When you're shooting for the sky,
Borders become irrelevant!
Lessons about taking risks from one of the worlds most inventive scientists
By Nick Jones
当你的目标是整片天空，
边界便变得不再重要
来自世界上最具创造力的科学家之一的经验教训
在职业生涯中，每个企业家都必须做出一个关键决定。是扩展，还是保持可管理的小规模？历史不断证明，你不会因为你未尝试的事情而获得回报。塞尔维亚科学家尼古拉•特斯拉（Nikola Tesla）出生在18世纪中期奥地利一个小村庄，那里只有两个可以期待的职业......要么成为教堂牧师，要么加入军队。对于大多数人来说，任何一种科学工作都是遥不可及的，然而，尼古拉内心深处知道，他有天生的才能来解释大自然的奇迹。让我们来看看世界上最具创新精神的科学家之一，可以学到什么叫从未知中获得重要的飞跃。
“这是荒谬的，但的确是事实，我们知道得越多，我们就越无知......只有通过启蒙，我们才能意识到自己的局限。”只有通过个人经验，我们才能成长。如今的科学家已经用数学代替了实验，他们不断徘徊在等式中，并最终建立了一个与现实无关的结构。”我们可以根据需要研究上升趋势，关注市场中的情况，但无论我们准备和研究多少，一个简单的生活经验就是不是所有事情都会按照计划进行。保持现状似乎是安全的，但事实是，时间流逝也是一种变化！如果你不随着时代而改变，那么你将落后，因为每个人都已经继续前进。
“我不认为有任何能和发明者一样的心情......这种情绪会让人忘记食物，睡觉，朋友，爱情，一切。”如果你只是想要避免风险，那么小而可管理的公司会是你最好的选择。但如果你对你的业务有一个非常具体的愿景，那么你总会问“为什么我不这样做”。着名的丹麦哲学家Soren Kierkegaard有这样一句话：“结婚，你会后悔的;不结婚，你也会后悔......”。他的意思是，如果你不尝试，你永远都会幻想如果当时做了会是怎么样的情况。但是如果你确实尝试了，而结果不如人意，那么你也会感到后悔，但你不会在余生中不断怀疑自己的决定。你的思想可以转向不同的事物。采取行动永远是最好的决定 。就像特斯拉所说的那样，没有比看到你的想法变成现实更快乐了。
“让未来说实话，通过每个人的工作以及成就评价他。当下是别人的;而未来是我的。”人生的另一个真相是它没有偏见。如果你的想法符合市场需求，并在适当的时间和地点实行，那么您所需要的就是满足这些需求。 如果你的想法看起来似乎不合理，那么要么尝试解决它，要么就忘记它。但是，如果你只是不确定，那么你就是在怀疑自己，这是没有用的。我们内心的声音往往具有良好的意图，但有时会使我们无法做出任何决定。在这些情况下，你需要克服你内心的声音并实现命运的飞跃。
In their professional career, every entrepreneur is bound to make one key decision. Should one expand, or keep things manageable and small scale? Understandable concern, but, as it is proven time and time again, you cannot be rewarded for a leap of fate which you did not make. One person that could have easily said that things are just "out of his reach" is a Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla. He was born in a small village in Austria in the mid 18th century, where there were only two occupations a child could look forward to - either become a church priest or join the military. Any kind of scientific work was out of reach for most of the people, and yet, Nikola knew deep within him that he had an innate talent for figuring out nature's wonders.Let's see what can we learn about taking important leaps into the unknown from one of the worlds most innovative scientists.
"It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become... it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations.." Only through personal experience can we grow. Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander between equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality. We can research the rising trends as much as we want, watch for the situation in the marketplace, but no matter how much we prepare and research, one simple rule of life is that things are bound to spiral out of control for reasons we couldn't have planned for. Sure, it may seem safe to just keep things as they are but the thing is, the very fact of time passing is also a change! And if you don't change with the times there will once come a time when you will be required to adopt and catch up, because everyone has moved on.
"I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of his brain unfolding to success... such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything." If this stands, then the opposite is true when you don't end up seeing your ideas come to life. You may think that by keeping things small and manageable, you're playing it safe. And if remaining sustainable without much risks is your goal, then you are right... But if you have a very specific vision for your business, then you will always think to yourself "why didn't I do this".
Famous Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, had this saying: "Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it...". By that, he means that, if you don't try and make your ideas come true, you will always wonder what would've happened. But if you did try, and it didn't turn out so great after all, then you would also have regrets, but you wouldn't wonder for the rest of your life. Your mind could move on to different things. In the end, it's always better to act things out, than to forever think about them. Like Tesla said, there is no greater joy than seeing your ideas come to life.
"Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine." Another fact of life is that it is not biased. If your idea fits the needs of the market, is occurring at the right time and place, then all it takes for you is to deliver on those needs. Remaining in the safe zone until the right time comes may feel like the right decision for now but always keep in mind, you cannot interpret events looking forward, but only looking backward. Things need to happen first, in order for you to interpret them. Your guess is as good as any, which is why you need to make that one leap in order to see what the future holds in store for you. If your idea doesn't seem plausible what so ever, then either try and work it out or just forget it. But, if you're just not sure, then you're second-guessing yourself, and that isn't helpful. That inner second-guessing voice in us has good intentions, but it works in ways which can sometimes paralyze us to a point where we can't make any decision. In those cases, you need to overcome that voice in you and take that one leap of fate.
