Sam Altman：一天很长，十年很短

OpenAI 负责人 Sam Altman 喜欢分享自己的生活经验。下面是他的两篇文章。第一篇是他在 2015 年，30 岁时写的，第二篇是 2023 年底写的。注意第二篇写于他终于走出和董事会的纠葛之后。这些话，应该被张贴到墙上，不时回忆。

一天很长，十年很短

上周我 30 岁了.一位朋友问我在过去十年中是否找到了值得传授的人生建议。我有点犹豫要不要发布这个，因为我认为这些列表通常看起来很空洞(hollow)，但这是我的答案整理后的版本

  1. 对家人、朋友和其它对你来说重要的人，永远不要降低他们在你优先级表中的位置。有几个真正密切的朋友胜过有一百个熟人。别和老朋友失联。偶尔与人呆在一起，聊到天亮。参加聚会。

    • Never put your family, friends, or significant other low on your priority list. Prefer a handful of truly close friends to a hundred acquaintances. Don’t lose touch with old friends. Occasionally stay up until the sun rises talking to people. Have parties.

  2. 生活没有彩排。它过去了就不能重来。别浪费，让它过得有意义。时间极其有限，过得飞快。做那些让你开心和满足的事：人总会死，很少人在死去百年之后，还被人记得。别做那些让自己不开心的事（这常发生在别人要你做什么事情时）。不要把时间花在尝试和你不喜欢的人保持关系上面，切断和那些让你消极的人的联系，让他们离开你的生活。消极非常有害。不要给自己制造借口，不去做自己想做的事。

    • Life is not a dress rehearsal—this is probably it. Make it count. Time is extremely limited and goes by fast. Do what makes you happy and fulfilled—few people get remembered hundreds of years after they die anyway. Don’t do stuff that doesn’t make you happy (this happens most often when other people want you to do something). Don’t spend time trying to maintain relationships with people you don’t like, and cut negative people out of your life. Negativity is really bad. Don’t let yourself make excuses for not doing the things you want to do.

  3. 如何成功：挑正确的事做（这一点极端重要，但经常被忽略）、专注、相信自己（尤其是当别人告诉你这行不通的时候），和那些愿意帮助你的人建立个人连接、学会识别有才的人，努力工作。要找到应该从事什么确实很难，因为原创性的思考很难。

    • How to succeed: pick the right thing to do (this is critical and usually ignored), focus, believe in yourself (especially when others tell you it’s not going to work), develop personal connections with people that will help you, learn to identify talented people, and work hard. It’s hard to identify what to work on because original thought is hard.

  4. 关于工作：你内心并不关心的工作，很难做出成就。如果你不喜欢自己工作中干的，那么你在生活中也很难全身心地快乐或有成就感。非常努力地工作，虽然你选择努力工作，可能会冒犯一大批人，他们的数量会让你感到震惊。不过，也不要努力到忽略生活中其他方面的程度。不论做什么职业相关的工作，都要把目标定为世界上最好的。即使最后没有实现这一点，你也将很可能到达一个很好的位置。找出你自己的生产力系统，不要浪费时间。没有条理、在次优的时间工作等，都会浪费你的时间。不要害怕承担一些职业风险，尤其是在职业的早期。大多数人择业相当随意，但你应该非常认真地思考自己到底喜欢什么，哪些领域未来可能会变得十分成功，试着去和这些领域内的人聊。

    • On work: it’s difficult to do a great job on work you don’t care about. And it’s hard to be totally happy/fulfilled in life if you don’t like what you do for your work. Work very hard—a surprising number of people will be offended that you choose to work hard—but not so hard that the rest of your life passes you by. Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you’ll probably end up in a pretty good place. Figure out your own productivity system—don’t waste time being unorganized, working at suboptimal times, etc. Don’t be afraid to take some career risks, especially early on. Most people pick their career fairly randomly—really think hard about what you like, what fields are going to be successful, and try to talk to people in those fields.

