Playing football is for playing football, investing is for investing.

Today, Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu Women's Football" was released. There's a detail in the film that particularly moved me: the older generation of players believed that without the determination to win, one shouldn't step onto the field. But the new generation gave a completely different answer—they play football for the sake of playing itself, not bound by wins or losses, and not playing for utilitarian results.

The clash of these two philosophies is actually the core of the entire film.

The veteran players said, "We must win." The young players said, "Just play."

Who's right? Both are. But that line from the young players made me pause for a long time.

We who invest are chased by the word "win" every day. We're happy when the account is in the green, anxious when it's in the red. We want to add to our positions when it rises, and want to cut losses when it falls. The result? Most people work hard all their lives, and their returns are worse than just buying an index.

Why?

Because wanting to win too much leads to losing the right mindset.

The film, through Carina Lau's line, clarifies one thing: losing now is for winning in the end. Short-term setbacks and trial and error are all paving the way on a long journey.

Isn't investing the same?

You bought a good stock, it fell 20%, you panicked and sold. Later, it rose fivefold. You didn't lose to the market; you lost to the obsession of "must win immediately."

Twenty-five years ago, Stephen Chow shouted "Work hard! Fight!" in "Shaolin Soccer." Twenty-five years later, in "Kung Fu Women's Football," it's changed to "Don't care about winning or losing." This isn't lying flat; it's another kind of clarity—shifting focus from the result back to the process itself.

After all these years of investing, I increasingly feel that staying alive is more important than anything.

You don't need to be right on every market swing, you don't need to catch every bottom during a crash, you don't need to chase every hot trend. You just need—not to die.

Don't die in leverage, don't die in panic, don't die in chasing highs, don't die in frequent trading.

Just like those women's football players, they ultimately won the championship not because they thought "I must win" in every match, but because they enjoyed the act of playing football itself, enjoyed every moment of integrating kung fu into the green field. Winning is just the natural outcome after enjoying the process.

Investing is the same. You enjoy the process of researching companies, understanding businesses, and accompanying their growth. Returns are just a byproduct reward.

Those who want to win too much often lose the fastest. Those who enjoy the process go the farthest.