome the tribulation through the ordeal, and the tribulation made them more mature.
How to overcome tribulation?
First, we must have lofty goals.
When Li Ka-shing was a child, his father took him to see the sea. He saw a 10,000-ton ship. He couldn't believe that it was possible for such a large ship to float steadily in such deep water, and it was still iron. He admired the captain too much. He thinks the captain must be a big hero. He looked to the sea, to the 10,000-ton ship, and said, "Dad, I will be the captain of a big ship in the future!""The captain of the big ship is Li Ka-shing's target.
Second, it is necessary to withstand the test of beating.
Tribulations are nothing more than bad luck, failures, adversity, treacherous natural circumstances, and so on. When encountering difficulties, it is your patience and perseverance that will be tested. If you can't stand the ordeal and surrender in the face of it, the tribulation will become an abyss that will swallow you.
Third, we must pay attention to methods.
When Li Ka-shing was a salesman, there were many things that showed his ingenuity. Here are two examples.
While working as a hardware factory salesman, other colleagues unsuccessfully pitched iron buckets to a hotel owner. Li Ka-shing also wanted to make this business, and instead of meeting the innkeeper directly, he chatted with a hotel clerk, and learned through the chat that the innkeeper's son pestered the boss to watch the horse races all day, and the boss had no time to fulfill his son's wish. So, Li Ka-shing paid out of his own pocket to take the innkeeper's son to the Happy Valley Racecourse to watch the horse races. Li Ka-shing's move moved the innkeeper, who finally agreed to buy 380 iron drums from Li Ka-shing.
When I was a salesman in a plastic factory, in order to sell a new product: plastic sprinklers. One day, he came to the door of a wholesale store early and waited for the bank's staff to come to work. Good contact to negotiate business. He saw the cleaner cleaning, and he volunteered to take out the plastic sprinkler sprinkler, and sure enough, a staff member went to work early, and it happened to be the department manager in charge of daily necessities and equipment, and his wisdom helped him to do this business.
These are the methods, these are the wisdom.
Tribulation is the rarest wealth in life