You can also learn from Zeng Guofan's methods to fight against the midlife crisis in the workplace.

The midlife crisis in the workplace has attracted more and more attention.

The definition of midlife crisis cited by Wikipedia was put forward by Canadian psychoanalyst elliott jaques. "When people reach middle age, in order to prove themselves, they doubt their self-confidence and behave strangely."

In recent years, due to the requirement that some employers set the age of 35 as the upper threshold in recruitment and application, many people have fallen into the worry of middle-aged crisis in the workplace early.

The crisis of middle age in the workplace is not only modern, but also ancient.

Zeng Guofan, a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty, once encountered a middle-aged crisis in the workplace.

In June of the seventh year of Xianfeng (1857), Emperor Xianfeng deprived Zeng Guofan of his military power on the grounds that he approved mourning at home. At that time, Zeng Guofan was 47 years old and middle-aged. According to records, after Zeng Guofan took the order, he couldn't help but sigh: "My career is over!" .

This is undoubtedly a huge workplace crisis for Zeng Guofan in those days.

A year and a half later, in July of the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858), Zeng Guofan received orders from Xianfeng to take charge of Zhejiang military affairs. Xianfeng served as governor of the two rivers for ten years (1860) and began to be promoted in the second half of his life.

Aside from merits and demerits, taking history as a mirror, what method did Zeng Guofan use to successfully fight the midlife crisis in the workplace?

Zeng Guofan, like most people, first fell into deep pain and even quarreled with his brother and sister-in-law.

It is commendable that he meditated only after suffering.

He leafed through old letters and recalled his old life. For example, in the letter he wrote to his younger brother at that time, he admitted: "I was away from home all my life, and what I did was not very absurd, but I have said something of interest and I regret it so far!" .

It can be seen that he realized that many defects in his personality, temper, temperament and style were the causes of the crisis.

In addition to introspection, Zeng Guofan also wrote to all his friends at home, asking them to give more advice and help him sum up experiences and lessons.

For example, at the end of the seventh year of Xianfeng (1857), Zeng Guofan's friend Luo Ruhuai pointed out in his letter that in the process of raising the salary, he monopolized the power and kicked off the official system, which violated the system and caused dissatisfaction.

Zeng Guofan realized his advantages and disadvantages more and more comprehensively and clearly by reading letters from friends, recalling the past and analyzing himself.

On the basis of a comprehensive understanding of himself, Zeng Guofan went further, repositioned himself and set his own improvement goals.

Xianfeng eight years (1858) in April, Zeng Guofan wrote such a letter:

He not only pointed out his shortcomings, but also attached too much importance to getting a good reputation, liked to criticize and talk about others openly, and was too slow to treat people from beginning to end.

Crucially, he set the goal of improvement:

"Do things calmly, think more about others, and think from the perspective of others;

Praise the merits of others;

Be cautious from beginning to end;

Always treat people and things with sincerity and respect. "

After living in the countryside for more than a year, Zeng Guofan's thinking cognition has changed from "introspection" to "comprehensive self-knowledge" and then to "repositioning".

More importantly, in his later career, he persistently put cognitive changes into action.

In the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858), Xianfeng ordered Zeng Guofan to handle military affairs in Zhejiang. He was worried that Zeng Guofan would not be angry.

Zeng Guofan not only came out of the mountain immediately, but also changed a lot in dealing with people.

He not only encouraged himself: "since the summer of eight years, I have been complacent about seeing my teacher again and correcting the shortcomings of this kind of polite thing."

Hu Linyi, his best friend, also said that he was "more and more mature and had no spirit of returning to the square".

Since ancient times, many people will face a bottleneck and anxiety after working for many years.

At that time, Zeng Guofan chose to face up to and attach importance to his own challenges and treat his own problems objectively. He started from introspection, fully understood himself, repositioned himself, and finally insisted on self-discipline and rejuvenated.

I hope you and I can also get nourishment from his workplace experience and start a new journey of self-discovery and self-growth.