I. Leveraging Resources is Key to Learning

Good day to everyone! Today, we continue with the fifth teaching from Be a Proactive Learner, titled Proactively Using Various Resources. The utilization of resources is paramount to learning. Some might ask, Why two sessions today? Indeed, two sessions are required, with two more scheduled for tonight. Once completed, everyone will be formidable. The red envelope I am giving out this year is quite substantial, filled entirely with confidence. I emphasise that leveraging resources is key to learning. Today, I want to share that, as a scientist writing a paper, do you know how to approach it? By taking what others have done, adding to it, improving upon it by a mere two percent or one percent—that becomes your paper.

Thus, all writing under the sun is essentially a grand act of borrowing. Borrowing is indeed the right approach. You must stand on the shoulders of giants, master what they have learned, and then advance just a tiny step forward. That makes all the difference! Therefore, utilizing resources is learning. If you aspire to be a programmer, you must learn how programmers operate, how programming languages are written. Hardly anything is of your own invention; if you invent something entirely new, it likely won't run. Hence, there is a Chinese idiom called 闭门造车 (bìménzàochē, reinventing the wheel), which is a joke. Imagine saying, Ah, I've invented the wheel. No need to invent it; wheels are ubiquitous on the streets.

Just a few days ago, I experienced this firsthand. I thought, This is quite interesting; there are self-driving taxis here. Let's hail one. And it was truly impressive! So many things are built upon existing foundations, continuously advancing—this is what we call learning. Invention is something different, not learning. What is learning, then? It is learning from others. We learn from others in the first grade, and we continue to learn from others in the sixth grade, the first year of junior high, and the second and third years of high school. It's all learning from others. Can you name anything that isn’t learned from others? University is learning from others, doctoral studies are learning from others, and even professors continue to learn from others. A lifetime of utilizing resources is the most crucial aspect!

You haven’t invented anything, and let me drive that home — everything you know is learned. Therefore, the most important part of proactively learning to solve problems is using learning resources. Finding good resources makes your learning effective; failing to find them renders your learning ineffective. You must deeply ingrain the idea of using resources into your very core. Avoid racking your brains in isolation; even when you do, you're merely contemplating resources created by others, the things written in good materials. As the saying goes, Go for it if you have the conditions. What conditions? Resources. If you lack the conditions, create them. Create the resources. So, I tell you, this is how learning is done. Today, we face a problem, and then we seek out information.

In one of our sister's homes, which is located on the top floor, the water pressure is insufficient. Sometimes, while showering, the water stops mid-shower, only to return intermittently. Is this situation, with its sporadic water flow, a problem? Yes, it is. So how do you learn? See, if you want to solve this problem, you search online and find information about booster pumps. How to connect the booster pump to the pipes—you have to learn that, don't you? After connecting it to the pipes, how do you connect the electricity to the booster pump? You must learn all of this. You can’t solve the problem without learning. To learn, you must find the right booster pump.

When I searched for booster pumps online, one source stated that any booster pump without variable frequency is a 耍流氓 (shuǎliúmáng,耍流氓, playing a rogue). See how strong that statement is? That’s what I learned from others; I didn’t know that. Why? Because a variable frequency pump's speed can increase according to pressure needs. It doesn’t just abruptly surge up when turned on, and then suddenly drop off when the pressure is sufficient. That would be 耍流氓, annoying! So, you need to buy a variable frequency pump. You can’t make a booster pump yourself; you have to buy one. We must buy the right one, so we must learn, explore, and understand. How are conditions created? This is how they are created—through learning.

II. What Learning Resources Are Available to You?

If you still don't know how to learn today, you really deserve a spanking. Do you know why I say that? Learning resources are incredibly abundant today; we’re just a bit lazy. Today's learning resources include our books, various reading platforms, all very inexpensive, and a plethora of materials and websites. You can find any kind of course online, even advanced courses, and they're not expensive. There are even pirated versions, if you can’t afford the genuine ones. They're very cheap, so you can listen, but most people just don’t want to put in the effort. If you want to be a programmer, there is an abundance of online material!

There are also many communities you can join—various groups; and then there is pastoral care in our midst. Aren’t these all your resources? Networks are resources. So, what do you do? You need to know what resources you have at hand. I tell you, if you can explore the products on Taobao, Douyin, and Pinduoduo, you can uncover a wealth of information, and by comparing prices, you can buy the cheapest option. Today, doing research and creating things is very simple. Isn't learning a very simple thing? And there are many different kinds of learning classes.

So, what do you need to learn to solve the problems you face? There’s a great deal of material, completely different from our generation. In our day, buying a Self-Study Series book from the Xinhua Bookstore meant standing in a long queue, and often they were out of stock. Not only did the bookstore have no stock, but our family had no money. These days, resources are incredibly abundant, and in our community, there are even people teaching you how to learn proactively and how to solve problems. If you still don't grow in our midst, you deserve a spanking! If I can’t reach your backside, spank yourself.

