First, learn English well enough to use it in everyday life. This isn’t about passing the CET-4 or CET-6 exams; it’s about being able to understand information in English, communicate with people from other countries, and use the English-language internet freely. The freedom of access to information determines the breadth of your understanding. If you only use the Chinese-language internet for a long time, the world you see is one that has been selected, filtered, and shaped by others. Algorithms can trap people in information bubbles, pull them along with their emotions, and push them toward certain positions. English is the world’s common language, and the internet’s common language, too. If you know English, you can access firsthand information, communicate directly with people around the world, read original sources and research, and understand the full picture for yourself. If you don’t know English, most of what you can read is secondhand information—translated, processed, edited, and colored by the attitudes and biases of those retelling it. What you see is never the whole picture; it’s always the version someone wants you to see. Some people say English is useless; others ask why you should learn it if you’re not going abroad. But you can use English without going abroad: you can browse the internet, watch the news, read academic papers, learn new technologies, and find out what’s happening in another part of the world. In this day and age, not knowing English narrows your channels of information. Much of what you see and hear has been selected and translated by others, and is what they choose to put in front of you. You’re missing a window through which to see the world directly. If you want to learn, just get started. You don’t need excuses, you don’t need to be afraid of the difficulty, and you don’t need to think you can’t do it. Put in three to five years, and you’ll be able to use it. Once you can, the world will look different, your understanding will change, and so will your choices.

Second: Start using AI, beginning with free models. Don’t just ask it a question now and then—make it your external brain, workspace, research assistant, and digital employee. People who don’t know how to use AI will be left far behind in productivity by those who do. AI isn’t a toy, a chatbot, or some passing novelty. It’s a tool, a source of productivity, and a force multiplier. Someone who knows how to use AI can be a whole team, a whole company, and do work that used to take ten or even a hundred people. If you don’t use AI, your competitors do. Your peers do. People who are smarter and work even harder than you do, too. They’re more efficient, produce more, and grow faster. The gap will inevitably widen, and those who can’t keep up will naturally be left behind. Some people say AI is no good, that it’s just artificial intelligence hype, or that it can’t do this or that. Usually, the problem isn’t AI; they just haven’t found the right way to use it or figured out how it works. Whenever a new tool comes along, some people say it’s useless and refuse to accept it. In the end, they gradually get left behind by the times. Learn proactively, use it proactively, explore it proactively, and integrate AI into your work and life. Let AI help you work, think, learn, and earn money. The more proficient you become, the more efficient you’ll be, the more you’ll produce, and the faster you’ll grow.

Third: Build your own personal brand. Be able to create content consistently, establish your own online presence, build automated workflows, and let systems work for you. Relying on just one job for your livelihood is far too risky. In this day and age, no job is absolutely secure; there are no ironclad guarantees and no lifetime safety nets. You could be at work today and laid off tomorrow. The company could be doing fine today and run into trouble tomorrow. The industry could be booming today and in decline tomorrow. Relying on one job and one source of income is too fragile, too risky—it could all fall apart at any moment. When it does, it’s easy to panic and lose your bearings because you have no other source of income, no other fallback, and no other options.

So build your own personal brand, have a side hustle, and create a second income stream. You don’t necessarily have to make a lot of money from it, but you need to have it—you need that capability and that safety net. With a personal brand, you have your own online presence, your own traffic, your own audience, and your own influence. Even if you lose your job, your company goes under, or your industry changes overnight, there’s no need to panic. You can still make a living, earn money, and get by through your personal brand—and do well at it. Start now: choose a direction, keep creating, build an audience, and develop your brand. Don’t rush or worry; take it slowly and stick with it for three to five years. You can make it work. Once you do, you’ll see that having your own personal brand, audience, and influence gives you a sense of security that’s more solid than any job.

