Possess the Insight of an Eagle’s Eye
An eagle embodies soaring ambition, swift response, and commanding majesty. Its wings are broad and powerful, rising straight into the heavens and battling across the open skies. Its eyes are bright and piercing, sharp enough to cut through mist and haze. Its talons are keen and strong; once they seize their prey, they never let go.
With its sharp eyesight and powerful claws, the eagle remains at the top of the food chain in nature. Under the laws of survival in the natural world, opportunity and survival are closely linked. Without farsighted vision, one can only be ruthlessly eliminated by fate.
Many people complain that they have no opportunities. They believe that their unsatisfactory lives are the result of not having good opportunities. In truth, God gives every person the same opportunities. Some succeed and some fail, not because God truly favours one person and abandons another, but because those who succeed seize their opportunities. The results achieved by those who are able to identify and seize opportunities are entirely different from those achieved by people who cannot.
On an island in the Pacific, two shoe salesmen arrived one day, one from a British shoe factory and the other from an American shoe factory. They each went around the island separately and discovered that no one on the island wore shoes. The next day, they each sent a telegram to their factories. The British salesman wrote: “No one on this island wears shoes. I shall fly back tomorrow.” The American salesman, however, wrote: “No one on this island wears shoes. The prospects for shoe sales are excellent. I intend to remain here.”
The next day, the British salesman flew away from the island, while the American salesman stayed behind and put up advertisements. His advertisements had no written explanation. They simply depicted a strong local man wearing leather shoes, carrying tigers, leopards, wolves, deer, and other prey on his shoulders. He looked powerful, majestic, and impressive.
When the local natives saw the advertisement, they began asking where they could get the things worn on the strong man’s feet. Thus, the American salesman gradually opened up the market for the shoes he was selling.
Everyone wants success, longs for prosperity, and strives hard for it. Most people encourage themselves with this saying: effort and reward are proportional. Yet many overlook the most important premise: one must have the right direction. Otherwise, even your most strenuous efforts are merely futile struggles. When you travel farther and farther down the wrong road, success has already moved far away from you. If you possess the eagle’s sharp vision, if you are farsighted and able to identify opportunities, can success still be far away?
The key to life lies in growth. No matter when you begin, as long as you are willing to change, it is the best time to start. Habits can be changed, and eyesight can be trained. Learning to observe is a very important ability. What appears to be all right is not necessarily all right. Learn to identify problems, and once you identify them, deal with them immediately. The results may not be immediate, but small changes, accumulated over time, will one day produce a great difference.
A person’s proactive faith can help him accomplish many things. What you see is what you will obtain. If you see opportunities, you will gain opportunities. If all you see is bleak desolation, then desolation is what you will receive. What you can see is yours; what you cannot see is not yours.
How can we see what others cannot see, and discover opportunities others fail to discover? This requires exceptional insight. Can insight be trained? How then can we cultivate it?
- See the Good in Everything
Cultivate the Wisdom of an Eagle’s Eye
Whatever happens, we must see its good side. When problems arise, we should consider where we fall short, what needs to be improved, and how it can be improved. In work and in life, we will inevitably encounter people who are difficult to get along with. We cannot change the environment, nor can we change others, but we can change our own attitudes and conduct. In every matter, we must do our best to see its good side.
For example, suppose you encounter a supervisor at work who is very difficult to deal with, and you cannot avoid him. At such a time, you must learn to change your way of thinking in that situation. If you can work well even with a difficult supervisor, then your potential is enormous. Learn to observe the forces that can promote the growth of your life.
- Stand Higher and See Further
Many people are trapped in immediate interests and endless entanglements. They have no long-term goal and cannot see the road ahead. It is more blessed to give than to receive, yet many people cannot understand this simple principle of blessing.
Many well-known enterprises understand this principle deeply. Take Didi Chuxing, which we all know. When this app first entered public view, many people were not optimistic about it. Yet its low fares and efficient, convenient service won a large number of loyal users. It enabled travellers to get around in the most convenient and efficient way, while allowing many idle private cars to be put to use.
Before long, Didi Chuxing became people’s preferred mode of transport. It achieved its purpose of changing people’s way of life. Although it later reformed its operations and raised its fares, people still habitually chose to accept this model. Didi Chuxing’s success was inseparable from the long-term vision of its decision-makers.
