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有些工作，如果你不跟别人想得不一样，根本做不好。
There are some kinds of work that you can't do well without thinking differently from your peers.
你的想法不仅要正确，还得是全新的。
Your ideas have to be both correct and novel.
这种模式在初创公司创始人身上特别明显。
You see this pattern with startup founders.
你没必要去开一家公司，做大家都觉得是好主意的事——因为早就有别人在做了。
You don't want to start a startup to do something that everyone agrees is a good idea, or there will already be other companies doing it.
你得做一件在大多数人听来像馊主意，但你确信不是的事。
You have to do something that sounds to most other people like a bad idea, but that you know isn't.
比如给几千个爱好者用的微型电脑写软件，或者搞个网站让人在陌生人家里租床垫睡。
Like writing software for a tiny computer used by a few thousand hobbyists or starting a site to let people rent air beds on strangers' floors.
他刚才提到的是微软和爱彼迎。
He's referencing Microsoft and Airbnb there.
你愿意从事那种只有与众不同才能赢的工作吗？
Do you want to do the kind of work where you can only win by thinking differently from everyone else?
独立思考的能力更多是天生的，而不是后天培养的，这意味着如果你选错了工作，就会过得不开心。
Independent mindedness seems to be more a matter of nature than nurture, which means if you pick the wrong type of work, you're going to be unhappy.
如果你天生就喜欢独立思考，当个中层管理者会让你特别憋屈。
If you're naturally independent minded, you're going to find it frustrating to be a middle manager.
而如果你天性比较随大流，想搞原创研究就会处处碰壁。
And if you're naturally conventional minded, you're going to be sailing into a headwind if you try to do original research.
这里的一个难题是，很多人其实并不清楚自己在随大流和独立思考之间到底属于哪一类。
One difficulty here is that people are often mistaken about where they fall on the spectrum from conventional to independent minded.
随大流的人并不愿意承认自己是个随大流的人。
Conventional minded people don't like to think of themselves as conventional minded.
他们真心觉得，自己对每件事都有独立的判断。
It genuinely feels to them as if they make up their own minds about everything.
只不过他们的想法恰好和周围人一模一样罢了。
It's just a coincidence that their beliefs are identical to their peers.
而独立思考的人往往也意识不到，自己的想法和主流观点有多不同，至少在公开说出来之前都没意识到。
And the independent minded meanwhile are often unaware how different their ideas are from conventional ones, at least till they state them publicly.
你能让自己变得更独立思考吗？
Can you make yourself more independent minded?
我觉得可以。
I think so.
你身边的人是谁，这一点特别重要。
It matters a lot who you surround yourself with.
如果你身边都是独立思考的人，听到别人说出出人意料的观点，会激励你去想更多不一样的东西。
If you surround yourself with independent minded people, hearing other people say surprising things will encourage you to and to think of more.
独立思考的人如果身边全是循规蹈矩的人，会觉得特别不舒服。
The independent minded find it uncomfortable to be surrounded by conventional minded people.
独立思考和循规蹈矩的人被凑到一起的地方，往往是成功的初创公司。
A place where the independent and conventional minded are thrown together is in successful startups.
创始团队和早期员工几乎都是独立思考的人。
The founders and early employees are almost always independent minded.
如果不是这样，这个初创公司根本不可能成功。
Otherwise, the startup wouldn't be successful.
但随大流的人远远多于有主见的人。
But conventional minded people greatly outnumber independent minded ones.
所以公司一扩大，当初那种独立思考的精神就不可避免地被稀释了。
So as the company grows, the original spirit of independent mindedness is inevitably diluted.
这会带来各种问题，不只是公司变得越来越差这么简单。
This causes all kinds of problems besides the obvious one that the company starts to suck.
最奇怪的是，创始人反而跟其他公司的创始人聊天，比跟自己员工说话更放松。
One of the strangest is that the founders find themselves able to speak more freely with founders of other companies than with their own employees.
保罗的文章里反复强调过，创始人之间互相认识有多重要。
The importance of founders knowing other founders is repeated a lot in Paul's essays.
我想再念一遍这句话，因为我觉得特别关键。
I'm gonna read that one more time because I think it's important.
最奇怪的是，创始人反而跟其他公司的创始人聊天，比跟自己员工说话更放松。
One of the strangest is that the founders find themselves able to speak more freely with founders of other companies than with their own employees.
你也不用时时刻刻都跟有主见的人待在一起。
You don't have to spend all your time with independent minded people.
只要有一两个能经常聊聊的人就足够了，一旦找到他们，他们通常也和你一样渴望交流。
It's enough to have one or two who you can talk to regularly, and once you find them, they're usually as eager to talk as you are.
他们也需要你。
They need you too.
通过阅读历史，你不仅能拓展空间上的影响源，也能延伸时间上的视野。
You can expand the source of influences in time as well as space by reading history.
我读历史，不只是为了了解发生了什么，更是想试着走进过去那些人的心里。
When I read history, I do it not just to learn what happened, but to try to get inside the heads of people who lived in the past.
对他们来说，事情看起来是怎样的？
How did things look to them?
这就是为什么我说，每个创业者都需要一个图书馆。
This is why I say every entrepreneur needs a library.
这是创业者的一种工具。
It's a tool for entrepreneurs.
回到他关于如何让自己更独立思考的观点。
Back to his idea about how to make yourself more independent minded.
更广泛地说，你的目标应该是不接受任何未经审视的想法。
More generally, your goal should be not to let anything into your head unexamined.
而且，影响你的东西并不总是以明确的陈述形式出现的。
And things don't always enter your head in the form of statements.
很多最有力量的影响，其实是隐性的。
Some of the most powerful influences are implicit.
那你怎么才能察觉到这些呢？
How do you even notice these?
通过退后一步，观察别人是怎么形成他们的想法的。
By standing back and watching how other people get their ideas.
当你退到足够远的距离，就能看到这些想法像波浪一样在人群中传播。
When you stand back at a sufficient distance, you can see these ideas spreading through groups of people like waves.
最明显的例子就是时尚。
The most obvious are in fashion.
你先看到有几个人穿某种衬衫，接着越来越多，直到身边一半的人都在穿同样的衬衫。
You notice a few people wearing a certain kind of shirt, and then more and more and more until half the people around you are wearing the same shirt.
思想上也有潮流，你绝对不能跟着凑热闹，因为那些不流行的观点反而更有可能带来惊人发现，天啊，这太棒了。
There are intellectual fashions too, and you definitely don't want to participate in those because unfashionable ideas are disproportionate oh my god, this is so good.
因为不主流的想法，反而更可能引向真正有意思的方向。
Because unfashionable ideas are disproportionately likely to lead somewhere interesting.
发现未被发掘的想法，最好的地方就是别人根本不去看的地方。
The best place to find undiscovered ideas is where no one else is looking.
新颖的想法，都源于好奇心。
Novel ideas come from curiosity.
独立思考和好奇心，两者之间完美呼应。
Independent mindedness and curiosity predict one another perfectly.
我认识的所有独立思考的人，都充满好奇；而所有随大流的人，恰恰相反。
Everyone I know who's independent minded is deeply curious and everyone I know who's conventional minded isn't.
独立思考的人是好奇心的饕客，哪怕已经吃饱了，还是停不下来。
The independent minded are the gluttons of curiosity who keep eating even after they're full.
我觉得，这句话是整篇文章里最重要的一句。
And this is what I think the most important sentence in this entire essay is.
你目前做的工作，有激起你多少好奇心吗？
How much does the work you're currently doing engage your curiosity?
如果答案不多，也许你该做些调整了。
If the answer is not much, maybe you should change something.
好奇心跟其他欲望很不一样。
Curiosity is unlike most other appetites.
满足它反而会让更多好奇涌现，而不是让你满足。
Indulging it tends to increase rather than to satiate it.
一个问题总会引出更多问题。
Questions lead to more questions.
所以，也许好奇心才是真正的指南针。
So perhaps curiosity is the compass.
如果你的目标是发现新想法，与其说‘做你热爱的事’，不如说‘做你好奇的事’更贴切。
Perhaps if your goal is to discover novel ideas, your motto should not be do what you love so much as do what you're curious about.
这段话摘自保罗·格雷厄姆那篇精彩的文章《如何独立思考》。
That is an excerpt from Paul Graham's excellent essay, how to think for yourself.
所以在进入他下一篇精彩文章——《如何努力工作》之前，如果我听起来有点怪，那是因为我这一周的经历，任何家里有学龄孩子的人都会感同身受。
And so before I jump into his next excellent essay, which is how to work hard, if I sound funny, what I went through this week is going to be very familiar to anybody with school age children.
我女儿带回家一种病，
My daughter brought home some kind of sickness.
接着传给了儿子，然后又传给了我妻子，现在终于轮到我了。
It was spread to my son, then spreads to my wife, and then now I finally have gotten it.
过去几天，我几乎一直窝在床上，只要没睡觉，就在不停地看书。
And so for the last few days, I've just been holed up in bed, reading and reading and reading anytime I'm not asleep.
过去几周，我整个人都沉浸在保罗·格雷厄姆的思想里，这真是一段奇妙的体验。
So I have spent the last few weeks living inside the mind of Paul Graham, and it has been an amazing experience.
不仅我把他的所有文章都读完了，因为卧病在床，我还有机会把他的书也读完了——那本也是论文集，叫《黑客与画家》，下一期《创始人》节目就讲它。
So not only have I finished reading all his essays, since I was sick in bed, I had the opportunity I've already finished reading his book, which is a collection of essays too, called Hackers and Painters, which will be the next episode of Founders.
我还有一堆读过、划线、做笔记的论文集，今天来不及讲了。
I also have a collection of essays that I read and highlighted and made notes on that I won't get to today.
可能几周后，或者几个月后，我会再聊。
I'll probably do it maybe like a few weeks, maybe a few months.
