A person’s life is ups and downs, some people counterattack, and some people do nothing. People who used to stand on the same starting line seem to work hard, but the gap has been multiplied a few years later.
Because it is the key choices at the intersection of life that determine the basic direction of life, and these choices determine your life structure in the next few years or even more than ten years.
Therefore, more important than diligence and hard work is your top-level design ability for life. Hope this article can bring you new thinking.
1
Top-level design capabilities
Is advanced productivity
When I first started writing, my habits were not very good. Simply put: from bottom to top.
When I write an article, the starting point is often a certain inspiration, a certain sentence or a certain detail.
Then, sentences are expanded into paragraphs, paragraphs are expanded into modules, and modules are expanded into articles—just like a branch, which grows into a lush tree step by step.
This is the most convenient way for me. I stay in my comfort zone, driven by inspiration and effortlessly.
But this method has a serious problem: only trees are seen, but forests are not seen.
My attention has been turned on the local details, there is no macro vision, no overall pattern. After chewing on the words, searching for chapters and extracting sentences, I wrote for a long time, and found that I was running off the road, unhappy and dissatisfied, and then had to overthrow and rewrite.
It wastes time and hurts morale.
It’s like building a building: it was supposed to build the shelves first, then lay the bricks, and then paint… I came up to build bricks and worked very hard. Then I saw that the building was crooked. Come on, overturn it and start over.
Obviously, this is not the correct posture, this is not advanced productivity.
2
Take the whole picture
To have God’s perspective
So, what is the correct posture? From top to bottom.
Make the structure of the article first. With the outline skeleton, follow the veins and fill it with flesh and blood.
Before the structure is completed, there is no need to think too much about the local details; and when the structure is completed, you only need to focus on the details.
A good structure includes:
- The central idea of each module;
- The beginning and end of each module;
- What does this paragraph group mean;
- How much space should be allocated for that paragraph group;
- Where to do excessive convergence;
- Where to put a golden sentence;
- …
Make it all, that is, put it in a piece of A4 paper. Micro-speech and a few strokes, but clear and distinct at a glance.
A lot of glitch details are masked. You learned to jump out of the painting and look at it. You will never “see the trees but not the forest” again- this structure is your forest.
Withdrawing from the trivial words and sentences, your attention is finally focused on what is really important: looking at the logic of the upper and lower levels, looking at the organization of the material, looking at the succession and transformation, looking at the highlights and themes… These are the keys to determining the quality of the article.
The eyesight is brighter and the thinking is clearer.
You take the overall picture, and you have a “God perspective”-a simplified version of the “God perspective”. It feels like playing “StarCraft” in full screen.
This is an “industrial revolution”-style technological upgrade: I went from small peasant operations in the feudal era to steam production in the industrial era.
After passing the “slight discomfort” in the initial stage, I enjoyed the great benefits of the new posture: the rhythm control was more skillful, and the writing efficiency was greatly improved.
I no longer “write first and then talk”, no longer “take one step at a time”, and no longer run around like a headless fly.
When I am ready to write, I should know what this article looks like: what is the quality, whether there will be a burst of money, and I also guess that it is inseparable-the heart is like water and you are in control, what a cool experience.
In fact, when I later wrote the article, most of my energy was spent on “structuring.” If the structure is completed, writing will be very smooth and fast, without much blockage, smooth and free, and can be completed in fragmented time.
In my understanding, writing an article is essentially just two things: structure and expansion. The top-level design is done, and the result is twice the result with half the effort.
3
Top-level design
Is lasting competitiveness
I am an official account. If I want to have lasting competitiveness, what is the unshakable “national origin”?
Is it a golden sentence of inspiration? Time is ruthless to all the vultures.
Is it a flash in the pan? Who remembers what was written in the article on the screen last year?
What is important is top-level design capabilities.
When I identify the official account as a “decade project”, when I am ready to get hands-on, I have to think clearly about its structure, such as infrastructure, business ideas, expected difficulties, brand building, readers, ultimate vision, etc.
Make a decision and then move, and then make a move is to play systematically.
In 2000, Bill Gates stepped down as Microsoft’s CEO and only served as the company’s Chief Software Architect.
