Part 2: My Most Fundamental Life Principles
第二章 我最重要的生活原則
Time is like a river that will take you forward into encounters with reality that will require you to make decisions. You can’t stop the movement down this river, and you can’t avoid the encounters. You can only approach these encounters in the best way possible.
時(shí)間宛如一條長(zhǎng)河，你在順流而下的過(guò)程中邂逅各種現(xiàn)實(shí)的經(jīng)歷，并需要你做出各種選擇。你無(wú)法阻止河水的流動(dòng)，就像你無(wú)法避免各種現(xiàn)實(shí)情況不期而遇一樣，只能以力所能及的辦法化解。
That is what this part is all about.
這就是本章想談的內(nèi)容。
Where I’m Coming From
我來(lái)自何處
Since we are all products of our genes and our environments and approach the world with biases, I think it is relevant for me to tell you a bit of my background so that you can know where I’m coming from.
我們都是基因和環(huán)境的產(chǎn)物，身處的世界充滿歧視，我覺(jué)得有必要跟你們談一點(diǎn)我的個(gè)人背景，便于各位了解我來(lái)自何處。
I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood on Long Island, the only son of a jazz musician and a stay-at-home mom. I was a very ordinary kid, and a less-than-ordinary student. I liked playing with my friends— for example, touch football in the street—and I didn't like the school part of school, partly because I had, and still have, a bad rote memory and partly because I couldn’t get excited about forcing myself to remember what others wanted me to remember without understanding what all this work was going to get me. In order to be motivated, I needed to work for what I wanted, not for what other people wanted me to do. And in order to be successful, I needed to figure out for myself how to get what I wanted, not remember the facts I was being told to remember.
我在長(zhǎng)島的一個(gè)中產(chǎn)階級(jí)社區(qū)長(zhǎng)大，父親是位爵士音樂(lè)家，母親足不出戶，是位家庭主婦。我呢，曾是個(gè)很普通的小孩，但在學(xué)校里又是個(gè)不那么聽(tīng)話的學(xué)生。那時(shí)我老和一幫朋友們廝混，在街上踢踢足球什么的。并不是很喜歡學(xué)校上課的方式，可能是因?yàn)槲乙恢辈簧瞄L(zhǎng)死記硬背教科書(shū)上的內(nèi)容，當(dāng)然我現(xiàn)在依舊如此，還可能是因?yàn)槿绻麆e人要我在完全沒(méi)搞清楚是怎么一回事的情況下就囫圇吞棗，死記硬背，我可真是一點(diǎn)都提不起興趣。做事要想有干勁，得干些我自己想做的事情，而非他人逼迫我為之。想要做成一件事，我得弄清楚獲得成功的過(guò)程，而非強(qiáng)記那些沒(méi)用的知識(shí)點(diǎn)。
Rote memory is memory for things that don’t have an intrinsic logic for being what they are, like a random series of numbers, words in a foreign language and people’s names (all of which I have trouble with). On the other hand, I have a great memory for things that make sense in a context. For example, I can tell you what happened in every year in the economy and markets since the mid-1960s and how many things work.
死記硬背式的記憶是機(jī)械記憶，沒(méi)有實(shí)質(zhì)內(nèi)容之間的內(nèi)在邏輯，比如一串隨機(jī)數(shù)字，外語(yǔ)單詞，人名（這個(gè)我感到最頭疼了）?？闪硪环矫?，我對(duì)語(yǔ)境中有意義的內(nèi)容記得很清楚，例如我能告訴你自60年代中期以來(lái)每年在經(jīng)濟(jì)和市場(chǎng)方面發(fā)生過(guò)什么大事，哪些事起到了作用。
One thing I wanted was spending money. So I had a newspaper route, I mowed lawns, I shoveled the snow off driveways, I washed dishes in a restaurant, and, starting when I was 12 years old, I caddied.
我想花錢(qián)，那就得賺錢(qián)，所以那時(shí)我送過(guò)報(bào)紙、除過(guò)草坪、鏟過(guò)公路上的積雪、在餐館刷過(guò)盤(pán)子。12歲那年，我開(kāi)始做高爾夫球童。
It was the 1960s. At the time the stock market was booming and everyone was talking about it, especially the people I caddied for. So I started to invest. The first stock I bought was a company called Northeast Airlines, and the only reason I bought it was that it was the only company I had heard of that was trading for less than $5 per share, so I could buy more shares, which I figured was a good thing. It went up a lot. It was about to go broke but another company acquired it, so it tripled. I made money because I was lucky, though I didn’t see it that way then. I figured that this game was easy. After all, with thousands of companies listed in the newspaper, how difficult could it be to find at least one that would go up? By comparison to my other jobs, this way of making money seemed much more fun, a lot easier, and much more lucrative. Of course, it didn’t take me long to lose money in the markets and learn about how difficult it is to be right and the costs of being wrong.
