What You'll Wish You'd Known
January 2005 (I wrote this talk for a high school.
2005 年 1 月（我为一所高中写了这篇演讲。
I never actually gave it, because the school authorities vetoed the plan to invite me.) When I said I was speaking at a high school, my friends were curious.
我实际上从未给予过邀请，因为学校当局否决了邀请我的计划。）当我说我在一所高中演讲时，我的朋友们很好奇。
What will you say to high school students?
你想对高中生说什么？
So I asked them, what do you wish someone had told you in high school?
所以我问他们，你希望有人在高中时告诉你什么？
Their answers were remarkably similar.
他们的答案非常相似。
So I'm going to tell you what we all wish
所以我要告诉你我们都希望什么
someone had told us.
有人告诉过我们。
I'll start by telling you something you don't have to know in high school: what you want to do with your life.
首先我会告诉你一些你在高中时不必知道的事情：你一生想做什么。
People are always asking you this, so you think you're supposed to have an answer.
人们总是问你这个问题，所以你认为你应该有答案。
But adults ask this mainly as a conversation starter.
但成年人问这个问题主要是作为对话的开场白。
They want to know what sort of person you are, and this question is just to get you talking.
他们想知道你是一个什么样的人，而这个问题只是为了让你说话。
They ask it the way you might poke a hermit crab
他们问这个问题的方式就像你戳寄居蟹一样
in a tide pool, to see what it does.
在潮汐池中，看看它会做什么。
If I were back in high school and someone asked about my plans, I'd say that my first priority was to learn what the options were.
如果我回到高中，有人问我的计划，我会说我的首要任务是了解有哪些选择。
You don't need to be in a rush to choose your life's work.
你不需要急于选择你一生的工作。
What you need to do is discover what you like.
你需要做的就是发现你喜欢什么。
You have to work on stuff you like if you want to be good at what you do.
如果你想擅长你所做的事情，你就必须做你喜欢的事情。
It might seem that nothing would be easier than deciding what you
似乎没有什么比决定你要做什么更容易的了
like, but it turns out to be hard, partly because it's hard to get an accurate picture of most jobs.
类似，但事实证明这很困难，部分原因是很难准确了解大多数工作。
Being a doctor is not the way it's portrayed on TV.
成为一名医生并不像电视上描绘的那样。
Fortunately you can also watch real doctors, by volunteering in hospitals.
幸运的是，您还可以通过在医院做志愿者来观看真正的医生。
[1] But there are other jobs you can't learn about, because no one is doing them yet.
[1] 但还有其他工作你无法了解，因为还没有人做这些工作。
Most of the work I've done in the last ten years didn't exist when I was in high school.
我过去十年所做的大部分工作在我高中时并不存在。
The world changes fast,
世界变化很快，
and the rate at which it changes is itself speeding up.
而且它变化的速度本身也在加快。
In such a world it's not a good idea to have fixed plans.
在这样的世界里，制定固定的计划并不是一个好主意。
And yet every May, speakers all over the country fire up the Standard Graduation Speech, the theme of which is: don't give up on your dreams.
然而每年五月，全国各地的演讲者都会掀起标准的毕业演讲，其主题是：不要放弃你的梦想。
I know what they mean, but this is a bad way to put it, because it implies you're supposed to be bound by some plan you made early on.
我知道他们的意思，但这是一个不好的表达方式，因为它意味着你应该受到早期制定的某些计划的约束。
The computer world has a name for this: premature
计算机世界有一个名字：早熟
optimization.
优化。
And it is synonymous with disaster.
它是灾难的代名词。
These speakers would do better to say simply, don't give up.
这些发言者最好简单地说，不要放弃。
What they really mean is, don't get demoralized.
他们真正的意思是，不要士气低落。
Don't think that you can't do what other people can.
不要以为别人能做的事你就做不到。
And I agree you shouldn't underestimate your potential.
我同意你不应该低估你的潜力。
People who've done great things tend to seem as if they were a race apart.
那些做过伟大事情的人往往看起来就像是一个与众不同的种族。
And most biographies only exaggerate this illusion, partly due to the worshipful attitude
大多数传记只是夸大了这种幻想，部分原因是崇拜态度
biographers inevitably sink into, and partly because, knowing how the story ends, they can't help streamlining the plot till it seems like the subject's life was a matter of destiny, the mere unfolding of some innate genius.
传记作家不可避免地陷入困境，部分原因是，知道故事的结局，他们情不自禁地简化情节，直到主体的生活似乎是命运的问题，仅仅是某种与生俱来的天才的展现。
In fact I suspect if you had the sixteen year old Shakespeare or Einstein in school with you, they'd seem impressive, but not totally unlike your other friends.
事实上，我怀疑如果你在学校里有十六岁的莎士比亚或爱因斯坦，他们看起来会令人印象深刻，但与你的其他朋友并不完全不同。
Which is an uncomfortable thought.
这是一个令人不舒服的想法。
If they were just like us, then
如果他们像我们一样的话
they had to work very hard to do what they did.
他们必须非常努力地工作才能完成他们所做的事情。
And that's one reason we like to believe in genius.
这就是我们喜欢相信天才的原因之一。
It gives us an excuse for being lazy.
它给了我们懒惰的借口。
If these guys were able to do what they did only because of some magic Shakespeareness or Einsteinness, then it's not our fault if we can't do something as good.
如果这些人能够做他们所做的事情只是因为一些神奇的莎士比亚或爱因斯坦，那么如果我们不能做得那么好，那不是我们的错。
I'm not saying there's no such thing as genius.
我并不是说世界上没有天才。
But if you're trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse
但如果你试图在两种理论之间做出选择，而其中一种给了你借口
for being lazy, the other one is probably right.
由于懒惰，另一位可能是对的。
So far we've cut the Standard Graduation Speech down from "don't give up on your dreams" to "what someone else can do, you can do." But it needs to be cut still further.
