If there is anything in my life so far that I think is the most important thing I have realized, it is that human life is like the value of investment goods, and there is mean regression. That mean value is the deepest impulse in your heart, your true desire, and what kind of person you are.
My growth experience, if you exclude the things that are not important in the future because of poor discipline, puppy love, skipping classes, fighting, and breaking your leg because of playing ball, it is actually a very standard growth experience of Chinese students. Enter the best elementary school, the best middle school, rank in the top 10 in the high school entrance examination area, and the score in the college entrance examination is also enough to be ranked in the first echelon. After that, I dropped out of Fudan University and went abroad, and I went to the best universities in North America.
Walking on this road, until I was in college, I always believed that the social pyramid is formed by such layer-by-layer screening. Indeed, at least from the perspective of students on a campus, the failures of the high school entrance examination, the failures of the college entrance examination, the international students who went to study abroad to a lesser-known university. Compared with their peers studying at Harvard, they were excluded from a certain possibility. This kind of cruel single-plank bridge is the reason why every one of us has been spurred on for so many years.
After graduation, at first, the parents were classmates of dignitaries, and they went to take over the family business. Students who graduated from Harvard went to top tier investment banks, students who graduated from Tsinghua University and Peking University went to well-known securities companies, and students who graduated from unknown universities went to an unknown company to get a job. With a monthly salary of several hundred dollars, all of this is logical and in line with the setting.
Over the next few years, things slowly became a little strange. Some people who had excellent grades in school and went to investment banking according to their expectations after graduation, gradually couldn't take it anymore, left this industry to work in other industries with less pressure, and lived a stable life in the United States. Some students with mediocre educational backgrounds, but who were particularly "tossing" when they were in school, returned to China to start their own businesses, and now they have achieved some success. Some took over their parents’ business but couldn’t keep going, and some eventually sold the company or closed down; there are also some who have no background, who are diligent in their own writing after work, and now they have become well-known authors.
In a society where the degree of economic freedom is getting higher and higher, and the concrete threshold is less and less restricting a person's development, what exactly determines the path you want to take?
What is it that makes some people who looked particularly outstanding in their student days become extraordinary people later, and makes some people who seemed ordinary at that time do things that seem to surpass their level? . I think there is no difference between today and two thousand years ago. That's what you crave.
One point I have to make is that I am not here to judge anyone's life choices. The greatest happiness in life is wish come true. Whether it is a plain life or a fierce struggle, as long as you get what you want in the end, all life is worth being blessed. But what I finally understand is that the "screening" at any stage of life is just a form, don't be confused by these temporary standards. What defines your final destination must be the real you that combines your abilities and desires. Because even if you graduate with excellent grades and get a high-paying and high-stress job, if you are a less ambitious person, you will be pressured to leave the job sooner or later; Members, if your favorite thing is writing, then sooner or later, you will use your spare time to drive yourself to create because of your love. Maybe what you get at work is your paycheck, but your life is in your writing.
Most people should believe that if a poet becomes an official, he will still roam the world one day. Why? Because it is impossible for a person full of romantic feelings to kill the poetic and picturesque feelings in his heart just because of the rules.
So, later on, when I meet fresh graduates who want to work in this industry every year, I always like to ask such questions like countless predecessors: Why do you like to do finance? Which subdivision of finance do you like? Why do you like this segment? What do you think this industry will bring you?
I also heard the following answers again and again: "Finance is exciting and can change the world", "Finance requires a mathematical mind, I am good at mathematics", "Finance makes a lot of money and is a decent job", "I like M&A, a gut feeling" and so on.
Of course, occasionally one or two people will tell me their knowledge and understanding of the industry, and tell me what things in their genes are suitable for this industry.
The first kind of people makes me dumbfounded, and the second kind of people, even if their answers are not so comprehensive and correct, even if there are some pretentiousness in their answers, I still think their love and desire for this job are far more than the first kind. Humanoids are much stronger, and they'll probably survive better in this industry. Because when you find that the essence of this industry has nothing to do with the excitement that determines the world in the movie and the grandeur, there must be something else that makes you willing to do this job. Because no matter how high the salary the financial industry can offer you, I believe that sooner or later there will be a moment when you will find that the Marginal Utility of money is not as good as having a happy dinner with your wife after get off work every day, or spending five months traveling around the world , it is better to write a program or a novel. Doing 80% of one thing may be because of money, but doing one thing to the extreme must have nothing to do with money.
Another thing that comes to mind is living in Vancouver for a few summers during those years in North America. One summer evening, I was sitting at the gate of my yard, watching my nephew and niece, who were only six or seven years old, chasing and playing with the neighbor’s children in the driveway. When the sun sets, the whole sky is red. In summer, Vancouver is not hot at all. The afterglow of the setting sun shines on me, making me feel warm. At that moment, the idle life in Vancouver seemed to accumulate and suddenly slapped on my heart. I feel like an old man, walking the dog, cooking, playing cards with friends, and spending time with children in this place with snow-capped mountains and the sea every day.
I think a lot of people living in overseas cities have felt similarly. Vancouver, Melbourne, and Orange County, these places are like huge nursing homes, where the entire city sits peacefully, in stark contrast to places like Beijing, Shanghai, and New York, where every second counts. I also guess that many Chinese people have struggled all their lives hoping to escape from China's oppressive society. But on that picturesque summer evening, my only thought was that I was going to escape. I'm not yet 25 years old, I want to leave this place, I still want to do something, I still want to do whatever, but I don't want to be still.
When I got the job offer and went back to China, I knew it might not be a good choice, but it was the right choice for me at the time. Because of this step, I know what the new me wants next, instead of being trapped in the old me.
Back to the question. I think the vast majority of Chinese students look back on their days in school, or even the days when they entered the society. What they should regret most is that they were not told from the very beginning that the most important thing in life is how to know themselves clearly. Who am I, what is my personality, what are my strengths and weaknesses, what am I suitable for, what kind of lifestyle do I like or dislike. This is the biggest deficiency in the current education system. Brutal social pressure forces us to obtain social resources by copying the so-called successful path, while completely ignoring that people's inner kinetic energy is the fundamental factor that determines your position.
These things will ultimately determine what you are willing to fight for, your enthusiasm and sense of responsibility for a career, your comfortable position, and the meaning of your life.
The most important thing is that the answers to these questions are very complicated, and the answers to these questions may not be immediately available. The answers to these questions are still changing. These questions require you to compare yourself with the world, to keep asking, and to keep asking. Shape after questioning.
It takes a long time, there will be a lot of repetitions, you will not know yourself, and you will constantly re-know yourself.
Secular choices will always give those who work hard an entrance, and they will always give those who want to leave an exit, but you have to pay the corresponding price. Well, the sooner you start knowing yourself, the better, because the sooner you can choose at a lower cost whether you should leave or stay.
Comments
Post a Comment