Rather than having small smart tricks to get by, focus on holding on and persevering.
Interpretation
Focus on persistence and resilience instead of quick fixes.
Jack Ma's quote emphasizes the importance of perseverance over relying on quick, clever tricks to navigate challenges. It suggests that success is achieved through consistent effort and determination, rather than superficial shortcuts that may offer fleeting solutions.
In practice
In a motivational speech to young entrepreneurs about overcoming challenges.
Hong Kong people say Hong Kong needs to preserve its uniqueness. I say Hong Kong's uniqueness is in its diversity, its tolerance of difference cultures... China does not want to see Hong Kong in decline. I have full confidence in its future.
If we are a good team and know what we want to do, one of us can defeat tons of them.
It's not that other countries steal jobs from you guys. It's your strategy. Distribute the money and things in a proper way.
Helping doing business easier, we choose the name Alibaba because it is a global company. It is founded in China, but it was created for the world.
In the beginning I just wanted to survive. For the first three years, we made zero revenue. I remember many times when I was trying to pay up, the restaurant owner would say, 'Your bill was paid.' And there would be a note saying, 'Mr. Ma, I'm your customer on the Alibaba platform. I made a lot of money, and I know you don't, so I paid the bill.'
Even if your competitor is still small in size or weak, you should take him seriously and treat him as a giant. Likewise, even if your competitor is massive in size, you shouldn't regard yourself as a weakling.
Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling there's a lot of work to be done.
Have a dream, chase it down, jump over every single hurdle, and run through fire and ice to get there.
If you have a strong mind and plant in it a firm resolve, you can change your destiny.
I lived in Hollywood and, ironically, I didn't know you could just go out and get an agent and go on auditions and try and become an actor, I thought it was like a Masonic thing, like a blood line you had to belong to β until I was 13. Then I realised what you had to do. It is the one thing I know I want to do for the rest of my life.
Focus on your accomplishments , not your failures.
You've got to believe in yourself. ..it really is true, because that's one thing about the Beatles...Man, we believed in ourselves. We knew we were good.
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