评论
打印
A lot of people know this but I was born in the Republic of Georgia,
很多人都知道这本书。我出生在格鲁吉亚共和国
which was part of the Soviet Union for a long time.
它曾经在很长一段时间里隶属于前苏联的一部分。
And I remember one of our relatives came to our house once and she was complaining about having to buy bread...
我记得有次我的一个亲戚跑来跟我们抱怨买面包的事情…
She said, There was only one type of bread my entire life,
她说，“在我的一生中只有一种面包，
and I was just at the store and there are a 100 different types now! I hate this government! I hate everything now!
而我刚刚待的那个商店里现在有100多种！我讨厌政府！讨厌这里的一切！”
And as a kid I remember thinking, What the hell is wrong with her,
那时我还是个孩子，就想，她这到底是怎么了，
but now that I think about it, she did have somewhat of a point.
但是现在想想，她说的也不无道理。
Of course I don't want to live in a place where I can only buy one type of bread,
当然了，我不想住在一个只能买一种面包的地方，
but at the same time there are disadvantages to having a 100 different breads to choose from.
但是同时，选择太多也有一些缺点。
And I'm pretty sure you've experienced this yourself,
我很确定你也有过这种经历，
but sometimes I find myself in a store in front of a 100 different types of bread,
但有时我发现在一个品种繁多的面包店里，
and I waste a lot of time just standing there having no idea what to pick.
会浪费很多时间，只是站在那里却不知道该选哪个。
This is the paradox of choice. All the different choices are supposed to make you better off,
这就是选择矛盾。所有不同的选择都会让你变得更好，
but they can cause paralysis and actually make you worse off.
但它们也会引起麻痹，让你变得不好。
So now that we know what we're dealing with, let's take a look at how we can use this to sell or buy,
知道我们面对什么，那我们就分析一下怎样利用这种选择矛盾来买卖东西，
or just make ourselves better off. Let's start with selling,
或是怎样让它把我们变的更好。从销售开始，
and I like to talk about selling because a lot of people who watch this have a business or aspire to have one,
我喜欢讨论销售，因为很多看这个视频的人都做生意或者想要做生意，
but at the same time, we all have to sell something to someone every single day.
但同时，我们所有人每天都会向某些人出售一些东西。
Any time you're trying to persuade or convince anyone with anything, you're selling,
只要你尝试说服别人相信某事，你就是在销售，
so it should be important and useful for everyone to cultivate the ability to sell.
所以对大家来说培养销售能力很重要也很有用。
Alright, so let's take a look at a study very briefly where they were trying to promote these high-quality jams.
好吧，让我们来简单地看个推销高级果酱的研究，
There were two different experiments... In experiment one, they offered 24 samples.
有两种不同的试验…第一种，提供了24种样品。
In experiment two, they offered only 6 samples.
第二种，只提供了6种样品。
So what were the results? Well, the large number of samples attracted more people
那结果怎样呢？嗯，样品多的吸引了更多的顾客，
but in both cases, people tasted the same number of jams on average.
但在两个案例中，平均下来人们试吃了同样数量的果酱。
But what happened when it came to buying? There was a HUGE difference...
但是购买情况怎么样呢？差别很大…
Only 3% of the people who were offered 24 jams to sample from went on to buy the jam.
提供24种样品的，只有3%的人购买。
However, 30% of the people who were offered only 6 jams to sample from went on to buy the jam.
然而，提供6种样品的，有30%的人选择购买。
That is a huge difference! Now let's take a look at what some restaurants do...
这个差别太大了！下面我们再来看一下餐馆是怎么做的…
They offer you a million different items on the menu...
他们的菜单上有很多菜品…
You take a look at the menu, and it's just impossible to pick...
你看了一下菜单，却选不出来…
They have successfully paralyzed you, but they also conveniently offer you 5 specials for the day.
他们成功的麻痹了你，但是他们也很方便的提供了当天的五道特色菜。
And a lot of times, these specials will never even change.
大多数时候，这些特色菜品从来没有变过。
Now what do you do? Well you've been offered something that's more managable,
现在你要做什么？他们提供给你的都是经过精心安排的东西，
you're much more likely to pick from this selection, and guess how the restaurant benefits from this?
你极有可能从这些里面做出选择，猜想一下餐馆怎样从这里面获益？
If you guessed that they sell you exactly what they want with high margins, you're absolutely right.