到目前为止，我们已经将标准毕业演讲从“不要放弃你的梦想”缩减为“别人能做到的，你也能做到”。但还需要进一步削减。
There is some variation in natural ability.
自然能力存在一些差异。
Most people overestimate its role, but it does exist.
大多数人高估了它的作用，但它确实存在。
If I were talking to a guy four feet tall whose ambition was to play in the NBA, I'd feel pretty stupid saying, you can
如果我和一个四英尺高的人说话，他的志向是在 NBA 打球，我会觉得很愚蠢地说，你可以
do anything if you really try.
如果你真的尝试的话，做任何事情。
[2] We need to cut the Standard Graduation Speech down to, "what someone else with your abilities can do, you can do; and don't underestimate your abilities." But as so often happens, the closer you get to the truth, the messier your sentence gets.
[2] 我们需要将标准的毕业演讲精简为“与你有能力的人能做到的，你也能做到；并且不要低估你的能力。”但正如经常发生的那样，你越接近事实，你的句子就会变得越混乱。
We've taken a nice, neat (but wrong) slogan, and churned it up like a mud puddle.
我们提出了一个漂亮、简洁（但错误）的口号，然后像泥坑一样把它搅拌起来。
It doesn't make a very good speech anymore.
它不再是一个很好的演讲了。
But worse still, it doesn't
但更糟糕的是，它并没有
tell you what to do anymore.
告诉你该做什么了。
Someone with your abilities?
有和你一样能力的人吗？
What are your abilities?
你有什么能力？
Upwind I think the solution is to work in the other direction.
逆风我认为解决方案是朝另一个方向努力。
Instead of working back from a goal, work forward from promising situations.
不要从一个目标开始向后退缩，而是从有希望的情况开始前进。
This is what most successful people actually do anyway.
无论如何，这就是大多数成功人士实际上所做的。
In the graduation-speech approach, you decide where you want to be in twenty years, and then ask: what should I do now to get there?
在毕业演讲的方法中，你决定二十年后你想要达到的目标，然后问：我现在应该做什么才能到达那里？
I propose instead that you don't commit to anything in the future, but just look at the options available now, and choose those that will give you the most promising range of options afterward.
相反，我建议你不要对未来做出任何承诺，而只需看看现在可用的选项，然后选择那些会给你带来最有希望的选项的选项。
It's not so important what you work on, so long as you're not wasting your time.
只要你不浪费时间，你做什么并不那么重要。
Work on things that interest you and increase your options, and worry later about which you'll take.
做你感兴趣的事情并增加你的选择，然后再担心你会选择哪一个。
Suppose you're a college freshman deciding whether to major in math
假设你是一名大学新生，正在决定是否主修数学
or economics.
或经济学。
Well, math will give you more options: you can go into almost any field from math.
嗯，数学会给你更多的选择：你可以从数学进入几乎任何领域。
If you major in math it will be easy to get into grad school in economics, but if you major in economics it will be hard to get into grad school in math.
如果你主修数学，进入经济学研究生院很容易，但如果你主修经济学，进入数学研究生院就很难了。
Flying a glider is a good metaphor here.
驾驶滑翔机在这里是一个很好的比喻。
Because a glider doesn't have an engine, you can't fly into the wind without losing a lot of altitude.
因为滑翔机没有发动机，所以你无法在不损失大量高度的情况下逆风飞行。
If you let yourself get far downwind of good places
如果你让自己远离好地方的下风
to land, your options narrow uncomfortably.
着陆后，你的选择范围就缩小了，令人不安。
As a rule you want to stay upwind.
一般来说，你要呆在上风处。
So I propose that as a replacement for "don't give up on your dreams." Stay upwind.
所以我建议用它来代替“不要放弃你的梦想”。留在上风处。
How do you do that, though?
但你怎么做到这一点呢？
Even if math is upwind of economics, how are you supposed to know that as a high school student?
即使数学是经济学的优势，作为一名高中生你怎么知道这一点？
Well, you don't, and that's what you need to find out.
嗯，你不知道，这就是你需要找出的。
<!-- I can give you some tips on how to recognize upwind.
<!-- 我可以给你一些如何识别逆风的技巧。
--> Look for smart people
--> 寻找聪明人
and hard problems.
和难题。
Smart people tend to clump together, and if you can find such a clump, it's probably worthwhile to join it.
聪明的人往往会聚集在一起，如果你能找到这样的一群人，那么可能值得加入其中。
But it's not straightforward to find these, because there is a lot of faking going on.
但要找到这些并不容易，因为存在很多伪造行为。
To a newly arrived undergraduate, all university departments look much the same.
对于刚来的本科生来说，大学的所有院系看起来都大同小异。
The professors all seem forbiddingly intellectual and publish papers unintelligible to outsiders.
这些教授似乎都智力惊人，发表的论文对外人来说难以理解。
But while in some
但同时在一些
fields the papers are unintelligible because they're full of hard ideas, in others they're deliberately written in an obscure way to seem as if they're saying something important.
在某些领域，论文难以理解，因为它们充满了困难的想法，在其他领域，它们故意以晦涩的方式写成，看起来好像在说一些重要的事情。
This may seem a scandalous proposition, but it has been experimentally verified, in the famous Social Text affair.
这似乎是一个令人反感的命题，但它已经在著名的社会文本事件中得到了实验验证。
Suspecting that the papers published by literary theorists were often just intellectual-sounding nonsense, a physicist deliberately wrote a paper full of
一位物理学家怀疑文学理论家发表的论文往往只是看似知识分子的废话，于是故意写了一篇充满了
intellectual-sounding nonsense, and submitted it to a literary theory journal, which published it.
听起来像是知识分子的废话，并将其提交给一家文学理论杂志，该杂志出版了它。
The best protection is always to be working on hard problems.
最好的保护就是始终致力于解决难题。
Writing novels is hard.
写小说很难。
Reading novels isn't.
看小说则不然。
Hard means worry: if you're not worrying that something you're making will come out badly, or that you won't be able to understand something you're studying, then it isn't hard enough.
