To be extremely stupid is to be smart

To be "stupid" to the extreme is to be "smart", and to be "clumsy" to the extreme is to be "smart"

There is a joke circulating in Hunan that Zeng Guofan was studying at home. This is such a short article, I have read it aloud and still can’t memorize it.

The thief wanted to wait until he fell asleep to steal. But I waited and waited, but I didn't see him sleeping. The thief couldn't bear it anymore and jumped out and shouted: "What kind of book should such a stupid person read?"

This joke is not unfounded.

The talents of the Zeng family are not outstanding. Zeng Guofan's father, Zeng Lin, was famous for being a scholar. He took the scholar examination seventeen times in his life, and he barely passed until he was forty-three years old.

But on the other hand, Zeng Guofan was an extremely "smart" person.

He is a brilliant military strategist.

The Taiping Army rose up, and the whole country was helpless. He was the only one who took an unconventional path, founded the Hunan Army with superhuman courage, and proposed the strategy of "taking control from above and seizing the advantage to pacify the Taiping Army".

It was later proven that this was an extremely clever strategy, and it was under the guidance of this strategy that the Qing Dynasty achieved its final victory.

He is very good at sizing up situations.

There are not many heroes since ancient times who are as good at grasping advances and retreats as he is. However, he has never suffered any major setbacks throughout his life, and there are not many successful people like him in traditional officialdom.

Zeng Guofan's philosophy of life is very unique, that is, advocating "clumsy". He said: "The most clumsy in the world can beat the most skillful in the world."

Zeng Guofan was able to get through the imperial examination solely because of his "clumsiness". His father asked him not to read the next sentence until he understood the previous sentence. Don't finish reading this book, don't touch the next one. Never sleep until you have completed the day's study tasks.

He doesn't know any "techniques" or "shortcuts". He only knows that one road will lead to the end, and he will not look back until he hits the wall. This "clumsy" way of learning has cultivated in him a spirit of diligence, hardship, and down-to-earthness that is beyond ordinary people.

Clumsy has the advantage of being clumsy:

Clumsy people have no intellectual capital, so they are more modest than others.

Clumsy people have received frustration education since childhood, so they have a particularly strong ability to resist beatings.

Clumsy people don’t know how to use tricks. When they encounter a problem, they just know how to get through it, so they leave no blind spots.

On the contrary, those who are smart are unwilling to make "hard work" and go around when encountering difficulties, laying a loose foundation. Therefore, "clumsy" looks slow, but it is actually the fastest, because it is a solid success without leaving any disadvantages.

Zeng Guofan relied on his clumsy spirit to fight the war. Zeng Guofan was good at fighting foolish and stupid battles throughout his life, but was not good at fighting skillfully.

He fights without being greedy for small gains or looking for clever tricks. He fights steadily and steadily. He said: "You have to be cautious when fighting a war." In his life, he never fought a battle without preparation or certainty.

Zeng Guofan treated people with sincerity and humility as his basis throughout his life.

All his life, he required himself to "not talk big words, not seek false fame", and "I would rather others take advantage of me than I would take advantage of others". Others deceived him with cleverness and falsehood, but he still treated them with sincerity and humility.

Because of this simple way of life, Zeng Guofan had many friends in his life. He had a cloud of counselors under his command, a rain of fierce generals, and he commanded as he wished.

Of course, Zeng Guofan's most meaningful "clumsiness" is his way of thinking. It is his "solid and thorough" way of thinking that enabled Zeng Guofan to avoid the limitations and limitations of "Chinese-style thinking" for thousands of years. weakness.

Every time he encounters something, he has to look at it from both the pros and cons, think about it over and over, and analyze it in detail.

He also needs to subdivide the two aspects of "positive" and "negative", divide the "positive" side into two sides, and analyze its pros and cons. In the same way, the "negative" side also has its own Its pros and cons.

He studied every factor involved in this matter thoroughly, leaving no room for ambiguity. If you continue to analyze in this way, you will be able to observe this matter very thoroughly.

Zeng Guofan said that he was "not very talented and relied solely on knowledge to become shrewd." His shrewdness is based on such clumsiness and exhaustive thinking.

Indeed, being "stupid" to the extreme is "smart", and being "clumsy" to the extreme is "smart".