How much are you worth - a good image is your priceless treasure

Author: Zhu Tong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: There is a restaurant that aims to attract all customers by advertising, "We serve Sichuan cuisine, Northeast cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, and Huaiyang cuisine." The owner's idea was that if his wife craves Chinese spring rolls, his husband is hungry for Northeast-style bone ribs, and his child wants Sichuan hotpot, he would have business. But what is the reality? Customers think: "If this restaurant can serve so many types of cuisine, it's likely that none of them are done perfectly. Restaurants that specialize in one cuisine might do it better." As a result, the restaurant's business didn't increase but decreased. In fact, whether it's a restaurant or an individual, their energy is inevitably limited. If they try to do too many things, they often can't specialize in any one of them. As the saying goes, "Being skilled in everything leads to being mediocre in everything," and this is exactly the principle. Therefore, restaurants that specialize in one cuisine often do better, such as Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Shanghai cuisine, Northeast cuisine, and Chengdu snacks, etc. This phenomenon also gives us inspiration for individuals. No one has three heads and six arms; in life, our energy is limited. Compared to others, we may not necessarily be particularly smart. In life, we gradually realize that there are too many smart people. Maybe you excel in one area, but you'll find many others are better than you in other areas. Perhaps you have a high IQ and graduated from a prestigious university, but when you enter the workplace and meet many people, you'll find that there are many talented individuals: some are good at public speaking and persuasive; some have high emotional intelligence and can read people's moods; some have special talents and are versatile; some are skilled at networking and have a wide circle of connections. Even in your strongest areas, you'll find many experts. In this world, even those called "geniuses" are not truly extraordinary in intelligence but rather have better potential unleashed. Edison was considered a genius, but he said, "Genius is 99% hard work and 1% inspiration." Many geniuses expressed similar sentiments. If a person has the illusion that they are "smarter than most," it is very dangerous. Believing that if others can do one thing, they can do three things better is often arrogance. The likely outcome is: spending a lot of time but achieving nothing, or being mediocre in every area. The worst thing in the world is being mediocre. A person who doesn't understand medicine won't treat others, but incompetent doctors can kill people. Being mediocre is also very harmful to oneself—it makes you never taste success, because success only belongs to those who excel in their field. In this world, too many failures are "mediocres," unable to rise above their circumstances, struggling to even make a living, unable to achieve results or feel a sense of accomplishment. Being mediocre is often the result of being involved in too many fields without focusing their energy on one thing. In the early stages of career choice, trying several jobs is probably necessary, but if by middle age, you haven't figured out what you're suited for and are still exploring, it might be too late. The first step in a career is to determine what you want to do "long-term." This may take several years of exploration but shouldn't be too long. When someone introduces themselves to others, it can reveal whether they have a clear sense of their own identity. If you claim to be good at many things, people might suspect you haven't found your true strengths. In life, there is no "all-around" competition, and no one expects you to be perfect. Why then should you your energy? When your energy is, you can't compete with those who focus their energy on one field. In any field, there are people who specialize in one thing, have been doing it for many years, and have extensive experience. These people will be your strongest competitors. Ask yourself, what can you compete with them? Napoleon's military strategy was to "concentrate superior forces at a single point." Mao Zedong's guerrilla warfare emphasized "concentrating superior forces to defeat the enemy piece by piece." It doesn't matter if your total strength is smaller than the enemy; as long as you divide the enemy into smaller parts and use your entire elite force to attack their small units, you can win more easily. Think about a convex lens: because light is concentrated, it can generate extremely high temperatures and ignite objects. This is the immense power of "concentration." In life, what we need to do is find our "focused" field. Feng Xiaogang's directorial works are very popular, and the film investors have made huge profits from them. This made him think he had a good business sense and wondered why he couldn't start his own business to earn even more. But after thinking it over, he gave up because: "Initially, I thought I could earn the money a businessman makes, but I realized it would greatly affect my work as a director. You have to constantly deal with distribution, financing, go to dinners, drink with people, and worry about everything. Later, I realized that it was better to focus solely on my films and not have any other responsibilities. Wang Zhongjun (company owner) and his team can handle those things—they're paid to do that. So I think this collaboration is great. No need to waste my brain on that or earn that kind of money." There is plenty of money to be made in the world, but you can't make it all. Success in one field is already great. Even very capable people should understand: what they are good at and what they are not; what money they can earn and what they can't. Perhaps we can say that some companies also engage in diversified operations. In reality, they do so only after specializing in one thing, building a solid foundation, and gaining capital. Just like a versatile person, if they haven't mastered anything yet, they shouldn't daydream about being skilled in everything. Moreover, in the business world, diversification is often seen as a trap for entrepreneurs, and only a few well-capitalized companies can do it. Until we master one thing, let's focus on doing that one thing well. P2-5