For me they normally happen, these career crises, often, actually, on a Sunday evening, just as the sun is starting to set, and the gap between my hopes for myself and the reality of my life starts to diverge so painfully that I normally end up weeping into a pillow.
Za mene se one normalno događaju, te karijerne krize, često, u stvari, nedjeljom navečer, upravo kada se sunce krene spuštati i kada se jaz između mojih nada i realnosti mog života, krene razilaziti toliko bolno da normalno završim plačući u jastuk.
I'm mentioning all this -- I'm mentioning all this because I think this is not merely a personal problem; you may think I'm wrong in this, but I think we live in an age when our lives are regularly punctuated by career crises, by moments when what we thought we knew -- about our lives, about our careers -- comes into contact with a threatening sort of reality.
Spominjem sve ovo, spominjem sve ovo jer mislim kako to nije isključivo osobni problem. Možda mislite kako sam u krivu. Ali ja mislim kako živimo u dobu u kojem su naši životi redovito obilježeni karijernim krizama, trenucima u kojima ono što smo mislili da znamo o našim životima, o našim karijerama, dolazi u dodir s prijetećom vrstom stvarnosti.
It's perhaps easier now than ever before to make a good living. It's perhaps harder than ever before to stay calm, to be free of career anxiety. I want to look now, if I may, at some of the reasons why we might be feeling anxiety about our careers. Why we might be victims of these career crises, as we're weeping softly into our pillows. One of the reasons why we might be suffering is that we are surrounded by snobs.
Danas je vjerojatno lakše, više nego ikada, zaraditi za pristojan život. Vjerojatno je teže nego ikada, ostati miran, oslobođen od karijerne tjeskobe. Sada želim pogledati, ako smijem, u neke od razloga zbog kojih osjećamo tjeskobu vezanu uz našu karijeru. Zašto smo žrtve tih karijernih kriza, dok jecamo nježno u naš jastuk. Jedan od razloga zašto patimo jest činjenica kako smo okruženi snobovima.
In a way, I've got some bad news, particularly to anybody who's come to Oxford from abroad. There's a real problem with snobbery, because sometimes people from outside the U.K. imagine that snobbery is a distinctively U.K. phenomenon, fixated on country houses and titles. The bad news is that's not true. Snobbery is a global phenomenon; we are a global organization, this is a global phenomenon. What is a snob? A snob is anybody who takes a small part of you, and uses that to come to a complete vision of who you are. That is snobbery.
Sada, na neki način, imam loše vijesti, posebno za one koji su došli u Oxford iz inozemstva. Postoji stvarni problem sa snobizmom. Jer ponekad ljudi koji dolaze izvan VB zamišljaju kako je snobizam prepoznatljivi britanski fenomen fiksiran uz kuće na selu i titule. Loša vijest je kako to nije istina. Snobizam je globalni problem. Mi smo globalna organizacija. To je globalni fenomen. On postoji. Što je snob? Snob je svatko tko uzima mali dio vas i na temelju toga stvara kompletnu sliku o vama. To je snobizam.
The dominant kind of snobbery that exists nowadays is job snobbery. You encounter it within minutes at a party, when you get asked that famous iconic question of the early 21st century, "What do you do?" According to how you answer that question, people are either incredibly delighted to see you, or look at their watch and make their excuses.
I dominantna vrsta snobizma koja postoji u današnjem društvu je ona povezana s poslom. Na to naiđete već nakon nekoliko minuta na zabavi, kada vas pitaju to famozno, ikonsko pitanje ranog 21. stoljeća: "Čime se bavite?" I na temelju načina na koji odgovorite na to pitanje, ljudi će biti nevjerojatno sretni što vas vide, ili će pogledati na sat i izmisliti ispriku.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Now, the opposite of a snob is your mother.
Suprotnost snobu je vaša majka.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Not necessarily your mother, or indeed mine, but, as it were, the ideal mother, somebody who doesn't care about your achievements. Unfortunately, most people are not our mothers. Most people make a strict correlation between how much time, and if you like, love -- not romantic love, though that may be something -- but love in general, respect -- they are willing to accord us, that will be strictly defined by our position in the social hierarchy.
