Should I Stay or Take Action This Year? Six Lines of Qian Hexagram Map the Six Rhythms of a Full Year

Every year as soon as spring starts, people ask me: Wen Laoshi, is this a good year to make a move? I usually ask back: When you say "make a move," which month are you talking about? The question always catches them off guard. For most people, a year is a single whole—if you "move," you move all year; if you "stay put," you stay put all year. But that’s exactly not what the Qian hexagram talks about in the context of annual fortune.

Let’s get one thing straight first

The Qian hexagram isn’t about whether your yearly luck is good or bad.

It’s about rhythm. The same thing, done in different months of the year, can have wildly different results. This isn’t mysticism—it’s common sense: At the start of the year, everyone is setting their plans; at the end of the year, everyone is collecting payments. If you show up mid-year to pitch a partnership that needs a quick decision, it’s bound to be hard.

The Qian hexagram marks these six phases with six dragons.

Six phases, six things to do

Nine at the Beginning: 潜龙勿用 (Hidden Dragon, Do Not Act). January to February.

This phase is for setting your direction, not for showing your face. The most low-key time of the year is right at the start. Why? Because everyone is rushing to take a stance right now, and as soon as you take one, you get boxed into a category. See things clearly first, then speak up.

Nine in the Second Place: 见龙在田，利见大人 (Dragon Appearing in the Field, It Furthers to See the Great Person). March to April.

Time to show up. Send out your proposals, meet the people you need to meet. The core action of this phase is "being seen." If you hide and do nothing, no one will remember you later on.

Nine in the Third Place: 终日乾乾，夕惕若厉 (Vigorous All Day Long, Watchful at Evening as if in Danger). May to June.

The most exhausting phase. Work during the day, review and reflect at night—stretch one day into two. There are no tangible results here, only laying groundwork. A lot of people give up here because they can’t see progress yet.

Nine in the Fourth Place: 或跃在渊 (Leaping Up from the Deep). July to August.

Testing the waters. Mid-year is the best window for trial and error: the cost of mistakes is lowest, and you have the most time to fix things. Take a leap; if it doesn’t work, step back—there’s still the deep water to catch you.

Nine in the Fifth Place: 飞龙在天 (Flying Dragon in the Heavens). September to October.

Harvest time. Ask for the resources you need, negotiate the terms you want, put in for that promotion. If you don’t bring these up in this phase, the whole year’s work goes to waste.

Nine at the Top: 亢龙有悔 (Arrogant Dragon Brings Remorse). November to December.

Wrap things up. Don’t start new projects. Settle all the year’s accounts, get all your relationships and teams in order. Nine out of ten new projects started in this phase won’t carry over smoothly into next year.

Why most people waste a whole year’s effort

Two common mistakes, both very typical.

The first: Flying high right at the start of the year. Pouring all your resources into things in January and February, kicking off with a huge splash, posting three times a day on social media. By May or June you’re out of ammo, and by September or October when it’s time to harvest, you’re busy patching up holes.

The second: Trying to leap at the end of the year. Suddenly deciding to pivot, switch tracks, or go all out in November and December. Right after you make the switch, Lunar New Year hits—your team disperses, clients go on holiday, no one is there to follow through.

The reminder the Qian hexagram gives for annual fortune is just one line: Do what each phase calls for. Doing things too early is recklessness; doing them too late is misalignment.

Why "hiding" comes first

This phase goes most against human nature.

Who doesn’t want to start the year with a bang? But there’s a reason the Qian hexagram puts "hiding" first.

In the first two months of the year, information is the most incomplete. Last year’s accounts aren’t fully settled, this year’s plans aren’t finalized, people are still unsettled. The judgments you make now are based on the least amount of information.

In the context of annual fortune, the Qian hexagram calls this phase "hiding." The dragon at the bottom of the water isn’t doing nothing—it’s listening.

Listening to what? Listening to who’s moving up, who’s moving down, which lines are loosening up, which areas are tightening up. Once you’ve got all that straight, when you show up in March and April, your direction will be spot-on.

Three quick checks you can use right now

First: Are you doing what you’re supposed to be doing in this current phase? Match it up with the month—if it doesn’t line up, adjust.

Second: Are you saving ammo for the next phase? When you’re exhausted in May and June, you still need to hold onto the resources you’ll use in September and October. Don’t burn through everything in the first half of the year.

Third: In the last two months of the year, are you wrapping up, or chasing more? Wrapping up means turning what you already have into something solid; chasing means gambling on one more shot. Gambling at the end of the year has the lowest odds of winning.

Final thought

The six lines of the Qian hexagram were originally used by the ancients to describe the six stages of a person’s entire life.

But a single year is actually a miniature version of a lifetime.

People who know how to live a year well aren’t the ones grinding every single month—they’re the ones who know which two months to hold back.

Only those who can hold back can truly fly high.