A lot of you have been wondering lately whether I’ve stopped posting.
Not at all. I’ve simply been resting — barely writing, not seeing any consultation clients. Aside from answering a few questions on the community about life, investing, and decisions, I’ve spent the rest of the time in quiet recovery.
There are many reasons for this. After years of nonstop work, my body and mind simply wanted to pause. And there were enough failures and shortcomings along the way that I wanted to take this moment to reflect. The times themselves have hit a small lull, so I’ve finally settled my heart and chosen to “stop.”
This idea of “stopping” (止) — it’s a state I only truly understood after leaving behind the years of youth. It’s not a complete halt. It’s more like temporarily stepping off the path to look back, take stock, and reflect on the life you’ve lived so far. Only then can you walk forward again with a better stride and a steadier heart.
Don’t ever mistake this for meaninglessness. Especially for those of you who pour enormous mental energy into your careers — “stopping” is one of the most vital states a life can enter.
When you’re running at full speed, you have no time to look around. But life has never been a straight road where sheer speed equals success. Along the way, there are bends, winding detours, rough and rugged stretches.
Those with natural gifts adapt to all of it. Those with noble benefactors (Gui Ren) always have someone wiser pointing them in the right direction. But for the rest of us, the best approach is this: run a while, then stop. Think. Look around. Maybe adjust your posture, maybe fine-tune your direction. In the end, you’ll cover more ground — and cover it more wisely — than those who simply sprint until they collapse.
This is why, when we look closely at the lives of genuinely successful people, we always notice something curious: at certain stages, marked in years, they took time to step back and regroup. The reason is simple. Only through the reflection and reckoning of those rest periods can true insight emerge.
Only in stillness can you filter out the noise. Only in stopping can a deeper forward motion be born.
At this point I feel like I’ve already said too much — it’s a bit like running into an old friend after a long time apart, promising them a small gift, and then rambling on the moment you see them.
Ha. Bad habits of a cantankerous old man. I really should work on that.
So now, let me get to the thoughts and suggestions I actually wanted to share with you.
1. The coming period will be a thorough reshuffling and adjustment cycle.
Many people will feel anxious and lost. There’s really no need. Just keep your head down and keep being yourself.
Maintain your good reading habits and sleep routines. Spend more time with the people in your life who are genuinely valuable and who are ahead of you. When the broader environment slowly warms again, you won’t miss the opportunities that come with it.
These days, many of my friends — especially those in business and investing — have simply chosen to give themselves a holiday. Is there anything that absolutely must be done right now? Not really. If near-term opportunities are scarce, don’t exhaust yourself chasing the scraps. You’ll wear yourself down without much to show for it. And then when the spring wind finally returns, you’ll be too broken to enjoy it. That would be a real shame.
Let me say a few words about the concept of “mental energy” (心力). Unlike physical fatigue, it isn’t something you can easily feel depleting. It is your confidence in something — your hunger for it. Many people fail to become long-distance runners in their chosen field because they entered during its worst moment. They encountered the worst opportunities, the harshest setbacks, the wrong people. Naturally, they lost heart and gave up.
This is precisely why — when fortune is against you — the wisest move is to step back and replenish.
2. Face the setbacks and failures that may come with a calm mind.
I have some standing to speak on this one. Looking back over the past few years, I’ve accomplished a fair amount — but I’ve also made plenty of mistakes and outright failures. It would be dishonest to say there’s no regret, no self-reproach. Some investments in particular sit in my chest like a knot, full of guilt.
And I’d guess, if you’re reading this right now, you have your own troubles too.
Master Chi isn’t very good at offering comfort. But I want you to understand this: except for matters of life and death, nearly every obstacle in life — three years on — becomes a laughing story not worth mentioning. Think back on the “major crises” of your own past. Can any of them still make your heart ripple today? Probably not.
So approach whatever setbacks the future may bring with an easy heart. It’s fine, really — at least there will be an outcome. And even a failure gives you something: reflection, conclusion, and a kind of release that frees you to go focus on something else.
When you think carefully about it, most of life’s problems work this way. The most draining part is always the middle — the process — with its dread and restlessness and fear and anxiety. When it actually ends, even badly, you’ll find yourself thinking: that’s all it was.
Given that, you might as well always prepare for the worst ahead of time. It gives you the mental clarity to face whatever comes, and the energy to keep adjusting and correcting course. Paradoxically, this makes success far more likely.
