This is Part II of my essay series about how I figured out what I wanted out of life. Part I is now the highest rated essay we have ever had. If you missed it, click here. 
这是我关于如何弄清楚我想要什么的生活的文章系列的第二部分。第一部分现在是我们有史以来评价最高的文章。如果你错过了，点击这里. 

Yesterday I told you How I Spent A Year Being ‘Strategically Broke’.
昨天我告诉你 我如何度过了一年‘战略性破产’。

The essay talked about how my life changed when I decided “the ordinary life isn’t for me”. 
这篇文章讲述了当我决定 “平凡的生活不适合我”。 时，我的生活是如何改变的。

Those first few years were rough. My life chart basically looked like this: 
那头几年的生活很艰难。我的生活图表基本上是这样的：

Everyone focuses on the big ‘upswing’ of the chart.
每个人都关注图表的大幅 “上升”。

But the million dollar question is - how do you survive the 10 years of flat line progress? 
但百万美元的问题是 - 你如何在十年的平稳进展中生存？ 

Unless you’re cousins with David Goggins, you probably won’t have the willpower to go through 10-12 years straight of nothing but failures.
除非你是大卫・戈金斯的表亲，否则你可能没有毅力经历连续 10 到 12 年的失败。

The answer is simple: they don’t.
答案很简单：他们不这样做。

The people that make it through the ‘decade of suck’ are the ones who enjoy the game. They don’t play to win, they play to play.
经历过 “糟糕十年” 的人是那些 享受游戏 的人。他们不是为了赢而玩，而是为了玩而玩。

That’s why they keep going, even when they see all their friends getting promotions and buying houses with nice backyards in Connecticut.
这就是为什么他们继续前行，即使看到所有朋友都在晋升，买下康涅狄格州带漂亮后院的房子。

Even when the scoreboard says: “Life 12, You 0” - they keep playing.
即使记分牌上写着：“生活 12, 你 0” - 他们仍然继续比赛。

They keep playing, until they get so good that the game has no choice but to give them the win.
他们继续玩，直到他们变得如此出色，以至于游戏不得不让他们获胜。

But I know what you’re thinking. What game should I even play? How do I find a game I love?
但我知道你在想什么。我应该玩什么游戏？我怎么才能找到我喜欢的游戏？

Well the simple answer is…I have no clue. I don’t know you. I don’t know your situation. Remember, I’m just a jackass with wifi.
简单的答案是…… 我不知道。我不认识你。我不知道你的情况。记住，我只是一个有 wifi 的傻瓜。

But, ‘not knowing’’ has never stopped me from confidently giving an answer - so I present to you:
但是，“不知道” 从来没有让我停止自信地给出答案 —— 所以我向你们展示：

UNCLE SHAAN’S EAZY-PEEZY 3-STEP PLAN TO FIGURING OUT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO IN LIFE™️
叔叔山的简单易行 3 步计划，帮助你弄清楚人生想做什么™️

Step 1: Pop The Bubble
步骤 1：戳破气泡

Whatever job you THINK you want to do, it’s probably wrong. 
无论你认为想做什么工作，可能都是错的。

You probably have been saying “I want to be a doctor” or “I love b2b software” because it sounded good to your friends, your parents, and your college counselor.
你可能一直在说 “我想成为一名医生” 或 “我喜欢 B2B 软件”，因为这听起来对你的朋友、父母和大学顾问来说很好。

I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m saying, you actually have no idea. 
我不是说你错了。我是说，你实际上毫无头绪。

Instead of just talking about it - take it for a 2 week test drive. Try before you buy. 
不要只是谈论它 - 试用两周。 在购买之前先试试。 

Don’t let your dream float in a magical theoretical bubble. Pop the bubble and find out what you really love.
不要让你的梦想漂浮在一个神奇的理论泡沫中。戳破泡沫，找出你真正热爱的是什么。

I know this because I spent 10 years telling everyone I wanted to be a doctor - sports medicine, to be exact.
我知道这一点，因为我花了 10 年时间告诉每个人我想成为一名医生 —— 确切地说，是运动医学。

One day - I met a guy at a wedding who had the exact job I wanted (orthopedic surgeon for a sports team). I asked him if I could shadow him for 2 weeks. He agreed.
有一天 - 我在一个婚礼上遇到了一个人，他的工作是我想要的确切职位（体育队的骨科医生）。我问他是否可以跟随他两周。他同意了。

Right away, I realized that I did NOT want to be a doctor. Doctor’s are very noble, but the job has very little creativity. (trust me, you don’t want your doctor ‘getting creative’ on you…)
立刻，我意识到我并不想成为一名医生。医生是非常高尚的职业，但这份工作几乎没有创造性。（相信我，你不想让你的医生 “发挥创造力”……）

