Master Road · Essentials
Read what the board already shows.
Six lessons. Find the scene, both sides, the role you care about, and the change already moving through it.
Lesson 04 · Essentials
Find Both Sides
Locate yourself, define the other side, and read the role each position carries.
You have found the part of the scene you care about. Now place yourself and the other side around it. This lesson shows you where both sides sit, what role each one carries, and how they meet.
Self is you. Response is the other side.
First locate both positions. Then read the role and element attached to each.
SelfYou in this question
This does not mean a literal sibling. Your position carries the Brothers role: equal footing, independence, peers, shared ownership, competition, or a split of resources. The question decides which meaning fits.
ResponseThe other side
The other side carries the Officer role: rules, authority, duty, pressure, risk, or formal control. In a supplier question, it may mean the supplier sets the requirements or holds more leverage.
Read it in this order: Self / Response tells you who. Brothers / Officer tells you the role. Fire / Water tells you how the two sides affect each other.
Response changes with the question.
It is the person, role, object, or condition on the other side of what you asked.
Should I change jobs?→🎯 The job you are considering
How will my boss handle this?→🎯 Your boss
What about this partnership?→🎯 Your partner
Response does not always mean another person. Ask what sits opposite you in this specific question, then read the role and element attached to that position.
Now compare the two sides.
Reuse the same elemental relationships from Lesson 02.
Your element and the element on the other side show how the two positions meet: does it support you, match you, drain you, fall under your control, or control you?
Locate both sides on the board
Self · Fire meets Response · Water.
Read the role on each position, then compare their elements.
Position tells you who. Relation tells you what. Element tells you how it acts.
The other side is setting the terms.
You ask about a supplier. 🎯 Response is the supplier: 💼 Officer · 💧亥·Hai. 📍 Self is 👥 Brothers · 🔥巳·Si. Officer shows rules or pressure; Water controls Fire, so the supplier currently sets more of the terms.
Check what you can read.
Answer in one sentence, then open the row.
1Which marker represents your position?Check
Self. Always locate it before judging the surrounding forces.
2What does Brothers at Self mean here?Check
Your position carries the Brothers role: equal footing, independence, peers, shared ownership, competition, or divided resources. It does not automatically mean a literal sibling.
3What does Officer at Response mean here?Check
The other side carries rules, authority, duty, pressure, risk, or formal control. In this supplier example, the supplier is setting more of the terms.
4If you ask whether to change jobs, what can Response represent?Check
The job you are considering—the other side of that specific question.
5🎯 Response is 💧Water and 📍 Self is 🔥Fire. Who applies pressure?Check
Response applies pressure to Self, because Water controls Fire.