Zhu Yuanzhang
Be slow to take the title
Do without the name for now
History of Ming, Life of Zhu Sheng; Veritable Records of Ming Taizu
Everyone who rose at the same time was claiming a throne. He was the one who did not, and it was worth eleven years.
What actually happened?
In 1357, having taken Huizhou, he went to see the old scholar Zhu Sheng and asked how to settle the empire. Zhu Sheng gave him nine characters: build the walls high, store the grain widely, be slow to take the title. Around him, Han Lin'er was the Little Prince of Brightness, Xu Shouhui had declared himself emperor, Zhang Shicheng was the Prince of Cheng, Chen Youliang would call himself emperor of Han. Everyone with strength was grabbing a name. He followed the nine characters for eleven years, while the Yuan armies spent them on the men who had claimed first.
A title is an act of switching your own light on
The name brings a power to summon people, and it also gives your coordinates. The moment the title is hung on you, you stop being a roving band and become a regime that has to be destroyed first. Before you can absorb concentrated fire, a name is a liability.
Announcing that you intend to lead the industry before the model works gets you onto every incumbent's watch list at once. Two quiet years cost far less.
The three go together, or not at all
High walls are the ability to defend, wide stores the ability to last, slow titles the ability to stay unlit. The third alone is just hiding; the first two alone are a large obvious target. Because you are accumulating and can hold, you have earned the right to wait.
Working quietly without building any defence means the thing is copied by the time you surface. A low profile only pays while you are also walling and storing.
When to claim it is a separate judgement
Slow does not mean never. He waited until Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng had both been destroyed, the Yuan court was fighting itself, and the whole south was his. The test was not whether he felt ready; it was whether anything outside still had the strength to concentrate on him.
The moment to announce a change of direction is not set by how prepared you are inside, but by whether anyone outside still has capacity to come at you.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: you have some results and you are wondering whether to announce them loudly.
Ask first: once I announce, who moves me to the top of their list, and can I take that?
Where it goes wrong: staying quiet without building any wall, which wastes the wait; reading slow to take the title as never showing your face.
Lines to keep
The day the title goes up, your coordinates go up with it.
Slow does not mean never. Wait until nothing outside can concentrate.
Same situation, other people are asking
Everything's fine. What should I be getting ready for?To make this quarter I would squeeze the people carrying me.It is working. Should I go loud about it now?This is the highest I have ever been. Do I push for more?Things are going well and it scares me · all 11 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.