The little risks you can take to increase your luck | Tina Seelig

Translator: Polona Ramšak Reviewer: Nika Kotnik

I've spent nearly two decades

Skoraj dve desetletji

observing what makes people luckier than others

že opazujem, kaj dela ljudi srečnejše kot druge,

and trying to help people increase their luck.

in poskušam pomagati ljudem imeti več sreče.

You see, I teach entrepreneurship,

Veste, poučujem podjetništvo

and we all know that most new ventures fail,

in vsi vemo, da večina novih naložb propade

and innovators and entrepreneurs need all the luck they can get.

in da potrebujejo inovatorji in podjetniki res veliko sreče.

Kaj torej je sreča?

So what is luck?

Luck is defined as success or failure apparently caused by chance.

Sreča se definira kot uspeh ali neuspeh, ki ju, kot kaže, sproži naključje.

Apparently.

Kot kaže.

That's the operative word.

To je izraz, s katerim operiramo.

It looks like it's chance

Izgleda kot srečno naključje, ker redko

because we rarely see all the levers that come into play to make people lucky.

vidimo vse vzvode, ki odigrajo svojo vlogo, da imajo ljudje srečo.

But I've realized, by watching so long,

A z dolgim opazovanjem sem ugotovila,

that luck is rarely a lightning strike,

da je sreča redko udarec strele,

isolated and dramatic.

izolirana in dramatična.

It's much more like the wind,

Je bolj kot veter,

blowing constantly.

ki nenehno piha.

Sometimes it's calm,

Včasih je miren,

and sometimes it blows in gusts,

včasih piha sunkovito

and sometimes it comes from directions that you didn't even imagine.

in včasih pride iz smeri, ki si jo nisi predstavljal.

So how do you catch the winds of luck?

Kako torej ujeti veter sreče?

It's easy, but it's not obvious.

Lahko, a ne očitno.

So I'm going to share three things with you

Z vami bom delila tri stvari, ki jih lahko storite,

that you can do to build a sail to capture the winds of luck.

da boste zgradili jadro, s katerim boste ujeli veter sreče.

The first thing you want to do

Prva stvar, ki jo morate narediti,

is to change your relationship with yourself.

je, da spremenite odnos s samim seboj.

Be willing to take small risks that get you out of your comfort zone.

Pripravite se na majhna tveganja, s katerimi boste šli iz cone udobja.

Now, when we're children, we do this all the time.

Ko smo otroci, to počnemo ves čas.

We have to do this if we're going to learn how to walk or talk

To moramo početi, če se želimo naučiti hoditi ali govoriti

or ride a bike

ali voziti kolo

or even quantum mechanics. Right?

ali celo kvantne mehanike, kajne?

We need to go from someone one week who doesn't ride a bike

Moramo se premakniti od nekoga, ki ta teden ne zna kolesariti,

to, next week, someone who does.

do tistega naslednji teden, ki zna.

And this requires us to get out of our comfort zone

In to od nas zahteva premik iz cone udobja

and take some risks.

in tveganje.

The problem is, as we get older,

Problem je, da ko smo starejši,

we rarely do this.

to redko počnemo.

We sort of lock down the sense of who we are

Nekako zaklenemo svoj občutek za nas same

and don't stretch anymore.

in se več ne pretegnemo.

Now, with my students,

Svoje študente

I spend a lot of time giving them encouragement

veliko časa opogumljam,

to get out of their comfort zone and take some risks.

naj se premaknejo iz cone udobja in malo tvegajo.

How do I do this?

Kako to naredim?

Well, I start out by having them fill out a risk-o-meter.

Začnem tako, da morajo izpolniti merilec tveganja.

Now, it's basically a fun thing we developed in our class

To je v bistvu zabavna stvar, ki smo jo razvili pri pouku,

where they map out what risks they're willing to take.

v kateri zabeležijo, na katera tveganja so pripravljeni.

And it becomes clear very quickly to them

Zelo hitro jim postane jasno,

that risk-taking is not binary.

da tveganje ni binarno.

There are intellectual risks and physical risks and financial risks

Obstajajo intelektualna tveganja, fizična in finančna tveganja,

and emotional risks and social risks and ethical risks and political risks.