困难意味着担心：如果你不担心你正在做的事情会很糟糕，或者你无法理解你正在学习的东西，那么它还不够难。
There has to be suspense.
一定要有悬念。
Well, this seems a grim view of the world, you may think.
嗯，你可能会想，这似乎是一种严峻的世界观。
What I'm telling you is that you should worry?
我告诉你的是你应该担心吗？
Yes, but it's not as bad as it sounds.
是的，但情况并不像听起来那么糟糕。
It's exhilarating to overcome worries.
克服忧虑真是令人兴奋。
You don't see faces much happier than people winning gold medals.
你看不到比赢得金牌的人更快乐的面孔了。
And you know why they're so happy?
你知道他们为什么这么高兴吗？
Relief.
宽慰。
I'm not saying this is the only way to be happy.
我并不是说这是获得快乐的唯一方法。
Just that some kinds of worry are not as bad as they sound.
只是有些担忧并不像听起来那么糟糕。
Ambition In practice, "stay upwind" reduces to "work on hard problems." And you can start today.
雄心壮志 在实践中，“保持优势”可以简化为“解决难题”。你今天就可以开始。
I wish I'd grasped that in high school.
我希望我在高中时就掌握了这一点。
Most people like to be good at what they do.
大多数人都喜欢擅长自己所做的事情。
In the so-called real world this need is a powerful force.
在所谓的现实世界中，这种需求是一股强大的力量。
But high school students rarely benefit from it, because they're given a fake thing to do.
但高中生很少能从中受益，因为他们被要求做的事情是假的。
When I was in high school, I let myself believe that my job was to be a high school student.
当我上高中时，我让自己相信我的工作就是成为一名高中生。
And so I let my need to be good at what
所以我让我需要擅长什么
I did be satisfied by merely doing well in school.
仅仅在学校取得好成绩我就感到满足了。
If you'd asked me in high school what the difference was between high school kids and adults, I'd have said it was that adults had to earn a living.
如果你在高中时问我高中生和成年人之间有什么区别，我会说成年人必须谋生。
Wrong.
错误的。
It's that adults take responsibility for themselves.
就是成年人要对自己负责。
Making a living is only a small part of it.
谋生只是其中的一小部分。
Far more important is to take intellectual responsibility for oneself.
更重要的是对自己承担智力上的责任。
If I had to go through high school again, I'd treat it like a day
如果我必须重新读高中，我会把它当作一天
job.
工作。
I don't mean that I'd slack in school.
我并不是说我会在学校偷懒。
Working at something as a day job doesn't mean doing it badly.
把某件事当作日常工作并不意味着做得不好。
It means not being defined by it.
这意味着不被它定义。
I mean I wouldn't think of myself as a high school student, just as a musician with a day job as a waiter doesn't think of himself as a waiter.
我的意思是，我不会认为自己是一名高中生，就像一个白天从事服务员工作的音乐家不认为自己是一名服务员一样。
[3] And when I wasn't working at my day job I'd start trying to do real work.
[3] 当我不从事日常工作时，我会开始尝试做真正的工作。
When I ask people what they regret most about high school, they
当我问人们高中最遗憾的是什么时，他们说
nearly all say the same thing: that they wasted so much time.
几乎所有人都说同样的话：他们浪费了太多时间。
If you're wondering what you're doing now that you'll regret most later, that's probably it.
如果你想知道你现在所做的事情是你以后最后悔的，那可能就是它。
[4] Some people say this is inevitable — that high school students aren't capable of getting anything done yet.
[4] 有人说这是不可避免的——高中生还没有能力完成任何事情。
But I don't think this is true.
但我认为这不是真的。
And the proof is that you're bored.
证据就是你很无聊。
You probably weren't bored when you were eight.
当你八岁时，你可能并不感到无聊。
When you're eight it's called
当你八岁的时候，它被称为
"playing" instead of "hanging out," but it's the same thing.
“玩”而不是“闲逛”，但这是同一件事。
And when I was eight, I was rarely bored.
当我八岁的时候，我很少感到无聊。
Give me a back yard and a few other kids and I could play all day.
给我一个后院和其他几个孩子，我就可以玩一整天。
The reason this got stale in middle school and high school, I now realize, is that I was ready for something else.
我现在意识到，这种现象在初中和高中变得陈旧的原因是我已经准备好接受其他事情了。
Childhood was getting old.
童年已经渐渐老去。
I'm not saying you shouldn't hang out with your friends — that you should all become humorless little robots who do nothing but work.
我并不是说你不应该和你的朋友一起出去玩——而是说你们都应该成为毫无幽默感的小机器人，除了工作什么都不做。
Hanging out with friends is like chocolate cake.
和朋友一起出去玩就像巧克力蛋糕。
You enjoy it more if you eat it occasionally than if you eat nothing but chocolate cake for every meal.
如果你偶尔吃它，你会比每顿只吃巧克力蛋糕更享受它。
No matter how much you like chocolate cake, you'll be pretty queasy after the third meal of it.
不管你多么喜欢巧克力蛋糕，吃完第三顿后你都会感到恶心。
And that's what the malaise one feels in high school is: mental queasiness.
这就是高中时所感受到的不适：精神上的不适。
[5] You may be thinking, we have to do more than get good grades.
[5] 你可能会想，我们要做的不仅仅是取得好成绩。
We have to have extracurricular activities.
我们必须有课外活动。
But you know
但你知道
perfectly well how bogus most of these are.
很清楚其中大多数都是假的。
Collecting donations for a charity is an admirable thing to do, but it's not hard.
为慈善机构筹集捐款是一件令人钦佩的事情，但这并不难。
It's not getting something done.
它没有完成某件事。
What I mean by getting something done is learning how to write well, or how to program computers, or what life was really like in preindustrial societies, or how to draw the human face from life.
我所说的完成某件事的意思是学习如何写好文章，或者如何对计算机进行编程，或者前工业社会的生活到底是什么样子，或者如何从生活中描绘出人的面孔。
This sort of thing rarely translates into a line item on a college application.
