It is often said that diligence is the only way to develop your career. Confucius opposed the attitude of "eating all day without paying attention", while Mencius regarded people who were not diligent in their four bodies as unfilial. There is an important content in family precepts of past dynasties, that is, "diligent training".
Businessmen can make big money only if they are diligent in doing business; Being an official and diligent can benefit the people, and laziness will inevitably make the people suffer.
On November 13th, the fourth year of Tongzhi (1865), Zeng Guofan read Wang Huizu's "Learning to Wait for Hypothesis" at night, and he was deeply impressed. He wrote in his diary: "I read George's Medicine Word, Learning to Treat Hypothesis, and Dream Record written by Mr. Huizu of Wanglongzhuang until the second watch. His "Yong Xun" teaches later generations that the language is practical and can be used as a model. I have been lazy in recent months. I am lazy every day except playing chess and reading books. I have been delayed by many official duties, and I don't feel creepy reading the book of the prince! " Zeng Guofan agreed with Wang's view that diligence is the first priority for officials.
Zeng Guofan also had a deep understanding of the word "diligence". In his view, the word "diligence" is the first essence of life, and it is the premise of self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, being an official, governing the country and even the world. He believes that throughout the ages, sages and heroes have stood tall in the world and made great achievements, all because of "diligence." If a person is diligent, there is nothing he can't do, otherwise he will accomplish nothing and may even lead to disaster.
Zeng Guofan once summarized the way of doing research into eight words, namely "eight virtues". The first one is "diligence", which he thinks is the most important word. So whenever he talks about several words at the same time, he always puts the word "diligence" in the first place, such as "diligence and honesty" and "diligence and prudence". Later, he wrote three proverbs about being an official, which were called "diligence"
The word wrote a footnote for lent: "hands and eyes are everywhere, I am exhausted, and I am tired of knowing it day and night."
Zeng Guofan is not a talented person, so he can achieve such great achievements, which can be said to be all caused by the word "diligence". This is closely related to his family style of diligence and housekeeping, but it is also the result of Zeng Guofan's own cultivation.
Among all the factors that can promote people's success, the word "diligence" is essential, and at the same time it can be free from congenital conditions. People often say that "diligence can make up for mistakes" is the truth. Zeng Guofan said that the official residence should be based on the word "dynamic, honest and bright", in which the word "bright" is greatly influenced by innate factors, and the other three words can be learned from learning. The word "diligence" is the basis and premise of practicing all undertakings, so it is particularly important.
Zeng Guofan, a scholar, believes that there is no other way but "diligence". Diligence can make up for it, dribs and drabs, perseverance. He has formed the habit of reading every day since he was a child, and he hasn't changed even after joining the army. He taught his soldiers that the meaning of the word "diligence" lies in diligence in training and management on weekdays. If you have a little free time, you will never stop reading.
Zeng Guofan was in charge of Xiang and Huai armies. In such a heavy position, he can still use his spare time to read and write every day. Almost all his letters, letters, letters from home, approvals and diaries were written or deleted by himself, and only tens of thousands of words have been handed down. I'm afraid he writes the most letters from home. Since he studied with Warren, he has almost never stopped writing a diary. There are several kinds of his diaries, such as The Shadow of a Gap, The Story of a Tea Couple, Quezhai Diary and so on. Only 654.38+00,000 words have been handed down, and there are countless notes and comments he wrote. This studious habit has reached the age of Midu. One year before his death, he wrote several poems and more than ten articles, among which "Hunan Zheng Wenxu" and "Remake Ming Ke Wenxu" describe the origin of articles since ancient times, and have incisive opinions, which are immortal masterpieces. One month before his death, he also wrote an epitaph for Liu Songshan, a famous soldier in the late Xiang army, but he was unable to complete the manuscript due to illness.
Through the study of history, Zeng Guofan got the following understanding: the hero of pioneering tradition in prosperous times takes modesty as the first meaning, the hero of last time takes hard work as the first meaning. He thought that the Qing Dynasty was in the turbulent last days and compared himself to a hero who helped the poor. He must be diligent if he wants to fulfill his ambition of pacifying the world.
For this reason, Zeng Guofan really worked hard and finally ended up with the word "diligent". Even if you are not diligent occasionally, you should reflect deeply and make up for it.
