[0:00]Hi, we've changed the background today. Today, Xiao Lin wants to chat with you about a relaxed topic, but it's very practical. It's about how we learn, how we think. It feels so big, a bit of an empty topic, don't worry, let me tell you slowly. Two days ago, I received a private message saying, "Xiao Lin, when you organize content, how do you find a clear path in the vast and complex information?" Actually, I often receive similar questions, like how I make a piece of content, how to quickly understand an industry. My boss gave me a big project, so much information, where should I start? I don't know why, but I seem to give everyone a very clear image of this way of thinking. So, I did a deep self-reflection, and I found that there are indeed some methods and routines. They have indeed helped me a lot, from studying, working, starting a business, to now making videos. Sometimes you don't even realize I'm using this methodology, but the problem is quickly solved. Don't you think it's that magical? Let's stop wasting time, I'll share it today.
[0:54]We often encounter quite complex things. For example, if I want to do a big project, or if I want to prepare for a Silicon Valley bank. Or for example, I want to open a milk tea shop, right? Many partners, the first thing they do is definitely search online, how to open a milk tea shop. When we face such a vast amount of information, the first problem that arises is where should I start? At this time, I personally feel that the most crucial and difficult point is how you organize this information in your mind to form a framework, to form some lines. This way, once you have a clear understanding of its脉络, it's easier for you to remember and understand. It's like we imagine our brain as our home, our room. If a piece of clothing comes, you know I put it in the wardrobe. If a bowl comes, I know I put it in the kitchen. Every piece of information has its own classified place. For example, some memory masters, how do they remember 52 cards? He might imagine that I've entered a room, this is a spade, probably thinking of someone wearing a black hat holding a knife. He would imagine this spade, and after walking through a room, he would remember all 52 cards. So, you see, whether we built a house for ourselves or found the relationship between these numbers, it's all about finding a connection among these complex pieces of information, which is this structure. Pay attention, the main point has been made. To summarize, it is actually a structured way of thinking. Don't look at this word, it sounds like it's very simple to structure, but you will slowly find that those with strong logical thinking and learning abilities, they are subtly using this method to learn, think, and solve problems.
[2:09]For example, if you want to quickly understand a country's economy, the most important thing is to look at GDP, prices, which is CPI, and employment situation. Within GDP, it will also be divided into consumption, exports, investment, etc. And if you want to look at a country's policies, it's nothing more than fiscal policy and monetary policy. These policies will link to the secondary market, including the stock market, bond market, currency market, derivatives, etc. It looks very complicated, but if you use this framework, it becomes clear. Including why we like watching Luo Xiang's videos. Every time, it's well-reasoned and clearly structured. From your perspective, you might just hear a segment, like Zhang San did something today, committed an A-law or a B-law. But in Luo Xiang's mind, there's a framework, with A, B, C, D, E, F, G laws, and each law has certain provisions. So, when we encounter a new field, the key is not to learn a specific legal provision, but to first establish a knowledge framework. This way, when you have this framework, whether it's understanding new information, expressing it to others, or adding new information technology later, you can add it to this existing framework, which will help you understand it more quickly. It's like all the knowledge and information in your mind, it's like a tree. Every time new information comes, you know which branch it's on, and slowly your tree will become lush and deep-rooted, and your knowledge system will become richer. But if you don't have such a tree, every time you get a leaf, you write it down. Every time a leaf comes, you write it down. Even if your memory is good, when you look for information later, it's just a pile of leaves, which is very troublesome, and it's very likely to be blown away by the wind. In summary, when we want to learn a new system, understanding the framework of this system, or the entire knowledge network, may help us more than meticulously digging into a specific knowledge point. Well, the next more important question comes. How to build this framework? First of all, I think the most obvious point is that you can refer to an existing framework. Because in most cases, the knowledge we want to learn is not something I, like Einstein, am going to research, a problem that no one has ever thought about. Eight out of ten, someone has already thought about this, or written a book, or solved it with a course. So, standing on the shoulders of giants will save you a lot of time. For example, if I want to talk about some interest rate videos, the laziest way is, I'll take a textbook, right? I'll see how others explain it. I don't even need to read every detail specifically, you just extract the catalog or framework. This can help you organize your thoughts first. Or, if you want to save trouble, if you want to quickly understand it, my usual approach is to find some credible information sources, and then search for things like "one article to understand something" or "eight minutes to clarify some framework". Find these types of articles to first help yourself establish this way of thinking and system. Of course, you can now directly ask AI for reference. Now it's certainly not 100% correct, but as you ask it step by step, it can really help you sort out these questions and frameworks. And now that it's evolving so fast, it will also become more and more perfect.
