Frankly speaking, I am myself a living, breathing example of someone who “drew close to wealth and destiny, and in doing so, obtained it.” So I speak on today’s topic with particular authority.
Those familiar with me know that my family background was genuinely favorable — though it had its share of turbulence, it afforded me the rare fortune, from a very young age, to grow up alongside a circle of extraordinary figures.
The figures I’m referring to are not the nouveau riche who strut about in the media today.
In those early years, riding on my parents’ coattails, the powerful people I encountered were the behind-the-scenes titans who had already accumulated fortunes in the hundreds of billions between 1990 and 2010.
The kind of people whose names, even now, can make an entire industry tremble.
Because of this, I awakened early. And precisely because I spent years in close company with these individuals, I efficiently completed a full transformation — both in thinking and in social standing — while still a young man.
In those years of evolution, the deepest lesson I learned from this group was not some intricate, sophisticated philosophy of life, nor the arcane secrets of classical Chinese wisdom.
On the contrary, the deepest lesson was just seven words: “The simpler the person, the more powerful they are.”
Yes — extreme simplicity is extreme power.
To strip life down from complexity to simplicity is, without doubt, an act of great wisdom.
Let me put it this way: the number of destiny charts I’ve worked through exceeds many thousands, which has given me a profound understanding of society’s high, middle, and lower strata.
And the bone-deep reality is this: the poorer a person is, the more complicated their life tends to be.
If you truly take the time to understand such a person, you’ll find that their daily life is crowded with petty affairs. One moment their parents are demanding they do something; the next a friend is asking for a favor; then their spouse and children have their own needs; and then the boss wants something done. All told, the feeling of being pulled apart by endless trivialities is overwhelming and obvious in these people.
This directly results in their energy being scattered — they can never concentrate fully enough to see one thing through from start to finish.
Take the old saying: “A struggling couple has sorrow in everything.” Why is that?
The deeper reason is that a struggling couple finds it almost impossible to stand united, supporting each other and advancing toward a single key goal. Halfway through, the scarcity of household resources triggers mutual scheming, blame, and finger-pointing. Life has barely begun, and the internal drain caused by constant quarreling becomes the greatest single drain on their energy.
Such a household naturally fails at everything it attempts. There is simply no way to accomplish any large objective.
So whether it’s a person living in poverty or a struggling couple — the root illness is the same: frantic scrambling that ends in nothing but broken eggs and scattered feathers.
And so their whole lives cycle endlessly — chaotic, noisy, poor and anxious, like being trapped in a hell with no way out.
What do they truly lack?
Money? Opportunity? A noble benefactor (Gui Ren)?
None of these — because if they don’t pull the illness out at its root, then even if you delivered money, opportunity, and a noble benefactor all wrapped together as a gift, they still could not receive these blessings properly.
Within half a year, the money would be squandered, the opportunity wasted, and the benefactor offended.
I have seen this play out far too many times.
So what can truly save them?
The answer: the awakening to force yourself into Simple Mode.
Note carefully — the “Simple Mode” I’m describing is not about refusing to think or refusing to work hard, or playing dumb.
On the contrary, Simple Mode means: first, get absolutely clear on “what is my core goal at this stage of life?” Then, make the painful decision to temporarily block out every single matter that falls outside that core goal.
Finally, pour 1000% of your energy completely and utterly into achieving that core goal.
Only then does it become possible to tear open a breakthrough in life’s barriers — and in doing so, sweep away every other problem along with it.
Two years ago, a middle-aged man came to me for a destiny reading. He opened with sighing and complaining: “Master, I’m so conflicted. I have a great career opportunity, but it requires me to work overseas for three years. After that, I’d return to headquarters as part of the core leadership team — but for those three years, I’d miss so much family time, and I couldn’t properly be there for my son who’s in elementary school. What should I do?”
I hadn’t even begun analyzing his destiny chart before I replied directly: Go without hesitation. Do not miss this opportunity.