III. How to Proactively Use Resources

How to proactively use resources? You must find the resource, so searching for information is the most important skill in this era. This skill has been greatly simplified because of GPT. I've tried it. For example, if I don’t know how to write a certain statement, I ask GPT, and it gives me the statement structure, like database operations, which I can copy and paste directly to use. It writes very well. So, by searching for information, you can find materials, platforms, and things. However, the challenge lies in how to use them. How to proactively use resources? If you're not proactive, if you’re passive, you can’t use them well. Proactivity is an attitude, and it is also a character trait.

Today, our brothers and sisters must know that there are so many books; which one should you read? Some say, I just read novels. What problems can novels solve, unless you want to write one? How to proactively use these resources, find resources, and materials? In the future, we will have proper courses teaching you how to collect information. How to digest information after finding the right material? We will also have corresponding courses teaching you how to read these things. If you get easily frustrated and lose confidence while reading, that also needs to be addressed. It’s not a one-off thing. Finding materials, finding the right materials, it's not a one-off thing; it requires repeated deliberation. For example, what kind of keywords to use. If you still don't know what to do, we have a lot of pastors and co-workers who can help you.

But if you are afraid to ask, that's a problem. Many people are afraid to ask. Let me summarise how to proactively use resources: what do you need to look for? Basically, I'll categorise it for you. First is tools. You need tools to do any job. Programming requires tools, woodworking requires tools, and masonry requires tools. All are tools. Second is materials, third is process, and fourth is skills. Look in these four directions. You want to do something? You find the tools, then you find the materials, use the tools to process the materials, and then follow a process. I tell you, if you find the right information in these areas, you will be amazing. Tools, materials, process, skills—that's how you do work.

Every industry has its classics. Don’t read miscellaneous books. There are too many books. Don’t watch those short videos; you can't learn from short videos. Short videos are deceptive. If you do what they say, you definitely won’t succeed. If I make a short video, don’t believe it either. Why? Because short videos are designed to grab attention; they don’t want people to become smart, they want people to become foolish. They make you think you can do something immediately, but what can you accomplish in thirty seconds? You haven’t even understood it before it’s over. So, find the classics. Did you write down the phrase find the classics? Programming has its classics, woodworking has its classics, and renovation has its classics.

I am talking about proactive learning, finding resources, and then classifying them for you. Many things fall into these categories. If you find treasures, you will be amazing. So, materials and knowledge are there; it's just a matter of whether we can find them. In this age of knowledge explosion, knowledge is everywhere, but you don’t know what is true knowledge and what is false knowledge. Don’t be impatient. Look carefully. Once you find something, digest it well. You might say, How do I tell if a source is good? If you feel that it's written very clearly as you read it, it’s likely a good resource. Classics have this characteristic. If someone writes clearly, but you don’t understand it, it’s because you don’t know how to read. Then start practicing how to read and how to learn from the beginning. In the coming days, we will definitely push everyone to learn how to read.

A few days ago, I mentioned the counselling hotline. Problems came in, and someone said they couldn’t understand the internet, which is my area of expertise. So, I had to teach them how to build a framework. If you want to understand something, you must build a framework, then engage in rough processing—the framework—and then gradually delve deeper. Learning without a framework is muddled learning.

IV. Using Resources is Knowledge and Wisdom

How you use a resource is truly knowledge and wisdom; it really requires learning. So, on one hand, learn proactively to solve problems, and on the other hand, enhance our knowledge and wisdom in using resources. In this operation, there is no such thing as instant success. Effectively using resources means getting the most return in the least amount of time. If you can leverage the resources around you well, in our current environment, you will be very powerful!

We have many accountants in our midst, so I created a group, adding all these accountants to it. After adding them, this became the resource, because there are very skilled accountants in the group, as well as novice accountants and intermediate-level accountants. When people encounter problems, they often ask in the group. Can the skilled accountants explain things clearly? Can the less skilled accountants digest what the skilled ones have explained? So, using resources is knowledge and wisdom. The most important thing to learn is how to use resources. Watching the interactions in that group, I feel that everyone is growing quickly; it’s really good. After you use resources correctly, what happens? Efficiency will increase dramatically. With a significant increase in efficiency, you will be happy, you will have a sense of enjoyment. Therefore, using resources is knowledge and wisdom.

I can’t teach this to you in passive learning; it would be a waste of time. How do I teach it, then? I will guide you through the problems you encounter, and through this kind of counselling, you will realise, Oh, I do it this way; I do it that way. Some people ask me how to join the group. I think we will have many such groups in the future. For example, many small business owners need to manage people—how to manage them, how to motivate them? These all need to be addressed. Human resources, marketing, project management—this learning is all about practicing everyone's faith. You say, Is this still a church? Yes, the church is also a church, teaching you to learn. To teach you is to 教会(jiàohuì, church) you. The church is definitely not just a place to loudly shout Hallelujah. A place where people shout Hallelujah very loudly is problematic! A bunch of people there are full of religious fervor, but don’t do anything practical. Abraham didn't do that, neither did Isaac, Jacob, or Joseph. So, we are learning from the Book of Genesis.

