Most of the time, I don't agree with old chinese belief. Despite being taught with these for nearly every school day, I doubt those concepts can still be applied to nowadays.
'Being useless is being helpful' Ha! I laugh everytime I recalled my memory. 'It's not productive if you just think for the whole day without learning' I won't say it is totally wrong, but thinking does take a large proportion of being motivated.
How?
Think about yourself being successful after a couple years of hardwork.
Think about what should you be doing in order to achieve your goal.
Think about what makes you special among the others in a society.
Learning won't give you as much motivations than imagination! At least that's what I reckon.
From Rich To Poor?
Rarely will I agree to the old generation's thinking. However, I saw a sentence appears to be quite meaningful. 「由儉入奢易，由奢入儉難」It means turning from poor to rich is easy, but turning from rich to poor is difficult.
Weird right? That's what I thought when I first read it, but it explains afterward. 「吾今日之俸，雖舉家錦衣玉食，何患不能？吾今日之俸豈能常有？身豈能常存？一旦異於今日，家人習奢已久，不能頓儉，必致失所」How difficult is it to eat well, live well with my stable income, but will I be able to work forever? Once I lose the ability to work and suffer from deficit suddenly while my family is still used to being affluent, will we still survive the adversity?
Victory Is Bad
It is sad to say human become less likely to survive through bad times once overwhelmed by what they have, wealth, fame, people who support you, sense of security and many more. Back in the old day, we used to have the ability to hunt ourselves, but now we enjoy food provided by the industrial chain effortlessly.
We are devolving as techonology improves, let alone AI technology. Just like what joker said, 'Victory has defeated us'