Ne nužno vaša majka ili moja. Već, idealna majka. Netko tko ne mari za vaša postignuća. Ali na nesreću, većina ljudi nisu poput naših majki. Većina ljudi odmah strogu računicu između koliko će vremena uložiti i, ako hoćete, ljubavi, ne mislim ovdje na romantičnu ljubav, premda bi to bilo nešto, već na općenitu ljubav, poštovanje koje su nam ljudi spremni posvetiti, a koje će biti strogo ovisno
And that's a lot of the reason why we care so much about our careers
naši položajem u društvenoj hijerarhiji.
and indeed start caring so much about material goods. You know, we're often told that we live in very materialistic times, that we're all greedy people. I don't think we are particularly materialistic. I think we live in a society which has simply pegged certain emotional rewards to the acquisition of material goods. It's not the material goods we want; it's the rewards we want. It's a new way of looking at luxury goods. The next time you see somebody driving a Ferrari, don't think, "This is somebody who's greedy." Think, "This is somebody who is incredibly vulnerable and in need of love."
I to je više nego valjan razlog zašto nam je toliko stalo do karijere. I zašto nam je toliko stalo do materijalnih dobara. Znate, često se govori kako živimo u prilično materijalističkom dobu, da smo svi mi pohlepni ljudi. Ja ne mislim da smo posebni materijalisti. Mislim da živimo u društvu koje je vezalo neke emocionalne nagrade uz pribavljanje materijalnih stvari. Nisu materijalna dobra ono što hoćemo nego te emocionalne nagrade. I to je novi način gledanja na luksuzne stvari. Slijedeći puta kada vidite da netko vozi Ferrari nemojte pomisliti: "To je netko tko je pohlepan." Pomislite: "To je netko nevjerojatno ranjiv i potrebit ljubavi."
(Laughter)
Drugim riječima -- (Smijeh)
Feel sympathy, rather than contempt.
osjetite simpatiju, umjesto prezira.
There are other reasons --
Postoje i drugi razlozi --
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
There are other reasons why it's perhaps harder now to feel calm than ever before. One of these, and it's paradoxical, because it's linked to something that's rather nice, is the hope we all have for our careers. Never before have expectations been so high about what human beings can achieve with their lifespan. We're told, from many sources, that anyone can achieve anything. We've done away with the caste system, we are now in a system where anyone can rise to any position they please. And it's a beautiful idea. Along with that is a kind of spirit of equality; we're all basically equal. There are no strictly defined hierarchies. There is one really big problem with this,
Postoje i drugi razlozi zašto je sada vjerojatno teže nego ikada osjećati se spokojno. Jedan od tih razloga, a paradoksalno je što je povezan s nečim prilično zgodnim, jest nada koju svi imamo naspram svojih karijera. Nikada prije nisu očekivanja bila toliko visoka o tome koliko ljudi mogu postići tijekom svog života. Rečeno nam je, iz mnogo izvora, da svatko od nas može postići sve. Riješili smo se sustava društvenih klasa. Sada živimo u sustavu gdje se svatko može uzdići do svake pozicije koju zaželi. I to je prekrasna ideja. S tim ide i duh jednakosti. Bazično smo svi jednaki. Ne postoje striktno definirane hijerarhije.
and that problem is envy. Envy, it's a real taboo to mention envy, but if there's one dominant emotion in modern society, that is envy. And it's linked to the spirit of equality.
Postoji jedan prilično veliki problem s time. A taj problem se zove zavist. Zavist, pravi je tabu spomenuti zavist, ali ako postoji jedan dominantni osjećaj modernog društva onda je to zavist. I ona je povezana s duhom jednakosti. Da vam objasnim.
Let me explain. I think it would be very unusual for anyone here, or anyone watching, to be envious of the Queen of England. Even though she is much richer than any of you are, and she's got a very large house, the reason why we don't envy her is because she's too weird.
Mislim da bi bilo prilično neuobičajno za svakoga ovdje, ili bilo koga tko gleda, da bude zavidan Engleskoj kraljici. Premda je ona bitno bogatija od svakoga od nas. I ima jako veliku kuću. Razlog zašto nismo zavisni jest što je ona prilično čudna.
(Laughter)
Ona nam je previše strana.
She's simply too strange. We can't relate to her, she speaks in a funny way, she comes from an odd place. So we can't relate to her, and when you can't relate to somebody, you don't envy them.
