What to Do When You Hit Snags Right at Start? Jian Hexagram’s Six at the Beginning Tells You: Step Back and Wait, It’s No Shame

Have you ever had

this kind of experience—

you want to do something,

but run into difficulties right at the start.

Not enough funding,

short on staff,

no prior experience,

and the environment isn’t favorable either—

every single aspect

is telling you:

this isn’t going to be easy.

At a time like this,

what do you do?

Do you grit your teeth

and charge forward,

figuring the worst case

is you end up battered and bruised?

Or do you

step back and wait a while,

hold off until you’re fully prepared?

A lot of people think

once you’ve nocked the arrow, you can’t put it back—

since you’ve already started,

you can’t back down.

Backing down means you’re cowardly,

it means you’ve failed,

it means you lose face.

But the ancients said this about the Six at the Beginning of the Obstruction hexagram—

stepping back

is actually a good thing.

往蹇来誉: Pressing on is hard; stepping back earns you praise

The Line Text for the Six at the Beginning of the Obstruction hexagram

is just four characters:

「往蹇，来誉。」 (Wang jian lai yu: Going forward meets obstruction; returning brings praise)

What does it mean?

“Wang” means to go forward,

“jian” means hardship and difficulty,

“lai” means to step back,

to turn back,

and “yu” means praise, good reviews,

a good reputation.

Put together, it means—

going forward

will be very difficult,

but stepping back

will earn you praise instead.

It sounds a little odd,

how can stepping back

earn you praise?

Isn’t it supposed to be

that moving forward is honorable,

and stepping back is shameful?

The Six at the Beginning is the

first line of the Obstruction hexagram.

It is a Yin Line in a Yang position,

at the lowest position

with the weakest strength.

It’s like a person

who has just stepped out the door,

just started out,

just begun a new endeavor—

before they’ve even taken a few steps,

they realize the road ahead

is rough going,

full of obstacles.

What do you do then?

There are two choices.

First:

grit your teeth and push forward,

keep going even though you know the road is hard,

and end up beaten black and blue,

with nothing accomplished.

Second:

step back,

pause for now,

and wait until conditions are ripe

and you’re fully prepared

before moving on.

Which is better?

The Obstruction hexagram says

the second one is better.

Wang jian lai yu—

stepping back

earns you praise instead.

Why is stepping back

praiseworthy?

Because you have self-awareness.

You know your own limits,

you know the timing isn’t right,

you know that pushing forward

will only lead you to hit a brick wall—

so you step back.

This isn’t cowardice;

it’s wisdom.

Knowing your own capabilities,

knowing when to advance

and when to retreat—

that’s what makes a clear-headed person.

The Xiang Commentary says:

「往蹇来誉，

宜待也。」

Going forward meets obstruction, returning brings praise—

because one should

wait for the right time.

“Yi dai ye” — it is appropriate to wait —

three characters

that lay bare the hidden truth.

It’s not that you don’t move at all;

it’s that you wait a while before moving.

It’s not giving up;

it’s setting out at a different time.

Wait until conditions are ripe,

wait until the timing is right,

wait until you’re ready—

then it’s not too late to go.

Why you shouldn’t force your way through difficulties right at the start

A lot of people think

“the first step is always the hardest”

and if you just grit your teeth, you’ll get through it.

This saying

is sometimes true,

and sometimes not.

Some difficulties

can be overcome with gritted teeth;

other difficulties

you can’t get through

no matter how hard you grind your teeth.

When you run into major difficulties

right at the start,

why shouldn’t you force your way through?

Three reasons.

First:

your foundation is too thin to hold up under pressure.

When you first start something,

you have the least experience,

the fewest resources,

and the weakest abilities.

It’s like a child who’s just learned to walk—

if you ask them to run a marathon,

can they do it?

When you hit a major difficulty at this stage,

forcing your way through usually doesn’t lead to a breakthrough—

it leads to you getting knocked flat on your back,

losing all your confidence.

Even later, when you think back on it,

you’ll have a psychological scar.

Second:

your direction might be wrong.

When you hit obstacle after obstacle right at the start,

sometimes it’s not that

you’re not working hard enough—

it’s that the direction itself is wrong.

If you’re on the wrong road,

the harder you work, the worse off you’ll be.

At a time like this, stepping back

to re-examine your direction

is far better than

plowing forward with your head down.

Everyone’s heard the story of

the man who wanted to go south but drove north,

but when it comes to their own lives,

a lot of people just

refuse to turn back until they hit the wall.

Third:

the opportunity cost is too high.

When you stubbornly stick to

a road that leads nowhere,

you pour in all your time, energy, and money,

and end up with nothing to show for it.

If you’d used those resources

somewhere else,

you might have already succeeded.

Forcing your way through isn’t bravery;

it’s stubbornness.

Knowing how to cut your losses in time

is true smarts.

