著作

理解财富的本质

本章节来自《纳瓦尔宝典》Part I: Wealth — Building Wealth

第一部分:财富

"How to get rich without getting lucky."
"如何不靠运气致富。"

创造财富

"Making money is not a thing you do—it's a skill you learn."
"赚钱不是你做的一件事——而是你学会的一项技能。"

理解财富是如何创造的

我喜欢这样想:如果我失去了所有的钱,你把我丢在任何一个英语国家的随便一条街上,五到十年内我会再次变得富有。因为这只是一套任何人都可以培养的技能。[78]

这跟拼命工作真的没多大关系。你可以在一家餐厅每周干八十个小时,也不会变富。致富是关于知道做什么、跟谁做、什么时候做。这更多是理解力的问题,而不是纯粹的努力。是的,努力很重要,你不能偷懒。但努力必须用对方向。

如果你还不知道该做什么,最重要的事就是先搞清楚。在你弄明白该做什么之前,你不应该埋头苦干。

这条推风暴里的原则(如下),是我十三四岁的时候为自己想出来的。三十年来,我一直把它们装在脑子里,一直在践行它们。随着时间推移(说来或喜或悲),我真正擅长的事情变成了审视商业,找到创造财富的最大杠杆点,并从中捕获一部分价值。

这正是我那条著名推风暴的主题。当然,其中每一条推文都可以展开成一个小时的对话。下面的推风暴是一个很好的起点。它力求信息密集、极度精炼、影响深远、历久弥新。所有信息和原则都在里面了——如果你吸收了这些,然后在接下来的十年里努力工作,你就能得到你想要的。[77]

"How to Get Rich (Without Getting Lucky):"
"如何致富(不靠运气):"

"Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy."
"追求财富,而不是金钱或地位。财富是在你睡觉时还在为你赚钱的资产。金钱是我们转移时间和财富的方式。地位是你在社会等级中的位置。"

"Understand ethical wealth creation is possible. If you secretly despise wealth, it will elude you."
"要理解,道德地创造财富是可能的。如果你暗地里鄙视财富,财富就会远离你。"

"Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games."
"忽视那些玩地位游戏的人。他们通过攻击创造财富的人来获取地位。"

"You're not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity—a piece of a business—to gain your financial freedom."
"出租时间不会让你致富。你必须拥有股权——一部分生意——才能获得财务自由。"

"You will get rich by giving society what it wants but does not yet know how to get. At scale."
"你会通过给社会它想要、但还不知道如何获取的东西而致富。而且要规模化。"

"Pick an industry where you can play long-term games with long-term people."
"选择一个你能和长期玩家玩长期游戏的行业。"

"The internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers. Most people haven't figured this out yet."
"互联网极大地拓宽了可能的职业空间。大多数人还没有意识到这一点。"

"Play iterated games. All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest."
"玩重复博弈。生活中所有的回报,无论是财富、关系还是知识,都来自复利效应。"

"Pick business partners with high intelligence, energy, and, above all, integrity."
"选择聪明、有干劲、最重要是正直的商业伙伴。"

"Don't partner with cynics and pessimists. Their beliefs are self-fulfilling."
"不要和愤世嫉俗者、悲观主义者合作。他们的信念会自我实现。"

"Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable."
"学会销售。学会构建。如果你两者兼备,你将势不可挡。"

"Arm yourself with specific knowledge, accountability, and leverage."
"用专属知识责任感杠杆武装自己。"

"Specific knowledge is knowledge you cannot be trained for. If society can train you, it can train someone else and replace you."
"专属知识是无法通过培训获得的知识。如果社会能培训你,就能培训别人来取代你。"

"Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your genuine curiosity and passion rather than whatever is hot right now."
"专属知识来自追随你真正的好奇心和热情,而不是当下的热门。"

"Building specific knowledge will feel like play to you but will look like work to others."
"构建专属知识对你来说像玩耍,但在别人看来像工作。"

"When specific knowledge is taught, it's through apprenticeships, not schools."
"当专属知识被传授时,是通过学徒制,而不是学校。"

"Specific knowledge is often highly technical or creative. It cannot be outsourced or automated."
"专属知识通常是高度技术性或创造性的。它无法被外包或自动化。"

"Embrace accountability, and take business risks under your own name. Society will reward you with responsibility, equity, and leverage."
"拥抱责任感,以自己的名义承担商业风险。社会会用责任、股权和杠杆回报你。"

"Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the earth." —Archimedes
"给我一个足够长的杠杆和一个支点,我就能撬动地球。"——阿基米德

"Fortunes require leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media)."
"财富需要杠杆。商业杠杆来自资本、人力,以及没有边际复制成本的产品(代码与媒体)。"

"Capital means money. To raise money, apply your specific knowledge with accountability and show resulting good judgment."
"资本就是钱。要融资,就用你的专属知识加上责任感,展示出良好的判断力。"

"Labor means people working for you. It's the oldest and most fought-over form of leverage. Labor leverage will impress your parents, but don't waste your life chasing it."
"劳动力就是为你工作的人。这是最古老、竞争最激烈的杠杆形式。劳动力杠杆会让你的父母印象深刻,但别浪费一生去追逐它。"

"Capital and labor are permissioned leverage. Everyone is chasing capital, but someone has to give it to you. Everyone is trying to lead, but someone has to follow you."
"资本和劳动力是需要许可的杠杆。每个人都在追逐资本,但得有人愿意给你。每个人都想领导,但得有人愿意跟随你。"