大概是在60年代吧，股市行情欣欣向榮，家家戶戶都在聊炒股，而我做球童時(shí)的那些雇主們更是熱衷炒股，耳濡目染，我開(kāi)始了第一筆投資。當(dāng)時(shí)我買的第一支股票叫東北航空公司，選擇的原因也只是因?yàn)樵诿抗?塊錢(qián)以內(nèi)的公司里，我就只聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)這家公司。不過(guò)也好，至少我能多買幾股，行情還是很棒的，因?yàn)檫@家公司剛要破產(chǎn)就被另一家公司收購(gòu)了，市值瞬間漲到了從前的三倍，我靠這點(diǎn)運(yùn)氣也算小賺一筆，當(dāng)然那時(shí)我還不清楚這些事情背后的具體原因。看起來(lái)這游戲不難玩，報(bào)紙上登的每天那么多公司都在上市，找家會(huì)漲的公司有什么難的？再說(shuō)了，和我做過(guò)的那些工作比起來(lái)，這種賺錢(qián)方式既有趣又容易，還能賺更多錢(qián)，何樂(lè)不為？不過(guò)沒(méi)多久我就開(kāi)始虧錢(qián)了，原來(lái)選對(duì)股票并非易事，選錯(cuò)了代價(jià)也挺不菲的。
So what I really wanted to do now was beat the market. I just had to figure out how to do it.
好了，我現(xiàn)在覺(jué)得我真正想做的是擊敗市場(chǎng)，那就得搞清楚怎么來(lái)做了。
The pursuit of this goal taught me:
在實(shí)現(xiàn)這個(gè)目標(biāo)的過(guò)程中，我學(xué)到幾件事情：
1) It isn't easy for me to be confident that my opinions are right.In the markets, you can do ahuge amount of work and still be wrong.
1）堅(jiān)信自己的觀點(diǎn)都是對(duì)的可不是件容易的事情。股市里，做再多都可能是于事無(wú)補(bǔ)。
2) Bad opinions can be very costly.Most people come up with opinions and there’s no cost tothem. Not so in the market. This is why I have learned to be cautious. No matter how hard I work, I really can’t be sure.
2）糟糕的意見(jiàn)代價(jià)昂貴。很多人給出的觀點(diǎn)和看法都是零成本，但在股市里可就不一樣了，這就是為什么我已經(jīng)學(xué)會(huì)了謹(jǐn)慎。因?yàn)樵傥以趺磁?，我都無(wú)法100%肯定市場(chǎng)走向。
3) The consensus is often wrong, so I have to be an independent thinker.To make any money,you have to be right when they’re wrong.
3）大家的共識(shí)經(jīng)常都是錯(cuò)的，要做獨(dú)立的思考者。要想賺錢(qián)，那就得在別人都選錯(cuò)時(shí)，你選對(duì)才行。
So …
因此……
3.1) I worked for what I wanted, not for what others wanted me to do.For that reason, I never feltthat I had to do anything. All the work I ever did was just what I needed to do to get what I wanted. Since I always had the prerogative to strive for what I wanted, I never felt forced to do anything.
3.1）我干我自己想做的事情，而非他人逼迫我為之。這樣我就不會(huì)感到被動(dòng)，因?yàn)槲宜龅拿考露际菫榱诉_(dá)成自己想要實(shí)現(xiàn)的目標(biāo)。對(duì)于我想要的東西我也一直擁有不去爭(zhēng)取的自由，所以才不會(huì)感到被脅迫。
3.2) I came up with the best independent opinions I could muster to get what I wanted.Forexample, when I wanted to make money in the markets, I knew that I had to learn about companies to assess the attractiveness of their stocks. At the time, Fortune magazine had a little tear- out coupon that you could mail in to get the annual reports of any companies on the Fortune 500, for free. So I ordered all the annual reports and worked my way through the most interesting ones and formed opinions about which companies were exciting.
3.2）我把我能想到的最好的、獨(dú)立的觀點(diǎn)匯聚到一起，用以實(shí)現(xiàn)我的目標(biāo)。例如，我想在股市里賺錢(qián)，我就得了解公司，從而評(píng)估該公司股票的吸引力。那時(shí)，《財(cái)富》雜志每期都附贈(zèng)優(yōu)惠券，可以撕下來(lái)郵寄給雜志，免費(fèi)獲取世界500強(qiáng)各企業(yè)的年度報(bào)告。我訂了所有企業(yè)的年度報(bào)告，找出我認(rèn)為最有趣的公司，形成自己的觀點(diǎn)，選出自認(rèn)為最有吸引力的公司。
> The way I learn is to immerse myself in something, which prompts questions, which I answer, prompting more questions, until I reach a conclusion.
我采取浸泡式學(xué)習(xí)方法，提出問(wèn)題，給出解答，提出更多問(wèn)題，直到得到結(jié)論。
3.3) I stress-tested my opinions by having the smartest people I could find challenge them so I could find out where I was wrong.I never cared much about others’ conclusions—only forthe reasoning that led to these conclusions. That reasoning had to make sense to me. Through this process, I improved my chances of being right, and I learned a lot from a lot of great people.
3.3）我對(duì)自己的觀點(diǎn)進(jìn)行壓力測(cè)試，把我認(rèn)識(shí)的最聰明的人都找來(lái)挑毛病，這樣才能找出我觀點(diǎn)中錯(cuò)誤的地方。我不理會(huì)他們的結(jié)論，我只在意他們得出這些結(jié)論的推理過(guò)程，這才是對(duì)我有意義的地方。通過(guò)學(xué)習(xí)他們的思維過(guò)程，我提升了成功的幾率，從成功人士身上受益匪淺。
This included my retail stockbroker, the people I was caddying for, even my local barber, who was equally engrossed in the stock market. (It wasn’t as precocious as it sounds. At the time, instead of talking about the Yankees, everyone was talking about stocks. That was the world I grew up in.)