Wen Laoshi often says,

in this life,

you have to know how to advance,

and you also have to know how to retreat.

People who only know how to charge forward

are just reckless hotheads;

people who know when to retreat

are the real heroes.

Advancing takes courage,

retreating takes wisdom.

Lots of people have courage;

not everyone has wisdom.

What to do after you step back

Wang jian lai yu—

stepping back doesn’t mean

doing nothing

and lying around waiting.

Stepping back

is for the sake of

setting out even better later.

What do you do

after you step back?

Three things.

First:

prepare.

Why couldn’t you make progress earlier?

Because you weren’t prepared enough.

So when you step back,

prepare properly.

If you lack skills, build up your skills;

if you lack resources, seek out resources;

if you lack experience, learn from experience.

Lay a solid foundation,

get all your “gear” ready,

and you’ll be steady when you hit the road again.

Sharpening your axe won’t delay your woodcutting—

setting out prepared

is a hundred times better

than rushing off half-cocked.

Second:

observe.

After you step back,

don’t rush things.

First, take stock of the situation.

What exactly makes the road ahead

so difficult?

Is it a temporary setback,

or is the road simply impassable?

Are there other roads

you can take to go around?

Are there people

who have already made it through—

how did they do it?

Standing on the shore,

you can always see more clearly

than when you’re in the river.

Figure it out first,

then decide how to proceed.

Third:

wait for the wind.

Some things

don’t succeed just because you work hard—

they also depend on timing.

If the timing isn’t right,

no amount of effort will help;

when the timing is right,

you get twice the result with half the effort.

Stepping back to wait a while

isn’t being lazy or消极怠工—

it’s waiting for that

timing that’s meant for you.

When the wind comes,

spread your wings then,

and you’ll naturally take flight.

When the wind hasn’t come yet,

no matter how much you flap,

you won’t fly high.

Let me tell you a true story.

A friend of mine

wanted to start a business.

When he first got started,

nothing went right.

Clients were hard to find,

the team was hard to manage,

funds were tight—

after six months,

he could barely keep things going.

At that point, he

didn’t stubbornly push through.

He chose to

take a step back first:

he scaled down the company,

got a regular job first,

and while working,

kept refining his product

and building up his client base.

Two years later,

the industry took off,

and his product was fully mature.

That’s when he

came back to launch his business full-time.

And it took off right away.

You see?

Wang jian lai yu.

When moving forward is hard,

stepping back to wait a while

isn’t losing—

it’s building up strength.

When you’re ready,

when the timing is right,

setting out again

will let you go steadier

and farther.

Retreating isn’t cowardice—it’s how you advance better

A lot of people

are really sensitive

to the word “retreat”.

They think retreating means admitting defeat,

means failure,

means losing face.

But that’s not actually true.

There are many kinds of retreat.

There’s one kind of retreat

where you really are cowardly,

you give up,

you quit—

that’s called a rout.

There’s another kind of retreat

that’s a strategic withdrawal,

an adjustment,

a build-up of strength—

that’s called wisdom.

The retreat of the Six at the Beginning of the Obstruction hexagram

is the second kind.

It’s not that you’re never moving forward again;

it’s that you’re not moving right now,

you’ll move when you’re ready.

It’s not giving up on your goal;

it’s changing the method,

changing the timing,

to reach that goal.

It’s like a long jump—

you step back a few paces

so that you can

get a longer running start;

it’s like archery—

you pull the bowstring

back

so that the arrow

flies with more force.

Retreating

isn’t the goal;

it’s a method.

It’s not the end;

it’s part of the process.

So come on—

don’t think stepping back

is shameful.

What’s truly shameful

isn’t stepping back—

it’s forcing yourself to keep going when you clearly can’t,

and then collapsing when you can’t hold on anymore.

That’s what’s shameful.

Retreating with full clarity,

preparing steadily and diligently,

and setting out again in glory—

that’s not shameful.

That’s called skill.

Final thoughts

The Six at the Beginning of the Obstruction hexagram tells us—

when you run into difficulties right at the start,

don’t force your way through.

Step back and wait a while.

Wang jian, lai yu.

Going forward is hard;

stepping back earns you praise instead.

Not all forward movement

counts as bravery,

and not all stepping back

counts as admitting defeat.

Sometimes, taking a step back

is how you go farther.

Remember three things:

if you can’t make progress, retreat;

when you retreat, prepare;

when you’re prepared, set out again.

Life isn’t a 100-meter sprint;

it’s a marathon.

What matters isn’t

who starts the fastest—

what matters is who

can make it to the finish line.

Yi dai ye.

When you should wait,

you have to wait.

Waiting isn’t wasting time;

it’s building up strength.

When your strength is enough,

when the timing is right,

stride forward again—

and no one will be able to stop you.

Wang jian lai yu.

The you who steps back

is actually even more worth betting on.