The pause button a typhoon pressed
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
My overseas business trips are always packed tight. The reason is simple: there are children to look after at home, and plenty of day-to-day work waiting at the company. If I'm going abroad, I have to squeeze several things into a limited amount of time.
This trip to the Pearl River Delta was no different. The plan was to visit factories and talk partnerships in Guangzhou, Humen and Shenzhen. Then a typhoon hit, I was suddenly stuck in my hotel, and the whole schedule fell apart.
The day before yesterday the city announced the "five stops": schools, work, production, transport and business all shut. I was complaining about it to a business partner, but what she shared calmed me down.
She has been in business for decades, with highs and pitfalls. During the pandemic she controlled a mask supply chain and made millions in a short time. But later she misjudged the situation and chased the wrong opportunity. She didn't just lose what she had made; she lost more on top.
She reminded me that often the problem isn't whether you can catch an opportunity, but whether you can stop and think clearly about what you actually want to do.
Contentment and greed
I always take a book or two on long-haul flights. This time I happened to bring The Psychology of Money.
There's a section on Bernie Madoff. His legitimate investment business made between 25 and 50 million US dollars a year. He was already extraordinarily rich. But he didn't know when enough was enough, took the risk of running a Ponzi scheme, and ended in ruin.
The book quotes Warren Buffett on this: risking what you have and need to get what you don't have and don't need makes no sense.
So often we're so busy that we forget what we're actually chasing. Money? Achievement? Or some illusion of satisfaction?
The pause button
This typhoon was like a pause button pressed for us by force.
The usually busy roads and malls were suddenly empty. Deliveries stopped, traffic stopped, yet when I looked up, every building was still brightly lit.
It was as if the heavens were reminding us: even the busiest people sometimes need to be made to rest.
Maybe life and business are the same. Pausing isn't falling behind. It's how you see more clearly. When the storm passes and you set off again, the road under your feet may feel firmer.