Turns out, I realized creativity and variety matter a lot to me. This simple decision to shadow a doctor totally slayed the false dream I had been chanting to myself for years.
原来，我意识到创造力和多样性对我来说 非常重要。 这个简单的决定去跟随一位医生彻底打破了我多年来一直在自我暗示的虚假梦想。

Those 2 weeks saved me from 8 years of med school… and another 20-30 years doing a job that didn’t light me up. 
那两周让我免于 8 年的医学院学习…… 以及另外 20 到 30 年做一份让我没有激情的工作。

If you pop the bubble, you’ll know for certain: 
如果你戳破气泡，你就会确定：

• YES - this is my thing. I’m down to invest a decade becoming great at this 
  是的 - 这是我的事情。我愿意花十年时间在这方面变得出色。
• NO - this ain’t it. Glad I found out now. 
  不 - 这不是我想要的。很高兴我现在发现了这一点。
• MAYBE? - (see ‘No’... as Derek Sivers once said, “if it’s not a Hell Yes, it’s a No”)
  也许？ - （见 “不是”... 正如德里克・西弗斯曾说过的，“如果不是绝对的肯定，那就是不”）

Step 2: Give Yourself Permission To Wander
步骤 2：允许自己漫游

Marcus Aurelius once said: “To live well, one must first know what is worth wanting." 
马库斯・奥勒留曾说过：“要过上好生活，首先必须知道什么是值得追求的。” 

The greek philosopher Seneca believed: “True freedom is found not in acquiring much, but in knowing what to desire." 
希腊哲学家塞涅卡认为：“真正的自由不在于获得很多，而在于知道该渴望什么。” 

Actually, they didn’t.  实际上，他们没有。

But I told ChatGPT to “take my quote and make it sound like it came from 10 wise philosophers”…
但我告诉 ChatGPT “把我的引用改成听起来像是来自 10 位智慧哲学家的话”……

… and it delivered like Stockton to Malone. 
… 它就像斯托克顿传球给马龙一样精准。

Anyways. It’s true. The most important thing is to figure out what you even want.
无论如何。这是真的。最重要的是 弄清楚你到底想要什么。

You are probably a ‘high achiever’ type. And high achievers get really anxious when they don't have an “answer” for what they’re going to do with their life.
你可能是一个 “高成就者” 类型。当高成就者不知道自己的人生该做什么时，他们会感到非常焦虑。

This causes them to prematurely commit to something - anything. 
这使他们过早地承诺于某事 - 任何事。

As Tim Ferriss says, most people would rather be unhappy than uncertain. 
正如蒂姆・费里斯所说，大多数人宁愿不快乐也不愿感到不确定。

So - the trick here is to name this era and time box it.
所以 - 这里的诀窍是给这个时代命名并将其时间框定。

People will behave very differently if you give something a name and date. Don’t believe me? Go checkout how people behave during Mardi Gras or Burning Man. 
人们的行为会因为你给某件事起了名字和日期而大相径庭。你不相信我？去看看人们在狂欢节或燃烧人节期间的表现。

I call this a season of wandering. This is a season where you’re going to explore options. You’re going to dabble. Try things. 
我称之为徘徊的季节。这是一个你将探索选择的季节。你会尝试。试试各种事物。

I call it “wandering” because it let’s you think creatively. There is no ‘wrong path’ when you wander, as long as you’re following your curiosity and excitement.
我称之为 “漫游”，因为它让你能够创造性地思考。当你漫游时，没有 “错误的道路”，只要你跟随自己的好奇心和兴奋感。

..but, what are you looking for while you wander? 
.. 但是，你在漫游时寻找什么？ 

Clues, not answers. You see, we all want answers. But like any detective, you don’t seek the answer directly. Answers come from clues.
线索，而不是答案。你看，我们都想要答案。但就像任何侦探一样，你不会直接寻找答案。答案来自线索。

STEP 3: Look For Clues
步骤 3：寻找线索

What are some examples of clues? Energy & Blueprints. 
一些线索的例子是什么？ 能源与蓝图. 