čustvena in socialna in etična in politična tveganja.

And once they do this, they compare their risk profiles with others,

Ko to končajo, primerjajo svoj profil tveganja z drugimi

and they quickly realize that they're all really different.

in se kmalu zavejo, da so si zelo različni.

I then encourage them to stretch,

Nato jih vzpodbudim, naj se še malo potrudijo

to take some risks that get them out of their comfort zone.

in se lotijo tveganj, ki jih bodo premaknila iz cone udobja.

For example, I might ask them to do an intellectual risk

Prosim jih na primer, naj se lotijo intelektualnega tveganja

and try to tackle a problem they haven't tried before;

in naj se poskusijo spopasti s problemom, s katerim se še niso,

or a social risk, talking to someone sitting next to them on the train;

ali pa socialnega tveganja, da govorijo z nekom, ki sedi ob njih na vlaku,

or an emotional risk,

ali pa čustvenega tveganja,

maybe telling someone they really care about how they feel.

da mogoče nekomu povedo, da jim ni vseeno, kako čutijo.

I do this myself all the time.

Jaz to počnem kar naprej.

About a dozen years ago, I was on an airplane,

Pred kakimi dvanajstimi leti sem bila na letalu

early, early morning flight on my way to Ecuador.

zgodaj zgodaj zjutraj na poti v Ekvador.

And normally, I would just put on my headphones

Normalno bi si nadela slušalke

and go to sleep, wake up, do some work,

in zaspala, se zbudila, malo delala,

but I decided to take a little risk,

a odločila sem se za majhno tveganje

and I started a conversation with the man sitting next to me.

in se začela pogovarjati z moškim, ki je sedel poleg mene.

I introduced myself, and I learned that he was a publisher.

Predstavila sem se mu in ugotovila, da je založnik.

Interesting.

Zanimivo.

We ended up having a fascinating conversation.

Na koncu sva se fascinantno pogovarjala.

I learned all about the future of the publishing industry.

Izvedela sem vse o prihodnosti založniške industrije.

So about three quarters of the way through the flight,

Nekje na tretji četrtini poleta

I decided to take another risk,

sem se odločila še malo tvegati.

and I opened up my laptop and I shared with him a book proposal

Odprla sem svoj prenosnik in z njim delila predlog za knjigo,

I put together for something I was doing in my class.

nekaj, kar sem napisala za pouk.

And he was very polite, he read it,

Bil je zelo vljuden, prebral ga je

and he said, "You know what, Tina, this isn't right for us,

in rekel: "Veš kaj, Tina, to za nas ne pride v poštev,

but thank you so much for sharing."

a hvala, ker si mi ga pokazala."

It's OK. That risk didn't work out.

V redu je. To tveganje se ni splačalo.

I shut my laptop.

Zaprla sem svoj prenosnik.

At the end of the flight, we exchanged contact information.

Na koncu poleta sva izmenjala kontaktne podatke.

A couple of months later, I reached out to him,

Nekaj mesecev kasneje sem ga kontaktirala

and I said, "Mark, would you like to come to my class?

in rekla: "Mark, bi prišel k mojemu pouku?

I'm doing a project on reinventing the book,

Delam na projektu o ponovnem odkritju knjige,

the future of publishing."

prihodnosti založništva."

And he said, "Great. I'd love to come."

In rekel je: "Super, z veseljem."

So he came to my class. We had a great experience.

Prišel je k mojemu pouku in bila je res lepa izkušnja.

A few months later, I wrote to him again.

Čez nekaj mesecev sem mu spet pisala.

This time, I sent him a bunch of video clips

Tokrat sem mu poslala kup videoposnetkov

from another project my students had done.

nekega drugega projekta svojih študentov.

He was so intrigued

Eden od projektov študentov

by one of the projects the students had done,

ga je tako zelo zanimal,

he thought there might be a book in it,

da je mislil, da bi lahko naredil knjigo,

and he wanted to meet those students.

in želel je srečati te študente.

I have to tell you, I was a little bit hurt.

Moram povedati, da sem bila malce prizadeta.