Ne možemo se povezati s njom. Govori na čudan nači. Dolazi iz neobičnog mjesta. Tako da se ne možemo povezati s njom. A kada se ne možemo povezati s nekim, onda ne možemo biti zavisni. Što su dvoje ljudi bliži, godinama, podrijetlom,
The closer two people are -- in age, in background, in the process of identification -- the more there's a danger of envy, which is incidentally why none of you should ever go to a school reunion, because there is no stronger reference point than people one was at school with. The problem of modern society is it turns the whole world into a school. Everybody's wearing jeans, everybody's the same. And yet, they're not. So there's a spirit of equality combined with deep inequality, which can make for a very stressful situation.
u procesu identifikacije, postoji veća opasnost za zavišću. To je razlog više zašto nitko od vas ne bi trebao ići na školska okupljanja. Jer ne postoji snažnija referentna točka od ljudi s kojima ste išli u školu. Ali problem, općenito, modernog društva jest što cijeli svijet pretvara u školu. Svi nose džins, svi su jednaki. A opet, nisu. Dakle postoji duh jednakosti, koji je povezan s dubokim nejednakostima. Što stvara prilično -- može stvoriti prilično stresnu situaciju.
It's probably as unlikely that you would nowadays become as rich and famous as Bill Gates, as it was unlikely in the 17th century that you would accede to the ranks of the French aristocracy. But the point is, it doesn't feel that way. It's made to feel, by magazines and other media outlets, that if you've got energy, a few bright ideas about technology, a garage -- you, too, could start a major thing.
Vjerojatnost da ćete danas postati bogati i slavni poput Bill Gatesa, jednaka je vjerojatnosti da ćete tijekom 17. stoljeća postati dijelom francuske aristrokracije. Poanta je u tome što se tako ne bismo smjeli osjećati. Taj osjećaj su umjetno stvorili časopisi i drugi mediji, koji nam prikazuju da je dovoljno imati energiju, nekoliko dobrih ideja o tehnologiji, garažu, i svatko može pokrenuti veliku stvar.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
The consequences of this problem make themselves felt in bookshops. When you go to a large bookshop and look at the self-help sections, as I sometimes do -- if you analyze self-help books produced in the world today, there are basically two kinds. The first kind tells you, "You can do it! You can make it! Anything's possible!" The other kind tells you how to cope with what we politely call "low self-esteem," or impolitely call, "feeling very bad about yourself."
A posljedice tih problema su vidljive i u knjižarama. Ako odete u veliku knjižaru i pogledate odjeljak s knjigama za samo-pomoć, kao što ja ponekad napravim, i analizirate knjige za samo-pomoć koje se pišu u današnjem svijetu, vidjeti ćete u osnovi dvije vrste. Prva vrsta vam govori: "Vi to možete napraviti! Možete to učiniti! Sve je moguće!" I druga vrsta koja vam govori o tome kako se nositi s onime što pristojno zovemo "manjak samopouzdanja", ili nepristojno zovemo "osjećati se jako loše u vlastitoj koži".
There's a real correlation between a society that tells people that they can do anything, and the existence of low self-esteem. So that's another way in which something quite positive can have a nasty kickback. There is another reason why we might be feeling more anxious -- about our careers, about our status in the world today, than ever before. And it's, again, linked to something nice. And that nice thing is called meritocracy.
Postoji stvarna korelacija, stvarna korelacija između društva koje govori ljudima da mogu učiniti sve, i postojanja niskog samopouzdanja. To je još jedan način kako se nešto što je prilično pozitivno može pretvoriti u nešto neugodno. Postoji još jedan razlog zašto se sve više osjećamo zabrinuto kada je riječ o našim karijerama, o našem statusu u današnjem svijetu. I opet je povezan s nečim lijepim. A ta lijepa stvar se zove meritokracija.
Everybody, all politicians on Left and Right, agree that meritocracy is a great thing, and we should all be trying to make our societies really, really meritocratic. In other words -- what is a meritocratic society? A meritocratic society is one in which, if you've got talent and energy and skill, you will get to the top, nothing should hold you back. It's a beautiful idea. The problem is, if you really believe in a society where those who merit to get to the top, get to the top, you'll also, by implication, and in a far more nasty way, believe in a society where those who deserve to get to the bottom also get to the bottom and stay there. In other words, your position in life comes to seem not accidental, but merited and deserved. And that makes failure seem much more crushing.
