The city cannot shelter the body.
The hometown cannot shelter the soul.
Hello, I am Bicong (Bitcoin Beginner), Zhan Qiangwei.
A nonprofessional programmer writing daily, bringing you crypto stories every evening at 21:50.
Day 7 of serious writing.
Lately I have liked two words: “boundaries” and “cognition”.
Wikipedia describes a boundary as a geographical line dividing areas or territories under different authorities, marking their extent. It can separate cities, but boundaries have many other meanings.
There are boundaries of the internet, economics, knowledge, and the humanities. Content entrepreneurship and independent and new media are flourishing, quickly popularizing knowledge boundaries. Yet there are two very different approaches to those boundaries.
On one side are people blindly chasing endless choices: countless open courses and paid knowledge products, without knowing what they lack. They subscribe to paid content and download N apps, but stick with very few. They resemble people who love buying books but not reading them, or saving URLs they never revisit.
On the other side are people with clear goals. They know what knowledge or life experience they want. Before consuming content, they ask: “What is my purpose?” and “Will this video, article, or book help?” Knowledge Planet, Dedao, Zhihu Live, Ximalaya, The Economist Global Business Review, and Google are not all suitable for everyone. What suits you is what you can keep using.
Boundaries lead to cognition. Wikipedia describes cognition in psychology as acquiring knowledge through concepts, perception, judgment, or imagination: the mental function of information processing. It can be natural or artificial, conscious or unconscious, so anesthesiology, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, systems science, and computing analyze it with different focuses and contexts. Cognition has many facets: a kindergartener's is simple, a middle-school student's multifaceted, and an adult's changeable. With age come more experiences and different perspectives.
At a certain level of understanding, people no longer see only a simple question. Consider someone selling soy milk and buns in the CBD around 10 each day. Person A asks what there is to study about a bun seller. Person B wonders why the seller can turn up every day while they cannot consistently exercise or learn English. Person C thinks the thriving business must have a secret: tasty buns, generous soy milk, or a friendly owner with a good reputation. Three people, three views. As with a thousand Hamlets in a thousand eyes, everyone is unique.
The pursuit of success takes much effort. You may think of quitting or feel persistence is not worthwhile. But staying with anything long enough brings gains, often unexpected: regular exercise improves fitness, reading provides shared topics with friends, and frequent film viewing could lead to becoming a renowned critic. Persistence takes substantial time and may bring rejection or dislike. So what? Being happy matters most.
I have run “Bitcoin Beginner” on Toutiao for over a year. Followers exceed 20000 on Toutiao, website registered users 17000, Baijiahao 8400, WeChat 4900, and another 20000 across Twitter, Penguin, NetEase, Zhidian, Jinse, Bihu, and Huobi information. It has been a bumpy journey. As a backend programmer, I knew nothing about operations. With no views or recommendations initially, I persisted until readers came and recognized the work, which made me happy. Then one day my account lost points. With no income, I felt like quitting, switched to a new account, and continued blockchain articles. Users grew gradually. Later I logged into the old account and found a message asking why I no longer posted articles or updates. Someone was still waiting! I resumed despite no income. After over half a year, original-content privileges arrived and earnings returned. Perhaps that is persistence.
During last year's Two Sessions, many cryptocurrency accounts were banned, including my “Bitcoin Beginner”. Losing the channel and income hurt. I quickly registered a smaller account and resumed writing, but follower growth was slow, and I feared Tencent banning it again. I built and ran a small website in parallel to convert users. Perhaps my understanding was limited to immediate small profits: I did not understand community operations or business. The website still grows slowly with no major breakthrough. When your ability is insufficient, read more to fill the gaps. But missed chances are gone; there is no returning to the past.
After a year I remain confused about what I seek. I write code and articles daily, revived the “Bicong Finance” WeChat account, and built a mini-program, an app (iOS under review), and a web version. Because my introductions promise posts at 21:50, a follower asked the other day whether I would post. I replied that I was taking an exam, feeling embarrassed and moved: people still wait for my imperfect articles. “Do not lightly promise what you cannot do” finally makes sense. Perhaps I too fail to persist or keep my word. I do not know whether my persistence is right, but I need something to sustain it. Quiet reflection helps: perhaps an article brings someone a tiny new understanding. That is a small achievement. However insignificant, at least we tried.
One month remains before 2019. I have not kept up many things, but have written daily blockchain commentary for a friend for almost two months, run nearly 50 kilometers at night, and tracked expenses in Suishouji for 1208 days. A recent post said morning running is addictive; perhaps I should switch and defeat my habit of getting up late. Maybe this is persistence. It has brought no great returns, but I hope future articles help you and I can continue even without profit, as a hobby. We all need something to do in life!
Boundaries, cognition, and an idea that can earn money.
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Risk warning: all Bicong articles express personal views and are not investment recommendations. Contact the official channel with concerns. Investing involves risk; consider your risk tolerance, investigate projects thoroughly, and make careful decisions.
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Bicong (Bitcoin Beginner), Zhan Qiangwei: contracted Huobi information author and columnist on Jinse Finance, Qianke, Toutiao, Penguin, Jiamiquan, 32know, Zhidian, Bihu, and other platforms.
