The boldness of your perspective on life is truly critical to everything you’ll ever achieve. Don’t dismiss this as empty inspiration — because when you get down to it, most people remain mediocre and directionless, not because they don’t know what the optimal next move is, but because they’re still waiting. Waiting for opportunities, waiting for connections, waiting for the right time, waiting… until they die.
If you don’t grasp this deeply enough, then I’m sorry — getting flogged like an old donkey on a millstone until you drop dead is the fate awaiting the vast majority of people.
Take the example I’ve mentioned before about programmer career development. For a programmer, the real breakthrough — the optimal solution — is absolutely not hoping that tomorrow’s version of yourself will be a better coder with greater output than today.
Because that’s solving the problem backwards.
Simply put: no matter how impressive your coding and output become, the most likely outcome is that your superiors will see you as a “super donkey” — and naturally, they’ll pin you down at the grassroots level and work you to the bone. That way, your sweat and blood fattens their achievement ledger. As for recommending or promoting you? That’s almost out of the question — unless they themselves are rising fast enough to want to pull you into their inner circle.
Remember this: no one in this world has your interests at heart. People only want to take advantage of you.
By the same logic, endlessly deepening your professional knowledge — with rare exceptions — doesn’t do much to turn the tide either. The reasoning is identical: “You’re capable and willing — so keep your head down and grind.”
This logic applies to every industry: people who only know how to grind and hustle are the ones with the least future. The only ending waiting for them is the day they suddenly wake up, realize their efforts have been meaningless, and give up entirely — at which point they start playing the game cynically, until around age 35, when they get replaced by a new “super donkey” because their output has declined.
In reality, this situation is solvable for anyone. The prerequisite is that you must understand the “core expectation” others hold for you in your field. Put plainly: you just need to become an ever-stronger creator of output. You don’t have to be the one producing it yourself — your team just needs to deliver.
So how do you get there? Simple. If your current platform lacks management openings for now, take the roundabout route — go join a startup run by someone in your circle and take a mid-level leadership role to add polish to your résumé. Then, in that leadership position, learn how to mobilize — and yes, squeeze — the output of younger employees, while keeping the inevitable side effects to a minimum.
Building on that foundation, spend some time there, then return to a major company at your equivalent level and slide naturally into a management role. Because those who never dared step outside their bubble never gained independent command experience — you’ll be more competitive than them by default.
Once you’re in a management position, gradually sharpen yourself — and yes, shed the fuzzy, idealistic notions about human nature. Learn to push your “decision-making machine” to its limits, and the road ahead becomes much smoother.
During this process, you’ll need to discard many principles you once held dear — things like believing in being kind to others or working with joy. These ideologies have no place here, because corporate profit is built on blood and sweat. The sooner you accept this as the “core rule of the game,” the sooner you’ll be reborn — able to make hard calls and play your cards right.
Otherwise, you’ll eventually learn what the word “naïve” really means.
You’ll find, for example, that many people who stumble into an opportunity still get kicked out — precisely because they held back when dealing with old colleagues, leaving room for sentiment. And the result of that? “Hey man — for old times’ sake, don’t push so hard. Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.” Then the wolf pack starts showing its sheep side, and because you tolerated it, that sheep mentality spreads freely — until you’re forced to come down hard and collect everyone’s bones. A great upheaval is the most damaging thing of all, and your superiors won’t give you a second chance. Either you perform or you’re out — there are plenty of others waiting to crack the whip.
So why is Master Chi using this kind of example in today’s article? Because I want you to understand clearly: in the early stages of life, audacity is absolutely necessary — so necessary that without it, don’t expect to turn your fortune around in this lifetime.
What is audacity? It’s this: everyone else is too afraid to do something — they think it’s dirty or beneath them — and you do it anyway. You say you’ll do it, and you do.
Remember: this world does not crown heroes by their cleanliness. A lamb and a rabbit dressed in spotless white are still a lamb and a rabbit.
Look at most losers: they love comfort, they coast at work, their knees go weak when actual effort is required — they don’t have that burning, all-in drive. But sit them down with a video game or mahjong, and you’ll see a completely different person — eighteen hours straight without a break, no problem.
Audacity is also the natural companion of judgment. Because with many things, you only dare to think bigger once you dare to act. With the courage to execute, you naturally develop more moves and methods than others.
People always think life’s hardest problems can be solved through cleverness — through technique, strategy, and positioning. What they don’t realize is that the most critical thing is often knowing when to let go and what to abandon. Only then can you play life like mahjong — constantly discarding the bad tiles, constantly drawing better ones, until you win.
Abandoning and failing are the very foundation of miracles.
As the old saying goes, “A scholar’s rebellion takes ten years to go nowhere” — that’s exactly the point. In their minds, steady, methodical progress is the righteous path. But the world simply doesn’t work that way. And yet our entire education system is designed to mass-produce scholar-type super donkeys.
So the people who spend all day crying out for a better future are only qualified to cry out. Come tomorrow, they’ll quietly accept the 996 grind and the whip cracking above them.
Why? Because no matter how loudly a donkey brays, it will never — not until its dying breath — consider breaking free from the millstone it’s chained to.
On this point, there’s another question worth raising: go observe the difference in Chi field (personal aura) between those who are running businesses, building startups, and those who’ve spent their entire careers inside a company. Then ask yourself honestly — whose future does it belong to?
Let Master Chi answer that for you: the answer absolutely belongs to the former — even though the vast majority of them are heading toward inevitable failure. Because their positions have already determined their life pattern: constantly wrestling in the mud of war, letting go and seizing as their daily rhythm.
In other words, they are perpetually forced to make choices and improve. Time doesn’t wait, and the pressure of a business doesn’t dissolve just because you bury your head and fall asleep.
The result: whoever can cut most directly to the core — doing the things outsiders see as “having no bottom line” — is the one most likely to survive.
In today’s article, Master Chi has intentionally left a great deal unsaid. I know you’ll want to ask:
So what should I do? Don’t ask Master Chi — you already know the answer. You’re just afraid to act.
So how do I decide what to give up? Don’t ask Master Chi — you already know it in your heart. You just want it all.
So when should I start? Don’t ask Master Chi — you know that every moment holds an opening. You just don’t have the courage.
Here’s your assignment to close out this article: if you’re going to leave a comment, use your own words to describe the most actionable “path upward” in your own logic.