Sada se svi, svi lijevi i desni političari, slažu da je meritokracija sjajna stvar, i da bi se svi trebali truditi kako da učinimo društvo stvarno meritokratskim. Drugim riječima, što je meritokratsko društvo? Meritokratsko društvo je ono u kojem ako imate talent, energiju i vještine popesti ćete se na vrh. Ništa vas u tome neće spriječiti. To je prekrasna ideja. Problem je ako stvarno vjerujete u društvo u kojem će oni koji imaju sposobnosti za vrh, uistinu doći tamo, isto tako, se implicira na pomalo ružan način uvjerenje u društvu da će oni koji zasluže biti na dnu doći i ostati tamo. Drugim riječima, vaša pozicija u životu nije plod slučajnosti već sposobnosti i zasluga. I to čini neuspjehe još snažnijim.
You know, in the Middle Ages, in England, when you met a very poor person, that person would be described as an "unfortunate" -- literally, somebody who had not been blessed by fortune, an unfortunate. Nowadays, particularly in the United States, if you meet someone at the bottom of society, they may unkindly be described as a "loser." There's a real difference between an unfortunate and a loser, and that shows 400 years of evolution in society and our belief in who is responsible for our lives. It's no longer the gods, it's us. We're in the driving seat.
Znate, u srednjevjekovnoj Engleskoj, kada biste sreli siromašnu osobu ta osoba bi se opisala kao "nesretna". Doslovno, to bi bio netko tko nije bio blagoslovljen srećom, netko nesretan. Danas, posebno u Sjedinjenim Državama, ako sretnete nekoga s dna društvene ljestvice, oni će biti, neljubazno, opisani kao "gubitnici". Postoji velika razlika između "nesretnika" i "gubitnika". I to nam ukazuje na 400godišnju evoluciju društva, i našeg uvjerenja tko je odgovoran za naše živote. To nisu više bogovi, to smo mi. Mi se nalazimo na vozačkom sjedalu.
That's exhilarating if you're doing well, and very crushing if you're not. It leads, in the worst cases -- in the analysis of a sociologist like Emil Durkheim -- it leads to increased rates of suicide. There are more suicides in developed, individualistic countries than in any other part of the world. And some of the reason for that is that people take what happens to them extremely personally -- they own their success, but they also own their failure.
To je sjajno ako vam ide dobro, ali i razarajuće ako vam ne ide. To nas vodi, u najgorim slučajevima, u analizama sociologa poput Emila Durkheima, vodi nas k povećanom broju samoubojstava. Veća je stopa samoubojstava u razvijenim individualističkim zemljama nego u bilo kojem drugom dijelu svijeta. A neki od razloga tome su da ljudi ono što se njima dogodi doživljavaju ekstremno osobno. Oni posjeduju vlastiti uspjeh. Ali također posjeduju i neuspjeh.
Is there any relief from some of these pressures that I've been outlining? I think there is. I just want to turn to a few of them. Let's take meritocracy. This idea that everybody deserves to get where they get to, I think it's a crazy idea, completely crazy. I will support any politician of Left and Right, with any halfway-decent meritocratic idea; I am a meritocrat in that sense. But I think it's insane to believe that we will ever make a society that is genuinely meritocratic; it's an impossible dream.
Postoji li ikakvo olakšanje za ove pritiscke koje sam upravo opisao? Mislim da postoji. Osvrnuti ću se na neke od njih. Uzmimo meritokraciju. Ta ideja kako je svatko zaslužio doći upravo tamo gdje je došao. Mislim kako je to luda ideja, potpuno luda. Ja ću podržati svakog političara bilo lijevog ili desnog, s čak i poluozbiljnom meritokratskom idejom. Ja sam meritokrat i to je to. Ali mislim kako je suludo vjerovati kako će ikada potojati društvo koje će biti stvarno meritokratsko. To je nemoguć san. Ideja da ćemo stvoriti društvo
The idea that we will make a society where literally everybody is graded, the good at the top, bad at the bottom, exactly done as it should be, is impossible. There are simply too many random factors: accidents, accidents of birth, accidents of things dropping on people's heads, illnesses, etc. We will never get to grade them, never get to grade people as they should.
gdje će svatko biti ocijenjen i odgovarajuće pozicioniran, dobri na vrhu, a loši na dnu, i da će to biti napravljeno baš kako treba, je nemoguća. Jednostavno postoji previše nekontroliranih varijabli. Incidenata, incident rođenja, incident stvari koje mogu pasti ljudima na glavu, bolesti, itd. Nikada nećemo uspjeti adekvantno evaluirati sve. Nikada nećemo uspjeti ocjeniti ljude kako bi trebali.
