"My 2020 Summary" | Sanvi - AI & Blockchain Developer

This article is Lu Canwei's 29th original piece.

Last year was a very difficult year for many people, but when viewed over a lifetime, it may just be a moment, so I hope you don't feel anxious.

I recently finished attending Cao Da's year-end class, discussing key decisions and reflections.

Looking back at my 30 years of life, I have made three key decisions. Whether these decisions were right or wrong, at least I believe they were very correct for myself.

The first key decision occurred when I was 15 years old, during my school years. I transferred from the best junior high school in the district to a vocational high school. Later, some issues arose at home, and that year, seeing my parents struggling for me, the young me made my first key decision in life. For most people, the college entrance examination is the first opportunity to change one's fate, but unfortunately, I did not have this awareness at the time, nor did my family. For people from Chaozhou-Shantou, doing business is seen as the only way out. So later, I told my family that even if I worked hard, I could only get into a junior college, and it would be better to allocate resources to my sister, who had better academic performance; having one college student in the family was enough.

The second key decision was when I left my first company and moved to Shanghai. I won't elaborate on how I transitioned from a dropout to entering the internet industry; I spent nearly two years in closed learning, writing code except for eating and sleeping. Later, after more than a year in the industry, I was greatly shocked by an event: a colleague bought a computer from a website called 360buy (which later became the second-largest e-commerce platform in China after Taobao). At that time, almost all transactions were offline, and buying a computer in a computer city could lead to being overcharged; yet, a transaction was completed online. This also led to my decision to come to Shanghai, buying a one-way ticket, marking my first departure from Guangdong.

The third key decision should be from last year, when I transitioned from technology to product management. If I were to reflect on this decision, I believe I should have made it ten years ago. At that time, I experienced several innovative projects within the company, but none of them survived in the end. That was when I began to change my view on technology; I developed the perspective that technology serves business. No matter how perfect the architecture is, it has no value if no one uses it. This also led to my later development as a full-stack engineer, including my subsequent entrepreneurial ventures.

So you might ask if it's too late now. If you look at this question from ten years in the future, would it still be too late? However, this decision is different from the previous two; this time, I did not rely on my feelings. I considered my future plans and consulted some friends and mentors, including product leaders from large companies, executives from unicorns, and some investors, who provided me with advice based on their perspectives and experiences. Once you step out of the technical viewpoint and into other perspectives, you will discover a whole new field, learning a lot of new knowledge. This year, I also plan to spend more time learning about marketing and operations.

So, does transitioning from technology to product mean that your previous accumulation is useless? The books we read and the food we eat ultimately become part of our bodies. Technology may update and change, but the underlying logic is timeless. At least, I won't propose a demand like changing the app theme with the color of the phone case, which would be ridiculous.

Of course, I have made countless poor decisions. For instance, regarding cryptocurrency, I entered the market two years ago when BTC was around 50,000 RMB. At that time, there was a popular project called EOS, which proposed a semi-decentralized concept. I didn't do much research and thought that decentralization was inefficient; semi-decentralization could ensure both efficiency and security, and the existence of certain centralization through node elections made complete decentralization unnecessary. The risk of monopolization by more than half of the nodes would be simpler. Additionally, the project's trustworthiness was questionable, as the initiator had previously abandoned several projects. The risks associated with this project were significant. As everyone has seen, the outcome was not favorable, and I won't elaborate further.

When making decisions, it's important to consult those with experience in the relevant field and value their advice as a crucial source for your decision-making. For example, if you want to start a business and hope to enter the B2B sector, but you seek advice from someone in the B2C sector, their suggestions may not be suitable for you. Therefore, you must find someone with experience and background in that field; if you don't have such people around you, it's worth paying to seek them out rather than paying tuition later.

In the past, I have conducted many reflections during project processes, but I have not properly reflected on my own decisions.

If you do not reflect, you may repeatedly stumble over the same mistakes. Reflection is one of the best ways to enhance your understanding.

I remember back in 2013 when I was starting my business, I had the fortune of meeting Teacher Xiao Lai at Beta Coffee in Beijing. At that time, he was promoting the PiXiu exchange, and that was when I first learned about BTC. However, my initial perception was that this was just Q coins, feeling like a scam. We always judge future things with past thinking to better fit our existing mindset. If I had done a reflection back then, my choice when my friends urged me to enter the market during the 9.4 period would have been different.

The change in habits and thinking is painful and difficult. I used to be very resistant to accepting criticism from others, thinking they were all fools. But in reality, if you find that everyone present is a fool, there are only two possibilities: either everyone present is a fool, or everyone present is not a fool. In both cases, the real fool is you. It's like in a mental hospital; the person shouting "I'm not insane" is the one who will be locked up first.

To avoid being a fool, I created a checklist for my interactions and positive thinking, checking it daily. If I didn't accomplish something, I would deduct a little money, and then I would invest in funds daily.

The biggest gain for me last year was a biography about Deng Xiaoping, which mentioned some of his decision-making patterns. I extracted some parts.

Currently, I conduct reflections on my decisions quarterly to better adjust in a timely manner.

III

In fact, I spent the entire last year not particularly clear about my positioning. Last year, I wrote a total of 29 original articles, basically one every two weeks. The types of articles included reading notes, technology, product analysis, business model analysis, personal growth, social phenomena, etc. This year, I will continue to produce articles in this way, transforming my input into output, hoping to grow together with everyone. I hope to connect with 1,000 loyal fans this year.

Last year, I originally planned to read 12 books, but I have already finished 28. This year, I will consider reading more in economics, psychology, and philosophy, so next year you may see more different types of articles.

Regarding videos, I will also consider picking it up again this year; otherwise, I would really feel sorry for everyone who liked my content. Video accounts are a major trend, and they now support long videos. At that time, I gave up continuing updates because they didn't support long videos, which now seems like a terrible decision.

On the product side, if there are students looking to switch roles, I recommend attending Er Ye's class, which can help you view products from a more systematic perspective rather than just focusing on demands.

For investment and finance, I recommend checking out the "Little Dog Money" series, as I am slowly starting to face improving my financial situation.

This year, another thing I need to do is enhance my public speaking skills.

The past year, 2020, was very difficult, but 2021 will bring even more difficulties and challenges. Here are some of my gains from last year, hoping they can help you.

If you like my articles, please like, share, and follow, so more people can grow with us.