这类事情很少转化为大学申请中的一个项目。
Corruption It's dangerous to design your life around getting into college, because the people you have to impress to get into college are not a very discerning audience.
腐败围绕进入大学来设计你的生活是危险的，因为你必须给大学留下深刻印象的人并不是非常有洞察力的观众。
At most colleges, it's not the professors who decide whether you get in, but admissions officers, and they are nowhere near as smart.
在大多数大学，决定你是否被录取的不是教授，而是招生人员，而他们远没有那么聪明。
They're the NCOs of the intellectual world.
他们是知识界的军士。
They can't tell how smart you are.
他们无法判断你有多聪明。
The mere existence of prep schools is proof of that.
预科学校的存在本身就证明了这一点。
Few parents would pay so much for their kids to go to a school that didn't improve their admissions prospects.
很少有家长愿意花这么多钱让孩子去一所不能改善他们入学前景的学校。
Prep schools openly say this is one of their aims.
预科学校公开表示这是他们的目标之一。
But what that means, if you stop to think about it, is that they can hack the admissions process: that they can take the very same kid and make him seem a more appealing candidate than he would if he went to the local public school.
但如果你停下来想一想，这意味着他们可以侵入招生流程：他们可以录取同一个孩子，让他看起来比他去当地公立学校更有吸引力。
[6] Right now most of you feel your job in life is to be a promising
[6] 现在，你们中的大多数人都认为生活中的工作就是成为一个有前途的人
college applicant.
大学申请者。
But that means you're designing your life to satisfy a process so mindless that there's a whole industry devoted to subverting it.
但这意味着你正在设计你的生活来满足一个如此盲目的过程，以至于整个行业都致力于颠覆它。
No wonder you become cynical.
难怪你会变得愤世嫉俗。
The malaise you feel is the same that a producer of reality TV shows or a tobacco industry executive feels.
你所感受到的不适与电视真人秀制作人或烟草业高管的感受是一样的。
And you don't even get paid a lot.
而且你甚至拿不到很多钱。
So what do you do?
那么你做什么呢？
What you should not do is rebel.
你不应该做的就是叛逆。
That's what I did, and it was a mistake.
我就是这样做的，这是一个错误。
I didn't realize exactly what was
我没有意识到到底是什么
happening to us, but I smelled a major rat.
发生在我们身上，但我闻到了大老鼠的味道。
And so I just gave up.
所以我就放弃了。
Obviously the world sucked, so why bother?
显然这个世界很糟糕，那为什么还要烦恼呢？
When I discovered that one of our teachers was herself using Cliff's Notes, it seemed par for the course.
当我发现我们的一位老师自己也在使用克里夫的笔记时，这似乎是这门课程的标准。
Surely it meant nothing to get a good grade in such a class.
当然，在这样的班级里取得好成绩毫无意义。
In retrospect this was stupid.
回想起来，这是愚蠢的。
It was like someone getting fouled in a soccer game and saying, hey, you fouled me, that's against the
这就像有人在足球比赛中被犯规，然后说，嘿，你对我犯规了，这是违反规则的。
rules, and walking off the field in indignation.
并愤怒地走下球场。
Fouls happen.
犯规时有发生。
The thing to do when you get fouled is not to lose your cool.
当你被犯规时要做的事情就是不要失去冷静。
Just keep playing.
继续玩吧。
<!-- Don't even foul the guy back; if you really want revenge, you'll make him more unhappy by winning the game than by elbowing him in the jaw.
<!-- 甚至不要对那家伙犯规；如果你真想报仇，赢得比赛比用肘击他的下巴会让他更不高兴。
--> By putting you in this situation, society has fouled you.
--> 把你置于这种境地，社会已经对你犯规了。
Yes, as you suspect, a lot of the stuff you learn in your classes is
是的，正如您所怀疑的，您在课堂上学到的很多东西都是
crap.
废话。
And yes, as you suspect, the college admissions process is largely a charade.
是的，正如你所怀疑的那样，大学招生过程很大程度上是一个谜语。
But like many fouls, this one was unintentional.
但和许多犯规一样，这一次是无意的。
[7] So just keep playing.
[7]所以继续玩吧。
Rebellion is almost as stupid as obedience.
叛逆几乎和服从一样愚蠢。
In either case you let yourself be defined by what they tell you to do.
无论哪种情况，你都让自己被他们告诉你要做的事情所定义。
The best plan, I think, is to step onto an orthogonal vector.
我认为最好的计划是步入正交向量。
Don't just do what they tell you, and don't just refuse to.
不要只按照他们告诉你的去做，也不要只是拒绝。
Instead treat school as
相反，将学校视为
a day job.
一份日常工作。
As day jobs go, it's pretty sweet.
随着日常工作的进行，这是非常甜蜜的。
You're done at 3 o'clock, and you can even work on your own stuff while you're there.
3 点钟你就可以完成工作了，你甚至可以在现场做自己的事情。
Curiosity And what's your real job supposed to be?
好奇心 你真正的工作应该是什么？
Unless you're Mozart, your first task is to figure that out.
除非你是莫扎特，否则你的首要任务就是弄清楚这一点。
What are the great things to work on?
有哪些值得去做的伟大事情？
Where are the imaginative people?
那些有想象力的人在哪里？
And most importantly, what are you interested in?
最重要的是，你对什么感兴趣？
The word "aptitude" is misleading,
“能力”这个词具有误导性
because it implies something innate.
因为它暗示着一些与生俱来的东西。
The most powerful sort of aptitude is a consuming interest in some question, and such interests are often acquired tastes.
最强大的能力是对某些问题的强烈兴趣，而这种兴趣往往是后天习得的品味。
A distorted version of this idea has filtered into popular culture under the name "passion." I recently saw an ad for waiters saying they wanted people with a "passion for service." The real thing is not something one could have for waiting on tables.
