Chapter 16 Sixteenth letter: Don't make excuses

Motto: Our wealth is the reward for our diligence. Motto: Excuses are the root of manufacturing failure. The more successful a person is, the less he will make excuses. Ninety-nine percent of failures are due to people making excuses. (Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuse.) April 15, 1906 Dear John: Captain Schofield lost again, and in a fit of rage, he threw his beautiful golf club into the air, so he had to buy a new one. Frankly speaking, I like the character of the captain better. The goal of struggle in life is to win, and it is the same in playing football.So, I'm going to buy him a new club, hoping it won't be seen as a reward for losing his temper, or I'll be in trouble if he gets out of control.

Captain Schofield also has another commendable advantage. Although losing will make him unhappy, he believes that winning itself is not everything, and the practice of trying to win is the most important.So after losing, he never makes excuses.In fact, he can use his age and poor physical strength to explain his loss and get back face for himself, but he never does this. In my opinion, excuses are a kind of mental illness, and people who suffer from this serious illness are all losers without exception. Of course, most people also have some mild symptoms.However, the more successful a person is, the less he will make excuses. The biggest difference between people who are successful everywhere and those who have nothing to do lies in excuses.

Just pay a little attention and you will find that people who have done nothing, and never plan to do anything, often have a basket of straw hats to explain: why he didn't do it, why he didn't do it, why he couldn't do it, why He is not like that.The first act of a loser to take care of his "funeral affairs" is to find various reasons for his failure. I despise those who are good at making excuses, because that is the behavior of cowards, and I also sympathize with those who are good at making excuses, because excuses are the source of failure. Once a loser finds a "good" excuse, he clings to it and uses it all the time to explain to himself and others why he can't go on, why he can't succeed.At first, he can still know that his excuse is more or less lying, but after repeated use, he will become more and more convinced that it is completely true, believing that this excuse is the real reason why he cannot succeed, and his brain It starts to be lazy and rigid, and the motivation to work hard to find ways to win is reduced to zero.But they're never willing to admit that they're excuse-makers.

Occasionally, I've seen someone stand up and say, "I made it on my own." So far, I've never met any man or woman who has dared to stand up and say, "I'm the one who failed me. "Losers have a set of loser's excuses. They attribute their failures to family, character, age, environment, time, skin color, religion, someone or even astrology. The worst excuses are health, intelligence and luck. The most common excuse is the excuse of health. The phrase "my health is not good" or "I have this or that disease" becomes a reason for not doing or failing.In fact, no one is perfectly healthy, and everyone has some physical problems.

Many people succumb fully or partially to such excuses, but those who are determined to succeed do not.Mr. Gates once introduced me to a college professor who unfortunately lost an arm on a trip, but like every optimistic person I know, he always smiled and helped others.Talking about his disability the other day, he told me, "It was just one arm. Of course, two are better than one. But it was only my arm, and my mind was 100 percent whole and normal. I really It’s to thank for that.” There's an old saying that goes, "I was pissed off about my broken shoes until I met a man with no feet." It's better to celebrate your health than to complain about what's wrong.Being grateful for the health you have can effectively prevent various diseases and diseases.I often remind myself: It is better to be exhausted than to be rotten.Life is for us to enjoy, and it would be a real misfortune to waste time worrying about our health when we really want to get sick.

The "I'm not smart enough" excuse is also common, affecting almost ninety-five percent of people to varying degrees.This excuse is unusual in that it is usually silent.People don't openly admit that they don't have enough intelligence, they mostly think so deep down in their hearts. I've found that most people have two basic wrong attitudes about "intelligence": too underestimating their own brainpower, and too much overestimating other people's brainpower.Because of these mistakes, many despise themselves.They are reluctant to face the challenge because it requires considerable intellect.Those who think themselves stupid are really stupid, and they ought to know that if a man puts aside intelligence at all, and tries it, he can do it very well.

