140天10万人1个实验

过去的 140 天里，我带着越来越多的人做了个实验：很多人体验到了这么做的意义，也体验到了它的惊人好处。其实，我知道，这在很多人眼里根本没什么了不起 —— 甚至，绝大多数人以快速阅读、扫读、略读、跳读为荣。

Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zARgIjeFPvJFG5ZsK64Fzw

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> By Li Xiaolai · 2016-12-14 · [Original link](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zARgIjeFPvJFG5ZsK64Fzw) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

Over the past 140 days, I have led more and more people in an experiment:

> Experiencing how important an ability "**reading without missing a single word**" is.

Many people have experienced the meaning of doing this, and have also experienced its astonishing benefits.

Actually, I know that in many people's eyes this is nothing remarkable at all—in fact, the vast majority of people take pride in speed reading, scanning, skimming and skipping.

I don't see it that way. I think the ability to "read without missing a single word" is remarkable; I even think **this is the first step on the road to financial freedom**—if, in this world, knowledge really can change one's fate.

Let's not talk about a goal as grand as changing one's fate for now; at least I know that the era of "monetizing knowledge" has indeed begun.

In a certain sense, the fact that "more and more people can already sense that knowledge can actually be monetized" is in itself a situation our country only reached after a bumpy road over the past thirty-plus years. It is a rare turning point.

I was born in 1972, and people my age have lived through exactly what Mr. Wu Xiaobo (吴晓波) calls the Thirty Turbulent Years (《激荡三十年》). All the way through, although "knowledge is power" has been repeated again and again, what has actually had the upper hand is the "knowledge-is-useless theory."

The knowledge-is-useless theory can always rise again from the ashes, like an unkillable Xiaoqiang (小强) [Translator's note: 小强, "Little Qiang," is slang for the cockroach], influencing this world in ever-changing guises. From the popular quip of the 1980s—"those who build atomic bombs earn less than those who sell tea eggs"—to the so-called "reflection" common in recent years—"I've heard so many principles and still can't live this life well"……

Nor is this a problem only our country has. In the "most advanced country" on Earth, the United States, there is a man who for years hasn't read books and only ever watches TV, named Trump, who swore and cursed his way along and in the end actually became president…… Although "not reading books and only watching TV" in itself can't prove that Trump isn't smart, the "anti-intellectual" style and image Trump has consistently shown will, without any doubt, profoundly influence the next generation of young Americans.

However, the power of knowledge lies precisely in this: "even if people generally look down on it, it still goes on working by itself." Knowledge does not really become useless just because most people are anti-intellectual and most people think it is useless—this is the hope of all who seek knowledge, an undying hope.

At the beginning of 2015, I went around trumpeting that "the era of the free internet has ended" and "the era of the paid internet has begun," and hardly anyone paid me any attention. My insight was this:

> WeChat's data for Q4 2014 show that WeChat's monthly active users have already reached 355 million…… equivalent to having "connected almost the entire urban population"…… In a certain sense, this already means "having connected almost everyone"—and further, if in another year this number doubles [Translator's note: the original writes 翻翻, literally "flip flip"; 翻番 ("double") is meant; translated by the intended sense], that may lead to another conclusion:
>
> > The free era of the internet is over.
>
> Because things on the internet have never been free. The reason many services look free from the user's point of view is that over these years venture capital firms have poured in huge amounts of capital; in plain words, it's "letting internet companies recruit newcomers for the internet by means of being free"…… When one day the internet no longer needs to "recruit newcomers," that is, when the internet has already "connected everyone," venture capital firms will no longer put in money for recruiting newcomers, and then quite possibly the things that are free now from the internet user's point of view will at that point only be available for a fee……
>
> Going a step further, the commodity most likely to "turn from [Translator's note: the original writes 有, literally "have"; 由 ("from") is meant; translated by the intended sense] free to paid" can only be knowledge.

By [August 2015, I opened my WeChat public account](http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzAxNzI4MTMwMw==&mid=210022116&idx=1&sn=3d2c0d69da7c705a105d818c854fb68b&scene=21#wechat_redirect). The reason was actually that too few people responded to this argument of mine, so I simply started doing it myself. By November, I had not only started [organizing paid communities](http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzAxNzI4MTMwMw==&mid=400721720&idx=1&sn=87b0ff45c91e9b8e05909464dc2395d6&scene=21#wechat_redirect) myself, but was also helping friends organize paid communities…… On January 1, 2016, I bought the domain xinshengdaxue.com and created "[Xinsheng University](http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzAxNzI4MTMwMw==&mid=2651629991&idx=1&sn=5dcc68fc74a5f66737f197f16e394a37&scene=21#wechat_redirect)" (新生大学). In April 2016, Luoji Siwei (罗辑思维) launched "Dedao" (得到), and Zhihu launched "Zhihu Pay" (值乎); in May, Zaihang (在行) withdrew [Translator's note: the original writes 退出 ("withdrew"); 推出 ("launched") is meant—Zaihang launched Fenda that May; the literal wording still reads, so it is translated as written] "Fenda" (分答), and Zhihu launched "Zhihu Live"; at the beginning of December, having no other choice [Translator's note: the original writes 情非得已, "having no other choice," with no subject; the linked post is on Li Xiaolai's own account], "[Listen Together](http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzAxNzI4MTMwMw==&mid=2651630587&idx=2&sn=cdc6cfce8de34c4bfb5fa6cd0bac9a72&chksm=801ff383b7687a95288cbb73175a51d65fb85baf2d3a1d0e21bbb5a311567ed5acb33b1a7981&scene=21#wechat_redirect)" (一块听听) was launched…… On July 28, I finally fulfilled my promise to Luo Zhenyu (罗振宇) and opened my paid column, [The Road to Financial Freedom](http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzAxNzI4MTMwMw==&mid=2651630077&idx=1&sn=78add54c9008972a161e45e2dde47dd8&scene=21#wechat_redirect) (《通往财富自由之路》); today, December 14, the column's subscriptions have passed **100,000**—and by now, "**monetizing knowledge**" is no longer any new term, but something everyone knows.