(Laughter)

(smeh)

I mean, he wanted to do a book with my students and not with me,

Mislim, hotel je izdati knjigo z mojimi študenti, ne z menoj,

but OK, it's all right.

a dobro, je že v redu.

So I invited him to come down, and he and his colleagues came to Stanford

Povabila sem ga, naj pride, in s kolegi je prišli v Stanford

and met with the students, and afterwards, we had lunch together.

in se spoznali s študenti in potem smo skupaj kosili.

And one of his editors said to me,

Eden od njegovih urednikov mi je rekel:

"Hey, have you ever considered writing a book?"

"Hej, si že kdaj razmišljala, da bi napisala knjigo?"

I said, "Funny you should ask."

Rekla sem: "Smešno, da si to vprašal."

And I pulled out the exact same proposal

In izvlekla sem isti predlog za knjigo,

that I had showed his boss a year earlier.

ki sem ga pred letom dni pokazala njegovemu šefu.

Within two weeks, I had a contract,

Čez dva tedna sem imela pogodbo

and within two years, the book had sold over a million copies around the world.

in čez dve leti so prodali več kot milijon izvodov knjige po vsem svetu.

(Applause)

(aplavz)

Now, you might say,

No, lahko bi rekli:

"Oh, you're so lucky."

"Ti pa res imaš srečo."

But of course I was lucky,

Seveda sem jo imela,

but that luck resulted from a series of small risks I took,

a ta sreča je bila rezultat serije majhnih tveganj,

starting with saying hello.

začenši z pozdravom.

And anyone can do this,

In to lahko stori kdor koli,

no matter where you are in your life,

ne glede na to, kje ste v življenju,

no matter where you are in the world --

ne glede na to, kje na svetu ste,

even if you think you're the most unlucky person,

tudi če mislite, da imate najmanj sreče na svetu.

you can do this by taking little risks that get you out of your comfort zone.

To lahko storite z majhnimi tveganji, ki vas bodo potegnila iz cone udobja.

You start building a sail to capture luck.

Začnite graditi jadro, s katerim boste ujeli srečo.

The second thing you want to do

Druga stvar, ki bi rada, da jo naredite,

is to change your relationship with other people.

je, da spremenite svoj odnos do drugih.

You need to understand that everyone who helps you on your journey

Razumeti morate, da vsakdo, ki vam pomaga na vaši poti,

is playing a huge role in getting you to your goals.

igra ogromno vlogo v doseganju vaših ciljev.

And if you don't show appreciation,

In če ne pokažete hvaležnosti,

not only are you not closing the loop,

ne le da ne staknete kroga,

but you're missing an opportunity.

ampak izgubljate priložnosti.

When someone does something for you,

Ko nekdo nekaj stori za vas,

they're taking that time

si vzame čas,

that they could be spending on themselves or someone else,

ki bi ga lahko porabil zase ali za koga drugega,

and you need to acknowledge what they're doing.

in to mu morate priznati.

Now, I run three fellowship programs at Stanford,

Vodim program treh štipendij na Stanfordu

and they are very competitive to get into,

in ljudje vedno tekmujejo, da bi prišli zraven.

and when I send out the letters to those students who don't get in,

Ko razpošljem pisma tistim študentom, ki jim ni uspelo,

I always know there are going to be people who are disappointed.

vedno vem, da bodo nekateri razočarani.

Some of the people who are disappointed send me notes, complaining.

Nekateri od razočaranih mi pošljejo pismo in se pritožijo.

Some of them send notes

Nekateri mi pošljejo pismo

saying what could I do to make myself more successful next time around?

in vprašajo, kaj lahko storijo, da bodo naslednjič bolj uspešni.

And every once in a while,

Vsake toliko časa

someone sends me a note thanking me for the opportunity.

mi kdo pošlje pismo, v katerem se mi zahvali za priložnost.

To se mi je zgodilo pred sedmimi leti.

This happened about seven years ago.

A young man named Brian sent me a beautiful note saying,

Mladenič z imenom Brian mi je poslal prelepo pismo in rekel:

"I know I've been rejected from this program twice,

"Vem, da sem bil že dvakrat zavrnjen v tem programu,

but I want to thank you for the opportunity.

a rad bi se vam zahvalil za priložnost.

