The concept of social circles resonates deeply with me personally.
Because once you’ve achieved even a modest level of success in society, you begin to realize that the people in wealthy circles aren’t necessarily smarter or more capable than you. Their IQ isn’t that much higher than yours.
The single difference is that they’ve been immersed in better circles, exposed to higher-quality ideas and values — so they consistently make wiser, more outstanding choices on every major life decision.
The more of these choices they make, the wider the gap between you grows over time.
Take this example: say you’re a young white-collar worker grinding away alone in a major city. Unless you’re naturally gifted at networking, or you’re blessed with strong noble benefactor (Gui Ren) stars and supporting stars in your destiny chart…
…your only social circle is your coworkers, your old classmates and friends, and people you’ve met through various apps.
And you already know what that group looks like — pretty much everyone is at the same level as you, scraping by without much of a financial foundation.
What do you talk about? What can you talk about?
Mostly complaining about your boss, venting about management, and drifting through conversations that lead nowhere. Hollow socializing at its finest.
But what if you were given the chance to befriend a group of people worth over 30 million yuan — or even just to be the small fish in their pond?
Sure, a 30-million-yuan net worth is still only modest middle class. But even at that level, you’ll notice a shift — the conversations become surprisingly practical. People start talking seriously about getting ahead.
Things like: which properties make for smarter investments. Who in the business world has useful resources worth pursuing. The small, underrated wisdom that makes marriages and lives actually work.
It still sounds like scattered, casual conversation on the surface. But underneath every topic, these people are bringing their own thinking, their own conclusions, their own judgments.
For an ordinary person, all you have to do is take their perspective as a starting point and think one level deeper — and suddenly, nearly every major life decision you make becomes sound. You stop making big mistakes.
That is what the power of your circle actually means.
Even if the circle itself brings you no direct material benefit or opportunity, simply being immersed in it will quietly raise the quality of your thinking and intuition.
From another, more practical angle: every social circle is like a ship.
Many opportunities can only be seized when you’re already on that ship — and often, you can only know those opportunities exist because you’re on it.
Look at most people who’ve built real wealth. Almost none of them did it alone, buried in solitary hard work, stumbling into fortune out of nowhere.
What actually happened was: a close friend or peer demonstrated a path to success firsthand. Then that person brought others along — and they all got there together.
This is why I’ve never stopped urging you: stop wasting your time in circles that feel comfortable and safe but are full of people just like you — ordinary, going nowhere.
Useless. Meaningless. No future in it.
These are the people who call you brother and sister when times are good — and then scatter the moment something real happens. Or quietly make their money behind your back and come back just to show off.
If you treat your time and emotional energy as capital, and your social circles as investment opportunities, then naturally the higher the tier, the more worth pursuing — even if it means working hard just to get a foot in the door.
Think of the sacred lamp before the Buddha. Sustained by the endless chanting and devotion of the monks in the great hall, it has accumulated a power far beyond that of ordinary deities.
That, too, is the force of the circle you inhabit.
Now, back to why I feel so personally connected to this topic.
The reason is simple: from the time I was young, I’ve been deeply grateful that my family gave me access to high-quality networks and connections.
These weren’t the headline-grabbing titans you’d find on any rich list — but across various fields throughout the Yangtze River Delta, they were respected veterans and accomplished figures in their own right.
So from a very early age, I was able to see through many of life’s puzzles with unusual clarity.
I won’t pretend otherwise — this was entirely a matter of luck from being born into the right family. I know I was fortunate. It wasn’t because I was especially smart.
For example: why did I say at the start of this year that I’d be stepping back from the “big casino” and taking it easy?
Not because I’m clever — but because the people who originally set the rules of that game once walked me through the underlying logic in careful detail.
It’s like knowing the examiner who writes the test. When someone hands you next year’s questions and answers in advance, how could you possibly do poorly?
The same applies to financial markets, real estate, even the arc of history itself — good circles will tell you the correct answer ahead of time, or at minimum, let you know what kind of question is coming.
With that, doing well becomes straightforward.
And this is precisely why I created my knowledge community.
The purpose of this community is to give you the kind of opportunity I had — a chance to sit alongside people whose resources and life experience exceed yours, and work through life’s challenges and secrets together.
Because I understand all too well: in your own day-to-day life, these resources are genuinely out of reach.
And life often works this way — one noble benefactor willing to point out a single blind spot can save you ten years of detours.
That’s why investing in yourself this way will always be the most worthwhile thing you can do.
And yet, most people will spend freely on fleeting pleasures — while being inexplicably stingy when it comes to investing in themselves.