马修·迪克斯——讲故事的艺术（第477期）

我当时说，要在每天结束时回顾这一天并问自己：如果必须讲一个关于今天发生的事的故事，那会是什么？

I just said, going to look at every day at the end of the day and ask myself, if I had to tell a story from something that happened on this day, what would it be?

实际上这个提示原本是：如果有人绑架了艾丽西娅、克拉拉和查理，除非我上台讲述一个关于今天发生的事的故事，否则他们不会放人，那么这个故事会是什么？

Really the prompt used to be if someone kidnapped Alicia and Clara and Charlie, and they wouldn't give them back unless I took a stage and told a story about something that happened today, what would that story be?

我把它写下来了。

I wrote it down.

不是整个故事，因为那太繁琐了，那是写作，对人们来说很难。

Not the whole story because that's a chore, that's writing, that's hard for people.

但在我的电子表格上，有一个日期。

But on my spreadsheet, there's a date.

我将B列拉伸至整个屏幕宽度。

I stretch the B column across the screen.

正是在这个B列里，我给自己留出了书写的空间。

And it's in that B column that I allow myself the room to write.

所以空间并不大。

So it's not much.

是关于那个时刻的五六个句子。

It's five or six sentences about the moment.

然后我就继续生活了。

And then I moved on.

我的目标是每月一个新故事，年底就有12个故事.

My goal was one new story per month, 12 stories at the end of the year.

相反，我发现我们的生活充满了比我们想象中更多的故事。

Instead what I discover is our lives are filled with stories more than we could ever imagine.

那些我们本应牢牢抓住却未能注意到的瞬间。

Moments we should absolutely be holding onto that we fail to notice.

甚至当我们注意到时，转眼又忘记了。

And even when we do notice, we just forget.

所以我和现在全球数万名与我一起做'人生作业'的人发现，你只需要开始关注自己的生活，找到记录它的方式，你就会拥有讲不完的故事.

So I have discovered, and tens of thousands of people all over the world now who do homework for life with me have discovered that all you have to do is start paying attention to your life, finding a way to hold onto it, and you'll have more stories to tell than you have time to tell them.

让我们深入探讨你刚刚讲述的这个故事。

Let's dive into this story that you just told.

就在你开始之前，你说过，'天哪，第一句话真的非常重要'。

Right before you started, you said, oh, boy, that first line really matters.

你如何决定一个故事从何处开始？

How do you decide where to start a story?

这可能是讲故事者要做的最重要的决定。

It's probably the most important decision a storyteller makes.

我花了75%的时间来决定从哪开始以及最初的那几句话应该怎么写。

I spend 75% of my time deciding on where to begin and what that first few lines are gonna be.

这是个好问题。

So it's a good question.

故事有不同的时间线结构。

There's different chronological structures to stories.

如果我要讲一个发生在短时间内——一小时、一天，甚至可能一周内的故事，我很可能会按时间顺序讲述。

If I'm telling you a story that takes place over a short period of time, an hour, a day, even maybe a week, I'm probably gonna tell it to you in chronological order.

从开头讲起，到结尾结束。

Start at the beginning, end at the end.

这就是我讲述的大部分故事的方式。

That's how more than half of the stories I tell get told.

这样对听众来说也容易理解。

And that makes sense to people.

时间是单向流动的。

Time flows in one direction.

这是最简单的叙事方式。

It's the easiest way to tell a story.

不过我刚讲的那个故事，既有2008年的片段，也有一周前和约翰·保罗的片段。

That story that I just told you though, has a moment that takes place in 2008, but it also has a moment that takes place literally a week ago with John Paul.

我可以用时间顺序来讲，但那不是讲述这个故事的最佳方式。

I could tell you that story chronologically, but that would not be the right way to tell that story.

因为●●●●●●因为那样就变成了两个独立的故事。

Cause essentially what it would be is two stories at that point.

那会变成一个发生在佛蒙特州湖边小屋的故事。

It would be a story that happens in a Vermont lake house.

然后很长一段时间过去了，我们并不清楚发生了什么，神秘的时间段。

And then a whole bunch of time goes by where we don't really know what happened, mystery time.

然后我在教室前与一个男孩有了一个瞬间。

And then I have a moment with a boy in front of my classroom.

这是一种支离破碎的讲述方式。

That's a disjointed way of telling that story.

所以我选择采用B A B C的方式，也就是从中间某个点开始讲述。

So instead what I do is I say, let me try B A B C, which means I'll start somewhere in the middle.

然后我会在某个时间点回溯过去，拾取任何需要拾取的内容。

And then at some point I'll work my way back to the past to pick up anything I need to pick up.

接着我会继续推进故事发展。

And then I'll move the story forward.

这就是《阿甘正传》的手法。

That's Forrest Gump.

《阿甘正传》开场是一个男人坐在长椅上。

Forrest Gump starts with a man on a bench.

有人坐到他旁边。

Someone sits next to him.

他带你回到过去。

He takes you to the past.

他向你讲述他的成长经历。

He tells you about his life growing up.

这个故事实际上是BABABABABAC式的叙事，因为不同的人坐在长椅上，带你进入他生命的不同阶段。

That story is actually a BABABABABAC story because different person sets on the bench, takes you to a different place in his life.

但电影制作人，他们是理解的。

But filmmakers, they're understood.

我们不能从阿甘小时候开始讲起，因为我们无法讲述一个人50年的生活故事，那太长了。

We can't start with Forrest as a kid because we can't tell a story about a man's 50 of life because that's too long.

我们可不想在没有汤姆·汉克斯的情况下开始我们的电影。

And we don't want to start our movie without Tom Hanks.

我们拥有世界上最伟大的明星。

We've the greatest star in the world.

我们不想等二十分钟才能看到他出场。

We don't want to wait twenty minutes before we get to him.

所以他们从故事中间开始讲述，这样会让故事显得更紧凑。

So they start in the middle of the story because it makes the story feel shorter.

实际上，《阿甘正传》讲述的是一个坐在长椅上的男人，他距离第一次见到自己的儿子还有约二十分钟，然后他将与一直渴望结婚的女人成婚，随后她会因一种神秘的疾病去世。

Really, Forrest Gump is a story about a man on a bench who's about twenty minutes away from meeting his son for the first time, And then he's gonna get married to the woman who's always wanted to get married, and then she's gonna die of mysterious illness.

这就是故事的时间线结构。

That's the chronological structure of the story.

仅此而已。

That's all it is.

其余都是背景故事。

And everything else is backstory.

这是阿甘在向我们讲述过去。

It's Forrest telling us about the past.

这在我刚才讲的故事里也行不通。

That also did not work in the story I just told you.

因为实际上没有一个中间点。

Cause there was no really middle point.

我最终告诉你的是一个CABC结构，意味着我是从结尾开始讲的。

What I ended up telling you was a CABC, which means I started at the end.

故事的结尾是约翰·保罗走过来对我说，你不会相信我在课间休息时看到了什么。

The end of the story is John Paul comes up to me and says, you're not going to believe what I just saw at recess.

然后我在这里暂停了故事并说，也许他可能是对的。

And then I pause the story there and say, maybe he could be right.

也许这是很长一段时间以来我第一次不愿相信的事。

Maybe for the first time in a long time, I won't believe it.

