抵抗天賦的誘惑

杰夫·貝索斯，全球最大的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)書(shū)店——亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡(luò)購(gòu)物中心締造者，亞馬遜CEO，第一位成功的網(wǎng)上零售業(yè)者《時(shí)代》周刊風(fēng)云人物。美國(guó)《財(cái)富》雜志“巨富排行榜”第二；美國(guó)《商業(yè)周刊》評(píng)選的“互聯(lián)網(wǎng)時(shí)代最具影響力的25人”之一。

What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift， kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy—theyre given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if youre not careful， and if you do， itll probably be to the detriment of your choices.

今天我想對(duì)你們說(shuō)的是，天賦和選擇不同。聰明是一種天賦，而善良是一種選擇。天賦得來(lái)很容易——畢竟它們與生俱來(lái)。而選擇則頗為不易。如果一不小心，你可能被天賦所誘惑，這可能會(huì)損害到你做出的選擇。

This is a group with many gifts. Im sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain. Im confident thats the case because admission is competitive and if there werent some signs that youre clever， the dean of admission wouldnt have let you in.

在座各位都擁有許多天賦。我確信你們的天賦之一就是擁有精明能干的頭腦。之所以如此確信，是因?yàn)槿雽W(xué)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)十分激烈，如果你們不能表現(xiàn)出聰明智慧，便沒(méi)有資格進(jìn)入這所學(xué)校。

How will you use these gifts？ And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices？ I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2，300 percent per year. Id never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast， and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles—something that simply couldnt exist in the physical world—was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old， and Id been married for a year.

你們要如何運(yùn)用這些天賦呢？你們會(huì)為自己的天賦感到驕傲，還是會(huì)為自己的選擇感到驕傲？ 16年前，我萌生了創(chuàng)辦亞馬遜的想法。彼時(shí)我面對(duì)的現(xiàn)實(shí)是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)使用量以每年2300%的速度增長(zhǎng)，我從未看到或聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)任何增長(zhǎng)如此快速的東西。創(chuàng)建涵蓋幾百萬(wàn)種書(shū)籍的網(wǎng)上書(shū)店的想法令我興奮異常，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)東西在物理世界里根本無(wú)法存在。那時(shí)我剛剛30歲，結(jié)婚才一年。

I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldnt work since most startups dont， and I wasnt sure what would happen after that. MacKenzie told me I should go for it. As a young boy， Id been a garage inventor. Id invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires， a solar cooker that didnt work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil， baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings. Id always wanted to be an inventor， and she wanted me to follow my passion.

我告訴妻子MacKenzie我想辭去工作，然后去做這件瘋狂的事情——很可能會(huì)失敗，因?yàn)榇蟛糠謩?chuàng)業(yè)公司都是如此，而且我不確定那之后會(huì)發(fā)生什么。MacKenzie告訴我，我應(yīng)該放手一搏。在我還是一個(gè)男孩兒的時(shí)候，我是車(chē)庫(kù)發(fā)明家。我曾用水泥填充的輪胎、雨傘和錫箔以及報(bào)警器制作了一個(gè)自動(dòng)關(guān)門(mén)器。我一直想做一個(gè)發(fā)明家，MacKenzie支持我追隨內(nèi)心的激情。

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people， and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park， listened carefully to me， and finally said，“That sounds like a really good idea， but it would be an even better idea for someone who didnt already have a good job.”

我當(dāng)時(shí)在紐約一家金融公司工作，同事是一群非常聰明的人，我的老板也很杰出，我很佩服他。我告訴我的老板我想開(kāi)辦一家在網(wǎng)上賣(mài)書(shū)的公司。他帶我在中央公園漫步良久，認(rèn)真地聽(tīng)我講完，最后說(shuō)：“聽(tīng)起來(lái)真是一個(gè)很好的主意，但是對(duì)那些目前沒(méi)有謀到一份好工作的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這個(gè)主意會(huì)更好?！?/p>

That logic made some sense to me， and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light， it really was a difficult choice， but ultimately， I decided I had to give it a shot. I didnt think Id regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration， I took the less safe path to follow my passion， and Im proud of that choice.

這一邏輯對(duì)我而言頗有道理，他說(shuō)服我在最終作出決定之前再考慮48小時(shí)。那樣想來(lái)，這個(gè)決定確實(shí)很艱難，但是最終，我決定拼一次。我認(rèn)為自己不會(huì)為嘗試過(guò)后的失敗而遺憾，倒是有所決定但完全不付諸行動(dòng)會(huì)一直煎熬著我。在深思熟慮之后，我選擇了那條不安全的道路，去追隨我內(nèi)心的熱情。我為那個(gè)決定感到驕傲。

Tomorrow， in a very real sense， your life—the life you author from scratch on your own begins. How will you use your gifts？ What choices will you make？ Will inertia be your guide， or will you follow your passions？ Will you follow dogma， or will you be original？ Will you choose a life of ease， or a life of service and adventure？ Will you wilt under criticism， or will you follow your convictions？ Will you bluff it out when youre wrong， or will you apologize？

明天，非?，F(xiàn)實(shí)地說(shuō)，你們從零塑造自己人生的時(shí)代即將開(kāi)啟。你們會(huì)如何運(yùn)用自己的天賦？你們又會(huì)作出怎樣的抉擇？你們是被慣性所引導(dǎo)，還是追隨自己內(nèi)心的熱情？你們會(huì)墨守成規(guī)，還是勇于創(chuàng)新？你們會(huì)選擇安逸的生活，還是選擇一個(gè)奉獻(xiàn)與冒險(xiǎn)的人生？你們會(huì)屈從于批評(píng)，還是會(huì)堅(jiān)守信念？你們會(huì)掩飾錯(cuò)誤，還是會(huì)坦然道歉？

Will you guard your heart against rejection， or will you act when you fall in love？ Will you play it safe， or will you be a little bit swashbuckling？ When its tough， will you give up， or will you be relentless？Will you be a cynic， or will you be a builder？ Will you be clever at the expense of others， or will you be kind？

你們會(huì)因害怕拒絕而掩飾內(nèi)心，還是會(huì)在面對(duì)愛(ài)情時(shí)勇往直前？你們想要波瀾不驚，還是想要搏擊風(fēng)浪？你們會(huì)在嚴(yán)峻的現(xiàn)實(shí)之下選擇放棄，還是會(huì)義無(wú)反顧地前行？你們要做憤世嫉俗者，還是踏實(shí)的建設(shè)者？你們要不計(jì)一切代價(jià)地展示聰明，還是選擇善良？

I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old， and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story， the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end， we are our choices. Build yourself a great story.

我要做一個(gè)預(yù)測(cè)：在你們80歲時(shí)某個(gè)追憶往昔的時(shí)刻，只有你一個(gè)人靜靜對(duì)內(nèi)心訴說(shuō)著你的人生故事，其中最為充實(shí)、最有意義的那段講述，會(huì)被你們作出的一系列決定所填滿。最后，是選擇塑造了我們的人生。為你自己塑造一個(gè)偉大的人生故事。