Let me start with something that sounds mystical — yet proves uncannily accurate.
If you want your wealth fortune and career to truly flourish, the single most important first step is absolutely not to roll up your sleeves and grind harder.
Instead, you must first — carefully and patiently — purge the sorrow ghosts, misfortune deities, and bad-luck stars from your circle.
As long as these people remain a permanent fixture in your life, no matter how much you achieve in this lifetime, you won’t enjoy a single bit of it.
One of the most profound realizations I’ve come to is this: as my age and net worth have gradually risen, my desire to consume has actually moved in the opposite direction — steadily downward.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy spending money. It’s that earning money gives me a far deeper sense of satisfaction.
Especially when you’re absolutely certain that a sum invested — a single concentrated effort — will become an enduring, ever-flowing stream of new wealth. In that moment, you suddenly realize: spending money on consumption is genuinely… pointless.
1 - The reason so many people repeat a life of grinding hardship their entire lives comes down to one thing they’ve never understood from beginning to end: big money isn’t something you “earn.” When your abilities reach a certain level and you use those abilities to sit at the right table, you receive your share of what’s on that table.
What I just said is essentially a direct revelation of the wealth-building secret behind 99.9999% of high-net-worth individuals on this earth — but I’ll bet that very few people who read it will truly understand it.
Last night, I, Master Chi, was invited to a dinner that brought me great joy — hosted by a group of young people who have achieved remarkable career success, most of them born between 1995 and 2000.
As the evening unfolded, I found myself deeply moved. If my memory serves me right, several of these young people were once the most ordinary white-collar workers — squeezing onto crowded buses each day, drawing modest salaries, just trying to survive in a big city.
Before you know it, year-end is approaching again. This time of year, my inbox always fills up with messages from readers asking how to get through the coming stretch.
I’ve taken the time to carefully analyze this — the people who struggle through the year-end and find themselves stuck deep in life’s quicksand — what fatal mistakes did they actually make to end up where they are?
What I found confirmed that old saying: “If you don’t court disaster, disaster won’t find you.” Nearly every case came down to one or more of the following reasons.
I don’t know how long this article will stay up. I only hope that in whatever time remains, you’ll read carefully, absorb what’s hidden between the lines, and hold onto it.
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Some say we’re in the pre-dawn light — not yet day, not yet night. Others say this is the closing chapter of an era, with the road ahead uncertain.
But from a practical standpoint, the real show — the true new phase — is only just beginning to unfold.
1 - I have always loved Greek mythology more than traditional Chinese mythology.
Chinese mythology tends to focus on truth, goodness, and beauty — the luminous side of human nature — leaving you with the sense that the world will ultimately be set right.
Greek mythology, by contrast, is far more candid. It tells you plainly that whether we are speaking of human nature or divine nature, the final color is always grey — a merging of white and black.
Student Question: I work a standard 9-to-5 job. My salary isn’t great — currently around 6,000–7,000 RMB a month — but I need at least 10,000+ just to break even. I’m interested in video editing, programming, and music. Do you have any reliable part-time recommendations that can help me earn extra income after work while also building my skills?
Master Chi’s Response:
Both programming and video editing can work as side hustles. To freelance in programming, you need a sufficiently high skill level. It requires genuine passion for the craft and a willingness to invest serious time. Income potential is high, but freelance work is inconsistent. Video editing has a faster learning curve with more available gigs, though the pay is relatively lower. Rideshare driving and delivery work are also reliable part-time options — the main advantage is flexibility.
★ - I know that lately you’ve been carrying this feeling of “nothing excites me anymore, and hope is nearly impossible to see.” But don’t be afraid — you’re not alone. Many people far more successful than you feel exactly the same way right now. In fact, their burdens are incomparably heavier than yours, because they also face mountains of debt and endless disputes. Haven’t you noticed? Many of the wealthy figures who once strutted so boldly have gone quiet and invisible. As the saying goes: the tallest tree catches the most wind. What they fear most is trouble coming from every direction.
I just walked out of an intimate private dinner in Gubei — the kind that comes together casually. Even though a few of the guests were well-connected figures from the south, the drinks did their work and everyone loosened up, speaking frankly.
Plenty was said over the clinking of glasses. But sobering up afterward, I realized — a lot of what I shared at that table belongs here too, with all of you.