而我带你回到过去。

And I take you into the past.

我向你展现我生命中的那个决定性瞬间。

I give you the moment of singularity in my life.

然后我又回到故事的结尾，约翰·保罗仍站在那里，而我依然拒绝透露他那天所说的话。

And then I come back to the end of the story again, where John Paul is still standing there and I still deny you what he said that day.

但这就是我从结尾C开始，一路回溯到A、B，最后又回到约翰·保罗的故事。

But that is me starting at the end, C, then going all the way back and going A, B, and then ending up with John Paul again.

我这样做是因为当故事中存在时间跨度较大的事件时，我们不希望按时间顺序来讲述。

I do that though because when stories have moments that take place far apart from each other temporarily, time wise, we don't want to tell them in chronological order.

所以在我开口之前，所有这些叙事选择就已经开始发挥作用了。

So all of those choices come into play before I even open my mouth.

一旦确定好这个框架，故事的讲述就会变得轻松许多。

Once I have that in place, the story gets much easier to tell.

什么才算是真正好的开头？

What makes for a really good start?

最简单的回答是从地点和动作开始。

The simplest answer to that is start with location and action.

你余生中讲述的每个故事，都应该从‘我当时在哪里’和‘我在做什么’开始。

Every story you tell for the rest of your life, you should start with where was I and what was I doing.

这两件事能以讲故事的方式激活大脑。

Those two things activate the brain in a storytelling way.

五种化学物质被释放了。

Five chemicals got released.

当你的大脑意识到正在讲述一个故事时，催产素让你比之前更喜欢我，多巴胺让我讲故事时让你感觉良好，皮质醇增强了记忆功能并提高警觉性，内啡肽的释放则更神奇——

As soon as your brain recognized that a story was being told, oxytocin, which made you like me more than you liked me before, dopamine, which made you feel good as I was telling a story, cortisol, which major memory work better and heightened your alertness endorphins got released, which means this is a crazy one.

如果你的膝盖原本疼痛，当我开始讲故事时，内啡肽能减轻疼痛，听完故事后你的膝盖疼痛会减轻，还有血清素能促进长期记忆存储。

If your knee was sore, when I started telling the story, endorphins reduce pain, your knee is less sore as a result of listening to my story, and serotonin, which allows for long term memory storage.

这一切的发生都有其进化基础。

All of that happens because it's evolutionarily based.

人类在最初二十万年的生存中无法记录任何信息。

Human beings for the first two hundred thousand years of our lives could not write anything down.

文字和互联网在人类历史长河中都是极其新近的事物。

Writing in the internet, it's super new in terms of human history.

如果把人类历史比作足球场，文字仅出现在最后两英寸的区域。

If we think of human history as a football field, writing only appears in the last two inches of a football field.

所以我们的大脑进化出了对口头叙事的专注力。

So our brains have evolved to pay attention to oral storytelling.

正是这种方式让我们得以生存。

It's what kept us alive.

它引领我们主宰了这个星球。

What's led us take over the planet.

我们本应早被许多天敌吞噬，但我们是唯一能将信息代代相传的物种。

We should have been eaten a long time ago by a lot of things, but we're the only species that could pass information from one generation to the next.

而这一切都归功于口头讲述故事的传统。

And it was through oral storytelling.

所以我们的大脑已经进化到认为他在讲述一个故事。

So our brains have evolved to think he's telling a story.

这能让我们保持警觉，集中注意力。

It could keep us alive, pay attention.

这里有一大堆化学物质来帮助你。

And here's a whole bunch of chemicals to help you.

所以当你用地点和动作开始一个故事时，这是触发他人大脑中这些化学物质的最简单方式。

So when you start a story with location and action, it's the easiest way to trigger those chemicals in someone's brain.

但我们从这里开始，是因为如果我给你一个地点——我正站在五年级教室的前方。

But we also start there because if I give you location, I'm standing in the front of my fifth grade classroom.

你现在对我的故事正在发生什么有了完美的画面。

You now have a perfect picture of what's happening in my story.

我不使用形容词。

I don't use adjectives.

如果你注意到，我完全没有以任何方式描述我的教室。

If you notice, I didn't describe my classroom in any way.

我所做的是抓住那些我知道你脑海中已经存在的名词。

What I do is I grab nouns that I know you already have in your head.

我知道你脑海中已经有教室这个概念。

I know you have classroom in your head already.

我并不想尝试描述我教室的真实样貌。

I'm not interested in trying to describe the reality of my classroom.

讲故事的人应该做的，是利用那些已经存在于你脑海中的名词或地点，并为我所用。

What storytellers should do is take the nouns or the locations that exist in your brain, and I leverage them on my behalf.

我不想描述我的教室，因为那会占用时间并增加你的认知负担。

I don't want to describe my classroom because that's time and that's cognitive load for you.

我只需说，我站在五年级0年级教室的前面，你就能清晰地想象出一个0年级教室的样子。

I just say, I'm standing at the front of my fifth grade classroom and you can see a fifth grade classroom perfectly.

你的教室可能用的是桌子而非课桌。

Now yours might have tables instead of desks.

你的教室可能比我的更大、更明亮或装饰得更漂亮，但这些都不重要。

Yours might be larger or sunnier or better decorated than mine, but none of that matters.

我希望达成的效果是让你脑海中浮现那个地点的完美画面。

What I want to happen is a perfect image in your mind of that location.

所以我们从地点开始来激活想象力，然后通过动作向大脑传递信号，故事已经开始。

So we start with location to activate imagination, and and then we start with action to signal to the brain the story's already going.

因为太多人讲故事时总是以废话开头。

Because so many people begin their stories with nonsense.

他们一开始就试图教你理解某些东西。

They start with teaching you about something.

我本可以这样故事开头说：我是康涅狄格州西哈特福德市的一名五年级教师。

I might have started that story with saying, I'm a fifth grade teacher in West Hartford, Connecticut.

我教书已经很久了。

I've been teaching for a long time.

我在教室里，现在大约是中午时分。

I'm in a classroom and it's about noon time.

我刚把孩子们送出去。

I just sent the kids out.

你能感受到吗？

Can you feel?

那真是太糟糕了。

That's just awful.

但大多数人都是这样开始讲故事的。

But that's how most people start stories.

他们总是想着：我得先给你灌输一大堆背景知识，故事才能讲得通。

They're like, I gotta teach you a whole bunch of stuff so the story makes sense.

不要那样做。

Don't do that.

相反，你应该直接开始故事，在讲述过程中进行教学，但要用一些行动来推动故事发展。

Instead, you start the story and you teach along the way, But you get the story going with some action.

所以绕了这么大圈子就是想问：故事该怎么开头？

So that's a long way to say, how do you start a story?

从地点、行动开始，并选对合适的切入点。

Start with location, action, and choose the right place.

当你需要从那个时间点回溯，或者你打算回到妻子尖叫、各种混乱发生的那个时刻时，你是如何构思那些让我长时间紧张不已的故事元素的？

When you then take it from there back in time, or you have this idea you're gonna go back to this moment where your wife's screaming and all this stuff is happening, how do you think about the different aspects of the story that kept me on the edge of my seat for a long time?

娱乐观众的方式有四种。

The way that we can entertain an audience, there's four ways to do it.

