The 38 Letters From J.D. Rockefeller to His Son

At that moment, I saw our great future because we began to be loyal to “us”. Do not forget that everyone is selfish, everyone is loyal to themselves by nature, and “I” is the religion in everyone’s heart. When “we” replaces “me”, the power it gives off will be incalculable. The reason why I can achieve great success is because I manage everyone first, every single one of them.

But this does not mean that everyone has a different starting point and life outcomes. In this world, there is never a saying of inheriting wealth or poverty, same goes to inheriting success or failure. The only truth is that as long as you work hard enough, you will succeed. I firmly believe that our destiny is determined by our actions, not by our origins.

The glory and success of the family cannot guarantee the future of its children and grandchildren. I admit that the early advantage is really helpful, but it does not guarantee them a victory in the end.

People of poorer backgrounds will actively develop their creativity, abilities, while also cherishing and seizing various opportunities because they urgently need to rescue themselves. I have also observed that the kind of ambition of the rich children have, often lacks the motivation and attributes the poor, hence they resort to praying for their own success. Therefore, when you and your sisters were very young, I deliberately concealed the fact that I was well off. I instilled many values ​​such as frugality and personal struggle in you because I know that the quickest way to harm someone is to give them money. It can make people corrupt, depraved, arrogant, and cause them to lose their source of happiness. I cannot bury my beloved children with wealth, and foolishly make you all into one that is incompetent and only depends on the success of their parents.

“Luck is the remnant of design.” This phrase does sound quite brainy. Does it mean that luck is the result of planning and strategy? Or does it mean that luck is what remains after planning? My experience tells me that these two meanings exist. In other words, we create our own luck, and no action can eliminate it. Luck is the gospel that is difficult to get rid of in the planning process.

As long as they find out someone has attained success or have been promoted, they will say casually, with contempt: “This man's luck is so good, it is luck that helped him!” Such a person can never have a peek into the truth that makes one successful: everyone is a designer and architect of his own destiny.

The first condition is to know your goals, such as what you want to do, or even what kind of person you want to become; the second condition is knowing what resources you have, such as status, money, interpersonal relationships, and even abilities.

The longer you aim, the lower the chance of you pulling the trigger.

Honestly, I am an ambitionist. Since I was a child, I have wanted to be a wealthy man.

“Education covers many aspects, but it does not teach you anything.” This wise man showed us a truth: if you do not take action, even the world most practical, beautiful, and viable philosophy will not work.

Of course, I do not deny that planning is very important. It is the first step to achieving favourable results, but planning is not, and cannot replace action.

We must compromise in life and believe that what is in hand is the opportunity we need now, so that we can keep ourselves out of the quagmire of waiting forever before falling into action.

But I do not need a bright victory, I want to win it good, thorough, and decent.

Son, honesty is a method and a strategy.

Once avoiding failure becomes your motivation to do things, you have embarked on a path of laziness and powerlessness.

I take failure as a glass of spirits. It is bitter when you drink it, yet it gives you plenty of vitality.

Optimistic people will see opportunity in suffering, and pessimistic people will see suffering in opportunity. Son, remember the formula of success that I believe in: Dream + Failure + Challenge = Success

Lincoln’s life wrote a great truth: unless you give up, you will not be defeated.

Success is a series of struggles.

Too many people overestimate what they lack, but underestimate what they have, and lose the chance to become a winner.

Confidence produces the attitude of believing in “I can do it”, and the attitude of believing in “I can do it” can produce the abilities, skills, and energy. Whenever you believe that “I can do it”, you will naturally come up with a “how to solve” method, and success is born once you successfully solve the problem. This is the process of confidence displaying its might.

Believing in success is a basic and absolutely necessary element possessed by successful people.

Successful people are just ordinary people who believe in themselves and affirm what they do. Never, never sell yourself cheaply.

You can only believe in yourself, and only in this way, you will not be deceived.

