最小可行生活：如何永远做自己喜欢的事

Notes

最小可行生活：如何一直做热爱的事？ “你财富自由之后想做什 - 即刻App 从这里看到这篇文章。

我现在缺少的就是实际的数据和量化管理。

“你财富自由之后想做什么工作，现在就该做什么工作，这样的工作才是理想的工作。做这样的工作，你会很开心，能学到东西，充满激情。每天会从床上跳起来，一天不工作都不行。”

——巴菲特

或许热爱的事无需财富自由后再去考虑，现在就可以开始实践。

但依然会冒出很多现实问题：

1. 热爱可以变成职业吗？我不确定喜欢的事能不能养活自己。
2. 现在的工作让我没有时间精力去尝试喜欢的事情。
3. 我要裸辞吗？没有收入怎么办？

今天分享的文章来自Dan Silvestre，他通过设计「最小可行生活」，有计划的平稳过渡到了一名内容创业者和教练，并成功运转了10年。

如果你也想实现“一直做热爱的事”，这篇文章一定会给你启发。

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Origin

Rain falls outside. 外面下着雨。

The weather contrasts with my mood.

天气与我的心情形成鲜明对比。

I take another sip of the hot tea and write another sentence. And then another.

我又喝了一口热茶，又写了一句话。然后是另一个。

The more I write, the clearer it becomes what I want to say and where I need to go next. The clackity noise of the keyboard and the sound of raindrops falling on the roofs become one. If there are other sounds, I can’t hear them. I’m in the zone. In the flow.

我写得越多，我想说的以及下一步需要去的地方就越清晰。键盘的敲击声和雨滴落在屋顶上的声音合二为一。如果还有其他声音，我也听不到。我在这个区域。在流动中。

The hands are mere translators of what my brain is thinking. I can feel the thoughts and connections on the screen.

双手只是我大脑思维的翻译。我可以感受到屏幕上的想法和联系。

What a marvelous feeling.

多么奇妙的感觉啊。

I love what I do.

我爱我所做的。

And so can you… 你也可以……

For the last 6 months, I’ve been working on my projects.

在过去的 6 个月里，我一直在做我的项目。

A year into my first job out of university, I quit. I then worked as a freelancer for a while before moving to Sydney to take a job in a tech company. Nine months later, I realized I liked it better before.

大学毕业后第一份工作一年后，我辞职了。然后我做了一段时间的自由职业者，然后搬到悉尼在一家科技公司工作。九个月后，我意识到我以前更喜欢它。

And so I went back to square one.

所以我又回到了第一点。

But this time with a plan.

但这一次是有计划的。

A plan to start making.

一个计划开始制定。

I started a community of productivity hackers. Finally got serious about blogging. Armed with a simple business plan and using OKRs as feedback loops, I went to work.

我创建了一个生产力黑客社区。终于认真开始写博客了。带着简单的商业计划并使用 OKR 作为反馈循环，我开始工作。

And in these six months I’ve achieved more than all the other years combined. While those experiences taught me a thing or two, shifting my perspective was the most important thing.

在这六个月里，我取得的成就比其他所有年份的总和还要多。虽然这些经历教会了我一两件事，但改变我的观点是最重要的。

I now accept that things are going to suck.

我现在承认事情会变得很糟糕。

In fact, I expect most things will.

事实上，我预计大多数事情都会发生。

But if you put in the work and get in the habit of shipping stuff every week, eventually it not only becomes easier but also better.

但如果你投入工作并养成每周运送物品的习惯，最终它不仅会变得更容易，而且会更好。

This is not a bragging post. It’s a super condensed version of everything that I learned about work and happiness in the last 5 years.

这不是一个吹牛的帖子。这是我在过去五年中学到的有关工作和幸福的一切的超级浓缩版。

Learn to plan your escape to do what you love by building a Minimum Viable Life.

通过建立最低可行生活，学会规划你的逃离，去做你喜欢做的事情。

Table of Contents 目录

• Minimum Viable Life (MVL)  最低生存寿命 (MVL)
• What’s Holding You Back? 是什么阻碍了你？
• Designing a Minimum Viable Life  设计最低可行寿命
• Extending Your Runway  扩展您的跑道
• Lowering Expenses to Increase the Runway  降低费用以增加跑道
• The “Minimum” Minimum Viable Life  “最低”最低可行寿命

Minimum Viable Life (MVL)

最低生存寿命 (MVL)

In tech, most companies start by developing a minimum viable product (MVP). You build a product with only the core features in order to gather feedback from early users. It’s the leanest way to test assumptions and know what you need to build in future product development. Less is more.

