Find and Build Specific Knowledge

查找并构建特定知识

Sales skills are a form of specific knowledge.

销售技能是特定知识的一种形式。

There’s such a thing as “a natural” in sales. You run into them all the time in startups and venture capital. When you meet someone who is a natural at sales, you just know they’re amazing. They’re really good at what they do. That is a form of specific knowledge.

在销售中有一种叫做“自然”的东西。在初创企业和风险投资中，你总是会遇到他们。当你遇到一个在销售方面很有天赋的人时，你就会知道他们很令人惊叹。他们真的很擅长他们的工作。这是特定知识的一种形式。

Obviously they learned somewhere, but they didn’t learn it in a classroom setting. They learned probably in their childhood in the school yard, or they learned negotiating with their parents. Maybe some is a genetic component in the DNA.

显然，他们是在某个地方学习的，但他们不是在课堂上学习的。他们可能是在童年时在学校院子里学习的，或者他们学会了与父母谈判。也许有些是DNA中的遗传成分。

But you can improve sales skills. You can read Robert Cialdini, you can go to a sales training seminar, you can do door -to -door sales. It is brutal but will train you very quickly. You can definitely improve your sales skills.

但是你可以提高销售技巧。你可以读罗伯特·恰尔迪尼的书，你可以去参加销售培训研讨会，你可以上门推销。这很残酷，但会很快训练你。你一定可以提高你的销售技能。

Specific knowledge cannot be taught, but it can be learned. 具体的知识不能教，但可以学。

When I talk about specific knowledge, I mean figure out what you were doing as a kid or teenager almost effortlessly. Something you didn’t even consider a skill, but people around you noticed. Your mother or your best friend growing up would know.

当我谈到具体知识时，我的意思是几乎毫不费力地弄清楚你小时候或十几岁时在做什么。一些你甚至不认为是技能的东西，但是你周围的人注意到了。你的母亲或者你从小到大最好的朋友都会知道。

Examples of what your specific knowledge could be:

举例说明您的特定知识可能是什么：

  • Sales skills销售技巧
  • Musical talents, with the ability to pick up any instrument音乐天赋，能拿起任何乐器
  • An obsessive personality: you dive into things and remember them quickly　强迫型性格：你一头扎进东西里，很快就能记住它们
  • Love for science fiction: you were into reading sci -fi , which means you absorb a lot of knowledge very quickly　喜欢科幻：你喜欢看科幻小说，这意味着你很快就吸收了很多知识。
  • Playing a lot of games, you understand game theory pretty well　玩了很多游戏，你很懂博弈论 Gossiping, digging into your friend network. That might make you into a very interesting journalist.　八卦，挖掘你的朋友网络。这可能会让你成为一名非常有趣的记者。

The specific knowledge is sort of this weird combination of unique traits from your DNA, your unique upbringing, and your response to it. It’s almost baked into your personality and your identity. Then you can hone it.

具体的知识是来自你的DNA的独特特征，你独特的教养，以及你对此的反应的某种奇怪的组合。它几乎已经融入了你的个性和身份。然后你就可以磨练它了。

No one can compete with you on being you. 在做你这一点上，没有人能与你竞争。

Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most. 人生的大部分时间都是在寻找最需要你的人和事。

For example, I love to read, and I love technology. I learn very quickly, and I get bored fast. If I had gone into a profession where I was required to tunnel down for twenty years into the same topic, it wouldn’t have worked. I’m in venture investing, which requires me to come up to speed very, very quickly on new technologies (and I’m rewarded for getting bored because new technologies come along). It matches up pretty well with my specific knowledge and skill sets. [10]

例如，我喜欢阅读，我喜欢科技。我学得很快，我很快就会感到无聊。如果我从事的职业要求我在同一主题上钻研二十年，那就行不通了。我从事的是风险投资，这要求我非常、非常快地掌握新技术(我会因为新技术的出现而感到无聊而得到奖励)。它与我的特定知识和技能非常匹配。“[10]

I wanted to be a scientist. That is where a lot of my moral hierarchy comes from. I view scientists as being at the top of the production chain for humanity. The group of scientists who have made real breakthroughs and contributions probably added more to human society, I think, than any single other class of human beings. Not to take away anything from art or politics or engineering or business, but without science, we’d still be scrambling in the dirt fighting with sticks and trying to start fires.