Simplicity is a quality of integrity and selflessness in the soul. It is different and more noble than sincerity.

Greed not only allows a person's abilities to be maximized, but also forces him to dedicate everything, remove all obstacles, and move forward at full speed.

In fact, I do not like money. What I like is making money. What I like is the good feeling of victory.

Doing small things is the cornerstone of making big things.

Playing stupid brings you many benefits. The meaning of pretending to be stupid is to stay a low profile and become humble, in other words, to hide your cleverness. The smarter the person, the more necessary it is for them to play stupid, because as the saying goes – the more mature the rice, the more they sag.

“If you are not a winner, you are defying yourself”, and the other is “Diligence brings Nobility”. These two sentences are my true-life motto. If I am not self-effacing, I would like to say that they are the epitome of my life.

Opportunities are only reserved for hardworking people!

The biggest difference between those who are prospering everywhere and those who do nothing is excuses.

I found that most people have two basic wrong attitudes towards “intelligence”: too underestimating their own brain power, and too overestimating the brain power of others.

I believe that an average-talented person who has an optimistic, positive and cooperative attitude towards the world will earn more money and win more respect as compared to a talented but pessimistic, passive and uncooperative person.

If an extremely smart person is always using their amazing intellect to prove why things cannot succeed, instead of guiding their minds to find various ways to succeed, the fate of failure will find them. Negative thoughts have implicated their intelligence, making them unable to use their skills to accomplish anything.

I want people who can really solve problems and come up with various ideas, who have dreams and have the courage to realize their dreams. Creative people can make money for me, but people who can only memorize information cannot.

If a person says, “I don't want money”, it is equivalent to saying: “I don't want to serve my family, friends, and compatriots.” This statement is absurd, but it is also absurd to sever the relationship between the two!

I can say that if someone who should have been wealthy is weak and incompetent because of poverty, then he must have committed an extremely serious mistake; he is not only unfaithful and disloyal to himself, but also mistreating his family!

But no one can stop you from moving forward. The person who hinders you the most is yourself. You are the only one who can go on forever.

Only by curiosity can you discover opportunities, and by taking risks can you make use of them.

It is almost certain that safety first cannot make us rich. If we want to get paid, we must always accept the necessary risks that follow. Isn’t

There is no such thing as maintaining the status quo. If you do not advance, you will retreat. It is that simple.

But you need to strengthen the belief that even though the starting point will affect the outcome, it does not determine it. Factors such as ability, attitude, character, ambition, method, experience, and luck play an extremely important role in life and the business world. Your life has just begun, but a battle of life is in front of you. I can deeply feel that you want to be the winner of this war, but you must know that everyone has the will to pursue victory, and only those who are determined and ready will win.

Any deceptive and unethical behavior cannot be sustained and cannot be a reliable corporate strategy. This only destroys the present situation, which will make the future increasingly difficult, and even impossible to gain another opportunity. We must pay attention to rules, because rules can create relationships, relationships will bring long-term businesses, good transactions will create more transactions, otherwise, we will end our good luck in advance.

John, every crucial competition is a battle that determines fate. “Retreat means surrender! Retreat will turn you into a slave!” The war is inevitable, let it come! In this world, competition will not stop for a moment, and we will have no time to rest. All we can do is bring a steel-like determination to face all kinds of challenges and competitions, and we must be in high spirits and happy, otherwise, it will not produce good results.

Whether it is to win wealth or to win in life, what good people think about in competition is not what they will lose, but what they should do to become a winner.

I hate it when my business fails and lose money, but what really concerns me is that I am afraid that in future business, I will be too cautious and become a coward. If that is the case, then my loss will be even greater.

I have seen people who cannot eat steak, but I have never seen anyone who is not greedy, especially in the business world.

of victory. A victory at any cost is not a victory. The ugly means of competition is disgusting. It is tantamount to painting the ground as a prison. You may never be able to surpass it. Even if you win a victory, you may lose the chance to win again.