First, opportunities like this are rare. Turn one down, and people will stop considering you when the next one comes around.
Second, if you seize this opportunity and complete the promotion, you’ll elevate your entire family to a higher level. Your household will have more financial breathing room, your child will receive a better education, and he’ll have the guidance of a better, stronger version of you.
Remember this: the secret of life is to pursue extreme simplicity.
Because only when your thinking becomes simple can you, when facing a moment of great consequence, make the correct choice — rather than having your judgment clouded by distractions.
In my daily work, many middle-aged people, young adults, lost professionals, single mothers, and others come to me for destiny chart readings and comprehensive life planning.
My first step when opening a chart has always been to force them to subtract from their lives.
Family obligations, guilt toward children, worry about others’ opinions, fear of things not going smoothly — every single negative emotion and anxiety, throw it all into the trash, then stomp on it a few times for good measure.
Yes — stop performing. Stop forcing yourself to be the perfect father, perfect mother, perfect son, perfect daughter, perfect whatever.
When you are weak, being “good” is worthless. When you are strong, even a small gesture of kindness carries more value than all your current exhausted striving.
And so I make them confront this reality: the greatest danger is carrying a mountain of mental baggage before you’ve accomplished anything.
Honestly — if you have achieved nothing, these mental burdens are the deadweight you will never escape for the rest of your life.
But if you dare to concentrate your energy, and endure three or four years of hard grinding to fully unlock your career fortune, wealth fortune (财运), and benefactor fortune…
Then those former mental burdens will dissolve into a light, breezy instruction: “Aunt Zhang, please take care of those odds and ends for me.”
That simple.
And reality confirms this. Look at the families in my own social circle — even though we have achieved complete financial freedom and appear to have extensive holdings, our day-to-day quality of life far surpasses that of the ordinary middle class.
Because once you reach this level, you discover there’s no need to toil through overtime and then burn the midnight oil helping your child with homework. You can simply hire a retired master teacher to guide your child through difficult problems.
You also discover there’s no need, after being worked to the bone all week, to endure your partner’s eye-rolls and drag yourself to your parents’ house on the weekend for heavy labor. You can hire a helper or housekeeper to take care of your parents’ daily needs.
So how did we come to live this way?
I don’t believe I’m smarter than you. But in one respect, I am far ahead.
At the crossroads of life, I chose to walk the road of simplicity, purity, and singular focus on achieving greater things.
And while walking that road with my head down, I did give up many beautiful sights and joys along the way — yet I have no regrets.
Because what I wanted was: to endure hardship for a phase, and to live comfortably for a lifetime. Worth it.
Of course, I’ve leaned heavily on the mindset side of things in this piece and said relatively little on the practical — so let me add a few words.
I myself have never feared the so-called scenario of “investing fully but getting no results.”
Especially once you’ve had some real-world experience, you know this scenario is simply impossible.
Anything in this world — if you truly invest in it — will generate feedback. The feedback may not be the result you wanted. But feedback means you will succeed eventually.
Good feedback means the angle of your effort is right. Keep going.
Bad feedback means your angle was off. Correct it and keep pushing.
Do not give yourself too much inner drama — feeling crushed with despair one moment, then weeping the next. Stay simple.
Simple effort. Simple persistence. Simple optimism. Simple determination. Hold onto these.
Seven or eight years at the most, three or four years at the least — good results will come. It’s only a matter of time.
Many longtime readers who come to me for readings have followed along for years, and they often say with a smile: “Master Chi, beyond your extraordinarily precise analyses of the destiny chart, and your clear, concrete suggestions for life planning — more importantly, you always give us optimistic and positive energy, the courage to keep going no matter how hard things get.”
And my habitual reply is: My role is not to listen to your complaints. My role is to give you practical advice that makes your life better.
At the same time, my other role is to draw on my own life experience to cheer you on, relentlessly — so that you have the courage and perseverance to step over the obstacles that, in truth, were never going to stop you anyway.