What I wanted was to have an interesting, diverse life filled with lots of learning—and especially meaningful work and meaningful relationships. I feel that I have gotten these in abundance and I am happy. And I feel that I got what I wanted by following the same basic approach I used as a 12-year-old caddie trying to beat the market, i.e., by 1) working for what I wanted, not for what others wanted me to do; 2) coming up with the best independent opinions I could muster to move toward my goals; 3) stress - testing my opinions by having the smartest people I could find challenge them so I could find out where I was wrong; 4) being wary about overconfidence, and good at not knowing; and 5) wrestling with reality, experiencing the results of my decisions, and reflecting on what I did to produce them so that I could improve. I believe that by following this approach I moved faster to my goals by learning a lot more than if I hadn’t followed it.

我渴望的是生活充满趣事，多姿多彩，不断学习，能做有意义的工作，能认识可交之人。我认为，能常常满足这些条件，我就很开心了。我还发现，从我是个12岁的球童到现在，我击败市场一直都使用的是同一套方法：1）我干我自己想做的事情，而非他人逼迫我为之；2）我把我能想到的最好的、独立的观点汇聚到一起，用以实现我的目标；3）把我认识最聪明的人找来帮我挑毛病，找出我观点中错误的地方；4）我不敢太过自信，但很善于面对“不知”；5）我同现实展开斗争，反思为什么会产生这种结果，从中学习与提高。

Here are the most important principles that I learned along the way.

来谈谈一路走来，我觉得最重要的一些原则吧

My Most Fundamental Principles

我最重要的根本原则

In pursuing my goals I encountered realities, often in the form of problems, and I had to make decisions. I found that if I accepted the realities rather than wished that they didn’t exist and if I learned how to work with them rather than fight them, I could figure out how to get to my goals. It might take repeated tries, and seeking the input of others, but I could eventually get there. As a result, I have become someone who believes that we need to deeply understand, accept, and work with reality in order to get what we want out of life. Whether it is knowing how peoplereallythink and behave when dealing with them, or how thingsreallywork on a material level—so that if we do X then Y will happen—understanding reality gives us the power to get what we want out of life, or at least to dramatically improve our odds of success. In other words, I have become a “hyperrealist.”

追求梦想的征途中，我与现实中遇到的问题激烈碰撞，不得不做出各种决策。我发现，与其整日幻想这些问题不存在或与之抗争，还不如实事求是，寻找解决方案，这样倒能更快找到实现目标的路。可能要反复尝试，汲取他人智慧，但最终总能实现梦想。久而久之，我深信要理解现实，接受现实，与现实合作，寻找解决办法，才能实现梦想。无论是了解他人的真实想法与行为，还是事物在物质层面的真实原理，如我们做甲那么乙就会发生，理解现实都会赋予我们力量，助我们实现梦想，至少可以提高成功的几率。换句话说，我成了一名“高度写实主义者”。

When I say I’m a hyperrealist, people sometimes think I don’t believe in making dreams happen. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, I believe that without pursuing dreams, life is mundane. I am just saying that I believe hyperrealism is the best way to choose and achieve one’s dreams. The people who really change the world are the ones who see what’s possible and figure out how to make that happen. I believe that dreamers who simply imagine things that would be nice but are not possible don’t sufficiently appreciate the laws of the universe to understand the true implications of their desires, much less how to achieve them.

提到“高度写实主义者”，就有人以为我不相信梦想可以变为现实，恰恰相反，事实上，我认为生活没有梦想是寡然无味的。我强调的是，选择梦想与实现梦想，通过高度写实主义是最好的办法。真正改变世界的人，能发现什么梦想是有可能实现的，并能指出可行之道。而真正的空想家成天幻想一些不切实际的美好事物，不考虑宇宙规则，无法深刻理解自身愿望的真实内涵，更别提实现他们的想法了。

Let me explain what I mean.

我来解释一下：

I believe there are an infinite number of laws of the universe and that all progress or dreams achieved come from operating in a way that’s consistent with them. These laws and the principles of how to operate in harmony with them have always existed. We were given these laws by nature. Man didn’t and can’t make them up. He can only hope to understand them and use them to get what he wants. For example, the ability to fly or to send cellular phone signals imperceptibly and instantaneously around the world or any other new and beneficial developments resulted from understanding and using previously existing laws of the universe. These inventions did not come from people who were not well-grounded in reality. 17The same is true for economic, political, and social systems that work. Success is achieved by people who deeply understand reality and know how to use it to get what they want. The converse is also true: idealists who are not well-grounded in reality create problems, not progress. For example, communism was a system created by people with good intentions who failed to recognize that their idealistic system was inconsistent with human nature. As a result, they caused more harm than good.

我认为宇宙拥有无限多规则，实现一切梦想与进步都得遵循这些规则，如何遵循也是有定律有原则可循的，这些定律一直都存在，不是人为制定的。人们只能理解并用好这些规则实现梦想。举个例子吧，想飞翔，想在全球发射即时微感的手机讯号或别的什么有利于发展的新发明，都得深刻理解宇宙已经存在的基本规律。不脚踏实地、实事求是的人是无法创造发明新事物的。制定经济、政治、社会新制度也是如此。实事求是，基于现实来实现梦想，才能成功。反之亦然：不脚踏实地实事求是的理想主义者只会制造麻烦，而不会带来进步。举例来说，创造共产主义的人初衷是好的，但没意识到他们设想的理想体制同人类的本性是不相符的，所以他们带来的麻烦比好处要多。

I recognize that sometimes a discovery is made by accident, but the discovery is of some basic underlying principle that creates understanding of a cause-effect relationship that leads to a desired result.

我认为有时候，一项新的发现可能是偶然事件，但新的发现都具备基本的潜在原则，这些原则建立了因果关系，相应的结果也就顺理成章了。

This brings me to my most fundamental principle:

这就引出了我想谈的最根本原则：

Truth — more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality — is the essential foundation for producing good outcomes.

真相 —— 具体来说，就是精准理解现实 —— 这是达成良好结果的最重要根基。