Give It Five Minutes

This article is a repost from Give it five minutes, wrote by JASON FRIED.

这篇文章转载自 Jason Fried 的 Give it five minutes,乍看之下是非常浅显的道理,但通常我们控制得并不好(尤其像博主这类)。我试着用自己的理解把它翻译出来,加深印象。英文虽然蹩脚,但是在反复阅读后自信不至于偏离作者的原意,通过如下译文的阅读亦能明白作者写这篇文章的意图。那么,开始吧。

A few years ago I used to be a hothead. Whenever anyone said anything, I’d think of a way to disagree. I’d push back hard if something didn’t fit my world-view.

多年前我曾是个鲁莽的人,不论谁说什么我都想着法的去辩驳。我奋力推翻违背自己世界观的事物。

It’s like I had to be first with an opinion – as if being first meant something. But what it really meant was that I wasn’t thinking hard enough about the problem. The faster you react, the less you think. Not always, but often.

这就好像我必须是第一个出来表达某个观点的人,仿佛成为“第一”有着多么重要的意义。然而,这真就意味着我没有对问题经过足够的思考。越快的作出反应(定论),意味着你思考的越少。虽不绝对,但通常就是这样。

It’s easy to talk about knee jerk reactions as if they are things that only other people have. You have them too. If your neighbor isn’t immune, neither are you.

这很好解释,那些不经大脑的自然反应,不止别人有,你也有。如果你的邻居没有免疫,那么你也是一样的。

This came to a head back in 2007. I was speaking at the Business Innovation Factory conference in Providence, RI. So was Richard Saul Wurman. After my talk Richard came up to introduce himself and compliment my talk. That was very generous of him. He certainly didn’t have to do that.

事情得从2007年说起,我在普罗维登斯(美国的洲)的“Business Innovation Factory”大会上进行一次演讲,同会的还有 Richard Saul Wurman。当我讲完后 Richard 上来介绍他自己,同时对我的发言致以敬意。他表现得相当的大方,其实他大可不必那么做的。

And what did I do? I pushed back at him about the talk he gave. While he was making his points on stage, I was taking an inventory of the things I didn’t agree with. And when presented with an opportunity to speak with him, I quickly pushed back at some of his ideas. I must have seemed like such an asshole.

那么我做了什么?我对他的言论进行了回击。当他还在台上表述自己的观点时我正在罗列一份与之观点相左的清单,并见机在跟他插话时陈述出来,急切地推翻了他的观点。我当时的样子一定像极了混蛋。

His response changed my life. It was a simple thing. He said “Man, give it five minutes.” I asked him what he meant by that? He said, it’s fine to disagree, it’s fine to push back, it’s great to have strong opinions and beliefs, but give my ideas some time to set in before you’re sure you want to argue against them. “Five minutes” represented “think”, not react. He was totally right. I came into the discussion looking to prove something, not learn something.

他接下来的反应却轻易地改变了我的人生。他说:“哥们,给它五分钟。”我问它这话是什么意思?他说,意见有分歧这很自然,反驳我也正常,有非常明确的观点和意见更是可贵,但是在你确定要论证并反对我的观点之前请给它们多些时间。“五分钟”重新地“思考”下,不要作出反应。他说得完全正确。我介入这次讨论看起来是为证明一些事情,而非学习。

This was a big moment for me.

这对我来说是个重要的时刻。

Richard has spent his career thinking about these problems. He’s given it 30 years. And I gave it just a few minutes. Now, certainly he can be wrong and I could be right, but it’s better to think deeply about something first before being so certain you’re right.

Richard花费自己30年的职业生涯来思考的这些问题,我却只在其中花了几分钟。现在,当然他可以出错,而我也可能是对的,但是在肯定自己是正确的之前先深度思考一下的话会更好。

There’s also a difference between asking questions and pushing back. Pushing back means you already think you know. Asking questions means you want to know. Ask more questions.

在提问和反驳之间同样存有差异。反驳意味着你预先做过思考,你都知道,而提问就意味着你想要知道。请多多的提问题吧。

Learning to think first rather than react quick is a life long pursuit. It’s tough. I still get hot sometimes when I shouldn’t. But I’m really enjoying all the benefits of getting better.

学习事先思考比迫不及待的作出反应更加成熟,这成为了一种人生追求。这很困难,我依然会在某些时候头脑发热,但我真的很享受这种改变带来的益处。

If you aren’t sure why this is important, think about this quote from Jonathan Ive regarding Steve Jobs’ reverence for ideas:

And just as Steve loved ideas, and loved making stuff, he treated the process of creativity with a rare and a wonderful reverence. You see, I think he better than anyone understood that while ideas ultimately can be so powerful, they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily missed, so easily compromised, so easily just squished.
That’s deep. Ideas are fragile. They often start powerless. They’re barely there, so easy to ignore or skip or miss.

假如你不确定这样做的重要性,那么来思考下面这段来自Jonathan Ive的关于Steve Jobs对创意的尊重的引述:

就像史蒂夫(乔布斯)喜爱点子和创造那样,他凭着罕有的、异于常人的尊重的态度对待创新这件事。你看,我想他比任何人都更清楚的理解到虽然那些点子最终可以变得非常强大,但是起初它们都只是脆弱的、初具雏形的想法,所以很容易被错过、被妥协、被埋没。这很深刻。创意是脆弱的,它们起初是微不足道的,所以容易被忽视、略过或遗漏。

There are two things in this world that take no skill: 1. Spending other people’s money and 2. Dismissing an idea.

在这个世界上有两件事是不需要什么技能的:一是花别人的钱,二是拒绝掉一个点子。

Dismissing an idea is so easy because it doesn’t involve any work. You can scoff at it. You can ignore it. You can puff some smoke at it. That’s easy. The hard thing to do is protect it, think about it, let it marinate, explore it, riff on it, and try it. The right idea could start out life as the wrong idea.

拒绝掉一个点子不费吹灰,因为这不需要你参与任何的工作,你大可以对其不屑一顾。但困难的是去保护、思考,让它发酵,去研究、提炼、尝试。点子不论好坏都能迸发出生命力。

So next time you hear something, or someone, talk about an idea, pitch an idea, or suggest an idea, give it five minutes. Think about it a little bit before pushing back, before saying it’s too hard or it’s too much work. Those things may be true, but there may be another truth in there too: It may be worth it.

所以,今后当从任何地方听到一个点子时,请给个五分钟,在推翻、否定或抱怨它之前先想一想。这些点子可能真不怎么样,但事物的另一面是:可能值得一试。

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