樊登说他因为一本书发财，但大多数人读完却没用
《思考致富》
樊登说他因为一本书发财，但大多数人读完却没用
很多人第一次听说《思考致富》, 可能都与一个人有关:
樊登老师
但同样一本书，有人说改变了他的人生, 也有人说，全是鸡汤
首版于 1937 年, 百年来备受争议的财富之书
为何被樊登老师定义为他赚钱的起点
2013 年之前, 樊登老师是真的樊登老师, 在北京交通大学语言与传播学院教书
央视《实话实说》《选择》等节目主持人, 拥有令人仰慕的社会地位
是大家口中 “标准的成功样板”, 但樊登老师多次在他的直播间讲述:
收入并没有大家想象的那么高, 每个月赚的钱，甚至还完房贷所剩不多
看起来体面的社会身份标签，暗藏着的是生活的压力
他曾想：是不是需要改变自己的思维方式
樊登老师的家庭背景很典型, 父亲也是教授, 一家人都是靠读书改变命运
于是他做了一件很朴素也很自然的事：大量阅读
离开央视之后，他经常被邀请去商学院讲课, 课堂上，他发现:
这些花几十万、几百万来学习的企业家、创业者，根本没时间系统读书
前半生一直靠教书、主持谋生的樊登老师产生了一个念头：
既然大家没时间读书，那我读，然后讲给你们听
从最开始很简单的拿手机录音频群内分享, 到后来组织线下读书会
把一本书压缩成一节课
慢慢地，一批人开始喜欢这种形式
后来投资人入场, 团队成立, 产品上线, 樊登读书慢慢成长起来
从创业角度看，这是一个很成功、也很励志的故事
但如果换个角度，其实樊登老师遵循的只是一个很简单的逻辑：
读书 → 吸收 → 讲给别人听 → 形成系统
一个奇怪且有趣的现象
如果去网上看《思考致富》的评价, 你会发现:
很多人说：
“这是一本鸡汤书, 一点用没有”
但同样一批人，每天其实也在读其他类似的书籍,
比如中国人从小就背的：《三字经》
中年之后的:
- 《道德经》
- 《金刚经》
- 《易经》
这些书里广为流传的经典语录，本质上讲的也是：
长期主义、心性、 和行动
例如《道德经》里那句话：
合抱之木，生于毫末
九层之台，起于累土
几乎每个中国人都听过, 但很少有人会说：
“这句话是骗人的”
为什么？
因为大家默认：
这是道理，不是捷径
问题就出在这里
很多人读《思考致富》的时候，期待的是：
有没有一个方法让我很快致富
当这种期待落空时，就会得出一个结论：本书无用!
值得细品的，是那些”做了”的人
如果你仔细观察最近几年国内自媒体圈, 会发现一些很典型的人
比如
李一舟
他早期做内容的时候，其实并不顺利
内容没人看，账号也不明显增长
他老婆甚至说: “你当不了网红的!”
直到后来一条情人节人生感悟的视频爆火后
他逐渐找到了方法：情绪 + 结构表达 = 爆款视频
后来演变成用白板讲复杂问题
这种表达方式很简单：把复杂的事情拆成结构
用思维导图的方式板书写/画出来, 讲清楚!
慢慢地，这种内容开始被更多人看到
后来他的账号稳定增长
很多人觉得他讲的是赚钱方法
但如果细品，会发现他其实一直在做一件事：
结构化输出
类似的成功还在上演
去年开始，自媒体圈又出现了一个增长很快的人：
洪树
他从去年三四月开始做内容, 一年不到，全网涨粉 90 万!
很多人看他的视频有一种熟悉感:
白板、框架、逻辑拆解
有人说他的风格很像李一舟, 但其实这不是关键!
关键是：
他也在例行同一件事
掌握一个简单的方法, 并持续执行下去
不是爆一条视频, 每条视频都在爆
为什么这种事儿近几年特别多
因为我们正处在一个特殊的历史阶段:
每个行业在变!
