Chapter 9 Section 2 Set big goals from an early age

A person with a genius must never stop studying hard just because he has a genius. With a genius, he should set his ambitions from an early age, set lofty goals, and persevere in studying hard, studying hard, and striving unremittingly to realize his ambitions. There will be success.If a person has no ambition, does not set a lofty goal for himself, and just lives day by day, singing what songs he goes to, then even if he achieves something, it is a fluke, and his achievements must be extremely limited.Looking up ancient Chinese history books, most of those famous historical figures who have achieved success in their careers have had great ambitions since they were young. It is rare or impossible to find people who get away with success without ambition.Next, let's take a look at those great people who have great ambitions since childhood, and through continuous hard work, they finally realized their ambitions and achieved great careers. How they aspired and how they achieved success.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Shen Yue, a historian and phonologist during the Song and Qi Dynasties (420-502 A.D.), was born in a dilapidated official family.His father and grandparents all had military merits, served as generals and prefects, and most of them were capable of writing and military, and their works were handed down.By the time of Shen Yue's generation, due to internal conflicts in the ruling group, many members of the family had been killed, and the family's property had either been confiscated or divided up, making them very poor.When Shen Yue was 13 years old, his father was also killed in a political turmoil, which made Shen Yue "lonely and poor" in his youth, living a life of living with relatives and friends.But Shen Yue didn't get depressed because of this, he made up his mind to revitalize his family since he was a child.In the ups and downs, he didn't learn martial arts well, and he couldn't make military achievements and become a general like his father and grandparents.He studied very hard and accumulated a lot of knowledge, so he decided to write books and talk about it, and become a scholar of letters.Shen Yue is particularly fond of history and phonology, and made up his mind early on to be a historian and phonologist.The era he lived in was not far from the end of the Jin Dynasty, and no one had compiled the history books recording the beginning and end of the Jin Dynasty, so he first started to compile "Book of Jin".After years of hard work, 120 volumes of "Book of Jin" were compiled.Soon, Liu Song perished and the Southern Qi was established, and Shen Yue decided to compile the "Book of Songs".He is not the kind of person who will just make up his mind and not work hard, but a person who will tirelessly implement his ambition.After years of hard work, he compiled 100 volumes of "Song Shu".Later, the "Book of Jin" edited by Shen Yue was lost in the war, while the "Book of Song" was handed down and was included in the "Twenty-Four Histories".In terms of phonology, after years of research, Shen Yue wrote a "Four Tone Spectrum", which created a precedent for the study of Chinese phonology.In addition, he also has 100 volumes of anthology, which contain the poems and essays he wrote on weekdays.Shen Yue's achievements are really inseparable from the fact that he has set his ambitions since he was a child, set a lofty goal, and worked tirelessly for it.His accomplishments illustrate the inevitable link between ambition and success.

Song Dynasty writer Liu Kai liked literature since he was a child, and admired the writing style of Tang Dynasty writers Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan, so he changed his name to Jianyu and the character Shaoyuan, expressing his desire to stand shoulder to shoulder with Han Yu and Shaocheng Liu Zongyuan.After he made up his mind, he had to read the works of these two great writers of the Tang Dynasty hard every day. Not only could he read their articles so that he could recite them aloud, but he also understood the meaning of the articles word by word and figured out the mystery of the chapter structure.After such painstaking research, Liu Kai imitated his writing again.Every time he writes an article, he has to revise it ten times and eight times until he thinks he is satisfied.After imitating, he freed himself to write a composition by himself, or asked others to help him write and revise the article.The first articles I wrote were always unsatisfactory, the words and sentences were a bit awkward, and the momentum was not magnificent enough.Later, Liu Kai realized the truth that writing is like a person, and believed that writing articles is not just the skill of using words to make sentences, but has something to do with personal ideological cultivation and observation of things.Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan are upright and have a backbone, they are not discouraged even when they suffer political setbacks, and they never beg for mercy, so their articles have momentum; they observe things carefully, so there are wonderful stories in their articles. The description is fascinating to read.Therefore, Liu Kai is determined to be an upright person, and carefully observe the things around him.When he was 13 years old, he fought alone with the robber who came to rob him. Not only did he drive away the robber, but he also cut off the robber's two toes.Moreover, he also generously donates money and is willing to do good.He decided to maintain and carry forward the fine character he had since he was a child, so as to continuously improve his personal cultivation.At the same time, he played chess with his friends in his spare time to cultivate his ability of careful observation and thinking.After learning how to be a human being and cultivating observation skills in this way, over time, he felt that it was really helpful for him to write articles, and he was able to write articles with ease and momentum.Only then did he dare to take his articles to pay homage to famous scholars at the time, and finally he was appreciated by Wang You, the magistrate of Daming Mansion (now in the Daming area of ​​Hebei), and famous writers Yang Zhaojian, Lu Duoxun and others.They all praised his well-written articles, which have the legacy of Han Liu.At that time, Liu Kai was less than 20 years old, which shows that he had already become a talent in his youth.Later, Liu Kai also made great achievements as an official. He was a civil servant and a military officer, and he led troops to fight.Wherever he went, he was well received by people; his articles became better and better, sweeping away the weak style of writing in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and creating the atmosphere of the Northern Song Dynasty's poetry innovation movement.Therefore, he is praised as a master of articles who "opened the way of ancient sages" and "opened the eyes and ears of today's people".Liu Kai's success is also inseparable from his childhood aspirations and efforts to realize his aspirations.This once again proves the close relationship between determination and success.

