經典美文：人生應該由他自己去規劃
摘要：我在斯坦福任教也是出於同樣的原因——因爲我想告訴學生，他們不需要接受學校教育或競爭對手給他們鋪設的道路。從根本上來說，一個人的人生應該由他自己去規劃。
PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel is often known for hisability to understand what makes a companysuccessful and for having some contrarian points ofview. Following the sale of PayPal to eBay EBAY0.14% in 2002, Thiel founded global hedge fundClarium Capital Management, technology companyPalantir and venture capital firm Founders Fund, which has invested in companies like Spotify,Oculus and SpaceX. Thiel was also Facebook’s first outside investor and currently sits on itsboard. Through his Thiel Foundation, four years ago, he created the Thiel Fellowship for up-and-coming entrepreneurs under 20, who are each given $100,000 and two years to eschewhigher education and work on a venture of their choosing.
貝寶公司(PayPal)聯合創始人彼得o泰爾深知如何成功經營一家公司，並且因許多特立獨行的觀點而聞名於創投界。2002年將PayPal出售給易趣公司(eBay)之後，泰爾創建了全球對衝基金克萊瑞姆資本管理公司(ClariumCapital Management)、科技公司Palantir和風險投資公司創業者基金(Founders Fund)，該基金投資的公司包括音樂平臺Spotify、虛擬現實公司Oculus和太空探索技術公司(SpaceX)。此外，泰爾也是Facebook第一位外部投資者，目前爲Facebook董事會成員。通過其泰爾基金會(Thiel Foundation)，他在4年前設立了針對20歲以下優秀創業者的泰爾獎學金(Thiel Fellowship)，有前途的創業者不用接受高等教育，即可獲得10萬美元和兩年的時間，從事自己選擇的事業。
人生應該由他自己去規劃
Known for his strong opinions about hot-button topics like education, company culture andcompetition, Thiel has been in the news of late promoting his new book Zero to One: Notes onStartups, or How to Build the Future, which he co-wrote with former student Blake Masters,and was based upon the notes that Masters took while taking Thiel’s computer science courseat Stanford. The authors aim to rebuff the notion that innovation is dead and instead delveinto how entrepreneurs can explore new technologies and create fresh inventions in currentfields and “uncharted frontiers.” We caught up with Thiel to talk about the value of being naiveand finding inspiration off the beaten track.
泰爾因其對教育、公司文化與競爭等熱門話題的強烈觀點而名聲在外，近期，他的新書《從零到一：對創業，以及如何構築未來的一點思考》(Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future)使他再次成爲媒體熱點。該書由泰爾和他之前的學生布萊克o馬斯特斯共同創作，主要內容爲馬斯特斯在斯坦福大學(Stanford)上泰爾的計算機科學課時記錄的筆記。兩位作者並不認同“創新已死”的觀點，他們在書中探討了創業者如何開發新技術，在當前領域和“未知的前沿”創造發明。我們對泰爾進行了採訪，邀請他談論了天真的價值，以及如何獨闢蹊徑，尋找靈感。
Q: Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently when you were firststarting up? How did you learn this lesson?
問：如果你具備現在的經驗和見識，你的第一次創業會有哪些不同?你是如何收穫這一經驗教訓的?
A:When I was starting out, I followed along the path that seemed to be marked out for me —from high school to college to law school to professional life. When I was working at a NewYork law firm, that path came to a dead end. All the aspiring lawyers on the outside wanted toget in but all of the people I worked with wanted to get out. It was like Alcatraz but all you hadto do to escape was walk through the front door. So I left. And that experience helped merealize how many things in the world might be possible and valuable, yet ignored by mostpeople, simply because they are not found on any conventional track.
答：最開始，我的成長道路似乎早已註定——從高中到大學，再到法學院，然後開始職業生涯。我在紐約一家律師事務所工作的時候，這條道路陷入了死衚衕。外面有抱負的律師都想進來，但我的同事們卻都想逃離這裏。那裏就像是惡魔島，要想逃離這裏，你只需走出那扇門。所以我離開了。這次的經歷讓我意識到，這個世界上有許多事情是可行的、有價值的，但卻被大多數人忽視，只是因爲你根本不可能在任何傳統的軌道上發現它們。
Q: What do you think would have happened if you had had this knowledge then?
問：如果你當時便有了這樣的感悟，你認爲會發生什麼?
