Making big money is about finding yourself first.

What industry is the most profitable right now? Where is the next trend? How can ordinary people break through the social strata?

Even through the screen, I can feel a bubbling sense of anxiety and exhaustion.

In this rapidly changing era, everyone is desperately looking outward, obsessively watching various business trends and technological revolutions, afraid that if they fall behind by even a second, they will be abandoned by the times.

But today, Fei Mao isn’t talking about trends or dividends.

I want to try peeling back the outer layer of wealth and discuss its fundamental operating logic.

First, based on my past experience, seeking answers from outside is doomed to be futile.

Fei Mao’s view is:

In the world of business and real life, the ultimate secret to making big money is never about chasing external trends, but about looking inward—finding yourself earlier than others.

There’s a theory called “Desire to Imitate.”

Giral discovered that humans actually don’t know what they truly want inside.

All our desires are just imitations of those around us.

You see others taking civil service exams and think stability is great, so you go; you see others working at big companies with high salaries and feel glamorous, so you compete; you see others making money through live selling, so you buy a ring light and prepare to livestream.

What’s the direct consequence of this imitation?

It’s armies of people crowding onto the same narrow bridge, trampling each other—that’s the internal competition everyone hates.

In a game rule set that belongs to others, you can only fight by overextending your body and compressing your sleep.

You exhaust yourself, and all you get is a mediocre life of basic sustenance.

Why?

Because you’re using a distorted, cobbled-together “false self” to compete against those naturally suited for this line of work.

This sentence is worth reading many times.

Yes, some people are born with incredible expressive power; some are naturally sensitive to numbers; some have excellent physical coordination; some are born social butterflies, comfortable in social settings…

What you need to build is your own ecosystem.

There’s a concept called “Niche Construction.”

Traditional biology tells us that species must adapt to their environment.

But some species disdain this—they instead reshape the environment to suit their genetic traits.

For example, beavers don’t grow fins to swim fast in rushing rivers. Instead, they gnaw down trees and build dams, turning turbulent streams into calm ponds, perfectly leveraging their swimming advantage.

The way to acquire wealth, at its core, is similar to beavers damming streams.

Making big money is about constructing or finding a micro-ecosystem within this societal machine that perfectly matches your personal traits.

Let me share a case.

What do you think of when I mention Wall Street?

Does it seem like a place filled with suited elites, playing golf daily, analyzing financial reports, schmoozing with executives, trading based on insider info and networks?

But in the 1980s, a middle-aged man named Jim Simons burst onto the scene.

He was originally a mathematician at MIT and Harvard, awarded the highest honors in geometry.

Simons knew exactly who he was.

He was a pure mathematician—introverted, not good at or interested in the fake socializing of Wall Street.

If he tried to imitate traditional fund managers, it would be hard to produce big results.

He didn’t change himself to fit Wall Street; instead, he used his own traits to reshape trading rules.

He founded Renaissance Technologies, with a strict rule: never hire anyone with a Wall Street background.

His team was composed of astrophysicists, codebreakers, and statisticians.

They didn’t look at news or fundamentals, only searched for hidden mathematical patterns in massive historical data.

Using this method, their performance shocked the world.

Simons’ Medallion Fund, over 30 years, achieved an average annual return of over 60%, far surpassing traditional investment masters.

Relying on his absolute loyalty to his identity as a mathematician, he built his own quantitative trading ecosystem and became the undisputed king of quant trading.

Here’s another business oddity. Yvon Chouinard, a blacksmith obsessed with rock climbing.

He was poor and sleeping in a tent outdoors, surviving on canned cat food.

He hated low-quality climbing gear that damaged rock faces, so he started forging his own, aiming to make the best equipment available.

When he had to start a company, he was strongly opposed to the “businessman” label.

He thought most suited-up businessmen reeked of greed.

He didn’t pursue an MBA but decided to run his company as his true self, a “hobo.”

He was one of the first outdoor brands to widely use recycled fabrics (like organic cotton and recycled polyester); he donated much of his income to environmental groups; he even bought full-page ads in newspapers asking consumers, “Don’t buy our jacket unless you really need it.”

This seemingly counterintuitive approach to business turned out to be his most authentic self-expression.

The market didn’t punish him—in fact, it was moved by his extreme authenticity. His company, Patagonia, became a global outdoor icon worth billions.

Chouinard didn’t chase trends; he simply lived fully as himself, and wealth naturally followed him like a shadow.

The neuroscience behind this is that when you do things aligned with your deep genetic and innate nature, your brain secretes a continuous flow of endorphins.

This intrinsic drive enhances focus, resilience, and creativity—qualities that no amount of external motivation or money can buy.

You can’t find your treasure on someone else’s map.

Once you understand this logic, how can ordinary people apply it?

Here are three methods.

Method 1: Use “Asymmetric Pleasure Points” to Self-Scan. The “Self-Determination Theory” emphasizes the power of intrinsic motivation.

Be keen to identify your “asymmetric pleasure points”—those activities that are painfully boring or stressful for others but feel like play and bring you immense joy.

Some people are naturally sensitive to data, enjoying complex spreadsheets as if reading a novel; others love expressing themselves, chatting with strangers for hours without fatigue, feeling energized.

Don’t waste your life trying to fix your weaknesses. Instead, infinitely extend your strengths that produce these asymmetric pleasure points. Remember! That’s your foundation for stability and success.

Method 2: Activate the “Sculptor Mode” and decisively simplify.

Often, it’s hard to see clearly who we are, but we definitely know who we are *not*.

What does that mean?

When someone asks Michelangelo why he could carve the Statue of David so magnificently, he casually said: “David was already there; I just chipped away everything that wasn’t David.”

Take a piece of paper, write down the things you’re doing to please your parents, impress your boss, or conform to society—things that make you feel sick.

Then, make a plan to gradually strip these away from your life.

When you shed all false masks, the remaining core is the real you.

Method 3: Play the “Cross-Disciplinary Puzzle” to Build Your Unique Micro-Ecosystem.

You might think, I don’t have any extraordinary talents, I’m just an ordinary person.

That’s okay—try combining different skills.

Becoming a top player in a single skill track is extremely difficult.

But if you combine three skills or traits you’re above average in, you can achieve big results.

For example, you know a bit of coding, love psychology, and have decent copywriting skills.

Individually, these are average; together, they can make you a product manager developing mental health apps.

Use cross-disciplinary combinations to create a niche with fewer competitors.

Naval once said something profound: “No one can do ‘being yourself’ better than you.”

That really resonated with me!

Too many people stumble around in the maze of wealth, trying to imitate others and grasping at elusive coins. But wealth never favors those with fuzzy personalities or who follow trends blindly. It only bows to those with absolute authenticity.

Stop asking what the outside world wants. Pause. Ask yourself—what have you been passionate about, what makes you excited and blood-pumping?

When you stop performing for others’ eyes, and pour your love, obsession, even quirks into creating value, the whole world will make way for you.

Looking outward is a trap; looking inward is the key to breaking through.

Dig deep into your own goldmine, become that irreplaceable you.

Only when you truly become yourself will everything you desire come rushing toward you in the most comfortable way.