I decided to take a trip over the weekend. Four long hours in the air and I just couldn’t sleep, so I started reading this book, 人生护城河, and finished it in a few hours. Leaving a trace for myself, I’m jotting down some quick reflections here.
Love Writing
It’s been 6.5 years since I graduated. How many blog posts do I have? 311. That’s not many. Compared with the author, who publishes daily, the gap isn’t just the number of posts; it reflects the thinking and reading behind them.
I agree with his view: love writing, stick with it, and write bravely. I’ve gained a lot from writing in practice:
- Because I struggled to find writing topics, I started thinking about technical problems at work, summarized them, practiced them, and then wrote about them in blogs.
- Because of the blog output, the cost of explaining issues to team members or netizens has been reduced.
- Because I wanted to present technical articles more systematically and accurately, I read more relatively authoritative books.
- Because I wrote a few high-quality blog posts, I made some excellent friends.
- And so on
Writing has many benefits. Since it’s so worthwhile, why not keep at it? I do have the habit, but the frequency is too low — in part because I don’t read enough, solve enough problems, or summarize enough.
So I need to reflect, summarize, and strengthen both the writing and the habits behind it.
His successful practice is a strong proof to me: you must keep writing.
Three Income Streams
Money is unavoidable, but I’ve often managed it passively or muddled through.
I agree with the plan for multiple income sources:
- Salary
- Second income (side projects)
- Investments
For ordinary wage earners, indeed, a single source of income and diverse uncertain expenses are destined to make individuals stretched thin. To solve this problem, we must be brave, face this problem squarely, and intentionally move in the right direction to gradually improve the situation. Otherwise, when will we stop being poor, and when will we achieve financial freedom?
For me, the plan is:
- Grow salary by improving professional skills.
- Build a second income via blogging, Medium, open source, and paid plugins. Thanks to affiliate links on the blog, I’ve made about $20 — not enough to cover VPS costs, but the model is healthy and sustainable. Still, content quantity and quality are the real key.
- As for investing, I started with stocks last year. No losses so far, but no real gains either. The reason is simple: I lack investment knowledge — haven’t even read a single book. So back to the old advice: read more.
Forget It — Play to Your Strengths
This point in the book really hit home. Personally, I love tinkering with software and gadgets, and I love sharing. For a long time I saw these traits as flaws, and my family did too — which made me unhappy. But thinking back, because I tinker, I developed an instinct for user experience that still influences my work. Because I love gadgets, people ask me for help and I’ve deepened and expanded friendships. Because I love sharing, I’ve helped and met many people. I need to admit these traits shaped me. If they take time, why not invest that time?
We often try to learn from others, change ourselves, and fix our weaknesses. But some weaknesses are hard to fix. Why not shift the mindset, amplify and showcase our strengths, and sidestep weaknesses where reasonable?
I often think: our differences come from our strengths, weaknesses, and quirks. If we truly changed them all, wouldn’t we all become the same?
Final Thoughts
I suspect the author, Zhang Hui, has achieved financial freedom — built on excellence, which in turn comes from excellent habits.
So: change yourself, become better, and once you identify the right things, keep doing them. Quantity becomes quality. If you keep doing the right things and keep improving, how bad could life be? Looking back when we’re old, how much regret would there be?