**An effective "insight" is also a form of knowledge, and this knowledge is something I have monetized personally.**

That said, why do I put such emphasis on "the ability to read without missing a single word"? Why, in a product full of audio, does my column actually "insist on not releasing an audio version"? It's because I have always firmly believed that the reason school education fails is that it actually spent so many years and destroyed even such a most basic ability, so that the vast majority of people lack this ability, and don't even know they should have this most basic ability—**not knowing isn't frightening; not knowing that you don't know is what's most frightening**.

I have been a teacher, and I am often amazed that people who have received higher education can't even understand a rental contract or an employment contract, or overlook the key clauses, and in the end, having suffered a loss, only know how to grieve over the money, without it occurring to them to reflect, "Why is my reading ability so poor?"—almost without exception, none of them think there's anything wrong with their reading ability.

This is the era of the market economy. The core of a market is transactions; all transactions in essence involve agreements; all agreements need to be weighed word by word and digested word by word—but most people just don't think so, to the point that without noticing they have already lost the chance to transact, or, even if they take part in a transaction, they keep losing out because they misread the agreement.

Modern financial markets are currently the place where the greatest amount of wealth flows, and they are full of all kinds of contracts and agreements. But do you know? The vast majority of traders, never mind "reading without missing a single word"—they simply don't read them at all! Without exaggeration, the 2008 US subprime crisis was in essence a manifestation of "the vast majority of people having no reading ability at all."

Another even more extreme example: every listed company has a legal duty to publish financial reports regularly—can you imagine? 97.5% of investors in the secondary market (in fact, not only in China, it's the same abroad) have never once read one in full! Survey results show that 37% of people flatly refused to answer the question, 28% said they had indeed read financial reports but at the same time frankly admitted they had never read them carefully, and 32.5 [Translator's note: so in the original, with no percent sign; 32.5% is evidently meant] of people simply said they never read "such dull and boring things"……

How hard is reading without missing a single word? Although it actually isn't hard at all, in the end it is "hard" to the point that most people don't do it. Never mind investing; even driving a car is the same. Of the drivers on the road, the vast majority have actually never really sat down and spent a few hours carefully understanding the traffic rules all the way through—actually you can imagine how many bloody accidents could have been resolved by reading alone—**the more you think about it, the more terrifying it gets** [Translator's note: the original writes 思细恐极, a scrambling of the internet phrase 细思极恐, "think it over carefully and it's terrifying"; translated by the intended sense].

I am very sure: all acquisition of truly valuable knowledge is based on this ability: "reading without missing a single word." What's more, this is only the most basic ability; on this foundation, one also has to master another, advanced ability:

> **The ability of "searching between the lines for information that, though not written out, is in fact very important"**……

This ability is of a piece with "seeing through appearances to the essence"—I simply can't believe that a person strong in this ability could fail to earn enough money in this era of the market economy.

Nobody can "directly attain financial freedom" merely by "reading the articles of a column." Please note the wording of the column's name: The Road to Financial Freedom—I can point you the way, but you have to walk that road yourself. On that road there are pits, ditches, trenches, perhaps even traps (where aren't there?), but someone will definitely get through. As for whether it's you, **who does that depend on? Surely not on me, an outsider, right?**

Just as, if you open a restaurant, you have to cook the food well—if you can't even cook the food well, how can you have the nerve to open a restaurant?! Writing a column is the same: of course I have to write the articles well, otherwise how could I have the nerve to start writing? Especially, how could I have the nerve to charge? However, I have a concern more important than writing the articles well:

> Never mind anything else: through 100 days of experience, how many of the 100,000 people have really learned "reading without missing a single word"? How many have truly felt "the enormous benefits of reading without missing a single word"? How many can no longer do without this ability? How many have already, without even meaning to, developed the next, advanced ability?

You should know, this is exactly where traditional formal education has long failed; **if you win, then I win too.**

Oh, and also: a hundred thousand people have tried it; I guess maybe you'd like to come in and give it a try too.