这种想法的扭曲版本已经以“激情”的名义渗透到流行文化中。我最近看到一则招聘服务员的广告，说他们想要的是“对服务充满热情”的人。真正的东西不是当服务员就能拥有的。
And passion
和激情
is a bad word for it.
这是一个不好的词。
A better name would be curiosity.
更好的名字是好奇心。
Kids are curious, but the curiosity I mean has a different shape from kid curiosity.
孩子们都很好奇，但我所说的好奇心与孩子的好奇心有不同的形式。
Kid curiosity is broad and shallow; they ask why at random about everything.
孩子的好奇心既广泛又浅薄；他们对每件事都随意地问为什么。
In most adults this curiosity dries up entirely.
对于大多数成年人来说，这种好奇心完全消失了。
It has to: you can't get anything done if you're always asking why about everything.
它必须：如果你总是对每件事问为什么，你就无法完成任何事情。
But in ambitious adults, instead of drying up, curiosity becomes narrow and deep.
但对于雄心勃勃的成年人来说，好奇心不但没有枯竭，反而变得狭隘而深刻。
The mud flat morphs
泥滩变形
into a well.
进入一口井。
Curiosity turns work into play.
好奇心将工作变成娱乐。
For Einstein, relativity wasn't a book full of hard stuff he had to learn for an exam.
对于爱因斯坦来说，相对论并不是一本充满了他为了考试而必须学习的艰深内容的书。
It was a mystery he was trying to solve.
这是他试图解开的一个谜。
So it probably felt like less work to him to invent it than it would seem to someone now to learn it in a class.
因此，对他来说，发明它可能比现在在课堂上学习它的人感觉要轻松得多。
One of the most dangerous illusions you get from school is the idea that doing great things requires a lot of discipline.
你从学校得到的最危险的幻想之一就是认为做伟大的事情需要大量的纪律。
Most subjects
大多数科目
are taught in such a boring way that it's only by discipline that you can flog yourself through them.
它们的教学方式非常无聊，只有通过纪律，你才能通过它们鞭策自己。
So I was surprised when, early in college, I read a quote by Wittgenstein saying that he had no self-discipline and had never been able to deny himself anything, not even a cup of coffee.
因此，当我在大学初期读到维特根斯坦的一句话时，我感到很惊讶，他说他没有自律，从来没有能够否认自己任何事情，甚至连一杯咖啡都没有。
Now I know a number of people who do great work, and it's the same with all of them.
现在我认识了很多工作出色的人，他们所有人都是如此。
They have little discipline.
他们缺乏纪律。
They're all terrible
他们都很可怕
procrastinators and find it almost impossible to make themselves do anything they're not interested in.
拖延者发现几乎不可能让自己做任何他们不感兴趣的事情。
One still hasn't sent out his half of the thank-you notes from his wedding, four years ago.
四年前的婚礼上，有人还没有寄出一半的感谢信。
Another has 26,000 emails in her inbox.
另一个人的收件箱里有 26,000 封电子邮件。
I'm not saying you can get away with zero self-discipline.
我并不是说你可以零自律地逃脱惩罚。
You probably need about the amount you need to go running.
您可能需要大约跑步所需的量。
I'm often reluctant to go running, but once I do, I enjoy it.
我常常不愿意跑步，但一旦跑步，我就会喜欢它。
And if I don't
如果我不这样做
run for several days, I feel ill.
跑了几天，我感觉不舒服。
It's the same with people who do great things.
做伟大事情的人也是如此。
They know they'll feel bad if they don't work, and they have enough discipline to get themselves to their desks to start working.
他们知道如果不工作他们会感觉很糟糕，并且他们有足够的纪律让自己坐在办公桌前开始工作。
But once they get started, interest takes over, and discipline is no longer necessary.
但一旦他们开始了，兴趣就会占据上风，纪律就不再是必要的了。
Do you think Shakespeare was gritting his teeth and diligently trying to write Great Literature?
你认为莎士比亚是在咬紧牙关，努力写出伟大的文学吗？
Of course not.
当然不是。
He was having
他正在经历
fun.
有趣。
That's why he's so good.
这就是为什么他这么优秀。
If you want to do good work, what you need is a great curiosity about a promising question.
如果你想做好工作，你需要的是对一个有前途的问题有极大的好奇心。
The critical moment for Einstein was when he looked at Maxwell's equations and said, what the hell is going on here?
爱因斯坦的关键时刻是当他看着麦克斯韦方程组并说，这到底是怎么回事？
It can take years to zero in on a productive question, because it can take years to figure out what a subject is really about.
将一个富有成效的问题归零可能需要数年时间，因为可能需要数年时间才能弄清楚一个主题的真正含义。
To take an extreme example, consider math.
举一个极端的例子，考虑数学。
Most people think they
大多数人认为他们
hate math, but the boring stuff you do in school under the name "mathematics" is not at all like what mathematicians do.
讨厌数学，但是你在学校里以“数学”的名义做的无聊事情根本不像数学家所做的那样。
The great mathematician G.
伟大的数学家G.
H.
H.
Hardy said he didn't like math in high school either.
哈迪说他高中时也不喜欢数学。
He only took it up because he was better at it than the other students.
他之所以接受这门课，只是因为他比其他学生更擅长。
Only later did he realize math was interesting — only later did he start to ask questions instead of merely answering them correctly.
直到后来，他才意识到数学很有趣——直到后来，他才开始提出问题，而不仅仅是正确回答问题。
When a friend of mine used to grumble because he had to write a paper for school, his mother would tell him: find a way to make it interesting.
当我的一个朋友因为必须为学校写论文而抱怨时，他的母亲会告诉他：找到一种方法让它变得有趣。
That's what you need to do: find a question that makes the world interesting.
这就是你需要做的：找到一个让世界变得有趣的问题。
People who do great things look at the same world everyone else does, but notice some odd detail that's compellingly mysterious.
做出伟大事业的人与其他人看待的世界是一样的，但会注意到一些非常神秘的奇怪细节。
And not only in intellectual matters.
