Sometimes we overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in a decade!
Monday, March 17th, 2008Sometimes we overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in a decade!
Been spending my Saturday afternoons watching the Chinese series about my role model, Gou Jian, the last of the Five Great OverLords in the Zhou Dynasty.
The story is about the King of Yue called Gou Jian who was defeated in a war against its larger neighbour, the Wu kingdom. After the defeat, he could have ended his life and allowed his kingdom to be annexed by the victors and just basically screw up his life and just clubbed his life away.
Instead he chose the tougher road, that road was to surrender and be a slave of the King of Wu in order to preserve his kingdom.
Reduced to a personal slave, Gou Jian was enslaved for 3 years before he managed to convince the Wu King of his docility and allowed to return to his kingdom.
Even when he returned to his kingdom, Goujian did not go back and enjoy the riches as a king, but instead slept on sticks and eating food suited for peasants, as well as forcing himself to taste gall. This way, he could remember his humiliations while serving under the State of Wu and strengthen his resolve and perseverence to revive his kingdom.
There is how a Chinese idiom, 卧薪尝胆"Wo Xin Chang Dan" (literally meaning "sleeping on sticks and tasting gall"), came about because of this and his perseverance to revive his kingdom.
Finally, about 10 years later, Gou Jian managed to rebuild and strengthen his kingdom and in the end managed to successfully attack and take over the state of Wu and that was how he became the last of the Five Great OverLords in the Zhou Dynasty.
.
…
XiaoQiang, just wanna add, Sometimes we overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in a decade! Where were we a decade ago and where are we gonna be in a decade’s time? Think about it!
