Actually, I already know — without you even saying it — that anxiety has been following you around these past two years.
Can’t eat properly. Can’t sleep. Sometimes even breathing feels tight, your chest pressed down by one thing after another.
Suppressed. Worn out. Restless.
I get it, dear brothers and sisters. And the reason I get it isn’t because I have some rare depth of spiritual wisdom — it’s simply because I’ve lived through enough. Over time, the heart grows larger, and the life pattern (格局) expands along with it.
Tonight I have an important dinner, so a long piece isn’t in the cards.
But walking home, lost in thought, some ideas came to me — ideas I want to share with you. So let me just follow the rhythm of the highway traffic and talk freely.
My personal read on the next decade goes roughly like this:
First, social stratification will solidify further. For ordinary people trying to leap ahead on pure hard work alone, the difficulty will be immense. But this isn’t entirely bad news — it means the path upward will be clearly defined. Those who can read and apply the wisdom left by those who came before will leave the brute-force grinders in the dust.
Student Question
Hello Master, I joined the company as a fresh graduate with no experience, doing design work. With the hard work of my supervisor and mentor guiding me, I’ve gradually been able to handle more challenging designs, and my supervisor has been satisfied with the results. But there’s one big issue I’d like to ask you about.
I feel like I’ve never completed a single design entirely on my own. In over two years at this company, almost every task has had a mentor or experienced colleague involved or guiding me. I’ve tried to work independently, but when I can’t finish something, I get anxious. Some problems are technical — I rack my brain and still have no idea, and I’m afraid of going over deadline — so I end up asking colleagues for help. Over time, colleagues have started proactively stepping in to help whenever they see me struggling.
I believe every one of us needs to come to terms with a very important reality: we are currently in a critical climbing phase.
By “climbing phase,” I mean that after more than forty years of economic development, we are gradually growing toward becoming a genuine top-tier world power.
This creates an awkward situation, because both the number-one power we’re aiming to surpass and its constellation of allies will do everything in their power to trip us up and lay traps for us.
1 - For ordinary people, never pour all your energy into just doing work. If you spend every day with your head down grinding away, you’ll rarely have time to think and analyze. My hard-won conclusion: “low-tier repetitive labor” is exactly what keeps people perpetually trapped in the cycle of exhaustion and poverty.
2 - Some people may never understand this: in today’s world, simply being a grounded person who consistently shows up and does the work puts you ahead of 95% of the NPCs sleepwalking through life. In the real world, people who actually live with intention are rare — don’t be fooled by how busy everyone looks. The vast majority are simply getting by, muddling through. And surpassing them has never been particularly difficult.
Student Question
Reaching out to you as a long-time follower, hoping to consult Master privately on a real estate question here in Shanghai.
I’m a newcomer to Shanghai. My husband and I run a small foreign trade business together — about ten employees, focused on a niche product category for over a decade. The early years were tough, but in the last five years we’ve developed some major clients and things have steadily found their footing. Annual revenue is roughly 1 to 2 million RMB. Our child currently attends a well-known private primary school.
Let me begin with a point: “If a person carries poison in their heart, they are destined to ceaselessly deplete their own karmic merit (福报).”
Yesterday, beneath one of my articles, a young woman left a comment: “Thank you for your support, Master. In late 2023, my husband and I made up our minds. Within the limits of what we could afford, we traded up for a home of our own. It’s no mansion, but we love it! The children finally have room to run and play. I believe our lives will only keep getting better!”
Every reader who has come to me for a destiny framework (格局) reading has likely heard me say this: whatever state you’re in right now is fundamentally the result of every decision you’ve ever made.
What this means is simple: no matter where you stand today, there is always a reason to be found.
If you’ve achieved success and financial freedom, it’s because the version of you from years past made far-sighted decisions — and followed through on them.
Let me be honest with you from the start: getting this article published was genuinely not easy.
I had originally planned to release it in late December. But it got stuck in the content review process multiple times. On top of being a long piece, it went through several rounds of revisions before finally reaching a “clean” state today.
The thing is, there’s nothing particularly sensitive in the content itself. After much reflection, the only explanation I can offer is that the original writing was simply too sharp and pointed. After all, this is an article that could fairly be called an essential primer on the Chinese MBA.
These past few years have been genuinely profound.
They’ve taught us that the most important thing in this world isn’t creating wealth — and certainly not achieving fame and success.
As ordinary people, chasing opportunities and catching a lucky wave to earn a little money is, of course, wonderful.
But a happy, peaceful, warm, and harmonious life — that is the true happiness that transcends everything else.
In previous years, I would use this time to reflect on the year’s highlights and share plans for the year ahead.