Only after burning through tens of millions did I understand the importance of patterns. Before I was 24, I primarily relied on experience and personal effort to start my own business—more accurately, brute force. Until I went bankrupt. After that, I spent almost a whole year reviewing my past. The problem I discovered was that some of my cognitive framework was correct, some was wrong, and even more crucially, I had no idea which ones were wrong. My mistakes almost all stemmed from inertial thinking and faulty assumptions. So, I later tried a new approach: I first assumed I was wrong, overturning my existing understanding. Then I re-learned, using classic texts to rebuild my own cognitive system: everything in the world is governed by patterns. These objective laws are not subject to personal will, nor will they be relaxed simply because you work hard. Since then, I have essentially embraced patterns as the foundation of my cognitive framework, and I no longer easily act based on empiricism or inertia. Therefore, when judging many things, I tend to look for things that remain constant rather than things that change. Once you've found the unchanging laws, using them as your foundation and then exercising your subjective initiative, things will become much easier and smoother.