Tim O’Reilly, a famous American publisher, wrote a great article about how to choose a path in Life.
He said.
I spent a lot of last year urging people to work on stuff that matters. this led to many questions about what that "stuff" might This led to many questions about what that "stuff" might be.
I spent a lot of last year urging people to work on stuff that matters. A lot of people asked me, "What's the important thing?"
I've been a bit reluctant to answer those questions, because the list is different for everyone.
I've been a bit reluctant to answer those questions, because the list is different for everyone.
I thought I'd do better to start the new year with some ideas about how to think about this for yourself.
But with the new year here, I thought I'd do better to start the new year with some ideas about how to think about this for yourself.Next, he cited three major criteria. If you do something that meets these three, then it is something important and worth doing. Otherwise, you’d better think about whether you should stop there.
Here are his three main criteria, and my understanding.
- Not just to make money
A big mistake that young people tend to make is to focus too much on money and make it the only measure of success. In reality, money is useful because you can use it to do what you want to do. Money itself is not the purpose of life, what you want to do is. Money is like gasoline. The purpose of life is not to get gasoline, but to get the car to go where you want to go when you fill it up.
Don’t think about how you can make money, but think about what your value to others and to society is. You have to believe that if you are of value to society, you will be able to make money, although it may not be a lot.
Don’t let yourself become too realistic. Many young Chinese people work for the purpose of buying a house of their own soon. You should have some more ambitious pursuit, there are countless sets of houses in the world, but you only have one life. Just like a saying circulating on the internet, “Make big Dreams, because if you don’t, you will end up in small places; Take small steps, otherwise you will end up with big troubles. will end up with big troubles.”
Don’t be afraid to fail. There is a Western proverb that says, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” (What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger.) The German poet Rilke said, “Fighting a small opponent, victory only makes us equally small. What we really need is to be heroically defeated by a more powerful opponent.” (What we fight with is so small, and when we win, it makes us small. greater things.)
When you do something, if you are more concerned about when you will be rewarded than when you can produce greater results, this is usually a red flag that your life may be on the wrong track and you are wasting your life.
- Creating more value
If you’re doing something that doesn’t create more value in the world and doesn’t offset the cost, then don’t do it. Typical examples are the lottery and gaming. If you make gaming your business, it’s too dangerous. Because the lottery industry as a whole does not create any social wealth, but rather consumes a lot of it. The lottery industry will only grow greatly in a chaotic world that is about to collapse; no thriving society will encourage the development of such a waste of social resources. Moreover, to a large extent, the securities industry is similar to the gambling industry. Many young people are obsessed with stock trading, which is the same as putting your life into a casino, and you end up wasting your precious youth and gaining nothing. In the language of economics, you want to avoid the “zero-sum game”, never participate in the lottery like the “negative and game”, but to do those things that bring a win-win situation for both sides.
Any truly successful life is a life that creates value for others; any truly successful business is a business that creates value for customers. If a friend cannot bring us any positive feedback, the interaction cannot be maintained; if a business has a product that is not worth the price the customer pays, the customer will be lost and the business will close. We grow and develop ourselves in life by constantly engaging in win-win value exchanges with others; society as a whole prospers and progresses through such exchanges.
The first principle is closely linked to this one. The former is used to judge what kind of business you choose; the latter is used to judge whether your business can succeed. Take Microsoft, for example, whose goal from the beginning was “a computer on every desk and in every Home. (a computer on every desk and in every home.) This fits principle one. Then Microsoft made the Windows operating system, which greatly increased the ease of use of computers and changed the way people live. This is in line with principle two. It is no accident that Microsoft has become the most profitable company in the world because it has done these two things.
Of course, this does not mean that profitability is not important. On the contrary, it is very important. If we can’t make money, we can’t meet the basic needs of survival. There is a balance here. We must always reflect on ourselves: What have we gotten? And what have we created?
- In the long-term and overall interest
Human beings live only a few decades, which predestines them to be a short-sighted animal. We are unable to judge our own interests outside of a local and short-term perspective, and are especially unwilling to make short-term sacrifices in exchange for long-term benefits. This is why some of the most important things for social development are promoted by non-profit organizations.
However, this is not the right thing to do, it is trading the present for the future. When planning your life, you must have a long-term view and consider what will happen in 5 years, 10 years, or even 20 years. Now there is an argument that advocates college students “first employment and then career choice”, which is only an emergency method when there is no way out, if as a guideline to find a job, it is very wrong. It is because life is too short, once you take the wrong path, it is almost impossible to turn back in the future. Therefore, when short-term interests conflict with long-term interests, you must be very careful and must think more about the future needs.
On the other hand, when local interests conflict with the overall interests, you must also consider the interests of others, even the interests of your children and grandchildren. (The government’s huge deficit is spending the money of future generations.) The fate of all people is intertwined, and your personal success is based on your value to the collective, so what’s important to you is often important to others as well. In addition to your own position, you must also put yourself in the position of others to judge whether something is important.
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