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.
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.
Let me start with some everyday thoughts. These days, Mr. Wong Kar-wai’s Blossoms Shanghai has been enormously popular. The costume design, set dressing, solid script, and brilliant performances from the cast have all been exceptional.
But from a personal standpoint, Blossoms Shanghai is ultimately a supreme work of art.
And precisely because it is art, it has its own limits — there are things that are difficult to articulate and inconvenient to portray on screen.
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.
Student Question:
I feel like I’m drowning in information overload every day. Friends keep introducing projects to me — Xinjiang salmon, nutrition, jade, live streaming, plus endless things I come across online. Every time I look into one, I find I could get up to speed on the knowledge fairly quickly, but building the channels takes a long time. I want to try one as a side business, but I was already feeling lost to begin with, and taking in all this information just pulls me in more directions.
These past couple of days, as the year winds down, something rather remarkable has been happening.
The comment section of my public channel — and the private messages on my knowledge platform — have been flooded with dozens, sometimes hundreds of messages every single day. And nearly every one of them is asking the same question: Master, do you think 2024 will be better?
My position on this has always been clear.
1 — After much thought, I’ve decided to write this short piece — a little mental massage, if you will.
After all, as adults, you can’t endlessly pour your heart out to family all day, and doing it with friends doesn’t quite feel right either.
So naturally, things get bottled up inside.
Since that’s the case, let me be the one to offer a few words of genuine comfort.
Likewise, I — Master Chi — hope you’ll think of me as one of your own. If something is weighing on you, feel free to share it in the comments.
Student Question: Is Yiwu still worth pursuing for ordinary people — whether for employment, starting a business, or building a career? If someone wants to start a light-asset business there, what industries besides e-commerce are accessible to regular people?
Master Chi’s Response:
Let me start with the conclusion: Yiwu is still worth it for employment, entrepreneurship, and career development. That said, given the economic uncertainties of the past two years, if you currently have a job you reasonably enjoy and that fits your situation well, my advice is to keep working for now — entrepreneurship simply carries more unpredictable variables.