Zong Qinghou is the richest man in China. He owns the Hangzhou Wahaha Group, the largest beverage producer in China, lives on around $20 per day, and wears inexpensive clothes.
But the thing that impresses me most about Mr. Qinghou is his success at living with simplicity (the thing I seem to struggle with the most).
He says: “Focusing on doing one thing and doing it properly is the simplest but also the most difficult thing.”
And that is something I completely agree with.
Last night I spent 25 minutes reviewing the things I need to do each day during the week. You see, I’ve felt lately that I’m not being very effective. That I have so much I need to do that I can’t seem to focus on any of it – so I end up doing very little. Its easy for me to add to my list of “things to do”, but difficult to take away from it.
Just to give you an idea of what I mean, here are a few things I would like to do every day:
- Exercise
- Write 500 words
- Gospel study
- Study Italian
- Freelance or work on personal projects
And that list is after lots and lots of thought and elimination to whittle my list down from 15-20 things to 4-5 things. Then there are the things that I have to do each day, like:
- Shower and get ready
- Eat breakfast
- Eat dinner
- Work at Vivocha
So planning all of those things each day makes it quite challenging to stay on schedule. With so many things to do, I feel like I need to constantly refer to a daily schedule to keep everything in order. And then to add too it, many more new things pop up each day. Many new choices which I feel must be evaluated and weighed and then decided on. Mr. Quinghou, on the other hand, “minimizes his distractions by limiting his choices” – – – something I wish I could do better.
I’d like to follow Mr. Quinghou around for a day or two and watch his daily routine during the week and then also see his routine on weekends. I wonder if his routine really is that simple.
But when I think of simplifying my life and my daily routine, I can’t help but think about all the things I won’t be doing. How can I not exercise each day? I need to include my gospel study. I’m in Italy and its always been a goal of mine to learn Italian, so I can’t exclude that. And even though I’ve got a job at Vivocha, I’d really like to work on personal project and want to make some money on the side so I need to keep freelancing and working on personal projects. Then there is the 500 word per day which is a great avenue of expression and progress for me.
All in all, this whole topic is something I really have to work on.
Article on Mr. Quinghou: Zong Qinghou: China’s Richest Man Eats With His Workers and Lives on $20 a Day
Two other interesting articles on this topic: 5 Steps Entrepreneurs Should Take To Get More Done; 8 Quotes From 8 Entrepreneurs That Will Get You On Track To Success