我会时不时做些关于保罗·格雷厄姆文章的额外节目，大概每几个月一次吧，因为我觉得这些内容对创业者来说真的特别有价值。
I'll just do like bonus episodes on Paul Graham Paul Graham's essays, you know, maybe every few months because I do think they're extremely valuable for founders.
那我们开始吧，如果我听起来有点怪，先说声抱歉。
So let's jump into so my apologies if I sound a little funny.
咱们来聊聊怎么努力工作。
Let's jump into how to work hard.
保罗写道，可能看起来没什么好学的，关于怎么努力工作。
And so Paul writes, it might not seem there's much to learn about how to work hard.
任何上过学的人都知道这意味着什么，哪怕他们自己选择不去做。
Anyone who's been to school knows what it entails, even if they chose not to do it.
但当我问自己，现在对努力工作是不是比上学时更懂了，答案绝对是肯定的。
And yet when I ask if I know more about working hard now than when I was in school, the answer is definitely yes.
有一件事我特别清楚，这真的太棒了。
One thing I know is that this is so this is so good.
我会反复说同样的内容，因为我实在太喜欢他的文字了。
I'm just gonna repeat myself over and over again because I'm a huge fan of his writing.
我知道一件事，如果你想成就一番大事，就必须非常努力。
One thing I know is that if you want to do great things, you'll have to work very hard.
小时候我并不确定这一点。
I wasn't sure of that as a kid.
我年轻的时候可能想过，你也许也这么想过：
Was there perhaps, I thought about this way and you might have as well, when I was younger.
大家都说，别光埋头苦干，要动脑筋，要聪明地工作。
Was like, everybody told me, it's like, don't work hard, work don't work harder, work smarter.
但当你开始研究那些在各自领域登顶的人，如果你想在自己做的事上做到卓越、做出真正出色的成绩，你会发现，你得两者兼备。
And then what you realize is when you start studying people that reach the top of their profession, and if you want to be excellent in what you do and and really do great work, that you do both.
他们全都做到了两者兼备。
They all do both.
他们既努力，又聪明地工作。
They work hard and smart.
所以保罗其实是在回顾自己小时候内心的那些想法。
And so Paul is kind of going back to his inner monologue that he was having as a kid.
他当时在想，会不会有什么办法，靠天赋就能避开拼命干活？
He's like, was there perhaps some way to evade hard work through sheer sheer brilliance?
现在我知道这个问题的答案了。
Now I know the answer to that question.
根本不存在这样的办法。
There isn't.
事实上，保罗在推特上回应过帕特里克·科利森——Stripe的创始人，当时帕特里克说，做Stripe真的特别难。
In fact, Paul has this great quote where he's respond on on Twitter, he's responding back to Patrick Collison, the founder of Stripe, saying, hey, you know, Stripe is really hard to build.
需要极大的投入，也得拼了命地干。
It took a lot of intensity, and we had to work very hard.
保罗回他说，也许有些更厉害的创始人能不那么拼命就做成大事，但我们真没找到这样的路子。
And he said something like, hey, you know, maybe better founders, you're able to do build something great without working hard, but we we couldn't figure out a way to do that.
保罗的回答是：这种人根本不存在。
And Paul's response was, that's an empty set.
如果帕特里克和约翰·科利森都得又聪明又拼命地干，那你也没法例外。
If Patrick and John Collison had to work both smart and hard, you're going to have to too.
所以我觉得，这正是他在文章中表达的核心观点。
And so I feel that's where he's that's very much his perspective in this essay.
那些著名的成年人看起来做事轻而易举，其实是多年练习的结果。
The reason famous adults seem to do things effortlessly was years of practice.
他们之所以显得轻松，是因为私下里一直在默默练习。
They made it look easy because they were practicing in private.
你其实一直都在讲这个道理。
I mean, you talk about this all the time.
出色的工作离不开三个要素：天赋、练习和努力。
There are three ingredients in great work, natural ability, practice, and effort.
这对我来说特别重要，因为我觉得过去半年到一年，你和我几乎一直在反复讨论练习这件事。
This is really special to me because I feel in the last like six months, maybe twelve months, I feel like you and I have been talking about practice just over and over and over again.
没错。
Yeah.
我对这个想法已经着迷了。
I've become obsessed with the idea.
光靠两个要素也能做得不错，但要想做到极致，三个缺一不可。
You can do pretty well with just two, but to do the best work, you need all three.
比如比尔·盖茨，他那个时代商界最聪明的人之一，同时也是最拼命的人之一。
Bill Gates, for example, was among the smartest people in business in his era, but he was also among the hardest working.
他说，我二十多岁的时候，从来没休过一天假。
I never took a day off in my twenties, he said.
一天都没休过。
Not one.
莱昂内尔·梅西的情况也差不多。
It was similar with Lionel Messi.
他小时候的教练们提起他，记住的不是他的天赋，而是他的专注和赢的渴望。
When his youth coaches talk about him, what they remember is not his talent, but his dedication and his desire to win.
如果让我选二十世纪最伟大的英语作家，我可能会投P.G.伍德豪斯一票。
PG Woodenhouse or Wodehouse would probably get my vote for the best English writer of the twentieth century.
没人能把事情做得比他看起来更轻松，也没人比他更拼命。
No one has ever made it look easier, but no one ever worked harder.
74岁的时候，他写道：每出一本新书，我都觉得自己在文学的花园里挑到了一个酸柠檬。
At 74, he wrote, with each new book of mine, I have the feeling that this time I picked a lemon in the garden of literature.
这其实挺好的，至少能让人保持警觉，逼着你把每一句话重写十遍，很多时候甚至要重写二十遍。
A good thing really, I suppose, it keeps one up on one's toes and makes one rewrite every sentence 10 times, or in many cases, 20 times.
这句话让我想起瑞克·鲁宾在《创始人》第2245期说过的一番话。
That line reminded me of something Rick Rubin said back on episode two two forty five of Founders.
他说：少即是多，但你得付出更多，才能得到更少。
And he says, less is more, but you have to do more to get less.
当瑞克和一些史上顶尖的音乐人合作时，他们常常会反复重录一段吉他旋律，多达三十次。
And there's many examples when Rick is working with some of the best musicians that have ever lived, and they'll redo, like, a section of the guitar 30 times.
如果他们想要十首好歌，可能得先写出一百首，才能最终精简到十首。
If they want 10 great songs, they might have to write a 100 just to be able to reduce it down to 10.
这种态度让人时刻保持警醒，逼着你把每一句话重写十遍，很多时候甚至要重写二十遍。
So this idea, it keeps you on one's toes, makes one rewrite every sentence 10 times, or in many cases, 20 times.
这是一位在自己领域登峰造极、拥有数十年经验的人才有的觉悟。
That is somebody who's at the top of their profession and had decades of experience at time.
他写这句话的时候已经七十四岁了。
He's 74 when he wrote that.
听起来有点夸张，对吧？但比尔·盖茨的说法更吓人。
It sounds a bit extreme, you think, and yet Bill Gates sounds even more extreme.
十年里一天假都没休过？
Not one day off in ten years?
这两个人天赋顶尖，可他们付出的努力也达到了人类能到达的极限。
These two had about as much natural abilities anyone could have, and yet they also worked about as hard as anyone could work.
所以别忘了，咱们回头看看这篇文章的标题——如何努力工作。
So remember, let's go back to the title of the essay, how to work hard.
他们拥有常人所能拥有的最高天赋，同时也付出了常人所能付出的最大努力。
They had as much natural abilities anyone could have, and yet they also worked about as hard as anyone could work.
这两样缺一不可。
You need both.
如果顶尖的天赋和超强的驱动力各自都稀少，那两者兼具的人就是稀有中的稀有。
If great talent and great drive are both rare, then people with both are rare squared.
既然你没法改变自己的天赋有多高，实际上，要想做出出色的成绩，就只能拼命努力。
And since you can't really change how much natural talent you have, in practice doing great work insofar as you can reduces to working very hard.
从小时候到现在，我学到的是如何朝着那些目标前进——这正是创业者旅程的真实写照。
What I've learned since I was a kid is how to work towards goals that are this is really the description of the founder's journey.
对吧？
Right?
他的意思是，你得朝着那些既不明确、也不是别人强加给你的目标去努力。
He's saying, you have to work towards goals that are neither clearly defined nor externally imposed.
如果你想做出真正了不起的事，很可能这两点都得学会。
You'll probably have to learn both if you wanna do really great things.
当我没在拼命工作的时候——他是描述自己内心的感受，就是觉得自己努力不够的时候。
When I'm not working hard, so this is he's describing his like what happens in his own mind when he feels he's not working hard enough.
我写过，这既是礼物，也是负担。
I wrote this is a gift and a curse.
我敢说，我经常有这种感觉。
I highly suspect I mean, I feel like this a lot.
我敢打赌，你也是这样。
I'm highly suspect you do as well.
一旦我不够努力，心里就警铃大作。
When I'm not working hard, alarm bells go off.
努力的时候我不确定自己有没有进步，但不努力的时候我肯定是一点都没进展，那种感觉太糟了。
I can't be sure I'm getting anywhere when I'm working hard, but I can be sure I'm getting nowhere when I'm not, and it feels awful.
之所以说这是个诅咒，是因为你心里有股火，有股内在的驱动力，可你根本没法关掉它。
The reason is to give them the curse because you have this fire in the belly, this internal drive, but you can't really turn it off.
有时候，我内心的对话——我以前跟你说过——简直就跟大卫·戈金斯的《你伤不了我》里写的一模一样。
And in some cases, my own inner monologue, I've told you before, sounds a lot like David Goggins book, You Can't Hurt Me.
但我也不觉得这样真的健康。
And I also don't think that's healthy either.
我觉得你得学会调节，因为你会对自己特别苛刻——我想不出别的词来形容了。
I think you have to moderate it because you can be extremely, I guess there's no other word, you should be extremely mean to yourself.
