I don't know who you are...

But I suspect you might be like I once was—knowing you should organize your knowledge, but not knowing where to start. You've learned so much, yet nothing seems to stick. Sometimes you can't even articulate what you truly love or what you're good at.

If you're in this place right now, I want to tell you: you're not alone.

My name is Phoebe, but everyone calls me Xiaochang. KnowledgeGut is my brand—a play on words meaning 'exceptionally extraordinary.'

What I want to share next is a story. It's not a motivational speech—just the real journey of an ordinary person. If you take a few minutes to read it, you might feel: 'I'm not alone in this.'

Let Me Tell You a Story

At 18, I dropped out of university. It wasn't because I had some grand vision—I just didn't want others telling me what to learn. For the next two years, I did basically one thing: play video games. My weight hit an all-time high, and my family told me I was 'fat, ugly, and stupid'—that I'd 'never amount to anything.'

Honestly, that was the lowest point of my life. I was drowning in self-doubt, feeling like I was nothing.

Then a relationship ended, and it became my turning point. The day after the breakup, I told a friend: 'I'm going to change.' I immediately started creating 'Life Exit Events,' an offline community gathering brand. I started working out, reading, and learning to be honest about my vulnerabilities.

But the story didn't get better from here.

After a year of entrepreneurship, I met a highly respected mentor. He was truly brilliant, and to learn from him, I abandoned the booming brand I had at the time and entered an 18-month 'intensive training' program.

The daily schedule sounded fulfilling: 4 hours of foundational training, 2 hours of business studies, 4 hours of self-study. But his management style was——pressuring me daily, denying that I was doing well enough. He said I had a low IQ and could only keep up through hard work. He demanded I kneel for an hour and a half, leaving my knees red and swollen with indentations. He demanded I write confession letters. He completely isolated me from friends, and I barely left home for 18 months.

The result was: gained 15 kilograms, started losing hair. I describe those days using the metaphor of the 'Seven Wounds Palm' from Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre——injure the enemy a thousand, harm yourself eight hundred.

I looked at the photo of my swollen red knees after kneeling, and suddenly I saw clearly—this isn't education, this is control.

After leaving that relationship, I asked myself a question that changed my life:

'If I can be transformed by one mentor, why can't I learn from many teachers in the vast ocean of books?'

Later I discovered something

After leaving my mentor, I began learning truly for myself. No longer to 'become someone great,' but out of curiosity. I fell in love with organization and decluttering——knowledge that served no ambition.

Then I transferred my ability to 'organize physical spaces' to 'organize digital knowledge.' Starting with Notion, I completed all Notion tutorials from Asia and abroad, rewatching paid courses over 30 times.

Until I met Heptabase.

Turns 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 seen. All that knowledge that once gave me headaches became crystal clear on the whiteboard. Now I use it to manage over 1,000 knowledge cards, covering personal branding, business models, psychology, investing and finance⋯⋯

And my income gradually grew from an initial monthly salary of 35K to 200K. Not through shortcuts, just by gradually applying everything I learned.

So what I want to do

One day I realized——the methods that changed my life could actually be taught to more people.

I transformed from 'a girl who hated learning and despised herself' into 'a knowledge creator who loves input and effective output.' I started genuinely sharing on Threads, not learning tactics or chasing algorithms, just always writing what's in my heart. Then I launched courses and wrote the Gut Talk Newsletter.

So far, I've helped over 100 friends build their own knowledge libraries, my first cohort course has 30 students learning together, and over 1,000 friends read my newsletter each month. My annual vision is: to help 500 people find their own Knowledge Management method.

These numbers aren't large, but each one is a real person.

If even I can do it, then you definitely can too.

If you also want to find your own method, I'll write to you every month. Not course sales letters, just a friend who's taken a winding road, organizing what she's learned and sending it to your inbox.