Tonight’s article is going to hit hard — every word is carefully chosen, and every word is soaked in the blood and sweat of hard-fought experience.
Because I, Master Chi, have never been one for comforting platitudes. I won’t tell you “just be a good person and the world will be kind to you.” That’s a lie designed to keep you docile.
What I want is for you to read my articles and come away with a stronger will and a tougher mind — and to use that to build a life that actually gets more comfortable, and a skill set that actually gets more powerful.
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.
Wake up. Run through everything that must get done that day, then get to work on it promptly.
After that, eat the simplest of meals — a bowl of plain white rice, a plate of lean meat, some vegetables — and drink the clearest, plainest boiled water.
Then rest briefly. Browse something that genuinely interests you. And if you can pick up a long-neglected book and read it slowly, all the better.
Simply lecturing about “human nature” carries no real weight of warning. Stories, on the other hand, reach somewhere deeper — so let me tell you a few.
Jealousy
There was a young woman named Xiaohua. After graduation, she chose to stay in her hometown rather than leave, living with her parents and making handcrafted goods. Her income wasn’t high, but she brought in five or six thousand a month — more than enough for a comfortable life back home.
Today, let’s talk about something interesting.
When exactly do you truly feel the benefits that money brings you?
The answer: when you need to find quiet within yourself — and then channel that stillness into thinking, deciding, considering, and deliberating — you’ll suddenly realize that money is the barrier standing between you and the noise of the world.
Take this example: if you’re a young person living in a shared apartment, squeezing onto the subway or a packed bus for your daily commute, you’ll find it’s genuinely hard to quiet your mind.
This article went through several rounds of editing before it could finally be published.
Let me put it plainly: looking at the ongoing friction between North and South Korea, the conflicts in the Middle East, the polar bear’s (Russia’s) war, and the bald eagle’s (America’s) involvement in each of these flashpoints — it’s not hard to see that the world has already, long before now, fallen into comprehensive low-intensity warfare on all fronts.
The night runs deep, yet the mind won’t settle — so let’s talk a little more.
When you’re facing life’s many hardships, feeling lost and without direction is completely normal. After all, no one ever taught you how to handle these moments. So don’t be too hard on yourself. Don’t punish yourself with nights of sleeplessness and anxiety.
The sun always rises. Even the finest fortune eventually runs its course — and equally, even the deepest valleys are slowly climbed out of.
Shallow theory is worthless. What has value is the blood-written knowledge forged through real combat.
The following points — if you can truly grasp even one of them, you’ll surpass so-called “professionals” with decades of experience. But if you can’t grasp a single one, then honestly, you have no business sitting at this table.
1 — On the Herd
What truly ignites the herd’s desire isn’t winning. Win right away, and they chalk it up to luck — they’ll actually take their profits and walk.
Let me get straight to the point. There’s a question I’ve been wanting to ask certain readers for a long time — one that cuts right to the bone: You’re at this age already. Have you ever seriously asked yourself why, despite being reasonably hardworking and diligent, you keep spinning your wheels without results?
I’m not asking this to mock or belittle you. I want to use this quiet evening at the tail end of the holiday to speak plainly about something that matters.
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.