On August 19th, the first year of Tongzhi (1862), he blamed himself in his diary: In recent days, he has not paid special attention to his official duties, and more people have visited him, and his interest has become more lax than before. In military affairs, bureaucracy, salaries and cultural affairs, we should try our best to make progress every day, because if we don't make progress every day, we will regress every day. In the future, I will pay more attention to official business, see my family and know more about the situation every day; Attach importance to the military, starting with teaching generals and inspectors; Pay attention to the matter of salary, starting with the number of people; Attach importance to literature, starting with the collection of ancient teachings. Pay more attention to official and military affairs before noon every day, pay more attention to reimbursement in the afternoon and read literature in the evening.
Zeng Guofan's hard work was the most prominent when he was the governor of Zhili. At the beginning of 1869, he went to Beijing to see him. This is the first time he has returned to Beijing since he left Beijing, and it has been more than ten years now. At that time, although Zhili was an important place in both capital and capital, official corruption was hard to see, officials were tired of playing, lawsuits piled up and people's grievances boiled. So Zeng Guofan took the initiative to rectify the bureaucracy as soon as he took office. Wuqiao magistrate Wang Enzhao, Quyang magistrate Wan Hengtai, Wuqiang magistrate Zhou Peijin, Jizhou magistrate Song Bingwen, Baoan magistrate Li Zuotang, Huai 'an magistrate Gu Hongde, all these people are lazy to litigate. Zeng Guofan dismissed all the people who invited them, and drastically rectified them, which made bureaucrats and folk customs do it one brace up.
When he was governor of Zhili, Zeng Guofan's biggest headache was to deal with the backlog. According to Wu Rulun's records, Zeng Guofan handled the backlog from April to November in the eighth year of Tongzhi, and closed the old and new cases from 40 19l, and from December in the eighth year of Tongzhi to October in the tenth year of Tongzhi, plus the leap month of * * * in April, a total of 90 155 cases were closed. In the early stage, there were more than 80 cases per day/kloc-0. Under his advocacy, the official management of Zhili changed rapidly, and the Qing court praised Zeng Guofan for "being serious, managing the people's customs, rectifying and consolidating, and trying to help us study."
Judging from Zeng Guofan's life style, "diligence" is the main secret of his success. Zeng Guofan said that the way to be diligent is to "use eight points for energy and five points for strength." There is no end to diligence, the harder the better. The word "diligence" can not only accumulate, but also boost morale and spirits.
He summarized the performance of the word "diligence" as "five arrivals": physical arrival, mental arrival, eye arrival, hand arrival and mouth arrival. When you arrive, you will patrol the village, run the army to patrol the camp and visit the thief's land. For those who are in their hearts, everything is painstakingly analyzed, and the large and small organizations are always clear and can be divided into similar ones. If you look at people, you should look carefully. The person who reaches out, depending on the length of the person, is the key to the matter, and is used as a memo. Words are unfounded, and people do things, both official documents and well-meaning persuasion. Later, he summed up the "three diligence": diligent observation and looking around; The first step is diligent, and everything is full of blood; Be diligent, think hard and use your head.
This "five to three diligence" is Zeng Guofan's profound understanding of the word "diligence" and summed it up in practice. Throughout his career, no matter what he does, "five to three diligence" is fully reflected.
Wu Rulun, one of Zeng Guofan's four disciples, often accompanied him and visited him every other day. Later, when Wu Rulun became the magistrate, Zeng Guofan taught him that the method of being an official was nothing more than the word "diligence", which was based on personal considerations and details. Zeng Guofan did everything himself, thus ensuring that everything could be completed with good quality and quantity, with almost no negligence. On the other hand, Li Hongzhang warned Wu Rulun that he didn't have to ask small things himself.
Wu Rulun is superior to others, but he still thinks Zeng Guofan is more reasonable, so he decided to follow his example.
But after a few days, I can't stand it, and the degree of hard work is really beyond the endurance of ordinary people. In fact, "diligence"
This is a truth that everyone knows, so it is not a secret. It depends on whether you have the perseverance to do it.
It can be seen that it is not difficult to do it yourself and be diligent, but you should always be diligent. Unless you have great perseverance and firm ambition, it will be difficult to stick to it, and it will also have a negative impact on your health. Zeng Guofan paid great attention to health preservation, but he worked hard all his life and eventually got seriously ill. Therefore, the word "diligence" should also be measured.