像大多数小孩一样，当我学会新东西或做成一件事时，我会特别享受那种成就感。
Like most little kids, I enjoyed the feeling of achievement when I learned or did something new.
随着年龄增长，这种感觉渐渐变成了厌恶。
As I grew older, this morphed into a feeling of disgust.
我完全明白你在说什么。
See this exactly I know exactly what you're talking about.
随着年龄增长，这种感觉渐渐变成了厌恶——尤其是当我一事无成的时候。
As I grew older, this morphed into a feeling of disgust, disgust when I wasn't achieving anything.
我唯一能确切记起的转折点，是13岁那年我再也不看电视了。
The the one precisely dateable landmark I have is when I stopped watching TV at age 13.
他后来提到自己不再看电视了。
He's gonna talk about he stopped watching.
他13岁就开始认真对待自己的事情了。
He got serious about his work at 13.
我会讲讲帕特里克·科利森跟我说过的事，他是Stripe的创始人。
So I'll talk about pat something Patrick Collison told him, founder of Stripe.
我会在节目笔记里放个链接。
I'm gonna leave a link in the show notes.
你真该读一读。
Think you should read it.
你想的话，去谷歌一下就行。
You can just Google if you want.
这篇文章叫《外星人、绝地武士和邪教》。
It's called aliens, Jedi, and cults.
这是一种看待那些打造出惊人企业甚至惊人运动的人的方式。
It is a way to think about people that build incredible usually incredible companies or even incredible movements.
保罗就是个外星人。
Paul is an alien.
那篇短文你读的话，五分钟就能看完。
If you read that quick post, you can read it, I think, in, five minutes.
你应该明白我的意思。
You understand what I mean by that.
帕特里克·科利森也是个外星人。
Patrick Collison is also an alien.
我唯一能确切记起的时间点，是13岁那年我再也不看电视了。
Just says the one precisely dateable landmark I have is when I stopped watching TV at age 13.
我问过帕特里克·科利森，他是什么时候开始觉得无所事事很不舒服的——这也是书里另一个主题，下周我会再提到这本书，他谈了很多关于无所事事的事，说你主动去追求懒散，并不会让你快乐。
When I asked Patrick Collison, when he started to find idleness distasteful, and that's another theme, this is in the book that I'll talk about next week too, He talks a lot about like idleness is not you're seeking it, it's not gonna make you happy.
他说他觉得……嗯，他用的词好像是‘不舒服’。
He finds it, well, distasteful is I guess the word he used there.
他渐渐觉得无所事事很不舒服。
He started to find idleness distasteful.
这是帕特里克在说话。
He said, this is Patrick speaking now.
我记得大概十三四岁的时候，坐在客厅里，盯着窗外发呆，心里想：我干嘛要把暑假这么浪费掉？
I think around age 13 or 14, I have a clear memory from around then of sitting in the sitting room, staring outside, and wondering why I was wasting my summer holiday.
再回过头说保罗。
Back to Paul.
说来奇怪，让我真正认真对待工作最大的阻碍，反而是学校，它让‘工作’这个词听起来无聊又毫无意义。
Strangely enough, the biggest obstacle to getting serious about work was probably school, which made work or what they called work seem boring and point pointless.
我之前提到过这个，其实上周的播客里引用了他写得最好的一篇相关文章。
I talked about this, really referenced, I feel his best essay on this on last week's podcast.
很明显，这是第二部分。
If you obviously, this is part two.
你不一定非得按顺序听，但我觉得还是听一下比较好。
You don't really have to listen to them in in order if you don't want to, but I would listen to them.
我都听过了，三篇都听了。
I listen to all three of them.
顺序你可以自己定。
You can pick the order.
不过按顺序听可能更合理一些。
Probably makes sense to go in order.
但不管怎样，那篇《如何做你热爱的事》就深入探讨了这一点。
But anyways, that that essay is How to Do What You Love talks a lot about this.
问题在于，我们教孩子的方式让他们一想到工作，就觉得是‘我得被迫做’的事情。
The the problem is we're teaching we're confusing kids that they automatically associate work with something, oh, I have to do.
我根本不喜欢做这事，只想赶紧应付完算了。
I'm not supposed to like it, and let me just get it over with.
这样我才能去干点自己喜欢的事，做点真正想做的事。
And that way, can then go and do the play part of my day or do what I wanna do.
保罗指出，如果你抱着这种心态，永远不可能把事情做到出色。
And Paul makes the point, well, you're never gonna be great at what you do if you have that attitude.
你得是被召唤去做这件事的。
Like, you you have to be called to do it.
它就像有一种力量在拉着你，让你不由自主地想去干。
You like, it's almost like a like, it pulls you down this path where you you want to do it.
当我真正理解了什么是踏实的工作，才发现自己的热情正好契合其中，仿佛天生就是为它而生的。
But as I learned the shape of real work, I found that my desire to do it slotted into it as if they'd been made for one another.
所以从今往后，他把这种你真心想做的工作称为‘真正的工作’。
And so that's what he's going to refer from here on in as a real work, for work that you actually want to do.
一旦你明白了真正工作的样子，接下来就要学会每天该花多少时间在上面。
Once you know the shape of real work, you have to learn how many hours a day to spend on it.
你不可能靠每天醒着就拼命工作来解决这个问题，因为很多工作到了某个程度后，成果质量反而会下降。
You can't solve this problem by simply working every waking hour because in many kinds of work, there's a point beyond which the quality of the result will start to decline.
这真的特别有意思。
This is very fascinating.
他谈到了自己一生中经历过的各种极限。
He talks about the different limits that he's experienced his own life.
我做过好几种不同的工作，每种的极限都不一样。
I've done several different kinds of work and the limits were different for each.
对于难度高的写作或编程，我的极限大概每天五个小时。
My limit for the harder types of writing or programming is about five hours a day.
但当我创业的时候，我随时都能工作。
Whereas when I was running a startup, I could work all the time.
对我自己来说，情况也是一样。
So same thing for me.
这根本不可能。
It's impossible.
比如，听到沃伦·巴菲特说他一天能读五六百页，我根本不可能做到。
Like, when I hear Warren Buffett say he can read 500 or 600 pages a day, there's no way I could read 500 or 600 pages a day.
对我来说，一天最多也就看三四个小时的书。
You know, for me, it's, know, three to four hours at the very most of a book a day.
这跟他做编程时的体会其实很像。
So it's kind of very similar to what he's finding when he's programming.
他说，自己编程的极限大概是每天五小时，但以前创业的时候，能一直干下去。
He says, hey, my limit for programming is about five hours a day, whereas when I was running a startup, I could work all the time.
我特别认同这一点：要找到自己工作的极限，就得先越界试试。
And then I like this point, the only way to find your limit for working is by crossing it.
这里诚实特别重要，得双向都做到。
Honesty is critical here in both directions.
既要察觉自己是不是偷懒，也要知道是不是逼自己太狠了。
You have to notice when you're being lazy, but also when you're working too hard.
找到高效工作的边界，是个持续的过程，不是一劳永逸的事。
Finding the limit of working hard is a constant ongoing process and not something you do just once.
接着他谈到你最初为什么这么拼命工作的动机。
Then he gets into your motivation for wanting to to work this hard to begin with.
让我坚持下去的原因，取决于我做什么工作。
What keeps me going depends on the type of work.
当我还在ViaWeb工作的时候，那是他创办后卖给雅虎的公司，我完全是被失败的恐惧推动着。
When I was working at ViaWeb, that was his startup that he sold to Yahoo, I was driven by the fear of failure.
我先停一下这里。
So I'm gonna pause right there.
这一点特别棒。
This is something that was fantastic.
吉米·艾奥文。
Jimmy Iovine.
HBO有一部很棒的纪录片，叫《逆流而上》。
There's a there's a great documentary on HBO called The Defiant Ones.
吉米·艾奥文的职业生涯非常独特。
And Jimmy Iovine's had a very interesting career.
唱片制作人，创始人，最后把公司卖了。
Record producer, founder, winds up selling the company.
他和德雷博士一起创办了这家公司，后来以数十亿美元卖给了苹果。
He he co owned with doctor Dre to Apple for billions and billions of dollars.
但在德雷博士那首《All In A Day's Work》的开头，有一段吉米·欧文谈到他是怎么把恐惧当成工具使用的。
But there's at the very beginning of this Dre this doctor Dre song called All In A Day's Work, there's there's a clip of Jimmy Iovine talking about how he utilized fear as a tool.
他说了这么一段话。
And this is what he said.
恐惧这东西，力量很强。
Fear is a powerful thing.
我的意思是，它能量十足。
I mean, it's got a lot of firepower.
如果你能找到办法，让恐惧在背后推着你往前走，而不是挡在你前面，那就会非常有力量。
If you could figure out a way to wrestle that fear to push you from behind rather than to stand in front of you, that's very powerful.
我总觉得自己得比别人更拼命，才能跟别人做得一样好。
I always felt I had to work harder than the next guy just to do as well as the next guy.
要想比别人更出色，我就得拼尽全力。
And to do better than the next guy, I just had to kill it.
说到底，这种心态到现在还影响着我的工作方式。
And, you know, to a certain extent, that's still with me in how I work.
我就直接一头扎进去干。
You know, I just go in.
恐惧是一种强大的力量，关键在于你能不能把它变成工具，而不是障碍——吉米·伊奥文在各种场合反复强调这一点。
And so the idea that fear is a powerful force if you can actually use that as a tool instead of hinder, something that Jimmy Iovine repeats over and over again in a lot of different contexts.
我做《Via Web》的时候，是被对失败的恐惧推着走的。
When I was working on via web, I was driven by fear of failure.
那时候我几乎从不拖延，因为总有一堆事等着我去做。
I barely procrastinated all then because there was always something I needed doing.
如果多干一点就能拉开点和那只追着我的猛兽的距离，那还等什么？
And if I could put more distance between me and the pursuing beast by doing it, then why wait?
