Winning 13 Strategies for a Different Approach to Life's Battles

Author: He Kai Si
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-21
Features: A must-read for those aspiring to success, offering in-depth insights into learning methods, decoding Gaokao exam questions, presenting practical guides, and sharing humorous perspectives on life. This is a remarkable book, filled with wisdom you've never heard before. Whether you believe it or not, it's a profound intellectual awakening. It's a practical guide that hits the mark every time. It's a book for everyone, from students to scholars to all walks of life, offering immense benefits. Before its publication, the author delivered numerous speeches at universities under the title "Thirteen Strategies for Victory," each receiving sensational acclaim.
Interest and Responsibility
Interest and responsibility are not contradictory. When pursuing something, having both interest and responsibility increases the likelihood of success. However, our habits and values have always placed responsibility above all else—more important, greater than anything else—while often overlooking personal interest, desires, and ambitions. In the 1950s and 1960s, when I was studying, the prevailing slogans were "Whatever the Party asks, do it," "" (obey organizational assignments), and "The needs of the motherland are my ambition." These were considered self-evident truths at the time, unquestionable. If Mr. Lu Xun could still extract a "small" me from his "fur coat" in "A Small Incident," for us, there was no "big" or "small" me, nor was the concept of "self" clear. No wonder some "angry youth" lamented, "I am a brick, and anyone can move me." While the situation today is different, years of ingrained habits have become a collective unconsciousness, still subtly influencing us.
I prioritize interest over responsibility because the former is more effective than the latter in our thinking and practice—meaning interest is more efficient than responsibility. The reasons are as follows:
First, using interest as a starting point for success has deep humanistic significance. It naturally aligns with our survival and development and conforms to the laws of creation. No one does not pursue happiness, and no one lacks their own interests. If you dig deeper, you'll find that interests are often tied to one's strengths. What one is interested in is usually what one is suited for, and what one is suited for has a higher chance of success. No statistics are needed—reality is obvious.
Musicians tend to have excellent hearing and sensitivity to rhythm and melody. Painters often possess strong color and light perception as well as spatial awareness. Those who engage in literature excel in imaginative thinking, with a heightened ability to perceive and capture images, along with a rich emotional world. Mathematicians are naturally strong in abstract thinking. Businesspeople have a keen sense of wealth accumulation and a knack for calculation. Even if you're in the political arena, if you lack leadership potential, organizational and administrative skills, a desire for dominance and control, or the ability to navigate complex social dynamics, you might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes early on.
Some might argue, "Beethoven was deaf when he wrote the Ninth Symphony—what about his hearing?" While it's true that Beethoven was deaf when composing the Ninth Symphony, this was in his later years. In his youth, his hearing was far superior to ours. Any aspiring success must learn to discover and fully utilize their strengths, finding their advantages within their interests to improve work efficiency.
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