在科技领域，大多数公司都是从开发最小可行产品（MVP）开始的。您构建的产品仅具有核心功能，以便收集早期用户的反馈。这是测试假设并了解在未来产品开发中需要构建什么的最精简方法。少即是多。

The Minimum Viable Life (MVL) follows the same logic:

最小可行寿命 (MVL) 遵循相同的逻辑：

1. Find the “core features” of your life: everything that doesn’t add value to your life is not core and you can live without it

   找到你生活的“核心特征”：一切不能给你的生活增加价值的东西都不是核心，没有它你也可以生活

2. Design the leanest possible version: once you focus only on the core features of your life, you might discover that you could already be working for yourself

   设计尽可能精简的版本：一旦您只关注生活的核心特征，您可能会发现您已经可以为自己工作了

3. Gather feedback early on and adjust as necessary: rather than a one-off, the MVL is a continuous process of iteration

   尽早收集反馈并根据需要进行调整：MVL 不是一次性的，而是一个连续的迭代过程

The true beauty of MVPs lies in little commitment.

MVP 的真正魅力在于很少的承诺。

Using Minimum Viable Life as a model gives you the same edge: if it doesn’t work, iterate and try again. And if that leads to nowhere, you are free to move on and try something else.

使用“最小可行寿命”作为模型可以给您带来同样的优势：如果它不起作用，请迭代并重试。如果这毫无结果，你可以自由地继续前进并尝试其他事情。

What’s Holding You Back? 是什么阻碍了你？

I have been a freelancer for more than 10 years. I started doing writing and admin gigs at Elance (ah, those were the days!) around 16. Pay was great and allowed me to backpack around the world.

我作为自由职业者已有 10 多年了。 16 岁左右，我开始在 Elance 从事写作和管理工作（啊，那些日子！）。薪水很高，让我可以背包环游世界。

Albeit part-time, I rather enjoyed doing it. And yet, I stopped doing it after college and went into banking instead.

虽然是兼职，但我很喜欢这样做。然而，大学毕业后我不再这样做，而是进入了银行业。

Why? 为什么？

In one word? Fear. 总而言之？害怕。

I was afraid I “wouldn’t make it on my own”, didn’t have the experience and expertise and had to “fake it ‘till I made it”. I conformed to social norms and did what was expected.

我担心我“自己做不到”，没有经验和专业知识，不得不“假装直到我做到了”。我遵守社会规范并做了人们期望的事情。

But the truth is right there in the opening sentence of this section. After college, I had already been freelancing for more than five years.

但事实就在本节的开头句中。大学毕业后，我已经从事自由职业五年多了。

Was I the most successful freelancer in the world? No. Did I know everything about freelancing? Absolutely not. Did I know more than most people? Definite yes.

我是世界上最成功的自由职业者吗？不。我了解自由职业的一切吗？绝对不。我比大多数人懂得更多吗？肯定是的。

Fear held me back. 恐惧让我退缩了。

And a couple of years later, I took another job because of it. What’s even crazier was that I was making a decent income already and was expecting it to ramp up in the upcoming months.

几年后，我因此找到了另一份工作。更疯狂的是，我已经有了不错的收入，并预计在接下来的几个月里它会增加。

Working for yourself is terrifying. It’s like driving on a road you don’t know on a foggy night. You barely see what’s ahead of you. Terrifying.

为自己工作是很可怕的。这就像在雾蒙蒙的夜晚行驶在一条你不认识的路上。你几乎看不到前方有什么。太可怕了。

And yet, that’s happens to be the best part.

然而，这恰好是最好的部分。

I don’t regret those experiences. They shaped who I am today and I learned a lot. It’s because of them that I am in the driver’s seat in my life today.

我并不后悔这些经历。他们塑造了今天的我，我学到了很多东西。正是因为他们，我才掌握了今天的生活。

Want to do the same? Learn to conquer your fears. Believe in your projects and value. If you don’t, no one else will. People will see right through you. The one thing you have that nobody else has is you.

想要做同样的事情吗？学会克服你的恐惧。相信您的项目和价值。如果你不这样做，那么没有人会这样做。人们会看穿你。你所拥有的一件别人没有的东西就是你自己。

Use it. 用它。

Designing a Minimum Viable Life

设计最低可行寿命

The first step of your Minimum Viable Life plan is to assess your current situation. You need to know your income — regular, passive, and savings — as well as your expenses — variable and fixed.

您的最低可行寿命计划的第一步是评估您目前的状况。您需要了解您的收入 — 定期、被动和储蓄 — 以及您的支出 — 可变和固定。

Open the Minimum Viable Life spreadsheet and select “File → Make a Copy” in the upper left. Add your numbers to the yellow boxes. Everything else is automatic.

打开“最短生存寿命”电子表格并选择左上角的“文件 → 制作副本”。将您的号码添加到黄色框中。其他一切都是自动的。

Here’s a quick explanation of each category:

以下是每个类别的快速解释：

• Regular Income: what you currently make at your job (after taxes)

  常规收入：您目前的工作收入（税后）

• Passive Income: any sources that provide income without doing any work

  被动收入：无需做任何工作即可提供收入的任何来源

• Savings: wealth you saved up over time

  储蓄：您长期积累的财富

• Variable Expenses: anything that you can get rid of or minimize if you want to (e.g. food, rent, entertainment)

  可变费用：如果您愿意，您可以摆脱或减少的任何费用（例如食物、租金、娱乐）

• Fixed Expenses: anything that you truly cannot get rid of (e.g. college loans installments)

  固定费用：任何你真正无法摆脱的费用（例如大学贷款分期付款）

On the table you can see your runway: how long you can work for yourself until you run out of money given your initial financials.