而我现在写文章，驱动我的是文章里那些不完美的地方。
Whereas what drives me now, writing essays, is the flaws of them.
所以他是在写作，我得跟你说，因为上周我聊的那些文章都比较老了。
So he is writing, I should tell you, because a lot of the essays I covered last week were were a lot older.
我今天选的几篇里，确实有超过十年的，但我最先讲的这篇写于2020年，这一篇是2021年的。
I I do have some that are maybe over ten years old in in the selection today, but the one I started with came from '2 is written in 2020, and this one is from 2021.
那我们再回过头来看这篇。
So, let's go back to this.
而我现在写文章的动力，来自于文章里的各种不足。
Whereas what drives me now writing essays is the flaws in them.
在写完一篇和开始下一篇之间，我会像狗转圈找地方躺下一样，反复纠结好几天。
Between essays, I fuss for a few days like a dog circling while it decides exactly where to lie down.
但只要一动笔，我就不用逼自己干，因为总有一些错误或遗漏在推着我往前走。
But once I get started on one, I don't have to push myself to work because there's always some error or omission that is already pushing me.
接下来这部分，简直堪称完美。
And this next part is just absolutely excellence.
我觉得，对那些成就很高的人，或者想成为高成就者的人来说，这种心态特别常见——你害怕的不是失败，而是失去。
I think that that is very common with high achievers or people that wanna be high achievers is this weird thing where you're almost more afraid of losing than you are.
那种输掉的痛苦，几乎比赢了还要强烈。
Like the the the pain of losing is almost greater than the the thrill of winning.
这部分写得真棒。
This part is excellent.
很多问题的核心都很难，边缘部分则相对容易。
Many problems have a hardcore at the center surrounded by easier stuff at the edges.
努力工作，就是要尽可能朝核心去突破。
Working hard means aiming towards the center to the extent that you can.
再说一遍，很多问题都是核心难，边缘容易。
So again, many problems, hardcore at the center, surrounded by easier stuff at the edges.
当然，我知道你想说什么。
Of course, I think you know where he's going with this.
大多数人只会挑简单的部分碰一碰。
Most people are just gonna nibble on the easy part.
对吧？
Right?
但你只有朝核心努力，才能实现大的突破和显著的进步。
But do you only you make the the big jumps and the big progress by aiming towards the center.
努力工作，就是尽你所能朝核心靠近。
Working hard means aiming towards the center to the extent that you can.
有些日子，你可能做不到。
Some days, may not be able to.
有些日子，你只能处理外围简单的内容，但无论如何，都该尽量贴近核心，别停滞不前。
Some days, you'll only be able work on the easier peripheral stuff, but you should always be aiming as close to the center as you can without stalling.
后面那几段话简直太精彩了。
That is an absolutely excellent couple paragraphs later.
我一直在页边反复写上这句话。
I just keep repeating in the margins.
太棒了。
Excellent.
人们对哪些问题最重要，往往判断错误，无论是整体上还是在特定领域里。
The consensus about which problems are most important is often mistaken, both in general and within specific fields.
大家普遍认为最重要的那些问题，其实常常是错的，无论是整体上还是在特定领域里。
The consensus about which problems are the most important is often mistaken both in general and within specific fields.
如果你不认同这种共识，而且你是对的，那可能就藏着一个做点新事情的宝贵机会。
If you disagree with it and you're right, that could represent a valuable opportunity to do something new.
如果你发现某种有野心的工作，对你来说比对别人更容易——我们上周聊过这种现象，保罗·拉维坎特也经常提到这一点。
If you discover some ambitious type of work that's a bar that's a bargain in the sense of being easier for you than other people, which we talked about echoes of this last week, and there's a Paul Ravikant also talks about this a lot.
那是第191期节目，我后来翻了翻之前从《年鉴》和纳瓦尔的笔记里记的内容，发现纳瓦尔的观点和保罗的有很多相通之处。
That's episode one ninety one, and I think I went back and read my notes from the the Almanac and Naval, and there's a lot of overlap between Naval's perspective and Paul.
我其实觉得这些书值得再读一遍，很快我就要重读了。
I actually think reading these books maybe I'll reread it very soon.
我觉得保罗·格雷厄姆的随笔和纳瓦尔的思想有很多重叠，它们是相辅相成的——我想我说的意思你应该懂。
I actually think Paul Graham's essays and Naval and Naval's thoughts go there's a lot of overlap and it go hand in hand, guess what I'm saying.
这跟纳瓦尔说的很多地方都对得上。
Because this echoes a lot what what Naval says.
你得找到那种让你感觉像在玩一样的工作。
It's like you have to find work that feels like play.
其中一种方法是，你做某件事时，感觉特别轻松，别人却怎么也想不通你怎么能做到。
And one way to do that is there's something that you do that seems seems easier, quote unquote, to you, but other people can't believe you can do it.
也就是说，你找到一种很有野心的工作，对你来说比对别人容易，原因可能是你天生具备某些能力，或者你找到了一种全新的做事方式，又或者你只是对它更感兴趣。
So it says, you discover some type of ambitious type of work that's a bargain in the sense of being easier for you than other people, either because of the abilities you happen to have or because in of some way of some new way you found to approach it or simply because you're more excited about it.
当然，就该去干这个。
By all means, work on that.
很多顶尖的工作，都是那些找到把难事变简单的人做出来的。
Some of the best work is done by people who find an easy way to do something hard.
这句话可能是我最喜欢的一句，我真想大喊大叫、跳起来，像平时那样激动，但这次我只能默默说——我真的太爱这句话了。
This may be my favorite sentence in the entire I can't like scream or jump up and down like I normally do, but this is just I love this.
对一个话题有深厚的兴趣，能让人比任何自律都更拼命地投入。
A deep interest in a topic makes people work harder than any amount of discipline can.
想象一下，如果你能找到一种深深吸引你的事，那种让你无法抗拒的冲动。
So imagine if you could find a deep, like, just you feel compelled.
你非做不可。
You have to do this.
对一个话题有深厚的兴趣，再配上世界级的自律。
A deep interest in a topic and then you combine that with world class discipline.
对一个话题有深厚的兴趣，能让人比任何自律都更拼命地工作。
A deep interest in a topic makes people work harder than any amount of discipline can.
有些人从小就知道自己该做什么，然后就一直做下去，比如莫扎特。
Some people figure out what to do as children and just do it, like Mozart.
这真是段不可思议的人生经历。
That's a crazy life story.
第二百四十期是关于莫扎特的纪录片。
Episode two forty is the Mozart documentary.
我得回头再看一遍，不然不行。
I gotta go back or no.
莫扎特的传记。
Mozart biography.
我得再多读点关于他的书，我记得他好像三岁就开始创作了。
I'm gonna have to read more books on him because that's just I think he starts doing it, what, three years old, if I remember correctly.
有些人从小就知道自己该做什么，就像莫扎特那样，直接去做。
Some people figure out what to do as children just do it like Mozart.
但另一些人，比如牛顿，会不停地在不同领域之间切换。
But others, like Newton, turn restlessly from one kind of work to another.
显然，保罗在这篇文章里提出了这个观点——就算他没明说，我敢肯定他也会同意。
And so, obviously, I think Paul makes the point in this essay, if he doesn't, I'm sure he would agree with it.
大多数人走的都是牛顿那样的路，而不是莫扎特那样的路，这要常见得多。
Way more common for you to have a path like Newton than it is for people to have a path like Mozart.
除了衡量自己有多努力、做得有多好，你还得想清楚：该继续留在这个领域，还是换个方向。
Along with measuring both how hard you're working and how well you're doing, you have to think about whether you should keep working in this field or switch to another.
如果你很努力，但成效始终不理想，那就该换条路了。
If you're working hard but not getting good enough results, you should switch.
这么说听起来挺简单，但实际做起来非常难，而且很遗憾，没人能替你做决定，只能靠你自己。
It sounds simple expressed that way, but in practice it's very difficult and unfortunately no one can tell you other than yourself.
只有当你能相信自己的判断时，这条路才走得通。
It only works if you can trust your own judgment.
对吧？
Right?
但要给多少时间呢？
But how much time?
如果原本进展顺利的工作突然停滞了，你该怎么办？
And and what should you do if work that was going well stops going well?
那时候，你会给自己多长时间？
How much time do you give yourself then?
我喜欢保罗的一点是，他并没有说：‘我有所有答案。’
And what I like about Paul is he's not saying, hey, I have the answers.
他提供的只是近似的判断。
He's got approximations.
但这也正是为什么，自从那个播客播出后，我一直反复提到的最重要的一点。
But again, this is the reason that goes back to one of the best things and what I've been talking about in conversation since since that podcast came out.
这纯粹是他自己的思考。
It's just his his thought.
问题是，真正能做自己热爱的工作的人有多少？首先，有多少人能找到自己真正喜欢的工作，然后还能让自己处在能做这份工作的位置上？
It's like, how many people truly get to do like, how many first of all, how many find how many people find work they truly love and then work themselves in a way in a position to actually do work they love?
他说，几十万而已，跟几十亿人比起来。
And he's like, it's hundreds of thousands out of billions.
这实在太难了。
This is so difficult.
判断一件事值不值得做，最好的标准就是你是否觉得它有趣。
The best test of whether it's worthwhile to work on something is whether you find it interesting.
听起来可能有点太主观了，但这可能是你所能找到的最准确的标准。
That may sound like a dangerously subjective measure, but it's probably the most accurate one you're gonna get.
毕竟，是你自己在做这件事。
You're the one working on the stuff.
谁在这里曲解了他的观点？
Who's this of ran over his point here.
对吧？
Right?
还有谁比你更清楚这件事是否重要？还有什么比是否有趣更能反映它的重要性呢？
Who's in a better position than you to judge whether it's important and what's a better predictor of its importance than whether it's interesting.
