In junior high school, as students, what we like best is to listen to the history teacher tell stories about some historical figures. For example, Li Hongzhang was called a traitor on campus at that time. At that time, there was another classmate named Li Hongzhang, and we often made fun of him when we were students.

In fact, the historical story told by our teacher is only a part of it, and there are so few explanations about Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang's teacher, that we once thought that Zeng Guofan was also a bad image in history.

I didn't know Zeng Guofan's legendary life until I read the Biography of Zeng Guofan this week. At the same time, I also know that a stupid person will eventually fight back as long as he has a goal and a method.

The author of Zeng Guofan's Biography is Zhang Hongjie, a famous historian and doctor of history at Fudan University. He is the author of best-selling books such as Biography of Zeng Guofan, Front and Side of Zeng Guofan and Seven Faces of the Ming Dynasty. He also gave a speech on success or failure in Lecture Room.

The Biography of Zeng Guofan mainly tells the life story of Zeng Guofan. He failed in the imperial examination six times, and later failed all the way because he seized the opportunity and was good at creating opportunities. The Biography of Zeng Guofan tells us many ways to be a man and do things, and shows us a different Zeng Guofan.

Read through the full text, I think the main reasons for Zeng Guofan's counterattack are as follows:

0 1

First, establish a clear goal.

At the age of 22, Zeng Guofan followed his father Zeng Shuqi to take the imperial examination. I can take the exam six times in a row, and all of them fail. Falling out of the list means being laughed at by others, and the pressure is greater than that of ordinary people. In the eyes of others, this is a very shameful thing. However, Zeng Guofan never gave up and set himself a goal: to be admitted to the imperial examination.

There is a legend about Zeng Guofan: One night, a thief went to Zeng Guofan's house and happened to meet Zeng Guofan reciting Yueyang Tower. But the thief didn't expect that he woke up after sleeping on the roof twice, and Zeng Guofan didn't recite it. He was so angry that the thief jumped off the beam, recited "Yueyang Tower" and left.

It can be seen that Zeng Guofan is really stupid, and even Liang Qichao once said: "Wen is not an unparalleled genius, but the most stupid among the sages." But he set himself a long-term goal: he must be admitted to the official position. So he never gave up for his long-term goal. After failing in the sixth exam, he found a suitable method and practiced it deliberately. Finally, I won the top prize in the seventh exam.

After he was admitted as a scholar, he started the goal of the next Jinshi, focusing on only one goal at a time.

In life, we can see such a person everywhere: we set many goals for ourselves every month, and when one goal is achieved, we will start the next one.

In fact, we should learn from Zeng Guofan and accomplish only one goal at a time. Zeng Guofan studied hard in the early stage in order to be admitted to the imperial examination. We only set one goal at a time in our life or work, and move towards it.

02

Second, make friends first.

A famous minister in Qing Dynasty once said: Choosing a friend is the first thing in life. In the eyes of the ancients, making friends was also a particularly cautious thing. Because the quality of your friends determines how broad your vision is.

When Zeng Guofan was in his hometown in Hunan, the most regrettable thing was that he could not make good friends. After arriving in Beijing, Zeng Guofan quickly made a large number of good friends. And provide help to friends in time when they need help, which not only brings him fame, but also helps him to be promoted in the future.

Xiaoxiao is an introverted person at work and usually talks less. Go home on time after work every day, and rarely communicate with people in the same office. Now she wants to resign, and there is no one to help introduce her work, so she can only work in the original unit.

Li Jie, on the other hand, attaches great importance to socializing, and at first she suffered socially. After a period of getting along, she also found a group of like-minded friends and colleagues. When Sister Li resigned, she joined a Fortune 500 company under the introduction of friends and colleagues. Now her monthly salary is several times that of before.

Choosing friends is a very important thing, not to mention giving up socializing and making friends because of introversion. As the saying goes, you depend on your parents at home and your friends when you go out. Many friends, many roads.

Whether in the workplace or in life, we should incorporate the matter of choosing friends into our life planning and make it a major event. Only in this way can we get our attention, take action and make good friends.

03

Third, write a reflective diary.

As the saying goes, no one is perfect.

Zeng Guofan also wrote a diary in his early days, but he didn't persist. In addition, he wrote a running account at that time, and he could not correct the events that needed to be corrected at that time. It was not until Tang Jian and Woren told him a new way to keep a diary that Zeng Guofan began to write a reflective diary.

By writing a reflective diary, he helped Zeng Guofan quit his addiction. Also helped Zeng Guofan play a great role in making friends. Zeng Guofan easily offended his friends. After writing a reflective diary, he had a conflict with his friends. When he realized that he was wrong, he would take the initiative to apologize and make up with his friends.

It's easy to keep a diary, but it's difficult to keep writing. Zeng Guofan insisted on writing a reflective diary.

At work, we often make mistakes in the same thing because we don't reflect. In fact, we can also write a reflection diary to record and reflect on our behavior before going to bed every day. Is there anything that needs to be improved? And let yourself get into the habit of writing a reflective diary, and keep writing.

Keeping a diary is not a daily record. Instead, you need to record what you have done, write down the improvement methods and take action. Finally, write a reflection diary instead of fishing for three days and drying the net for two days.

04

Fourth, keep an open mind and learn to accept.

After the Opium War, Zeng Guofan chose to accept foreigners' weapons and new ideas. For example, Zeng Guofan's practice of declaring western weapons to the court is to buy them first and then study the secret recipe to facilitate his own manufacture.

At that time, many people rejected foreigners' ideas and weapons made by foreigners.

In the new stage, only by keeping an open mind and accepting new ideas and new things can we make ourselves and the whole country better.

Take e-commerce, when e-commerce first appeared, many people refused. Because people think it can't bring us benefits and convenience. But before the opportunity comes, others accept this new idea, and he will get more opportunities than us.

With the rapid development of society and the rapid changes of things, we should be ready to accept new ideas at any time and learn to recognize them.

05

5. He who knows the times is a hero.

Anyone who has read history knows that Zeng Guofan established an army "Xiang Army". Xiang army had to give up after it became powerful, which shows that Zeng Guofan is a man who sized up the situation. Because of the situation at that time, he had to give up this army, obey the arrangement of the emperor and be loyal to the country.

In the workplace, we should also be people who understand the times. Don't blindly surpass the leader without knowing where you are, which is a taboo in the workplace.

At work, we should be wise people, and don't lose sight of the situation.

Close Zhang Hongjie's Biography of Zeng Guofan, which is memorable. Zeng Guofan's life can be said to be legendary. He was a slow person at first, and then he hung up again and again. It is precisely because he knows how to set clear goals and knows that he only focuses on one goal at a time; In making friends, he is also very cautious, often helping others, paving the way for his future promotion; In life, write a reflection diary and correct it. At the same time, he is an accepting attitude towards new things and does not refuse the arrival of new things. But also know how to understand the current situation in officialdom.

It was his method that made him counterattack his life.