4 Fundamental Skills That Make You Stand Out

French writer Montaigne once said:

“We are all richer than we think ourselves to be.

But we forget the strength within us,

So we always seek elsewhere for help.

And this strength that makes us rich,

Is our foundational ability.”

Foundational ability,

Are those skills that are clearly important,

Yet always overlooked by you.

In this era where opportunities come and go in the blink of an eye,

Foundational ability is the key to making you stand out.

Part One:

Reliability

There was a popular question on Zhihu: Why is it becoming harder and harder to find reliable employees?

A highly upvoted answer was:

Reliable and affordable employees,

Do not exist.

The word “reliable”,

Itself is a symbol of value.

When Fang Hongbo, CEO of Midea Group, first joined the company,

He, like many colleagues, led an ordinary office worker’s life.

But unlike others,

He was more diligent,

More attentive.

Once,

Boss He Xiangjian asked everyone to conduct market research in 12 cities.

Many colleagues found the work tough,

The pay too low,

And would just finish after a few cities and return.

Only Fang Hongbo persisted through all the cities,

And conducted detailed research in each one.

He Xiangjian was very pleased with Fang Hongbo’s attitude,

Thinking he was dependable,

And entrusted him with important tasks.

Writer Chi Li said: “Reliability,

It sounds simple,

But when it’s down to it, it’s complicated,

It sounds like a feeling,

But it’s a principle when doing.”

Unreliable people,

When doing things,

Only talk big,

Never follow through with actual actions.

Reliable people,

Have ability,

Have responsibility,

Can keep in mind what others entrust to them,

Making others feel at ease and save effort.

To cultivate reliability,

It’s simply about doing these three things:

1. Provide certainty.

Don’t promise lightly,

Once you promise,

You must see it through.

2. Be diligent in doing things.

Don’t spout grand words,

Focus on doing each task to perfection.

3. Have clear instructions.

Every matter should have instructions,

Every task should have a follow-up,

Every action should have feedback.

A person who can give clear instructions,

Is worth trusting,

And makes others feel at ease.

People who play smart tricks,

Can only be companions for chatting,

When there’s something to do,

Always find someone reliable.

In this age of excess intelligence,

Reliability is the greatest wisdom in human interaction.

Part Two:

Execution Power

There’s a saying:

“Ordinary people are ordinary,

Because they always wait to understand before acting,

Wait for conditions to be right before doing.”

Great people are great,

Because of their extraordinary decisiveness and execution power.

The biggest difference between people,

Lies in whether they have execution power.

Writer Li Shanglong knew a friend who was an actor,

Faced setbacks at work,

Decided to practice English speaking diligently.

His friend asked Li Shanglong,

Is there a shortcut to learning English,

Can I master it in three months,

Or half a year, or a year?

Li Shanglong reminded her,

Start doing and persist,

Only then can you become a fluent speaker,

But many give up halfway.

His friend smiled and said: “You underestimate me.”

A year later,

Li Shanglong saw her again,

She still played unremarkable roles,

And her spoken English hadn’t improved at all.

Many times,

We are dissatisfied with the status quo,

Want to make changes,

But find it hard to take the first step.

A very good saying is: The world has never lacked perfect plans,

But action to just do it.

To improve your action power,

Try these three methods:

1. Simplify and break down goals.

When a long-term goal is broken into many short-term goals,

The difficulty of execution greatly decreases.

2. The 5-minute start method,

Refuse procrastination.

When you plan something in your mind,

Don’t think about anything else,

Just dive in and do it for 5 minutes.

3. Set up an incentive mechanism.

Appropriate self-motivation,

Is recognition and encouragement for past progress,

And a projection and stimulation for future goals.

Life will never reward you just because you want to do something,

It only rewards what you have done.

Only when you act,

Can you embrace the life you desire.

Part Three:

Passion Power

There’s a term in psychology called “flowerpot effect”:

It refers to people who stay too long in a comfortable flowerpot,

Will become complacent,

And accept the status quo.

