Random Walk Newsletter, Issue 6#
One Sentence#
I want to share a quote from a movie. It may not make much sense on its own, but if you've seen the movie, you'll have a deep impression of this quote. The movie is called "Man on Fire" and the quote is:
forgiveness is between them and god, it's my job to arrange the meeting”
Let me briefly introduce the context at that time. The protagonist is a bodyguard. The little girl he protects has been kidnapped. He finds one of the criminals and ambushes him in a house across the street from his usual route. The owners of the house are an elderly couple who tell the protagonist that God will forgive these people. The protagonist then replies with this quote. "Forgiveness is between them and God, and it's my job to arrange the meeting."
Listening to Books & Reading Books#
Late Bloomer
Maybe because I'm not far from the age of 35 crisis myself, I'm easily attracted by book titles like "36 and Halfway There" that I read before. This book, "Late Bloomer," is probably the same. I guess when I just graduated, I might not have been able to finish it. Speaking of which, I came across a quote just now, "Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty." I have this feeling now. I remember when I just graduated, I played games every day after work, without any pressure. Then, around the age of 28, I gradually started to have a sense of learning. At that time, I mainly read books related to work. Since last year, I started reading books every day, and the range is no longer limited to work. I read books of various genres. It is definitely true that if I had discovered this earlier, it would have been better. But I think that's how reality is. At a certain age, you naturally start to understand certain things, and those who realize it earlier are probably the ones who are ahead now.
Speaking of "Late Bloomer," it mainly discusses a phenomenon, which is the so-called child prodigy culture. The most common phenomenon is that parents are always reminded not to let their children fall behind at the starting line. Nowadays, children have to attend various tutoring classes even in kindergarten, and it becomes even more intense after entering primary school. They are forced to give up their own hobbies because parents think it will affect their studies. Over time, it has had a serious impact on children's mental stress, leading to various psychological problems such as depression. I remember watching a video some time ago at a wedding, where all the guests at one table had outstanding scores in the college entrance examination, and when asked, none of them had attended extracurricular tutoring classes. The initial intention of most parents may be good, but the premise is to respect the child's own development.
Mastery 3
I'm currently reading "Mastery 3," and I'm about 50% through it. There are two sections that I want to share with everyone.
The book mentions Qian Mu's view on output. Most people's understanding of output is basically writing articles, and some even require themselves to update daily, using output as a way to force input. However, Qian Mu's requirements for output are much higher. What he means by output is not just writing, but writing something new. An article may be cobbled together and the content is usually scattered, with no clear focus. This kind of output is not conducive to true learning. This idea is similar to "deliberate practice." We have all heard of the ten thousand hour rule, but if we simply repeat for ten thousand hours, we cannot achieve mastery. On the other hand, if we engage in deliberate practice, we don't need ten thousand hours to achieve mastery.
Another section is about suspending conclusions, which means that when we read various articles and books, we should not take the conclusions as absolute truths, but rather question them and use our own practical experience to verify them. However, suspending conclusions also brings a problem, which is that we cannot immediately experience the effects of learning because we need time to verify and experience. Moreover, the final result may not always be positive. After verification, we may find that the conclusions obtained from the book are incorrect.
By the way, the book also mentions that interleaved learning is more effective. For example, if we have two books to read, we can choose to finish one book first and then read the second one. Interleaved learning means reading both books at the same time, of course not literally at the same time. If you usually plan to read for one hour a day, interleaved learning means reading each book for half an hour. If you're interested, you can read the explanation in the book. However, based on what was mentioned earlier, I want to suspend this conclusion for a while and personally experience the effectiveness of interleaved learning. Then I will decide if it's really useful, using one of the author's viewpoints to verify another conclusion, haha.
The Asian Godfather
The title of the book may make you think it's a story about the mafia, but it's actually about how the super-rich in Southeast Asia made their fortunes. It's basically a book that exposes the backgrounds of the wealthy. The author, Joe Studwell, is a journalist who has been stationed in Asia for a long time. The book is rich in content. For those super-rich people, what we hear more about is how they started from scratch, how they relied on hard work, frugality, and free market competition to achieve their later wealth status. But this book reveals another side of their success, such as obtaining monopoly licenses in certain industries through collusion between politics and business. Although their personal wealth has reached a level that can rival a country, it has not provided any substantial help to the local economy.
Many of the super-rich in Southeast Asia are ethnic Chinese. It used to be believed that Chinese people are smart and good at business, but the author believes that the most important reason is that as immigrants, they cannot participate in politics, so most of them are engaged in business. For those in power, compared to the locals, they are more willing to give certain monopoly conditions to the Chinese to operate.
The Trap of Wealth
This book is also an exposé. What should a country do to develop its economy? The best answer is free trade, property rights protection, etc., because that's what those developed countries are doing now. Wait a minute, weren't those developed countries doing the same thing at the beginning? They also protected their own domestic industries with high tariffs. When their strength reached a certain level, they turned to free trade and even used force to open the doors of other countries. China is one of the victims. The English title of the book, "Kicking Away the Ladder," is a very vivid metaphor. It comes from a quote by Friedrich List, a 19th-century German economist: "When a man has reached the summit, he will adopt a common and clever practice, which is to kick away the ladder by which he climbed up, so that no one else can climb up after him."
After reading it, I feel that all those ideas of freedom, equality, fairness, and justice are simply self-deception. It's like a robber who, after gaining enough wealth through violence, turns around and says, "No, we can't do this. We need civilization, peace, and fair competition," without mentioning their previous actions.
Observations & Insights#
Layoffs in Big Companies
Last weekend, the news of layoffs at Alibaba and Tencent cast a shadow over the Internet industry. I myself work in the Internet industry and have experienced the industry's turbulence to some extent. Several friends who changed jobs have reported that there aren't many opportunities, and some even received offers but were held back due to headcount restrictions. No wonder in recent years, taking the civil service exam or becoming a teacher has become a popular choice again. I remember seeing a recruitment notice for a prestigious high school in Shenzhen, and the applicants were all graduates from top universities. The government has emphasized "stability" the most in recent years. On a personal level, we should also seek stability. In unfavorable circumstances, we should not blindly be confident and optimistic. Of course, it doesn't mean losing confidence. It's not that extreme yet. But decisions like quitting a job without a backup plan should be more carefully considered now.
Really Learning
I read this article sive.rs/left, and there's a sentence that inspired me:
If we’re not surprised, we’re not really learning. We may add new information, but not really update our understanding of the world.
We read and absorb various knowledge every day, but the author believes that if we're not surprised, then we're just adding new information without truly updating our understanding of the world.
What We Really Want
From Wei Chen's newsletter, What We Really Want | Life Journey 38 | Life Journey
Two general suggestions:
First, avoid extremes. Many people say they regret focusing on their careers and neglecting their families when they were young, because they were too extreme. No matter which stage of work you're in, save some money each year, leave some free time, and spend some time with your family.
Second, accept and allow yourself to change your mind. The past is a sunk cost. If we let our past selves, who are completely different from our present selves, make decisions for us, it's like letting a stranger make decisions for us. It's better to let go as soon as possible.
That's all for this issue of the newsletter. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Thank you for reading.