Hi there..
This is an old article written by Hari Bedi in Asian Business magazine dated January 1996. Have been kept for so long, for almost 20 years, tonight I decided to take some effort to get it typed and share it with you...you out there..enjoy reading..
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The New Year is a good time to think about improving our lives. But making a couple of New Year's resolutions may not help much. What we often need is totally new way of thinking - something inspirational and passionate. Kazuo Inamori's formula for success may be just what we need.
Named twice as Japan's most effective manager, he believes that even average people can achieve remarkable success, through the combination of three simple ingredients: Ability, Effort and Attitude. The secret of his success formula for outstanding results lies in multiplying, not simply adding, these three items together.
Inamori says that gifted people - who often rely on their talents alone to carry them to success - may not be as successful as average, hard-working people with the right attitude. Low marks for talent multiplied by high marks for effort and attitude will produce higher scores.
Our abilities - health, talents and innate aptitude - may largely be hereditary. But the greatest ability of all is the ability to overcome oneself. Instead of pretending we can do what we really can't, we should admit what we cannot do and start from there.
The ideal person, says Inamori, is someone who is both hold and sensitive, who has mastered their instincts, and who can focus their intellect to the point where they start to become inspired. They must also have sufficient 'strength of soul', in essence a sense of direction, without which they can easily become a slave to their talents.
Effort makes today's impossibility become tomorrow's reality. People must have tenacity and perseverance to succeed. They must pursue their goals with a desperate desire. They should make an effort to cultivate a sound body for a sound mind. As leaders, they should infuse their energy into subordinates until they burn with passion.
A positive attitude is the supreme quality, says Inamori. None of us can be completely free from anguish and worry. But even in our worst moments, we should try not to lose our cheerfulness. We should seek righteousness and always ask ourselves: "What is the right thing for a human being to do?"
We should always base our judgement and conduct on fundamental truths and principles. The easy way does not usually lead us to our goal. A person who is steeped in jealousy, resentment or hatred cannot hope to achieve success. In Inamori's formula, a person with a negative attitude is negative overall - and hence unsuccessful.
Although Inamori present his formula as the core message in his book, A Passion for Success, there are other determinants of success or failure. In the drama of life, there is a huge difference between those who have written themselves a starring role, and those who idle through lfe without aim.
Our lives are not determined by our destiny at birth, says Inamori. Destiny can be altered by raising our minds and way of thinking. Unlike a play that must lead to a predetermined conclusion, the outcomes of our lives are in our own hands. We can make life hell or heaven - it depends on our attitude.
In hell, there's a giant cooking pot filled with delicious noodles. But the chopsticks are a metre long - too long to manoeuvre the noodles into the mouth. So everybody goes hungry. In heaven, it's the same except that each person picks up the noodles with the long chopsticks and offers them to someone on the other side of the pot. Through their unselfish minds, they enjoy eternal bliss.
Not a bad New Year message.