Feeling the Thigh
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Feeling the thigh is the third line of the Xian hexagram in the Yijing, where influence has reached the part of the body that moves only because the foot moved first. As a decision model it describes the investor or manager who follows a prominent player or a hot market without a direction of his own, and the line warns that this path ends in strain. Its core proposition is that a person who chases another's motion holds no position and absorbs the losses without ever holding the conviction. The key qualification is that studied imitation is different from blind following.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Use follower audit: name the person or trend whose step you are mirroring. - Use direction check: state your own reason for the move before you make it. - Use position sizing: keep the following trade small enough that conviction is never faked.
Anchor fast decisions
The thigh moves after the foot, so a person governed by it is always one step behind and can never choose when to stop. Following someone else's entry also imports their timing, which was set for their circumstances and not for yours, so the exit arrives at the worst moment for the imitator. The losses land on the follower while the conviction that justified the risk stayed with the leader.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more
Source support: Explicit
- zh.wikisource.orghttps://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%91%A8%E6%98%93/%E5%92%B8verified
PRIVATE NOTES · Only visible to you
SAVED Q&A
ENTRY Q&A · Private saving available
Ask with a clear boundary
thinkingmodels answers from published entry context only.
Your question is sent to thinkingmodels. The answer uses public entry context only.
RELATED MODELS