Wisdom Polishes Our Life

        wisdom polishes our life
never will wang xin(wx) forget his first assignment as a school newspaper reporter to interview mr. adrian savage(as), who is a retired business ceo as well as a writer. the discussion with the wise man was to influence his readers.
wx: mr. adrian savage, we’re delighted you are coming to join us in the interview so that we can share your valuable life experience.
as: i feel greatly honored to be invited here.
wx: since you worked as a business ceo and a writer as well, work must have taken up most of your time. have your family members and friends ever described you as a workaholic?
as: actually, they really complained a lot about my spending little time with them! and taking a day off was only a beautiful daydream for me for a long time. but now i have been fully aware that living an enjoyable life comes first. you know if you make your work your life, you’re making your life into hard work. work is just a fundamental way to support your life. a smart guy should know how to keep balance between work and the rest of his life, that is, spend as little time on the work as possible, and meanwhile achieve your goal.
wx: great idea! no doubt that you have achieved your life goals as a successful businessman and a writer, so i am really curious about whether you set a high expectation for yourself as a teenager?
as: (laughing) frankly speaking, i once had a bigger dream for my life to build up an international company with 2,000 branches overseas. however, experience teaches me the higher goal you set, the less you will achieve.
wx: you must have felt frustrated when your achievements didn’t meet with your expectation.
as: i should admit i was when i was young. but i have learned even if that happens, there is no reason to be downhearted. just allow for it and move on.
wx: i think that’s your attitude towards failure now.
as: exactly! failure is what we cannot be avoided. the best way to treat the pain that failure brings to us is to learn from it and then forget it. no one will be a permanent loser or winner. nowadays, some try to stay on the winners’ stage forever by all kinds of means; even in illegal ways. that is quite unacceptable.
wx: i can’t agree with you more. speaking of winners, michael phelps is the greatest winner in the olympic games. but it has been exposed to the public that he once took drugs, which is considered cool among teenagers. have you ever followed the latest fashion or been crazy about your idols?