Actions speak louder than words.

Zi Gong asked the gentleman. Confucius said, "Speak first, then do it."

Zi Gong asked what a gentleman was. Confucius said, "Do what you want to say first, and then say it."

Zi Gong is the richest student around Confucius, and he worships Confucius very much. Zi Gong asked Confucius what a gentleman was, because the teacher always mentioned "a gentleman", and Zi Gong wanted to know what a gentleman's performance was.

A gentleman is not easy to define. There is only a vague boundary between a gentleman and a villain. In fact, a gentleman and a villain are not completely different people. Gentleman and villain are two states of life. Everyone has two different States in the human body, one is a villain and the other is a gentleman. With the continuous growth of life, we should reduce the composition of villains and increase the composition of gentlemen.

Children's behavior basically belongs to the performance of villains. "Little people join the party instead of the group", children like to abuse power for personal gain, and they like to become brothers with boys and call them brothers. "Little people are inconsiderate", and children like to form gangs and fight with each other, such as "I don't play with you" and "we don't play with you"; "The villain metaphor is beneficial", and children seduce each other, "I will give you an eraser (or candy) and you do your homework" ... Because I am a child, I feel very cute, but these are actually "villains" in our bodies, which is an uncorrected state.

Gentleman and villain are two states in our bodies. Whoever we feed can influence our behavior. We don't have to condemn others as villains or flaunt ourselves as gentlemen. What we have to do is to suppress the elements of villains in our bodies and feed more gentlemen.

How to become a gentleman, Confucius replied, "Speak first, then follow", that is, actions speak louder than words, do things well, and then tell others slowly; After you say it, you must continue to do it and realize what you said.

At that time, Zigong was a businessman, and he was good at talking. On some occasions, he may be tempted to speak freely and even talk big. Confucius knew that this was no good, and it was not "sensitive to things, cautious about words", so Confucius reminded Zigong to "speak before you act" and hoped that he would be more cautious in language.

Due to different times, our life is getting faster and faster, and there are more and more resources. Sometimes we may need to talk about our dreams first, get more resources and build a vision for the team. However, when we talk about our dreams, we should be "loyal, faithful in our words and fruitful in our actions". Say what you think, but speak in righteousness, be sure in your heart, and keep your word.

Feeling: each of us has elements of gentleman and villain in our bodies. We should constantly cultivate ourselves, restrain the villains in ourselves and be an open gentleman. When we speak, we should be "faithful and close to righteousness, and what we say will be reversed". We should say what we can, and then we should keep our promise. Don't talk big that you can't do.