ENERGY: Start paying attention to what gives you energy, vs. drains you.
能量：开始关注什么能给你带来能量，什么会让你感到疲惫。

• I get drained at social events. I hate it.
  我在社交活动中感到精疲力竭。我讨厌这种感觉。
• I get tons of energy from reading books.
  我从阅读书籍中获得大量能量。

But the real clue is to figure out: what feels like play to you, but looks like work to others? That’s the moneymaker. 
但真正的线索是弄清楚：对你来说像游戏的东西，但对别人看起来像工作的是什么？这就是赚钱的关键。

For me, that’s writing. The average person hates writing. They dread the blank page. I think they have PTSD from school essays.
对我来说，这就是写作。普通人讨厌写作。他们害怕空白的页面。我认为他们对学校的作文有创伤后应激障碍。

But I love writing, so I followed that clue. Which led me to starting Milk Road - a newsletter company. A year later, it grew to 250,000 subscribers and sold for millions of dollars.
但我热爱写作，所以我跟随了这个线索。 这让我开始了 Milk Road—— 一家新闻通讯公司。一年后，它的订阅人数达到了 250,000，并以数百万美元的价格出售。

The Big Lesson: clues can be very valuable. 
重要的教训：线索可能非常有价值。 

So I’ll ask again - what feels like play for you, but looks like work to others?‍
所以我再问一次 - 对你来说像是游戏，但对别人来说却像是工作的是哪些呢？‍

BLUEPRINTS 蓝图

Tony Robbins says: “Success leaves clues”.
托尼・罗宾斯说：“成功留下线索”。

The fastest shortcut in self improvement is to find someone who already has what he wants and download the blueprint of their habits & mindset.
自我提升的最快捷径是找到一个已经拥有他想要的东西的人，并下载他们的习惯和心态的蓝图。

“Who’s living the life I want?” - this is a simple, yet powerful question. And you need to be specific…
“谁在过我想要的生活？” - 这是一个简单但强有力的问题。你需要具体一些……

For example, I wanted to be successful. But then I met a bunch of rich guys who were busy, stressed & divorced and their kids resented them.
例如，我想要成功。但后来我遇到了一群忙碌、压力大且离婚的富人，他们的孩子对他们心存怨恨。

I didn’t want that. 我不想要那个。

So I updated my Blueprint. I wanted money AND fun AND a house full of love. So I started looking for people who had that.
所以我更新了我的蓝图。我想要金钱、乐趣和充满爱的家。因此，我开始寻找拥有这些的人。

Anytime I found someone who fit that profile, I drilled in: 
每当我找到符合那个特征的人，我就会深入了解：

• What do they do?  他们做什么？
• How did they get started? 
  他们是如何开始的？

The key is to get outside your bubble. I met a guy who was filthy rich, from selling the conveyor belts that go on treadmills. What?
关键是走出你的舒适区。我遇到一个非常富有的人，他是通过销售跑步机上的传送带致富的。什么？

Then I had a older friend that I played ping-pong with daily. I asked him: “how do you have free time to play during the day? don’t you have a job?” 
然后我有一个年长的朋友，我每天和他打乒乓球。我问他：“你怎么有时间在白天玩？你不是有工作吗？” 

He told me he imports fancy soap’s from Italy and resells them to 5-star hotels at a big markup. He said he makes $3M a year as the soap guy. 
他告诉我他从意大利进口高档香皂，并以高价转售给五星级酒店。他说他作为香皂销售员每年赚 300 万美元。

The best part? He doesn’t even make the soap! He just saw a gap and filled it.
最棒的部分？他甚至不制作肥皂！他只是看到了一个空缺并填补了它。

Turns out there are 10,000x more “ways to win” than you even realized existed. Even if you don’t end up doing those things (I don’t sell soap or treadmills), it simply opened my eyes to the possibilities.
结果发现 “获胜的方法” 比你意识到的多出 10,000 倍。即使你最终不去做那些事情（我不卖肥皂或跑步机），这也让我看到了更多的可能性。

My parents had very normal 9-to-5 jobs, so I only knew that flavor. They could only teach me what they knew.
我的父母有很普通的朝九晚五的工作，所以我只知道那种味道。他们只能教我他们所知道的。

That’s when I learned you can’t ask someone for directions to a place they’ve never been. 
那时我明白了你不能问一个从未去过某个地方的人要怎么走。

But instead of complaining about my upbringing, I learned to bring myself up. I moved to SF, because I wanted to be a founder, and that’s where the founders lived. It was simple. Proximity is power. 
但我没有抱怨我的成长经历，而是学会了自我成长。我搬到了旧金山，因为我想成为一名创始人，而那里就是创始人们生活的地方。这很简单。接近就是力量。

Today, I live a life that the younger me wouldn’t believe. I get paid to talk (my podcast). I’ve built and sold multiple companies.
今天，我过着年轻时无法相信的生活。我通过谈话（我的播客）获得报酬。我建立并出售了多家公司。