這群人包括我的股票經(jīng)紀(jì)人，做球童時(shí)的雇主，甚至當(dāng)?shù)氐睦戆l(fā)師，他那時(shí)跟我一樣專注于股票市場(chǎng)。這不是因?yàn)槲以缡?，因?yàn)槟莻€(gè)年代大家除了談?wù)摀P(yáng)基棒球隊(duì)外，就都是談?wù)摴善绷?，我就是在這樣的環(huán)境下長(zhǎng)大的。
3.4) I remained wary about being overconfident, and I figured out how to effectively deal with my not knowing.I dealt with my not knowing by either continuing to gather information until Ireached the point that I could be confident or by eliminating my exposure to the risks of not knowing.
3.4）我不敢太過(guò)自信，而是想辦法有效處理我所不知道的事情。處理未知的事物我會(huì)不斷搜集信息直到我對(duì)之胸有成竹，或降低遭遇“不知”情況的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。
Sometimes when I know that I don’t know which way the coin is going to flip, I try to position myself so that it won’t have an impact on me either way. In other words, I don’t make an inadvertent bet. I try to limit my bets to the limited number of things I am confident in.
有時(shí)當(dāng)我不知道硬幣會(huì)投向哪面，我會(huì)選擇重新給自己定位，這樣正反都不會(huì)有影響。換句話說(shuō)，我不打不加思考的賭，只對(duì)某些十分有信心的事情下賭注。
3.5) I wrestled with my realities, reflected on the consequences of my decisions, and learned and improved from this process.
3.5）我同現(xiàn)實(shí)展開(kāi)斗爭(zhēng)，反思所做決定帶來(lái)的后果，從中學(xué)習(xí)與提高。
By doing these things, I learned how important and how liberating it is to think for myself.
就這樣，我明白了獨(dú)立思考有多么重要，多么自由。
In a nutshell, this is the whole approach that I believe will work best for you—the best summary of what I want the people who are working with me to do in order to accomplish great things.I want you to workfor yourself, to come up with independent opinions, to stress-test them, to be wary about being overconfident, and to reflect on the consequences of your decisions and constantly improve.
簡(jiǎn)而言之，這是我認(rèn)為最適合你的方法，這也是我希望工作伙伴想要成功所需做到的：為自己工作，形成獨(dú)立的觀點(diǎn)，對(duì)之進(jìn)行壓力測(cè)試，不要過(guò)度自信，反思所做決定帶來(lái)的后果，不斷提升。
After I graduated from high school, I went to a local college that I barely got in to. I loved it, unlike high school, because I could learn about things that interested me; I studied because I enjoyed it, not because I had to.
高中畢業(yè)后我在本地上的大學(xué)，差點(diǎn)沒(méi)考上。我不喜歡我的高中學(xué)校，可我很愛(ài)大學(xué)的生活，因?yàn)槲夷軐W(xué)習(xí)我真正感興趣的東西，我學(xué)習(xí)，因?yàn)槲蚁硎軐W(xué)習(xí)的過(guò)程，而非被迫學(xué)之。
At that time the Beatles had made a trip to India to learn how to meditate, which triggered my interest, so I learned how to meditate. It helped me think more clearly and creatively, so I’m sure that enhanced my enjoyment of, and success at, learning.Unlike in high school, in college I did very well.
那時(shí)，披頭士樂(lè)隊(duì)在印度旅行，為的是學(xué)習(xí)如何冥想，我很感興趣，于是也學(xué)了怎么冥想。得益于此，我思考問(wèn)題時(shí)更清晰更富有創(chuàng)造力，也提升了我對(duì)于學(xué)習(xí)的興趣和成就感。和在高中時(shí)截然不同，我在大學(xué)表現(xiàn)極佳。
By the way, I still meditate and I still find it helpful.
我仍在堅(jiān)持冥想練習(xí)，也依舊覺(jué)得很有用。
And of course I continued to trade markets. Around this time I became interested in trading commodities futures, though virtually nobody traded them back then. I was attracted to trading them just because they had low margin requirements so I figured I could make more money by being right (which I planned to be).
當(dāng)然啦，我上大學(xué)后依舊在市場(chǎng)中做交易。不過(guò)我開(kāi)始對(duì)商品期貨交易感興趣，盡管當(dāng)時(shí)還沒(méi)有人做這方面的交易。商品期貨交易的魅力在于保證金要求不高，所以只要我選對(duì)了，就能賺錢(qián)，這也是我當(dāng)時(shí)的計(jì)劃。
By the time I graduated college, in 1971, I had been admitted to Harvard Business School, where I would go in the fall. That summer between college and HBS I clerked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This was the summer of the breakdown of the global monetary system (i.e., the Bretton Woods system). It was one of the most dramatic economic events ever and I was at the epicenter of it, so it thrilled me. It was a currency crisis that drove all market behaviors, so I delved into understanding the currency markets. The currency markets would be important to me for the rest of my life.