Fourth: Keep your assets light, stay debt-free, obtain visas for multiple countries, maintain a steady cash flow in U.S. dollars, and invest regularly in global assets. Being able to leave at any time and start over somewhere else is a person’s ultimate source of confidence. The world is changing too quickly, and there’s too much uncertainty. Things may be fine today and go wrong tomorrow. A place may be peaceful today and face turmoil tomorrow. The money you have today may lose much of its value tomorrow. Putting all your money into a home, one location, or a single type of asset is too risky. If something goes wrong, you may not be able to leave. Your assets could be trapped there: you want to leave but can’t, you want to move but can’t, and all you can do is watch your money lose value, your assets shrink, and your standard of living decline. So keep your assets light, stay debt-free, diversify globally, and make sure you can relocate. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, place all your hopes in one location, or tie your fate to one country, one city, or one home. Get visas for multiple countries, hold dollar-denominated assets, develop a global outlook, and be ready to leave at any time. If things are good where you are, stay. If the place no longer suits you, you can leave and start over somewhere else, where you can still live, earn money, and do well. That is true freedom, true confidence, and true security. These things don’t come from owning a home, driving a car, or having a stable job—all of that is fragile and temporary, and could disappear at any moment. Only your abilities, your understanding, your global outlook, and your ability to relocate truly belong to you. They can’t be taken away, and they are the greatest security you can have in life.

Fifth: Read English-language sources regularly, build your own sources of information in English, and remember that the world is bigger than the Chinese-language internet. Keep learning throughout your life and continually update your mental models. Don’t let algorithms trap you in an information bubble. The information many people see every day is selected by algorithms: it’s what they want to see, what they agree with, and what they’re already familiar with. The more they scroll, the narrower their information diet becomes, the more rigid their thinking gets, and the deeper their biases grow. They’re like people living at the bottom of a well, thinking the sky is only as big as the opening above them. That’s the information bubble—a subtle trap set by algorithms. It makes you comfortable, gives you a little thrill, and makes you feel as though you’re always right. Then, little by little, it keeps you stuck, making you more stubborn and narrow-minded. The way out is simple: seek out information for yourself, read different viewpoints, explore different worlds, and read English-language sources. English-language sources offer richer, more diverse, more comprehensive, and more firsthand information. Once you start reading them, you’ll discover what the world is really like, how many different perspectives there are, and how much you didn’t know. Your understanding expands and your world gets bigger. You’re less likely to be misled, swept along by your emotions, or simply repeat what others say. You’ll develop your own judgment, thoughts, and opinions, and become a truly independent person. Keep learning, updating your understanding, and staying open-minded throughout your life. Don’t assume you know everything or that your understanding is always right. Don’t reject new ideas and perspectives. The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know; the more you grow, the more you recognize how small you are. That’s normal—that’s what growth looks like.

Sixth: Develop a genuine ability to relocate. Don’t be tied down by a job, a home, a social circle, or a relationship. When you want to leave, make sure you really can—so you can go when you choose. Many people talk about freedom and the kind of life they want, but in reality they’re tied down by work, a home, children, relationships, responsibilities, and concern for appearances. They want to leave but can’t; they want to make a change but can’t. All they can do is stay where they are, day after day, grinding away until they’re old and ready to retire. That isn’t living; it’s just going through the motions.

The cage is just a little bigger, and there are no national borders around it—but you still can’t get out, you still have little freedom, and you’re still not in control of your own life. True freedom means being able to leave when you want, stay when you want, do what you want, and refuse to do what you don’t want to do. You need enough money, enough ability, enough confidence, and the means to leave whenever you choose. How do you develop that ability? Earn more, build your skills, keep your assets light, avoid taking on too many burdens, and don’t trap yourself in one place or one way of life. Visit different places, experience different ways of living, and meet different people. You’ll discover how big the world is, how many ways there are to live, and that you don’t have to spend your whole life following a set routine. Once you’re able to relocate, you won’t panic, feel anxious, or be afraid. You’ll know that even if everything falls apart, or you can no longer stay where you are, you can move somewhere else, get by just as well, and start over. That’s confidence. That’s security.