創(chuàng)意人士怎樣找到自己的位置

How to Find Your Place in the World After Graduation

創(chuàng)意人士怎樣找到自己的位置

PARIS

巴黎

LIKE practically everyone else, I gave a commencement speech last week. Mine was for the Paris College of Art, an American art and design school in France whose roughly 200 students hail from 48 countries.

像幾乎所有人一樣，我上周也進行了畢業(yè)典禮演講。我是在巴黎藝術學院(Paris College of Art)做的。這是一所位于法國的美國藝術與設計學校，擁有來自48個國家的大約200名學生。

In deciding what to say, I couldn’t rely on my own experience with commencement speeches. When I graduated from college, a United States senator delivered his stump speech on Poland, then wished us luck.

在決定該說些什么的時候，我可沒法從親身經歷過的畢業(yè)演講中汲取靈感。在我大學畢業(yè)時，一位聯(lián)邦參議員發(fā)表了一番關于波蘭的政治演說，然后祝我們好運。

So I listened to lots of commencement speeches online. I quickly realized that the good ones are under 15 minutes; that it helps if you can do impressions; and that just because you starred in a hit sitcom doesn’t mean you possess great wisdom.

所以，我開始在網上聽大量的演講來汲取靈感。很快我就意識到：好的演講不要超過15分鐘;能來點滑稽模仿是件好事;僅僅因為出演了情景喜劇，并不意味著你擁有大智慧。

I also realized that commencement speeches are mostly an American phenomenon. In Britain there are graduation ceremonies, but no outside motivational speakers. “Every year, thousands of young British people collect their degrees and head into the world in a dangerously uninspired state — not knowing, for example, whether or not they should say ‘yes’ to life, or follow their hearts, or dare to be different,” wrote the journalist Oliver Burkeman.

我也意識到，畢業(yè)演講主要是在美國盛行。英國會舉辦畢業(yè)典禮，但不會從外面請人來做勵志演講。“每年有成千上萬的英國年輕人拿到學位，以無精打采的狀態(tài)走向外面的世界——比如，他們不知道自己是否應該對生活充滿信心，追隨自己的內心，勇敢地走上不同的道路，”記者奧利弗·伯克曼(Oliver Burkeman)寫道。

The French typically don’t even hold a ceremony; your diploma just arrives in the mail. An instructor at Sciences Po, one of France’s top universities, told me she showed her students Steve Jobs’s 2005 commencement speech at Stanford, in which he describes how he dropped out of college and studied calligraphy. Calligraphy seemed fascinating but pointless at the time, but years later it became the basis for the fonts in Apple computers. Jobs offered this as proof that, when you follow your passion, all your strange choices eventually make sense, and the great narrative of your life emerges.

通常情況下，法國人就連儀式也不舉辦;文憑通過郵件送達。在法國頂級學府巴黎政治學院(Sciences Po)，一名教員告訴我，她給自己的學生看了史蒂夫·喬布斯(Steve Jobs)2005年在斯坦福大學所做的畢業(yè)演講。他講述了自己如何從大學輟學并學習了書法的故事。那時候，書法看似美好，卻毫無意義，不過幾年后，它成為了蘋果電腦的字體的基礎。喬布斯把這件事作為例子，證明當你追隨自己的愛好時，所做的各種奇怪選擇最終都會發(fā)揮作用，共同打造出你人生的偉大篇章。

The Sciences Po instructor said that her French students were unmoved by this speech, calling it “completely disconnected from reality” and “so Californian.”

巴黎政治學院的那位教員說，她的法國學生對這個演講無動于衷，稱之為“完全與現(xiàn)實脫節(jié)”，“加利福利亞色彩太濃”。

All this put me in a tricky spot. The whole point of a commencement speech is to say something encouraging. The ones I watched typically boiled down to: Yes, you can. Here’s how.

因為這些原因，我感覺有些棘手。畢業(yè)典禮演講的關鍵是說一些勵志的話。而我觀看的那些演講基本可以歸結為：是的，你可以，原因如下。

But I was in Paris, speaking to a graduating class that was only a quarter American. If I said anything too uplifting, I’d seem deluded. A French commencement speech would probably boil down to: No, you can’t. It’s not possible. Don’t even try.

