As an early‑career scholar, I was thrilled to receive an invitation from The Journal of Politics (JOP), my long‑time dream journal. Honored, the editor sees value in my expertise on Chinese politics and government responsiveness. Truly a moment reminding me why I love this work.

Focus is the nature of productivity. Do one thing, do it fully, do it like your future depends on it. During this process, be patient. True victory delays. Do not easily give up, even no praise, no views, no quick results.

Because your focus was scattered. Your brain was everywhere and nowhere! When you focus deeply on one task, your brain enters a state called "flow." In flow state, time disappears, doubt vanished, creativity increases, and energy rises. Your future doesn't need more goals. it needs more focus.

Target lock trains your brain to do one thing with obsession, which builds empires. Every time you switch tasks, your brain has to relaod focus. This is called attention residue. It kills deep work. It destroys momentum. That is why you can be busy for 8 hours but still feel like you did nothing.

That means even when sth truly important happens, like starting a dream project, finishing a workout, or learning a new skill–your brain doesn't reward it. The enemy is not laziness or procrastination. The enemy is overstimulation. We need target lock.

That is why you lose focus. That's why you feel lazy. That's why your mind races with anxiety. Because your dopamine system is broken by your daily habits, not by nature. You see people scrolling 7 hours a day and calling it relaxing; and then they feel empty, even they are surrounded with people.

, when you get a like on Instagram, when you eat junk food, when you watch movies and adult contents. Every time you repeat this, you brain lowers the bar fro what it considers reward. That means when it's time to focus, to study, to read, to write, and to think deeply, you brain is already tired.

Train your brain

Your brain is not built for modern life. It is built for survival. In ancient times, your brain gave you dopamine when you hunted, when you built, when you solved problems, when you pushed through pain. However, nowadays, you brain gives you dopamine when you open TikTok,

4. 静下心来做学问的四大挑战：1）考核太紧迫；2）follow the money; 3) follow the hot topics; 4) political sensitivity 以及由此衍生出来的无穷无尽的self-censorship。只能说，学术是一个市场。有市场就有竞争、就有不确定性。慢慢地要适应这种不确定性与不安。市场的背后，就是繁荣以及适度的混乱。做学问终究不是一个市场。做学问则主要是凭良心。加油吧！在你都怀疑你自己的时候，总有你不太熟悉的人，站出来看到你的闪光点。有时候甚是感动！这可能就是open society以及学术市场的upsides。

1. 能静下心做学问真的是一件非常奢侈的事情。2. 静下心做学问的两大超级奖励——超越物质层面的奖励：1）满足自己的精神世界；2）有可能将自己的作品留在人类知识所构成历史长河里（即使很渺小）。3. 静下心做学问的三大体现：1）逐字逐句读书——品味书中的观点，感受作者的窘迫与艰难择决，反思当下的社会状况；2）按照内心真实想法写论文——不用担心KKV1994粉丝的批评，不用担心被后续的研究所证伪、不用考虑p值是不是小于0.05；以及3）不急不躁改论文——不用担心年底发不出来，不用考虑哪个期刊审稿速度快。4. 静下心来做学问的四大挑战：1）

I just submitted a manuscript developed from my dissertation–fingers crossed!

Good luck!!!

CRF, Feb to Jun.

June 1, 2026, elite politics.

CRF: DDL 20250214
REG: DDL 20250313
SPPR: DDL 20250423

I think I am beginning to understand why ChatGPT o1 doesn't display the "thinking" process. Here, AI comes across as a frantic neurotic little cartoon mouse in increasingly existential panic as it slowly realises that figuring out how many r's the word "strawberry" has is really hard.

Interesting!

New on Early View: Notice the comment? Chinese government responsiveness to public participation in the policymaking process

#Pasky
#Policysky
#Polisky

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

How institutionalized feedback works: Online citizen complaints and local government responsiveness in China - Wang - Governance - Wiley Online Library

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...