There is a story: an earthworm drills around in the soil all day. Once, when it emerged from the soil and saw human beings, it felt puzzled why it could only walk close to the ground, but could not stand like human beings. So he went to consult human beings, and people told him, "You can never walk standing because you don't have the backbone."
The story is simple, but profound. For people, this backbone is "self-confidence." People have self-confidence to pursue, and self-confidence is the premise of doing everything well. However, for people, "blind self-confidence" is also taboo. "Blind self-confidence" means no "self-knowledge".
I often take delegations abroad to visit, during which I also communicate with foreign experts and scholars on some technical problems in forging industry. In the process of communication, we often hear such words: "We are better than them …"; "Like them, we have nothing to see. We have already done this ... "; "I've seen it elsewhere. What is this ..."; Wait a minute. I remember one time, when communicating with several British scholars about the application of plastic deformation finite element, the development of simulation technology and the establishment of expert analysis system, when several British scholars enthusiastically introduced their current research results and applications, several scholars in our delegation quickly broke the other's topic and said, "We have been studying these technologies since the 1960s, and achieved great results." However, as we all know, so far, there is no practical software widely used in engineering in China. From these phenomena, we can see that the shadow of "blind self-confidence" is hurting our judgment and changing our behavior.
Confucius said: "Know it, go up; I don't know, I'm sick. " "Knowing people is wise, knowing oneself is clear; The winner is strong and the loser is strong. "
For "self-knowledge", Lao Tzu gave us a useful enlightenment: you should really understand your own advantages and disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses; Only by knowing your own strengths can you have confidence; Only by knowing your own shortcomings can you avoid pride; Be good at learning from others and make up for your shortcomings with others' strengths; Dare to challenge the master and attack the opponent's shortcomings with your own strengths. It is wise to know your friends. People may be "bright enough to see the end of autumn" to things outside, but they may "not know the true face of Lushan Mountain" to themselves. There are three reasons for this situation: First, there are cognitive reasons. People's understanding of external things can be obtained through direct observation, investigation and experiment. As for our own understanding, it is another turning point to wait until our thoughts, speeches and behaviors act on the outside world and the information comes back to verify it. The second is social reasons. People live in a certain social relationship, and the differences in status, identity and fame can easily lead to deviations and illusions in their understanding of their true values. Third, emotional reasons, for themselves, for their own labor results, whether material products or spiritual products, are a bit "narcissistic", probably human nature.
As small as a person or an enterprise, as large as an industry or a country, we should advocate "respecting morality, erudition, self-knowledge and self-confidence" Need "self-knowledge".