- See More Deeply
Do not look only at the surface of things. Learn to see through phenomena to their essence. Learn to see opportunities amid disorder, the future from the present, and a turning point in an economic crisis. During the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the entire Asian economy fell into deep depression. Yet George Soros was able to see opportunity amid danger and made enormous profits.
The total amount of wealth in the world does not change. A financial crisis merely transfers money from the hands of one group of people to another. If we can see the essence behind outward appearances, we will discover opportunities that others cannot see and receive unexpected surprises.
Likewise, in the process of shaping our character, we will inevitably encounter many offences and challenges. But if you see through these outward appearances to their essence, you will discover that these hardships will become benefits in your life. Having been refined through such trials, you will rise to a greater height in life. The spiritual person discerns all things, yet the people of the world cannot discern him.
- See More Clearly
The most important ability of a leader and decision-maker is to make abstract concepts concrete. When new concepts and ideas emerge, many people cannot imagine them or see them clearly. They feel there is too much uncertainty and do not know how to discern or analyse them.
If you can see clearly, amid confusion, the direction in which matters are moving, you will gain a success beyond what you yourself ever imagined. When Jack Ma founded Alibaba more than a decade ago, no one thought highly of him. Everyone said he was a fraud and a madman. Yet Alibaba has now become one of the world’s leading internet companies. Taobao and Alipay have even completely changed people’s way of life, reaching into every corner of daily living.
If those who rejected Jack Ma at that time had been able to see the immense potential of the internet clearly, perhaps their lives too would have been rewritten.
- Inherit More
The Seven Key Qualities for Success
Many people fall into the mistaken notion that doing something well means creating everything by themselves. In truth, genuine innovation does not mean being eccentric and discarding all the experience of those who came before us. Learning how to inherit is a very important quality.
When others have already done something well, we can take it and use it directly. If you can learn everything others have done, you are already a very capable person. New and old are relative concepts. Whatever you did not know before is new to you when you encounter something that others have already accomplished. You only need to inherit it.
If, in the process of learning, you develop new ideas and creativity, and can take the success of others one step further, then you are an extraordinary person. The best way to inherit is to read books, to make the knowledge of others your own, and to learn to create and make breakthroughs through inheritance.
- Do More
Many people believe that what the eyes see is fact. In reality, relying on the eyes alone often leads to error; outward appearances are not necessarily facts. At work, we often encounter matters that are not part of our assigned duties. Some people simply do them when they see them, while others instinctively go out of their way to avoid them.
Many people are afraid of losing out and are calculating even over small matters. Yet the truth is this: if you do well, will you not be accepted? What you do is seen by others. Rewards and punishments never come without reason.
Yu Minhong, the founder of New Oriental, once spoke about what lay behind his success. When he was at university, he alone fetched hot water and cleaned for everyone in his dormitory. In the eyes of many people, he may have seemed foolish, and they may have thought that he was being taken advantage of. But when he later started a business and sought help from his classmates, one of them said that he had been moved by Yu’s willingness to fetch hot water for the dormitory. He therefore helped him without hesitation. Later, New Oriental came into being.
At work, never be afraid of hardship or of doing more. If you regularly take the initiative to do things beyond the scope of your duties—things that are positive, reasonable, and right—then promotion will not be far away.
- Desire More
The Bible says: seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. We must desire growth. The more we desire, the more we receive. From within to without, we must desire change and renewal, beginning with a change of heart.
Man was created in the image of God. God is the God who does new things; therefore, we too should bear the likeness of God and become people who do new things. Desire more of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Desire renewal and the receiving of power. Proactive faith will move the hand of God to help us accomplish the desires and aspirations of our hearts.
Many people often pity themselves, saying, “I have little education. There are so many outstanding people in the world. How could success ever come to me?” But this is not so. We often see people who have read many books yet remain poor, mediocre, and unproductive throughout their lives. Likewise, there are countless people without higher education who have achieved exceptional results.
We must understand that a person’s success is not necessarily related to how many books he has read. It is directly related, however, to the quality of his vision. Therefore, we must remain watchful and continually train our powers of observation. Learn to possess the sharp eyes of an eagle, so that all things are clear before you. Then, can success still be difficult?
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