[4:43]That is to say, when we are in a state of chaos with a lot of information, our primary goal is to clarify our own thinking and framework. So, you must suppress yourself from wanting to read those news, gossip, rumors. You might just glance at the title and know, "Okay, Silicon Valley Bank went bankrupt, so-and-so might acquire it." That's it. You don't need to specifically understand this information, otherwise you'll be a walking encyclopedia of gossip all day long. It's not that it's completely bad, but we're trying to build a knowledge system, right? So, we can lean towards the former.
[5:13]Actually, the structure of this tree doesn't necessarily have to be like our textbooks, with big chapters, sections, and subsections, where every knowledge point feels particularly complex. No, because the main purpose of this knowledge book is to help us understand knowledge and remember this information. So, it can be very simple, just a line, even if it's strange, it doesn't matter, as long as it's useful to you. In fact, in every video I make, I spend the most effort, or rather, the most brain cells, not on carefully checking every story, every piece of data or detail, but on building this tree, this framework. And then stuffing in all that information, gossip, and facts. This way, the line can be more enriched. Okay, let me talk about how I usually organize this framework system. The first trick, which I find very useful, is to ask more questions, to continuously question layer by layer to dig out this knowledge system. For example, last time I was preparing for the Silicon Valley Bank, the two most original questions I had were: First, what exactly happened? What exactly is going on? That is to say, why did SVB collapse? The second question is, how big is its impact? Is it as crazy as the media is hyping it up, feeling like a crisis is coming? You dig down, and you'll see a lot of things. Then you find the direct reason is that it announced the sale of bonds and needed financing. The fundamental reason is that it held long-term bonds. Then I have a question. Why do these long-term bonds suddenly become so risky? You dig further down, oh, it turns out it has a lot of MBS. It has negative convexity, so the interest rate environment led to high risk. Does it not manage risk then? Why is there such a big risk? Oh, it turns out it really doesn't manage risk. The root cause is found. You see, it doesn't even have a CRO. Hey, this story is quite complete. And on the other hand, how big is the impact? In the process of searching, I found some measurements of scale. Some might be measurements of post-event impact, including whether other banks have these problems. What might happen later? What will the government do? Right? These will all generate a series of questions. You just follow this and investigate. Of course, these contents will not necessarily all be presented, and some trade-offs will be made. But by continuously questioning layer by layer, you can actually build this framework system. I personally feel that asking why in this way is sometimes a shortcut for thinking, because it can help you investigate this problem with a purpose. This way, you can eliminate a lot of irrelevant information. We actively search for the question we want to search for. You first exclude those passive information. I'll extend it a bit, that is, this way of asking why layer by layer. In many cases, the problems we face can be solved in this way. For example, many partners ask Lindsay, "How do I analyze a company?" Or, "I want to see how this company increases profits." Like opening a milk tea shop, right? How to increase the profit of a milk tea shop? This is the most concerned question for many milk tea shop owners. I can also solve it by following this line of thought. For example, I look at how profit is composed, revenue minus cost, right? If I want to increase profit, I reduce costs and increase efficiency, right? How can I increase efficiency? I can consider from several angles. Either I increase the unit price, or I increase the sales volume. For prices, either increase the unit price of a single product, or increase the total price per purchase while keeping the unit price constant. For example, I can bundle sales, I can do full