After watching dozens of videos on "how to make over 10,000 a month from side hustles" and "top-tier thinking models," honestly, besides feeding the algorithm, my bank balance hasn't gained an extra zero.

Whether it's about making money or self-improvement, our biggest misconception is thinking that "watching" equals "mastering." The hundreds of valuable resources lying in my favorites are like painkillers for anxiety. Every time I hit the save button, the dopamine rush makes me feel like I've already put in the effort, when in reality, I'm just finding a new way to stay idle.

When it comes to investing, the gurus always tell you to "make friends with time," but when I see my account shrink, all I want is to break up with time. We all get the theory—compound interest, dollar-cost averaging—but when it comes time to actually spend money or when the market crashes, our mindset collapses anyway. Let's admit it: most of us can't make money beyond our level of understanding. If you can avoid being taken advantage of and preserve your principal, you're already ahead of most people.

Stop thinking you need to "pull off a big move" and turn your life around overnight. Every time I swear "starting tomorrow, I'll wake up at 5 a.m. and read for two hours a day," it usually falls apart by the third day. Accept your weaknesses and ordinariness; don't create a perfect script for yourself. Doing one small thing well today—like drinking one less bubble tea or reading two more pages—is much more effective than setting some grand five-year plan.

Life isn't a shonen anime, there aren't that many sudden moments of awakening. Even if you're just crawling forward, as long as you're moving, it's better than standing still and worrying.