Jack Ma: Three Questions

Jack Ma asks himself three questionsto keep the vision alive:

Oct 23, 2018

Speaking at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Ma shared how he remains focused in his pursuit of success.

"Whether young people, old people, ask three questions," the billionaire told a packed conference hall in Bali, Indonesia.

"I keep asking myself these three questions," he said. "What do you have? What do you want? What will you give up?"

Many people usually fail to ask themselves what they are willing to give up because they tend to think they don't have much to start with, Ma said.

But it's inevitable that sacrifices must be made in the long run, said the teacher and entrepreneur. And recognizing that helps people to commit to their ambitions over the long term, which is often what's needed to produce results, he said.

"Don't think you will succeed next year, you have to prepare for 10 years," he said, pointing out that Alibaba didn't take just a year or two to get to where it is today.

Ma said his founding team didn't have much money, knowledge nor industry contacts when they set up the company. But they have proven that they could succeed "by working hard, believe in the future, believe in the vision day after day to improve ourselves."

To keep those beliefs alive, one has to ask those three questions frequently, Ma said.

"Always think about these questions and then you'll be fearless, you'll be optimistic, you will know what you want," he said. "When you're going on that, you'll never get lost."

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Reply to
Steve Wilson
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Sounds like a recipe for a lot of anxiety over nothing.

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

The founders of most successful companies that started out small say platitudes of this type. Work hard, believe in yourself, bluh bluh bluh.

It's all very non-specific stuff aimed at creating a certain mythos around the founder IMO, a "foundation mythology."

The reality is probably more pedestrian and also significantly underestimates the role that just good fortune and dumb luck played. I'm always a bit skeptical of folks who are so eager to tell you all about "how I did it!" I don't think they're usually as good at self-analyzing their own success as they think they are judging by the kind of lines they usually use.

There are rare types who do have concrete advice but most business advice that doesn't involve quantitative steps, dollar signs and math is not too helpful

Reply to
bitrex

A thing that helps a lot is learning to swallow your ego and pride it's often what you have to do if you want to become successful in many endeavors in life. You're going to hear "No" quite a bit if you're doing much of anything in life, get used to it.

Remember the man who e.g. sleeps with the most women who isn't coasting on rock-star fame is probably also the man who's been rejected by the most women as well. If he's slept with 50 women it probably means he's heard "No" five thousand times but didn't let it get to him.

Reply to
bitrex

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