CZ's New Book Appendix: 72 Life Principles in His Own Hand

Source: CZ's New Book "The Binance Story"

Compiled by: KarenZ, Foresight News

On April 8th, CZ officially released his new book "The Binance Story: A Memoir of Luck, Resilience, and Safeguarding User Memories" (Freedom of Money). CZ revealed that the first draft of this book was written over four months using a limited-function laptop while in prison, and the subsequent editing process took even longer, with the final draft taking nearly half a year.

To know the person, observe their actions. To truly understand someone, observe how they work. In the appendix of this book, CZ meticulously outlined 72 principles and approaches to work.

Chapter 1: Mindset

1. Don't waste time – "Not having a to-do list" is more important than having one.

2. Don't focus solely on money; create value, and money will naturally follow.

3. Make the most of limited resources – Money is not a limited resource; reputation is.

4. Stick to the bottom line, never cross the moral line.

5. Treat people fairly, neither take advantage nor allow yourself to be taken advantage of.

6. Aim for long-term mutual wins; short-term wins will undermine long-term success.

7. Focus; success is about how well and deeply you do a few things.

8. Stay away from "toxic" relationships – Let go of high-maintenance individuals.

9. Maintain a positive attitude – "When life hits rock bottom, keep going, and you'll emerge."

10. Take ownership, don't just "do tasks," but make them "your tasks."

11. Never stop learning; books offer the highest return on self-improvement.

12. Be an early adopter; enter influential new fields early.

13. Understand this world – It's not just black and white; most things are gradient.

14. Don't be fooled by labels; see through the tags, grasp the first principles.

15. Respect the hard rules – Lose your reputation, and it will be tough to raise funds or succeed in the future.

16. Have a global perspective – National borders are merely artificial lines; please make sure to have a global vision.

II. Team:

17. Team over individual, prioritizing team interests is beneficial for everyone in the long run.

18. Regularly rotate teams to avoid organizational stagnation and provide new leaders with more growth opportunities.

19. Internal competition is not a bad thing; professionalism should be maintained.

20. An ordered chaos is also a form of order—too rigid of an organization leads to less innovation.

21. Engage in local team building activities; having a meal together is the best form of team building.

22. Provide direct feedback anytime, anywhere; a culture of candid feedback is healthier than silence.

23. Avoid formalized verbal encouragement; focus more on the actual results of "doing a good job" and provide feedback through tangible benefits like compensation.

24. When reporting issues, involve at least three people in a meeting; ignore hearsay directly and take note of negative feedback.

25. Hiring: Recruit passionate, hungry, mission-driven practitioners.

26. Do not attempt to motivate those without self-drive; identify them and have them leave as soon as possible.

27. Lead by example; people observe what you do, not just listen to what you say.

28. Never micromanage; those who need micromanagement should be let go.

29. Hire based on qualifications, but evaluate based on results after onboarding.

30. Remove the bottom performers; high performers prefer working with other high performers.

31. Set output as the goal, not input (work hours, tasks, meetings, etc.).

32. Do not take goals too seriously; the market changes rapidly, so constantly set new targets.

33. Tolerate honest mistakes; do not tolerate cover-ups, deception, or lazy errors.

III. Business and Collaboration:

34. Keep business simple; partnerships with too many variables are prone to failure.

35. Say "no" to useless partnerships early on to save time for both parties.

36. Either progress quickly or abandon—being indecisive is the worst choice.

37. Reject exclusive partnerships; those who insist on exclusivity usually lack confidence in themselves.

38. Always include termination clauses in contracts; have an exit strategy and plan for the worst-case scenario.

39. Always have limited liability, think of the worst-case scenario, not the best-case scenario.

40. No exceptions, always treat all customers equally.

41. Passively expanding business — impressive enough, others will naturally come to you.

IV. Communication:

42. Say "no" early and often; saying "no" is the most effective time-saving tool.

43. Start communication with the purpose — "I want to...", then consider if explaining the background is necessary.

44. Writing (and written communication) should be concise and efficient: short meetings within 15 minutes, team meetings within 30-60 minutes, monthly/quarterly business reviews within 5 pages, rejecting fancy PPTs and slides. Blogs, articles, or books can be longer.

45. Messages take precedence over meetings; if a message can be sent, avoid making a call.

46. Avoid communication chains; go directly to the source, not through hearsay.

47. Be clear in a single message; do not send multiple messages to have the recipient receive multiple notifications.

48. Avoid arguing via chat; for debates, use video or voice calls.

49. Too much communication is also not good; excessive communication indicates that the fundamental problem is not resolved.

50. When asking a question, provide context; explain why you are asking.

51. Use units; do not make the other party guess — for example, say "40,000 USD per year," not "40k."

52. Keep meetings short, ideally 5 minutes; if not achievable, it means consensus has not been reached.

53. Start meetings on time; join one minute early and set the alarm for 3:59 instead of 4:00.

54. No introductions, no background; speak directly — start with "We want to..."

55. Less than 10 people in a discussion; too many people slow things down.

56. Those who remain silent throughout the meeting need not attend the next meeting; they can read the minutes instead.

57. Prepare meeting points in advance; writing them down helps clarify your thoughts.

58. Avoid using PPTs; use bullet points and bar charts for presentation.

59. Reject purposeless "introductory/exploratory meetings"; only participate in meetings with clear objectives.

Five, Product:

60. Focus on the user, no user no value.

61. Only do scalable products, start with MVP, if it can't scale, don't do it.

62. Everyone is a product manager, your job is to build a product.

Six, Public Relations:

63. Don't heavily promote on the first day of launch, wait for a stable week.

64. Only promote things with results, don't promote memorandums and letters of intent.

65. Once it's good, announce it, don't wait for the so-called perfect timing - the cost of delay is extremely high.

66. Respond to journalists, if you don't respond, they will assume the worst. When necessary, you can send the response yourself.

67. Respond quickly to negative news, otherwise, it will spread.

68. Decision-making framework: First, see if it touches on core principles, then distinguish between "big things/small things," "reversible/irreversible," then judge if you are a professional, if the information is sufficient, and finally draw a conclusion - and usually "making a decision and executing" is better than "not making a decision." Classify and handle different types of decisions to avoid "small things consuming energy, big things done impulsively."

Seven, Rest, Stay Calm, Relax

69. Sleep: 5-6 hours at night + a 30-45 minute nap in the afternoon, relax and rest when tired instead of forcing yourself.

70. Maintain a calm demeanor, with smaller emotional fluctuations compared to others - most useful under high pressure.

71. Don't pursue luxurious offices, high-speed internet, external monitor, standing desk, and phone stand are sufficient.

72. Relaxation and entertainment: Exercise every day, enjoy snowboarding; watch movies recommended by friends; don't chase luxury cars and jewelry.

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