I learned so much through the process of applying."

V procesu prijave sem se zelo veliko naučil."

I was so taken by the graciousness of his message

Gracioznost njegovega sporočila me je tako prevzela,

that I invited him to come and meet me.

da sem ga povabila na srečanje.

And we spent some time chatting and cooked up an idea

Nekaj časa sva klepetala in skupaj napletla idejo

for an independent study project together.

za neodvisni študijski projekt.

He was on the football team at Stanford,

On je bil v nogometnem moštvu na Stanfordu

and he decided to do a project on looking at leadership in that context.

in se je odločil, da bo naredil projekt o vidiku vodenja v tem kontekstu.

We got to know each other incredibly well through that quarter,

V tistem četrtletju sva se zelo dobro spoznala

and he took the project that he started working on

in vzel je projekt, na katerem je začel delati

in the independent study

v neodvisnem študiju,

and turned it, ultimately, into a company called Play for Tomorrow,

in ga na koncu spremenil v podjetje z imenom Play for Tomorrow,

where he teaches kids from disadvantaged backgrounds

kjer uči otroke iz prikrajšanih okolij

how to, essentially, craft the lives they dream to live.

kako pravzaprav izoblikovati življenje, o katerem sanjajo.

Now, the important thing about this story

Pomembno v tej zgodbi je to,

is that we both ended up catching the winds of luck

da sva na koncu oba ujela veter sreče

as a result of his thank-you note.

kot rezultat njegovega zahvalnega pisma.

But it was the winds that we didn't expect in the first place.

A šlo je za veter, ki ga na začetku nisva pričakovala.

Over the course of the last couple of years,

V zadnih nekaj letih

I've come up with some tactics for my own life

sem iznašla nekaj taktik za svoje življenje,

to help me really foster appreciation.

ki mi pomagajo resnično spodbujati hvaležnost.

My favorite is that at the end of every single day,

Meni najljubša je ta, da na koncu vsakega dne

I look at my calendar and I review all the people I met with,

vzamem svoj koledar in se ozrem na vse ljudi, ki sem jih srečala,

and I send thank-you notes to every single person.

in vsakomur pošljem zahvalno sporočilo.

It only takes a few minutes,

To traja samo nekaj minut,

but at the end of every day,

a na koncu vsakega dne

I feel incredibly grateful and appreciative,

se počutim izjemno hvaležno in naklonjeno

and I promise you it has increased my luck.

in povem vam, da imam več sreče.

So first, you need to take some risks and get out of your comfort zone.

Najprej morate torej malo tvegati in se premakniti iz cone udobja.

Second, you need to show appreciation.

Potem morate pokazati hvaležnost.

And third, you want to change your relationship with ideas.

In tretje, spremeniti morate svoj odnos do idej.

Most people look at new ideas that come there way and they judge them.

Večina ljudi gleda nove ideje, ki jim pridejo naproti, in jih presoja.

"That's a great idea" or "That's a terrible idea."

"To je krasna ideja," ali pa "To je grozna ideja."

But it's actually much more nuanced.

A v resnici gre bolj za odtenke.

Ideas are neither good or bad.

Ideje niso ne dobre ne slabe.

And in fact, the seeds of terrible ideas are often something truly remarkable.

Seme slabih idej je pravzaprav pogosto nekaj izjemnega.

One of my favorite exercises in my classes on creativity

Ena mojih najljubših vaj pri pouku kreativnosti

is to help students foster an attitude of looking at terrible ideas

je, ko pomagam študentom sprejeti pogled na strašne ideje

through the lens of possibilities.

skozi lečo možnosti.

So I give them a challenge:

Dam jim izziv:

to create an idea for a brand new restaurant.

ustvarijo naj idejo za novo restavracijo neke blagovne znamke.

They have to come up with the best ideas for a new restaurant

Domisliti se morajo najboljših idej za novo restavracijo

and the worst ideas for a new restaurant.

in najslabših idej za novo restavracijo.

