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MENTAL MODEL · M11399

Draining the Pond to Catch Fish

Draining the Pond to Catch Fish
CultureHigh supportChinese Literature
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Updated 2026-08-22

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

A classical Chinese metaphor: drain the pond to catch the fish, and the catch is certain and large, but next year there are no fish at all. The core claim is that growth obtained by killing the goose, excessive promotions, spent user trust, sustained overtime, is not growth but the liquidation of a future asset recorded as current income. The key condition is that the damage be invisible in the period's figures, because the metric that improves is precisely the one being drained against, which is why the trap is seductive. It is the mechanism of overdrawn growth and the race to the bottom.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Asset check: ask which long-term asset the growth number is being drawn down from. - Sustainability accounting: measure the decision by durability, not by the single quarter. - Race awareness: notice when the excuse is that rivals would otherwise take it all.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

The pond is a capital stock and the catch is a flow, so draining converts stock into flow and makes the flow look magnificent for exactly one period, after which no flow is possible. Because the reporting period measures the flow, the destruction of the stock does not appear in the numbers that celebrate the growth, which is why the move is repeated until the stock is gone. The belief that restraint only leaves the fish for rivals turns this into a race, in which every competitor drains faster and the pond dies for everyone.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%95%E6%B0%8F%E6%98%A5%E7%A7%8BZH · Explicit
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