乔布斯的 Connecting the Dots
You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
你无法预先把点点滴滴串联起来,只有在回顾过去时才能看清它们是如何连接的。
Reed College 那段岁月
Reed College 位于俄勒冈州波特兰,是一所以博雅教育和人文传统著称的私立文理学院。Jobs 17 岁进 Reed,六个月后退学,但他没真走 —— 以旁听生身份又赖了 18 个月,睡朋友宿舍的地板,捡 5 美分一个的可乐瓶换钱,每周走 7 英里去 Hare Krishna 庙蹭一顿像样的饭。
正是这种"不用再修必修课"的自由,让他得以旁听 Reed 当时"也许是全国最好的"书法课。
一次演讲,三个故事
2005 年 6 月 12 日,Jobs 在斯坦福毕业典礼上讲了三个故事:connecting the dots、love and loss、death。本文只谈第一个。
十年后设计第一台 Macintosh 时,书法课上学的东西全部回归:
If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.
Mac 成了"第一台拥有漂亮排版的个人电脑",Windows 又照搬了 Mac —— 这就是那条 dots 连起来的线。
三层意思,多数中文译文只到第二层
Jobs 那段话完整版其实是三层:
…you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever — because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path.
事实(只能回望看清) → 行动(trust) → 勇气(follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path)。多数中文译文停在第二层。Jobs 真正想说的是:先相信,再行动;这种相信又给了你走偏门路的底气。
一种活法
做你相信对的事,但不执着于立刻看到结果。trust 不是盲目乐观,是底色 —— 行动的载体是你自己。
人生没有白走的路,但前提是你真的在走。
参考资料
- Stanford News. “‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says.” Stanford Report, June 14, 2005. https://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
- Reed College. Mission & History. https://www.reed.edu/about/mission-history.html
- Steve Jobs. Text of 2005 Stanford University commencement speech. Mercury News PDF mirror. http://www.ihep.cas.cn/zdsys/nmlab/nm_news/nm_tzgg/201110/W020111017342464970203.pdf