I'm drawn to a lovely quote by St. Augustine in "The City of God," where he says, "It's a sin to judge any man by his post." In modern English that would mean it's a sin to come to any view of who you should talk to, dependent on their business card. It's not the post that should count. According to St. Augustine, only God can really put everybody in their place; he's going to do that on the Day of Judgment, with angels and trumpets, and the skies will open. Insane idea, if you're a secularist person, like me. But something very valuable in that idea, nevertheless.
Sviđa mi se dražestan citat Sv. Augustina u "Gradu Boga" gdje kaže: "Grijeh je suditi o bilo kojem čovjeku temeljem njegovog položaja." U suvremenom jeziku to bi značilo, grijeh je suditi o važnosti razgovora s bilo kime temeljem njihove posjetnice. Nije položaj taj koji je ključan. Prema Sv. Augustinu, jedino Bog može svakoga točno pozicionirati u društvu. I on će to učiniti na Sudnji dan, s anđelima i trubama, i nebo će se otvoriti. Luda ideja, ako ste sekularna osoba, poput mene. Ali nešto je jako vrijedno u toj ideji, kako bilo.
In other words, hold your horses when you're coming to judge people. You don't necessarily know what someone's true value is. That is an unknown part of them, and we shouldn't behave as though it is known. There is another source of solace and comfort for all this. When we think about failing in life, when we think about failure, one of the reasons why we fear failing is not just a loss of income, a loss of status. What we fear is the judgment and ridicule of others. And it exists.
Drugim riječima, suspregnite se kada trebate suditi o drugim ljudima. Ne morate nužno znati gdje se krije nečija vrijednost. To je njihov nepoznati dio. I mi se ne bi smjeli ponašati kao da znamo gdje je. Postoji još jedan izvor ohrabrenja i utjehe u svemu ovom. Kada razmišljamo o životnim promašajima, kada razmišljamo o greškama, jedan od razloga zašto se bojimo pogriješiti nije samo gubitak prihoda, gubitak statusa. Ono čega se bojimo jest sud i podsmjeh drugih. I taj strah postoji. Znate, ključan instrument podsmjeha
The number one organ of ridicule, nowadays, is the newspaper. If you open the newspaper any day of the week, it's full of people who've messed up their lives. They've slept with the wrong person, taken the wrong substance, passed the wrong piece of legislation -- whatever it is, and then are fit for ridicule. In other words, they have failed. And they are described as "losers." Now, is there any alternative to this? I think the Western tradition shows us one glorious alternative, which is tragedy.
danas, jesu novine. Ako otvorite novine bilo koji dan u tjednu pun je ljudi koji su zabrljali s vlastitim životima. Spavali su s krivom osobom. Uzeli su krivu supstancu. Donijeli su krivi zakon. Što god bilo. I sada su predmet podsmjeha. Drugim riječima, doživjeli su neuspjeh. I označeni su kao "gubitnici". Postoji li alternativa tome? Mislim da nam Zapadna tradicija daje sjajnu alternativu.
Tragic art, as it developed in the theaters of ancient Greece, in the fifth century B.C., was essentially an art form devoted to tracing how people fail, and also according them a level of sympathy, which ordinary life would not necessarily accord them. A few years ago, I was thinking about this, and I went to "The Sunday Sport," a tabloid newspaper I don't recommend you start reading if you're not familiar with it already.
I to je tragedija. Tragična umjetnost, onako kako se razvila u kazalištima antičke Grčke, u 5 st. p. k., bila je u svojem korjenu umjetnički oblik koji je bio posvećen otkrivanju načina na koji su ljudi pogriješili. I u skladu s time bila je prisutna određena razina simpatije. Što nije u skladu s običnim životom. Sjećam se prije nekoliko godina, dok sam razmišljao o ovome. Otišao sam pogledati "Nedjeljni sport", tabloid koji vam nikako ne preporučujem za čitanje, ako već niste s njime upoznati.