To be a good businessman, you don’t need to be lightning fast, you don’t need to have very amazing memories, nor be amongst the best in school, the only key is to have a strong interest and enthusiasm for doing business. Interest and enthusiasm are important factors that determine success or failure.

Anything can happen in this world, but nothing can happen without doing anything (reap without sowing). Those who blindly follow the crowd and rules, I view them with disdain. Their brains are entangled with wrong thoughts, as they think that it is worth being complacent just by being able to withdraw themselves.

Successfully putting a good idea into practice is more valuable than thinking about a thousand good ideas at home.

They naively think that others will care about their affairs. In actual fact, other than yourself, others will not be very interested in them. People are only interested in their own things.

We must admit that with limited time, no one can complete everything. Smart people know that not all actions will produce good results, and only wise actions can bring meaningful results, so smart people will only learn from the work that has a positive effect in the future, and only concentrate on the work related that gives the greatest results. Hence, smart people always make the most valuable contribution and reap a lot of benefits.

Everyone has a time when they lose confidence and doubts their abilities, especially in adversity. But people who really understand the art of action can overcome it with strong perseverance. They will tell themselves that everyone has failures, and when they fail miserably, they will tell themselves no matter how much preparation they have made and how long they think before they do it, will inevitably make mistakes. However, passive people do not regard failure as an opportunity for learning and growth, as they are always admonishing themselves: perhaps I really can't do it, so that is why I have lost my eagerness to participate in future activities.

The initial idea is just the beginning of a series of moves, and then comes the second stage of preparation, planning and the third stage of action. There is never a shortage of people with ideas in our world, but there are very few people who know how to successfully implement a good idea, which is more valuable than thinking about a thousand of good ideas at home.

If you stay still, you will regress, but to move forward you must be willing to make decisions and take risks.

I only show my feelings when the situation is only beneficial to myself; I can let my opponent teach me, but I will never teach my opponent, no matter how much I know about it; think twice about everything, no matter how others may urge, do not act without making a full consideration; I have my own truth, only responsible for myself; be careful of those who ask me to treat them sincerely, they want to reap benefits from me.

However, you should be clear that knowledge is originally empty, and unless knowledge is put into action, nothing will happen. Moreover, the knowledge in the textbooks is almost all compiled by writers with theoretical knowledge, hence, it is difficult to use it to help you solve practical problems.

I think that a person who does not believe in himself is like a thief, because anyone who does not believe in himself and does not fully exert his abilities can be said to be a person who steals from himself; and in the process, because he is running low on creativity, he is tantamount to stealing from society. Since no one will deliberately steal from themselves, those who steal from themselves obviously did so unintentionally. However, this crime is still very serious, because the damage it causes is as great as deliberate theft. Only by quitting this kind of stealing from ourselves can we climb to the top. I hope that the young man who is eager to make a fortune can think about the teachings contained therein.

"Think about it, young man," I reminded Hansen, “If you have money, you can benefit your family and friends, give them a happy and comfortable life, and even benefitting the society, save the helpless poor people, then money will become the source of happiness.”

The greatest reward for our hard work is not what we get, but what we will become.

Income is just a by-product of your work. Doing what you should do, accomplishing what you should do well, the ideal salary will come. And more importantly, the highest reward for our hard work is not what we get, but what we will become.

I never forget to treat investors, bankers, customers, including competitors with sincerity. When discussing issues with them, I always insist on telling the truth, never making things up or speaking ambiguously, as I firmly believe that lies will always eventually surface. The rewards of being honest are enormous.

No matter how great a person's ambitions are, he must at least begin before he can reach the peak. Once started, it is not difficult to progress.

Failure is the beginning of the journey to a higher position. I can say that what I have achieved today was from climbing the spiral ladder of failure and then rose from there. I am a clever “loser”. I know to learn from failures, draw success factors from my experience thru failure, and use innovative methods that I have never thought of before to start a new career. So, I want to say that failure is a good thing as long as it does not become a habit.