我们提供悬念——即你应该担心什么、好奇什么、对什么产生疑问。

We provide stakes, which is what should you be worried about, wondering about, curious about.

我给你的第一个版本是：约翰·保罗刚说了课间休息时发生了件惊人的事。

The first take I give you is John Paul just said something amazing happened at recess.

是什么事？

What is it?

这就是悬念。

That's a stake.

在整个故事中，你现在正等待着揭晓课间休息时发生了什么。

Throughout the entire story, you now are waiting to find out what happened at recess.

但随后又出现了额外的悬念。

But then there are additional stakes.

当我妻子尖叫时，那是一个悬念。

When my wife screams, that's a stake.

当我告诉你她怀孕了，我就提升了悬念。

When I tell you that she's pregnant, I raise the stake.

当你看到埃里克在客厅和厨房之间奔跑时，那是一个悬念。

When you see Eric running through the kitchen in the living room, that's a stake.

当你看到我妻子在奔跑时，那是一个悬念。

When you see my wife running, that's a stake.

这些都是为了让你对我的故事产生好奇、疑惑、担忧和兴趣的手法。

All of those are ways to get you curious, wondering, worried, interested in my story.

这些都是悬念设置。

Those are stakes.

悬念就是策略性地包含信息同时策略性地隐藏信息。

Suspense is the strategic inclusion of information alongside the strategic exclusion of information.

我经常使用这个技巧。

I use that all the time.

这个理念就是我不会一次性告诉你所有事情。

That's just the idea that I'm not going to tell you all of the stuff at once.

我会一点一点地透露给你。

I'm going to give you one little bit at a time.

所以很多这样的悬念设置，我们也可以用悬疑的方式来包装，意思是。

So a lot of those stakes, we can also couch them in suspense, meaning.

当你听到尖叫声时，那绝对是一个悬念设置，但同时也制造了一些悬疑感。

When you hear the scream, that's definitely a stake, but it's also some suspense.

发生了什么？

What is happening?

我想知道发生了什么。

I wonder what's happening.

我通过告诉你她怀孕了来增加悬念，但随后你看到她穿着毛巾布浴袍。

I raised the stakes by telling you she's pregnant, but then you see her in a terry cloth robe.

作为讲故事的人，我知道发生了什么，但我不会告诉你，悬念就在于我会透露部分信息而非全部。

I know as the storyteller what's happening, but I don't tell you that suspense is I'm going to tell you some of the thing, but not all of the thing.

而且我会有所保留。

And I'm going to hold it back.

这会让你保持注意力。

And that's going to keep you paying attention.

然后惊喜是娱乐观众的第三种方式。

And then surprise is the third way to entertain an audience.

这是最好的方式。

It's the best way.

这是最佳方式。

It's the number one way.

我刚才看到你发现她赤身裸体时，你脸上的表情精彩极了。

I just watched you When you discovered that she was naked, the look on your face was fantastic.

我知道我达到了制造惊喜的效果，这正是我想要的，因为那天我也很惊讶。

I knew I had achieved surprise, which is what I wanted because I was surprised that day too.

每当我在故事中感到惊讶时，观众也应该感到惊讶。

Whenever I'm surprised in a story, the audience should be surprised.

我会识别故事中的惊喜时刻，并设法让这种惊喜也成为观众的惊喜。

I'm gonna identify moments of surprise in a story, and I'm gonna find a way to cause that surprise to be my audience's surprise as well.

第四种方式是幽默。

Then the fourth one is humor.

娱乐观众的第四种方法。

The fourth way to entertain people.

这需要找到既具有策略性又恰到好处的幽默时刻。

And that's just finding moments of humor that are both strategic and appropriate.

这个故事里让我觉得有趣的是关于阿迪朗达克椅子的笑话。

The interesting one in that story for me is the joke about the Adirondack chairs.

我可以在故事里随时保持幽默。

I can kind of be funny at all times in a story.

一旦你理解幽默的运作方式，你就能掌握诀窍，随时都能搞笑。

Once you understand how humor works, you can do the math and you can be funny all the time.

但我选择在恰当的时机展现幽默。

But what I choose to be as funny at the right times.

所以那个阿迪朗达克椅子的笑话是有目的的。

So that Adirondack chair joke is there for a reason.

我刚告诉你们有个孕妇尖叫了。

I've just told you that a pregnant woman screamed.

我意识到观众现在担心他们听到的故事里，这位孕妇可能在怀孕晚期流产。

I recognize that the audience is now worried that they're in a story where a woman might have a miscarriage really late in her pregnancy.

我不希望这种担忧持续太久。

I don't want that worry to exist very long.

我讲阿迪朗达克椅子的笑话是为了向观众传递信号：我们仍在享受乐趣。

I make the joke about the Adirondack chairs as a signal to the audience that we're still having fun.

可能不是流产故事，因为他刚开了个阿迪朗达克椅子的玩笑。

Probably not a miscarriage story because he just made a joke about an Adirondack chair.

我会策略性地在最能发挥幽默效果的地方运用幽默——比如调控观众情绪和氛围，用幽默掩盖无聊部分，用幽默开场因为幽默能同时触发那五种化学物质。

I strategically place humor in places that it helps me the most, which is manipulating the audience's emotions and moods, covering over or papering over boring parts with humor, opening a story with humor because humor also triggers all five of those chemicals.

这能让观众相信我很聪明。

It convinces an audience that I'm smart.

奇怪的是，人们认为幽默的人都很聪明。

Weirdly, believe that funny people are smart.

这是自动反应。

It's automatic.

一个白痴也能讲精彩笑话，你会误以为他是世界上最聪明的人——尽管他依然是个白痴。

An idiot can tell great jokes and you'll assume he's the smartest guy in the world when he's still actually an idiot.

但逗人发笑的能力被认为极具挑战性，所以当你具备这种能力时，人们就会默认你很聪明。

But the ability to make someone laugh is perceived to be so challenging and difficult that when you're capable of doing it, people just assume you're smart.

所以有些地方需要幽默，这正是我在 that story 中 trying to pick out 的。

So there's places to be funny, which is what I was trying to pick out in that story.

但这就是我做的四件事。

But those are the four things I do.

悬念、悬疑、惊喜和幽默。

Stake, suspense, surprise, and humor.

这就是我让你坐立不安的方法。

That's how I had you on the edge of your seat.

你提到过一旦学会如何解锁幽默，就可以随心所欲地运用它。

You mentioned that once you learn how to unlock humor, you can use it wherever you want.

你是如何解锁幽默的？

How do you unlock humor?

我从小就学会了如何变得有趣。

I learned how to be funny as a kid.

我发现通过讲述自己犯蠢的故事，能吸引人们大量关注我。

I discovered that by telling stories about my stupidity, people paid a lot of attention to me.

当我讲述自己成功的故事时，没人感兴趣。

When I told stories about my success, nobody cared.

我总是倾向于讲述失败经历，于是变得自嘲起来。

I would always lean into the failure and then I became self deprecating.

所以我本能地吸收了这些幽默策略，之后一生都能运用自如。

So I instinctually absorbed humor strategies that I was then able to deploy throughout my life.

但后来有人来找我说，马特，我想让你教我如何变得幽默。

But then people came along and said, Matt, I want you to teach me how to be funny.