需要我们大多人开始重新思考一个问题：
我还能靠什么赚钱？
在这的外部大环境里，人会本能地寻找两样东西：
解释世界的逻辑
和可执行的路径
于是这些内容开始流行：
- 认知升级
- 赚钱逻辑
- 成长框架
其实绝大部分这类内容确实都很空
但也有一小部分，其实只是讲了一件很普通的事：
长期执行一个简单系统
《思考致富》其实只讲了一件事
如果把整本书压缩成一句话，其实就很简单：
明确目标，然后持续行动
听起来几乎就是废话, 但要明白:
很多道理听上去都像废话!
比如：
《易经》讲：
穷则变，变则通，通则久
你早就耳熟能详, 又很难说的出这句话的道理
而真正按照这个逻辑践行的人，更是不到 1%
只有少数人会改变人生
大多数人读书的方式长这样：读完 → 很有道理 → 结束🔚
但少数人会：把一个道理化为行动
哪怕行动很小, 演进很慢, 但持续很多年……
很多后来被称为”成功人士”的人，早期就是这样走过来
没有什么高深的秘密
只是把一件简单的事重复做了很久
一个问题供你思考
与其争论: 《思考致富》是否鸡汤
或许换个角度:
如果《思考致富》在讲 信念 = 长期行动的动力
那践行十年，会怎样？
话说回来, 这本历经百年、销售亿万册的财富之书
评价一直非常两极!
而历史上, 哪一位有识之士只得美名, 没有贬损
回头看, 自己过往所学, 有哪一件,
真正坚持五年以上?
如果答案是: 无
大概根源不在哪本书, 而在……
Think and Grow Rich
Fan Deng says one book made him wealthy — but most people say it’s useless
For many Chinese readers, the first time they hear about Think and Grow Rich is because of one person:
But the reactions to this book are strangely divided.
Some people say it changed their life.
Others say it’s nothing more than motivational fluff.
The book was first published in 1937 by
For nearly a century, it has remained one of the most controversial books about wealth ever written.
Yet Fan Deng repeatedly said that this book was the starting point of his financial transformation.
So what happened?
Before 2013, Fan Deng was simply “Professor Fan”
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Fan Deng had a very respectable career.
He taught at Beijing Jiaotong University and previously hosted programs on China’s national broadcaster,
Shows like Tell It Like It Is and Choice made him a familiar public figure.
On paper, he was the definition of success:
a professor, a TV host, someone with social status and credibility.
But he later admitted something surprising during his livestreams.
His income was far lower than people imagined.
After paying his mortgage, there was often very little left.
From the outside, his life looked stable and respectable.
Inside, it carried a quiet pressure.
At some point he started asking himself a question:
Maybe I need to change the way I think.
So he did something simple: he started reading a lot
Fan Deng came from a typical academic family.
His father was also a professor, and the family believed deeply in one idea:
Books change your destiny.
So when he started questioning his path, his instinct was simple:
He began reading extensively.
Later, after leaving television, he was often invited to give lectures at business schools.
There he noticed something interesting.
Many of the students were entrepreneurs who had paid tens or even hundreds of thousands of yuan for programs.
But despite their ambition, almost none of them had time to read books systematically.
That observation led him to a simple idea:
If you don’t have time to read the books,
I’ll read them — and explain them to you.
At first it was extremely simple.
He recorded audio with his phone and shared summaries inside small wechat groups.
Later he started organizing offline reading clubs.
Each book was condensed into a structured lecture.
Slowly, people began to enjoy this format.
Eventually investors came in.
A team was formed.
The product launched.
That’s how the platform
gradually grew.
From an entrepreneurial perspective, it’s an inspiring story.
But if you strip away the narrative, the logic is surprisingly simple:
Read → Absorb → Explain → Systematize.
A strange phenomenon around
Think and Grow Rich
If you search for reviews of Think and Grow Rich online, you’ll notice something curious.
