如果你不能與這樣的人競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，最好還是給別人打工吧

文/Mike Xie 譯 /趙欣然 繪 /也圓

如果你不能與這樣的人競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，最好還是給別人打工吧

If You Can’t Do It， You’d Better off Working for Someone Else

文/Mike Xie 譯 /趙欣然 繪 /也圓

My favorite uncle's mom had this game she liked to play with her children when they were fairly young.

She would ask them random basic arithmetic①arithmetic 英 ［?'r?θm?t?k］ 美 ［?'r?θm?t?k］ n. 算術(shù)，算法questions. For example， what is 5 plus 2？

And then she would hit them on the head with a stick if they got the answer wrong.

So for this question， my uncle，on average②average英 ［'?v（?）r?d?］ 美 ［'?v?r?d?］ n. 平均； adj. 平均的；普通的， would get hit on the head something like four to six times or until the stick broke .

Eventually she gave up on him. He gave up on school and started work moving boxes on the dock③dock 英 ［d?k］ 美 ［dɑk］ n. 碼頭；船塢.

Fast forward a couple years and he was working three full time blue collar jobs. He logged④log 英 ［l?ɡ］ 美 ［l?ɡ］ vi. 伐木； vt. 切；伐木；航行；n. 記錄；航行日志about ninety hours a week on average and only took a break on New Years'.

Fast for ward a couple years and he's started his first company. They move boxes off the dock.

Fast forward a decade or two and he runs half a dozen companies and sits on the board of a dozen more. He has a really nice wife and some well adjusted kids who are fairly bright. Everywhere he goes he is welcomed， loved even， because he spends a large amount of his profits⑤profit英 ［'pr?f?t］ 美 ［'prɑf?t］ n. 利潤(rùn)；利益donating to schools， the arts， the homeless， etc. And to his family. A color television for my father. A new home for his mother. A BMW for his father.

He tells me in many ways he is very lucky. As he idly⑥idly英 ［'a?dl?］ 美 ［'a?dli］ adv. 無(wú)所事事地；空閑地stirs the soup that was given free to him by a waiter who he once bought all the textbooks that the kid couldn't afford but desperately

needed. That he could never comprehend⑦comprehend 英 ［k?mpr?'hend］ 美 ［，kɑmpr?'h?nd］ vt. 理解himself.

For the most par this companies run themselves my father told me. And of course he could retire. He could have years ago. But he likes making other people's lives better. It's what he does. It's who he is. Did you notice that when he came over and slept in your room that when he left， all of your jumbled clothes were neatly folded and put back in their places？ I hope you could grow to be someone like him. My father says.

And of course， it's true. He was very lucky. But， you don't need to be intelligent to succeed or， more importantly，be happy. Attitude， the ability to persevere⑧persevere英 ［p??s?'v??］ 美 ［，p?s?'v?r］ vi. 堅(jiān)持；不屈不撓， discipline， kindness，social ability. These are all far better indicators.

If you want to be a successful entrepreneur can you compete with a person like this？ By the time he was thirty he had logged on average four thousand hours a year for eighteen years.

He has all of the practical skills of a contractor， manager， lawyer，accountant， union negotiator，copy writer. He speaks five languages. And he has hundreds of fanatically loyal and loving fans/customers because of all of the giving that he has done，the extra miles he has gone and continued to do. Even back when he had nothing.

If you can't then maybe you'd be better off working for someone else.

我最喜歡的一個(gè)叔叔，他媽媽很喜歡在孩子們還比較小的時(shí)候和他們玩這個(gè)游戲。

她會(huì)隨機(jī)問(wèn)他們比較基礎(chǔ)的算術(shù)題。比如 5+2 等于多少？

如果他們答錯(cuò)了，她就會(huì)用棍子打他們的頭。

對(duì)于這樣的算術(shù)題，我叔叔的腦袋平均要挨4到6次打，或是直到棍子打斷為止。

最終她放棄了他。叔叔也退學(xué)了，并在碼頭做搬箱工。

過(guò)了幾年，叔叔同時(shí)做3個(gè)全職的藍(lán)領(lǐng)工作。他平均每周要工作90 個(gè)小時(shí)，只在新年的時(shí)候才休息。

又過(guò)了幾年，叔叔創(chuàng)立了自己的第一家公司。他們做的是碼頭卸貨的生意。

又過(guò)了一二十年，他同時(shí)運(yùn)營(yíng)著 6家公司，還入股十余家企業(yè)。他有一個(gè)很好的妻子，還有幾個(gè)很有教養(yǎng)、聰明伶俐的孩子。不管他去哪兒，都很受歡迎，甚至是受愛(ài)戴的。因?yàn)樗炎约豪麧?rùn)的大部分都捐給了學(xué)校、藝術(shù)院校、無(wú)家可歸的人。家里的話，他給我爸爸送了彩色電視。給他媽媽買(mǎi)了新房子，給他爸爸買(mǎi)了一輛寶馬。

他告訴我他總是很幸運(yùn)，當(dāng)時(shí)他有意無(wú)意地?cái)嚢柚煌霚?，這是一個(gè)服務(wù)生免費(fèi)送給他的。然而，這是因?yàn)槭迨逶?jīng)給那個(gè)服務(wù)生買(mǎi)下了全部的課本，這些課本是那個(gè)孩子當(dāng)年買(mǎi)不起但極其需要的。他還不知道那個(gè)人在報(bào)答他的恩情。

我父親告訴我，叔叔的公司基本上已經(jīng)可以自主運(yùn)營(yíng)了，他完全可以退休，幾年以前就可以了。但是他喜歡讓別人的生活變得更好。這正是他所做的事，他就是這樣的人。你注意到他來(lái)拜訪咱們家睡在你屋里嗎？他走的時(shí)候，你所有的亂七八糟的衣服都疊得整整齊齊，放回了它們?cè)瓉?lái)的地方。我希望你可以成為像他一樣的人。我父親說(shuō)道。

當(dāng)然，我叔叔的確很幸運(yùn)。但是你不必很聰明才能成功，或者（更重要的）快樂(lè)。你的態(tài)度、堅(jiān)持、律己、友善，以及社交能力，這些才是更重要的因素。

如果你想成為一個(gè)成功的企業(yè)家，你能夠和這樣的人競(jìng)爭(zhēng)嗎？他30歲的時(shí)候，平均每年工作4000小時(shí)，持續(xù)了18年之久。

他學(xué)會(huì)了幾乎所有實(shí)用的技能，能做承包人、經(jīng)理、律師、會(huì)計(jì)、工會(huì)談判代表、文案編輯，并且會(huì)說(shuō)5種語(yǔ)言。由于他為人慷慨，一路上，有成百上千的熱情、忠實(shí)的粉絲/顧客，在他一無(wú)所有的時(shí)候依舊支持他。

如果你不能與這樣的人競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，最好還是給別人打工吧。