不仅在智力问题上。
Henry Ford's great question
亨利·福特的好问题
was, why do cars have to be a luxury item?
是的，为什么汽车一定是奢侈品？
What would happen if you treated them as a commodity?
如果你把它们当作商品来对待，会发生什么？
Franz Beckenbauer's was, in effect, why does everyone have to stay in his position?
事实上，弗朗茨·贝肯鲍尔的问题是，为什么每个人都必须留在他的位置上？
Why can't defenders score goals too?
为什么后卫也不能进球？
Now If it takes years to articulate great questions, what do you do now, at sixteen?
现在，如果需要数年时间才能阐明伟大的问题，那么现在十六岁的你会做什么？
Work toward finding one.
努力寻找一个。
Great questions don't appear suddenly.
伟大的问题不会突然出现。
They gradually congeal in your head.
它们逐渐凝结在你的脑海里。
And what makes
是什么让
them congeal is experience.
他们凝结的是经验。
So the way to find great questions is not to search for them — not to wander about thinking, what great discovery shall I make?
因此，发现伟大问题的方法不是去寻找它们——而不是徘徊于思考，我会做出什么伟大的发现？
You can't answer that; if you could, you'd have made it.
你无法回答这个问题；如果你能的话，你就成功了。
The way to get a big idea to appear in your head is not to hunt for big ideas, but to put in a lot of time on work that interests you, and in the process keep your mind open enough that a big idea can
让一个伟大的想法出现在你的脑海中的方法不是去寻找伟大的想法，而是投入大量的时间在你感兴趣的工作上，并在这个过程中保持你的思维足够开放，这样一个伟大的想法就可以实现。
take roost.
栖息。
Einstein, Ford, and Beckenbauer all used this recipe.
爱因斯坦、福特和贝肯鲍尔都使用过这个配方。
They all knew their work like a piano player knows the keys.
他们都熟悉自己的工作，就像钢琴演奏者熟悉琴键一样。
So when something seemed amiss to them, they had the confidence to notice it.
因此，当他们觉得有些事情不对劲时，他们有信心注意到它。
Put in time how and on what?
如何投入时间以及投入什么？
Just pick a project that seems interesting: to master some chunk of material, or to make something, or to answer some question.
只需选择一个看起来有趣的项目：掌握一些材料，或者制作一些东西，或者回答一些问题。
Choose a project that will take less than a month, and make it something you have the means to finish.
选择一个需要不到一个月的时间的项目，并使其成为你有能力完成的项目。
Do something hard enough to stretch you, but only just, especially at first.
做一些足够努力的事情来伸展你的身体，但只是刚刚好，尤其是在一开始。
If you're deciding between two projects, choose whichever seems most fun.
如果您要在两个项目之间做出选择，请选择看起来最有趣的一个。
If one blows up in your face, start another.
如果其中一个在你脸上爆炸，就开始另一个。
Repeat till, like an internal combustion engine, the process becomes self-sustaining, and each project generates the next one.
不断重复，直到这个过程像内燃机一样自我维持，每个项目都会产生下一个项目。
(This could take years.) It may be just as well not to do a project "for school," if that
（这可能需要数年时间。）最好不要为“学校”做一个项目，如果那样的话
will restrict you or make it seem like work.
会限制你或让它看起来像是工作。
Involve your friends if you want, but not too many, and only if they're not flakes.
如果你愿意的话，可以让你的朋友参与进来，但不要太多，而且前提是他们不是性格古怪的人。
Friends offer moral support (few startups are started by one person), but secrecy also has its advantages.
朋友提供道义上的支持（很少有初创公司是由一个人创办的），但保密也有其优点。
There's something pleasing about a secret project.
秘密项目有一些令人愉快的事情。
And you can take more risks, because no one will know if you fail.
而且你可以承担更多的风险，因为没有人会知道你是否失败。
Don't worry if a project doesn't seem to be on the path to some
如果项目似乎无法实现某些目标，请不要担心
goal you're supposed to have.
你应该有的目标。
Paths can bend a lot more than you think.
路径的弯曲程度可能比您想象的要大得多。
So let the path grow out the project.
因此，让路径从项目中发展出来。
The most important thing is to be excited about it, because it's by doing that you learn.
最重要的是要对此感到兴奋，因为只有通过这样做你才能学到东西。
Don't disregard unseemly motivations.
不要忽视不正当的动机。
One of the most powerful is the desire to be better than other people at something.
最强烈的愿望之一就是在某件事上比其他人做得更好的愿望。
Hardy said that's what got him started, and I think the only unusual thing about him is that he admitted it.
哈迪说这就是他开始的原因，我认为他唯一不寻常的事情就是他承认了这一点。
Another powerful motivator is
另一个强大的动力是
the desire to do, or know, things you're not supposed to.
想要做或知道不应该做的事情。
Closely related is the desire to do something audacious.
密切相关的是渴望做一些大胆的事情。
Sixteen year olds aren't supposed to write novels.
十六岁的孩子不适合写小说。
So if you try, anything you achieve is on the plus side of the ledger; if you fail utterly, you're doing no worse than expectations.
因此，如果你尝试，你所取得的任何成就都会在账本上增加；如果你彻底失败，你的表现并不比预期差。
[8] Beware of bad models.
[8] 谨防不良模型。
Especially when they excuse laziness.
尤其是当他们为懒惰找借口时。
When I was in high school I used to write "existentialist" short stories
当我在高中的时候，我曾经写过“存在主义”短篇小说
like ones I'd seen by famous writers.
就像我在著名作家那里看到的那样。
My stories didn't have a lot of plot, but they were very deep.
我的故事没有太多情节，但很有深度。
And they were less work to write than entertaining ones would have been.
而且写这些作品的工作量比写那些有趣的作品要少。
I should have known that was a danger sign.
我应该知道这是一个危险的信号。
And in fact I found my stories pretty boring; what excited me was the idea of writing serious, intellectual stuff like the famous writers.
