Recently, I watched two consecutive videos that deeply touched my heart.
In the first video, a 23-year-old young man, who dropped out of high school, mastered the development ideas of the Sora model through a set of AI learning methods and was eventually hired by OpenAI as a research scientist.
He repeatedly emphasized one thing - cultivating the sense of "epiphany", that sudden moment of understanding:
"Oh, so that's how it is."
I admire his learning ability, but I admire his perseverance even more. I think he must have found true joy in learning, which is why he keeps reaching these "aha" moments.
And this feeling resonated strongly with me.
It turns out that an "epiphany" is a signal that you are moving forward.
Because I found that I was going through the same process.
When I first built the website, I was just curious and wanted to give it a try. I never expected that I would soon start writing blog posts and posting them one after another.
Until one day, I suddenly realized that there was a problem - the articles were not being indexed by Google for a long time. I kept modifying the content repeatedly, but still got no result. Later, I realized that the problem was not with the articles themselves, but that the URL path had not changed.
Only when I republished the articles and gave them a brand new URL did everything finally get on track.
At that moment, I suddenly understood - writing new articles is not just about "content update", but about letting the system know that this is a completely new existence.
That moment of clarity made me truly understand for the first time how the system works.
Since then, I have come to understand that an epiphany is not about how much knowledge you have learned, but about truly understanding the logic behind things. It is telling you that you are not standing still, but are on the way.
"Epiphany" can also reshape our understanding of "money" and "risk".
Later, I read "Rich Dad Poor Dad".
That book made me realize for the first time:
Most of the things I bought in the past were liabilities rather than assets.
I had never seriously thought about: What kind of things can continuously bring you cash flow?
Later, when I looked back at the annuity insurance I had purchased before, there was always a knot in my heart, and I always felt that I "bought wrongly".
Until one day, I suddenly changed my perspective -
I compared annuity insurance with stocks.
- Stocks may make you make a profit quickly, or cause you to lose money instantly;
- while annuity insurance, it almost doesn't allow you to see the return immediately, but can guarantee you in the event that you have nothing.
At that moment, I suddenly understood.
It turns out that they serve completely different life stages and risk requirements.
This is not a simple financial choice, but a re-understanding of uncertainty.
In the AI era, writing "myself" becomes a long-term asset.
Later, I also read "The Almanack of Naval Ravikant" and watched Dan Koe's videos.
They all pointed to an extremely clear conclusion:
In this era of highly developed AI and high technology, writing myself, writing my unique self, is itself the core asset for building a personal company.
This made me realize that continuous recording and continuous output is not to cater to the algorithm, but to build a long-term system that belongs to oneself.
It was not until I began to write about myself seriously and record my understanding that I realized -
These seemingly scattered experiences are actually the clues to an individual's talents.
In another article, I wrote about this process more systematically:
[How to Discover Your Talents and Turn Them into Wealth]
Why do some young people manage to reach this level so early?
Then, I saw another video.
A 19-year-old girl earned as much as 140 million yuan through making videos. While many people were still struggling with the problem of "lack of traffic", she had already established a stable and mature content system.
What truly moved me was not the numbers, but the three points she shared:
1️⃣ Almost all of her materials came from real life.
This coincides with Dan Koe's core viewpoint:"Your own experiences and stories are the most valuable niche market".
2️⃣ She is extremely self-disciplined.
All content is scheduled in advance, and it is consistently updated at 10 o'clock every Saturday. Editing, conception, execution, day after day, it may seem boring, but it has never stopped.
3️⃣ She understands refined operation.
Submitting the same manuscript to multiple platforms, but each platform has different focuses, and it is never simply "copy and paste".
Seeing this, I suddenly understood -
Their success has never been accidental.
Not because they are young, but because they entered the "action-feedback-adjustment-reaction" positive cycle earlier.
Is enlightenment something innate?
We often can't help asking:
Why are they already ahead at such a young age?
Some people thus feel anxious and even dare not have children, fearing that they "haven't fully understood life yet and don't know how to educate the next generation".
But when I was writing these words, a new idea suddenly occurred to me -
Perhaps enlightenment is not something innate, nor can it be exchanged for age.
It is more like a result -
I'm grateful. I'm still on the journey.
Whether he is 19, 23, or me at this moment.
As long as we can constantly experience that moment -
"Oh, that's how it is." It means we haven't stopped.
And I'm grateful that at this stage, I can still feel such “epiphanies“.Because this means:
I'm still on the journey and still moving forward.
-------Extended Reading and Resources
(Disclosure: This post may contain Amazon affiliate links：As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.）
The books and tools I mentioned are part of my curated toolkit. If you're interested, I've compiled them all on [My reading list ] & [My everyday toolkit] page for easy access.”