我想成为一名科学家。这就是我的许多道德等级制度的来源。我认为科学家处于人类生产链的顶端。我认为，这群真正取得突破和贡献的科学家对人类社会的贡献可能比其他任何一个阶层的人都多。我不想夺走艺术、政治、工程或商业上的任何东西，但如果没有科学，我们仍然会在泥土中争先恐后地用棍子搏斗，试图纵火。

Society, business, & money are downstream of technology, which is itself downstream of science. Science applied is the engine of humanity.

社会、商业和金钱都在技术的下游，而技术本身又在科学的下游。应用的科学是人类的引擎。

Corollary: Applied Scientists are the most powerful people in the world. This will be more obvious in the coming years.

推论：应用科学家是世界上最有权势的人。这一点在未来几年将更加明显。

My whole value system was built around scientists, and I wanted to be a great scientist. But when I actually look back at what I was uniquely good at and what I ended up spending my time doing, it was more around making money, tinkering with technology, and selling people on things. Explaining things and talking to people.

我的整个价值体系都是围绕科学家建立的，我想成为一名伟大的科学家。但当我真正回顾我唯一擅长的是什么，以及我最终把时间花在了什么上时，我更多地是在赚钱，修补技术，向人们推销东西。解释事情，和人们交谈。

I have some sales skills, which is a form of specific knowledge. I have some analytical skills on how to make money. And I have this ability to absorb data, obsess about it, and break it down—that is a specific skill that I have. I also love tinkering with technology. And all of this stuff feels like play to me, but it looks like work to others. 我有一些销售技能，这是具体知识的一种形式。我对如何赚钱有一些分析技巧。我有能力吸收数据，沉迷于它，并将其分解—这是我拥有的一项特殊技能。我也喜欢修补技术。所有这些东西对我来说都像是玩乐，但对其他人来说却像是工作。

There are other people to whom these things would be hard, and they say, “Well, how do I get good at being pithy and selling ideas?” Well, if you’re not already good at it or if you’re not really into it, maybe it’s not your thing—focus on the thing that you are really into. 还有一些人很难做到这一点，他们会说，“那么，我怎样才能变得精练，善于推销想法呢？”嗯，如果你还不擅长它，或者你不是真的喜欢它，也许这不是你的事情—专注于你真正喜欢的事情。

The first person to actually point out my real specific knowledge was my mother. She did it as an aside, talking from the kitchen, and she said it when I was fifteen or sixteen years old. I was telling a friend of mine that I want to be an astrophysicist, and she said, “No, you’re going to go into business.” I was like, “What, my mom’s telling me I’m going to be in business? I’m going to be an astrophysicist. Mom doesn’t know she’s talking about.” But Mom knew exactly what she was talking about. [78]

第一个真正指出我的具体知识的人是我的母亲。她在厨房里说话，只是顺便说一句，她在我十五六岁的时候说了这句话。我告诉我的一个朋友，我想成为一名天体物理学家，她说，“不，你要做生意。”我就想，“什么，我妈妈告诉我我要做生意？我要成为一名天体物理学家。妈妈不知道她在说什么。“但是妈妈非常清楚她在说什么。

Specific knowledge is found much more by pursuing your innate talents, your genuine curiosity, and your passion. It’s not by going to school for whatever is the hottest job; it’s not by going into whatever field investors say is the hottest.

通过追求你与生俱来的才华、你真正的好奇心和你的热情，可以发现更多具体的知识。这并不是为了什么最热门的工作而去上学，也不是通过进入投资者所说的最热门的领域。

Very often, specific knowledge is at the edge of knowledge. It’s also stuff that’s only now being figured out or is really hard to figure out. If you’re not 100 percent into it, somebody else who is 100 percent into it will outperform you. And they won’t just outperform you by a little bit—they’ll outperform you by a lot because now we’re operating the domain of ideas, compound interest really applies and leverage really applies. [78] 很多时候，具体的知识处于知识的边缘。它也是现在才被弄清楚或者真的很难弄清楚的东西。如果你不是百分之百投入其中，那么其他百分百投入其中的人会比你表现得更好。而且他们的表现不会只比你稍微好一点-他们会比你表现得好很多，因为现在我们正在经营思想领域，复利真的适用，杠杆真的适用。“[78]

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。大多数人还没有弄清楚这一点。

You can go on the internet, and you can find your audience. And you can build a business, and create a product, and build wealth, and make people happy just uniquely expressing yourself through the internet. [78]

你可以上网，你可以找到你的观众。你可以建立一个企业，创造一个产品，创造财富，仅仅通过互联网独特地表达你自己就能让人们感到快乐。“[78]

The internet enables any niche interest, as long as you’re the best person at it to scale out. And the great news is because every human is different, everyone is the best at something—being themselves.

