Lately, I've been pondering a question: why do some people remain stuck at the bottom of society, unable to turn their situation around? It's not that they haven't tried; rather, they are trapped in an invisible cage.

I've observed that this cage is mainly built by four walls.

The first wall is parents. It sounds harsh, but it's the truth. Your starting point often becomes your parents' ending point. Wealthy parents pass down experience, resources, and vision to their children, while poor parents pass down hardship and fixed mindsets. It's not that parents don't want to change; it's that they haven't broken free themselves, so how can they teach their children? Children learn by watching their parents—this is social genetics. Compulsory education breaks some of these cycles, but parental influence remains decisive. Look at college students from rural areas—behind them is often the unwavering determination of their parents to support their education, no matter how hard life is. But most poor families' parents lack survival skills themselves, so how can they pass them on?

The second wall is more direct—consumption. Both the poor and the rich buy luxury goods, but the results are completely different. The poor spend their hard-earned money and fall into debt cycles; the rich use capital-generated income to buy assets that appreciate in value. What's more heartbreaking is that the poor simply can't save enough for a down payment to buy assets. You know investing in real estate can change your life, but you have no money. Borrowing? Low credit scores mean banks either refuse to lend or charge sky-high interest rates. This isn't a mindset issue; it's the despair of objective conditions. A friend of mine who works as a village official once said that many people who receive poverty alleviation funds from the government end up spending it recklessly. Some truly lack opportunities, but others are just trapped by their mindset.

The third wall is stratification through homogeneity. As society develops, class divisions become more apparent. You can tell at a glance the difference between city kids and rural kids. It's not that one looks down on the other; resources naturally concentrate upward. The wealthy buy school district homes, their children attend top elementary schools, prestigious middle schools, and famous universities—smooth sailing all the way. Ordinary people find it much harder to follow this path. Hundreds of years of peace and development in Europe and America have followed this pattern, and China is starting to as well. The middle class spends hundreds of thousands annually on education to compete in the "arms race," but how can ordinary people keep up? The lower the tier, the fewer resources, and the harder it is to climb up. This exists worldwide, and the more mature the society, the more obvious it becomes.

The last wall is psychological—learned helplessness. Long-term exposure to a lack of choices causes the brain to gradually believe that nothing can change the current situation. Even when opportunities arise, they dare not act. In severe cases, this can lead to weakened immunity or even depression. I’ve noticed that the biggest difference between strong individuals and ordinary people is here. Most people accept their lot, thinking "this is just how it is," and muddle through. But the more capable a person is, the more options they have; the poorer they are, the fewer choices. With no resources, everything becomes difficult, and confidence is shattered.

So, what can be done? My simple advice is—shift from being a consumer to being a producer.

I have a fan who used to be just a bystander, surfing Twitter and investing like a rookie. I suggested he become a Twitter influencer, guiding him step by step. Now, his followers are growing steadily. He finally knows what to do in his spare time, and this could very well be his second career trajectory.

The key is to get others to consume your content. Consumption doesn’t necessarily mean spending money; nowadays, spending time is also a form of consumption. Spending time on others’ games or apps is essentially contributing value to others. If you keep being a consumer and playing others’ games, you’ll always be stuck in a pit.

I know these words might sting especially for those who are very poor. Society isn’t very friendly to the impoverished—not just because of mindset flaws, but also due to resource gaps and the high costs of trial and error. But for each individual, it’s still about thinking more, acting more, and trying low-cost, long-term-benefit experiments.

There’s a village in Jiangxi that received poverty alleviation funds and, under the leadership of a farmer, turned the entire village into rural internet celebrities. Their rustic short videos went viral nationwide, and now they’re prosperous. This isn’t an isolated case; it’s a possibility.

So, if you have time, do something. It doesn’t have to be highly profitable, unique, or an overnight success. Just start seriously. In three or five years, you might look back and realize that a small decision back then truly changed your life. That’s the beginning of breaking out of the bottom of society.