事实上，我发现我的故事很无聊；让我兴奋的是像著名作家那样写严肃的、知识性的东西的想法。
Now I have enough experience to realize that those famous writers
现在我有足够的经验认识到那些著名作家
actually sucked.
实际上很糟糕。
Plenty of famous people do; in the short term, the quality of one's work is only a small component of fame.
很多名人都这样做；从短期来看，一个人的工作质量只是名气的一小部分。
I should have been less worried about doing something that seemed cool, and just done something I liked.
我应该少担心做一些看起来很酷的事情，而只做我喜欢的事情。
That's the actual road to coolness anyway.
无论如何，这才是真正的冷静之路。
A key ingredient in many projects, almost a project on its own, is to find good books.
许多项目（几乎是一个独立的项目）的一个关键要素是找到好书。
Most books are bad.
大多数书都是坏书。
Nearly all textbooks are
几乎所有的教科书都是
bad.
不好。
[9] So don't assume a subject is to be learned from whatever book on it happens to be closest.
[9] 因此，不要假设某个主题可以从任何与之最接近的书籍中学习。
You have to search actively for the tiny number of good books.
你必须积极地寻找极少数的好书。
The important thing is to get out there and do stuff.
重要的是走出去并做一些事情。
Instead of waiting to be taught, go out and learn.
与其等待被教导，不如出去学习。
Your life doesn't have to be shaped by admissions officers.
你的生活不必由招生人员决定。
It could be shaped by your own curiosity.
它可能是由你自己的好奇心决定的。
It is for all ambitious adults.
它适合所有雄心勃勃的成年人。
And you don't have to wait to start.
而且您不必等待开始。
In fact, you don't
事实上，你不
have to wait to be an adult.
必须等到成年。
There's no switch inside you that magically flips when you turn a certain age or graduate from some institution.
当你到了一定年龄或从某个机构毕业时，你体内没有任何开关会神奇地翻转。
You start being an adult when you decide to take responsibility for your life.
当你决定对自己的生活负责时，你就开始成为一个成年人。
You can do that at any age.
你可以在任何年龄做到这一点。
[10] This may sound like bullshit.
[10] 这听起来像是胡说八道。
I'm just a minor, you may think, I have no money, I have to live at home, I have to do what adults tell me all day long.
我只是个未成年人，你可能会想，我没有钱，我必须住在家里，我必须整天按大人告诉我的去做。
Well, most adults labor under restrictions
嗯，大多数成年人都受到限制
just as cumbersome, and they manage to get things done.
同样麻烦，但他们设法把事情做好。
If you think it's restrictive being a kid, imagine having kids.
如果你认为作为一个孩子受到限制，想象一下生孩子会怎样。
The only real difference between adults and high school kids is that adults realize they need to get things done, and high school kids don't.
成年人和高中生之间唯一真正的区别是，成年人意识到他们需要把事情做好，而高中生则不然。
That realization hits most people around 23.
大多数人在 23 岁左右就会意识到这一点。
But I'm letting you in on the secret early.
但我很早就让你知道这个秘密了。
So get to work.
所以开始工作吧。
Maybe you can be the first generation whose greatest regret from high school isn't
也许你可能是第一代高中时最大的遗憾不是
how much time you wasted.
你浪费了多少时间。
Notes [1] A doctor friend warns that even this can give an inaccurate picture.
注释 [1] 一位医生朋友警告说，即使这样也可能给出不准确的图片。
"Who knew how much time it would take up, how little autonomy one would have for endless years of training, and how unbelievably annoying it is to carry a beeper?" [2] His best bet would probably be to become dictator and intimidate the NBA into letting him play.
“谁知道这会花费多少时间，在无休止的多年训练中，一个人的自主权会是多么少，以及携带传呼机是多么令人难以置信的烦人？” [2] 他最好的选择可能是成为独裁者并恐吓 NBA 让他打球。
So far the closest anyone has come
迄今为止最接近的人
is Secretary of Labor.
是劳工部长。
[3] A day job is one you take to pay the bills so you can do what you really want, like play in a band, or invent relativity.
[3] 日常工作是为了支付账单而做的，这样你就可以做你真正想做的事情，比如在乐队里演奏，或者发明相对论。
Treating high school as a day job might actually make it easier for some students to get good grades.
把高中当作日常工作实际上可能会让一些学生更容易取得好成绩。
If you treat your classes as a game, you won't be demoralized if they seem pointless.
如果你把你的课程当作一场游戏，即使它们看起来毫无意义，你也不会士气低落。
However bad your classes, you need to get good grades in them to
无论你的课程多么糟糕，你都需要在其中取得好成绩
get into a decent college.
进入一所像样的大学。
And that is worth doing, because universities are where a lot of the clumps of smart people are these days.
这是值得做的，因为现在大学里聚集了很多聪明人。
[4] The second biggest regret was caring so much about unimportant things.
[4] 第二大遗憾是太在意不重要的事情。
And especially about what other people thought of them.
尤其是其他人对他们的看法。
I think what they really mean, in the latter case, is caring what random people thought of them.
我认为在后一种情况下，他们真正的意思是关心随机的人们对他们的看法。
Adults care just as much what other people think, but they get to be more selective about the other
成年人同样关心别人的想法，但他们对别人的看法会更加挑剔
people.
人们。
I have about thirty friends whose opinions I care about, and the opinion of the rest of the world barely affects me.
我有大约三十个朋友，我关心他们的意见，而世界其他地方的意见几乎不会影响我。
The problem in high school is that your peers are chosen for you by accidents of age and geography, rather than by you based on respect for their judgement.
高中的问题在于，你的同龄人是因年龄和地理位置的意外而为你选择的，而不是你基于尊重他们的判断而选择的。
[5] The key to wasting time is distraction.
[5] 浪费时间的关键是分心。
Without distractions it's too obvious to your brain that you're not doing anything with
如果没有干扰，你的大脑会很明显地意识到你没有做任何事情
it, and you start to feel uncomfortable.