That’s right, it’s called “chief architect” , not “chief coder”-at this point, it doesn’t matter whether a certain code is concise and beautiful; whether the programming language is C#, C++ or Java is no longer important.
For five thousand years, no matter how civilized, a generation of great talents can do it. Not many people can have Deng’s strategy.
The reason why Deng Gong is great is not that he built a building and repaired a road, but that he completed the structural design of reform and opening up. Duke Deng’s Chinese characteristics unlocked the steering wheel of the times. Forty years of Chinese dividends have benefited two generations.
Only in this way can it be called “the chief designer of reform and opening up.”
4
Exhausted manager
Not a good manager
There is a word in finance called “structured”: to do a fixed increase project, one inferior and two priorities, in fact, a three-fold leverage. Both gains and losses have been tripled. If equipped with a mezzanine, the style of play is more flexible and sexy.
The essence of structure is leverage. Archimedes said, give me a fulcrum, I can move the earth. Leverage is the essence of finance.
The essence of management is actually leverage.
You are very strong and powerful, but you only have 24 hours a day.
So you leveraged the 24 hours of the four VPs under you; VPs have their own 24 hours of leveraging the directors… They are responsible step by step, with distinct levels, stems and branches grow from roots. The huge enterprise machine rumblingly came into operation.
What should the leader do?
Use resources, build order, and structure.
There is no pattern.
Zhuge Liang was cautious all his life, and he had to do everything personally. He even had to personally take care of how many boards he made when punishing a person. No wonder Sima Yi said, “How can it last for a long time if there is more and less food.”
A tired manager is not a good manager. Either he does not have the concept of top-level design, or he does not have the ability to do top-level design.
Good managers have to build structures, establish order, and let the machines run rumblingly. If it doesn’t work well, just put some lubricating oil and repair it.
The company spends a lot of money to ask you to be an executive, not for you to do miscellaneous tasks.
5
Work hard to decide the details
Structure determines the overall situation
Effort is a precious and extremely important quality. It is something that each of us should practice and pursue diligently. You can’t emphasize it too much.
And above hard work, there is a higher dimension: top-level design.
A person’s life is ups and downs, with success and failure. The difference between winners and losers is thousands of times, but their efforts are not so different.
Because it is just a few key choices that determine the basic direction of your life.
For example: college entrance examination, application of volunteers, graduation to work, marriage, buying a house, immigration…Of course, there is also reincarnation.
At these key points in life, the moment you make a decision, your life structure for the next few years or even more than a decade has been determined.
All you have to do is to go down the path, faster or slower, sooner or later, or extensive or detailed, or embarrassed or elegant.
Today, ten years ago, when you decided to give up BAT and join an operator as an IT engineer, or when you decided to marry a man who was addicted to alcohol and gambling, or when you decided to buy two apartments in Beijing International Trade Center… the basic outline of your life, Has been roughly outlined.
As for whether the graduation reply was high or low, last month’s performance was A or C, whether to go to bed and get up early every day… These minor details are irrelevant to the overall situation and are not worth mentioning.
Efforts determine the details, and the top-level design determines the overall situation.
You have never seen a coal miner who eventually grows into a coal boss because he is able to dig coal, fast and well.
You have never seen a Didi driver who finally boarded Forbes because he drove hard and kept sleeping.
Once the structure is finalized, it is going in a certain direction. It’s just a matter of fast or slow, sooner or later.
Never take your own shortcomings and attack others’ strengths. Strategy is more important than tactics.
You can’t have both fish and bear paws. If you choose this one, you must give up that one. The mark of an adult is to understand that everything has a price.
As the “Decapitated Queen” said, “At that time, I was too young to know that all the gifts given by fate had already been secretly marked.”
What if one day, you walk halfway, suddenly feel upset and regret it, and want to change your path, what should you do?
Smash the structure, clear the accumulation, and overthrow it all over again. Just like when I wrote the article at first-the cost is very high, everything has a price, you can think clearly.
“Diligence” is certainly an extremely important quality, but a higher level than him is “top design.” The latter is compared with the former, which is the so-called dimensionality reduction strike.
So, always remember that your top-level design ability is more important than hard work.
