Life lessons
Chapter 1: Success is not just about making a lot of money
“Success means getting the best results with what you have.” – Wynn Davis
Discover the meaning of life
You may think it’s late,
but the first time I understood the true meaning of the two words
Success was when I was thirty-nine years old.
I didn’t need to be the CEO of one of the 500 largest companies in the world,
or just bought the latest Mercedes,
or hit the jackpot.
Just to find what I’ve been looking for forever,
that is peace of mind and feeling my worth.
And since then,
my life has completely changed.
In my opinion,
Thanh Cong also has its rules,
just that we have not heard about it in the mass media.
Those rules are nothing new or mysterious.
It’s idyllic,
intimate,
and long-lived,
but it’s so true.
After many years of struggling and researching,
I have realized that life is formed from rules that
It have existed for thousands of years.
After tracing different paths in search of “a better life,”
I have finally returned to where I started with interests that
we sometimes consider old-fashioned.
As Edward Albee writes in the play The Zoo Story, “…
when necessary,
we should also go a long way,
and then come back
and realize which is the shorter path we are looking for.”
There is a Swedish proverb that says
“We age too quickly,
while experience comes to us too slowly”.
Maybe that’s not true,
and maybe this book will help you to have an earlier experience than
I did back in the day.
Even though you are old,
understand it’s never too late!
From the past,
I have learned that:
The person who knows is not the one who finds a way
to be better than others,
but the one who knows how to live happily.
The link between success and money
Everyone in this world needs money.
Making money first may be the end
but then money will be the means, not the end.
We cannot say money itself is good or bad.
Money helps people live,
learn to achieve their dreams and help others.
Every year the rich contribute billions of dollars
to social welfare projects,
humanitarian programs,
helping the poor and sick…
So good money!
But isn’t money also the source of so much evil?
Because we live in a society that often equates financial success
with life success,
there are a couple of things I want to share with you:
1. Money itself is not bad.
Money itself is not the root of all evil but in fact,
the desire to have money,
even when you have a lot of money.
The point is that we make money in the right ways
and we spend it on righteous purposes,
then the money will produce good things.
2. Money is not a sufficient condition for success.
In the past,
I used to read many books about the successful path
of millionaires and billionaires.
Among them, some people had to go to prison
because of their own path to success.
Ivan Boesky,
a famous financier,
exaggeratedly said that “Sometimes greed is good”
– and just a few months later,
he was indicted.
Boesky has stated something that
many people think but is not always true:
Success is synonymous with wealth.
Remember in the 90s,
when the movement of online trading
and participating in the stock market was booming,
there were people who suddenly became billionaires every day.
So some moral and spiritual values had to give way to the wealth
and lifestyle of those “upstarts”.
The cause of countless scandals
and collective scandals that keep happening at Enron,
Arthur Andersen, Tyco, Xerox, WorldCom,
and more is because they do not have the right view of money.
Those who went to prison in the 80s
or those who went bankrupt in the 90s were ones
who lost themselves to the power of money.
When interviewed, many managers said that,
despite spending a lot of time trying to achieve financial goals,
life still seems to them “empty and meaningless”.
Up to 60% of senior executives revealed that
they really regret trading their family life
in order to pursue their career goals.
Why are people who have enough money,
power and status still not happy?
The answer is simple,
It’s because owning those things doesn’t necessarily mean achieving success.
They have not yet realized what is essential to their lives.
They become slaves to money and its things.
At that time,
they unwittingly harmed their own lives
as well as those of others.
When you exaggerate the importance of money,
you are fooling yourself,
set yourself aside from the simple
but meaningful things that can make life more interesting,
profound,
and lovely.
What is called success?
“Let each person perfect themselves with their own hidden abilities.” – Hal Urban
I don’t know how to define success,
but I do know that life always presents challenges
to give us the opportunity
to perfect our abilities.
And we have succeeded in reaching the highest value
and giving the best within the limits of our abilities and experiences.
Life doesn’t ask us to be on top,
it just asks us to try our best in every single thing we’re doing.
Here are the qualities commonly found in successful people:
• Accept that life always has difficulties and challenges.
They integrate with life and rise to overcome rather than complaining and whining.
They dare to take responsibility for their lives
instead of blaming
or making excuses to find peace for themselves.
• Always keep a positive attitude.
They look for and discover the good in others
and the world around them.
For them,
difficulties and challenges are opportunities
for them to try and experience.
• Create good relationships.
They are sensitive to the needs and feelings of others.
They always care,
respect and know how to bring out the good in others.
• Always have direction and purpose.
They always envision and know in advance where they are going.
They complete set goals and then set new goals.
Joyfully accepting challenges is a virtue often found in these people.
• Have a strong need to learn.
For these people,
learning is a hobby,
not a task.
New knowledge will enrich their lives and thereby help them
to become more mature.
• Action oriented.
Do not fall into bad habits or appear bored
because these people are always “taking advantage of”
to accumulate new experiences.
• Focus on personal ethical qualities.
They understand that honesty is one of the basic human values
and are determined to show this quality both in work and in life.
• Understand the difference between “live” and “exist”.
They “live” really with all their enthusiasm,
not letting life “wash away” them.
They love life with all its values
and the results they have worked so hard to achieve.
The start to real success
“There are a lot of people who never use their full potential.
Maybe it’s because they haven’t met the right environment
or maybe it’s really barren.” – John Gardner
In today’s life, each of us is often surrounded by too much information.
It urges us to seek out what is temporarily suitable
for us outside rather than tapping into our inner strength.
And so, our abilities remain buried.
Forever we will never grasp the opportunities that are coming our way.
“Discovering your power” is one of the key messages of this book.
Whether we are young or old,
in grade 9 or have a doctorate,
we should still learn and develop our potentials to live better.
In each of us are hidden good qualities that can lead us to real success.
“No matter what the current situation is,
the best things are still ahead,
because 90% of the power to do it has not been discovered
and used by you.” – Tim Hansel