我开始审视自己讲述的故事和笑话，并将它们分解成各种策略。

I began looking at my stories and jokes that I tell and breaking them down into strategies.

内容各不相同，但策略是相同的。

Content is different, but strategy is the same.

虽然笑话不同，但通向笑点的数学原理.

It's a different joke, but it's the same math that leads to the joke.

我现在掌握了一份包含27种幽默策略的清单，可以传授给他人。

I currently have a list of 27 humor strategies that I can teach people.

我最推荐的10种策略，你可以随时使用它们来制造笑点。

My top 10, you can use them all the damn time and be funny.

这并不意味着你一定会变得幽默风趣。

It doesn't mean you become funny in life necessarily.

但如果你练习得足够多，或许可以做到。

You might if you practice enough.

不过它能让你有机会在预先准备的故事中加入幽默元素。

But what it affords you is the opportunity to put humor into stories that you're preparing ahead of time.

所以你用悬念引导了我。

So you've led me with suspense.

你最喜欢的三四种幽默策略是什么？

What are three or four of your favorite humor strategies?

最容易运用的策略，尤其在商业场合，就是怀旧。

The easiest one to use, especially in business, is nostalgia.

当你提醒人们过去的样子时，他们几乎总会发笑。

People almost always laugh when you remind them about how the past once was.

在商业场合这非常有用，因为当我与商务人士合作时，他们最不愿做的就是开一个冷场的玩笑。

In business this is really helpful because when I'm working with business people, the last thing they want to do is to make a joke that doesn't work.

他们会觉得特别尴尬。

They feel really stupid.

有些幽默策略即使没能逗人发笑，也像是在传递信息一样自然。

There are some humor strategies that you can use that even if they don't make people laugh, it's almost like you're being informative anyway.

我这是在展示我对过去的见解，如果恰好因为它有趣而让你笑了，那就再好不过了。

I'm demonstrating my wisdom of the past, and if it happens to make you laugh because it's funny, that works out great.

如果我告诉你，我小时候有一次过敏反应，结果其实是过敏性休克反应，非常可怕，你会死去然后被救活。

If I tell you that when I was a kid and had an allergic reaction actually ends up being an anaphylactic reaction and it's terrible, you die and get brought back to life.

但我当时不知道发生了什么，因为在1980年代，没人对任何东西过敏。

But I don't know what's happening to me because in the 1980s, no one was allergic to anything.

我们吃的都是富含麸质的面包，在石棉工厂里由抽烟的男人烤制的。

We all ate gluten packed bread baked in asbestos factories by men who were smoking cigarettes.

这就是怀旧的全部。

That's all nostalgia.

My favorite example of this was I was working with one of these companies that helps you find employees.

My favorite example of this was I was working with one of these companies that helps you find employees.

I wanted them to open their pitch with the idea that in 1986, if you wanted a job, the way you found a job was you sat on your front porch and around 03:30 in the afternoon, a 16 year old boy rode by on his bike and threw the internet at you.

I wanted them to open their pitch with the idea that in 1986, if you wanted a job, the way you found a job was you sat on your front porch and around 03:30 in the afternoon, a 16 year old boy rode by on his bike and threw the internet at you.

The internet at the time was a newspaper.

The internet at the time was a newspaper.

On the back page of that newspaper was all the job possibilities you had in the entire world.

On the back page of that newspaper was all the job possibilities you had in the entire world.

They were all geographically bound.

They were all geographically bound.

You could only get a job in the towns that touched you.

You could only get a job in the towns that touched you.

And they all were attached to phone numbers.

And they all were attached to phone numbers.

You actually had to call human beings and speak to them.

You actually had to call human beings and speak to them.

那是个雇主掌握所有权力的时代。

That was a time when employers had all the power.

你几乎没有任何权力可言。

You had almost no power whatsoever.

当时没有远程工作。

There was no remote work.

你找不到进入的途径。

You couldn't find your way in.

那时还没有领英。

There was no LinkedIn.

那一切都不存在。

None of that happened.

在当今世界，员工掌握着所有的主动权。

In this world today, employees have all the power.

所以我试图通过唤起最初的那种怀旧感，来为这家公司论证这个观点。

So I was trying to make that argument for this company by leveraging the nostalgia at the beginning.

这会让人发笑，但同时也展示了对品类和历史的了解。

It would make people laugh, but it also demonstrates knowledge of the category and history.

他们最终没有采纳这个方案，如今已经倒闭了。

They actually didn't go with it, and they're out of business today.

可能不是因为这个原因，但这确实是个很好的例子，说明我们如何既能让人发笑，又能同时显得知识渊博。

Probably not for that reason, but it was a really good example of how we can make people laugh, but also sound knowledgeable at the same time.

所以怀旧是我教给所有人的第一课。

So nostalgia is the first one I teach everyone.

其他人呢？

How about some others?

嗯，其中有一个与众不同，一旦我教会你，你就再也无法忽视它，因为喜剧演员们使用这个技巧比世界上任何其他技巧都多。

Well, one of these things is not like the other is one that once I teach it to you, you will never unsee it because comedians use it more than anything else in the world.

本质上就是，你要列出三件事。

Essentially it's, you're gonna list three things.

前两个会有一些共同点，而第三个将与前两个完全不同。

The first two are going to have something in common and the third one will be nothing like the first two.

我最喜欢的讲故事的人是一个叫史蒂夫·齐默的人。

So my favorite storyteller in the world is a guy named Steve Zimmer.

他讲了一个关于小时候住在一个人人都不喜欢他家的社区的故事。

He tells a story about living in a neighborhood as a kid where no one likes his family.

人们甚至以为他家在入室行窃。

They actually think that his family is robbing houses.

其实他们没有，但人们就是那么想的。

They're not, but that's what they think.

他刚搬到这个社区，突然到处都发生了盗窃案，大家就怀疑是他家人干的。

He's moved to the neighborhood and suddenly there's burglaries everywhere and they assume it's his family.

于是他们举办了一场社区夏威夷宴会，却没有邀请他的家人。

So they have this neighborhood luau and they don't invite his family.

于是下一个周末，他们自己举办了齐默尔家庭宴会，准备了菠萝、夏威夷宾治酒和绝望。

So the next weekend, his family has their own Zimmer family luau, and it features pineapples, Hawaiian punch, and despair.

绝望让你看看。

Despair makes you laugh.

这是那种与众不同的事物之一。

It's one of these things that's not like the other.

它是最简单的。

It's the simplest.

现在，如果你去看一场喜剧专场，你会看到一个喜剧演员在一小时内使用这种策略七次，每次都是如此。

Now, if you go watch a comedy special, you will see a comedian use that strategy seven times in an hour, every single time.

另一个可以随时使用的简单策略。

Another simple strategy that you can be used at any time.

再来一个怎么样？

How about one more?

这是我最喜欢的一个。

This is my favorite one.

这个教起来有点难，我称之为定义法。

It's a little harder to teach, but it's what I call definitions.

本质上，你可以通过用最简单的形式定义某事物来制造笑点。

It's essentially, you can make something funny by defining it in its simplest form.

所以如果你思考一个物体，比如窗户，然后你说，窗户最简单的形式是什么？

So if you think about an object like a window, and you say, what is a window in its simplest form?