discounts. For volume, how do I do it? On one hand, I can increase the number of users, so I attract new customers, advertise, etc. Or I can let everyone increase repeat purchases. I can give you a membership card, buy 10 get 1 free, right? You see, all those routines you usually see gradually enter this knowledge framework. This way, when you encounter this problem again, you're not facing scattered information like, "Oh, I need to find a celebrity endorsement," but rather, there's a systematic framework. How do you go step by step to think about this problem in each link? Okay, my second trick is to sort out its脉络 along a timeline. I personally feel that this is very common in many liberal arts subjects like economics, culture, etc. For example, I've done a lot of national economics videos. This line of thought is actually to sort it out according to the timeline. Why do I think the timeline is also a good trick? Because a thing develops to the present. For example, ChatGPT, it has now formed. A country's economy, it may be very complex. I can't understand it, and everyone can't understand it. But if I turn back time to 10 years ago, to 100 years ago, and start from its beginning. At this time, I can understand it well, and everyone can understand it well. Then you follow this line of thought to explore how it developed step by step. This way, your framework will be built, right? But you say, according to the timeline, I can't possibly understand a country's everything from hundreds of years ago to now, right? What should I do at this time? I have another trick, which is that I can find some result-oriented data. Through this, I can see which time period this country has had some big fluctuations or big events. Then, through that event, I go deeper into some specific reasons. This is based on data. For example, when we talk about the Russian economy, you see its GDP began to grow rapidly from the beginning of 2000. Then you definitely have to dig into the reasons why, right? You'll find that it was when oil prices rose. You'll find that its correlation with energy prices is so high, and you'll realize that Russia is so dependent on energy. Including what we just talked about in Turkey, it's a similar method. You'll find that after 2000, its inflation rate plummeted. Then you go back and dig for the reasons behind it. Oh, it turns out there was a period of reform then. Then you say, can something so important not be talked about? The same thinking, when we research the development of a company, it's actually the same. You can look at results-oriented, mainly stock prices, right? Because you hear a lot of news about companies, various kinds of news. Some gossip about the boss, some may be competitors creating rumors. But how can you find the market's true reaction to it? Then you look at the stock price. This is results-oriented, right? If the stock price doesn't change much, it means that the market's actual feedback on this is not that big. Especially now, with various self-media reports, every day there's a bombshell, a shocking piece of news, which car hit someone again, what's going on, it feels like a big deal. But actually, how big is the impact of this? You need some data or objective things to prove it. At this time, it is more results-oriented data that can support your judgment on which information or events are truly crucial and important.
[10:26]Okay, just now we talked about checking data, and many friends also asked me what the sources of various data are. I've listed them all here. You can refer to them if you're interested. Also, when checking data, my personal opinion is to try to find first-hand information. For example, if I want to analyze a country, I look at the country's most basic GDP, CPI, employment rate, etc., these most basic data. If I want to analyze a company, I might go more to look at some company's annual reports, that is, first-hand materials from the company, or interviews with the founders themselves. From these bottom-level information, it's easier to dig out the essence of the matter. I myself have a fairly common way of thinking. Of course, this may not be as much in preparing content. It's more about when I usually solve problems, it's a way of thinking according to steps or processes.