我经常重复一句话，把它当作指南，不仅用来指导自己，也用来判断该和谁多相处：最有趣的人，往往也是最充满好奇心的人。
So one line I I say over and over again that I try to use this as guide, not only for myself, but also who to spend time with, is the most interesting people are the most interested.
那这个观点就是，还有谁比你更懂呢？
So this idea is like, what's who who knows better than you?
还有什么比是否有趣更能衡量它的重要性呢？
What's better predictor of its importance than whether it's interesting?
这简直太棒了。
And then this is just absolutely fantastic.
这篇文章的结尾真是绝了。
Just what an ending to this essay.
努力工作不是简单地把旋钮拧到11。
Working hard is not just a dial you turn up to 11.
它是一个复杂的动态系统，每个阶段都需要精准调节。
It's a complicated dynamic system that has to be tuned just right at each point.
你得明白真正工作的本质是什么。
You have to understand the shape of real work.
清楚地看清自己最适合什么样的工作。
See clearly what you're what kind you're best suited for.
尽量贴近核心目标。
Aim as close to the true core as you can.
时刻准确评估自己的能力与进展，每天投入尽可能多的时间，但绝不能牺牲成果的质量。
Accurately judge at each moment both what you're capable of and how you're doing, and put in as many hours each day as you can without harming the quality of the result.
这个系统太复杂了，骗不了它。
This network is too complicated to trick.
说得对。
Amen.
但只要你始终诚实、眼光清晰，它自然会形成最理想的状态，让你的效率达到少数人才能企及的水平。
But if you're consistently honest and clear sighted, it will automatically assume an optimal shape, and you'll be productive in a way few people are.
明白了。
Okay.
所以我想直接跳到下一篇文章。
So I want to skip to the next essay.
和之前一样，我会在下方提供所有这些文章的链接。
As with everything, I will link all these essays down below.
即使你没读我讲过的那些，网上也都能免费阅读。
They're all free to to read online even if you don't read the ones I covered.
我经常直接去保罗·格雷厄姆的网站 paulgraham.com，随便点一篇读。
I would just go to Paul Graham's paulgraham.com all the time and just pick an essay at random.
上面全都列得清清楚楚。
Would like they're all listed there.
你就挑个看起来最吸引你的标题或题目就行。
Just what what sounds like what headline or title sounds most interesting to you.
我觉得好处在于，时不时回头重读一遍。
And then I do think the bet the benefit is, like, rereading them, you know, intermittently.
这些文章真的会随着你的成长而变化。
They definitely change.
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我读过这篇。
I've read that.
我读过其中一些，不知道多少遍了。
I've read some of them, you know, who knows how many times.
每次重读都有新的收获，因为我自己也变了。
And every time, I I learned something different because I've changed as a person since then.
这就是如何浪费时间和金钱。
So this is how to lose time and money.
这篇文章写于2010年。
It's written in 2010.
里面说，1998年我们卖掉初创公司时，突然赚了一大笔钱。
It says, when we sold our startup in 1998, I suddenly got a lot of money.
我头一回得琢磨一件事：怎么别把钱花光。
I now had to think about something I hadn't had to think about before, how not to lose it.
我知道，从富有变贫穷是可能的，就像从贫穷变富有一样。
I knew it was possible to go from rich to poor, just as it was possible to go from poor to rich.
但过去几年我一直在研究如何从穷变富，对如何从富变穷却几乎一无所知。
But while I'd spent a lot of the past several years studying the past from poor to rich, I knew practically nothing about the paths from rich to poor.
为了避开这些陷阱，我必须先弄清楚它们都在哪儿。
Now, in order to avoid them, I had to learn where they were.
所以，这篇论文的名字还是《如何浪费时间和金钱》。
So again, how to lose time and money is the name of the essay.
于是我开始留意财富是如何流失的。
So I started to pay attention to how fortunes are lost.
关于这个，我也读了不少资料。
I've read a bunch about this too.
这事儿特别有意思。
It's it's fascinating.
小时候要是有人问我富人怎么变穷的，我会说是因为挥霍无度。
If you'd asked me as a kid how rich people became poor, I'd have said by spending all their money.
但事实上，大多数财富的流失并不是因为乱花钱，而是因为投资失误。
But in fact, the way most fortunes are lost is not through excessive expenditure, but through bad investments.
这也和我之前的研究结果一致。
This is also in line with the research I've done.
我对此感到非常震惊。
I was shocked by it.
我以前可能跟你说过，我一个老朋友的父亲当年打过NFL，但那会儿球员还没现在这么赚钱。
I think I've told you in the in the past, one of my oldest friends, his dad played in the NFL, but this is like years before they made a ton of money.
他退役后创办了一个非营利组织，结果发现有九成以上的球员最终都申请了破产。
When he retired, he started a nonprofit, and that nonprofit was was the fact that, you know, 90 something percent of them wind up claiming bankruptcy.
现在这个现象早就超出了橄榄球，扩展到其他各种体育项目了。
And I think now they've expanded way past, you know, just this one form and and to other sports and everything.
这种现象已经持续很久了，几十年了。
This has been going on for quite a while, decades.
但我永远记得，大概十年前或十五年前我刚知道这事的时候，他们也是这么说的。
But I'll never forget, and this is probably, I don't know, ten or fifteen years ago when I learned this, but they said the same thing.
人们以为他们变穷是因为买了法拉利，其实根本不是这么回事。
It's like, they don't go you you're thinking they're going poor because they're buying Ferraris.
根本不是这么回事。
It's like, no.
他们给了那个傻亲戚25万美元去开餐厅，结果亏得一塌糊涂。
They gave their idiot cousin $250,000 to start a restaurant that tanked.
全是这种投资。
All these investments.
给你五万，转眼就打水漂了。
It's like, here, I'll give you 50,000 for this, it just goes up in smoke.
咱们再回头说说这个。
So let's go back to that.
实际上，大多数财富的流失并不是因为挥霍无度，而是因为投资失误。
In fact, the way most fortunes are lost is not through excessive expenditure, but through bad investments.
想花光一大笔钱而不察觉，其实挺难的。
It's hard to spend a fortune without noticing.
但如果你开始炒衍生品，一眨眼就能亏掉一百万，甚至更多。
Whereas if you start trading derivatives, you can lose a million dollars or as much as you want in the blink of an eye.
他指出，这之所以这么难，是因为在大多数人心里，一旦花大钱，警报就会响起来。
And he makes the point why this is so difficult because in most people's minds, if you're spending, you know, a bunch of money, there's like alarms that go off.
比如，我会想：我花在奢侈品或根本不需要的东西上的钱实在太多了。
It's like, well, I spent way too much money on luxuries or stuff I don't actually need.
但当你把钱从银行账户转出去的时候，感觉就不一样了。
Where if you you say now that money that money leaves your bank account.
对吧？
Right?
比如，你花一大笔钱买一辆特别豪华的车，或者类似的东西。
And it's gonna leave your bank account for, a very fancy car or a nice person like that.
如果你有点脑子，大概就会想：
Hopefully, if you have some kind of, you know, level of intelligence, like, hey.
以我现在的财富水平，这种事还是别干了。
I I should probably not do that in relation to the wealth I have.
但保罗强调的关键是，当你把这笔支出重新定义为投资时，那些警报就失效了——哪怕这些投资最后很可能血本无归。
But the problem what what the point Paul makes here is that when you reframe the money leaving your bank account as an investment, it bypasses these alarms even if a lot of its investments are gonna go to zero.
投资能绕过这些警报。
Investing bypasses these alarms.
你并不是在花钱。
You're not spending the money.
你只是把钱从一个资产转到另一个资产。
You're just moving it from one asset to another.
这部分让我笑了，他说，这就是为什么那些卖你贵重东西的人总说：‘这是投资’。
And this part made me laugh, he says, which is why people trying to sell you expensive things say, quote, it's an investment.
这部分我特别喜欢。
And so this part I absolutely love.
几天前，我意识到一件挺意外的事。
A few days ago, I realized something surprising.
时间的情况，跟钱差不多。
The situation with time is much the same as with money.
最危险的浪费时间的方式，不是用来享乐，而是花在假忙活上。
The most dangerous way to lose time is to not spend it having fun, but to spend it doing fake work.
如果某天早上我醒来，一屁股坐在沙发上，整天看电视，我会觉得特别不对劲。
If I woke up one morning and sat down on a sofa and watch TV all day, I'd feel like something was terribly wrong.
光是想想这种场景，我就觉得浑身不自在。
Just thinking about it makes me wince.
所以他把我们牢牢地绑在了一起。
And so he ties us together.
但如果你做的是假工作，其实就跟假投资一样，绕过了内心的警报。
But if you do fake work, kind of bypasses that alarm just like a fake investment.
对吧？
Right?
但我确实有过这样的日子，明明一整天都在忙，结果跟瘫在沙发前看一整天电视没什么区别。
And yet I've definitely had days when I might as when I might as well have sat in front of the TV all day.
到了那天结束时，如果问我到底干了啥，答案几乎是什么都没做成。
Days at the end of which, if I ask myself what I got done that day, the answer would have been basically nothing.
但奇怪的是，当我做了一些表面上像正经工作的事，结果却什么都没产出时，内心的警报却一点动静都没有。
But the same alarms don't go off on the days when I get nothing done because I'm doing stuff that seems superficially like real work.
比如回邮件。
Dealing with email, for example.
你坐在桌前做这件事。
You do it sitting at a desk.
既然不有趣，那肯定是在干活。
It's not fun, so it must be work.
和钱一样，光靠避免享乐，已经没法保护你了。
With time, as with money, avoiding pleasure is no longer enough to protect you.
这个世界变得复杂多了。
The world has gotten more complicated.
现在最危险的陷阱，是一些新行为，它们模仿更正经的事，绕过了我们对放纵的警觉。
The most dangerous traps now are new behaviors that bypass our alarms about self indulgence by mimicking more virtuous types.
