对“创业、当老板”的不切实际的幻想常常来自于“关注焦点单一”

第一课里提到很多人对创业的看法其实是不切实际的，自己当老板并没有人们想象中的那么光鲜。这好像显而易见啊，可是为什么那么多人想不明白呢？

贾平凹先生在他的散文《老西安》里讲过一个段子：

（许多年前）两个西安南郊的年轻人站在“大芳”照相馆橱窗前，看着蒋介石的巨照聊天。

其中一个说：蒋委员长不知道一天吃的什么饭，肯定是顿顿捞一碗干面，油泼的辣子调得红红的。

另一个说：我要当了蒋委员长，全村的粪都要是我的，谁也不能拾。

曹操劝留关羽，当时曹丞相府上实际情况究竟什么样，当时究竟是怎么说的，我们没办法知道，但可以想象。河南戏里是这样唱的：

……顿顿饭包饺子又炸油条，你曹大嫂亲自下厨烧锅燎灶，大冷天只忙得热汗不消，白面馍夹腊肉你吃腻了，又给你蒸一锅马齿菜包，搬蒜臼还把蒜汁捣，萝卜丝拌香油调了一瓢。

这其实是非常普遍的现象，大多数人想象不出超出自己经历之外的世界究竟是什么样子。因为人们总是要依赖自己已有的经历、经验和积累去理解新的、陌生的事物和世界。

另外还有一个重要的因素，就是人们对待同一事物、现象的时候，关注的焦点常常各不相同。至于这究竟是什么原因造成的，心理学家们也各执一词；我的看法是，那是长期积累的习惯，而最初那一刻为什么关注焦点不同，基本上是随机的。

比如，Lean Startup Methodologies里常常提到的一个方法论：

fall in love with the problem, not the solution.

显然，这样的关注焦点变换，会带来不同的思考和行动。

第十二课里，Aaron Levie 说，

It is your job to listen to their problems, and translate those into what is going to build the best and simplest solution for them...

于是，有人能做到“不是用户要什么就给什么”，原因在于关注焦点并不在于问题本身，而是想尽一切办法找到那需求的根源——即，关注焦点在于更本质的、更深层次的原因，而后给出最好、最简的解决方式。

当我有足够的时间思考之时，我常常这样玩：

• 目的、手段、结果：我现在这样想，可能是因为我更关注结果，如果我更关注手段，那我会想什么呢？……
• 过去、现在、将来：我现在这么想，可能是因为我想未来更多一些，要是我更关注现在，那我会想什么呢？
• 优点、缺点：我刚才想这事儿的时候，我关注它的缺点更多一些，；那我要是关注优点更多一些，会想什么呢？

如果我们只能用一个基于自我的焦点思考，通常的结果就是只剩下“羡慕嫉妒恨”。如果我们平时多贪玩一点，多变换一些焦点去关注，就常常产生高质量的思考。

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附一篇旧文章：

How to think about what belongs to the next generation

The future you shall know when it has come; before then, forget it.

(Aeschylus)

REALLY?

Everyone has his or her own future, and no one wants to be outdated. Everyone gets older, yet only few remain updated.

The key to remaining updated is to distinguish a delicate difference, that is, we need different mindsets to ponder about what belongs to the present and what belongs to the future.

This experience came from my angel investment career. As a beginner, I made almost every possible mistake, however, I have been aware of one single important principle I should and want to observe: I want to participate in what belongs to the next generation.

The reason that we are pursuing what belongs to the next generation is obvious: if something belongs to the next generation, it will be unstoppable, albeit it is imperfect. History proves to us time and time again that every revoluationary innovation was not perfect, yet it was much better than the previous generation, and it was doomed to be replaced by the next imperfect generation.

Once we are scrutinizing something that belongs to future, or seems to be the next generation, we should switch our focus from the negative to the positive.

It’s reasonable to focus on the negative if we are looking at what belongs to the present, because the positive aspects of them are obvious, the viability has already been proven. We do need to think hard about the negative to avoid possible dangers.

However, if we use this mindset to consider about the future, the next generation, we could miss everything. Because the future will not be perfect, just as the present is obviously not perfect, and the next generation will certainly be replaced by the next next generation, which should be also imperfect.

Therefore, when we think about the future, the next generation, we have to try hard to focus on the positive rather than the negative. Otherwise the what belongs to the next generation would seem stupid anyway.

In retrospect, when I was determined to participate the grand social experiment of monetary system, that is, Bitcoin, I was guided by this mindset. I knew I had to try hard to focus on what seemed positive rather than negative, otherwise what seems wonderful today might well seemed no more than stupid three years ago.

The future is unstoppable, it has to come, and everyone should have a nicer tomorrow, we cannot change the past, but we might well change the future by switching our mindset when thinking about the future or what belongs to the next generation.