它，你开始感到不舒服。
If you want to measure how dependent you've become on distractions, try this experiment: set aside a chunk of time on a weekend and sit alone and think.
如果你想衡量自己对干扰的依赖程度，可以尝试这个实验：在周末留出一大块时间，独自坐下来思考。
You can have a notebook to write your thoughts down in, but nothing else: no friends, TV, music, phone, IM, email, Web, games, books, newspapers, or magazines.
你可以有一个笔记本来写下你的想法，但没有其他东西：没有朋友、电视、音乐、电话、即时通讯、电子邮件、网络、游戏、书籍、报纸或杂志。
Within an hour most people will feel a strong craving for distraction.
一个小时之内，大多数人都会强烈渴望分散注意力。
[6] I don't mean to imply that the only function of prep schools is to trick admissions officers.
[6] 我并不是说预科学校的唯一功能就是欺骗招生人员。
They also generally provide a better education.
他们通常还提供更好的教育。
But try this thought experiment: suppose prep schools supplied the same superior education but had a tiny (.001) negative effect on college admissions.
但尝试一下这个思想实验：假设预科学校提供同样优质的教育，但对大学录取产生微小（0.001）的负面影响。
How many parents would still send their kids to them?
还有多少家长愿意把孩子送到他们那里？
It might also be argued that kids who went to prep schools, because
也可能有人会说，上预科学校的孩子，因为
they've learned more, are better college candidates.
他们学到了更多，是更好的大学候选人。
But this seems empirically false.
但这在经验上似乎是错误的。
What you learn in even the best high school is rounding error compared to what you learn in college.
与你在大学学到的东西相比，即使是最好的高中，你学到的东西也只是舍入误差。
Public school kids arrive at college with a slight disadvantage, but they start to pull ahead in the sophomore year.
公立学校的孩子在进入大学时稍稍处于劣势，但他们在二年级就开始领先。
(I'm not saying public school kids are smarter than preppies, just that they are within any given college.
（我并不是说公立学校的孩子比预科生聪明，只是说他们在任何特定的大学里。
That follows necessarily
由此必然得出
if you agree prep schools improve kids' admissions prospects.) [7] Why does society foul you?
如果你同意预科学校可以改善孩子的入学前景。） [7] 为什么社会对你犯规？
Indifference, mainly.
主要是冷漠。
There are simply no outside forces pushing high school to be good.
根本没有外部力量推动高中变得更好。
The air traffic control system works because planes would crash otherwise.
空中交通管制系统发挥作用，否则飞机就会坠毁。
Businesses have to deliver because otherwise competitors would take their customers.
企业必须提供服务，否则竞争对手就会抢走他们的客户。
But no planes crash if your school sucks, and it has no competitors.
但如果你的学校很糟糕，而且没有竞争对手，就不会发生飞机失事。
High school isn't evil; it's random; but random
高中并不邪恶；它是随机的；但随机的
is pretty bad.
很糟糕。
[8] And then of course there is money.
[8] 当然还有钱。
It's not a big factor in high school, because you can't do much that anyone wants.
在高中这不是一个大因素，因为你不能做很多别人想做的事。
But a lot of great things were created mainly to make money.
但很多伟大的东西都是为了赚钱而创造的。
Samuel Johnson said "no man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." (Many hope he was exaggerating.) [9] Even college textbooks are bad.
塞缪尔·约翰逊说：“除了傻瓜之外，没有人会为了钱而写作。” （许多人希望他夸大其词。） [9] 甚至大学教科书也很糟糕。
When you get to college, you'll find that (with a few stellar exceptions) the textbooks are
当你进入大学时，你会发现（除了一些明显的例外）教科书是
not written by the leading scholars in the field they describe.
不是由他们所描述的领域的顶尖学者撰写的。
Writing college textbooks is unpleasant work, done mostly by people who need the money.
编写大学教科书是一项令人不快的工作，大部分都是由需要钱的人来完成的。
It's unpleasant because the publishers exert so much control, and there are few things worse than close supervision by someone who doesn't understand what you're doing.
这是令人不愉快的，因为出版商施加了如此多的控制，而且没有什么比不理解你在做什么的人的密切监督更糟糕的了。
This phenomenon is apparently even worse in the production of high school textbooks.
这种现象在高中教材的制作中显然更为严重。
[10] Your teachers are always telling you to behave like adults.
[10] 你的老师总是告诉你要像成年人一样行事。
I wonder if they'd like it if you did.
我想知道如果你这样做的话他们是否会喜欢。
You may be loud and disorganized, but you're very docile compared to adults.
你可能很吵闹，没有条理，但与成年人相比，你非常温顺。
If you actually started acting like adults, it would be just as if a bunch of adults had been transposed into your bodies.
如果你真的开始像成年人一样行事，那就好像一群成年人被转移到你的身体里一样。
Imagine the reaction of an FBI agent or taxi driver or reporter to being told they had to ask permission to go the bathroom, and only one person could go
想象一下，一名联邦调查局特工、出租车司机或记者被告知他们必须获得许可才能去洗手间，而且只有一个人可以去
at a time.
一次。
To say nothing of the things you're taught.
更不用说你所学到的东西了。
If a bunch of actual adults suddenly found themselves trapped in high school, the first thing they'd do is form a union and renegotiate all the rules with the administration.
如果一群真正的成年人突然发现自己被困在高中，他们要做的第一件事就是组建工会并与管理部门重新谈判所有规则。
Thanks to Ingrid Bassett, Trevor Blackwell, Rich Draves, Dan Giffin, Sarah Harlin, Jessica Livingston, Jackie McDonough, Robert Morris, Mark Nitzberg, Lisa Randall, and Aaron Swartz for reading drafts of this, and to many
感谢 Ingrid Bassett、Trevor Blackwell、Rich Draves、Dan Giffin、Sarah Harlin、Jessica Livingston、Jackie McDonough、Robert Morris、Mark Nitzberg、Lisa Randall 和 Aaron Swartz 阅读本文的草稿，并感谢许多人