最糟的是，这些事本身也不让人开心。
And the worst thing is they're not even fun.
明白了。
Okay.
所以现在我想聊一篇我读过很多遍的文章。
So now I wanna jump to an essay that I've read a bunch of times.
这篇文章叫《Schlep盲区》，写于2012年1月。
It's called Schlep Blindness as written in January 2012.
很多绝佳的创业点子其实就摆在我们眼前，却没人去利用。
There are great startup ideas lying around unexploited right under our noses.
我们看不到它们的一个原因，是我称之为‘Schlep盲区’的现象。
One reason we do not see them is a phenomenon I call Schlep Blindness.
Schlep，就是那种枯燥又让人厌烦的活儿。
A Schlep, it means a tedious and unpleasant task.
我想提醒一下，我们之前聊过很多次，做生意就是解决各种问题，公司本质上就是高效解决问题的机器。
Gonna remind you of something you and I have talked about a bunch that business is problems and that companies are just effective problem solving machines.
我从亲身经历中明白，这些烦人的活儿不是偶尔才会遇到，而是商业的核心所在。
I learned from experience that schleps are not merely inevitable, but pretty much what business consists of.
一家公司到底是什么样的，就看它愿意接手哪些让人头疼的活儿。
A company is defined by the Schlepch it will undertake.
记住那些枯燥又让人厌烦的事情。
Remember tedious, unpleasant tasks.
处理这些烦人的任务，就像跳进冰冷的游泳池一样——直接跳进去就完了。
And Schlepch should be dealt with the same way you deal with a cold swimming pool.
别犹豫，直接上。
Just jump in.
这并不是说你要主动去找苦活干，但只要它通向了不起的成果，就别躲着它。
Which is not to say you should seek out unpleasant work per se, but that you should never shrink from it if it's on the path to something great.
这句话太棒了。
What a fantastic line.
不是让你主动去挑苦差事，而是只要它通往重要的目标，就别退缩。
It's not that you should seek out unpleasant work, but that you should never shrink from it if it's on the path to something great.
我们讨厌这些烦人任务的最大危险在于，这种厌恶很多时候是无意识的。
The most dangerous thing about our dislike of Schleps is that much of it is unconscious.
你的潜意识甚至会阻止你看到那些涉及痛苦任务的想法。
Your unconscious won't even let you see ideas that involve painful Schleps.
这就是所谓的‘苦差盲区’。
That is Schlep Schlep Blindness.
接着，他举了一个最精彩的例子，说明这个观点为何如此有力——他指的是Stripe公司正是基于这个理念打造了整个业务。
And then he gives the greatest illustration of this idea and why it's so powerful and what he means by describing that Stripe built their entire business on this idea.
你得好好想想，这个问题难到几乎没人愿意去正视它。
Really think about this as like it's a problem that is so hard that most people won't even consider it.
我所知道的最典型的‘苦差盲区’案例，就是Stripe，或者更准确地说，是Stripe的创意。
The most striking example I know of Schlep Blindness is Stripe or rather Stripe's idea.
十多年以来，每一个曾经需要在线处理支付的程序员都清楚，这过程有多折磨人。
For over a decade, every hacker who'd ever had to process payments online knew how painful the experience was.
肯定有成千上万的人早就意识到这个问题。
Thousands of people must have known about this problem.
可当他们创业时，却选择去做菜谱网站，或者本地活动聚合平台。
And yet when they started startups, they decided to build a recipe site or an aggregator for local events.
这是为什么？
Why?
为什么要去解决那些没人关心、也不愿为此付费的问题，而不是去修复世界上最重要的基础设施之一呢？
Why work on problems few care about few care much about and no one will pay for when you could fix one of the most important components of the world's infrastructure?
因为‘Schlep Blindness’让人们根本想不到去解决支付这个难题。
Because Schlep Blindness prevented people from even considering the idea of fixing payments.
他用了一个特别棒的比喻，来形容这些极其困难的问题所蕴含的价值。
He uses a fantastic metaphor to describe the value in in these really hard problems.
那些难到让我们根本忽略它们存在的问题。
Problems so hard that we're kind of ignoring their existence.
正因如此，这些大胆的创意才显得格外珍贵。
That scariness makes ambitious ideas doubly valuable.
它们就像被低估的股票，因为创业者们对它们的需求很低。
They're like undervalued stocks in the sense that there's less demand for them among founders.
如果你选择一个雄心勃勃的点子，竞争对手就会少很多，因为别人都被其中的困难吓退了。
If you pick an ambitious idea, you'll have less competition because everyone else would have been frightened off by the challenges involved.
这一点在创业这件事上也同样成立。
This is also true of starting a startup generally.
接下来这一段，我直接念给你听，这是我读到这部分时在页边写下的笔记。
And then this next paragraph, I'm just gonna read to you what I jotted down in the margin when I got to the section.
我在这些传记里读过好几个例子，说的都是同样的话。
I've read several examples in these biographies that say exactly this.
那你怎么才能克服这种‘苦差盲区’呢？
How do you overcome Schlep Blindness?
说实话，对付‘苦差盲区’最有效的解药，可能就是无知。
Frankly, the most valuable antidote to Schlep Blindness is probably ignorance.
大多数成功的创业者都会说，如果他们当初知道创业路上要面对这么多障碍，可能根本就不会开始。
Most successful founders would probably say that if they'd known when they were starting their company about the obstacles they'd have to overcome, they might never have started it.
接着，他给了你我一条特别好的建议。
And then he ends giving you and I excellent advice.
我推荐的方法是，别把自己代入进去。
The trick I recommend is to take yourself out of the picture.
别问‘我该解决什么问题’，而是问‘我希望别人帮我解决什么问题’？
Instead of asking what problem should I solve, ask what problem do I wish someone else would solve for me?
我特别喜欢接下来这篇随笔。
And then I absolutely love this next essay.
这基本上是保罗总结了他创办YCombinator过程中学到的东西。
It's essentially Paul giving us a summary of what he's learned by building YCombinator.
这篇文章叫《我从用户身上学到了什么》。
It's called what I've learned from users.
写于2022年9月。
It's written in September 2022.
他说，我从YC的用户——也就是那些获得投资的初创公司——身上学到了什么？
And so he says, what have I learned from YC's users, which are the startups that they funded?
这一点也让我特别有共鸣。
And this just jumps out to me as well.
我之前跟你们分享过这个观点。
I've shared this with you before.
在读了数百位创始人的传记后，我发现了一个和保罗这里说的非常相似的想法。
After reading hundreds of biographies to founders, I noticed a very similar idea as what Paul says here.
我第一个想到的是，大多数初创公司遇到的问题都差不多。
The first thing that came to mind was that most startups have the same problems.
虽然没有两家公司的问题完全一样，但不管他们做什么，问题的类型却惊人地相似。
No two have exactly the same problems, but it's surprising how much the problems remain the same regardless of what they're making.
只要你帮过一百家不同领域的初创公司，就很少会碰到以前没遇过的问题了。
Once you've advised a 100 startups all doing different things, you rarely encounter problems you haven't seen before.
最近他就碰上了这么一件事。
And this happened to him recently.
他在2022年8月发过一条推文。
He tweeted out in August 2022.
他说：今天跟一家初创公司聊了，他们做得太好了，根本没什么问题需要解决。
He says, today, talked to a startup doing so well that they had no current problems that needed solving.
他们已经盈利了，年收入增长了二十倍。
They're profitable, growing revenue 20 times a year.
不是笔误，真的是一年增长二十倍，而且公司只有九个人。
And he said, not a typo, so it's very unusual, 20 times a year, and they're only nine employees.
这种情况太罕见了，我都不知道该怎么帮他们。
This is so rare that I didn't know what to do.
最后我们只好讨论他们未来可能会遇到的问题。
We ended up talking about problems they might have in the future.
我给了建议，然后你就会发现，这种模式一再出现。
I advised them, and then you see this theme over and over again.
他希望你能掌握自己的命运。
He wants you to have control of your own destiny.
他还谈到了他自己会怎么做。
And he talked about what he would what he would do.
他说，我会尽量把公司规模控制得小一点，不是在收入上，而是在员工人数上。
He's like, you know, I'd keep the company as small as possible, not in revenues, but in employees.
这样就能更多地保持创作者的节奏，而不是管理者的节奏，而这其实正是大多数创始人本来就想做的。
That way, actually have more of like a maker's schedule than a manager's schedule, which is probably what most founders wanna do anyways.
所以他建议他们，永远不要再融资了。
So he says, I advise them never to raise another round.
所以要想拿到股权，你得先被他们雇用。
So to get equity, you're going to have to be hired there.
所以去学编程吧。
So learn how to program.
咱们再回过头说说这篇论文。
So back to the essay.
事实上，正是这一点让 YC 能够运转起来。
The fact is one of the things that makes y that this fact, excuse me, is one of the things that makes YC work.
但当初我们创办 YC 的时候，我根本没想到这一点。
But I didn't know it when we started YC.
让我惊讶的是，不同公司总会以各种形式遇到同样的问题。
It was a surprise to me how often the same problems recur in different forms.
他这么说我很认同，但就算你对初创公司可能遇到的所有问题都了如指掌，也不意味着你能把指导过程自动化或者简化成一套公式。
And I love that he says this, but knowing nearly all the problems startups can encounter doesn't mean that advising them can be automated or reduced to a formula.
每一家初创公司都是独特的。
Each startup is unique.
这篇论文真该成为每位创始人的必读文章。
And this essay, think, just should be mandatory reading for founders.
我不明白谁会不愿意读它。
I don't know why anybody wouldn't wanna read it.
你看这下一页，我几乎把整篇都标了highlight。
I mean, this entire this entire next page, I essentially highlighted the whole thing.
我这么说是因为他直接给了我们一份操作指南。
And the reason I say that is because he's just giving us the blueprint.
