A few days ago I wrote a short piece with a simple message: don’t put excessive pressure on yourself when the broader environment is against you, and don’t force yourself to chase money at all costs — only to end up drowning in anxiety.
Some brothers and sisters pushed back on this. They feel that human will can overcome anything — that with enough determination you can break through any era’s constraints, that there’s always a way.
Well, Master Chi can only say this gently: having that mindset isn’t entirely wrong. After all, who can fault you for your ambition? That’s a good thing.
But here’s what you need to understand — we are all, at our core, “sailors aboard a sailboat in the middle of the open ocean.”
What truly determines how far we can sail? Frankly, our individual effort has very limited power over that.
No matter how strong or experienced you are, you still have to read the sea.
If the ocean is clear and the wind blows at your back, then even without doing much — just unfurl the sails — you’ll cover a thousand miles in a single day.
But if the ocean turns rough and a storm is brewing, forget about moving forward. Just keeping the boat steady, keeping yourself safe — that alone is already something to be proud of.
The thing I’ve been telling the brothers and sisters around me lately is this: when you’re young and don’t yet know better, you always believe you can build something great through sheer effort alone.
When you mature, you realize the truth — that any past success was really the result of stumbling, by luck and circumstance, into the right momentum (势), and then riding that wave all the way to victory.
So the smarter you are, the more awakened you become, the more deeply you understand this principle: charge when it’s time to charge, hold when it’s time to hold.
This is not surrender. This is not giving up. This is strategic defense in the game of life.
Its purpose is to preserve your strength and your clarity — so that when the next favorable wind arrives, you’re in the best possible shape to seize it.
As for exactly what you should do? Yesterday’s article laid it out clearly. You should go read it carefully.