A:If I’d realized how arbitrary it was, I might have gotten off the track a lot sooner. I know Iwould have thought about it more carefully. But there’s no way to run the experiment twice.
答：如果我能意識到職業道路是如此變幻莫測，我可能會更早離開那裏。我知道我肯定會更謹慎地考慮這個問題。但人生不可能重來。
Q: How do you think young entrepreneurs might benefit from this insight?
問：你認爲你的這些見解能夠給年輕的創業者們帶來哪些幫助?
A:An entrepreneur must deal with more uncertainty than a professional with a well-definedrole. Because of that uncertainty, there’s always a temptation to reach out for some kind ofguide, whether it’s old business school case studies, or, more likely, the most recent moves ofthe firms that you perceive to be competitors. Reacting to them can at least give some idea ofwhat to do. We’re so used to competing on tracks that entrepreneurs can quickly get caughtup in incremental battles with each other, almost without realizing it. But defining yourself by acompetitor means giving up the most important reason to be an entrepreneur: You can dosomething new in the world that won’t be done unless you are the one to do it.
答：相比職責明確的專業人士，創業者必須應對更多不確定性。由於這些不確定性，他們往往會禁不住誘惑，試圖尋找各種指引，比如傳統的商學院案例研究，更有可能的是，被視爲競爭對手的公司最近的舉動等。根據競爭對手的舉動做出反應，至少可以讓你知道應該做什麼。我們早已習慣於發展道路上的競爭，以至於創業者之間會迅速陷入日益激烈的競爭，而他們本身幾乎都沒有意識到這一點。但是，通過競爭對手來確定自己的發展方向，意味着放棄了創業最重要的理由：你可以做一些世界上前所未有、如果沒有你就不可能出現的東西。
Q: Besides inventing a time machine, how might they realize this wisdom sooner?
問：除了發明一臺時間機器，他們如何才能更快深刻體會這些智慧?
A:I don’t know. How to teach people to do what hasn’t been done is a great riddle. It’sbecause schools tend to breed a kind of process-oriented conformity that I started afellowship for young people who want to learn by getting something done in the real world —precisely so they can begin charting their own path as early as possible.
答：我不知道。如何教會人們去做從未有人做過的事情，是一個無解的謎題。正是由於學校往往教導學生遵從某種流程，我才爲那些希望在真實世界中學習如何創業的年輕人創辦了獎學金——只有這樣，他們才能儘早規劃自己的發展道路。
I taught a class at Stanford for the same reason — because I wanted to tell students that theydon’t have to accept the paths laid down by their schooling or by their competitors. Butfundamentally it’s something people have to figure out for themselves.
我在斯坦福任教也是出於同樣的原因——因爲我想告訴學生，他們不需要接受學校教育或競爭對手給他們鋪設的道路。從根本上來說，一個人的人生應該由他自己去規劃。
Q: What are you glad you didn’t know then that you know now?
問：有哪些事情是你現在已經知道，但很慶幸當時並不知道的?
A:If I had known how hard it would be to do something new, particularly in the paymentsindustry, I would never have started PayPal. That’s why nobody with long experience in bankinghad done it. You needed to be naive enough to think that new things could be done. And itturned out to be true: PayPal worked. But if I’d had more experience, I’m sure I would haveshied away from the risk and done something much more boring. This is one of the reasonsthat young people can have a strange advantage in technology in that they haven’t yet beenbrainwashed into thinking that current methods are inevitable.
答：如果我知道創新如此艱難，尤其是在支付行業，我恐怕不會創建貝寶。這也是爲什麼經驗豐富的銀行從業者中，沒人做這件事情。你需要足夠天真地認爲一件新事物能夠成功。結果證明了我的觀點：貝寶取得了成功。而如果我積累了更多經驗，我肯定會避開風險，從事一些更無聊的事情。所以，現在的年輕人有一種奇怪的技術優勢，因爲他們沒有被洗腦，不會認爲現有的方法是不可避免的。
Q: What is your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
問：你對有抱負的創業者最好的建議是什麼?
A:The most important thing is simple: Start with a small market and dominate that first. Bigmarkets are tempting because they seem full of opportunity but most of that opportunity willbe for others to compete with you. Instead focus your ambition on a definitively superiorsolution to a specific problem.
