Those Who Make Great Fortunes All Have an Emperor’s Mindset
You’ve definitely seen people like this: they clock in to work on time every day, work overtime until late at night, but the numbers in their bank accounts crawl like snails uphill; they always say “I’ll start a business once I save enough money,” but ten years later, they’re still saying the same thing. Do they really lack ability?
No, what they lack is an emperor’s mindset.
What is an emperor’s mindset? It’s not about wearing dragon robes or sitting on a dragon throne, but rather being like Zhu Yuanzhang who went from beggar to emperor - daring to burn your retreat routes to ash, daring to use ambition as fuel, and daring to treat emotions as tools.
1. Only Those Who Burn Bridges Get to Eat the Meat
Here’s a true story: During the Chu-Han Contention, a general with his defeated remnant army was surrounded by enemy forces. His military advisor urged him to retreat to save their lives, but he directly beheaded the advisor and burned the retreat bridge.
The soldiers knew they could only fight to the death, and in the end, they turned defeat into victory.
This is what “breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats” means. Napoleon once said: Leave yourself a way out, and you’ll have no way forward. That colleague who keeps saying “I’ll quit once my savings reach 500,000” will definitely still be at their desk complaining about low wages five years later.
My friend Xiao Jing started doing social media while working part-time, creating videos on the side, but ended up pleasing neither side. It wasn’t until she quit her job outright that her account gained 50,000 followers within a year, and now her annual monetization exceeds several years of her previous salary combined. In her words: Once a person has a way out, even staying up late to write scripts feels like suffering.
2. Only Those Who Discard Excuses Can Grab Money
It’s said that when Pansy Ho, daughter of the gambling king, was young, her mother hated hearing her say “I don’t know.” Don’t know customer needs? Then go research; unclear about industry trends? Immediately fly to the site for investigation. Now she helms a trillion-dollar business empire, and in interviews she says: People who make excuses don’t even qualify to lose.
Psychology has a concept called “attribution bias” - most people blame the environment when they fail and praise themselves when they succeed.
But people with an emperor’s mindset do the opposite - they first look for reasons within themselves when they fail, but attribute success to luck.
I know a restaurant owner who, during the pandemic when peers were all crying about hardship, took his chef to livestream private dish cooking methods. Now he has eight branch stores. When asked about his secret, he said: Others were all saying “it’s the pandemic’s fault,” while my mind was full of thoughts about “what else can we do.”
3. Only Those Who Use Emotions as Tools Can Achieve Great Things
In “The Way of Heaven,” Ding Yuanying was mocked by a noodle shop owner for being “idle and jobless,” and he just smiled and continued eating; when a breakfast stall owner overcharged him, he paid again without a word.
It’s not that he had no temper, but he was clear: every second spent arguing with others is wasted time.
Nan Huaijin put it more directly: Superior people have ability but no temper; inferior people have only temper but no ability.
Ordinary people are easily led by emotions - when a proposal is rejected, they’re so angry they can’t sleep for three days; when a client is difficult, they drag friends to complain until midnight.
But look at those big shots - who hasn’t experienced countless failures before success? Yu Minhong turned to livestreaming after being kicked out of New Oriental. People with an emperor’s mindset have long seen through it: emotions are costs, not consumer goods.
Here’s a formula for everyone: Correctness of behavior = Goal orientation / Emotion.
The stronger your emotions, the greater the possibility of behavioral errors.
Many people don’t act around their goals when doing things; they only act emotionally, controlled by their emotions and feelings, without judging whether this behavior can actually achieve their goals. Acting this way only takes you further from your objectives.
4. Act Like It, and You’ll Become a Real Emperor
There’s a particularly interesting phenomenon: newly entrepreneurial small bosses wear suits and dress respectably to meet clients, even if their company only has three people; small managers leading teams for the first time act more serious than CEOs in meetings.
This is actually wisdom. “Embodied cognition” in psychology proves: when you act like a strong person, your brain actually secretes more testosterone, making you increasingly confident.
There’s a saying: fake it until you make it.
My former colleague Old Zhou was such an “actor.” He later quit to start his own business, leading his team. Though he had no confidence inside, he shouted “we must break one million this month” at every morning meeting. The team actually broke records, and now he can teach courses to corporate executives. In his words: If you think you’re a beggar, people feel giving you leftovers is too much; if you act like an emperor, someone will actively hand you a throne.
So how do you develop an emperor’s mindset? Here are three mantras:
- Replace “what should I do” with “I can solve this”
- Use “none of my business” to block noise - relatives saying you’re “not doing proper work,” netizens cursing you for “being money-crazy,” they won’t help pay your mortgage anyway.
- Use “just do it first” to crush perfectionism
Looking back at those who made great fortunes, Jack Ma couldn’t scrape together 500,000 for registration capital but still pulled 18 people to start a business in a residential house; Elon Musk’s rockets failed three times, and he was still posting memes on Twitter before the fourth launch. They may not be smarter than you, but they definitely dare to “claim the throne” more than you do.
Let’s encourage each other.