Volume B-2 | Gate of Covenant: Four Laws for Establishing Contracts

This is an English translation of 中文原文

Opening: What Is a True “Agreement”?

We deal with various “agreements” every day:

Appointments with friends, contracts with companies, tacit understandings with family, promises to ourselves.

But what’s the difference between agreements that can be maintained long-term and those that are just empty words?

The answer is: True agreements have stable foundations, gentle correction mechanisms, clear ledgers, and synchronized rhythms.

The Gate of Covenant speaks of how to establish and maintain truly reliable contracts.

Law Five | Sacred Domain Seal: Find the Unshakeable Foundation

Story: Which Principles Cannot Be Compromised?

A startup team encounters countless temptations and pressures in the early stages:

• Investors demand direction changes.
• Big clients demand custom features.
• Competitors wage price wars.

At this time, the team falls into confusion: what can change, what cannot?

Teams that endure long-term all have some “unshakeable principles.” For example:

• Don’t do things that harm user interests.
• Don’t violate core technical philosophy.
• Don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term gains.

These principles are the team’s “sacred domain.” You can flexibly adjust tactically, but core principles cannot be compromised.

Law’s Core: Find Your “Spectral Gap”

Why do some principles become “unshakeable” foundations?

Because they’ve been tested by time and remain stable under various disturbances. Like a bridge that stands firm through countless storms—its structure must be exceptional.

This is the meaning of “spectral gap”: Truly important principles aren’t dreamed up from nowhere, but naturally emerge through repeated use and verification.

Practical Point: Regularly Review Your Core Principles

A simple method: every six months, ask yourself three questions:

1. Over the past six months, which principles have I upheld?
2. When these principles faced challenges, did I waver?
3. If I could go back in time, would I still uphold these principles?

Those principles tested by time that you’re still willing to uphold are your “sacred domain.”

And those you feel “should be important, but have been constantly compromising on”—that means they’re not core enough, or you haven’t truly understood their value.

Law Six | Lamp of Long Aspiration: Use Small Steps to Correct, Not Overthrow and Restart

Story: Two Ways of Correcting Mistakes

Two students both bombed the midterm exam.

• Student A says: “I’m going to completely change my study method, start from scratch!” So he throws away all notes, buys a bunch of new books, makes an entirely new plan. Result: three days of enthusiasm, back to the old way after a week.
• Student B says: “Let me see where I went wrong.” He discovers he didn’t understand certain knowledge points thoroughly, so he supplements specifically, fine-tunes his study rhythm. Final exam, his grades improve significantly.

Why is B’s method more effective?

Because he uses “small-step correction,” not “overthrow and restart.”

Law’s Core: Correction Cost Must Be Minimal

True forgiveness and correction is not “wipe the slate clean, start fresh,” but “find the smallest adjustment path to get things back on track.”

Why?

1. “Overthrow and restart” costs too much, most people can’t bear it, the result is giving up.
2. “Small-step correction” preserves previous accumulation, only adjusts the problematic parts, lower cost, more sustainable.

This is the wisdom of the “Lamp of Long Aspiration”: True long-term aspirations don’t rely on one-time determination, but on continuous small-step adjustments.

Practical Point: Establish “Weekly Check—Monthly Adjust” Mechanism

An actionable method:

• Weekly check: What deviation did I have this week on my goals?
• Monthly fine-tune: Based on this month’s deviations, adjust next month’s strategy.

Don’t wait until “year-end review” to discover problems, by then the cost is already high. Instead, when small deviations just appear, correct them promptly.

Like driving, don’t wait until completely off-track to jerk the wheel, but constantly fine-tune, stay in the center of the lane.

Law Seven | Clear Account Talisman: Record Inputs and Outputs, Make Up Debts

Story: A Small Ledger’s Provocation

A friend, every time collaborating on a project, keeps a small ledger:

• Who contributed what resources (time, money, connections).
• Who received what benefits (compensation, experience, reputation).
• Is anyone putting in more but getting less, forming “hidden debts.”

