New to a Skill & Want to Quit? Zhun Hexagram Says This Chaos Is Normal

A 38-year-old man wanted to switch careers and chose data analysis. He asked me if the "difficulty of getting started" that the *Difficulty at the Beginning* hexagram describes in academic scenarios was exactly the hardship he was facing.

In the third week of studying, he messaged me: "Wen Laoshi, am I not cut out for this?"

I asked him what was wrong. He said he’d gone through five tutorials, filled three notebooks with notes, but his mind was a total mess. When he turned on his computer that day, he had no idea where to start.

I told him his state had been written about 3,000 years ago — in the *Difficulty at the Beginning* hexagram.

Difficulty at the Beginning: Just Like a Sprouting Seed

Hexagram Judgment: Originating, Penetrating, Advantageous, Correct. Do not proceed anywhere. It furthers to establish a feudal lord.

The upper trigram is *Kan / The Abysmal*, the lower is *Zhen / The Arousing* — water above thunder. Thunder stirs beneath the ground, while water presses down from above.

The original meaning of the character "tun" (屯) is a young plant just sprouting, curling its body as it pushes upward. Above it are soil and stones; below it is its inner strength.

Picture that scene: when a seed sprouts, that is the hardest time of its life. If it cannot push through, it rots in the soil; only when it breaks through can it grow further.

In academic scenarios, the initial stage of learning is exactly this state.

"The Junzi (Superior Person) Arranges the Silk Threads": Chaos Is When You Sort Things Out

The *Xiang Commentary* says: Clouds and thunder form Difficulty at the Beginning; the Junzi (Superior Person) arranges the silk threads accordingly.

What does "arranging silk threads" mean? It means sorting out tangled silk.

In ancient times, before weaving cloth, people first had to sort a pile of tangled silk into warp and weft threads. This step was the most tedious, but also the most indispensable.

The *Xiang Commentary* uses this image to explain the *Difficulty at the Beginning* hexagram, and the meaning is straightforward: chaos is not something to run away from — chaos is the natural shape of the task itself.

When you’re learning something new, those three notebooks of notes, five tutorials, and piles of conflicting ideas in your head don’t mean you lack talent. They just mean the silk threads haven’t been set up on the loom yet.

First Line (Nine at the Beginning): "Lingering and Hesitant; It Furthers to Remain Correct; It Furthers to Establish a Feudal Lord"

Line Text: Lingering and hesitant; it furthers to remain correct; it furthers to establish a feudal lord.

"Lingering and hesitant" means being pinned down by a huge boulder, unable to move forward.

But the next two phrases are the key: "it furthers to remain correct" — staying where you are is good; "it furthers to establish a feudal lord" — first set up a local ruler for yourself.

Applied to learning, the First Line talks about two things.

First, don’t rush to push ahead. It’s normal that you can’t move forward right now; forcing progress will only make you hit a wall.

Second, find someone who can guide you first. "Establishing a feudal lord" means finding a community to belong to, or a mentor to learn from.

That 38-year-old man had taken five free online tutorials, but had no real teacher at all. It wasn’t that he couldn’t learn — he just had no "forester" to guide him.

Third Line (Six in the Third Place): "Chasing a Deer Without a Forester": Don’t Chase Aimlessly Without a Guide

Line Text: Chasing a deer without a forester, one only enters the depths of the forest. The Junzi (Superior Person), seeing the risk, would rather give up; proceeding brings humiliation.

Chasing a deer without a forester to lead the way, you charge straight into the woods. A wise person would give up at this point, because going further only leads to humiliation.

A "forester" in ancient times was the official in charge of mountains and forests — they knew where the swamps were, where the traps were, and which direction the deer would run.

In academic scenarios, the "forester" is someone who knows all the pitfalls of this field of study.

What happens without a forester? You switch between five tutorials, change your learning direction three times, spend two weeks on each, and end up stuck at the same point every time.

It’s not that you’re incapable — you’re just wandering aimlessly in the woods. The harshest piece of advice the *Difficulty at the Beginning* hexagram gives for learning is this word: "give up".

The answer the hexagram gives is straightforward: the Junzi (Superior Person), seeing the risk, would rather give up. When you see something is wrong, let it go. Giving up doesn’t mean abandoning the field entirely — it means abandoning this path that has no guide.

Why "Chaos" Is a Good Sign

I want to emphasize this point strongly.

Because what you’re doing is putting a bunch of scattered things onto a shelf. That action itself *feels* chaotic.

Once you’ve built the shelf and everything is in its place, one day you’ll suddenly realize: Oh, that’s how it all works.

That day won’t come when your learning is going smoothly — it will come one afternoon, right after your most chaotic period.

Three Checks for Learning Scenarios

First, do you have a map? What are the main parts of this field, how do they connect, and what can you do after learning them? Without a map, no matter how much you learn, it’s all scattered.

Second, do you have a "forester"? Someone who can tell you where the pitfalls are is worth more than ten tutorials.

Third, when you switch directions, are you doing it because the path is blocked, or because it’s hard? Switch if the path is blocked, but don’t switch just because it’s hard. These two feelings feel similar, but the outcomes are worlds apart.

Final Thought

Here’s what the *Difficulty at the Beginning* hexagram has to say about learning scenarios:

The chaos of those first three months of getting started isn’t your problem — it’s the natural shape of this field of study.

When grass pushes up through the soil, it’s covered in dirt. It’s not dirty — it’s in the process of emerging.

What you need to do isn’t wait for the chaos to pass — it’s to sort out the threads *within* the chaos.

Once you’ve sorted them out, everything will fall into place.