(Laughter)
I otišao sam razgovarati s njima
And I went to talk to them about certain of the great tragedies of Western art. I wanted to see how they would seize the bare bones of certain stories, if they came in as a news item at the news desk on a Saturday afternoon.
o nekim velikim tragedijama Zapadne umjetnosti. Želio sam vidjeti kako će se nosititi s osnovom neke od priča kada bi im se pojavila kao vijest
I mentioned Othello; they'd not heard of it but were fascinated.
u subotu popodne.
Tako sam im ispričao o Otelu. Oni nisu prije čuli za priču, ali su bili njome fascinirani.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
I asked them to write a headline for the story. They came up with "Love-Crazed Immigrant Kills Senator's Daughter." Splashed across the headline. I gave them the plotline of Madame Bovary. Again, a book they were enchanted to discover. And they wrote "Shopaholic Adulteress Swallows Arsenic After Credit Fraud."
Pitao sam ih koji bi naslov stavili Otelu? Došli su do: "Ljubavlju zaluđeni sin imigranta ubio je Sentorovu kći" naslova preko cijele naslovnice. Ispričao sam im i sažetak priče o "Madame Bovary". Opet, knjiga koju su otkrili s oduševljenjem. I njoj su dali naslov. "Preljubnica ovisnica o kupovini progutala arsen zbog kreditne prijevare".
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
And then my favorite -- they really do have a kind of genius of their own, these guys -- my favorite is Sophocles' Oedipus the King: "Sex With Mum Was Blinding."
I na kraju moj favorit. Oni su na neki svoj način genijalni, ti dečki. Moj favorit je Sofoklov "Kralj Edip" "Seks s mamom je bio zasljepljujući".
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
In a way, if you like, at one end of the spectrum of sympathy, you've got the tabloid newspaper. At the other end of the spectrum, you've got tragedy and tragic art. And I suppose I'm arguing that we should learn a little bit about what's happening in tragic art. It would be insane to call Hamlet a loser. He is not a loser, though he has lost. And I think that is the message of tragedy to us, and why it's so very, very important, I think.
Na neki način, ako želite na jednom kraju spektra simpatija, nalaze se tabloidi. na drugom kraju spektra imate tragediju i tragičnu umjetnost. Moja argumentacija je da bismo malo trebali naučiti što se događa u tragičnoj umjetnosti. Bilo bi suludo nazvati Hamleta gubitnikom. On nije gubitnik, premda je izgubio. Mislim da je to poruka tragedije za nas, i zašto je to toliko važno.
The other thing about modern society and why it causes this anxiety, is that we have nothing at its center that is non-human. We are the first society to be living in a world where we don't worship anything other than ourselves. We think very highly of ourselves, and so we should; we've put people on the Moon, done all sorts of extraordinary things. And so we tend to worship ourselves. Our heroes are human heroes.
Druga stvar vezana uz moderno društvo, i zašto uzrokuje toliko nesigurnosti, jest da u svojoj srži nema ništa nehumano. Mi smo prvo društvo koje živi na ovom Planetu a koje ne obožava ikoga osim sebe. Imamo jako visoko mišljenje o sebi. I trebali bismo ga imati. Mi smo doveli ljude na Mjesec. Napravili smo puno nevjerojatnih stvari. I zato imamo tendenciju obožavati sami sebe.
That's a very new situation. Most other societies have had, right at their center, the worship of something transcendent: a god, a spirit, a natural force, the universe, whatever it is -- something else that is being worshiped. We've slightly lost the habit of doing that, which is, I think, why we're particularly drawn to nature. Not for the sake of our health, though it's often presented that way, but because it's an escape from the human anthill. It's an escape from our own competition, and our own dramas. And that's why we enjoy looking at glaciers and oceans, and contemplating the Earth from outside its perimeters, etc. We like to feel in contact with something that is non-human, and that is so deeply important to us.