The story of Su Shi, a litterateur in the Song Dynasty, who aspired to learn from Fan Pang, a righteous man of the Eastern Han Dynasty, has been told before. Here is another story about his aspiration to learn from contemporary sages since he was a child.When Su Shi first went to school, he saw that some of his classmates were passing around Shi Jie's "Qingli Shengde Poems". In this poem, Han Qi, Fu Bi, Du Yan, Fan Zhongyan and others were mentioned.Su Shi copied this poem, pointed to the names of the people mentioned in the poem, and asked the teacher to tell their advanced deeds one by one.After the teacher explained it to him, he asked Su Shi, "Why are you so interested in these sages?" Su Shi replied, "The ancients said that when you see the sages, you think of them. After I figured out the deeds of these sages, it is easy to learn from them!" "Su Shi not only verbally stated that he was determined to learn from sages, but also studied hard in practice, trying to accumulate knowledge and learn the principles of life.When he grew up, he learned from Fan Pang of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan and others in his career as an official and dealing with people, and strived to be a person of integrity and righteousness.The same is true for his writing articles and poems. He tried his best to promote the ways of ancient sages and sages, to be upright, and to denounce traitors. Therefore, his articles and poems are all written boldly and imposingly. home" list.Su Shi's success naturally has a lot to do with his youthful ambition, and he is also a role model worthy of people's study.

Wen Tianxiang, the national hero of the Southern Song Dynasty, was also a person with great ambitions since he was a child.He is from Jishui, Jizhou (now Jishui, Jiangxi).When I was seven or eight years old, I visited the Confucian Temple in Jishui one day. I saw that in addition to the ancient sages such as Confucius, Mencius, Yan, and Zeng enshrined in the Confucian Temple, my fellow ancestors Ouyang Xiu, Yang Bangyi [yiyi], and Hu Quan were also worshiped there. worship.Looking carefully at the gods of these ancestors, there are posthumous titles [shishi] with the word "loyalty".Ouyang Xiu's posthumous title was Wen Zhong, Yang Bangyi's posthumous title was Zhong Xiang, and Hu Quan's posthumous title was Zhong Jian.Wen Tianxiang was deeply moved after seeing it, and from then on he determined to be a loyal minister when he grows up.He said to people: "If you don't have the posthumous title of Zhongzi and be enshrined by people after death, then your life will be in vain."He passed the Jinshi examination at the age of 20, and was selected to be sent to the Hall of Jiying, where the emperor personally gave questions for the palace examination.Wen Tianxiang put forward his own views on the political corruption at that time and wrote a long essay with more than 10,000 words.Song Lizong was very moved after reading his thesis, and Yubi personally named him the number one scholar.Wang Yinglin, who was the chief examiner at the time, said: "Wen Tianxiang's test paper quoted historical allusions as a warning, showing loyalty and courage like iron and stone. It is really hopeful that the Song Dynasty can have such talents." Later, the army of the Yuan Dynasty went south to attack the Southern Song Dynasty At that time, Wen Tianxiang raised troops to serve the king.At that time, the enemy was strong and we were weak, and the soldiers Wen Tianxiang temporarily recruited were not opponents of the Yuan army at all, but he knew that he could not do it, and he actually made up his mind to die for the country.His purpose of doing this is to hope that the loyal ministers and righteous men in the world will rise up when they hear the news, and unite as one to keep the world in the Song Dynasty.As a result, the Southern Song Dynasty was unfortunately defeated, and Wen Tianxiang was detained when he was ordered to go to Yuanying to negotiate peace.After he took the opportunity to escape, he continued to fight against the Yuan Dynasty, and he fought and retreated until he was captured at last. A shining example for future generations to learn from.