1971年我大學(xué)畢業(yè)，考入了哈佛商學(xué)院，入學(xué)是在秋季。大學(xué)畢業(yè)后的夏天，我在紐約證券交易所里打工做職員。那年夏天，全球貨幣體系（布雷頓森林體系）崩潰瓦解。這應(yīng)該是當(dāng)時(shí)最舉世關(guān)注的經(jīng)濟(jì)事件，我作為親歷者，感到興奮不已。那場(chǎng)貨幣危機(jī)震動(dòng)了整個(gè)市場(chǎng)，我也深入鉆研學(xué)習(xí)了貨幣市場(chǎng)。貨幣市場(chǎng)對(duì)我此后人生可謂至關(guān)重要。
That fall I went to Harvard Business School, which I was excited about because I felt that I had climbed to the top and would be with the best of the best. Despite these high expectations, the place was even better than I expected because the case study method allowed open-ended figuring things out and debating with others to get at the best answers, rather than memorizing facts. I loved the work-hard, play-hard environment.
秋天我去哈佛商學(xué)院上學(xué)，我非常興奮，因?yàn)槲矣X(jué)得那里都是精英，算是爬到了人才聚集的頂峰。我當(dāng)時(shí)的期待已經(jīng)很高了，但實(shí)際情況比我想得還要好。那里上課引用的案例研究方法是開(kāi)放式的，也允許大家相互辯論獲得最佳答案，從不讓大家死記硬背。這里大家拼命學(xué)習(xí)，又懂得盡情放松，這種環(huán)境深得我心。
In the summer between my two years at HBS, I pursued my interest in trading commodities futures by convincing the Director of Commodities for Merrill Lynch to give me a job as his assistant. At the time, commodities trading was still an obscure thing to do.
哈佛商學(xué)院的第一年暑假，我繼續(xù)鼓搗商品期貨交易，并成功說(shuō)服美林證券的商品主管讓我做他的助理。在那時(shí)，商品交易依舊是一個(gè)很模糊的行業(yè)領(lǐng)域。
In the fall I went back to HBS, and in that academic year, 1972-73, trading commodities futures became a hot thing to do. That is because the monetary system’s breakdown that occurred in 1971 led to an inflationary surge that sent commodity prices higher. As a result of this, the first oil shock occurred in 1973. As inflation started to surge, the Federal Reserve tightened monetary policy to fight it, so stocks went down in the worst bear market since the Great Depression. So, commodities futures trading was hot and stock market investing was not. Naturally, brokerage houses that didn’t have commodities trading departments wanted them, and there was a shortage of people who knew anything about it. Virtually nobody in the commodities futures business had the type of Harvard Business School background that I had. So I was hired as Director of Commodities at a moderate-size brokerage and given an old salt who had lots of commodities brokerage experience to help me set up a commodities division. The bad stock market environment ended up taking this brokerage house down before we could get the commodities futures trading going. I went to a bigger, more successful brokerage, where I was in charge of its institutional/hedging business. But I didn’t fit into the organization well, so I was fired essentially for insubordination.
秋天我回哈佛商學(xué)院上學(xué)，就在1972年到1973年的這個(gè)學(xué)年里，商品期貨市場(chǎng)火了起來(lái)。因?yàn)?971年貨幣體系的瓦解導(dǎo)致了通貨膨脹狂潮，物價(jià)飛漲。1973年，第一次石油危機(jī)爆發(fā)了。通貨膨脹加劇，美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)收緊了貨幣政策，股票市場(chǎng)面臨大蕭條時(shí)期以來(lái)最糟糕的熊市。在此背景之下，商品期貨交易變得炙手可熱，股票市場(chǎng)投資無(wú)人問(wèn)津。證券經(jīng)濟(jì)公司也想搞商品期貨交易，但公司沒(méi)人懂這些。事實(shí)上，從事商品期貨交易的，很少有我這種具備哈佛商學(xué)院背景的。我很輕松地應(yīng)聘上了一家中型經(jīng)紀(jì)公司，擔(dān)任商品主管，公司里一位在商品經(jīng)紀(jì)領(lǐng)域經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的老手也幫助我成立了商品分部。但我們還沒(méi)來(lái)得及維持商品期貨交易，股票市場(chǎng)環(huán)境就拖垮了這家經(jīng)紀(jì)公司。后來(lái)我去了家規(guī)模和影響力大點(diǎn)的經(jīng)紀(jì)行，負(fù)責(zé)機(jī)構(gòu)事務(wù)與對(duì)沖基金業(yè)務(wù)，我沒(méi)能很好地融入到這個(gè)公司里，最終因不服從領(lǐng)導(dǎo)被開(kāi)除了。
So in 1975, after a quick two-year stint on Wall Street after school, I started Bridgewater. Soon after, I got married and began my family.
1975年，畢業(yè)后在華爾街混跡了兩年后，我成立了橋水基金公司，結(jié)了婚有了孩子。
Through this time and till now I followed the same basic approach I used as a 12-year-old caddie trying to beat the market, i.e., by1) working for what I wanted, not for what others wanted me to do; 2)coming up with the best independent opinions I could muster to move toward my goals; 3) stress - testing my opinions by having the smartest people I could find challenge them so I could find out where I was wrong; 4) being wary about overconfidence, and good at not knowing; and 5) wrestling with reality, experiencing the results of my decisions, and reflecting on what I did to produce them so that I could improve.
