No.0144：Options are a weapon - and a trap
November 29,2025
 
Toxic workplaces and the U.S. - China power struggle share the same core truth: the side with more options controls the side with none.Not understanding this structure is like stepping onto a battlefield unarmed.
 
Those without options have no freedom
When you lack options, you get cornered. People take advantage of you because you have no alternatives - they can spin you around in the palm of their hand. In that position, you risk being controlled. That’s why you must project that you’re not dependent on anyone - that you’d be perfectly fine even if you cut ties tomorrow.
 
The essence of a “black company” is forced dependence
A toxic workplace drills this mindset into you: “This is the only place you belong. You can’t move anywhere else. And even if you could, your income would collapse. So be grateful. As long as you stay obedient, we won’t treat you badly.” Management works hard to make you believe that. And when someone escapes and succeeds, that “traitor” is sure to be smeared as a fraud.
 
The key to escape is portable skills 
To climb out of this antlion trap, you need what’s now often called portable skills - abilities that work anywhere, not the “read-the-room obedience” rewarded by workplace hierarchies. For example: listening deeply, identifying a person’s unspoken needs, offering suggestions that fire up their motivation without injuring their pride, and moving them to action. That kind of capability travels.
 
Individuals and nations alike grow weak when dependent
The structure is the same whether it’s a person or a nation: lack of options equals vulnerability. In the heated U.S.–China rivalry, each side tries to weaponize what it has that the other lacks. America uses AI chips; China uses rare earths. Both seek leverage. And the key question is this: What happens if the rival cuts you off? Can you source elsewhere? Can you substitute with something else? Can you ultimately produce it yourself, even if it takes time? “Plan B” is getting more attention - like a backup generator roaring to life the moment the lights go out.
 
A ambition that needs no replacement
Up to this point, I’ve written about the necessity of having choices. Yet there is one thing for which having alternatives is unnecessary - your ambition. Precisely because it cannot be substituted, it carries value. The founder of the now-famous ramen chain Ichiran once said he was driven by a line from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman:
 
“I’ve got nowhere else to go.”
 
When escape routes exist, people coast, muttering, “I just haven’t shown my true ability yet.” But when there’s no turning back - when you’re backed against the wall - that pressure becomes strength.
 
Just like a boxer calmly shaking his head after absorbing a clean right hook, you should appear to have endless options to others, keeping their influence at bay, while secretly knowing: this is your best and final path - and that’s why you’re fighting for it.
 
What “options” do you need to build?
What “escape routes” do you need to cut right now?