"Code and media are permissionless leverage. They're the leverage behind the newly rich. You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep."
"代码与媒体是无需许可的杠杆。它们是新富人群背后的杠杆。你可以创造软件和媒体,在你睡觉时替你工作。"

"An army of robots is freely available—it's just packed in data centers for heat and space efficiency. Use it."
"一支机器人大军随时可用——它们只是为了散热和节省空间而被塞进了数据中心。用它。"

"If you can't code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts."
"如果你不会编程,那就写书、写博客、录视频、录播客。"

"Leverage is a force multiplier for your judgment."
"杠杆判断力的力量倍增器。"

"Judgment requires experience but can be built faster by learning foundational skills."
"判断力需要经验,但通过学习基础技能可以更快构建。"

"There is no skill called 'business.' Avoid business magazines and business classes."
"没有一种技能叫'商业'。远离商业杂志和商业课程。"

"Study microeconomics, game theory, psychology, persuasion, ethics, mathematics, and computers."
"学习微观经济学、博弈论、心理学、说服术、伦理学、数学和计算机。"

"Reading is faster than listening. Doing is faster than watching."
"阅读比听快。做比看快。"

"You should be too busy to 'do coffee' while still keeping an uncluttered calendar."
"你应该忙到没空'喝咖啡',同时保持日程表干净整洁。"

"Set and enforce an aspirational personal hourly rate. If fixing a problem will save less than your hourly rate, ignore it. If outsourcing a task will cost less than your hourly rate, outsource it."
"设定并执行一个有志气的个人时薪。如果修一个问题省下的钱不到你的时薪,忽略它。如果外包一项任务的费用低于你的时薪,外包它。"

"Work as hard as you can. Even though who you work with and what you work on are more important than how hard you work."
"尽全力工作。尽管跟谁干、干什么,比你多努力更重要。"

"Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true."
"成为你所做之事的世界第一。不断重新定义你做的事,直到这句话成立。"

"There are no get-rich-quick schemes. Those are just someone else getting rich off you."
"没有快速致富的捷径。那些不过是别人在你身上发财。"

"Apply specific knowledge, with leverage, and eventually you will get what you deserve."
"运用专属知识,加上杠杆,最终你会得到你应得的。"

"When you're finally wealthy, you'll realize it wasn't what you were seeking in the first place. But that is for another day." [11]
"当你终于富有了,你会意识到这并不是你最初追寻的东西。但那是另一个话题了。"

总结:产品化自己

你的总结说"产品化自己"——这是什么意思?

"产品化"和"自己"。"自己"意味着独特性。"产品化"意味着杠杆。"自己"意味着责任感。"产品化"意味着专属知识。"自己"里面也有专属知识。所以所有这些要素,你可以把它们压缩成这两个词。

如果你着眼于致富的长远目标,你应该问自己:"这对我来说是真实的吗?我展现的是真正的自己吗?"然后:"我在把它产品化吗?我在扩大规模吗?我是通过劳动力、资本、代码还是媒体在扩大?"所以这是一个非常方便、简单的助记符。[78]

这很难。所以我说这需要几十年——我不是说执行需要几十年,但可能大半个十年都花在搞清楚你能独特提供什么上。[10]

财富与金钱的区别

财富和金钱的区别是什么?

金钱是我们转移财富的方式。金钱是社会信用。它是对他人时间的借记和贷记的能力。

如果我做好了我的工作,如果我为社会创造了价值,社会就会说:"谢谢你。因为你过去做的工作,我们将来欠你一些东西。这是一张小欠条。我们叫它金钱。"[78]

财富是你真正想要的东西。财富是在你睡觉时还在为你赚钱的资产。财富是工厂、机器人,不停地生产东西。财富是那个在夜间运行、服务其他客户的计算机程序。财富甚至是银行里被再投资到其他资产和其他生意中的钱。

即使一栋房子也可以是财富的一种形式,因为你可以把它租出去——尽管这可能是比商业用途更低效的土地利用方式。

所以,我对财富的定义更多是指那些能在你睡觉时赚钱的生意和资产。[78]

"Technology democratizes consumption but consolidates production. The best person in the world at anything gets to do it for everyone."
"技术使消费民主化,但使生产集中化。世界上做某件事最好的人,可以为所有人去做。"

社会会为你创造它想要的东西而付钱给你。但社会还不知道怎么创造那些东西——因为如果它知道,就不需要你了。它们早就被批量生产出来了。

你家里、工作场所和街上的几乎所有东西,在某个时间点都曾是"技术"。曾经有一段时间,石油是让洛克菲勒致富的技术。曾经有一段时间,汽车是让亨利·福特致富的技术。

所以,技术就是那些还没有完全成熟的东西,正如 Alan Kay 所说(更正:Danny Hillis)。一旦某个东西成熟了,它就不再是技术了。社会总是想要新东西。如果你想变富,你要弄清楚哪一样东西是你能提供给社会的——社会还不知道怎么得到它,但它会想要,而且提供它对你来说是自然的,在你的技能范围之内。

然后,你必须弄清楚如何规模化。因为如果你只做了一个,那不够。你得做成千上万个,或几十万个,或几百万个,或几十亿个,让每个人都能拥有。Steve Jobs(当然还有他的团队)发现社会会想要智能手机。一台装在口袋里的电脑,拥有手机百倍的能力,而且简单易用。于是他们弄清楚了怎么做,然后弄清楚了怎么规模化。[78]


原文出处:《The Almanack of Naval Ravikant》by Eric Jorgenson