My daily lifestyle is exactly what I want - Wakeup. Workout. Eat meal from private chef. Ride bike to drop off kids at school. Watch the bachelor with my wife at night.
我的日常生活正是我想要的 —— 起床。锻炼。吃私人厨师做的饭。骑自行车送孩子上学。晚上和妻子一起看《单身汉》。

I work on whatever I want, whenever I want, from wherever I want.
我可以在任何我想要的时间、任何我想要的地方，做我想做的事情。

Everyone says hard work is the key to success. Bullshit.
每个人都说努力工作是成功的关键。胡说。

Energy is the key to success. My energy comes from loving what I do, not from pushing myself to grind harder.
能量是成功的关键。 我的能量来自于热爱我所做的事情，而不是逼迫自己去 更加努力。

I get paid a fortune to do what I would do for free (podcasting, writing, investing). And best of all - I get to do it with people I love to hangout with everyday (shoutout to my dawgs Ben & Diego). 
我赚了很多钱去做我愿意免费做的事情（播客、写作、投资）。最棒的是 —— 我可以和我每天都喜欢一起玩的人一起做这件事（向我的兄弟 Ben 和 Diego 致敬）。

If the 22-year-old-broke-boy-me saw the life I live today, he’d just say: “You lucky bastard. How the heck did you pull this off?”
如果 22 岁的穷小子看到我今天的生活，他只会说：“你这个幸运的家伙。你到底是怎么做到的？”

Of course, everyone’s journey is different. And not everyone ‘makes it’. 
当然，每个人的旅程都是不同的。并不是每个人都 “成功”。

I am extremely fortunate that I rolled the dice and hit a hard six. (a craps reference, for those who haven’t played god’s greatest casino game)
我非常幸运，我掷骰子时得到了一个硬六。（这是对掷骰子游戏的提及，适合那些没有玩过上帝最伟大的赌场游戏的人）

So yea, luck matters. But if you think it’s all luck, you’re just a victim of circumstances. Luck matters, but action matters more.
所以，是的，运气很重要。但如果你认为一切都是运气，那你只是环境的受害者。运气重要，但行动更重要。

The actions to figure out what you love to do are simple: 
找出你热爱的事情的步骤很简单：

• Give yourself a “Season of Wandering” - take 3 to 12 months where you experiment & follow your curiosity. Test drive before you buy.
  给自己一个 “漫游的季节” - 花费 3 到 12 个月的时间，去实验和追随你的好奇心。在购买之前先试驾。
• Look for clues - Ask yourself… “what feels like play to me, but looks like work to others?”
  寻找线索 - 问问自己… “对我来说像游戏的东西，但对别人看起来像工作的是哪些？”
• Find Blueprints - find the people who already have what you want. Study them. Hang with them. 
  寻找蓝图 - 找到那些已经拥有你想要的东西的人。研究他们。和他们在一起。

If you do that, your career will take off. My short definition of a great career is doing things you love, with people you love.
如果你这样做，你的职业生涯将会腾飞。我对伟大职业的简短定义是与你爱的人一起做你喜欢的事情。

And I know “love” sounds like fluffy woo woo to most, but to me, it’s a competitive advantage.
我知道 “爱” 对大多数人来说听起来像毛茸茸的胡言乱语，但对我来说，这是一种竞争优势。

Why? Because people who love it, do it more. And the more you practice, the better you get. The better you get, the more money you make. 
为什么？因为热爱它的人会做得更多。你练习得越多，越会变得更好。你变得越好，赚的钱就越多。

If you’ve already found it (like me) - welcome to the Lucky Bastards Club™.
如果你已经找到了它（像我一样）—— 欢迎加入幸运混蛋俱乐部™。

If you haven’t yet - don’t count yourself out. You just need to give yourself permission to wander.
如果你还没有 —— 不要把自己排除在外。你只需要给自己一个漫游的许可。

Most will say ‘I can’t afford to’. Don’t have the time. The money. The courage. But you only get one ride on this rollercoaster of life. 
大多数人会说 “我负担不起”。没有时间。没有钱。没有勇气。但你在这人生过山车上只有一次机会。

So, maybe the question is: can you afford not to? 
所以，也许问题是：你能负担得起不这样做吗？ 

-Uncle Shaan - 山叔

P.S. - this is Part II of my essay series about how I figured out what I wanted out of life. Part I is now the highest rated essay we have ever had. If you missed it, click here. 
附言 - 这是我关于如何弄清楚我想要什么的生活的文章系列的第二部分。第一部分现在是我们有史以来评分最高的文章。如果你错过了，点击这里. 

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