Recently, I’ve been thinking about a question: why do some people stay unhappy no matter how hard they try, while others can live lightly and freely? The answer may be more direct than you think—simply put, it comes down to the gap in their ability to make money.

This isn’t a brand-new topic, but many people really haven’t thought it through. Look at hospitals, real estate, education—what isn’t driven by money? When you don’t have money, you have no say here. Instead, people with money have all kinds of choices. That’s just how realistic the world is.

I’ve noticed a pattern: many people spread their energy too thin—obsessing over connections, caring about feelings, chasing an image. So what happens? The bad thunder that’s supposed to come still comes, and the failures that are supposed to happen still happen. The root cause is that they never solved the core issue of making money. If you dig deep enough into most troubles, anxieties, and being looked down on by others, you’ll find the root is “a lack of money.”

When you’re short on money, you’ll find that your kindness is worth nothing. Others will pick at your flaws, mock you, and blame you for why you’re living such a miserable life. But as soon as you start earning money, everything flips—on the same words and actions, in other people’s eyes you suddenly become confident, refined, and full of ideas. This is just the rule set of society.

The rich can freely command and allocate resources and rise to influence in society; the poor, meanwhile, are arranged and controlled in all sorts of ways. The essence of competition is for resources. People who don’t earn money or create value get looked down on at work and also get disrespected at home. Without independent money-making ability, you can only attach yourself to others, constantly needing to read people’s faces.

I’ve seen too many people get stuck by “concerns” (what they’re afraid to do). Their moral sense is too strong—they always say, “I can’t do this” and “I can’t do that.” The result is that they’re stuck in place forever, and by the time they reach their seventies or eighties, they’re still exactly the same. Asking them to make money is more uncomfortable for them than peeling off a layer of skin—every kind of excuse, every kind of negative emotion—until, in the end, they sink into self-doubt.

The biggest obstacle, in fact, is “wanting face.” Many people don’t understand that “not caring about being shameless” is just another way of saying “no self”—a very high level of life. People who truly can get things done never worry about whether they look good. They only care about how to get the job done. As for those who make big money—basically, they’re not “good people” in the usual sense. But step by step, they grow their businesses, so that both they and their families can live well.

I especially agree with a line: in this era, if a person is hardworking, eager to learn, and humble, how could they not be able to make money? People who can earn big money are truly scarce. Because earning money reflects a person’s overall capability—your mind, emotional intelligence, resilience, and execution. These are not things ordinary people can compare with. Those who look very hardworking and very smart but still can’t make money? If you go deeper, they’re basically just “paper tigers.”

Making money is, in essence, the best kind of practice (self-discipline). That real, effortless feeling all comes from past tension and high intensity. The radiant days are always the result of challenging yourself again and again. Once you’ve tasted what it feels like to earn money, you can never go back to a life of passive waiting—being arranged by others.

So my advice is very simple: put all your energy into making money. Doing too many things unrelated to earning money will only bring endless worries. If you ignore making money, what awaits you is only being at the mercy of life.