他说得很清楚，不仅初创公司会反复遇到同样的问题，创始人也总在犯同样的错误。
He's like, listen, found not only do startups encounter the same problems over and over again, but founders make the same mistakes over and over again.
所以，我猜每个犯这种错的人，都比我聪明。
So again, I would assume every single person making this mistake smarter than me.
那我怎么可能不犯同样的错误呢？
How what's the likelihood that I would not do the exact same thing?
所以我的目标是，能不能成为极少数能从别人经验中真正吸取教训的人？
So my goal is, like, can I be one of these very very rare people that actually learn from the experience of other people?
这件事真的特别难做到。
It's extremely hard to do.
另一个让人意外的是，创始人往往根本看不清自己到底出了什么问题。
Another surprise is how bad founders can be at realizing what their problems are.
有时候创始人来谈某个问题，我们聊着聊着却发现，真正的大问题根本不是他们说的那个。
Founders will sometimes come in to talk about about some problem, and we will discover another much bigger one in the course of the conversation.
比如这种情况太常见了：创始人来谈融资困难的问题。
For example, and this case is all too common, founders will come in to talk about the difficulties they're having raising money.
但深入一聊才发现，根本原因是公司表现不好，投资人一眼就能看出来。
And after digging into the situation, it turns out the reason is that the company is doing badly and investors can tell.
我们的创始人总担心用户获取搞不定，结果一问才发现，是产品本身不够好。
Our founders will come in worried that they still haven't cracked the problem of user acquisition and the reason turns out to be that their product isn't good enough.
我曾经问过：如果你没亲手做这个产品，你自己会用吗？
There have been times when I've asked, would you use this yourself if you hadn't built it?
创始人一琢磨，老实说：不会用。
And the founders, on thinking about it, said no.
你用户增长困难，其实是有原因的。
Well, there's a reason you're having trouble getting users.
这正是我们的一大优势所在。
And so this is where we have a massive advantage.
你和我都有这个巨大优势，因为我有一整套庞大的数据库，里面收录了数百本传记里的重点和笔记。所以每当我看到这一段，他讲的简直太到位了。
You and I have a massive advantage because we have I mean, you get to experience this because I have this giant database of all these different highlights and notes from, you know, hundreds of biographies and some this so when I get to this section, he's just like, this is beautiful, what he said.
如果你没参与开发这个产品，你会用它吗？
Would you use this if you hadn't built it?
创始人经过一番思考后，都会说：不会。
And the founders, after thinking about it, say, no.
你用户增长困难，其实是有原因的。
Well, there's a reason you're having trouble getting users.
我两天前刚重读过这段笔记。
And I just reread this highlight two days ago.
这是史蒂夫·乔布斯谈他是怎么产生产品点子的。
And it's Steve Jobs talking about where he comes up with his product ideas.
他说，这跟流行文化无关，不是靠忽悠人，也不是让别人想要他们根本不需要的东西。
He's like, it's not about pop culture, it's not about you fooling people, and it's not about convincing people that they want something they don't.
我们得弄清楚自己真正想要什么。
We figure out what we want.
一旦想明白了，接下来他说，我们还挺有纪律的，能认真判断是不是真有大量人会需要这个。
And once you do that, the second part he says, I think we're pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of people are going to want it to.
这种思路正是乔布斯在自己职业生涯中用过的，也是保罗建议他正在对话的创始人去践行的。
Same idea that Jobs talked about he used in his own career is what Paul is advising the founders that he's talking to to do the same thing.
你犯了个大错。
You've made a giant mistake.
很多创始人其实知道自己的问题在哪，却分不清轻重缓急。
Often founders know what their problems are, but not their relative importance.
他们来的时候总会说有三个问题在困扰他们。
They'll come in to talk about three problems they're worrying about.
其中一个算中等重要，一个根本无关紧要，还有一个要是不立刻解决，公司就得完。
One is of moderate importance, one doesn't matter at all, and one will kill the company if it isn't addressed immediately.
就像看那种恐怖片，女主角因为男友出轨伤心欲绝，却对那扇莫名其妙开着的门漠不关心。
It's like watching one of those horror movies where the heroine the the heroine is deeply upset that her boyfriend cheated on her and only mind mildly curious about the door that's mysteriously ajar.
你真想冲她喊：别管你男朋友了，快看看那扇门！
You wanna say never mind about your boyfriend, think about the door.
YC的合伙人能提醒他们杀手在哪，只是创始人根本听不进去。
YC the the YC partners can warn them where the murderers are, not that Founders listen.
这又是一个让人意外的发现。
That was another big surprise.
所以我说，创始人真该读读这篇文。
So this is why I say, like, we should I just think Founders be reading this essay.
创始人根本听不进去。
Not that Founders listened.
这又是一个让人意外的发现。
That was another big surprise.
想想看，从保罗的角度来说，这明显是个让人震惊的事。
So think about how much work I mean, from from Paul's perspective, he's like, that's a that's obviously a big surprise.
你得过五关斩六将才行。
Like, you have to go through all these hoops.
要想被YC录取，得花大量时间和精力。
You have to put in a lot of time and effort to get accepted into YC.
现在YC已经非常有声望了。
It's now very prestigious.
我敢打赌，申请的人里头有不少都被拒了。
I'm sure they they turn away, you know, a good percentage of people that apply.
你已经做了这么多事，才走到这一步，能跟这家你寄予厚望的机构的合伙人面对面交流，他们本该大大提升你公司成功的几率。
You've had to do a bunch of things to even get to this point to where you're actually talking to the partners at this organization that you applied to that you think is gonna greatly improve the odds of your company's success.
对吧？
Right?
既然都走到这一步了，为什么不听他们的建议呢？
Why the hell would you not listen to their advice?
所以每当我想到这个，我就觉得，要是换作是我，很可能也会犯同样的错。
And so when I think of this, it's like, if I'm put in their shoes, I will probably make the same mistake that they're making.
那我该怎么避免呢？
So how do I avoid it?
我觉得关键是要保持清醒，不断提醒自己：哦，这可是个常见错误。
And I think just being aware and constantly reminding yourself that, oh, this is a common mistake.
停一下。
Pause.
跳出来看看自己。
Step outside yourself.
大卫，你有多大可能没犯同样的问题？
What's the chance, David, you're not doing the same thing?
你很可能也在犯同样的错误。
It's very, very likely that you're doing the exact same thing.
所以问题不在于创始人听不听。
So it says, not that founders listen.
这又是一个让人意外的发现。
This was another big surprise.
创始人不听我们的频率有多高？
How often founders don't listen to us?
几周前，我跟一位在YC工作了好几期的合伙人聊过，他开始注意到这个模式了。
A couple weeks ago, I talked to a partner who'd been working for YC for a couple batches and was starting to see this the pattern.
她说，一年后他们回来时会说，真希望当初听了你们的建议。
They come back a year later, she said, and say, we wish we listened to you.
这简直太棒了。
And then this is just fantastic.
我花了很长时间才弄明白，为什么创始人不听劝。
It took me a long time to figure out why founders don't listen.
一开始，我以为只是固执而已。
At first, I thought it was mere stubbornness.
固执确实是原因之一，但另一个，可能更重要的原因是，创业中的很多事情都违背直觉。
That's part of the reason, but another and probably more important reason is that so much about startups is counterintuitive.
这让我想起我之前做的一期播客，讲查理·芒格的时候，好像也提到过这一点。
This is there's a I I I think I talked about this in the last podcast I did on Charlie Munger.
我做过好几期，但这一期是第221期。
I've done a bunch of them, but it's episode two twenty one.
有一本书叫《理所当然》，讲的是创始人。
I Founders is the book called Damn Right.
书里查理·芒格说，如果他要教金融课或者商业课，课程内容就只用一百家公司的案例，要么做对了，要么做错了。
And in that book, Charlie Munger says if he was ever teaching, like, a finance course or a course on business, he he would he was like, the curriculum would just be the histories of a 100 companies that did something right or did something wrong.
这种方式能让人一眼看穿商业运作中那些反直觉的地方。
And it's a way to pierce like this the counterintuitive nature of business building.
对吧？
Right?
所以，另一个更重要的原因是，创业中的很多事情都违背直觉。
So says another another and probably more important reason is that so much about startups is counterintuitive.
当你跟人说一些反直觉的事，他们第一反应就是：这不对。
And when you tell someone something counterintuitive, what it sounds to them is wrong.
所以创始人不听我们的，是因为他们不信我们，至少在亲身经历之前，他们都不会信。
So the reason founders don't listen to us is that they don't believe us, at least not till experience teaches them otherwise.
初创公司这么反直觉，是因为它们和大多数人以往的经历完全不同。
The reason startups are so counterintuitive is that they're so different from most people's other experiences.
除了亲身经历过的人，没人能真正懂这种感觉。
No one knows what it's like except those who have done it.
所以如果你也走上这条路，你一定会体会到我接下来要说的这种感受。
And that is why you will know this feeling that I'm about to say if you do this.
因此，当你读过去那些企业家的自传时，虽然里面满是好点子，但你会觉得他们的经历特别让人安心。
That's why when you read the autobiographies of entrepreneurs from the past, yes, they're full of good ideas, but you're going to find that experience comforting.
除了亲身经历过的人，没人能真正懂这种感觉。
No one knows what it's like except those who have done it.
这对保罗和他的公司来说反而是好事，因为他讲过，如果不是这么反直觉，创始人根本不需要我们的建议。
And this wind up being good for Paul and his company because he says, if it weren't counterintuitive, founders wouldn't need our advice about how to do it.
接着，他给我们了一些实用的建议。
And so then he gives us some advice.
对于早期初创公司来说，专注尤其重要，因为它们不仅面临上百个问题，而且除了创始人自己，根本没人能帮着解决。
Focus is doubly important for early stage startups because not only do they have a 100 different problems, but they don't have anyone to work on them except the founders.
弄清楚哪些问题最重要，然后想出解决办法。
Figure out which problems matter most and then cook up ideas for solving them.
