For the next three days, Master Chi will be taking a short family trip, so updates will come a little less frequently. We’ll pick up our conversations again after I’m back on the 5th.
But before I go, I want to share a few simple thoughts with you. I know clearly that lately your spirits haven’t been high — there’s a persistent sense of frustration, a feeling like you can’t quite get any traction.
Recently, quite a few of you have been quietly venting to me in the comments.
You feel like no matter how hard you work in the current environment, there’s nothing to show for it. After enough time like this, even your spirit and drive start to wither.
That all-in state you once had — the one where you’d give everything to get something done right — feels like a distant memory.
A reader asked me today: Master Chi, in your view, what level of achievement does a person need to reach on this land to be considered someone who has truly “made it”?
I thought about it, and here’s the answer I gave. Taking everything into account, this is what I’d call the “standard comfortable configuration” for an ordinary person.
Use it as your own benchmark — reaching it is good, surpassing it is even better.
1 — Thanks to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and continued turmoil across the Middle East, the Eagle finds itself unable to concentrate all its force toward any single target — even if it wanted to single us out.
Our resolute defense in recent months, combined with the Eagle’s more subdued posture, confirms they no longer have the stomach to “go all-in just to drag down the Eastern Giant.”
As long as we continue on the path of tao guang yang hui (keeping a low profile while building strength), maintaining a steady, measured pace of development over the next five to ten years — the Eagle will ultimately lose every last bit of leverage it has over us.
Lately I’ve been truly overwhelmed with busyness — so much so that I haven’t had the chance to sit down with you and properly share the deeper, more profound content.
It’s unavoidable. Every day brings a flood of business dealings, investment matters, and networking affairs that need to be coordinated and managed. By the time I’m through, there’s only half an hour — maybe forty minutes — left in the day. And so I can only write lighter, more casual pieces.
Let these words from Master Chi stay with you: in this life, you must make every effort to understand and grasp the truly significant affairs of the nation and the great currents of history.
Only then will you gradually come to understand which direction your small boat should be sailing.
When you can see clearly the affairs of the nation, petty concerns will no longer keep you awake at night;
Recently, many of you have been asking me: what does the big picture look like going forward? And what should we be doing?
I’ve shared a lot of investment advice before, and the core takeaway is this: don’t misjudge what’s coming — prepare conservatively.
Cut unnecessary expenses wherever you can, and keep enough liquid capital on hand that you have flexibility. But once your savings reach a reasonably safe level and you can count on steady income, you can allocate around 30% of your monthly earnings toward smart positioning.
Let me share a small personal secret with you. Can you guess when Master Chi feels most at ease each day?
Here’s the answer.
Without question, it’s those forty minutes when my driver carries me home along Shanghai’s glittering elevated highway after a full day of engagements.
In that stretch of time, I can sit back in complete comfort — watching the city lights scroll past the window while quietly, deeply reviewing every detail of the day.
Let me be upfront: in today’s article, Master Chi has no interest in grandstanding about global trends — because there are already far too many armchair analysts out there who can talk about world affairs with great eloquence.
But they completely fail to address the two most important questions: First, what should ordinary people like us actually prepare for? Second, how can we each make even a small but meaningful contribution to our country and society?
Smart people will surely sense the weight behind what Master Chi is saying here.
1 — This tariff war has laid bare just how wide the gap is between Biden and Trump as leaders.
During his term, almost every move Biden made was oriented toward maintaining the Eagle’s global credibility and dominance.
Trump’s tariff war, even if it yields hundreds of billions in short-term gains, does so at the cost of the Eagle’s credibility and its standing in the world.