So the best ideas are things like a restaurant on a mountaintop

Najboljše ideje so, recimo, restavracija na vrhu gore

with a beautiful sunset,

s prelepim sončnim zahodom

or a restaurant on a boat with a gorgeous view.

ali restavracija na ladji s prelepim razgledom.

And the terrible ideas are things like a restaurant in a garbage dump,

Slabe ideje pa so, recimo, restavracija na smetišču

or a restaurant with terrible service that's really dirty,

ali restavracija z zelo slabo postrežbo, ki je resnično umazana,

or a restaurant that serves cockroach sushi.

ali pa restavracija, ki servira suši iz ščurkov.

(Laughter)

(smeh)

So they hand all the ideas to me,

Potem mi izročijo vse te ideje,

I read the great ideas out loud,

jaz dobre preberem na glas

and then I rip them up and throw them away.

in jih nato raztrgam in vržem stran.

I then take the horrible ideas and redistribute them.

Potem pa vzamem grozne ideje in jih ponovno razdelim.

Each team now has an idea that another team thought was horrible,

Vsak tim ima zdaj idejo, za katero je drugi tim mislil, da je grozna.

and their challenge is to turn it into something brilliant.

Njihov izziv je spremeniti to idejo v nekaj brilijantnega.

Here's what happens.

Tole se zgodi.

Within about 10 seconds, someone says, "This is a fabulous idea."

Čez deset sekund nekdo reče: "To je krasna ideja."

And they have about three minutes before they pitch the idea to the class.

Imajo kake tri minute, preden idejo predstavijo razredu.

So the restaurant in the garbage dump? What does that turn into?

Restavracija na smetišču torej? V kaj se to spremeni?

Well, they collect all the extra food from Michelin star restaurants

No, zberejo odvečno hrano iz restavracij z Michelinovimi zvezdicami,

that was going to get thrown out,

ki bi sicer končala med odpadki,

and they have another restaurant at a much lower price,

in imajo še eno restavracijo z mnogo nižjimi cenami

with all the leftovers.

z vsemi ostanki hrane.

Pretty cool?

Super, ne?

Or the restaurant that's dirty with terrible service?

Ali umazana restavracija s strašno slabo postrežbo?

Well, that turns into a restaurant that's a training ground

No, ta se spremeni v restavracijo, ki je vadbišče

for future restauranteurs to figure out how to avoid all the pitfalls.

za bodoče lastnike restavracij, da ugotovijo, kako se izogniti pastem.

And the restaurant with cockroach sushi?

In restavracija s sušijem iz ščurkov?

It turns into a sushi bar

Spremeni se v suši bar

with all sorts of really interesting and exotic ingredients.

s celo vrsto resnično zanimivih in eksotičnih sestavin.

If you look around at the companies,

Če pogledate po podjetjih,

the ventures that are really innovative around you,

naložbah okoli vas, ki so resnično zanimivi,

the ones that we now take for granted that have changed our life,

tistih, ki jih imajo zdaj za samoumevne, pa so spremenili naše življenje,

well, you know what?

no, veste kaj?

They all started out as crazy ideas.

Vse so se začele z noro idejo.

They started ideas that when they pitched to other people,

začele so se z idejami, za katere je večina, ki so jim

most people said, "That's crazy, it will never work."

bile predstavljene, rekla: "To je noro, to ne bo nikoli delovalo."

So, yes, sometimes people were born into terrible circumstances,

Torej, da, včasih se ljudje rodijo v težke razmere

and sometimes, luck is a lightning bolt

in včasih nas udari strela sreče

that hits us with something wonderful or something terrible.

z nečim čudovitim ali strašnim.

But the winds of luck are always there,

A veter sreče je vedno tu

and if you're willing to take some risks,

in če ste pripravljeni tvegati,

if you're willing to really go out and show appreciation

če ste se res pripravljeni izpostaviti in pokazati hvaležnosti,

and willing to really look at ideas, even if they're crazy,

če ste pripravljeni pogledati ideje, tudi če so nore,

through the lens of possibilities,

skozi lečo možnosti,

you can build a bigger and bigger sail to catch the winds of luck.

lahko zgradite veliko in še večje jadro, da ujamete veter sreče.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(aplavz)