Naši heroji su ljudski heroji. To je nova situacija. Većina drugih društava je imala u svom centru obožavanje naspram nečega transcendentnog. Boga, duha, prirodnu silu, svemir. Što god to bilo, nešto se drugo obožavalo. Mi smo pomalo izgubili tu naviku. Što je razlog, po mom mišljenju, zašto smo toliko privučeni prirodom. Ne zbog našeg zdravlja, premda se to tako često predstavlja. Već zato jer nam služi kao bijeg od ljudskog mravinjaka. To je bijeg od naše vlastite konkurencije, i od naših drama. To je razlog zašto toliko uživamo gledajući glečere i oceane, promatrajući Zemlju izvan njenog opsega, itd. Sviđa nam se povezanost s nečim što nije ljudsko. A toliko je važno za nas.
What I think I've been talking about really is success and failure. And one of the interesting things about success is that we think we know what it means. If I said that there's somebody behind the screen who's very successful, certain ideas would immediately come to mind. You'd think that person might have made a lot of money, achieved renown in some field. My own theory of success -- I'm somebody who's very interested in success, I really want to be successful, always thinking, how can I be more successful? But as I get older, I'm also very nuanced about what that word "success" might mean.
Ono o čemu sam stvarno pričao jest uspjeh i neuspjeh. I jedna od zanimljivih stvari povezanih s uspjehom jest kako mislimo da znamo što to točno znači. Ako bih vam rekao da je netko iza ekrana tko je jako, jako uspješan, dobili biste odmah neke ideje u svojim glavama. Pomislili biste kako je ta osoba zaradila puno novca, postala poznata u nekom polju djelovanja. Moja osobna teorija uspjeha, a ja sam netko tko je jako zainteresiran za uspjeh. Ja stvarno želim biti uspješan. Stalno razmišljam: "Kako mogu biti uspješniji?" Ali dok starim, postajem također jako istančan o tome što bi mogao značiti "uspjeh".
Here's an insight that I've had about success: You can't be successful at everything. We hear a lot of talk about work-life balance. Nonsense. You can't have it all. You can't. So any vision of success has to admit what it's losing out on, where the element of loss is. And I think any wise life will accept, as I say, that there is going to be an element where we're not succeeding.
Ovo je moj pogled na "uspjeh". Ne možete biti uspješni u svemu. Čujemo puno toga o ravnoteži između posla i života. Glupost. Ne možete imati sve. Ne možete. Dakle svaka vizija uspjeha mora priznati što se time (uspjehom) gubi koji je element gubitka. I svatko tko pametno živi će prihvatiti kada kažem da će uvijek postojati elementi života u kojima nismo uspjeli.
And the thing about a successful life is that a lot of the time, our ideas of what it would mean to live successfully are not our own. They're sucked in from other people; chiefly, if you're a man, your father, and if you're a woman, your mother. Psychoanalysis has been drumming home this message for about 80 years. No one's quite listening hard enough, but I very much believe it's true.
Stvar vezana uz uspješan život, jest što često naše ideje, ono što bi prividno značilo da živimo uspješno, nisi naše vlastite. One su nam nametnute od drugih ljudi. Uglavnom, ako ste muškarac, od Vašeg oca. A ako ste žena, od Vaše majke. Psihoanalitičari trube o tome već 80ak godina. I nitko ih dovoljno pažljivo ne sluša. Ali ja vjerujem kako je to istina.
And we also suck in messages from everything from the television, to advertising, to marketing, etc. These are hugely powerful forces that define what we want and how we view ourselves. When we're told that banking is a very respectable profession, a lot of us want to go into banking. When banking is no longer so respectable, we lose interest in banking. We are highly open to suggestion.
I mi smo također prihvatili tu poruku od svega poput televizije do promocije, i marketinga i tako dalje. To su enormno snažne sile koje definiraju ono što želimo i način na koji se vidimo. Kada nam se kaže kako je bankarstvo vrlo respektabilna profesija jako puno nas se želi baš time baviti. Kada nam se bankarstvo prikaže kao ne tako respektabilno, gubimo interes za njime. Jako smo otvoreni na sugestije.
So what I want to argue for is not that we should give up on our ideas of success, but we should make sure that they are our own. We should focus in on our ideas, and make sure that we own them; that we are truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it's bad enough not getting what you want, but it's even worse to have an idea of what it is you want, and find out, at the end of the journey, that it isn't, in fact, what you wanted all along.