  5. 对待金钱：无论金钱能否买到快乐，它肯定能买到自由，这是一桩很好的交易。此外，缺钱会让人感到很大的压力。几乎在所有方面，赚足够多的钱，让你不为房租感到压力，比赚足够多的钱买私人飞机，对你生活状态的改变更大。赚钱往往比花它更好玩，虽然我个人对我花在朋友、新体验、节约时间、旅行，以及我认同的各种原因上的钱，从来没有后悔过。

    • On money: Whether or not money can buy happiness, it can buy freedom, and that’s a big deal. Also, lack of money is very stressful. In almost all ways, having enough money so that you don’t stress about paying rent does more to change your wellbeing than having enough money to buy your own jet. Making money is often more fun than spending it, though I personally have never regretted money I’ve spent on friends, new experiences, saving time, travel, and causes I believe in.

  6. 多和人交谈。读更多的长内容，少看推特。少看电视。少花时间在互联网上。

    • Talk to people more. Read more long content and less tweets. Watch less TV. Spend less time on the Internet.

  7. 不要浪费时间。大多数人浪费了自己的大部分时间，特别是浪费在了事务性的东西上。

    • Don’t waste time. Most people waste most of their time, especially in business.

  8. 不要让自己被别人欺负。保罗·格雷厄姆（注：YC创始人）曾对我说：“人可能会变得十分可怕，但你很难预测是谁会变得这么可怕”。（在自信和傲慢之间有很大的不同。很明显，你应该把前者作为目标。）

    • Don’t let yourself get pushed around. As Paul Graham once said to me, “People can become formidable, but it’s hard to predict who”. (There is a big difference between confident and arrogant. Aim for the former, obviously.)

  9. 有清晰的目标，每一天，每一年，每十年。

    • Have clear goals for yourself every day, every year, and every decade.

  10. 然而，虽然计划很宝贵，但当一个绝佳的机会出现时，你应该抓住它。不要害怕做一些有点鲁莽的事。努力工作的一个好处是：它会带来好机会，但这仍然取决于你，能不能在机会来临时，跳起来，抓住它。

    • However, as valuable as planning is, if a great opportunity comes along you should take it. Don’t be afraid to do something slightly reckless. One of the benefits of working hard is that good opportunities will come along, but it’s still up to you to jump on them when they do.

  11. 要不计代价地围着聪明、有趣、有抱负的人打转，即使你可能感到不适应。为他们工作，或是雇佣他们（事实上，工作的一个最令人满意的部分，是可以和真正好的人建立深度的关系）。试着把时间花在和这样的人在一起：他们在自己做的事情上面，已经是世界上最好的，或者极具潜力，但寂寂无名。这句话说得真的对：你大多数时间内和哪些人相处，你就会成为这些人的平均水平。

    • Go out of your way to be around smart, interesting, ambitious people. Work for them and hire them (in fact, one of the most satisfying parts of work is forging deep relationships with really good people). Try to spend time with people who are either among the best in the world at what they do or extremely promising but totally unknown. It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.

  12. 最小化你自己认知上的负荷，逃脱掉那些不是真正有意义的、让你分心的事情。这一点怎么强调都不过分，而且大多数人在这一点上做得不好。把生活中的干扰去掉。开发很强的方式，避免让你不喜欢做的烂事情堆积起来，影响你的心理周期，尤其在工作中。

    • Minimize your own cognitive load from distracting things that don’t really matter. It’s hard to overstate how important this is, and how bad most people are at it. Get rid of distractions in your life. Develop very strong ways to avoid letting crap you don’t like doing pile up and take your mental cycles, especially in your work life.

  13. 把你个人精力的燃烧速率保持得比较低。单这一条就能给你的人生带来大量的机会。

    • Keep your personal burn rate low. This alone will give you a lot of opportunities in life.

  14. 夏天是最棒的季节。

    • Summers are the best.

  15. 不要担心太多。生活中的事情极少会如它们看起来那样充满风险。大多数人太厌恶风险了，因此大多数建议都太倾向于保守的路径。

    • Don’t worry so much. Things in life are rarely as risky as they seem. Most people are too risk-averse, and so most advice is biased too much towards conservative paths.

  16. 你想要的东西，要说出来，要求得到它。

    • Ask for what you want.

