The Power of the Great (Dayang Zhuang) Nine in the Fourth Place: What’s the Top Pitfall in Expansion Phases? Not Lack of Opportunities, But Misplaced Efforts

There are a few truly critical turning points in life.

For example, after working for three to five years,

you’ve built up some savings and experience,

and start wondering if you should

strike out on your own.

Or when your business has grown to a certain scale,

and you start weighing whether to expand,

open a branch office,

or launch a new project.

Or when you’ve made a name for yourself in an industry,

and people start reaching out for partnerships,

inviting you to join their team, or poaching you.

At times like these,

opportunities abound,

and so do choices.

A lot of people get overwhelmed,

thinking every option sounds good,

wanting to try everything,

unwilling to let any chance slip by.

What happens in the end?

Some pull it off, others crash and burn.

The ones who succeed aren’t necessarily the smartest,

and the ones who fail aren’t necessarily unskilled.

What’s the difference?

The difference is—

where exactly you channel your energy.

The Nine in the Fourth Place (九四) line of The Power of the Great (雷天大壮) hexagram

speaks exactly to this phase of expansion.

The fourth line of The Power of the Great is the most action-oriented line in the entire hexagram,

and also the one that best channels strength in the right direction.

The Line Text (爻辭) says: 「貞吉，悔亡。藩決不羸，壯于大輿之輹。」 (Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. The fence breaks open, no entanglement; strength lies in the wheel spokes of a great chariot.)

Both are part of The Power of the Great,

both are pushing forward,

but the Nine in the Fourth Place is nothing like the Nine in the Third Place (九三).

The Nine in the Third Place bashes its head bloody,

while the Nine in the Fourth Place smashes through the fence

and comes out completely unscathed.

Why?

Because it channels its strength in the right place.

Ram Butting a Fence vs. Chariot Wheel Spokes: Same Drive, Different Outcomes

Let’s start by comparing it to the Nine in the Third Place.

The Nine in the Third Place is 「羝羊觸藩，羸其角」 (A ram butts a fence and tangles its horns).

A ram charges a fence with its horns,

only to get its horns stuck.

The harder it pushes, the tighter it gets tangled.

What about the Nine in the Fourth Place?

「藩決不羸，壯于大輿之輹。」 (The fence breaks open, no entanglement; strength lies in the wheel spokes of a great chariot.)

It smashes through the fence and comes out unhurt.

Why?

Because its strength

isn’t in its horns—

it’s in the wheels of the chariot.

It doesn’t ram with horns;

it rolls right over obstacles with the chariot.

Think carefully about this difference.

Butting with horns means using your sharpest asset

to fight force with force.

You might have offensive power,

but the other side isn’t helpless either.

When you hit someone else,

you take the impact too.

Worse, you might end up trapping yourself.

What about the wheel?

The wheel doesn’t fight force with force;

it just keeps rolling forward.

It rolls right over small obstacles,

and can go around big ones.

It doesn’t get caught up in fighting you;

it just focuses on moving forward.

Applied to life’s decisions,

this difference is enormous.

People with a Nine in the Third Place mindset

rely on brute force to expand.

“I’m tough, I’m skilled,

I’m not afraid of hardship, I’ll grind it out no matter what.”

When they hit a problem, they butt heads with it head-on;

when they face a rival, they fight to the bitter end.

It’s as if not giving it their all

would make them look weak.

What about people with a Nine in the Fourth Place mindset?

What do they rely on for expansion? Direction.

First they figure out where they want to go,

then they pick the most effortless way to get there.

If they can go around an obstacle, they do;

if they can leverage existing resources, they do;

if they can catch a ride on someone else’s momentum, they do.

They don’t grind themselves down fighting you;

they just keep moving toward their own goal.

Which one goes further?

Clearly the latter.

Because human energy is limited.

If you spend all your energy bashing into walls,

you’ll have nothing left

when it’s time to actually move forward.

The Most Common Mistake in Expansion: Trying to Do Everything

Why does the Nine in the Fourth Place work out so well?

Because it knows where it’s going.

Its strength has direction;

it’s not just random brute force.

And what’s the most common mistake

most people make during an expansion phase?

Trying to do everything.

They want this opportunity,

they don’t want to let that one go either,

casting their net far and wide,

only to end up dipping their toes in everything and mastering nothing.

I’ve seen so many entrepreneurs

start diversifying the second their business shows a glimmer of success.

Restaurant owners jump into education;

education founders jump into real estate;

real estate developers jump into internet tech.

They call it “ecosystem layout” to sound fancy,

but really they’re just chasing whatever looks profitable.

What happens?

Their core business never gets deepened,

their side projects never take off,

and both end up mediocre.

When the market is good, they can scrape by;

the moment the market turns,

everything collapses.

It’s the same in the workplace.

Some people, after a few years of building experience,

start jumping from one thing to another.

Today they want a side hustle,

tomorrow they want to learn a new skill,

the day after they want to switch careers entirely.

They dabble in a little bit of everything,

but master nothing.

Five or ten years go by,

and they’re still stuck in the same place.

Why does this happen?

