The most important thing in a person's life is time. Don't confuse the "means" with the "end."

AI is all the rage right now, and I've been seeing lots of AI courses on Xiaohongshu lately. The titles are basically things like preparing for some certification, switching to AI at 35 to get a high-paying job, and so on.

Personally, I'm a big advocate of paying for knowledge. In the past, I would have signed up for any suitable course without hesitation. Now, I would call this tactical diligence but strategic laziness.

There's nothing wrong with learning itself. But if you're always studying and never monetizing—
Then what you're doing isn't growth, it's procrastination.

I have a friend who wants to switch to Web3. From frontend to backend, from Java to Rust, from architecture to smart contracts, he's been frantically learning and improving his skills. But he still hasn't found a job or any stable collaboration opportunities.

What's interesting is: he used to be able to make money through arbitrage, but instead of using this monetizable channel, he insisted on making "finding a job" his only way out.

Another friend wants to find a job in Web3, and someone suggested she get a master's degree. She replied instantly: "My goal is to make money. Spending hundreds of thousands on a degree first is too high a cost." — Her thinking is frighteningly clear.

Learning is just one of the paths, not the goal itself. The most important thing is to put your efforts in the right place.