答：最重要的事情很簡單：先從小市場開始，佔領這個市場。大的市場固然充滿誘惑，看起來滿是機遇，但大多數機會都會面臨許多競爭者。創業者應該聚焦某個特定的問題，集中精力做出一個絕對出色的解決方案。
你才能掌控自己的人生
When living out our daily lives, it’s often easy to blame the world for our e it’s true that there are things in the outside world we can’t control, the biggest difference between two people is simply their reaction towards it. Having understood this for a while, I’ve often asked the question, “How?”
日常生活中，我們常常容易把問題歸咎於外部原因。雖然我們的確無法控制外界一些事情，但人與人之間最大的區別是他們對事情的反應。明白這個道理一段時間後，我經常問：“怎麼做呢?”
How is it possible to change your reaction to a particular event or situation?
怎麼做才能改變你對某件事或某個情況的反應呢?
Why should you stop complaining? Here are three reasons that I believe—if you truly understand them—will help you move forward and live a less stressful life:
爲什麼你應該停止抱怨?這裏有三個我相信的原因——如果你能真正理解它們的話——會幫你進步，生活壓力也會變小：
1. The world owes you nothing
1. 世界不欠你什麼
The world really does have nothing to do with you or anyone else. The planet will continue to exist without you on it, which—as depressing as it sounds—should also provide you with a first glimpse of the reality of what your life should truly be about.
世界真的與你或任何人無關。地球沒你還是會轉——這聽起來令人沮喪——還會讓你首先看到生活的現實。
Through this, questions start to emerge such as: “If the world is irrelevant, who’s in charge of my life?” And, “What happens to my life from this point forward?”
明白了這個，疑問開始出現，比如“如果世界與我無關，那誰掌控我的生活?”，以及“從這一刻開始，我的生活會怎樣?”
You suddenly start to realize that while we were nurtured and looked after as kids, this really isn’t the case once we’re an adult. The world doesn’t provide us with the same blanket of comfort as our carers once did, which only means one thing: It’s up to us to provide that blanket for ourselves and no one else. Which brings me on to the second reason…
你突然意識到，我們孩童時被培養和照顧，但成年後就不一樣了。世界不像照顧我們的人一樣給我們提供同樣舒適的環境，這意味着一件事：我們給自己提供那種舒適，而不是其他人。這讓我想到第二個原因……
2. You are in charge of your own life
2. 你掌控自己的生活
If you look back at your own life, you’ll begin to realize that everything you have ever done up to the present moment was all a result of the decisions you’ve made. Sure there may have been people around you who have convinced you to do some of the things you may have done. But it all ultimately depends on your decisions: So who’s really to blame?
如果你回顧自己的生活，會開始明白你到現在做過的所有事情都是你選擇的結果。你身邊肯定有人勸你做猶豫不定的事，但最終做決定的是你：所以真正負責的是誰?
You begin to see that amongst everything that’s happening around you, what you have is a blank canvas. Suddenly, your hopes and dreams aren’t dreams at all but are within the realm of possibility.
你開始看到周圍發生的一切，你擁有一塊可隨意描摹的空白畫布。突然，你的希望和夢想不再遙不可及，它們有了實現的可能。
What are your dreams? What are your hopes and goals for the future? Do you have a plan? Start to think about what it might be and remind yourself daily that it’s all up to you to make things happen.
你的夢想是什麼?你對未來有什麼希望和目標?你有計劃嗎?開始思考它們並每天提醒自己：一切都是由你決定的。
3. You can’t be a leader if you behave like a victim
3. 如果你表現得像受害者，就不可能成爲領導者
Would you rather live a life with rules, or lead a life that is governed by you? I’m certain the answer is simple.
你願意活在各種規矩中，還是自己做主?答案肯定很簡單。
It’s really easy to put blame on things that are external to you, as it avoids personal responsibility and allows you to refuse the possibility that you may have things that can be changed. So what can you change?
你確實很容易埋怨外部的事情，因爲這樣能避免個人責任，讓你拒絕改變事情的可能性。那你能改變什麼呢?
Being a leader in your life takes courage and requires the willingness to face your fears, experience failure, and take complete personal responsibility of everything that happens to you. I challenge you to turn the mirror on yourself and to ask yourself the following question:
做人生的領導者需要勇氣、有面對恐懼的意願、體驗失敗，對發生在你身上的一切承擔所有責任。我希望你看着鏡子中的自己，問下面的問題：
“What can I now do to turn my life around?”
“我現在能做什麼來改變生活?”
You have no one else but you to make it happen.
沒有人能改變你的生活，除了你自己。
