The Three Systems That Truly Wealthy People Study for Life (Not What You Think: Networking and Hard Work)

At dawn in a convenience store, owner Uncle Wang is restocking shelves and notices that chocolates placed near the cash register sell the fastest. This isn’t luck—he’s studying “shelf psychology,” which is merely the most superficial rule in the business world. The wealth gap in this world has never been widened by who works harder, but by who better understands these three systems: the Natural Law System, the Human Nature System, and the Feedback System.

1. The Natural Law System: The Essence of Making Money is Following Patterns

Laozi said, “The way of heaven is to reduce excess and supplement deficiency.” This sounds mystical, but in plain terms it means: markets are always seeking dynamic balance through compensation.

This is very similar to the Taiji diagram—yang contains yin, yin contains yang, and yin-yang balance. Economic “cycles” and ancient Chinese philosophy of moderation share this same principle.

In the 1880s, Kodak invented film and led a revolutionary change in the photography industry. Their film once held 70% of the global market share, but when digital cameras arrived, management refused to believe that “photography without film” could become mainstream. The result? This century-old company went bankrupt. (Fighting against trends)

I’ve seen a case: A businessman in Yiwu, Zhejiang specifically monitors international news to buy raw materials. On the third day after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, he stockpiled 300 tons of aluminum. Six months later, Europe’s energy crisis caused aluminum prices to double. He said: “Wars are fought with guns and cannons, but money is made by understanding supply chains.” (Hoarding rare goods)

Investment masters like Buffett and Howard Marks deeply understand the way of “cycles.” When everyone was selling stocks during the 2008 financial crisis, he bought heavily at the bottom, and then US stocks rose all the way. In August 2020, old Buffett continuously increased his holdings in Japan’s five major trading companies. Facts proved that “ginger gets spicier with age.” (Sell expensive as dirt, buy cheap as pearls)

How can ordinary people use this? See “opportunity” in “crisis.” In early 2020 during the pandemic, some people panicked over infection numbers, while others noticed that “home fitness” searches skyrocketed, immediately contacted factories to produce yoga mats, and made more money in a few months than in the previous two or three years.

2. The Human Nature System: Understanding Human Nature is Ultimate Wisdom

Sun Tzu’s Art of War says, “Skillful warriors seek victory through strategic advantage, not by demanding it from their men.”

Tesla can attract top engineers worldwide not because Musk is good at painting visions, but because he actually gives equity—employees know that every 1% increase in stock price means hundreds of thousands more in their accounts. This “interest binding” makes the team’s combat effectiveness explosive.

In contrast, Motorola was once dominant in mobile phones, but management withheld R&D bonuses, forcing the core team to jump ship collectively, ultimately being eliminated by the market.

Ding Yuanying in “The Way of Heaven” is a master of understanding human nature. He knew early on that people like Ye Xiaoming and Liu Bing could only ever be those who climb to the edge of a well for a glimpse. Cognition and perspective determine their ultimate fate.

Pinduoduo could compete with Taobao within a few years not because of superior technology, but by leveraging human nature for social viral growth:

“Help me cut the price” and friend assistance mechanisms exploit the “getting a bargain” psychology, gambler’s mentality, loss aversion psychology, sunk cost effect (already invited several friends, don’t want to abandon sunk costs), and instant feedback (progress bars) that continuously stimulate dopamine.

Various psychological effects create social viral growth, significantly reducing customer acquisition costs while achieving excellent promotional effects.

TikTok also firmly grasps the attention of hundreds of millions of users through algorithms. Sometimes, algorithms understand you better than you understand yourself—those extra 5 seconds you linger reveal your true self, which you might not even be aware of.

Attention is your most important and scarce resource—don’t be enslaved by algorithms.

3. The Feedback System: Masters Are Always “Dynamically Calibrating”

Lei Jun once said a hard truth: The cost of trial and error is much lower than the cost of missing opportunities. A strong person’s feedback system isn’t about not making mistakes, but turning every mistake into an upgrade patch.

Every failure is a reconstruction of cognition.

Heartbreak teaches us how to understand our personality traits, how to judge people, and how to handle intimate relationships.

Job loss teaches us how to plan our career path, how to improve ourselves to better adapt to social environments, how to handle workplace relationships, and how to adjust our mindset.

Wealth is the result of systematic operation, not a moment of sudden inspiration.

Those who always say “I’ll do it when I’m ready” are forever preparing; while those who truly make money study market patterns, ponder human nature, and use feedback for rapid iteration.

When you’re studying sales scripts, masters are studying the underlying algorithms of human nature; when you’re desperately looking for customers, masters are designing traffic generation models—just like McDonald’s never makes money from hamburgers (food revenue is only 30%), its core profits come from real estate and supply chains.

Ding Yuanying in “The Way of Heaven” said: “Seeing through society has three levels: technology, systems, and culture. From individuals to nations, all are products of cultural attributes.” Your wealth level is essentially the external manifestation of your cognitive system.

Let’s encourage each other on this journey.