Because when you’re in a “great power” phase,

it’s easy to overestimate yourself.

You think because you succeeded at one thing,

you can succeed at everything.

You think because you’re great in one field,

you’ll be just as great in another.

But the reality is,

every field has its own pitfalls.

The success lessons you learned in one field

might not apply at all

when you switch to another.

You think you’re relying on your ability,

but really you’re gambling with your luck.

Wen Laoshi once said,

“Every person’s ability has boundaries.”

Master the things within your boundaries,

and you’re an expert.

Push outside those boundaries to chase random things,

and you’re just a beginner again.

Why is the Nine in the Fourth Place auspicious?

Because it stays within its own boundaries,

channeling its strength into what it does best.

It doesn’t waste energy on random detours;

it keeps its eyes on one direction and moves forward.

With the right direction,

the more strength you have, the better;

with the wrong direction,

the more strength you have, the worse off you’ll be.

The core wisdom of the fourth line of The Power of the Great

is to find the right direction before you apply your strength.

The Nine in the Fourth Place Expansion Method: 3 Steps to Figure Out Where to Channel Your Energy

So how do you figure out

where your strength should go?

How do you achieve

「壯于大輿之輹」 (strength in the wheel spokes of a great chariot)

instead of 「羝羊觸藩」 (a ram butting a fence)?

Here are three criteria to judge by.

First criterion: Is this an “extension of your core business”?

What does that mean?

It means the new thing you want to do

should have a connection

to what you’re already doing now.

The closer the connection, the higher the chance of success;

the farther the connection, the bigger the risk.

For example, if you run a restaurant,

opening a second location

is an extension of your core business,

with a very high success rate;

jumping into online education

has nothing to do with your core business,

so the success rate is very low.

Another example: if you work in sales,

starting your own sales company

is an extension of your core business,

a natural next step;

switching careers to become a programmer

means basically starting from scratch,

which is extremely difficult.

When it comes to expansion,

the best approach is to extend outward

from your existing strengths.

Your chariot is already moving down this road;

hit the gas a little and you’ll go faster.

If you insist on switching to a whole new road,

you’ll have to pave the way all over again—

exhausting, and risky to boot.

Second criterion: Will this get “easier the longer you do it”?

What does good expansion look like?

It takes effort upfront,

but gets easier and easier over time.

Once your system is set up,

your processes are running smoothly,

and your team is in place,

you can step back gradually

and let it run on its own.

What about bad expansion?

It gets more tiring the longer you do it.

Your scope keeps growing,

your to-do list keeps getting longer,

and you’re stuck putting out fires every single day.

It looks like you’ve scaled up,

but really you’re trapped.

You used to be the boss;

now you’re the overworked employee with the most hours.

How do you tell the difference?

Just ask yourself one question:

If I step away from this project,

can it still run normally?

If yes, you’ve built a system;

if no, you’re still selling your own time.

Expansion that relies on selling your time

only gets more tiring the more you expand.

In the end, it’s not you expanding your business—

it’s your business holding you hostage.

Third criterion: If this fails, can you “afford to lose”?

Why can the Nine in the Fourth Place move forward boldly?

Because it’s a Yang Line (陽爻) in a Yin position,

leaving room for both advance and retreat.

It can press forward to attack, or pull back to defend;

even if things don’t work out,

it won’t suffer a crippling blow.

What’s the biggest fear in expansion?

Going all in.

Betting everything you have on it—

strike it rich if you win,

lose everything if you fail.

With that gambler’s mindset,

nine out of ten people will lose.

What does steady, smart expansion look like?

Test it out with a portion of your resources first.

If it works, scale up;

if it doesn’t, it won’t derail your whole operation.

Controlled cost of trial and error,

unlimited upside potential.

That’s the smart way to do it.

Look at big companies:

when they launch new projects, they start with a small team

to test the waters.

If it works out, they pour in more resources;

if not, they cut their losses early.

Companies with that much scale don’t gamble recklessly—

what makes you think your small savings

gives you the right to go all in?

Final Thoughts

The Nine in the Fourth Place line of The Power of the Great

is especially fitting for anyone

in a growth phase, expansion phase,

or facing a major life choice.

The advice this fourth line gives you is—

expansion isn’t about who’s bolder;

it’s about who has the sharper direction.

In this life,

you only get a handful of real opportunities.

Grab one,

and you might just level up.

But the prerequisite to seizing an opportunity

is channeling your energy in the right place.

Both are in a phase of great power:

the Nine in the Third Place butts with its horns,

and ends up bloodied and beaten;

the Nine in the Fourth Place rolls forward on chariot wheels,

and its path gets smoother and smoother.

The gap isn’t in how much strength you have—

it’s in where you apply that strength.

Remember:

expansion isn’t about who’s bolder;

it’s about who has the sharper direction.

With the right direction,

going slow is fine—

you’ll get there eventually.

With the wrong direction,

the harder you push, the faster you’ll crash.

貞吉，悔亡。

藩決不羸，

壯于大輿之輹。

May you have strength,

and direction too.

May you dare to charge forward,

and charge in the right place.