I think what really matters is not how much intelligence you have, but how you use the intelligence you already have. To be a good businessman, you don't need to have lightning quickness, you don't need to have a very amazing memory, you don't need to The only key to being among the best in school is to have a strong interest and enthusiasm for doing business.Interest and enthusiasm are important factors that determine success or failure. The results of things are often directly proportional to our enthusiasm.Enthusiasm can make things a hundred times a thousand times better.Many people don't know what enthusiasm is. The so-called enthusiasm is just the enthusiasm and drive of "this is amazing!"

I believe that a person of average intelligence who is optimistic, positive, and cooperative will make more money, earn more respect, and achieve greater success than a person of great intelligence who is pessimistic, passive, and uncooperative. big success.No matter whether a person is faced with trivial matters, difficult tasks or important plans, as long as he completes them with perseverance and enthusiasm, the results will be far better than those who are smart but lazy.Because concentration and persistence account for 95% of a person's ability. Some people are always moaning and sighing: Why do many very good people fail?I can never let them sigh again, if a very smart person is always using their amazing brain power to prove why things can't be successful, instead of using it to direct their own mental energy to find various ways to achieve success, the failure Fate will find them.Negative thoughts strain their intellect, making them unable to perform their talents and accomplish nothing.If they can change their mentality, I believe they will do many great things.

A brain that wants to do great things but doesn't know how to think is just a bucket of cheap paste. The way we think that leads us to be intelligent is far more important than how intelligent we are.No amount of education can change this basic law of success.The degree of education of natural intelligence is not the cause of good or bad performance, but the management of ideas.The best business people are never worried, but full of enthusiasm.It is not easy to improve the quality of talent, but it is easy to improve the method of using talent. Many people are superstitious about the so-called knowledge is power.In my opinion this statement is only half true.Those who use lack of intelligence as an excuse also misunderstand the meaning of this sentence.Knowledge is only a kind of potential power, and its power will be revealed only when knowledge is put into practice, and it is applied constructively.

There will never be a living dictionary in Standard Oil, because I don't need "experts" who can only memorize but not think.I want people who can really solve problems, come up with ideas, have dreams and have the courage to realize them.Creative people make money for me, people who can only memorize data don't. A person who does not use intelligence as an excuse will never underestimate his own intelligence, nor overestimate the intelligence of others.He focused on using his assets and discovering the great talents he possessed.He knows that what really matters is not how many talents he has, but how he uses the talents he has and how to use his brain power well.He will often remind himself: my mentality is more important than my intelligence.He has a strong desire to develop an "I must win" attitude.He knew to use his intellect to actively create, to use his intellect to find ways to succeed, not to prove that he would fail.He also knows that thinking is more valuable than memory. He needs to use his mind to create and develop new concepts, find better new ways of doing things, and remind himself at any time: Am I using my mind to create history?Or just recording the history made by others?

Everything happens for a reason, and human encounters cannot happen by chance.Therefore, many people always blame bad luck for their failures, and when they see others succeed, they think it is because they are too lucky.I never believe in good or bad luck, unless I think it is "luck" when carefully planned and acted. Every business collapses if luck decides who does what.Assuming that Standard Oil Company wants to reorganize completely according to luck, it is necessary to put the names of all the company's employees into a big bucket. The first name drawn is the president, the second is the vice president, and so on.Ridiculous, right?But that's how luck works. I never succumb to luck, I believe in the law of cause and effect.Look at those who seem to be lucky, and you will see that it is not luck, but preparation, planning and positive thinking that bring beauty to them.Look at those "unlucky" people, and you will find that there are clear reasons behind it.Successful people can face setbacks, learn from failures, and create new opportunities.The mediocre are often discouraged by this. One cannot succeed by luck, but by hard work.I don't want to rely on luck to win or other good things in life, so I focus on developing myself and developing the characteristics that make me a "winner". Excuses keep the vast majority of people out of the door to success. Ninety-nine percent of failures are because people are used to finding excuses.So in the process of pursuing career success, the most important step is to prevent yourself from making excuses. love your father