The Top Idea in Your Mind
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<img src="http://www.virtumundo.com/images/spacer.gif" height=15 width=1> 想要创业吗？
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获得 Y Combinator 的资助。
</td > July 2010 I realized recently that what one thinks about in the shower in the morning is more important than I'd thought.
</td> 2010 年 7 月 我最近意识到，一个人早上洗澡时所想的事情比我想象的更重要。
I knew it was a good time to have ideas.
我知道现在是提出想法的好时机。
Now I'd go further: now I'd say it's hard to do a really good job on anything you don't think about in the shower.
现在我想更进一步：现在我想说的是，如果你在淋浴时不考虑任何事情，就很难真正做好工作。
Everyone who's worked on difficult problems is probably familiar with the phenomenon of working hard to figure something out, failing, and then suddenly seeing the answer a bit later while doing something else.
每个解决过难题的人可能都熟悉这样的现象：努力解决某件事，失败，然后在做其他事情时突然看到答案。
There's a kind of thinking you do without trying to.
有一种想法是你不费力气就能想到的。
I'm increasingly convinced this type of thinking is not merely helpful in solving hard problems, but necessary.
我越来越相信这种思维不仅有助于解决难题，而且是必要的。
The tricky part is, you can only control it indirectly.
棘手的部分是，你只能间接控制它。
[ 1 ] I think most people have one top idea in their mind at any given time.
[1] 我认为大多数人在任何特定时间都会有一个最重要的想法。
That's the idea their thoughts will drift toward when they're allowed to drift freely.
当他们被允许自由漂移时，他们的思想就会朝着这个想法漂移。
And this idea will thus tend to get all the benefit of that type of thinking, while others are starved of it.
因此，这种想法往往会从这种思维方式中获益，而其他人却对此缺乏兴趣。
Which means it's a disaster to let the wrong idea become the top one in your mind.
这意味着让错误的想法成为你脑海中的首要想法是一场灾难。
What made this clear to me was having an idea I didn't want as the
让我明白这一点的是我有一个我不想要的想法
top one in my mind for two long stretches.
在我的脑海里有很长一段时间都是最重要的。
I'd noticed startups got way less done when they started raising money, but it was not till we ourselves raised money that I understood why.
我注意到初创公司在开始筹集资金时完成的工作要少得多，但直到我们自己筹集资金我才明白原因。
The problem is not the actual time it takes to meet with investors.
问题不在于与投资者会面的实际时间。
The problem is that once you start raising money, raising money becomes the top idea in your mind.
问题是，一旦你开始筹集资金，筹集资金就成为你脑海中的首要想法。
That becomes what you think about when you take a shower in the morning.
当你早上洗澡时，这就是你所想的。
And that means
这意味着
other questions aren't.
其他问题则不然。
I'd hated raising money when I was running Viaweb, but I'd forgotten why I hated it so much.
当我经营 Viaweb 时，我讨厌筹集资金，但我忘记了为什么我如此讨厌它。
When we raised money for Y Combinator, I remembered.
当我们为 Y Combinator 筹集资金时，我记得。
Money matters are particularly likely to become the top idea in your mind.
金钱问题特别有可能成为你脑海中的首要想法。
The reason is that they have to be.
原因是它们必须如此。
It's hard to get money.
钱很难拿到。
It's not the sort of thing that happens by default.
这不是默认发生的事情。
It's not going to happen unless you let it become the
除非你让它成为
thing you think about in the shower.
你在淋浴时想的事情。
And then you'll make little progress on anything else you'd rather be working on.
然后你在其他你想做的事情上就不会取得什么进展。
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