As long as I haven't realized it myself, you can't give it to me. If you give it to me, I also can't hold on to it!

Recently re-watching “The Way of Heaven,” I saw Ding Yuan Ying do some calculations with Rui Xiao Dan, which very well explains why ordinary people generally can’t hold onto money earned by luck.
This calculation is arguably the most brilliant business lesson in the entire series.

Ding Yuan Ying told Rui Xiao Dan, “With your conditions and resources, as long as you work hard, you can earn 10 million in 15 years.”
Ding Yuan Ying himself is a typical business genius, earning a dividend of 5.14M marks from private equity funds, which, converted into the RMB of that time, is a number that ordinary people couldn’t earn in their lifetime.
So, when he says this, he’s definitely not just making empty promises.

Then, he gave Rui Xiao Dan two pieces of advice: the first about learning, and the second about borrowing money to buy a house.
These two pieces of advice seem to be about money on the surface, but in fact, they hide a very important underlying logic.
Once you understand it, you’ll find it can almost explain 90% of the phenomena about making and losing money in life.

Rui Xiao Dan’s father is a well-known director, her mother is an actress, and she herself grew up in Frankfurt, naturally familiar with both Chinese and Western cultures.
These resources are there, but if Rui Xiao Dan doesn’t realize how to use them, they are just resources and will never turn into money.
What Ding Yuan Ying does is help her see clearly where her advantages are, where market demand is, and then connect the two.
This is the power of cognition.

The first piece of advice Ding Yuan Ying gives is: don’t aim for job hunting and employment; learn whatever is useful. Having a degree isn’t that important.
In the book “Finite and Infinite Games,” a concept is introduced.
Author James Carse divides life into two types of games: one is finite, aiming to win; the other is infinite, aiming to keep the game going.

Clearly, job hunting is a typical finite game—you submit resumes, attend interviews, get offers, and the game ends.
Then, real growth and creation are infinite games—they have no end, only continuous iteration.
What Ding Yuan Ying sees is that too many people turn infinite games into finite ones.
Education is a stepping stone, but after opening the door, then what?
Once laid off, you realize that the skills you’ve accumulated in the workplace are worthless elsewhere.

This is what Ding Yuan Ying is worried about.
It’s not that education is useless, but that it reminds us of an easily overlooked question: many people treat means as ends.
Education is a tool, not a goal. If you study just for a degree, or work just for a resume, you might end up with nothing in the end.
What is truly smart?
It’s to focus on learning real skills. Once you have enough ability, you won’t need to look for a job; opportunities will come to you naturally.

The second piece of advice Ding Yuan Ying gives is:
“I lend you five million, at 3% annual interest, to be repaid in full after fifteen years, with principal and interest totaling 8B.”
You use this money to buy a house in Berlin.
He calculated this very clearly.
The depreciation of the house is calculated at 2% annually, so over fifteen years, it’s 1.5 million.
Plus, the interest over fifteen years is 2.25 million, making the absolute risk 3.75 million.
Why does Ding Yuan Ying make the risk so clear?
Because this isn’t a gift for Rui Xiao Dan, but the price she pays for standing firm.
The logic behind this is that any wealth acquisition has conditions.
If you think it’s a pie falling from the sky, you’ll eventually choke on it.
Only when you can bear the risk and do the math can this thing truly belong to you.

Then, Xiao Dan asked a very realistic question:
“What if five years from now you think I’m too old?”
Ding Yuan Ying’s answer is textbook-level:
“Possible. And not just that—maybe five years from now you’ll find me mediocre, or maybe one day you’ll kick me out of the house.
But that doesn’t affect the independent debt and credit relationship, nor does it change the facts today.”
This response, on the surface, seems to be about feelings, but in reality, it’s about a deeper truth:
Your value is never something others don’t dislike; it’s supported by your own ability.
No matter what happens in five years—whether love or breakup—if you have your own skills and capital to stand on, you don’t have to fear being kicked out.

Xiao Dan’s line is the highlight of the entire series:
“As long as it’s not something I realize, you can’t give it to me.
If you give it to me, I still can’t hold onto it.”
It sounds a bit convoluted, but after careful thought, you’ll find this is an unbreakable law of wealth.

Someone might ask:
So how can one improve their cognition to match their wealth?
Ding Yuan Ying’s answer is:
“Awaken, realize, then do.”

Awaken means becoming aware of the existence of the question.
Many people go their whole lives unaware that their cognition has questions, and they think it’s just bad luck or bad timing.
Being aware of your limitations is progress in itself.
Realize means understanding the underlying laws of the question.
Knowing you have a question isn’t enough; you need to figure out where the question lies and what the law is.
This requires learning, thinking, and constant trial and error in practice.

Doing means transforming cognition into action.
Many people understand the principles but just can’t do it, because between knowing and doing, there’s a chasm called habit.
Each of these three steps is difficult, but only after completing them can the money you earn be truly yours, and the skills you learn be converted into real value.

Wealth is never the end goal but a projection of cognition.
The level of your cognition determines the level of your wealth.
In other words, everyone is paying for their own cognition.