Yu Qian, a famous patriotic hero in the Ming Dynasty, was also a man with great ambitions since he was a child.He was a scholar at the age of 15, read many books, and has a good understanding of the rise and fall of chaos in history.He believed that the prosperity of the country was due to many loyal ministers assisting the monarch; while the troubled times of the country's decline were because the traitorous ministers were in power and the loyal ministers were excluded.Therefore, he determined to be a loyal minister when he grows up, and fight against those treacherous ministers who harmed the country and the people.At that time, the Ming Dynasty was going from its early prosperity to its mid-term decline.The Oala tribe of Mongolia in the north is preparing to invade the south, and the situation on the border is very tense.Yu Qian often heard the story of Wen Tianxiang, a patriotic hero of the Song Dynasty who vowed to fight against the Yuan Dynasty, so he decided to follow Wen Tianxiang's example and aspire to be a loyal minister like Wen Tianxiang.He found a portrait of Wen Tianxiang from his grandfather's study, wrote a few words of praise for this patriotic hero on it, and hung it next to his desk to motivate himself.One day, Yu Qian saw people building houses and bringing in a lot of lime, so he wrote a poem entitled "Lime Song" with deep emotion: "Thousands of hammers and thousands of hammers have chiseled out a deep mountain, and the fire is burning like nothing. You are not afraid of being smashed to pieces. Keep your innocence in the world." He said that he would like to endure the tempering of thousands of hammers and fires like Lime, and he would not be afraid even if his body was broken, as long as his name was left in history, he would be satisfied.Another time, when the family was warming up in winter, coal was put into the furnace to burn. Yu Qian felt touched after reading it, and wrote a poem entitled "Ode to Coal": "Knocking out chaos to get black gold, storing yang and meaning is the deepest."爝〔juejue〕The fire is burning back to the spring, and the fire is shining through the night. The Ding Yi Yuan Lai generates strength, and the iron stone still has the heart after death. I hope that the people will be full and warm, and work hard to get out of the mountains. "He also wrote in the poem Once expressed his determination to contribute his strength and life to the happiness of the common people in the world.Yu Qian later became a clean and honest official, and has been working hard to realize his childhood ambitions.When he was acting as Minister of the Ministry of War, the leader of the Wara tribe also led the troops to the south first. Ming Yingzong's imperial conscript was defeated and captured, and he also came to Beijing first.Yu Qian opposed someone's erroneous idea of ​​abandoning the city and fleeing, and led troops to fight against Yexian first, safeguarding the security of Beijing.Later, although Yu Qian was unfortunately killed in the internal struggle of the ruling group, his heroic deeds of defending Beijing before fighting against him will always be recited by people.With his own practical actions, he realized the ambition he set in his early years and became a great patriotic hero in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.Yu Qian's deeds also fully illustrate the important relationship between a person's youthful determination and his later success.

In short, a lucky person with a genius should not be mistaken by his own genius. Instead, he should make a small determination, set a lofty goal, and work hard step by step in a down-to-earth manner, so that he can become a pillar of the nation.An ordinary teenager who is not smart at a young age, if he can aspire to set a lofty goal when he is young, and can work hard for a long time to achieve this goal, he also has the hope of success.The key here is determination and hard work, followed by genius.If a genius adds determination and hard work, the possibility of success is greater; if an ordinary person can make determination and work hard, the possibility of success is not small; a person who is only talented but has no ambition and no hard work cannot become a talent.

Here I also want to add a story about Kong Rongzhi's great talents mentioned in the history books to illustrate the relationship between determination and hard work.Kong Rong has a good moral character and a clever mind since he was a child, which shows that he is a genius.When he was young, when the family shared pears, he gave the big pears to his older brothers and picked the smallest ones himself.This is the story of Kong Rong making pears that has been recited through the ages.When he was a teenager, he also had the lofty ambition of Jingnan Anbang, and wanted to contribute to the unification and stability of the country, but he was so talented that he failed to achieve anything in the end.Sparse talent means lack of ability, broad mind means lack of concentration.Why are you not very capable?That's because you don't work hard.Why is the will not concentrated?That is because there are selfish distractions that worry about gains and losses, and lack of perseverance to concentrate on one's career.Therefore, it is said in the history books that he "has too much talent and ambition", and "he has so little talent and broad mind, so far he has no success".It can be seen from this that determination is not empty talk, nor does it mean that the bigger the ambition, the better.Determined to take into account the needs of the nation and the nation based on personal and objective conditions, and set a goal that can be achieved through hard work;All selfish distractions that worry about gains and losses should be removed, and even if you encounter some setbacks occasionally, don't shrink back, so that you can achieve final success.If you are young and not determined, you will achieve nothing, but if you have great ambitions and lack talents, you will not succeed even if you have great ambitions and do not concentrate on working hard.