就在上述的這段時(shí)期里，從我是個(gè)12歲的球童開(kāi)始到現(xiàn)在，我擊敗市場(chǎng)一直都使用的是同一套方法：1）我干我自己想做的事情，而非他人逼迫我為之；2）我把我能想到的最好的、獨(dú)立的觀點(diǎn)匯聚到一起，用以實(shí)現(xiàn)我的目標(biāo)；3）對(duì)觀點(diǎn)進(jìn)行壓力測(cè)試，把我認(rèn)識(shí)最聰明的人找來(lái)幫我挑毛病，找出我觀點(diǎn)中錯(cuò)誤的地方。4）我不敢太過(guò)自信，但很善于面對(duì)“不知”。5）我同現(xiàn)實(shí)展開(kāi)斗爭(zhēng)，反思為什么會(huì)產(chǎn)生這種結(jié)果，從中學(xué)習(xí)與提高。
Since I started Bridgewater, I have gained a lot more experience that taught me a lot more, mostly by making mistakes and learning from them. Most importantly:
成立橋水基金公司后，我積累了更多的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，收獲更多，主要得益于犯錯(cuò)并從中吸取教訓(xùn)。最重要的經(jīng)驗(yàn)包括：
I learned that failure is by and large due to not accepting and successfully dealing with the realities of life, and that achieving success is simply a matter of accepting and successfully dealing with all my realities.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)，失敗主要是因?yàn)椴唤邮芑虿荒艹晒?yīng)對(duì)生活中的現(xiàn)實(shí)情況。實(shí)現(xiàn)成功其實(shí)就是簡(jiǎn)單地接受現(xiàn)實(shí)、應(yīng)對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)。
I learned that finding out what is true, regardless of what that is, including all the stuff most people think is bad—like mistakes and personal weaknesses—is good because I can then deal with these things so that they don’t stand in my way.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)，無(wú)論什么事，即使是大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為壞的事情，譬如錯(cuò)誤或性格弱點(diǎn)，只要找出真相是什么，壞的也能變成好的。因?yàn)槲視?huì)了解應(yīng)對(duì)這些困難的方法，不讓它們成為攔路石。
I learned that there is nothing to fear from truth. While some truths can be scary—for example, finding out that you have a deadly disease—knowing them allows us to deal with them better. Being truthful, and letting others be completely truthful, allows me and others to fully explore our thoughts and exposes us to the feedback that is essential for our learning.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)，真相沒(méi)什么可怕的。有些真相可能令人懼怕，比方說(shuō)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己得了絕癥，不過(guò)知道這個(gè)事實(shí)會(huì)讓我們更好去應(yīng)對(duì)。要實(shí)事求是，也要讓別人這樣做，我們的思想才能被完全開(kāi)發(fā)，所獲得的反饋對(duì)于我們的學(xué)習(xí)才是最有用的。
I learned that being truthful was an extension of my freedom to be me. I believe that people who are one way on the inside and believe that they need to be another way outside to please others become conflicted and often lose touch with what they really think and feel. It’s difficult for them to be happy and almost impossible for them to be at their best. I know that’s true for me.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)，實(shí)事求是自由做自己的延伸。表里不一、取悅他人的人往往會(huì)自相矛盾，也容易丟失自己的價(jià)值觀。他們不容易感到開(kāi)心，更不可能展現(xiàn)出自己最好的一面。反正我認(rèn)為我是這樣的。
I learned that I want the people I deal with to say what they really believe and to listen to what others say in reply, in order to find out what is true. I learned that one of the greatest sources of problems in our society arises from people having loads of wrong theories in their heads—often theories that are critical of others—that they won’t test by speaking to the relevant people about them. Instead, they talk behind people’s backs, which leads to pervasive misinformation. I learned to hate this because I could see that making judgments about people so that they are tried and sentenced in your head, without asking them for their perspective, is both unethical and unproductive.So I learned to love real integrity (saying the same things as one believes)and to despise the lack of it.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)，我想打交道的人是能告訴我他們真正所想的人，我也想傾聽(tīng)他們的反饋，以尋求真相。導(dǎo)致社會(huì)問(wèn)題最根本的原因是人們有太多錯(cuò)誤的理論，都是些批評(píng)他人的理論，而人們又不會(huì)跟相關(guān)的人談起，無(wú)法檢驗(yàn)這些理論的真假。相反，人們卻在背后閑言閑語(yǔ)，錯(cuò)誤的信息漫天飛舞。我很討厭這樣，我看到過(guò)這種情況：不去問(wèn)對(duì)方的觀點(diǎn)，就把別人在腦海中私自“判刑”，妄加評(píng)論。這么做既不道德，也很無(wú)效。所以我喜歡真正的表里如一，信什么，就說(shuō)什么。不誠(chéng)實(shí)的人，我是嗤之以鼻的。
It is unethical because a basic principle of justice is that everyone has the right to face his accuser. And it is unproductive because it does not lead to the exploration of “Is it true?” which can lead to understanding and improvement.
這種做法之所以不道德是因?yàn)楣幕驹瓌t便是人人都有權(quán)利與批評(píng)者對(duì)峙。而說(shuō)其毫無(wú)建設(shè)性是因?yàn)樗钄嗔藢?duì)真相的探索，無(wú)法形成理解和提高。
I do not mean that you should say everything you think, just that what you do say matches your thoughts.
我不是要你想什么就都出說(shuō)來(lái)，而是只說(shuō)與自己想法相匹配的內(nèi)容。
The word “integrity” is from the Latin root “integer,” which means “one” i.e., that you are the same inside and out. Most people would be insulted if you told them that they don't have integrity—but how many people do you know who tell people what they really think?