  17. 如果你认为你将为没有做某事而后悔，那你可能就应该做它。后悔是最糟糕的。后悔有两种：没干某事，干过某事。大多数人后悔没干某事，比后悔干过某事，要多。因此，当你在犹豫要不要亲他/她时，就亲。

    • If you think you’re going to regret not doing something, you should probably do it. Regret is the worst, and most people regret far more things they didn’t do than things they did do. When in doubt, kiss the boy/girl.

  18. 锻炼身体。吃好。睡觉。有规律地走出去，走进大自然中。

    • Exercise. Eat well. Sleep. Get out into nature with some regularity.

  19. 尽全力地帮助别人，即使在你的习惯之外。生活中很少有事情比助人更让人满足。对陌生人友善。即使友善并不发挥作用，也要友善。

    • Go out of your way to help people. Few things in life are as satisfying. Be nice to strangers. Be nice even when it doesn’t matter.

  20. 青春是一件最伟大的东西。不要浪费它。事实上，在你20多岁时，我觉得可以采取一种“我要遵守财务纪律，但不是现在”的态度。世界上所有的钱都买不回你逝去的时间。

    • Youth is a really great thing. Don’t waste it. In fact, in your 20s, I think it’s ok to take a “Give me financial discipline, but not just yet” attitude. All the money in the world will never get back time that passed you by.

  21. 经常告诉你的爸妈：你爱他们。尽你可能，经常回家，拜访他们。

    • Tell your parents you love them more often. Go home and visit as often as you can.

  22. 这也将会过去的。

    • This too shall pass.

  23. 学习，贪婪地学习。

    • Learn voraciously.

  24. 经常做新的事情。这真的非常重要。做新的事情，不仅让时间变慢、快乐增加、生活保持得有趣，而且会阻止人思考问题的方式僵化（钙化）。在你的个人和职业生涯中，每年都树立目标，做一些大、新和冒险的事。

    • Do new things often. This seems to be really important. Not only does doing new things seem to slow down the perception of time, increase happiness, and keep life interesting, but it seems to prevent people from calcifying in the ways that they think. Aim to do something big, new, and risky every year in your personal and professional life.

  25. 记得十几岁时你是多么爱你的男朋友/女朋友吗？现在，还要这样强烈地爱他/她。记得你小时候对事物抱有怎样的激情和快乐吗？现在，还要那么激动和快乐。

    • Remember how intensely you loved your boyfriend/girlfriend when you were a teenager? Love him/her that intensely now. Remember how excited and happy you got about stuff as a kid? Get that excited and happy now.

  26. 不要欺负别人，不要过河拆桥。小心挑选，不要轻易投入战斗。

    • Don’t screw people and don’t burn bridges. Pick your battles carefully.

  27. 原谅别人。

    • Forgive people.

  28. 不要追逐地位。没有实质的地位维持不了多久，也不能使人满足。

    • Don’t chase status. Status without substance doesn’t work for long and is unfulfilling.

  29. 大多数事情适中就好。几乎所有东西过量都是不OK的。

    • Most things are ok in moderation. Almost nothing is ok in extreme amounts.

  30. “存在”的焦虑是生活的一部分。它特别明显，在你正在经历一些重大的人生事件，或刚刚经历过一些重要的职业里程碑时。它看起来特别影响那些聪明、雄心勃勃的人。我认为一些人如此努力工作的原因是：这样他们就不必花太多时间去焦虑了。感到焦虑并不说明你有问题；不是只有你一个人这样（大家都在焦虑。）

    • Existential angst is part of life. It is particularly noticeable around major life events or just after major career milestones. It seems to particularly affect smart, ambitious people. I think one of the reasons some people work so hard is so they don’t have to spend too much time thinking about this. Nothing is wrong with you for feeling this way; you are not alone.

  31. 感恩，用发展眼光看待难题。不要抱怨太多。不要恨其他人的成功（但记住有些人会恨你的成功，因此你不得不学会忽略它）。

    • Be grateful and keep problems in perspective. Don’t complain too much. Don’t hate other people’s success (but remember that some people will hate your success, and you have to learn to ignore it).

  32. 成为一个实干家，而不是一个空谈家。

    • Be a doer, not a talker.