就是墙上的一个洞。

It's a hole in the wall.

一旦你有了'墙上的洞'这个定义，你能用它做什么呢？

Once you have that definition of hole in the wall what can you do with it?

那么我可以说，窗户就是墙上的一个洞，防止我整天裸体走来走去。

So I can say, well window is a hole in the wall that prevents me from walking around naked all day.

这就是我在问：窗户最简单的定义是什么？

That's me saying what is a window in its simplest form?

既然我们已经将其简化到最基本的形式，该如何对这个基本形式进行趣味演绎呢？

And now that we have it down to its simplest form, how can we play with that simplest form?

那是我最喜欢的幽默类型。

That's my favorite kind of humor.

我认为它展现了对世界的觉察。

I think it demonstrates an awareness of the world.

光是这一点就让人发笑。

That alone makes people laugh.

这是你莫名其妙地放在墙上的一个洞。

It's a hole in your wall that you've weirdly placed there.

然后你会问，墙上的洞有什么用？

And then you say, what does a hole in the wall do?

哦，它还给了我一个机会，让我能看到一个我现在希望去探索的世界，但我却不得不坐在这里听两个商务人士争论我们该用‘协作’还是‘合作’。

Oh, it also affords me the opportunity to see a world I wish I could be exploring right now, but instead I have to sit on this call and listen to two business people argue over whether we should use collaboration or cooperation.

好像选哪个词真的会有区别似的。

Like either one's gonna make a difference.

你可以用很多种方式来实现。

There's lots of ways you can do it.

随着故事展开，会出现大量迂回曲折的说话方式，而不是简单的线性时间叙事。

As you go through the story, there's a whole bunch of speech patterns that take a meandering path as opposed to just straight chronological linear path.

我很想听听你是怎么拆解这部分讲故事的技巧的。

I'd love to hear how you break that part of telling a story down.

当我讲故事时，我试图做的不是构建一条线性路径。

When I'm telling a story, what I'm trying to do is not create a linear path.

那些往往是，故事里发生了这个，又发生了那个，接着又发生了这个和那个。

Those tend to be, and stories, this happened and this happened and this happened and this happened.

一年级学生经常讲这些故事。

First graders tell these stories all the time.

这些故事糟糕透了。

They're terrible.

这就是为什么我们不想听一年级学生的故事。

That's why we don't wanna listen to first graders.

我们讲故事时，希望故事能像心跳监测仪那样起伏有致。

What we wanna do when we're telling a story is we want a story to feel the heartbeat monitors up and down.

我在故事中寻求的就是这种起伏的路径，这意味着我不断在故事中使用'但是'或'因此'，实际上我最希望故事能表达出'发生了这件事，但接着发生了那件事，然后又发生了另一件事'。

That's what I'm looking for in my story is sort of an up and down path, which means that I'm constantly trying to but or therefore through my story, mostly but actually, I really want my stories to be saying this happened, but then this happened, but then this happened.

正因如此，这件事发生了。

And because of that, this happened.

这样创造出的故事更具活力，带有某种能量。

That creates a story that has some dynamism to it, sort of some energy.

它创造的故事让听众感觉故事在听故事时，故事讲述者

It creates a story that feels like it's constantly changing to the listener as opposed to a clear path.

但是英语中最让我钟爱的词。

But is my favorite word in the English language.

因为如果我告诉你，我今天过得很棒，但‘但是’带来的可能性——‘我今天过得很棒，但是...’——我认为这能即刻制造悬念。

Because if I tell you, I had a great day, but the possibility that a but affords, I had a great day, but I believe that creates suspense instantly.

‘但是’的另一面是什么

What's on the other side of the but.

‘但是’的另一面几乎蕴含着无限可能

What's on the other side of the butt is almost impossibly large in its possibility.

几乎总是，'但是'后面跟着的往往是出人意料的内容。

Almost always what the butt is tends to be a surprise.

一些意想不到的事情。

Something that is not expected.

所以如果我能用'但是'来推进故事，我一定会这么做。

So if I can butt my way through a story, I will always do it.

我会说，我正坐在阿迪朗达克椅子上看着湖面，但这时我听到了一个●●●的声音。

So I'll say, I'm sitting on the Adirondack chairs looking at the lake, but then I hear a sound.

所以我从座位上跳起来，但我没法真的跳起来，因为那是把阿迪朗达克椅。

So I jump out of my seat, but I can't jump out of my seat because it's an Adirondack chair.

于是我勉强从椅子上挪出来，转身看见一个10岁的小男孩。

So I sort of ply myself out of the seat and I turn around and I see a boy he's 10 years old.

我总是想着如何引出下一个'但是'，或者下一个'因此'，又或者下一个'因为'，所有这些词？

It's always that how can I get to the next but or how can I get to the next therefore or how can I get to the next because, all of those words?

你还会试图让人们避免使用哪些其他重要的讲话模式？

What are some of the other important speech patterns that you try to get people to not use?

我尽量避免使用那些对我们毫无帮助的词语。

I try to avoid words that don't help us in any way.

像'suddenly'这样的词，我们永远不该使用。

A word like suddenly, we should never use that word.

我本可以说'我转身突然看见埃里克跑过厨房'，但'突然'这个词从不会让任何事情0分的事情感觉突然。

I could have said I turn and suddenly I see Eric running across the kitchen, but suddenly is a word that never makes anything feel suddenly.

它只是预示着即将发生意外。

It only signals that a surprise is about to happen.

如果我说‘我看向窗外突然’，这就破坏了惊喜的可能性，因为我已暗示了惊喜即将到来。

If I say, I look outside and suddenly I've now spoiled the opportunity for surprise because I've indicated a surprise is here.

我们应该说的是：我转身看到一个10岁男孩跑过厨房。

What we should instead say is I turn and I see a 10 year old boy running across the kitchen.

这很令人惊讶。

That's surprising.

我看见我怀孕的妻子穿着毛巾布浴袍在奔跑。

I see my pregnant wife running in a terry cloth robe.

这很令人惊讶。

That's surprising.

我们总是无意识地使用这些无意义的词，比如'突然'，或者'我没想到'？

We load in these words that are purposeless, suddenly, or little did I know?

我们生活中从不会用‘我哪能料到’这样的说法

We never move through our lives going little did I know?

因为我们无法预见未来

Cause we can't see the future.

但这些短语却频繁出现在故事中

And yet those phrases appear in stories all the time.

所以我们必须摒弃这些表达

So we have to get rid of those.

我们必须摒弃诸如‘猜猜怎么着？’这样的表达。

We have to get rid of things like guess what?

有人走过来对你说‘猜猜怎么着？’

Someone comes up to you and says, guess what?

我的回答总是，谢谢。

My answer is always, thank you.

我试图让人们明白，这个毫无意义的短语是开启任何对话的糟糕方式。

I'm trying to train people that that meaningless phrase is a horrendous way to begin any conversation.

这实际上表明，我面对的是一个不擅长讲故事、无法吸引听众注意力的人。

What it really is, it's an indication that I'm facing a human being who doesn't know how to tell stories well and can't get the attention of his audience or her audience.

所以他们才会用'猜怎么着'或'约翰·保罗说了什么'这样的短语来开场。

So they load in a phrase like guess what or what John Paul said.