英文中的正直（integrity）一詞來(lái)源于拉丁語(yǔ)的整體（integer）一詞，含有唯一性。若我說(shuō)一個(gè)人不正直，大多數(shù)人都會(huì)覺(jué)得我在辱罵他，但你認(rèn)識(shí)的人里，又有多少人會(huì)告訴你真實(shí)想法呢？
I learned that everyone makes mistakes and has weaknesses and that one of the most important things that differentiates people is their approach to handling them. I learned that there is an incredible beauty to mistakes, because embedded in each mistake is a puzzle, and a gem that I could get if I solved it, i.e., a principle that I could use to reduce my mistakes in the future. I learned that each mistake was probably a reflection of something that I was (or others were) doing wrong, so if I could figure out what that was, I could learn how to be more effective. I learned that wrestling with my problems, mistakes, and weaknesses was the training that strengthened me. Also, I learned that it was the pain of this wrestling that made me and those around me appreciate our successes.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)，人人都會(huì)犯錯(cuò)，都有弱點(diǎn)，大家的差異在于處理問(wèn)題的方式。錯(cuò)誤是極為美麗的花朵，它蘊(yùn)藏著一個(gè)謎題，解開(kāi)了就能獲得寶石，這顆寶石就是一條原則，避免以后犯同樣的錯(cuò)誤。每條錯(cuò)誤，都可能是自己或別人過(guò)去犯錯(cuò)的一種反映，如果能指出來(lái)，就能提升效率。同問(wèn)題、錯(cuò)誤和弱點(diǎn)展開(kāi)斗爭(zhēng)會(huì)讓自己變得強(qiáng)大，斗爭(zhēng)中會(huì)感到疼痛，也正是如此我們才會(huì)珍惜成功的果實(shí)。
I believe that our society's “mistakephobia” is crippling, a problem that begins in most elementary schools, where we learn to learn what we are taught rather than to form our own goals and to figure out how to achieve them. We are fed with facts and tested and those who make the fewest mistakes are considered to be the smart ones, so we learn that it is embarrassing to not know and to make mistakes. Our education system spends virtually no time on how to learn from mistakes, yet this is critical to real learning. As a result, school typically doesn’t prepare young people for real life—unless their lives are spent following instructions and pleasing others. In my opinion, that’s why so many students who succeed in school fail in life.
我認(rèn)為社會(huì)上“犯錯(cuò)恐懼癥”會(huì)帶來(lái)嚴(yán)重后果。這個(gè)問(wèn)題從小學(xué)就開(kāi)始了，老師教什么，我們就學(xué)什么，也不會(huì)教我們樹(shù)立自己的目標(biāo)或?qū)崿F(xiàn)夢(mèng)想的方法，擺在我們面前的是機(jī)械地學(xué)習(xí)一堆知識(shí)并參加考試。犯錯(cuò)最少才被認(rèn)為是最聰明的。要犯錯(cuò)或承認(rèn)自己不懂，我們會(huì)覺(jué)得很丟人。我們的教育制度重心從來(lái)都不教學(xué)生從錯(cuò)誤中學(xué)習(xí)，但其實(shí)從犯錯(cuò)中學(xué)習(xí)才是真正的學(xué)習(xí)。因此，學(xué)校培養(yǎng)出來(lái)的年輕人難以適應(yīng)現(xiàn)實(shí)生活，不過(guò)如果他們?cè)敢庖簧蛔鲎袷刂噶?、取悅他人的人，那就另?dāng)別論了。所以我覺(jué)得很多學(xué)校成績(jī)優(yōu)異的學(xué)生，人生并不成功。
I learned that the popular picture of success—which is like a glossy photo of an ideal man or woman out of a Ralph Lauren catalog, with a bio attached listing all of their accomplishments like going to the best prep schools and an Ivy League college, and getting all the answers right on tests—is an inaccurate picture of the typical successful person. I met a number of great people and learned that none of them were born great—they all made lots of mistakes and had lots weaknesses—and that great people become great by looking at their mistakes and weaknesses and figuring out how to get around them. So I learned that the people who make the most of the process of encountering reality, especially the painful obstacles, learn the most and get what they want faster than people who do not. I learned that they are the great ones—the ones I wanted to have around me.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)，大眾對(duì)于成功的概念是這樣的：穿著拉夫·勞倫服裝，在一幅光鮮亮麗的宣傳照旁邊附上自己的成就介紹：上最好的私立預(yù)科學(xué)校，考入常青藤聯(lián)盟的名牌大學(xué)，能答對(duì)所有的考試題。其實(shí)這是對(duì)真正成功人士生活的誤讀。我閱人無(wú)數(shù)，沒(méi)一個(gè)成功人士天賦異稟，他們也常犯錯(cuò)，缺點(diǎn)也不少，他們成功是因?yàn)檎曞e(cuò)誤與缺點(diǎn)，找到日后避免犯錯(cuò)、解決問(wèn)題的方法。所以我覺(jué)得，全力利用好直面現(xiàn)實(shí)的過(guò)程，尤其是在和困難障礙斗爭(zhēng)時(shí)的痛苦經(jīng)歷，從中竭力吸取教訓(xùn)，這樣定能更快實(shí)現(xiàn)目標(biāo)。這樣的人，才能成為成功人士，這才是我想打交道的人群。
In short, I learned that being totally truthful, especially about mistakes and weaknesses, led to a rapid rate of improvement and movement toward what I wanted.
