The enemy of learning is one's own complacency.

This statement originated from Mao Zedong's speech on learning issues during the Yan'an period. At that time, the Chinese Communist Party was facing complex revolutionary situations and needed a large number of cadres with both theoretical knowledge and practical abilities. When criticizing the improper learning attitudes of some party members, Mao Zedong pointed out that some people became self-satisfied after reading a few books and were unwilling to continue in-depth study. This complacency seriously hindered the party's theoretical construction and the development of revolutionary causes.

This famous saying profoundly reveals the greatest obstacle in the learning process - psychological satisfaction. When a person believes they are already excellent enough and their knowledge is sufficiently rich, they lose the motivation and desire to continue learning. This complacency can cause people to stagnate and miss opportunities for further self-improvement. True learners should maintain an "empty cup mentality," always believing that there is still much to learn.

On February 1, 1942, Mao Zedong delivered an important speech titled "Rectify the Party's Style of Work" at the opening ceremony of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. In this speech, he criticized undesirable work styles within the party, including subjectivism, sectarianism, and stereotyped party writing. When discussing learning issues, he pointed out: "Many people in our party seem to study Marxism not for the needs of revolutionary practice, but for the sake of studying alone. So although they have read it, they cannot digest it. They can only one-sidedly quote individual words and phrases from Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, but cannot use their positions, viewpoints, and methods to concretely study China's current situation and history, and to concretely analyze and solve Chinese revolutionary problems. This attitude toward Marxism-Leninism is very harmful, especially for middle-level and above cadres, the harm is greater." Subsequently, he further pointed out: "The enemy of learning is one's own satisfaction. To seriously learn something, one must start with not being self-satisfied."

This saying was widely disseminated during the Yan'an Rectification Movement and became an important guiding ideology for party members and cadres in their studies. After the founding of New China, it was included in the "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" and became an important motto for the entire nation's learning. During the literacy campaigns of the 1950s and the Learn from Lei Feng movement of the 1960s, this saying was frequently quoted. After the reform and opening-up, it continued to play an important role, especially in the cadre education rectification of the 1980s and the activities to create a learning society in the 1990s. Entering the 21st century, it remains an important ideological resource for promoting lifelong learning for all and building a learning society.

To overcome complacency in learning, the following specific methods can be adopted: Establish a learning goal system: Set short-term, medium-term, and long-term learning goals and regularly check completion status. Cultivate a reset mindset: Designate a monthly "knowledge reset day" to reflect on knowledge gaps. Find learning role models: Identify top experts in the field as benchmarks to see one's own gaps. Build learning communities: Join study groups or professional communities to maintain learning motivation through peer pressure. Implement output-based learning: Output learned knowledge through writing, speaking, teaching, etc., to discover deficiencies during the output process. Conduct regular capability inventories: Perform comprehensive assessments of one's knowledge structure and ability levels every quarter. Create learning rituals: Create dedicated time and space for learning to avoid superficial understanding.