The seven-piece puzzle training program of the outdoor training company is a classic indoor training program. In this activity, everyone needs to work together to find resources for their own boards and拼out the shapes to get points from the coach. However, the pieces in our hands are often not enough to拼out the required shapes, so we need to borrow from other teams. Of course, other teams will also come to us to borrow, but there is a contradiction because there is competition between teams in terms of scores. At this point, people always think: if we lend them the pieces, what about our score? And who can lend us the pieces?
There is a Chinese saying: "Riches do not last beyond three generations." This phrase describes a social phenomenon, it's not a truth, nor is it absolutely correct. But if you observe carefully, it does verify many real situations. The father starts from scratch, works hard, and builds up a substantial family business; the son inherits the father's business, continuing to operate it, possibly accumulating more wealth, or maybe just maintaining it. As for the third generation, he has not witnessed his grandfather's struggle, and even lacks the patience to listen to it, thinking that such hard work is far removed from his world. He also hasn't learned the skills of management and preservation from his father. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, the third generation neither knows the meaning of hardship nor considers management complex. Thus, when the industry falls into his hands, it is either easily squandered or poorly managed, because he lacks both the ambition to start a business and the skills to preserve it.
Li Shun is an ordinary technical worker who performs repetitive actions every day—tightening screws on cars, removing screws, and replacing screws. This life has continued for many years, with a fixed monthly salary, and life remains as usual. At the beginning of the month, he dines out a few times; in the middle of the month, he cooks himself; by the end of the month, he mostly eats instant noodles. Seeing others doing business, he once wavered, but considering that failure would mean losing even this job, although he felt his life was too tasteless, he still couldn't break free from the routine.
One day, Li Shun and a few friends bought several lottery tickets unintentionally. He didn't believe he would win, thinking good luck wouldn't easily visit him. Unexpectedly, he really won the second prize, with a bonus of about 1 million yuan, which is equivalent to his income for 20 years. Li Shun suddenly gained wealth that would take 20 years to accumulate.
How did he allocate this money? He had once thought about opening an auto repair shop, which would cost about 300,000 yuan. After receiving the bonus, during the expansion training, he wanted to make a bigger investment, thinking that the repair shop business was too trivial. He thought for a long time but couldn't find a suitable project. During this period, he spent tens of thousands of yuan celebrating his win by treating guests and giving red envelopes to relatives and friends. Later, someone suggested that there would be no second chance to win in a lifetime, so it's best to save some money for old age. Therefore, Li Shun deposited 500,000 yuan as retirement money; used 300,000 yuan to buy a house; and invested the remaining 200,000 yuan in stocks and funds. Unexpectedly, soon after entering the market, Li Shun got stuck. To avoid losing money, Li Shun kept adding capital, and eventually, all his savings were lost. He had to stop, otherwise, he would lose his house as well. To pay for the mortgage and support himself, Li Shun had to go back to work, still as a car mechanic.
Li Shun unexpectedly obtained a fortune, but he didn't use this wealth as his starting point; instead, he treated it as his endpoint, ultimately losing the wealth. Wealth is a means, not an end. You should never see wealth as an endpoint but rather as a way to reach your goals.
In the activities of the outdoor training company, cases like Li Shun's often occur. Should we hold onto these resources tightly or use them to bring us greater returns? How should we reasonably utilize these resources? These are issues that constrain our success. Whether it's one-for-one exchange or unconditional contribution, for equally important resources, we cannot contribute unconditionally, but it’s not impossible to give them temporarily. This requires specific evaluation. The final results of the expansion project will fully explain this point—whether our decisions were right or wrong.
Article reprinted from: http://www.blwh.cn/rz_more.asp?id=339