簡(jiǎn)而言之，要直面真相，特別是自己的錯(cuò)誤和弱點(diǎn)，會(huì)大大促進(jìn)自我提升，離夢(mèng)想越來(lái)越近。
While this approach worked great for me, I found it more opposite than similar to most others’ approaches, which has produced communications challenges.
盡管這個(gè)方法對(duì)我很適用，可是似乎與其他方法比起來(lái)，顯得與眾不同，很多人不認(rèn)同，交流起來(lái)甚是困難。
Specifically, I found that:
具體來(lái)說(shuō)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)：
* While most others seem to believe that learning what we are taught is the path to success, I believe that figuring out for yourself what you want and how to get it is a better path.
盡管很多人認(rèn)為教你什么就好好學(xué)才能實(shí)現(xiàn)成功。但我認(rèn)為，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己想要什么，明白實(shí)現(xiàn)夢(mèng)想的方法，這才是更光明的道路。
After all, isn’t the point of learning to help you get what you want? So don’t you have to start with what you want and figure out what you have to learn in order to get it?
學(xué)習(xí)的目的不就是實(shí)現(xiàn)夢(mèng)想嗎？那一開(kāi)始是不是就應(yīng)該先弄明白自己想要什么以及要實(shí)現(xiàn)夢(mèng)想需要學(xué)什么呢？
While most others seem to believe that having answers is better than having questions, I believe that having questions is better than having answers because it leads to more learning.
盡管很多人認(rèn)為答案比問(wèn)題更好，但我認(rèn)為問(wèn)題比答案好，因?yàn)閱?wèn)題能讓我們學(xué)到更多。
In fact I believe that most people who are quick to come up with answers simply haven’t thought about all the ways that they can be wrong.
事實(shí)上，我認(rèn)為那些很快就想出答案的人并沒(méi)有考慮自己會(huì)出錯(cuò)的方方面面。
While most others seem to believe that mistakes are bad things, I believe mistakes are good things because I believe that most learning comes via making mistakes and reflecting on them.
盡管很多人認(rèn)為犯錯(cuò)是壞事，但我認(rèn)為犯錯(cuò)是好事，因?yàn)槿藗冎饕际菑姆稿e(cuò)的反思中受益進(jìn)而學(xué)習(xí)和提高自己的。
While most others seem to believe that finding out about one’s weaknesses is a bad thing, I believe that it is a good thing because it is the first step toward finding out what to do about them and not letting them stand in your way.
盡管很多人認(rèn)為發(fā)現(xiàn)缺點(diǎn)是壞事，但我認(rèn)為缺點(diǎn)是好事，因?yàn)檎J(rèn)識(shí)到缺點(diǎn)是尋找解決辦法的第一步，進(jìn)而不讓缺點(diǎn)成為自己的絆腳石。
While most others seem to believe that pain is bad, I believe that pain is required to become stronger.
盡管很多人認(rèn)為痛苦不好，但我認(rèn)為想要變得強(qiáng)大，就需要經(jīng)受痛苦。
I don’t mean that the more pain the better. I believe that too much pain can break someone and that the absence of pain typically prevents growth so that one should accept the amount of pain that is consistent with achieving one’s objectives.
我不是說(shuō)越疼越好，我認(rèn)為過(guò)于疼痛會(huì)對(duì)人產(chǎn)生損害。沒(méi)有痛苦一般不利于成長(zhǎng)，所以我們應(yīng)在與實(shí)現(xiàn)自己目標(biāo)相一致的前提下，承受一定的痛苦。
One of the advantages of my being over 60 years old—and there aren’t many—is that we can look back on my story to see how I came by these beliefs and how they have worked for me. It is now more than 35 years after I started Bridgewater and about the same number of years since I got married and began my family. I am obviously not your Ralph Lauren poster child for success, yet I’ve had a lot of successes, though they’re probably not what you’re thinking.
我60多歲了，我這個(gè)年紀(jì)的人優(yōu)勢(shì)已經(jīng)不多了，其中之一就是我能回望過(guò)去，審視這些原則是否真的發(fā)揮過(guò)作用。我成立橋水聯(lián)合基金公司35年，結(jié)婚成家也差不多這么多年，從我的經(jīng)歷來(lái)看，顯然我不是大家想的那種拉夫·勞倫宣傳海報(bào)上的成功典范，但我還是取得了很多成功，盡管不一定是你想象的那種成功。
Yes, I started Bridgewater from scratch, and now it’s a uniquely successful company and I am on the Forbes 400 list. But these results were never my goals—they were just residual outcomes—so my getting them can’t be indications of my success. And, quite frankly, I never found them very rewarding.