[11:09]For example, how many steps does it take to put an elephant in the refrigerator? Right? Open the door, put the elephant in, close the door. This is relatively simple. But actually, more complex things are the same. How should Xiao Lin's milk tea shop market? At this time, it is also a process-oriented thinking. You think about how a customer buys from Xiao Lin's milk tea shop step by step. First, he has to go through an initial acquaintance process. He has to know about the milk tea shop, right? Maybe he got to know it through a video or something. Then he has to build trust with me little by little. Finally, complete a purchase and conversion step. So, if I want to improve the overall marketing effect, I can start from these few steps or links. For example, how can more people know me? I can advertise, I can show up more on social media, etc., etc. How to build trust in the middle? For example, I can invite celebrity endorsements. I can be more active on social media. Finally, how to complete the conversion? I can do some promotions, like full discounts. I can also show up more on social media, tell everyone to quickly buy Xiao Lin's milk tea, right? So, why do up-masters' ads work well? Haven't you noticed that he has infiltrated this entire segment? Including many problems that many people may find headaches, like how do I find my soulmate? It is actually also a process of steps. You must first know this person, then build trust with him, and finally successfully confess. If you want to increase your chances of finding the other half, you have to know how to increase every step of this funnel. Find people through apps, through gatherings, through referrals from friends and family. How to build trust? You send more gifts, date more people, go out to eat and watch movies. How to increase the chance of confessing? Bring a flower. If you succeed, you succeed. If you don't succeed, go back one step. These are some of the framework ideas that I use relatively often. You may have initially built only very small frameworks, or a linear logic. But as these knowledge slowly form a system in your mind, they will gradually connect and become a lush tree, or a network-like thing. This is what many big shots are like. They may not remember many details, but the final framework in their mind is the most valuable thing. So you feel that whatever you ask, he seems to be able to answer. For example, if I want to understand the money-making model in the internet field. At this time, someone might tell you about the eight major tricks to make money on the Internet: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. But another person might tell you that the ultimate model of the Internet is nothing more than A, B, C. Are these two people completely different? So when we ask questions, if you ask big shots questions, you may also try your best to dig out those related to the framework. Because the details, you can search online and find them. But what you really can't find online is the knowledge tree in the minds of big shots.
[13:20]Okay, finally, I want to share two small habits that I think are quite useful, which is when organizing frameworks. First, when I read long articles or papers, I usually read them twice. The first time, I ignore all the details that can be ignored, and just look at the big framework. For example, when studying Silicon Valley Bank, I saw such an article called "One Article to Understand: What Happened to Silicon Valley Bank? How Big is the Impact? Wall Street Journal." Isn't that great? It fits the framework well. I'll first look for the key framework information I want. First, the abstract briefly explained the main reason. Who is Silicon Valley Bank? What are its holdings? This looks quite good. Here's its net cash flow data. This looks quite useful. I'll extract it. What kind of bonds does it hold long-term? Here's its balance sheet, a detailed data. This looks quite good. Then the root cause of the later losses. You see, this is the simplest and clearest path. After reading it, you'll know why it lost money. Then when organizing later, I'll add the specific details I want to know according to the specific problem. The second point is that when we have an output环节, it can greatly increase the efficiency of our knowledge absorption. That is to say, when I make videos myself, I naturally have this advantage, I must output. But I think, in our daily life, study, and work, it's actually the same. That is to say, when we review, you can close your book, and then take a piece of paper, and write down how these knowledge points are connected, this脉络. This actually helps you deepen and consolidate your memory. Or when you're at work and need to do a project, you finally make a presentation, right? That forces you to output, then you organize those things. So, if no one is forcing you, if you want to remember this, we can add this small segment for ourselves.
[14:48]Well, we've talked so much today, and drawn so much. Look, we've zoomed it all out, look. This is actually the tree we talked about today. You just look at the black part, which is our main trunk. You just look at this main trunk, and you can slowly recall all the branches and details. Right? But you might not understand my writing, but it doesn't matter, it's my writing, I can understand it.
[15:11]Every time we encounter new information, knowledge, or content, either you build a new tree, or you make the existing tree more lush. Then you'll find that the more trees you build, the easier it is for you to build this tree when new information comes. This is why we often say someone is amazing, or some big shot says, "This person really has a build-up of knowledge." We've changed the background today. You watched Xiao Lin's video today, and you remembered one word, which is: tree. That's right, that's my goal today. Let's listen.