  33. 如果有足够多的时间，那么这是可能的：我们能够调整自己，适应任何事情，不管是好还是坏。人类在这方面表现非常杰出。

    • Given enough time, it is possible to adjust to almost anything, good or bad. Humans are remarkable at this.

  34. 做行动之前，先想几秒。如果你愤怒，想几分钟。

    • Think for a few seconds before you act. Think for a few minutes if you’re angry.

  35. 不要太快就评判别人。你永远也不知道他们故事的全部、他们为什么会这样做，或者不那样做。保持同理心。

    • Don’t judge other people too quickly. You never know their whole story and why they did or didn’t do something. Be empathetic.

  36. 一天很长，但是十年很短。

    • The days are long but the decades are short.

我希望有人告诉我的话

What I Wish Someone Had Told Me

  1. 乐观、痴迷、自信、原始动力和人际关系是一切的开始。
    • Optimism, obsession, self-belief, raw horsepower and personal connections are how things get started.
  2. 具有凝聚力的团队、冷静与紧迫感的正确结合，以及不合常理的承诺，是事情得以完成的方式。目光长远是稀缺的；尽量不要担心人们短期内的想法，随着时间的推移，这会变得更容易。
    • Cohesive teams, the right combination of calmness and urgency, and unreasonable commitment are how things get finished. Long-term orientation is in short supply; try not to worry about what people think in the short term, which will get easier over time.
  3. 对于团队来说，做一件真正重要的困难的事，比做一件不重要的简单的事，更容易；大胆的想法能够激励人们。
    • It is easier for a team to do a hard thing that really matters than to do an easy thing that doesn’t really matter; audacious ideas motivate people.
  4. 激励是超能力；仔细设置它们。
    • Incentives are superpowers; set them carefully.
  5. 将您的资源集中在少量高可信度的赌注上；这说起来容易，但做起来显然很难。您可以删除的内容比您想象的还要多。
    • Concentrate your resources on a small number of high-conviction bets; this is easy to say but evidently hard to do. You can delete more stuff than you think.
  6. 清晰、简洁地沟通。
    • Communicate clearly and concisely.
  7. 每次看到废话和官僚主义时都与它斗争，并让其他人也与之斗争。不要让组织结构图妨碍人们高效地合作。
    • Fight bullshit and bureaucracy every time you see it and get other people to fight it too. Do not let the org chart get in the way of people working productively together.
  8. 结果才是最重要的；不要让好的过程成为不好的结果的借口。
    • Outcomes are what count; don’t let good process excuse bad results.
  9. 花更多的时间去招聘。为那些进步速度快的高潜力人才承担风险。除了智力之外，还要寻找候选人能够完成任务的证据。
    • Spend more time recruiting. Take risks on high-potential people with a fast rate of improvement. Look for evidence of getting stuff done in addition to intelligence.
  10. 超级明星比他们看起来更有价值，但你必须根据他们对组织绩效的净影响来评估他们。
    • Superstars are even more valuable than they seem, but you have to evaluate people on their net impact on the performance of the organization.
  11. 快速迭代可以弥补很多；如果迭代速度很快，犯错通常是可以接受的。计划应该以几十年来衡量，执行应该以几周来衡量。
    • Fast iteration can make up for a lot; it’s usually ok to be wrong if you iterate quickly. Plans should be measured in decades, execution should be measured in weeks.
  12. 不要违背相当于物理定律的商业法则。
    • Don’t fight the business equivalent of the laws of physics.
  13. 灵感易逝，生活过得很快。不作为是一种特别隐蔽的风险。
    • Inspiration is perishable and life goes by fast. Inaction is a particularly insidious type of risk.
  14. 规模常常具有令人惊讶的涌现特性。
    • Scale often has surprising emergent properties.
  15. 复利指数是神奇的。特别是，您确实希望建立一家能够通过规模获得复合优势的企业。
    • Compounding exponentials are magic. In particular, you really want to build a business that gets a compounding advantage with scale.
  16. 重新站起来并继续前进。
    • Get back up and keep going.
  17. 与优秀的人一起工作是生活中最美好的部分之一。
    • Working with great people is one of the best parts of life.

参考文献

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