如果你觉得他们销售给你的是正符合他们心意的高利润产品，那你就太正确了。
Let's take a look at another example and make it even more personal.
我们再来看另一个例子，让它更个体化。
One of the most frequent things I get asked is, Hey, can you please make a reading list of your favorite books...
别人经常问我，你能把你最喜欢的书列出来吗…
And I'll definitely make it at some point, but let's take a look at what most people's reading list looks like.
我肯定会给出列表，但是让我们先看一下大多数人的书单是什么样的吧。
A lot of authors and mentors have a reading list, but they literally put like 200 books on it.
很多作者和老师都有书单，但是他们会放200本书在上面。
Now when you take a look at that, most people are just going to be paralyzed.
当你看的时候，大多数人就眼晕了。
There's too much choice, what if you pick the wrong book, it's really hard to pick,
选择太多，要是选错了呢，太难选了，
so guess what you're probably going to do? Not pick anything...
所以猜想一下你可能会怎么做？什么也不选…
And I'm telling you this is a mistake that people, who are a million times smarter than I am, make all the time.
我告诉你，这是一个即使比我聪明很多倍的人也一直犯的错误。
So keeping the paradox of choice in mind, when I do make the list, what is it going to look like?
所以记住选择矛盾，当我做书单的时候，应该做成什么样的呢？
It'll probably be about ten or maybe fifteen of the absolutely best books in my opinion.
我认为应该包括十到十五本好书就可以了。
Now even that is too much, but considering people will have read half of them or possibly even more,
即使那也很多，但是考虑到人们会读一半甚至更多，
it'll avoid the paralysis caused by 200 books.
就会避免200多本引起的麻痹。
Imagine if you've read 9 out of 10 of the books, and there's one book that you haven't read.
假设你读了10本书中的9本，有一本没读。
You will most likely pick that book up. But if there were 200 different books,
你极有可能把那本书挑选出来。但如果是200多本呢，
the decision is too hard to make and you'd just get paralyzed and probably postpone making the decision.
就太难做出决定，你感到无能为力，进而可能延迟做出决定。
Now let's talk about how you can use this if you just want to make your life better...
如果想让生活变的更好，我们就来讨论一下怎样利用这种矛盾…
Your number one priority is to avoid paralysis. A few months ago,
首要任务就是要避免麻痹。几个月之前，
I'd get up and I wasn't really sure what I wanted for breakfast.
起床后我不确定早餐要吃什么。
And the amount of food in my fridge could probably make a 1000 different combinations,
我冰箱里的食物可以有1000多种不同的组合，
so there were times when I literally spent 20 minutes figuring out what I was going to have for breakfast.
所以有很多次我都花费20分钟纠结我早餐应该吃什么。
Now if you add that up over time, not only is it exhausting, you're wasting a lot of time.
如果你把那些时间加起来，不仅很耗费精力，你也浪费了大量的时间。
So what do I do now when I get up? Well, I have the same thing almost every morning.
所以当我起床后该做点什么呢？我几乎每天早上都吃一样的东西。
There are certain mornings where I don't and I just screw around and make a mess in the kitchen,
只是在某些早上，我会在厨房里鼓捣鼓捣，
but that's cool because that's what I want to do.
因为我想那么做，所以感觉很酷。
This isn't about not enjoying things. It's about enjoying things even more.
这并不是不享受，而是更加的享受。
So for most days, I've turned something that wasted energy and time into something that is super easy,
所以大部分日子里，我会把浪费时间和精力的事情转变成超级简单的事情，
where I don't have to be paralyzed, and where I can dedicate that time and energy to things
这样我就不会纠结，也可以把时间和精力花在
that are more important and enjoyable than figuring out what I'm going to eat for breakfast.
比搞清楚吃什么早餐更为重要的事情上。
And this is kind of like what Steve Jobs did with wearing the same thing all the time, which I would personally never do,
这有点类似于乔布斯总穿同样的衣服，我是坚决不会那样的，
but if you're as indifferent with your clothes as I am with what I have for breakfast on a random Wednesday morning,
但是如果你对穿着不那么讲究，就像我对某个周三的早餐不那么讲究一样，
then this might be a good choice. So that's it.
那这也许是个不错的选择。所以，就是那样。
I hope you take this and apply it to your particular situation whether it be buying, selling,
我希望无论是买东西，卖东西，
or just making your life better.
还是仅仅为了让生活变得更美好，你都能把这种思维方式充分利用到特殊情况中去。