3. Cultivate good connections — this matters enormously.
People are social creatures. This means the heights you’ll eventually reach are roughly the average of those around you. Who you spend your time with is everything.
Most people approach this with a purely interest-driven logic: stick close to the wealthy. That’s not wrong, of course. But it’s incomplete.
Spend time with friends who may not be very successful yet, but who are upright and decent in character. You’ll absorb a lot of healthy energy from them.
Spend time with friends who are grinding away, even if they haven’t yet broken through. You’ll catch their drive.
And spend time with elders who have faded, who’ve known defeat, who’ve withdrawn from the arena — even if they can no longer offer you any material help. These are often the ones who will give you the most complete and most honest summaries of a life lived. That kind of wisdom is more precious than gold or jade. It’s what eventually gives you the capacity to “hold great endeavors.”
4. Give yourself a slap now and then. You and I are students for life.
One of the main reasons I paused recently was a feeling that something had gone “off” in me. That off-ness came from self-confidence tipping into complacency, and from the validation and respect of others.
That’s just how it goes. The moment you achieve even a little, everyone around you smiles and treats you graciously. And so you start to feel pretty good about yourself — at worst, you’re someone running at an 80-point level at all times.
But that’s not how it actually is. After sitting with myself these past months, I’ve come to see that my state has been visibly declining. My judgment and understanding on many things have become skewed because of that self-satisfaction.
In the eyes of the outside world, my “position” may be climbing. But on close reflection, I can see that my inner “landscape” has been sinking.
So we should all hold up a mirror more often. Ask yourself: am I enough? Am I on track? That mirror might be the one on your dresser. It might be the thinking you do through books. It might be the feedback you get from friends and from life’s events.
5. Get clear on what you actually want. This one is particularly hard.
It requires us to distinguish between the surface appearance of things and their true nature.
In recent years, more and more people have grown increasingly anxious — about material things, about wealth, about school districts, titles, investments, real estate. Every small fluctuation sends them into a panic. It’s exhausting.
But think about it carefully: none of these things are the “root.”
What is the root? Life itself. A good, free, at-ease way of living — that is what we should treasure and be most satisfied by in this life.
Just a few days ago, sitting by the Bund having coffee, I overheard two young white-collar workers nearby. One was under enormous pressure — just daily parking near work costs sixty or seventy yuan, he’d bought a premium apartment at peak prices two years ago, and despite a seven-figure annual income he could hardly breathe. The other had just gotten his child into an international private school after clearing a rigorous admissions process — tuition and expenses running close to a hundred thousand a semester — and was full of worry and unease.
Ambition and goals are admirable, genuinely. But driving yourself too hard loses its meaning entirely.
This, actually, is the insight that comes most clearly to those who have tasted great success and great wealth. When things are going well — give yourself and the people around you a relatively comfortable life. When things are rough — trim back, don’t perform prosperity for appearances’ sake, and simply enjoy the small pleasures. It’s still a good life.
Cycling under summer shade is honestly more pleasant than sitting in a car stuck in traffic. A clean, warm little home — nothing luxurious — brings far more peace of mind than a mansion bought under the weight of crushing debt.
What you’re really after is ease, contentment, and happiness — isn’t it?
I’m lucky to have many friends in business around me. Plenty of them have touched the peak. Now, as their major life cycles (decade luck) wind down and the wealth and glory have settled back into the earth, they’ve each found a kind of freedom. Spending time with family, enjoying simple pleasures. Some can’t even afford private school fees anymore, sold every luxury car, and now ride an electric scooter every day — happily grocery shopping, picking up grandchildren.
That’s just how life is. When you don’t have something, you rush to get it. When you have it, you rush to hold on to it. That’s understandable. But if those things end up hollowing you out at the core — what exactly are you holding on to?
Instead, loosen your grip a little. Leave yourself some room. Buy the things you can comfortably afford. That’s the best way. After all, all your hard work — wasn’t it always meant to make your life happy and fulfilling?
Why squeeze yourself so tightly and work against yourself?
People should live for joy. Not labor for the sake of living.
Ha. After such a long silence, I’ve gone and rambled on again — I hope you’ll forgive me.
The articles will keep coming. Just more slowly, more freely, more at my own pace.
Until then — long summer days ahead. We’ll meet again.