成立橋水聯(lián)合基金，我算是白手起家，現(xiàn)在這家公司已經(jīng)非常成功，我也在福布斯400富豪榜上占有一席。但這些從來(lái)都不是我的目標(biāo)，算是附加回報(bào)吧，這些不能說(shuō)明我就是成功的。說(shuō)實(shí)在的，我也不覺(jué)得這些所謂的成就有什么意義。
I have been very lucky because I have had the opportunity to see what it’s like to have little or no money and what it’s like to have a lot of it. I’m lucky because people make such a big deal of it and, if I didn’t experience both, I wouldn’t be able to know how important it really is for me. I can’t comment on what having a lot of money means to others, but I do know that for me, having a lot more money isn’t a lot better than having enough to cover the basics. That’s because, for me, the best things in life—meaningful work, meaningful relationships, interesting experiences, good food, sleep, music, ideas, sex, and other basic needs and pleasures— are not, past a certain point, materially improved upon by having a lot of money. For me, money has always been very important to the point that I could have these basics covered and never very important beyond that. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that having more is good–it’s just that I don’t think it’s a big deal. So, while I spend money on some very expensive things that cost multiples relative to the more fundamental things, these expensive things have never brought me much enjoyment relative to the much cheaper, more fundamental things. They were just like cherries on the cake. For my tastes, if I had to choose, I’d rather be a backpacker who is exploring the world with little money than a big income earner who is in a job I don’t enjoy. (Though being in a job that provides me with what I want is best of all, for me). Also, from having come from having next-to-nothing to having a lot, I have developed a strong belief that, all things being equal, offering equal opportunity is fundamental to being good, while handing out money to capable people that weakens their need to get stronger and contribute to society is bad.
我一直都很幸運(yùn)，因?yàn)槲矣袡C(jī)會(huì)體驗(yàn)身無(wú)分文，也知道富有是什么感覺(jué)。現(xiàn)在很多人都花很大精力賺錢(qián)，我如果沒(méi)體驗(yàn)過(guò)貧窮與富有兩種狀態(tài)，就不會(huì)明白金錢(qián)對(duì)于我來(lái)說(shuō)是否真的重要。富有對(duì)別人來(lái)說(shuō)意義如何我是無(wú)法評(píng)論的，但對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，賺更多的錢(qián)同只能滿足基本需求的收入相比，并沒(méi)有那么大的差別。因?yàn)槲矣X(jué)得人生最棒的事情是：有意義的工作，有意義的人脈，有趣的經(jīng)歷，吃得好睡得好，聽(tīng)歌，各種新點(diǎn)子，性等其他基本需求和令人愉悅之物。當(dāng)金錢(qián)積累達(dá)到某個(gè)臨界點(diǎn)后，增加再多，也就不會(huì)明顯提升這些我認(rèn)為人生最棒的東西。金錢(qián)對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)的重要性就是，能夠滿足我的基本生活需求，再多我就認(rèn)為不重要了。我不是說(shuō)認(rèn)為擁有更多不好，只是覺(jué)得這沒(méi)什么大不了的?；ㄥX(qián)的時(shí)候，有些東西特別昂貴，購(gòu)買這些東西并不能給我?guī)?lái)多少快樂(lè)，購(gòu)買經(jīng)濟(jì)實(shí)惠且更重要的東西才能給我?guī)?lái)快樂(lè)。這就像蛋糕上的櫻桃一樣，錦上添花罷了。要我選的話，與其做一份高薪但不喜歡的工作，我寧可做個(gè)環(huán)游世界的窮背包客。對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，從事的工作如果做的是自己想做的就是最好了。從幾乎一無(wú)所有到擁有甚多，我培養(yǎng)了一個(gè)很強(qiáng)的信念，即萬(wàn)物皆平等，提供平等的機(jī)會(huì)對(duì)成功很重要，有能力的人獲得的報(bào)酬豐富，就可能削弱他們渴望變強(qiáng)大貢獻(xiàn)社會(huì)的意愿，這對(duì)社會(huì)發(fā)展不利。
What I wanted was to have an interesting, diverse life filled with lots of learning—and especially meaningful work and meaningful relationships. I feel that I have gotten these in abundance and I am happy. And I feel that I got what I wanted by following the same basic approach I used as a 12-year-old caddie trying to beat the market, i.e., by 1) working for what I wanted, not for what others wanted me to do; 2) coming up with the best independent opinions I could muster to move toward my goals; 3) stress - testing my opinions by having the smartest people I could find challenge them so I could find out where I was wrong; 4) being wary about overconfidence, and good at not knowing; and 5) wrestling with reality, experiencing the results of my decisions, and reflecting on what I did to produce them so that I could improve. I believe that by following this approach I moved faster to my goals by learning a lot more than if I hadn’t followed it.
我渴望的是生活充滿趣事，多姿多彩，不斷學(xué)習(xí)，能做有意義的工作，能認(rèn)識(shí)可交之人。我認(rèn)為，能常常滿足這些條件，我就很開(kāi)心了。我還發(fā)現(xiàn)，從我是個(gè)12歲的球童到現(xiàn)在，我擊敗市場(chǎng)一直都使用的是同一套方法：1）我干我自己想做的事情，而非他人逼迫我為之；2）我把我能想到的最好的、獨(dú)立的觀點(diǎn)匯聚到一起，用以實(shí)現(xiàn)我的目標(biāo)；3）把我認(rèn)識(shí)最聰明的人找來(lái)幫我挑毛病，找出我觀點(diǎn)中錯(cuò)誤的地方；4）我不敢太過(guò)自信，但很善于面對(duì)“不知”；5）我同現(xiàn)實(shí)展開(kāi)斗爭(zhēng)，反思為什么會(huì)產(chǎn)生這種結(jié)果，從中學(xué)習(xí)與提高。
Here are the most important principles that I learned along the way.
來(lái)談?wù)勔宦纷邅?lái)，我覺(jué)得最重要的一些原則吧
