A reader once asked me about career questions, and the questions were quite broad—things like "What do I do about finding a job right after graduating?" Just as I was thinking about how to answer, they added a line: "Because your story is more relatable, I wanted to know what you think."
Over the past few weeks, I've been reflecting on that statement repeatedly. In the past, I might have interpreted it as a kind of "grade my answer" question, but thinking about it carefully, there really are too many examples of exceptional people. After hearing their stories, you're filled with enthusiasm and admiration in the moment, but then when you calm down, you feel like you can't possibly achieve what they did, and you start to shrink back. So my ordinary, everyday life is probably the kind of example most people can follow to quickly figure out how to transform their daily routines.
Looking back at what's influenced me, the most important thing is "reading." During my university years, I didn't read at all. Because of my major, everything I did was hands-on—filming, recording, graphic design, presentations. This trained me to be able to present on stage quickly, but I hit a wall: "lack of depth." Even my writing was shallow and awkward.
Sharing a pet news article I wrote three years ago—I was laughing while reading it yesterday
"This beef cattle had its fate decided from birth. One day when it grew up, it would be brought to a slaughterhouse to become food. Terrified, it spent the first half of its life in fear. One day, it was put in a vehicle, seemingly knowing it was about to be killed, so tears kept falling. It was very sad, as if saying goodbye to the world, making viewers feel quite sympathetic. But unexpectedly, the vehicle didn't go to the slaughterhouse at all. Instead, it arrived at a vast grassland.
This is news, not a story. Three years later, rereading my own article, it reads just like a junior high school student writing fiction... Now compare it to my current writing:
"Already overwhelmed, yet unrealistically escaping the discomfort that pressure brings to body and mind, as well as efforts that don't yield corresponding rewards or gains; and afraid to take resistance actions, such as leaving and entering another phase, so I convince myself of my desires, keeping myself in a state where 'even in the worst situation, I tell myself everything will get better in the future,' but this future has no stop-loss point—I can only escape that psychological self that yearns for freedom, liberation, and rest."
Does it feel like two different people wrote them?
If you want to witness and feel your own transformation in a short time, what you need is to read extensively and reflect repeatedly, deliberately practicing to expand and transform your thinking. Over the past three years, I've bought over a hundred books, averaging two books a month, covering psychology, management, sociology, entrepreneurship, workplace topics, and more.
Currently, I choose books based on my interests. Later, I discovered that no matter what I chose, everything relates to business and the workplace—I realized that's what I love exploring. So reading, besides changing your mindset to make you more mature with broader perspectives, also helps you discover your own interests.
Next, I'm going to adopt an "intentional book selection" approach—for example, reading only one author's books, or only reading books in a related series, allowing myself to specialize in a certain field, and categorizing and reviewing the books I already have to deepen my understanding of them one by one.
However, if you just flip through a book and call it done, that's probably not enough, because you're not putting the book's knowledge into practice in your life. You'll feel those theories are vague, just chicken soup for the soul with only short-term effects. If you "deliberately practice," combining the book's knowledge with your life, thinking about what works for you and what doesn't, summarizing for yourself and customizing your learning—that's the best way to grow.