Many people say:
“This book is useless. Just motivational nonsense.”
But interestingly, many of those same people still read and respect other philosophical classics.
For example, Chinese readers grow up memorizing texts like:
These books also talk about ideas like:
- long-term thinking
- discipline of the mind
- and persistent action
Take a famous line from the Tao Te Ching:
“A tree that fills a man’s arms
begins as a tiny sprout.
A nine-story tower
starts from a pile of earth.”
Almost every Chinese person has heard this.
Yet nobody says: “Laozi is selling fake wisdom.”
Why?
Because people intuitively understand something:
These are principles — not shortcuts.
And that’s exactly where the misunderstanding of Think and Grow Rich often happens.
Many readers approach the book hoping to find:
a fast formula to become rich.
When that expectation isn’t met, the conclusion becomes:
“The book is useless.”
The interesting people are the ones who actually did something
If you look closely at China’s creator economy in recent years, you’ll notice a pattern.
Some individuals seem to suddenly succeed.
But behind the scenes, they were often doing something simple for a long time.
Take Li Yizhou, for example.
When he first started creating content, it didn’t go well.
His videos barely received attention, and his follower count stagnated.
At one point, his wife even told him:
“You’ll never become an influencer.”
Then one Valentine’s Day video about life and emotions suddenly went viral.
That moment helped him discover a formula:
emotion + structured expression = viral content
Eventually he developed a distinctive style.
He would explain complex ideas using a whiteboard.
Break a topic into logical blocks.
Draw the structure in front of viewers while explaining it.
Gradually, the audience grew.
Many people assume he teaches “how to make money.”
But if you observe closely, he has actually been doing one consistent thing:
structured output.
Another fast-growing example
In the past year, another creator grew extremely quickly:
Hong Shu.
He started posting content around March or April last year.
Within less than a year, his combined following across platforms grew to about 900,000.
Many viewers notice something familiar in his videos:
whiteboards, frameworks, logical breakdowns.
Some say his style resembles Li Yizhou.
But that similarity isn’t the key point.
The real pattern is simpler.
He found a repeatable method, and kept executing it.
Not just one viral video.
Almost every video performs well.
Why this kind of success is appearing more often
Because we’re living through a moment of massive transition.
Entire industries are changing.
And many people are quietly asking themselves:
What will I rely on to make money in the future?
When the external environment becomes uncertain, people instinctively look for two things:
- a framework to understand the world
- a path they can actually execute
That’s why content about:
- cognitive upgrades
- money-making logic
- personal growth frameworks
has become so popular.
Yes, a lot of this content is shallow.
But some of it simply repeats a very ordinary truth:
a simple system, executed consistently over time.
What Think and Grow Rich really says
If you compress the entire book into one sentence, it might be this:
define a goal — then keep acting toward it.
At first glance, that sounds almost trivial.
But many profound ideas sound trivial.
For example, the I Ching says:
“When circumstances reach an extreme, change occurs.
Through change comes flow.
Through flow comes continuity.”
Most people have heard something like this before.
Yet very few actually structure their life around it.
Why only a few people change their lives
Most people read books like this:
read → agree → move on.
A small minority do something different.
They turn a principle into action.
Even if the action is small.
Even if progress is slow.
But they continue for years.
Many people who are later called “successful” simply followed this pattern early on.
There was no mystical secret.
Just one simple behavior repeated for a very long time.
A question worth thinking about
Instead of debating whether Think and Grow Rich is motivational fluff, consider a different question:
If belief fuels long-term action,
what would happen if someone practiced that idea for ten years?
After all, this book has been around for nearly a century and sold tens of millions of copies.
Its reputation has always been polarizing.
But history rarely treats influential ideas gently.
So here’s a more personal question:
Looking back at your own life,
what is one thing you have truly practiced for more than five years?
If the honest answer is none…
then maybe the issue was never the book.