你绝对想不到今天课间休息时发生了什么。

You're not gonna believe what happened at recess today.

与其直接讲述那天课间发生的趣事，他试图通过急切地说'这是你听过最有趣的故事'来吸引我的注意。

Rather than just telling me a lovely story about what happened at recess that day, He tries to get my attention by desperately saying, this is the funniest story you've ever heard.

我敢保证如果你用这个开场白，100%不会成为我听过最好笑的故事。

I guarantee if you use that phrase, it will 100% not be the funniest story I've ever heard.

你刚刚毁掉了所有制造幽默的机会。

You've just ruined any chance at humor.

因为现在我能预见到幽默即将到来。

Cause now I can see the humor coming.

我知道你准备说些有趣的事情。

I know you're about to say something funny.

当我们摒弃这些无意义的词语时，故事会变得更加简洁有趣。

Those meaningless words, when we get rid of those, stories get a lot cleaner and a lot more fun.

我们将短暂休息一下，为您介绍布鲁克菲尔德公司的私募股权投资。

We're gonna take a quick break in the action to tell you about private equity investing at Brookfield.

Brookfield拥有逾百年历史，由业主经营者运营，坐拥万亿美元生态系统，专注于那些塑造现代生活却常被忽视的领域。

With one hundred plus years its owner operators and a $1,000,000,000,000 ecosystem, Brookfield focuses on essential industries and business services that help shape modern life yet are often overlooked.

发现其潜力需要独到的眼光，精准收购的远见，以及构建持久价值的专业能力。

It takes independent vision to see their potential, perspective to acquire with precision, and expertise to build lasting value.

这需要工业精神。

It takes industry.

了解更多信息，请访问brookfield.com/这需要工业精神。

Learn more at brookfield.com/ it takes industry.

现在回到节目。

And now back to the show.

当你从文字转向故事时，你如何决定保留哪些细节、删减哪些细节？

When you take it from the words to the aspects of the story, how do you decide what details to keep in and what details to take out?

如果这个细节对故事没有帮助，如果它不能帮我推进到结局，如果它不能带来清晰度或娱乐性，那么它就会被剔除。

If the detail does not serve the story, if it does not help me get to the end, if it does not bring something to clarity or entertain, then it goes away.

菲尔正坐在我旁边的阿迪朗达克椅上。

Phil is sitting next to me in that Adirondack chair.

我不会告诉你他多大年纪。

I don't tell you how old he is.

我不会告诉你他的长相。

I don't tell you what he looks like.

我不会告诉你他的种族。

I don't tell you his race.

不会告诉你他的宗教信仰。

Don't tell you his religion.

关于菲尔在那个故事中只有一点是重要的，那就是他比我更令人不快。

One thing is important about Phil in that story, and it is that he is more offensive than I am.

这一点其实是特意设计的，因为当我在波士顿飞蛾故事会上讲述时，主题是'礼仪'。

That was actually crafted in that story because when I went and told it in Boston at the moth, the theme was manners.

我当时在演示埃里克如何粗鲁地推开门，表现出糟糕的举止。

I was demonstrating how Eric threw that door open and had bad manners.

在那个关于礼仪的故事版本里，也就是我当晚在台上讲的版本，我把菲尔的无礼和他儿子的无礼联系起来，并将两者合并，因为我需要契合主题。

And in the manners version of the story, the one I was on stage that night, I attached Phil's bad manners to his son's bad manners, and I combined them because I had to match a theme.

如果将来某天我再讲这个故事，菲尔还会以那种形象出现在故事里吗？

When I tell that story again someday, is Phil still going to be in the story described in that way?

很可能不会。

Probably not.

我甚至可能会把菲尔从故事里删掉，因为他其实无关紧要。

I may even remove Phil from the story because he's not actually relevant.

我总是会删掉那些对故事没有贡献的人。

And I'm always removing people who don't serve.

如果我坐在那张阿迪朗达克椅子上时听到尖叫声，我需要菲尔站在旁边吗？

If I'm sitting in that Adirondack chair and I hear a scream, do I need Phil standing next to me?

很可能不需要。

Probably not.

所以在故事的最佳版本中，菲尔很可能会消失。

So Phil's probably gonna disappear in the best version of the story.

那个无需刻意迎合某个主题的版本。

The one that doesn't try to match a theme.

我只告诉你与故事相关或能让故事更有趣的细节。

I'm only telling you details that are relevant to the story or ones that help the story to be more entertaining.

我妻子穿着毛巾布浴袍，因为最终你会联想到——哦，她穿浴袍是因为一分钟前她还光着身子。●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

My wife is in a terry cloth robe because eventually you're gonna make the connection that, oh, she was in a robe because a minute ago she was naked.

埃里克10岁是因为我想让你知道他并非14岁——一个14岁男孩撞见裸体女人的情景与10岁男孩的情况是有所不同的。

Eric is 10 years old because I want you to know he's not 14 because a 14 year old boy walking in on a naked woman is a little different than a 10 year old boy.

我不希望你往猥琐的方向联想。

I don't want you to think it's creepy.

我希望你认为这只是天真又滑稽的意外。

I want you to think it's innocent and silly.

他当时冲进房间其实是为了拿床底下的风筝。

He actually burst into the room to get a kite under the bed.

他们把风筝存放在客房的床底下。

They stored their kites under the bed of the guest room.

这就是他跑进来的原因。

That's why he runs in.

这可能是我将来会补充的细节。

That might be a detail I add in the future.

如果我决定需要让人们知道为什么这个男孩会跑进我们的卧室，为什么他不敲门就推开门？

If I decide people need to know why this boy is running into our bedroom, why is he throwing the door open without knocking?

但这些就是我所做的选择。

But that's the choices I'm making.

我只选择那些能推动故事发展或在过程中娱乐听众的细节。

I am only choosing details that get me to the end or entertain you along the way.

随着你逐步展开故事，感觉有很多不同的事情浮现出来。

As you work your way through the story, it feels like there are a bunch of different things that come up.

我在想，你是否有特定的方法来决定要加入哪些内容。

And I'm wondering if there are ways you think about what you choose to put in.

我想我只是在无情地选择那些能以最清晰的方式连接开头和结尾的时刻。

I guess I'm just choosing the moments relentlessly that connect the beginning and the end with the greatest clarity possible.

这和我写小说时的做法是一样的。

It's the same thing when I'm writing a novel.

我写的第二本书，我的经纪人读完后说：第八章是怎么回事？

My second book I wrote, my agent read it and she said, what's up with chapter eight?

然后我说，嗯，这太搞笑了。

And I said, well, it's hilarious.

然后她说，这是你写过最有趣的内容之一，但它不属于这本书。

And she goes, it is one of the funniest things you've ever written and it does not belong in the book.

我就问，为什么？

And I said, why?

她问道，这是在推动剧情发展，还是仅仅在展示你搞笑的能力？

And she said, is it advancing the plot or is it just you demonstrating your ability to be funny?

我回答，嗯，这样不也挺有意思的吗？

And I said, well, isn't that entertaining?

她说，如果它打断了故事，那就不算有趣了。

And she said, not if it stops the story.

如果它打断了故事，就不再是有趣，而只是你在炫耀。

If it stops the story, it's no longer entertaining, it's just you showing off.