V. Overcoming Psychological Barriers

When you have a poverty mindset, you feel like, Oh, try not to trouble others; oh, don’t let others trouble me. That's a problem! There are also people who care about face(爱面子, àimiànzi), Overcoming these psychological barriers is important. Some people are afraid to ask; they feel ashamed to ask. But ignorance is the most shameful thing! My method is very simple. A few days ago, one of our pastors said, We have someone here who is afraid to ask questions. I said, What will happen if they ask questions? He said, They feel ashamed after asking. Teacher, what should I do? It’s very simple: kick them in, kicking and dragging them. You might think this is a bit harsh, but this is how psychological barriers are addressed. Everyone needs to know that.

I need to slowly teach our pastors this, because many of our pastors don’t know how to kick and drag. I need to teach them. How to overcome this psychological barrier? You see someone standing by the swimming pool, afraid to go in. You kick them in, and after they go in, they find that the water is only knee-deep. What are you afraid of? Nothing to be afraid of. It’s just a psychological barrier. To overcome this barrier, you need pastoral care, accompaniment, and various stimuli. It's simple.

In fact, a psychological barrier is just a lie. Overcoming that lie means rushing through it, like the first person who ate a crab, the first person who ate a tomato. It was an obstacle; they thought it was poisonous. So, to overcome psychological barriers, I need everyone's understanding. When we are helping you overcome these psychological barriers, don’t try to second-guess us, because you are not healthy. What you owe me, what I owe you? Don’t worry about that; that worry is unnecessary. We are very happy as long as we see everyone growing. Otherwise, what else are we doing?

VI. Examples

Let me use the example of home renovation to illustrate how to proactively use resources. Home renovation can be roughly divided into several parts: demolition, general labor, and masonry. If you don’t know this, then learn it now. You say, What does renovation include? There are plenty of resources online that explain it. Today, I will briefly explain it to you. First, design. If you don’t know how to design, go look at the house, what it looks like, what you want it to look like. Look and learn. There are a lot of materials online. If your apartment building is classic, or has been there for a long time, there are floor plans, photos of renovated houses. Just choose one that you like. Simple, isn't it? Using resources.

How to make it look like that? You will find places that need to be demolished. How do you do it? You find people who do demolition work. Or you know someone who can introduce you to a general laborer. The laborer demolishes the walls, and then starts building walls. Dig the required grooves, then run the plumbing and electrical work. After that, smooth the floors and the walls, and install a suspended ceiling. You don't have to do it yourself; hire people to do it. Your job is to find the resources. Where is the laborer? Where are the electrician, the mason, the carpenter, the wall smoother, the drywall contractor, and the bathroom waterproofing expert? Just these.

After you find each of these things, your job is to manage these resources, explore proactively and understand, and you will definitely meet people. After someone is introduced to you, and you know what you want, do you know how much money you can save in this process? Don’t know? Fifty percent! Let me roughly describe this process now. Actually, finding each thing is quite painstaking, but you can save money. Let me calculate it for you. If the renovation costs 200,000, you can save 100,000. Let me ask you, how much labor do you need to earn 100,000? How much time? It's hard to earn 100,000; it takes two years. But you can save 100,000 on a renovation project. Is that 100,000 worth it? Yes. Don't you have to put in the effort? You save 100,000, so you are effectively earning 100,000, because in this way, your money is not spent. I hope everyone understands this to some degree.

How to do these things? It all starts with investigation, understanding, and learning. That’s how to do it. You see, you save 100,000, and you also grow by several tens of thousands. You have knowledge, you have skills, and you understand for next time. You can do the entire 'half-package' deal, or just the labor, and you provide the materials. There are more methods for how you calculate the cost. You calculate and recalculate and figure out how much money something costs. It’s a lot of money saved. You need to put in effort to learn it. You have now become a manager to the renovation company and managed a whole new project. Do you see some learning in this process? You have learned.

I am a person who loves to learn, and people cannot earn my money. Why can’t people earn my money? See, I treat my own illnesses, write my own programs, renovate my own house, eat my own food, and put my own money in my own account, not in someone else's account. How much money do you need in your life? The money you save on things can buy you another apartment. How amazing is that? If you really listen to me, you will really think of me as a someone who can live forever and it is hard for them to get old. Looking at how people live, they can't get old very easily! You see, right now people don't look old at all, and are still very young. Work and labor nourishes the “Yang” (阳, active principle), sleep nourishes the “Yin” (阴, passive principle), and you save money and have peace of mind. You have knowledge, so you have peace of mind. Has everyone learned this now? Learned it. So, that’s the end of our lesson; it was both a sermon and a class.