Dakle ono što ja zastupam nije da trebamo odustati od svojih ideja uspjeha. Ali bismo trebali biti sigurni kako su to naše vlastite ideje. Trebali bismo se fokusirati na naše ideje. I biti sigurni kako ih posjedujemo, kako smo mi uistinu autori naših ambicija. Jer je dovoljno loše ne dobiti ono što želite. Ali je još gore imati ideju o tome što želite i onda otkriti na kraju životnog puta kako to nije bilo ono što ste uistinu željeli.
So, I'm going to end it there. But what I really want to stress is: by all means, success, yes. But let's accept the strangeness of some of our ideas. Let's probe away at our notions of success. Let's make sure our ideas of success are truly our own.
S ovim ću završiti. Ono što želim istaknuti svim sredstvima, jest uspjeh: da. Ali želim da prihvatimo bizarnost nekih naših ideja. Ispitajmo vlastito shvaćanje uspjeha. Budimo sigurni kako su ideje o uspjehu uistinu naše.
Thank you very much.
Puno vam hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
Chris Anderson: That was fascinating. But how do you reconcile this idea of it being bad to think of someone as a "loser," with the idea that a lot of people like, of seizing control of your life, and that a society that encourages that, perhaps has to have some winners and losers?
Chris Anderson: Ovo je bilo fascinantno. Kako ste povezali tu ideju o nekome tko je --- da je loše o nekom misliti da je gubitnik, s idejom koju voli veliki broj ljudi o uzimanju kontrole nad svojim životom. I da društvo koje to potiče možda mora imati pobjednike i gubitnike.
Alain De Botton: Yes, I think it's merely the randomness of the winning and losing process that I want to stress, because the emphasis nowadays is so much on the justice of everything, and politicians always talk about justice. Now I'm a firm believer in justice, I just think that it's impossible. So we should do everything we can to pursue it, but we should always remember that whoever is facing us, whatever has happened in their lives, there will be a strong element of the haphazard. That's what I'm trying to leave room for; otherwise, it can get quite claustrophobic.
Alain de Botton: Da. Mislim da je slučajnost procesa dobivanja i gubljenja ono što želim istaknuti. Danas je snažan naglasak na pravednosti svega. Političari stalno govore o pravednosti. Ja čvrsto vjerujem u pravednost. Samo što mislim da je to nemoguće. Zato bismo trebali napraviti sve što možemo, sve što možemo ne bismo li to slijedili. Ali na kraju dana bismo se uvijek trebali sjetiti s kime god da smo suočeni, što god da se dogodilo u njihovim životima, uvijek će postojati snažan element slučajnosti. I to je ono što ja pokušavam istaknuti i ostaviti prostor za. U suprotnom može postati prilično klaustrofobično.
CA: I mean, do you believe that you can combine your kind of kinder, gentler philosophy of work with a successful economy? Or do you think that you can't, but it doesn't matter that much that we're putting too much emphasis on that?
Chris Anderson: Vjerujete li da možete povezati svoju ideju o ljubaznijoj, nježnijoj filozofiji rada s uspješnom ekonomijom? Ili mislite da ne možete? Je li uistinu važno koliko važnosti svemu tome pridajemo?
AB: The nightmare thought is that frightening people is the best way to get work out of them, and that somehow the crueler the environment, the more people will rise to the challenge. You want to think, who would you like as your ideal dad? And your ideal dad is somebody who is tough but gentle. And it's a very hard line to make. We need fathers, as it were, the exemplary father figures in society, avoiding the two extremes, which is the authoritarian disciplinarian on the one hand, and on the other, the lax, no-rules option.
Alain de Botton: Stravična je ideja kako je najbolji način da ljudi obave posao tako da ih zastrašujemo. I da što je nemilosrdnije okruženje više će ljudi biti doraslo tom izazovu. Razmislite o tome tko bi bio vaš idealni otac? Vaš idealni otac bi bio netko tko je čvrst, ali blag. I to je jako tanka linija. Trebamo očeve, kao što su bili, primjerene očinske figure u društvu izbjegavajući dva ekstrema. Autoritativan, strogi odgajatelj, s jedne strane. A s druge, opušten, nesklon pravilima.
CA: Alain De Botton.
Chris Anderson: Alain de Botton.
AB: Thank you very much.
Alain de Botton: Puno vam hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)