所以我们删掉了第八章，让我很痛苦。

So we took chapter eight out, which killed me.

她说，你可以在微信上发布作为额外内容，）。

She said, well, you can put it on the internet as extra material, which is an agent's way of saying, I don't care what you do with it, but it's not going in the book.

所以对我来说，这个过程很残酷，我会从故事中删除那些无法推动情节发展的内容，即使我很喜欢它们。

So for me, it is ruthless in that I will remove things from stories that don't get me to the end, even if I love them.

我们必须明白，这里有讲述者想讲的故事，也有听众想听的故事。

What we have to understand is that there's the story that storyteller wants to tell, and then there's the story that the audience wants to hear.

95%的讲故事者都在讲述他们自己想讲的故事。

95% of storytellers are telling the story that they want to tell.

世界上最优秀的讲故事者会说：这就是我想讲的故事，而且我会把这个故事讲给我妻子听。

The best storytellers in the world are saying this is the story I want to tell and I'll tell my wife that story.

但对于观众、陌生人、投资者、客户来说，他们想听的故事与我们想讲述的并不相同。

But for an audience of people, strangers, investors, customers, there's a story that they want to hear that is not the same as what we want to tell.

在商业中，这种情况经常发生在我与科学家合作时。

In business that happens all the time when I'm working with scientists.

科学家们总想讲述他们是如何发现这个流程或方法的。

The scientists want to tell how we came upon the process for the procedure.

我们根本不想听这些。

We don't want any of that.

我们不想知道你们是怎么做到的。

We don't want to know how you did it.

我们也不想知道实验方法。

We don't want to know the experimental method.

我相信将来会有需要听这些的人，但绝不是这些潜在投资者。

I'm sure there's someone down the road that has to hear this, but not these potential investors.

投资者只想知道你们究竟发现了什么？

The investors wanna know what is it that you discovered?

为什么它很重要？

Why is it important?

我怎么能从中赚钱？

How can I make money off of it?

大概就是这样。

And that's about it.

这是科学家的说法，但这不是我想说的。

That's a scientist saying, but that's not what I wanna tell.

与科学家想表达的相反，我想说的是，这并非观众真正想听的。

As opposed to a scientist saying, I wanna say this, but it's not what the audience actually wants.

在构建演讲时，你是如何考虑收尾部分的？

How do you think about landing the plane when you construct it?

这何时是个尽头？

Where does it end?

其实，我在开口之前就已经想好了结局。

Well, I start at the end before I begin saying anything.

我首先知道我的结尾是什么。

I know what my ending is first.

如果你不知道，就像上了一辆车却没有目的地。

If you don't, you're like getting in a car and you don't have a destination.

你会做出糟糕的选择。

You will make bad choices.

事实上，你上了车，我说去缅因州，但你却没有地图。

In fact, you get in the car and I say, go to Maine, you don't have a map.

在这个过程中你难免会犯些错误。

You're going to make some bad turns along the way.

你只会不知道何去何从。

You're just not going to know where to go.

大多数人都是这样做的。

That's what most people do.

奇怪的是他们从开头入手，以为能高效抵达终点，结果却在中途塞进各种无关内容，绕的弯路甚至毫无意义。

They start at the beginning weirdly, and then they think they're going to get to the end in an efficient way, but instead they're going to throw in the kitchen sink along the way and just take detours that don't even make sense.

终点才是我始终在思考的。

The end is what I'm thinking about always.

在那个故事的结尾，我想说的是，一个小男孩告诉我发生了一件我难以置信的事情。

At the end of that story, what I wanna say is, a little boy told me that something happened that I wouldn't believe.

我认为这不太可能，但我希望它是真的。

I didn't think it was likely, but I was hoping it was true.

这就是我想达到的境界。

That's what I wanna get to.

那个故事的整个意义在于说明，你生命中会有一些独特的时刻，你知道自己正在做一些前所未有且后无来者的事情，这些时刻相当奇妙。

That's the whole purpose of that story is to say there are moments of singularity in your life where you know you do something that will never happen again and has never happened before, and they're pretty amazing.

我曾经历过一次，现在我希望能再次遇到。

I had one once and now I'm hoping it might happen again.

这就是我想说的全部。

That's all I wanna say.

一旦我心中有了结局，我常说典型的模式是：你看到某些事，让你想到某些事，进而让你感受到某些事。

Once I have the ending in mind, I always say the typical pattern is you saw something, which made you think something, which made you feel something.

这几乎总是行得通的，因为每个故事的结尾总是某种领悟或转变。

And that will almost always work because the end of every story is always a realization or transformation of some kind.

这就是以全新的视角看待世界。

It is seeing the world in a new way.

这种认知让我明白，我曾经是某个人，而如今已变成了另一个人。

It is the recognition that I once was one person, but now I'm another.

我曾经想过一件事。

I once thought one thing.

现在我认为另一种，曾经感受过一件事。

Now I think another, once felt one thing.

现在我感受到了另一种。

Now I feel another.

这就是故事的结尾。

That's the end of the story.

这是故事最重要的部分。

It's the most important part of the story.

It's the most important thing you have to say.

It's the most important thing you have to say.

So you should end the story right there.

So you should end the story right there.

Damn it.

Damn it.

It's often I saw something or heard something, something happened, which caused me to think differently, which caused me to feel differently.

It's often I saw something or heard something, something happened, which caused me to think differently, which caused me to feel differently.

It doesn't always work that way, but that's a pretty good pattern to end a story.

It doesn't always work that way, but that's a pretty good pattern to end a story.

If you're giving the cliff notes version, if someone just wants to get 80% of the way there, what are the most important things they need to take away?

If you're giving the cliff notes version, if someone just wants to get 80% of the way there, what are the most important things they need to take away?

I often say I can get you 80% of the way there pretty quick.

I often say I can get you 80% of the way there pretty quick.

Tell the B minus version of a story, which is better than most stories.

Tell the B minus version of a story, which is better than most stories.

大多数故事都是D减水平。

Most stories are D minuses.

所以如果你能达到B减水平，实际上就会被认为是个非常优秀的讲故事者。

So if you get to B minus, you're actually gonna be recognized as a very good storyteller.

你真正需要的是一个有效的开头和一个蕴含深意的结尾。

What you essentially need is an effective beginning and an ending that actually contains meaning.

而这两者彼此对立。

And the two of those are in opposition to each other.

这就是我所谓的故事框架。

It's what I call the frame of the story.

开头和结尾必须经过仔细斟酌，并精心挑选。

The beginning and the end have to be deliberately and strategically chosen, and chosen well.

开头需要使用能利用大脑化学物质并吸引人们注意的策略。

The beginning needs to use strategies that leverage brain chemistry and get people's attention.

做到这一点，你可能已经比大多数人强了，因为这意味着你实际上会说出有意义的内容，因为你从结尾开始构思。

Right there, you're probably better than most people, because that means you're actually gonna say something of meaning, because you've started at the end.

你要从一个能吸引注意力、真正让人想听你说话的地方开始。

You're gonna start at a place that garners attention and really causes people to want to hear you.

如果你能做到这一点，那就已经很了不起了。

And if you just do that, that's pretty great.

