Who I Am
My name is Rock Li, 37,
a former product manager at a top Chinese tech giant
—a digital nomad forever racing against "launch deadlines."
My battleground was the 999+ unread messages in work chats and coffee stains on PRDs revised at 3 AM.
When Algorithms Became the New Religion
In the temple of the internet, we measured life’s worth by "iteration speed." I mastered the art of scarfing down lunch in five minutes but forgot how to spend five minutes savoring the breath of a tea ceremony. My desk piled up with vitamin bottles—hair loss prevention, liver protection, sleep aids—their lids dusty because "there’s no time to twist them open." Taped to my monitor was my daughter’s crayon sketch titled "Dad’s Face," the eyes colored red. She said: "Because Daddy’s eyes look like Santa’s reindeer."
A Life Folded in Half
My right pinky bent permanently into a "Ctrl+C" shape from years of keystrokes.
Meeting notes mixed with melatonin purchase links.
A "sympathetic hyperactivity" diagnosis on my medical report became coworkers’ "badge of honor" jokes.
Then one night, while pulling an all-nighter on wireframes, my heart raced so violently I couldn’t grip the mouse. The user growth curve on my screen morphed into cardiac arrest waves.
Rediscover the “Key to Breathing” at a Zen retreat
My wife dragged me to a mountain retreat near Hangzhou. Day 1: I stared at my cigarette, thinking about my unfinished OKRs. Day 4: When the old monk poured tea from a Song Dynasty Tianmu bowl, the tea reflected the mountain mist and my dark circles. The wind chimes rang - for the first time I realized that sound has a shape.
Seven Days of Awakening
Spend three hours brewing a cup of tea: Tea leaves unfold more realistically than user surveys.
Ink dripping when copying scriptures: like my daughter drawing the direction of my hairline
Epiphany in the incense ash: Tech warriors don’t need to escape - we need shortcuts to mode switching.
My "15-Mind Reset" Revolution
What Incense Ash Taught Me
By Week 9 of daily tea rituals:
Coffee intake dropped from 600mg to 90mg daily (trading espresso for my daughter’s thermos water).
Smartwatch HRV graphs began rhythmic waves ("Your body’s learning to say ‘Deal with it later," said the doctor).
The ultimate KPI: My daughter repainted my eyes teal—"Daddy now looks like West Lake’s morning fog."
We Design for "Always-On" Humans
This isn’t escapism—it’s a high-pressure survival system forged in fire:
Digital Warriors’ "Spiritual Shortcuts"
⌘F (Find Focus) Mode: Light a Cold Brew Longjing incense stick before sprint planning. Top notes of green tea polyphenols awaken focus; cedar midtones steady trembling fingers. Reduces meeting toxicity by 47%.
⌘R (Reboot) Ritual: Lock your phone in a sandalwood tea caddy. Let boiling water sounds drown Slack pings. Transition from "sprint slave" to "life curator" in Phoenix Oolong’s honeyed haze.
To the Financial warrior’ "Fluctuation defense mechanism"
K-Line Breathing: Sync breaths with incense smoke patterns. Master your "anxiety stop-loss" by staying unshaken through 15-minute market quakes.
Tea Table as War Room: Replace Red Bull cans with Ru kiln teacups. Let Pu’er’s warmth neutralize adrenaline’s bite—a trader’s ultimate weapon shouldn’t be stomach maedicine.
To All "Unstoppable Modern Souls"
I still keep those unopened vitamin bottles on my desk—but now they serve new purposes:
Melatonin jars hold custom tea blends labeled "Compiling code waiting for dedicated".
Liver pills tins store incense sticks carved with my daughter’s calligraphy: 呼吸 (Breathe).
Hair serum bottles now cradle moss terrariums thriving on MacBook heat.
This Is My Ultimate Revelation
We don’t need to choose between career and life—we just need to learn, in the crackle of Ru porcelain cooling:
"Reboot your human firmware in the time it takes an incense stick to burn."
