Today, a client asked a very common and popular question. The question was this: do I have a good or a bad chart?

As a consultant, it is easy for us to sometimes slip into ‘good’ v ‘bad’ mode.  Sometimes, we discuss a chart over lunch or tea and invariably a consultant will just snort and dismiss something on the basis ‘crappy chart’. (usually me). That doesn’t mean its the right way to look at things.

Yes, universally acknowledged bad charts do exist. By the same vein, universally acknowledged good charts do exist. However, they are like spotting rare birds or butterflies. You don’t see them often. Most charts fall into a very wide space of the in-between.

Of course, most people will say, ah but that is a cop out answer. Anyone can say, good and bad exists but let’s not be judgmental.

In my opinion, there is no way to define a good chart because every person’s idea of what is a good life varies. Let us take a very good example: that of the late Steve Jobs. People would assume that Steve Jobs has a good BaZi chart – after all, look at the accolades being thrown at him. The word ‘great’ has appeared more times than anyone can imagine, next to his name in the last week or so. And the man did give us the various ‘i’ devices. (I’m writing this on my Apple Macbook).

But is a good chart defined by having left the world a more beautiful place with gadgets that meld technology with impeccable design and taste yet dying at 56?

Is a good chart defined by having been praised as a great imagineer but also leaving behind a legion of people who regard you as the world’s biggest dickhead with a not-Ipod sized God-complex?

Is a good chart being defined as having a nett-worth of 8.3 billion but dying before you can even spend any of it?

If to any of those question, you had to think before answering, then the point of the experiment is proven.

All good charts have flaws. And all bad charts have a positive, even if it is a small one. That is the universal truth about all charts, great, good, bad, terrible, crappy, sucky and wonderful.

Not everyone is destined for greatness. But equally, not everyone aspires to greatness. As horribly shocking as it may be, there are a lot of people out there who are happy to be mediocre or even without realising it, aspire to mediocrity. They just don’t say it out loud or worse, they don’t know it.

Finally, knowing where your chart falls in the league tables is absolutely useless information that has no productive value. What are you going to do with the information if you have a bad chart? I am not talking about understanding your flaws and weaknesses – I am talking about being given a verdict on your life.  Personally, I find that most of the time when a client asks this question, it is because they are looking for a reason why they haven’t done certain things in their life or they haven’t achieved certain goals or they don’t know the answers to certain questions that they ought to be able to answer about what they want in life. It is very easy to blame the chart for things not working out and write off all one’s errors and mistakes or shortcomings on THE CHART. It is harder to take the information about those errors and mistakes and shortcomings objectively and productively and make changes or take appropriate action to avoid making the same mistake.

The chart does not make things good or bad. The person does. In their unwillingness to make use of the information they have been given or by clinging onto ideals or mindsets that are counterproductive.