If you just mechanically repeat the same things every day,

Your insight,

Ability, and vision,

Will forever stagnate.

Recently,

During the New Year holiday,

I met my college classmate Lao Han.

After graduating from university,

He smoothly entered a well-known company.

The company paid well,

Work hours were flexible,

As long as the tasks at hand were finished, he could leave on time.

Living so comfortably for a few years,

Lao Han gradually lost passion for work.

In the past two years, the company’s performance was poor,

To cut costs,

Several departments merged,

Meaning one person had to handle both old and new businesses.

Years of comfortable life,

Lao Han’s ability couldn’t bear this heavy responsibility,

Reluctantly, he resigned.

This painful experience,

Made him realize: obsession with the comfort zone,

Is the greatest cruelty to oneself.

There’s a saying: “Once a person falls into complacency,

Even if it’s just for a few short years,

God will quickly take away your talent and strength.”

Staying too long in the comfort zone,

You will find,

That thing called “willpower”,

Gradually diminishes.

Sitting on a leaking boat,

When water doesn’t come in,

You don’t repair the hull,

But lie on the deck sunbathing.

When the water starts to leak,

And you want to escape,

It’s already too late.

Here are three small tips,

To help you step out of your comfort zone,

And always keep your passion alive.

1. Make changes.

Boring, unchanging work is hard to ignite passion,

Make small changes every day,

And even repetitive, dull work,

Will become a little more interesting.

2. Never stop optimizing yourself.

Strive to perform better each time,

Continuously expand your knowledge,

Deepen your skills,

And accept new challenges.

3. Maintain intrinsic motivation,

Work for yourself.

Only when you work for yourself,

And treat your job as a career to fight for,

Will you always stay passionate about your work.

Part Four:

Thinking Power

I saw a comic strip.

A person standing on a pile of ladders,

Leaning on a wall, sighing.

He’s not lacking ladders to climb over high walls,

But he never truly thought about

How to use those ladders.

A person only cares about rushing forward,

Refusing to think,

Is just using tactical diligence to cover strategic laziness.

More important than effort,

Is your ability to think deeply.

Someone once asked Buffett,

Why do others’ investments sometimes lose money,

While he almost never fails.

He smiled and said: “Maybe,

It’s because I see a little more than others.”

Most investors, when choosing stocks,

Focus on the company’s profitability on financial statements,

But before Buffett buys stocks,

He looks beyond the numbers.

More importantly,

He analyzes the industry prospects,

Even the company’s system and culture,

To judge whether the company has growth potential.

In his view,

A company with potential,

Its stock appreciation is highly probable.

Buying stocks of such companies,

Even if they experience multiple declines,

He will never sell.

With this insight,

Buffett has been successful in the stock market,

Ranked among the top five global billionaires for over a decade.

Like the line in “The Godfather”: Those who see the essence within a second,

And those who can’t see the essence of a thing in half a lifetime,

Are destined for different fates.

Seeing the essence of things,

Is the only way to see the big picture,

And to lead the big picture.

1. Ask yourself questions.

Any question can lead us to infinite exploration,

Helping us form a long-term,

Consistent thinking path.

2. Deliberate focus.

With a clear purpose,

Concentrate your awareness and thinking on one thing,

Grasp the essence and core of the matter,

And make correct judgments.

3. No emotional disturbance.

Meditate,

Sit quietly,

Calm your mind.

Gaining this moment of peace every day,

Allows you to gradually see the true nature of problems.

Chanel’s global CEO Ma Lin once said: “The farther you go in your mind,

The steadier you walk in reality.”

The quality of thinking,

Determines the quality of life.

▽

Parenting expert Liu Yong’s son is a Harvard scholar,

And his daughter also gained admission to Columbia University with top grades.

Someone asked him for the secret to educating children,

Liu Yong replied:

“Cultivating the child’s foundational abilities,

Makes excellence a natural outcome.”

Truly outstanding people,

All work hard on their foundational abilities.

The more solid the basics,

The broader the road ahead.