Ricky’s Online Business Blog

It was still 200 meters away from the shore.  I was exhausted and was drained of all energy. But no choice, I had to keep moving my arms and legs.  Alas! What had made me claim I could swim?

It was a few months ago when I joined a camp where the participants were thrown into the open sea and had to swim 350 meters back to the beach.  Everyone was clothed in life jacket and asked to move in a group.

There were three categories of us. The first category were those who didn’t know how to swim.  Blessed were them because they didn’t have to swim.  They had helpers to help them drift forward.

The second category were those who knew how to swim.  They not only needed to swim for themselves, but also gave a helping hand to non-swimmers to pull them towards the destination.

But the third category were those who didn’t really know how to swim well, but claimed they could swim.  They not only had to struggle their own way to the beach, they were supposed to help others too!

Guess which category I belonged to?  Perhaps I was one of its kind in this category

So I felt extremely tired, but it was still a long way in front. I couldn’t stop swimming to rest because we were supposed to swim together.  I looked at those swimming in front of me and knew how it felt to be left behind.  I looked at the beach far in front and realized I was the most desperate person in the worlds.

But I had no choice but kept telling myself, “Don’t give up. Keep on swimming. You can do it.”

I did it.  I swam to the shore and we completed the mission.  I felt thankful I had not given up.  I did the right thing to keep on swimming!

I watched the film Devil. I thought it was just a normal horror movie. It’s more than that. It’s also about forgiving others for their wrongs against us.

Recently I happened to come across the forgiveness issue from various places. I read about it, post and even discuss it on Facebook. I heard about it from friends. Some seminar speaker told me about it. Someone even sent me email about it!  Is it a hint to me I should be forgive anyone?

Back to forgiveness, I think we really need to forgive others who have done something wrong to us. If we don’t forgive, we harbor the hatred in us. It will not only strain our relationship, but also become a kind of bitterness in us that can curse us in our life and relationships.

But if we could choose to forgive, we will release our self from the hatred and bitterness. Then we are able to enjoy relationships with people and live our life to the max.

Unfortunately, people who do not enjoy true, loving relationships with people are most probably the ones who are in the bondage of unforgiveness.

A customer told me on Facebook it’s very difficult to forgive people in some cases. Absolutely right. Indeed, may I venture to say that by our own strength we will never be able to forgive those who wronged us?

But when we have experienced for our self that someone has forgiven us for our wrong to him or her in the past, it will not be that difficult to pass on the forgiveness to others.

Think about the kids. If they never learn to own a toy, they may not learn to share it with other kids. But if they have learned to own and enjoy a toy, they will learn to share the joy with others.

About one year ago, a friend lent me some lecture notes but unfortunately I misplaced it. However, she didn’t blame me. She forgave me.

But in recent months, I lent some lecture notes to another friend but somehow he also lost it. I felt angry. But if my previous friend could forgive me for my mistake, why can’t I forgive this friend for his mistake?

By the way, we also often hear people say they will “forgive, but not forget”. But I wonder when some of them say this, they are saying it with bitterness in heart. Are they truly forgiving others or not?

I’m thinking that the key is to forgive. Forget or not? It does not really matter. What do you think about this?

The problem is, who to trust and what to entrust them with? This comes with experience. My observation in business is that, we should be shrewd as snakes (know the workings of the devil), but be innocent as doves (be like angel believing the world can get better)

No doubt we are living in a distrustful world. There are some people who just can’t be trusted. But I guess most people are innocent like you and me, basically good people but just hesitate to trust others.

I suppose the world maintains itself based on trust, without which it will just break down. We trust our engineers have done good job that our roof won’t fall down to hit our head. We trust our banker with our money that it won’t get lost.

Managing people needs trust. We must trust our employees for certain things, or we will end up doing all the job ourselves.  Expanding business network needs trust. We must trust our partners that they will do their part, or we will end up being lone ranger in business.

There is a Chinese saying that if we use the service of people, trust them. Otherwise, do not hire him (用人不疑，疑人不用). Especially true in managing people who work for us.

Correct me if I’m wrong, the world needs more trust.  As we extend our trust to people more, good and innocent people like you and me will reciprocate their trust to us.

Between trusting people and distrusting people, I would rather choose to trust than distrust. The world needs more trust and we can do our part to make it a better world. Not only for the world, but for the advantage of ours and people around us too.

The problem is, who to trust and what to entrust them with? This comes with experience. My observation in business is that, we should be shrewd as snakes (know the workings of the devil), but be innocent as doves (be like angel believing the world can get better)