〔Advice for newcomers in the workplace, as seen in Journey to the West〕Don’t be arrogant, and don’t compare yourself to others!

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Be not arrogant, and avoid comparison. Sun Wukong went to heaven to serve as the Horse Guardian; he was diligent in his work, working day and night for the public good: \"It’s fine to play with the horses during the day, but at night he had to make sure they got up to eat grass.\"； What is done now will rely on the future. When those wild horses saw him, they hid their ears and pulled in their hooves, all of them well-fed with thick flesh. ”It is evident that he is diligent and highly capable; he quickly made progress in his work and achieved results. However, when he later heard that his official position was of low rank, he became furious, believing that the Jade Emperor was underutilizing his talents, saying, \"To treat Old Sun with such disregard!\" Lao Sun, back on Flower-Fruit Mountain, rules as king and patriarch – how could he persuade me to come and raise horses for him? The horse breeders are young men, lowly servants – how could they be suitable for me? Don’t be him! Don’t be him! I'm going too! ” That’s because Sun Wukong has a problem with his mindset. When I was king on Flower-Fruit Mountain, it was just like being a small manager in a tiny private company; organizationally speaking, that meant I had no official rank” ； If one suddenly becomes a civil servant in a central **government agency, they definitely start as a section chief, so there is no issue of \"disrespect\". If you’re dissatisfied with your low position, then keep persevering. You refuse to build up experience, don’t understand the unspoken rules, and have no connections at all; all you want is to compete with others on the basis of your skills. When no one would compete with him, he rebelled, and as a result ended up imprisoned (trapped on Mount Wuxing). Even after being released, he was forced to perform hard labor (protecting Tang Seng on his quest for Buddhist scriptures). People with such a mindset are very much like college graduates from a few years ago. Fortunately, most college students maintain a calm mindset these days. In fact, when Sun Wukong was appointed as the Bima Wen, it was equivalent to being the head of the imperial convoy; he should have been at least a cadre at the departmental level ； If he were transferred to a local area, even at the same rank he would be considered a high-ranking official, able to stay in a single-room ward and enjoy top-tier medical care – so why does he still find it insufficient? It’s all because the deities around them are all Central Committee members, so they were given a lower rank. Therefore, in life one must never compare oneself to others; otherwise, if a mistake is made, one will have to start over from scratch, which is truly unjust! So, comrades, you need to realize this early on to avoid taking detours. Haha! “People say various things: he rides a fine horse while I ride a donkey; looking back at the man pushing the cart, he may not be as good as the former but is better than me. These words are truly wise sayings ； If sung in the style of Taiping ballads, it’s even more beautiful! Excerpts from Lao Ji’s Reviews of Masterpieces