In the previous article, we already know that as a species in the natural world, we cannot fully understand the objective world we are in, but can only understand the world mapped out by our subjective cognitive model. Since we cannot have complete knowledge of the external world, does that mean we will forever drift in the chaotic world, lost in the wilderness?
Of course not, the shining figures in the long river of human history have given us the answer. It is precisely because we cannot fully know the true face of the world that we are filled with curiosity about the unknown, constantly exploring and advancing. This process has truly propelled human progress and development. Before countless dark moments descend, it is the stars that shine and illuminate the way forward.
So, in today's era, where we face countless changes and constantly form whirlpools and quagmires that can easily devour lives, how should people in the present construct a new framework for survival to lead us away from these dangerous existences that erode life? Based on my current thinking, there are two points:
One core: Long-term value
One key point: Nearby construction
Long-term value#
The external environment is constantly changing, and various complex and diverse information bombards our attention. Today there is one hot topic, and tomorrow there is another trend. If you are always being pulled by these things, you will never have the energy to make judgments and analysis, and you will easily find yourself trapped in a quagmire, thus ruining your life. The root cause of this situation lies in not having a clear direction for life and not knowing where the goal of life is. In work, if there is no long-term and reasonable planning, and in life, if we just go with the flow day after day without thinking, our intellectual growth will be stagnant...
The core of breaking free is to establish a principle of recognition, that is, to realize and practice long-term value. By finding the value in our work and constantly improving our own value, a positive feedback loop will be created. You will become a valuable individual rather than just someone with work experience. This value will not only bring individual independence, but also spread from the professional level to other aspects of life. Gradually, the overall quality of life will undergo subtle changes, and a long-lasting and gentle life energy will be born.
In my opinion, this long-term value recognition has the following characteristics:
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Long-term effectiveness
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Continuous growth
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Transferable
Long-term effectiveness#
Long-term effectiveness means that the value we choose to recognize should be long-lasting and not easily overturned by the tides of time. To achieve this, we need to start from the basic phenomena, delve deeper, and discover the underlying principles and structures.
As shown in the above figure, the various things we face every day are specific things at the first level. We invest countless energy in doing things every day, but the more we do, the more exhausted we become. Over time, we become trapped in this cycle: work hard -> more things to do -> mental exhaustion. In this situation, we end up trapping ourselves. Our value does not grow much, but our age keeps increasing.
To solve this problem, we need to dig deeper and analyze the reasons behind things. At this point, we will find that many things, although they seem diverse, are actually caused by only a few reasons. We just need to find targeted solutions to solve many problems at the source. By solving many basic problems, we can lay a solid foundation. However, if we want to have insights into a problem and break through the limitations of time and space experience, we need to continue digging deeper to find the underlying principles that support the existence of events. As for how to dig deeper layer by layer, it is actually done through a series of analytical methods, which are tools built on logical principles. I will write about the logic and analytical methods later.
At this point, it is easy to understand that to enhance our value and maintain its long-term nature, we need to constantly dig deeper into events and find the underlying principles. It is also easy to understand that in the field of content, for example, there are many paid courses like "Write a Bestseller in 30 Days," but those who dominate the field of content are those who have been writing high-quality articles for a long time. The value accumulated through long-term writing is the real competitive advantage.
Continuous growth#
The long-term value we choose should have the attribute of continuous growth and not remain at a constant level. If we invest our energy into long-term value, we also expect this value to grow continuously.
As for how to achieve continuous growth of value, we need to take the opposite approach from the previous step and use the underlying principles to analyze specific events. We need to apply the underlying principles to guide our judgment of specific events.
Transferable#
The solutions we have used for one problem can only be called experience. When a new event occurs, we will search for similar situations from our accumulated experience and use them to deal with the new event. However, there are two problems here. First, you need to accumulate enough experience to deal with a sufficient number of new events. However, the speed at which information is generated today is several orders of magnitude higher than the speed at which we acquire experience. It is clear that relying on experience to live a good life in the business world is not reliable. Second, experience cannot be reused because every event is influenced by many factors. A solution that worked in the past cannot effectively apply to a new event.