在桌子上你可以看到你的跑道：根据你最初的财务状况，你可以为自己工作多长时间，直到你的钱用完。

Extending Your Runway 扩展您的跑道

Ideally, you want a runway of at least one year. It takes some adjusting to work for yourself and it will take some time until you rake in your first dollars.

理想情况下，您需要至少一年的跑道。为自己工作需要一些调整，并且需要一些时间才能赚到第一笔钱。

One year is a long enough to start making at least the amount of income needed to cover your expenses. Once that happens, you turn your crashing runway into an infinite one.

一年的时间足以开始赚取至少足以支付开支所需的收入。一旦发生这种情况，你就会把崩溃的跑道变成无限的跑道。

If you already have passive income streams, you can adjust the leeway needed.

如果您已经有被动收入流，您可以调整所需的余地。

In any case, extending your runway is a matter of understanding your finances. There formula is: Savings + Income — Expenses.

无论如何，延长跑道需要了解您的财务状况。公式为：储蓄+收入 — 费用。

The easiest way to buy more time is to focus on the “Expenses” part of the equation.

购买更多时间的最简单方法是关注等式中的“费用”部分。

Lowering Expenses to Increase the Runway

降低费用以增加跑道

Let’s say this is how your runway looks like:

假设您的跑道是这样的：

At the current burn rate, you are dead in the water on month 3. Let’s consider a few adjustments you can make:

按照目前的消耗速度，您在第 3 个月就已经死了。让我们考虑一下您可以进行的一些调整：

• Moving to a cheaper city (influences all expenses)

  搬到更便宜的城市（影响所有费用）

• Finding a cheaper apartment to live in the current city

  在当前城市寻找更便宜的公寓居住

• Buying cheaper food and in bulk, eating the same meals most days

  大量购买更便宜的食物，大部分时间吃同样的饭菜

• Cutting back on dining out, going out, and entertainment

  减少外出就餐、外出和娱乐

• Canceling subscriptions 取消订阅

You decide to pursue a few of those options. Since you’re working from home and thus avoiding commute, there are no gas or public transportation costs. You will eat at home every day as well. Your new runway:

您决定采用其中一些选项。由于您在家工作，从而避免了通勤，因此没有汽油或公共交通费用。你每天也会在家吃饭。您的新跑道：

You now have a 9-month runway. While not ideal, it’s 4.5x the previous scenario. That’s the power of cutting your expenses. You need to force yourself to think about what you can remove.

您现在拥有 9 个月的跑道。虽然并不理想，但它是之前场景的 4.5 倍。这就是削减开支的力量。你需要强迫自己思考你可以删除什么。

A Minimum Viable Life is about making your runway as long as possible. Expenses are mere trade-offs: you are trading money for runway time. Once you look at it that way, few things are essential. The question becomes:

最低可行寿命就是让你的跑道尽可能长。费用只是一种权衡：你是在用金钱换取跑道时间。一旦你这样看，就没有什么事情是必不可少的了。问题变成：

_“Do I want to spend money on this or instead extend my runway time?”

“我想为此花钱还是延长跑道时间？”_

If you really want to work for yourself, you’ll choose the latter almost every time. You start to look at money in terms of “time”, instead of currency.

如果你真的想为自己工作，你几乎每次都会选择后者。你开始从“时间”而不是货币的角度来看待金钱。

Once you make that shift, you’re invincible.

一旦你做出了这种转变，你就立于不败之地。

The “Minimum” Minimum Viable Life

“最低”最低可行寿命

The safest way to start working for yourself it to take the non-commitment clause of MVPs one step further: work for yourself while working for others.

开始为自己工作的最安全方法是将 MVP 的非承诺条款更进一步：在为他人工作的同时为自己工作。

By doing so, you continue to bring additional money to your runway fund on a monthly basis. Work on your side-project before or after work. Aim for at least one hour per day.

通过这样做，您可以继续每月为您的跑道基金带来额外的资金。下班前或下班后做你的副业项目。目标是每天至少一小时。

And if you already know you want to work for yourself, lower your expenses from the get-go. No sense to keep burning money and your runway.

如果您已经知道自己想为自己工作，请从一开始就降低开支。继续烧钱和跑道是没有意义的。

This is exactly the plan I followed. I saved as much as I could by dramatically decreasing expenses. Soon enough I had a runway of more than a year.

这正是我所遵循的计划。我通过大幅减少开支来尽可能节省开支。很快我就有了一年多的跑道。

Your escape is less than 6 months away.

距离你的逃脱还有不到 6 个月的时间。

It’s up to you to take it.

由你决定是否接受它。