试试这些办法，看看效果怎么样。
Try those ideas and measure how well they worked.
如果你能高频地及时调整方向，就能在微观上果断行动，同时在宏观上保持谨慎。
If you correct course if you if you correct course at a high enough frequency, you can be simultaneously decisive at a micro scale and tentative at a macro scale.
这跟我们之前多次聊过的杰夫·贝佐斯的那个想法很像。
This is gonna be very similar to this idea you and I have talked about a bunch about Jeff Bezos.
他有个说法叫‘双向门’。
He's he has this idea about two way doors.
其实你做生意时做的大多数决定都是可以回头的。
Like, most of the decisions you're making in business are reversible.
所以该做决定就做决定。
So make the decision.
他说，如果是个没法回头的决定，也就是他所说的‘单向门’，那你就得反复掂量，方方面面都考虑清楚。
He's like, if it's something if it's a decision you cannot reverse, which he calls a one way door, then you better analyze that six ways to Sunday.
但你做的决定里，99%都是可以改的。
But 99% of the the decisions you're gonna make are reversible.
所以他有一句特别棒的话。
And so he has a great quote.
我觉得是出自《亚马逊未解》这本书，大概是第180页，记不太清了，他说：听好了。
I think it's from the book Amazon Unbound, probably Founders one eighty, if I remember correctly, where he's like, listen.
有时候你得先瞄准、瞄准、瞄准、瞄准，然后再开枪。
I'd sometimes you have to aim, aim, aim, aim, and then shoot.
他在跟亚马逊的高管们讲，怎么启动一个新业务线。
He's talking to Amazon executives about launching a new business line in Amazon.
他说，有时候你真得先瞄准、瞄准、瞄准，再开枪。
He's like, sometimes you have to aim, aim, aim, and then shoot.
但这次不是这种情况。
This is not one of those times.
我希望你们先开枪、开枪、开枪、开枪、开枪，然后再去瞄准。
I want you to shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, and then aim.
这和他说的意思非常相似。
This is very similar to what he's saying.
如果你能以足够高的频率进行微调，就能在微观层面果断行动，同时在宏观层面保持谨慎。
If you core course correct at a high enough frequency, you can be sim simultaneously decisive at a micro scale and tentative at a micro macro scale.
结果就是一条看似曲折的路径，但执行得非常快，就像橄榄球跑卫冲向端区时的路线。
The result is is a somewhat winding path, but executed very rapidly, like the path of a running back takes down field.
这是他在文章里多次用过的我最喜欢的比喻之一。
That's one of my favorite metaphors he used a few times in in his essays.
你知道自己要去哪里——就是冲向端区，但怎么走却非常灵活。
You know where you're going, you're going down field, but you're very flexible on how you're gonna get there.
有时候甚至还得往后退。
And including some cases, have to go backwards.
对吧？
Right?
接着，他谈到Y Combinator在这个具体案例中给创业者带来的价值。
And so then he goes to the value that Y Combinator gives to founders in in in this specific example.
YC 的价值很大程度上就在于帮创始人获得更专注的那一点推力，让他们能跑得更快。
That's where a lot of YC's value lies in helping founders get an an extra increment of focus that lets them move faster.
速度决定初创公司的成败。
Speed defines startups.
专注才能带来速度。
Focus enables speed.
YC 能提升专注力。
YC improves focus.
这句话我特意加了双下划线。
I double underlined that sentence.
速度决定初创公司的成败。
Speed defines startups.
专注才能带来速度。
Focus enables speed.
我听过最打动我的一句话之一，是赛斯·班农跟我讲的 Cover 公司创始人亚历克西斯·里瓦斯的事——他对任何拖沓都零容忍。
Of the favorite things I've ever heard was, Seth Bannon told me about the founder of cover, Alexis Rivas, that he was intolerant of slowness.
我读亚历山大大帝的传记时想到这一点，那是为第232期做的准备，我才意识到，亚历山大身上那种对疲惫的超强忍耐力，和对迟缓的零容忍，正好结合在了一起。
I thought about that when I was reading the biography of Alexander the Great for episode two thirty two, and I realized, oh, the combination of that Alexander combined an excessive tolerance of fatigue with an intolerance of slowness.
速度定义了初创公司。
Speed defines startups.
专注带来速度。
Focus enables speed.
接着他又回到一些对创始人特别有价值的想法。
Then he goes back to some more valuable ideas for founders.
即使是有经验的创始人，参加YC依然大有裨益，就像顶尖运动员依然需要教练一样。
It can still be valuable for an experienced founder to do YC just as it could still be valuable for an experienced athlete to have a coach.
YC给创始人带来的另一样重要东西是同行。
The other big thing YC gives founders is colleagues.
这一点可能比合伙人的建议还要关键。
And this may be even more important than the advice of partners.
纵观历史，伟大的成就总是集中在某些地方和机构周围。
If you look at history, great work clusters around certain places and institutions.
我在读的那些书里也注意到了同样的现象。
I've noticed the same thing in the books that I read.
不管你有多厉害，优秀的同事都能让你变得更强。
However good you are, good colleagues make you better.
确实，特别有抱负的人可能比谁都更需要同事，因为平时生活中他们根本找不到几个。
Indeed, very ambitious people probably need colleagues more than anyone else because they're so starved for them in everyday life.
保罗早就明白这一点了。
And Paul knew this for a long time.
你看他三十多岁写文章的时候，还没创办YC呢，就已经体现出来了。
He's I see this when he's like in his thirties writing essays, way before he started YC.
我们对这种历史现象非常清楚，所以刻意把YC设计成这样一个环境。
We were very aware of this historical phenomenon and deliberately designed YC to be one.
到今天，说它是全球最大、最密集的优秀创业创始人聚集地，一点都不算吹牛。
By this point, it's not bragging to say that it's the biggest cluster of great startup founders.
然后他还用行动证明了，自己真的在践行这些理念。
And then he also proves that he takes his own advice.
我经常告诉创业者，要做自己真正想要的东西，而YCombinator正是这样做的。
I often tell founders to make something they themselves want, and YC is certainly that.
它从一开始就是按我们当年创业时最想要的样子设计的。
It was designed to be exactly what we wanted when we were starting a startup.
我不觉得他写这些是为了营销，但我不得不说，这简直是沃伦·巴菲特级别的内容营销。
And I don't think he's writing it for the following reason, but I said this is Warren Buffett level content marketing.
到这时候，我心里就想：我怎么才能加入？
By this point, I'm like, how do I get in?
到这个阶段，保罗写这篇随笔的时候，YC的势头已经根本停不下来了。
I think by this point, the point that Paul's writing this essay, you know, the momentum behind YC is kind of unstoppable.
但正因为他文笔出色、思维清晰，即使他根本没想推销什么，也能把这件事讲得透彻明白，让你立刻就懂了它为什么重要。
But it just goes to the quality of his writing and the clarity of his thinking that even if he's not trying to give you a marketing pitch, he's thought about this a lot and then therefore he can explain why it's valuable to you, and that idea immediately gets inside your mind.
他说，当这些人聚在一起时，就会发生某种奇妙的事。
So he says something magical happens when they do cluster.
YC晚宴上的那种氛围，是我这辈子从没在别处体验过的。
The energy in the room at a YC dinner is like nothing else I've experienced.
当整个房间坐满人的时候，那感觉完全不一样。
When you have a whole room full, it's another thing entirely.
YC的创始人之间不只是互相激励。
YC founders aren't just inspired by one another.
他们还会互相帮助。
They also help one another.
这种事我一再看到，真的说不清为什么。
That again, I see this over and over again.
为什么会这样呢？
Why on earth?
大多数创业者写自传的时候，都是快走完人生路了，知道自己时日无多。
Most of the times, when an entrepreneur writes an autobiography, they do it when they're, you know, they're they're very close to the end of their life and they know they're close to the end of their life.
很多情况下，比如宜家的创始人英格瓦·坎普拉德，就是个典型例子。
And in many cases, I'm thinking of Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Ikea as one example, but in many cases, they do so.
他们其实不太愿意写，通常只有觉得自己的经验能帮到下一代创业者时，才会动笔。
They're reluctant to do so and they usually only do so because they're like, hey, the lessons I learned can benefit future generations of entrepreneurs.
我觉得保罗在这方面说得太对了。
I I feel that Paul's dead right about this.
YC的创始人之间不仅互相启发，还彼此帮助。
YC founders aren't just inspired by one another, they also help one another.
这是我了解到的关于创业者最让人欣慰的事——他们愿意如此慷慨地互相支持。
That's the happiest thing I've learned about startup founders, how generous they can be in helping one another.
情况完全一样。
Same thing.
我亲眼见过无数次，人们对自己想法的分享有多大方。
I've seen this exact same thing, just how generous people are with their own ideas.
这真了不起。
It's remarkable.
我也努力做到一样，像他们那样慷慨地互相帮助。
And I try to do the exact same thing, how generous they can be in helping one another.
结果带来的东西，远比大学要强烈得多。
The result is something far more intense than, say, a university.
创始人身边有合伙人、校友和同期的伙伴，人人都愿意也能够帮助他们。
Between the partners, the alumni, and their batchmates, founders are surrounded by people who want to help them and can.
今天我就先说到这儿。
And that is where I'll leave it for today.
我还有好几篇文章，以后会在特别节目中跟大家聊。
I got a bunch of essays I'll cover in the future in a bonus episode.
等我一恢复嗓音，就会马上录制保罗·格雷厄姆系列的第三部分，这也是暂时的最后一期，内容会围绕他的书《黑客与画家》。
And then as soon as I can, and my voice is back, I will record the part Paul Graham part three, which will be the final Paul Graham for a while, which will be on his book, Hackers and Painters.
目前已经做了276期，还剩1000期，我们很快再聊。
That is 276 podcasts down, 1,000 to go, and I'll talk to you again soon.
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