Therefore, to solve the constantly emerging new problems, our accumulated value must be transferable and provide effective value for future events based on previous value. We need to abstract the process of problem-solving, the analysis of underlying principles, and the analysis of specific events into a thinking model. This model should be continuously optimized while being used to solve new problems. Taking a factory as an example, we can see that the thinking model we abstract is a production line, and the new events are the goods on the production line. These events will be processed and solved through the production line. Compared to experience, the thinking model systematically analyzes and processes events, while experience transfers solutions. In comparison, experience is insufficient in terms of analyzing and mastering the breadth and depth of various factors. Therefore, the solutions it provides are inevitably limited in utility.
Nearby construction#
After choosing long-term value, we invest our energy to increase its value and form a thinking model, continuously improving our underlying capabilities. This pure rational exercise is painful, and few people can persist in the long run. In the process of understanding ourselves, we also realize that all value growth is for the fulfillment of personal life and the improvement of life. So, besides value construction, what else should we do? And what can contribute to the construction of value?
I believe it is the construction of "nearby." It is the opposite process of value construction. Nearby construction is a development process of sensibility. If value construction turns you into a precise analytical machine through rational means, nearby construction allows you to explore your true existence as a person through sensibility. In my opinion, nearby construction is a crucial measure of how much a person can become a person and how far they can go (from a historical perspective, not just the present).
Here, "nearby" refers to the whole formed by individuals and their surroundings. Individuals refer to the external body and internal self, while the surroundings refer to the environment and people that individuals come into contact with. Nearby construction mainly includes the following points:
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Individual care
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Surrounding care
Individual care#
Individual care is the process of discovering oneself as a person. It is the starting point of nearby construction. In this part, we need to accomplish two aspects of work. First, care for the inner self, and second, care for the physical body.
Care for the inner self: We need to think about ourselves, discover ourselves, and awaken self-consciousness through continuous questioning and reflection. I firmly believe in Socrates' saying, "An unexamined life is not worth living." However, the fact is that the vast majority of people grow old in lives that have never been examined. At least I don't want to be one of them. Care for the inner self is difficult for beginners, not only because of the lack of methods but also because of the conflicts in consciousness and cognition that cannot be reconciled. The most practical method for self-care is to study classical philosophy. The most direct way is to read the works of philosophical masters.
Care for the physical body: As mortal beings, we are only a tiny part of the natural world. All our actions are constrained by this physical body. To better realize life, we need to care for the physical body. The key to this care is restraint. We need to overcome certain resistances and achieve reasonable exercise, the realization of reasonable desires, and a reasonable diet, among other things.
Surrounding care#
Paying attention to our surroundings helps us better realize ourselves and enrich our perception of life. There are two key aspects here: attention and warmth.
Attention: We need to maintain continuous observation and attention to the people and environment around us, not just for our own advancement, but also for a kind of attention to friends, relatives, colleagues, and even the people who accompany us for a period of time. We need to care about their actions and lives. In this process, our perception of the world and life will become richer and deeper. This establishment of perception will lead us out of mechanical indifference. This is the brilliance of being human. At the same time, this continuous attention will enable us to have deeper thinking about our surroundings, giving us an advantage in business exploration.
Warmth: Paying attention to our surroundings should not be limited to observation. We should not be indifferent bystanders. We should have warmth towards our environment. We hope that society will become better and more just. To achieve this, we need to believe that this outcome will be realized and then invest ourselves in caring for our surroundings. It doesn't mean that we have to do various charitable activities, but rather that we should avoid doing harm and contribute our efforts to creating a better environment. "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." This warmth will spread among different individuals and gradually accumulate into a force that drives society towards a better direction.
(Of course, the above content is not definitive. As I mentioned in the "About" section, all knowledge grows independently, just like life. Different stages will have different forms of existence, but they are consistent in terms of core values and continue to be optimized and developed during growth.)
The length of a person's life can be long or short, and the lifespan of an individual is insignificant on the scale of tens of thousands or billions of years of evolution. Think about the fact that there have already been 110 billion people who have passed away on Earth. The things we are currently obsessed with, fixated on, and suffering from have also happened to past people, with only slight variations in form. If we are driven by desires, material possessions, and our surroundings during these few decades, our existence will appear lonely. It is time to truly think about the meaning of life and the goals of life, discover our own long-term value, invest continuously, and experience the true existence of being human!
Reading List
"The Secrets of Efficient Writing"
"A Day in the Life"
"Salt of the Earth"
"Behind the Scenes of Products"
"A Small Blue Book of Logic"
"How to Think Systematically"
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