但我是在巴黎，聽演講的畢業(yè)班學生中只有四分之一是美國人。如果說了一些太過令人心潮澎湃的話，那會讓我顯得在忽悠人。一個法國式的畢業(yè)典禮演講很可能會歸結為：不，你不能;這是不可能的;想都別想。

So I based my talk on a common French expression that’s optimistic, but not grandiose: Vous allez trouver votre place. You will find your place. I’ve always liked this idea that, somewhere in the world, there’s a gap shaped just like you. Once you find it, you’ll slide right in.

所以，我把這個演講的基調定位在一個常見的法國說法上，樂觀而不浮夸：Vous allez trouver votre place，意思是，你會找到自己的位置。我一直很喜歡這個說法，在世界上的某個地方，有個地方正好適合你。一旦找到它，你就會安然嵌入。

That still left a critical question: How do you find this place? This is especially relevant for creative types, who often won’t have a clear career sequence to follow. They’re not trying to become vice president of something. They’re the something. They’ll probably spend lots of time alone in rooms, struggling to make things.

仍然有一個關鍵問題有待解決：你怎樣才能找到這個地方?對于身處創(chuàng)意領域的人，這一點特別重要，因為他們往往不會有一條明確的職業(yè)道路可以遵循。他們并不想成為什么東西的副總裁，而是自成一格。他們很可能會花很多時間獨自待在房間里，拼命要做些東西出來。

As someone who’s spent years in such rooms, I offered this advice. It applies to many nonartistic jobs, too:

作為在這種房間里待過多年的人，我提出了下面的建議。它同樣適用于很多非藝術類型的工作：

Stay in the room. It needn’t be an actual room. You can be alone in a busy cafe. I’ve gotten some of my best ideas while walking, or riding the Paris Metro (I recommend Line 8). I’ve never gotten a good idea while checking Twitter or shopping.

留在房間里。它不必是一個實際的房間。在繁忙的咖啡館里，你也可以獨自一人。我的一些最好的點子是在步行或乘坐巴黎地鐵(推薦8號線)時冒出來的。我從來沒有在查看Twitter或購物的時候想出過任何好點子。

You need to be blank, and even a little bit bored, for your brain to feed you ideas. The poet Wendell Berry wrote that in solitude, “one’s inner voices become audible.” Figure out your clearest, most productive time of day to work, and guard this time carefully.

你需要一片空白，甚至有點無聊，這樣大腦才能為你提供想法。詩人溫德爾·貝里(Wendell Berry)曾寫道，獨處時“才能聽見內心的聲音”。找出你一天當中最清醒、最有效率的時間，在這段時間里工作，并且要悉心保護它。

Always carry a pen, a paper notebook and something good to read. A lot of life consists of the dead time in between events. Don’t fill these interstitial moments with pornography and cat videos. Fill them with things that feed your work and your soul.

隨時帶上筆、紙質筆記本和可以讀的佳作。生活中有很多事件之間的零散時間。不要用這些間歇來看色情或寵物視頻。用它們來做些有助于創(chuàng)作和心靈的事情。

Your first attempt will be terrible. A large part of the creative process is tolerating the gap between the glorious image you had in your mind, and the sad thing you’ve just made. Remember that everything great you see started out as someone else’s bad first draft. Version No. 20 of your work may still not be brilliant. But version No. 1 almost definitely won’t be. And if you think it is, look again. Whenever someone sends me a manuscript and says, “It just flowed out of me,” I usually think: Let it flow back into you for a while.

首次嘗試會很差勁。創(chuàng)作過程中的一大塊內容，是忍受腦海里設想的光輝景象同你剛剛完成的作品之間的鴻溝。記住，你所看到的一切偉大的作品，剛開始都是某個人糟糕的初稿。做到第20遍，你的作品可能依然不出色，不過第一個版本幾乎都肯定不太好。如果你認為初稿非常棒，那么再瞧上一瞧。不管什么時候，如果有人寄給我一份手稿并且說，“腦海里一想到，我就寫出來了”，那我通常的反應是，讓它回到你腦子再待會兒吧。

Everything that happens is potential inspiration. Or as Nora Ephron reminded us, “Everything is copy.” When someone tells you a story, you notice a recurring theme in conversations, or you turn a corner and see something that moves you — use it. In fact, when you’re deep into a project, information about it will pour into your life. Write your thoughts down immediately. One of the great joys of a creative life is that your observations and loose moments aren’t lost forever; they live in your work.

