Starting from Zero: Getting into Hexagram 1
You know me, I love digging into things that sound a bit out there, right? So, this week I decided to really sink my teeth into the whole Hexagram 1 thing—that’s the first one in the I Ching, and supposedly, it’s all about ultimate success and good luck. I wasn’t just reading about it; I actually tried to apply some of the principles to my current side project, the one about cleaning up the messy old databases.
First step, I had to understand what Hexagram 1 actually means. It’s called “The Creative” or “Qian.” It’s pure yang energy, all about initiation, power, and moving forward like a dragon soaring in the sky. It sounds grand, but translating that into actionable strategies for my boring database work was the real challenge. I read a bunch of different translations, watched a few dodgy YouTube videos, and settled on four key ideas: visibility, preparedness, persistence, and knowing when to wait.
The Visibility Test: Letting the Dragon Show Its Head
The I Ching talks about the dragon being hidden, then emerging. I figured this applied directly to how I tackle new features. For the database cleanup, my initial approach was always to just dive deep into the code, keep it quiet until it was “perfect.” That was dumb. This time, I flipped it.
- I immediately created a public Trello board for the project, showing even the most half-baked ideas. Visibility.
- I started daily quick video updates, literally two minutes long, just showing what I touched and what broke. This felt weirdly vulnerable at first, but it forced accountability and got early feedback.
- The immediate feedback I got on the schema changes saved me a solid week of going down the wrong path. People saw the emerging ‘dragon’ early and pointed out the pitfalls.
Prepping the Field: Don’t Rush the Sky
One of the lines in Hexagram 1 warns about the ‘dragon being in the deep.’ It means if you aren’t ready, don’t force it. I tend to skip the documentation and jump straight to coding. Big mistake often.
This time, I took a deep breath. I spent two full days just drawing diagrams of the new database structure and writing out the migration steps in plain English. I usually skip this planning phase—I hate it—but focusing on the “prep” phase made the actual coding fly by.
It’s like building a solid foundation. You don’t see it, it’s not flashy, but without it, the whole thing crashes when you finally turn on the traffic. I actually felt less pressure because I knew the next steps were already mapped out.
Persistence and the Soaring Dragon
Hexagram 1 insists on relentless, powerful movement once the time is right. Once I had my plan and the initial structure validated, I went into full-on sprint mode. This wasn’t about burning out; it was about consistent, high-energy effort.
- I set myself strict, small milestones—not big features, but tangible commits that cleaned up specific tables.
- I kept the public updates going. The consistent visibility kept the momentum up. Knowing people were watching, even just a few folks, pushed me not to slack off.
- When I hit inevitable bugs, instead of getting depressed and taking a day off, I remembered the “soaring dragon” idea and just pushed through the frustration for an extra hour until I cracked the immediate problem.
Knowing When to Wait: The Hidden Wisdom
The hexagram also has a line about the ‘contemplative dragon.’ It’s realizing you can’t always be charging forward. Sometimes, the best strategy is simply observation and waiting for the right moment.
I realized I needed to integrate a new logging module, but the existing team hadn’t finalized their API yet. Instead of hacking together a temporary solution that would break, I followed the “waiting” advice. I dedicated that waiting time to cleaning up unrelated technical debt—small, annoying things that weren’t urgent but needed doing.
When the new API was finally stable, I was ready. Because I hadn’t rushed it, the integration took less than a morning. This felt like the real good fortune—not forcing the timeline, but optimizing the down moments.
Honestly, applying these ancient concepts to modern dev work was surprisingly effective. It wasn’t magic, but it gave a structure to my approach that eliminated the usual messy fits and starts. Definitely going to try applying the wisdom of the next hexagram to the next phase.