At first, everyone thought he was “too nitpicky.” But over time, everyone discovered: projects collaborating with him rarely end in “torn faces.” Because accounts are clear, no one feels they suffered a big loss, and no one feels others took advantage.

Law’s Core: Conservation Is the World’s Basic Law

The universe has a most fundamental law: What comes in must go out, what is gained must be lost.

• Every dollar you earn, where did it come from?
• Every minute you spend, where did it go?
• Every favor you owe, how do you plan to repay?

If you only look at input without output, or only output without input, accounts get chaotic. Once accounts are chaotic, trust collapses.

Practical Point: Establish Four Ledgers

Build yourself four account books:

1. Time ledger: Where does each day’s time go? Is it investment (learning, health, relationships), consumption (entertainment, scrolling), or waste?
2. Money ledger: Are income and expenditure flows healthy? Are you eating tomorrow’s lunch today? Are you reserving for the future?
3. Energy ledger: Which things are charging you (creating, communicating, resting), which are draining you (internal friction, procrastination, ineffective socializing)?
4. Favor ledger: Who’s helped you, have you repaid? Who have you helped, do they remember? Are there long-term imbalanced relationships?

Keep these four ledgers clear, you’ll discover the root of many problems.

Law Eight | Consensus Seal: Synchronized Rhythm Goes Far

Story: Why Are Some Teams Especially In Sync?

Observe teams with tacit cooperation, you’ll find a commonality: they have stable synchronization rhythms.

• Basketball teams train three times a week, fixed time, never drag.
• Startup teams hold daily morning stand-ups, fifteen minutes to align information.
• Couples have weekly deep conversations about each other’s feelings and plans.

While teams with chaotic cooperation often: sometimes communicate intensively, sometimes no contact for months; sometimes exhaustively detailed, sometimes major decisions with no heads-up.

Law’s Core: Sync Frequency Must Match Change Speed

Why do some teams meet daily, others monthly?

Because they face different “change speeds.”

• If what you’re doing changes daily (like dealing with sudden crises), you must sync daily.
• If what you’re doing is relatively stable (like long-term research), you can sync monthly.

The key is: Your sync frequency must at least reach “twice the change frequency”, to avoid chaos.

If your sync is too slow, when you discover problems, the situation has already changed, you’re “solving past problems,” not “solving present problems.”

Practical Point: Set Sync Rhythm According to Matter’s Nature

For different matters, set different sync rhythms:

• Rapidly changing matters (project sprints, crisis response): sync daily.
• Medium-speed changing matters (product development, team building): sync weekly.
• Slowly changing matters (strategic planning, long-term vision): sync monthly or quarterly.

Don’t one-size-fits-all. Not everything needs “daily stand-ups,” nor can everything go “a month without contact.”

Conclusion: Enter the “Gate of Covenant”

These four laws all speak of “how to establish truly reliable contracts”:

1. Sacred Domain Seal: Find those time-tested, unshakeable core principles.
2. Lamp of Long Aspiration: Correct mistakes in small steps, not overthrow and restart.
3. Clear Account Talisman: Record inputs and outputs clearly, conservation is the world’s basic law.
4. Consensus Seal: Set corresponding sync rhythm according to change speed.

These laws determine whether an agreement can endure.

Those relationships that “hit it off, part unhappily” often violate these laws:

• No common core principles, face conflicts of interest and each goes their own way.
• Made mistakes and want to “start fresh,” result in repeated resets, forever spinning in place.
• Accounts unclear, accumulated too many “hidden debts,” finally explode all at once.
• Sync rhythm chaotic, either over-communicate leading to exhaustion, or under-communicate leading to loss of control.

Enter the “Gate of Covenant” means acknowledging: true contracts need wisdom to maintain.

And wisdom is in these four laws.