萬事萬物都是潛在的靈感?；蛘哂弥Z拉·艾芙隆(Nora Ephron)提醒我們的話說，“一切都是復制品。”當有人給你講了個故事，你在談話中注意到了一個反復出現(xiàn)的主題，或是你在行進中拐個彎，就看到了打動自己的東西——在這樣的時刻，就把它們利用起來。事實上，當你深入某個項目中去時，與之相關的信息將源源不斷地涌入你的生活。立即把想法寫下來。創(chuàng)意生涯的一大樂趣就是，你的觀察和閑散時刻不會永久性地消失，而是會活在你的作品里。

Pay attention to what you’re doing on the side. I started my writing career as a financial journalist. On the side, I took samba-dancing lessons, and eventually wrote a first-person article about this experience. It was the first piece I’d written that lit me up inside. Though it took years before I got to write that way for a living, I had found my place, the tiny hole in the universe shaped like me.

重視你在常規(guī)工作之外的活動。開啟寫作生涯時，我還是一名金融記者。工作之余，我上了桑巴舞課，最終以第一人稱記錄了這一經歷。那是我寫的第一篇點燃了內心激情的文章。盡管多年后才開始以這類寫作為生，但我已經找到了自己的位置，找到了宇宙中那個與我契合的小地方。

It’s O.K. to be an obsessive. Three or four days before any deadline, I descend into a frenzy. I barely see my children. I stay up late panicking, eating cookies and vowing to change professions. My husband once asked: “Does it always have to be a herculean extravaganza? Can’t writing be a normal job, where you wake up, calmly do it and then go home?”

有點強迫癥沒什么。在離截稿日期還有三四天時，我會陷入瘋狂。我對孩子視而不見，會熬夜到很晚，一直驚慌失措、吃餅干并發(fā)誓要換職業(yè)。丈夫曾經問我：“寫作必須永遠是一件勞心傷神、令人抓狂的事情嗎?它就不能是一份可以讓你正常起床、平靜做事然后回家的普通工作嗎?”

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Creative work isn’t a regular job. Sure, eventually your skills improve and you get better at structure. You learn to compress the process. But it’s still a herculean extravaganza. A journalist I know calls this being “deadliney.” I now accept that I’ll gain a kilogram per column.

遺憾的是，不能。創(chuàng)造性的工作不是常規(guī)工作。當然，最終你的技巧會有所提升，能更好地布局構造你的作品。你會學到如何壓縮這個過程。但它依然是一份勞心傷神、令人抓狂的工作。我認識的一個記者將其稱作“截稿日期狀態(tài)”。我現(xiàn)在已經接受一個專欄胖一公斤的說法了。

I’ve also forgiven myself for being an obsessive. The comedian Louis C.K. said, “Anything you do should be better than anything you did before.” Your bosses and clients will always expect you to deliver good work. You’re the only one who will care enough to make it great work.

我也原諒了自己是一個強迫癥患者。喜劇演員路易斯·C·K(Louis C K)說過，“你做的一切，都應該比之前做過的更好。”老板和客戶總是希望你給出好的作品，而你自己是唯一一個足夠重視，希望它成為出色作品的人。

This herculean extravaganza is totally worth it. For most people, getting married or having a baby are the peak moments in their lives. But when some mysterious place in you churns up a book, or a dress, or a scent, or a graphic design, and other people respond to it, that’s a peak moment, too. As a creative person, you get to commune with the universe for a living.

這種勞心傷神，令人抓狂的狀態(tài)是完全值得的。對大部分人來說，結婚或生子是他們人生的巔峰時刻。但當你內心某個神秘的地方構思出了一本書、一條裙子、一款香水、一種平面設計，并且其他人給出了回應時，這也是一種巔峰時刻。作為一個有創(chuàng)造性的人，你要以與宇宙融為一體為生。

I ended the speech with some advice from my husband. It’s the only crucial take-away: When you get out of a taxi or a bus, look back to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. Because if you lose your portfolio, you won’t get the job.

在演講的最后，我分享了丈夫的一個建議。這才是學生們唯一需要記住的：下出租車或公交車時，回頭看一眼，確保沒有落下什么。因為如果弄丟了代表作品集，你就得不到工作了。

Congratulations to the world’s graduates. And may you all find your place.

祝賀全世界的畢業(yè)生。愿你們都能找到自己的位置。