只要你是向外扩展的最佳人选，互联网就能让你对任何利基市场感兴趣。好消息是，因为每个人都是不同的，每个人都是最擅长的—做自己。

Another tweet I had that is worth weaving in, but didn’t go into the “How to Get Rich” tweetstorm, was very simple: “Escape competition through authenticity.” Basically, when you’re competing with people, it’s because you’re copying them. It’s because you’re trying to do the same thing. But every human is different. Don’t copy. [78]

我的另一条推文很简单，很值得编织进去，但没有进入“如何致富”的推文风暴：“通过真实来逃避竞争。”基本上，当你与人竞争时，是因为你在模仿他们。那是因为你也在试着做同样的事情。但是每个人都是不同的。不要抄袭。“[78]

If you are fundamentally building and marketing something that is an extension of who you are, no one can compete with you on that. Who’s going to compete with Joe Rogan or Scott Adams? It’s impossible. Is somebody else going to come along and write a better Dilbert? No. Is someone going to compete with Bill Watterson and create a better Calvin and Hobbes? No. They’re being authentic. [78]

如果你从根本上构建和营销的东西是你自己的延伸，没有人能在这方面与你竞争。谁将与乔·罗根或斯科特·亚当斯竞争？不可能的。会有其他人来写一部更好的呆伯特作品吗？不是的。会有人与比尔·沃特森竞争，创造一个更好的加尔文和霍布斯吗？不是的。他们是真实的。)[78]

The best jobs are neither decreed nor degreed. They are creative expressions of continuous learners in free markets.

最好的工作既不是命令，也不是学位。它们是自由市场中不断学习的人的创造性表现。

The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn. The old model of making money is going to school for four years, getting your degree, and working as a professional for thirty years. But things change fast now. Now, you have to come up to speed on a new profession within nine months, and it’s obsolete four years later. But within those three productive years, you can get very wealthy.

致富最重要的技能是成为一个永久的学习者。你必须知道如何学习任何你想学的东西。旧的赚钱模式是上学四年，拿到学位，做三十年的专业人员。但现在情况变化很快。现在，你必须在九个月内跟上一个新职业的步伐，四年后它就过时了。但在这三年内，你可以变得非常富有。

It’s much more important today to be able to become an expert in a brand -new field in nine to twelve months than to have studied the “right” thing a long time ago. You really care about having studied the foundations, so you’re not scared of any book. If you go to the library and there’s a book you cannot understand, you have to dig down and say, “What is the foundation required for me to learn this?” Foundations are super important. [74]

今天，能够在9到12个月内成为一个全新领域的专家，比起很久以前研究“正确”的东西要重要得多。你真的很在乎学过基础，所以你什么书都不怕。如果你去图书馆，发现一本你看不懂的书，你必须向下挖掘，然后说：“我学习这本书需要什么基础？”基础是超级重要的。

Basic arithmetic and numeracy are way more important in life than doing calculus. Similarly, being able to convey yourself simply using ordinary English words is far more important than being able to write poetry, having an extensive vocabulary, or speaking seven different foreign languages.

在生活中，基本的算术和算术比微积分重要得多。同样，能够简单地用普通的英语单词表达自己，要比会写诗、词汇量大或会说七种不同的外语重要得多。

Knowing how to be persuasive when speaking is far more important than being an expert digital marketer or click optimizer. Foundations are key. It’s much better to be at 9/10 or 10/10 on foundations than to try and get super deep into things.

知道如何在演讲时具有说服力比成为一名专业的数字营销者或点击优化器要重要得多。基础是关键。在基础上保持9/10或10/10比试图深入到事情中要好得多。

You do need to be deep in something because otherwise you’ll be a mile wide and an inch deep and you won’t get what you want out of life. You can only achieve mastery in one or two things. It’s usually things you’re obsessed about. [74]

你确实需要深入到某件事中去，否则你会陷入一英里宽一英寸深的境地，你将得不到你想从生活中得到的东西。你只能在一两件事上做到精通。这通常是你痴迷的事情。