The First Step to Wealth: Overcome These 5 Desires

You surely know people like this: some live comfortably on a monthly salary of 6,000 yuan, while others earn 30,000 yuan monthly yet max out their credit cards every month. This gap isn’t about bank account balances—it’s about the ability to manage desires.

1. Consumption Desire: You Think You’re Spending Money, But Money is Actually Spending You

When Shanghai girl Xiao Lin took inventory of her belongings, she discovered that out of 20 lipsticks she bought to “meet minimum purchase requirements,” she had only finished using 3. So she did something drastic: she recorded every single expense daily, down to a cup of soy milk. After several months, she calculated that the money wasted annually on “pseudo-needs” was enough to buy a Wuling Hongguang car.

Merchants understand this psychology well, constantly stimulating your dopamine with “last hour discount,” “limited quantity online,” and “last three orders.” They exploit people’s “scarcity psychology”—only to later discover that “last three orders” was playing on loop in the livestream room. Hunger marketing uses the same tactic.

Marketing doesn’t just exploit scarcity psychology; it also leverages bargain-hunting mentality, emotional value (you’re not buying lipstick, you’re buying your energy field), love psychology (you’re not buying height-increasing insoles, you’re buying love and happiness), and herd mentality… Most ordinary people can’t resist these tactics.

Next time you want to make an impulse purchase, try a “4-hour cooling-off period” and reconsider the next day—perhaps 90% of impulse purchases will be prevented.

2. Anxiety Desire: Quick-Fix Courses are “Leek” Greenhouses

A few years ago, a paid financial literacy course was quite popular. Later, a screenshot leaked showing that a student discovered they had made extremely basic errors about fundamental investment concepts.

Neuroscientists have found that when we indulge in “30-day mastery” courses, our brains secrete false achievement hormones. This is why you bookmark countless courses but never take action—because your brain has already treated bookmarking as completion.

The truly effective method is breaking big goals into “micro-habits”: Want to learn investing? Read 5 pages of “The Intelligent Investor” daily; Want to exercise? Do 3 push-ups daily.

When young, Kazuo Inamori studied ceramics until late night at a near-bankrupt company, eventually developing world-class materials. He said: “So-called miracles are nothing but efforts sustained to the critical point.”

3. Entertainment Desire: Your Indulgence is Destroying You

Newport, author of “Deep Work,” discovered that each additional push notification reduces cognitive ability by 10%.

Brain science reveals the truth: when scrolling through short videos, the brain enters “autopilot” mode. You think you’re relaxing, but you’re actually consuming precious attention resources.

What is humanity’s most precious resource? Beyond the physical body, it’s attention. Where your attention goes, your achievements follow.

If you could replace two hours of pre-bedtime short video scrolling with reading, and replace commute pop music with listening to business leader interviews, after one year, you’ll find your cognition is no longer on the same level as those around you.

4. Conformity Desire: Others’ Tracks Might Be Your Dead End

During the fund craze in early 2021, a colleague bought a celebrity fund manager’s product. I remember this fund manager even had a fan club, turning a professional field into “fan culture.” Years later, they still haven’t broken even. Meanwhile, a friend who steadfastly held a hydroelectric stock saw returns multiply two to three times over five years.

This incident taught me two things: First, people should know themselves—understand where your circle of competence lies, and don’t act on what you don’t understand.

Second, we must distinguish between consumption and investment. For dining out, I go where crowds go because consumers have already done the screening for us. But in investing, we do the opposite. Why?

Buffett has a classic saying: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”

The underlying logic is simple: those who make money in the stock market are ultimately the minority. This means if you follow the “herd effect” and do what everyone else does, you’re destined to be the counterpart to those who make money—the one contributing chips.

5. Emotional Desire: Your Temper is Leaking Wealth

A friend of mine is very capable but has a bit of a temper. In his words, he once lost a million-yuan order because he got angry when a client was 20 minutes late.

Wang Xiaobo once said: “Anger is a manifestation of incompetence.”

Brain imaging studies show that during rage, the prefrontal cortex shuts down, instantly reducing IQ below 70. Try this: when you want to lose your temper, take 10 deep breaths, or silently repeat “anger is a manifestation of incompetence”—you’ll become much calmer.

Of course, restraining desires isn’t self-torture, but creating growth space for wealth. Like that classic photo of Steve Jobs: an empty room with only a lamp and a meditation cushion. Wise as he was, he had long understood that minimalism isn’t restraint, but allowing important things to grow wildly.

Let’s encourage each other on this journey.