Xiaochang's Life Album
A Story of Falling, Rising, and Learning to Fly
Since 1991
Property of KnowledgeGut
The Old Me
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At 18, I made the decision to take a leave of absence from university. Not because of any grand dream, but becauseI didn't like being told what to learn。
For nearly the next two years, I did almost one thing—play League of Legends. My weight skyrocketed to its peak, and my family labeled me as 'fat, ugly, and stupid,' 'a failure.'
Those were the most wasted days of my life. Inside, I was filled with self-doubt, feeling like I was nothing.
The Darkest Days
After a year in business, I met a highly respected life mentor. To learn from him, I abandoned my thriving Life Exit events brand and entered an 18-month 'intensive training program.'
Daily schedule: 4 hours of foundational skills training, 2 hours of business studies, 4 hours of self-study. Sounds fulfilling, right?
But his management style was relentless—daily pressure and constant criticism that I wasn't doing enough. He told me 'IQ cannot be improved; you are a low-IQ person.' He forced me to kneel for an hour and a half until my knees were swollen and bruised. He demanded I write confession letters. He completely isolated me from my friends.
I looked at the photo of my swollen red knees after kneeling, and suddenly I saw clearly—this isn't education, this is control.
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The result: I gained 15 kilograms rapidly and experienced hair loss. I use the Seven Wounds Fist from The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber to describe those days——Destroy the enemy a thousand, but harm yourself eight hundred。
For eighteen months, I barely left home or socialized. My entire world was just me and that voice constantly denying me.
If one mentor can bring about change, why not seek guidance from countless teachers in the sea of books?
Why Couldn't I Escape Into Books
Seek Other Teachers?
This question changed my life.
From then on, I decided to stop Learning to 'become someone important,' and instead learn 'for myself' and 'for curiosity.'
Shifted to learning 'for myself' and out of 'curiosity.'
Discovering Heptabase
After leaving my mentor, I started Learning for myself. I fell in love with 'organization and organizing studies'—the kind of knowledge that doesn't serve ambition at all.
Then I transferred my skill in 'organizing physical spaces' to 'organizing digital knowledge.' I started with Notion, watched every Notion tutorial from Asia and internationally, and rewatched paid courses over 30 times.
Until I discovered Heptabase, everything changed.
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It turned out I wasn't bad at Learning—I just never had anyone teach me how to organize and absorb knowledge. The moment I used Heptabase, my thinking was finally captured.
Now I use Heptabase to organize over 1,000 knowledge cards covering social media, business models, psychology, investment and finance... All that knowledge that once gave me headaches is now crystal clear on the whiteboard.
The New Me
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I transformed from 'a girl who hated learning and despised herself' into 'a knowledge creator who loves input and produces meaningful output.'
I share authentically on Threads without learning tricks or chasing algorithms—just constantly expressing what's in my heart. Then I launched courses, created the Gut Talk Newsletter, and documented this entire journey of growth in the most genuine way.
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If even I can do it, then you definitely can too.
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