如果你随后对自己说，要从开头A到达结尾B，我需要做到引人入胜。

If then you say to yourself, to get from A, the beginning to B, the end, I need to be entertaining.

让我至少尝试运用一些策略。

Let me at least attempt to leverage some strategies.

我会透露部分内容，但不会一下子全盘托出。

I'm gonna say some of the thing, but not all of the thing right away.

我会采用马特的悬念策略。

I'm gonna use Matt's strategy of suspense.

这相当简单。

It's pretty easy.

所以如果你能做到：我要从A点讲到B点，过程中会幽默两次，会，会运用一次悬念，还会在开头就埋下伏笔，那么你现在已经是个相当不错的 storyt人了。

So if you're like, I'm gonna get from A to B and I'm gonna be funny twice, and I'm gonna use suspense once, and I'm gonna load a stake into the beginning, you're a really good solid storyteller now with what you're doing.

当你将这种构建故事的艺术应用到商业世界，就像你在新书中做的那样，许多商务人士会认为自己在做演示。

When you take this whole art of putting stories together and then apply it to the business world as you did in your recent book, so many business people see themselves as giving a presentation.

是的。

Yeah.

这是个不好的词。

It's a bad word.

你应该摒弃那个词，将其视为一场表演，因为没有人早晨醒来会期待看到一场演示，但他们每天早晨都会期待看到一场表演。

You should get rid of that word and think of it as a performance, because no one ever wakes up in the morning hoping to see a presentation, but they do wake up every morning hoping to see a performance.

所以一定要摒弃这个词。

So get rid of that word for sure.

当你使用'演讲'这个词时，它允许你将提词器和幻灯片当作提词器使用。

When you use the word presentation, it allows you to use teleprompters and slide decks as teleprompters.

表演需要准备。

A performance requires preparation.

这承认了观众的存在，也意味着无论你在做什么，都应该具有娱乐性。

It's an acknowledgement that there's an audience, and it's an acknowledgement that regardless of what you're doing, you should be entertaining.

无论你在做什么，无论内容多么枯燥，你都应该让它变得有趣。

Regardless of what you're doing, no matter how dry it is, you should be entertaining.

我母亲去世了。

My mother died.

两天后我去殡仪馆与殡葬师一起筹划葬礼。

I went to the funeral home two days later to plan the funeral with the funeral director.

他让我笑了两次。

He made me laugh twice.

我对这两次笑声都心怀感激。

I was so grateful for both laughs.

translation_zh

By the end of that meeting, I felt like I had just spent quality time with an educated human being who took care of me and knew how to make me laugh.

我被逗乐了。

I was entertained.

我在筹划母亲葬礼时还被逗乐了。

I was entertained at the planning of my mother's funeral.

这种娱乐并非如同观看Nate Bargetzi表演时获得的那种娱乐。

Not entertained in a way that if I go watch Nate Bargetzi's performance, I will be entertained.

但我确实被真切地娱乐到了，意味着我很享受与那位男士共处那处空间的时光，他在情感上打动了我。

But I was genuinely entertained, meaning I enjoyed spending time in that place with that man, and he moved me emotionally.

所以摒弃'演讲'这个词，假设你正在进行一场表演，突然间你会意识到：我需要准备，我必须具备娱乐性，我必须认识到观众期待从我这里获得的东西，可能与我原本想说的内容有所不同。

So get rid of the word presentation, assume you're doing a performance, then suddenly you're going to discover I have to prepare, I have to be entertaining, I have to recognize the audience wants something from me that is different than maybe what I want to say.

所有这些要素。

All of those things.

抱歉打断你，但我讨厌‘演讲’这个词。

Sorry I interrupted you, but I hate the word presentation.

因为我总是这么想：如果你只是在做演示，那还不如直接准备一套幻灯片让猴子来读，因为那本质上就是演示的意义。

Because I'm always like, if you're just doing a presentation, you might as well just get a slide deck and have a monkey read it because that's essentially what a presentation is.

当你与企业合作时，参与的很多故事讲述都带有个人色彩。

When you've worked with businesses, a lot of the storytelling that you've been involved with feels personal.

都是些个人轶事。

It's some personal anecdote.

这如何转化为一个商人放弃表演？

How does that translate into a business person giving up performance?

嗯，有几种方式。

Well, couple ways.

其中一种非常有效的方式是我称之为‘通过相邻性讲述’的方法。

One of the ways that works really well is what I call speaking through adjacency.

意思是，我们会用一个个人故事，但目的是为了将其与一个商业概念联系起来。

Meaning, we're gonna use a personal story, but we're use it in order to relate a business concept to it.

昨晚我在与一家大公司的高管合作。

Last night I was working with an executive at a very large company.

她当时正在向销售人员讲述让客户更新设备的重要性。

She was talking to salespeople about the importance of getting customers to refresh equipment.

他们用的是老旧设备。

They have old equipment.

我们正在出售那套设备。

We're selling that equipment.

我们希望他们明白更新换代、购买我们的新设备很重要。

We want them to understand it's important to refresh and buy our new equipment.

她讲了一个关于她家洗碗机坏掉的故事。

She tells a story about when her dishwasher breaks.

那是个用了二十年的洗碗机。

It's a twenty year old dishwasher.

她丈夫说，我们买个新的吧。

Her husband says, let's get a new one.

她说，不，我们不是那种随意丢弃东西的夫妻。

She says, no, we're not a disposable couple.

我们要把它修好。

We're gonna get this fixed.

她打电话给维修公司，工人上门了。

She calls her repair company, guy comes in.

工人说，这机器都二十年了。

He says, it's twenty years old.

我能弄到零件，但大概需要六周时间。

I can get the part, but it's gonna be like six weeks.

她说，很好。

She goes, good.

就这么干。

Do it.

他们手洗了六周的餐具。

For six weeks, they hand wash dishes.

她一直觉得这太荒谬了，但她无法承认，因为她丈夫就站在旁边想着‘我早告诉过你’。

The whole time she's like, this is ridiculous, but she can't admit to it because her husband's standing next to her thinking, I told you so.

六周后，那人带着零件来了。

Six weeks later, the guy comes with the part.

他把整个洗碗机都拆开了。

He takes the whole dishwasher apart.

厨房里到处都是零件。

It's all over the kitchen.

他打开YouTube，试图学习如何修理那些已经用了二十年的老物件。

He's got YouTube up trying to learn how to fix things that are twenty years old.

两小时后，他看着那个女人说，我做不到。

Two hours in, he looks at the woman and says, I can't do it.

她意识到这台洗碗机已经老旧到可以上大学二年级了。

And it's her recognition that this dishwasher is old enough to be a sophomore in college.

有时候，直接换新东西反而更划算。

At some point, it's just better to replace things.

她讲完这个故事后说，这就是我们必须说服客户的地方。

She tells that story, and then she says, that's where we have to convince our customers.

我们必须让客户明白，即便他们使用的是老旧设备，也必须认识到其中已无效率可言。

We have to convince our customers that even though they're running old equipment, they have to understand there's no efficiency in it.

你总是守着旧东西不放。

You're holding on to old things.

然后她说，新洗碗机有个专门放酒杯的地方，这样杯子就不会再碎了。

Then she goes, the new dishwasher, there's a place for my wine glasses so they don't break anymore.