通过行动找到你的特定知识Find Your Specific Knowledge Through Action
Naval：我最终认为，每个人都应该弄清楚自己独一无二最擅长的事——这件事与他们的本质相契合，赋予他们本真，带给他们专长（specific knowledge），给他们竞争优势，让他们不可替代。他们就应该全力投入其中。而有时候，你得先去做，才知道那是什么。
所以，这就是活在竞技场上的人生。在行动之前、在经历各种艰难处境之前，你不会知道自己拥有什么专长。然后你要么会意识到："哦，这些别人会觉得很难的事，我居然顺利走过来了"；要么会有别人向你指出来："嘿，你的超能力好像是 X。"
我有一个朋友，他创过很多次业。我对他始终注意到的一点是：他未必是最聪明或最懂技术的人；而且他非常勤奋——正因为这样，我不想说他不勤奋。他其实超级勤奋。但我真正注意到的是，他是最勇敢的。
他就是完全不在乎路上有什么障碍。什么都打不倒他。他总是在笑。他总在向前推进。这种人在一百年前，你会说："哦，他是最勇敢的。去冲锋那座机枪阵地吧。"
那件事他当年肯定能胜任。但在创业的语境下，他是那种能不断拿头撞销售这堵墙、不停地给几百个人打电话，直到终于有一个人说"好"的人。所以他会打 400 个电话，得到 399 个"不"。他只要一个"好"就够了。那一个就足够了。
然后他就可以从那里开始迭代、学习。所以，这就是他的专长。它是知识，是一种他知道自己能够承受的能力。在另一头有一个他愿意去争取的结果，那就是一种超能力。也许，如果他能把这一点再发展一步，或者与别的东西结合起来，甚至只是把它用在需要它的地方，就会让他变得有些不可替代。
所以，你要通过行动——通过做事——来发现自己的专长；而当你为自己工作时，你也会自然而然地倾向于以符合自己本性和专长的方式来挑选事情、去做事情。
Naval: I ultimately think that everyone should be figuring out what it is that they uniquely do best—that aligns with who they are fundamentally, and that gives them authenticity, that brings them specific knowledge, that gives them competitive advantage, that makes them irreplaceable. And they should just lean into that. And sometimes you don’t know what that is until you do it.
So this is life lived in the arena. You are not going to know your own specific knowledge until you act and until you act in a variety of difficult situations. And then you’ll either realize, “Oh, I managed to navigate these things that other people would’ve had a hard time with,” or someone else will point out to you. They’ll say, “Hey, your superpower seems to be X.”
I have a friend who has been an entrepreneur a bunch of times. And, what I always notice about him is that he may not necessarily be the most clever or the most technical, and he is very hardworking, that’s why I don’t want to say he isn’t hardworking. He’s actually super hardworking. But what I do notice is he’s the most courageous.
So he just does not care what’s in the way. Nothing gets him down. He’s always laughing or smiling. He’s always moving through it. And this is the kind of guy that a hundred years ago you would’ve said, “Oh, he’s the most courageous. Go charge that machine gun nest.”
He would’ve been good for that. But in an entrepreneurship context, he’s the one who can keep beating his head against the sales wall and just calling hundreds of people until finally one person says yes. So he’ll call 400 people and get 399 nos. And he’s fine with one “Yes.” And that’s enough.
Then he can start iterating and learning from there. So that’s his specific knowledge. It is knowledge. It’s a capability that he knows that he’s okay with it. There’s an outcome on the other side that he’s willing to go for and that’s a superpower. Now, maybe if he can develop that a little further or combine it with something else, or maybe even just apply it where it’s needed, that makes him somewhat irreplaceable.
And so you find your specific knowledge through action—by doing—and when you are working for yourself, you’ll also naturally tend to pick things and do things in a way that aligns with who you are and what your specific knowledge is.