Action and adequate preparation can actually be seen as two sides of an object. We need to live modestly. Too much preparation but no action at all will only waste time eventually. In other words, everything must be done with limits. We cannot fall into the trap of continuous deliberation and planning but we must recognize the reality: no matter how detailed the plan is, we still cannot accurately predict the final outcome.

People who lack action have a bad habit: they like to maintain the status quo and refuse to change. I think this is a bad habit that is deceptive and self-destructive because everything is changing, just as people will live and die, there is nothing constant.

To eat an elephant, you need to eat one bite at a time.

Habits are like ropes. We spin a rope every day, and finally it is too thick to break.

As we continue to reach the peak, we must remember: each step of the ladder allows us enough time to step on, and then set foot to a higher level, it is not for us to rest.

everyone takes care of their own interests first, whether or not it is good for others. The important thing is knowing how to protect yourself and prepare for war anytime, anywhere.

But I know that there is a kind of power hidden in human nature, one that grows in places lacking ability and will, that is jealousy. When you surpass them, they will hate you, accuse you using derogatory words, fabricate lies to slander you, and at the same time they will be very arrogant in front of you – in my opinion, that is not arrogance, it is just weakness. What's interesting is that when you are far inferior to them, and your life is unbearable, they will laugh at you again, for being incompetent, stupid, and even belittle you to the point that you have no human dignity. My son, this is human nature!

Although losing will make him unhappy, he believes that winning does not mean everything, and the practice of trying to win is the most important.

Occasionally, I have seen someone stand up and say: “I succeeded by my own efforts.” So far, I have not seen any man or woman, dare to stand up and say: “I am the one who made myself fail.” The losers have a set of excuses for themselves.

The outcome of things is often proportional to our enthusiasm. Enthusiasm can make things a hundred times or a thousand times better. Many people do not know what enthusiasm is. The so-called enthusiasm refers to “this is amazing!” – this level of enthusiasm and drive.

A person who does not use talent as an excuse, never underestimates his own talents, nor does he overestimate the talents of others; He who focuses on using his assets and discovering his outstanding talents; Knows what really matters is not how much talent he has, but how he uses his existing talents and how to make good use of his talent; He will often remind himself: My mentality is more important than my intelligence; He has a strong desire to establish a “I will win” attitude; He knows to use his intellect to actively create and find ways to succeed, not to prove that he will fail; He also knows that thinking is more valuable than memorizing. He needs to use his mind to create and develop new ideas, find better new ways of doing things, and remind himself at any time: Am I using my mind to create history? Or is it just recording the history created by others?

To manage and use money, you must be willing to manage the numbers yourself, and not just simply talk about management and strategy. God is shown in the details. If you neglect these details, or detach from the details, and authorize this “miscellaneous task” to others to do, it is equivalent to neglecting at least half of your important business responsibility. The details should never hinder enthusiasm. To be successful you need to remember two things: one is tactics and the other is strategy.

Managers, leaders or people who are good at driving others have always been magnanimous and they know the art of admiring others and praising others. This means they have to give emotionally. Leaders who give their deep feelings will eventually win and gain more respect from subordinates.

I can assert that in this world, apart from God, there is no one who does not pursue profit. From the moment you step into interpersonal relationships, a protracted life game for profit begins. In this game, everyone is your enemy, including yourself.

John, I am the focus of my life, I decide what suits me, so I do not care what those people say, my heart is still peaceful. To some people, I always seem to be a businessman with despicable motives. Even if I invest in charities that benefit the people, It will be regarded as a trick by them. They suspect that the motivation of my charities is to pursue self-interest, or a form of atoning my sins, but they do not see it as a selfless spirit of public welfare.

The people who can get ahead in this world are those who know how to find their ideal environment. If they cannot do it, they will create it themselves.