Thoughts on Life 1

This week refers to: 6-26~7-2

My Week#

Lost my second campus card this semester, suspecting a pair of pants as the culprit
Successfully logged my progress for 5 consecutive days, exercised for 5 consecutive days
3 days of exams, 4 days of cost estimation (plus today)

Output for the Week#

Be cautious in choosing your competitors, because eventually you will become very similar to them.

Always studying who, envying who, you will imitate the behavior of who, and in the end, you may become who.

First, don't take idiots as competitors.
Second, don't look for opponents around you.
Third, choose the top people in your field as role models.

Choose distant role models

The objects we imitate can be divided into the following two types:

People who are far away from us.
People around us.

The former can inspire people, because of the difference in time and space, we are almost impossible to catch up with them; the latter is likely to become our opponents in our eyes, and a tribe can only have one chief. Choose people who are far away from us as role models, they will not arouse our competitive and selfish desires.

You can choose great figures as role models, such as Premier Zhou who said, "Study hard for the rise of China."
You can choose the top people in your industry as role models, such as the Tsinghua study genius who films vlogs.

Play the role of a great figure

If you were Musk, how would you make decisions when faced with a problem? The most common question is, if you were Musk, what would you have for breakfast in the morning? Or if you were Yu Minhong? Or if you were Confucius?

Okay, the real purpose of playing the role of a great figure is: to think like a great figure!

I believe everyone has had this experience👇

For example, children have all played role-playing games, pretending to be knights/princesses/heroes. This state is like being immersed in the soul of a hero, a mysterious power surges in their body, subjectively it seems like they are two different people before and after "possession", objectively their power will continue to flow.

The inspiration of great figures to ordinary people is immense. Although we cannot reach the level of great figures, it does not prevent us from climbing towards the direction of great figures.
An ordinary person, or someone who is always melancholic, if they can consistently admire a great figure, they will definitely reduce many low-level troubles and easily free themselves from vulgar information.

Therefore, it is worth asking yourself a question every morning: Who do I want to play today?

Once you do this, believe that you already possess 50% of the power of a great figure.

There is another story about Musk's breakfast that I can share. Once, when Musk was on a business trip in China, instead of going to a hotel, he bought a pancake roll from a roadside stall. Whether from the perspective of saving or being down-to-earth, Musk is an admirable person.

I am not only seeking results. If you only seek results, it is easy for people to take shortcuts. In the process of taking shortcuts, people can easily lose sight of the truth, and even gradually lose their enthusiasm. I believe that what is truly important is the pursuit of genuine will. As long as you have the will to move towards the truth, even if you fail this time, you will eventually achieve your goal.

This passage is excerpted from a blogger's memo in 2010 on Zhihu.

A process-oriented life may lead to better results, and establishing a process system is particularly important.

This is also one of the reasons why I decided to publicly share my daily exercise check-ins. Another reason is seeing a girl posting her intermittent runs of 7km+ every day. Seeing someone achieve it is the most motivating thing.

Why do I have to insist on posting screenshots online? Because the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Connect with the world and attract like-minded people.
Force yourself to become a better person.

Sima Guang's "Zizhi Tongjian, Volume Six" has a passage:
King Anli of the Wei Kingdom asked Kong Bin, who is the greatest scholar in the world?
Kong Bin said, "There is no perfect gentleman in the world. If we have to settle for second best, then Lu Zhonglian can barely be considered one."
King Anli shook his head and said, "Lu Zhonglian is probably not even qualified. He is inconsistent in his words and actions. His behavior is forced and not a natural expression of his true nature."
At this point, Kong Bin said something quite classic: "To act without ceasing is to become a gentleman."

What Kong Bin meant was, "People have to force themselves to do certain things. If they keep doing it, they will become gentlemen; if they keep doing it without changing, gradually their habits and nature will merge, and it will become natural."

You can say that someone is pretending, but this is just a process. The process itself is the result, the most real and not a shortcut.

If you find it inspiring, feel free to leave a comment.