近日，著名天使投资人、61岁的徐小平被母校Saskatchewan大学授予了荣誉法学博士学位，并被邀请在毕业典礼上发表精彩演讲。他认为有哪些事情，会决定人一生的命运，需要越早想清楚越好呢？

以下这张“徐小平清单”也许能帮助你，做出更好的人生规划。

1. 选择决定命运，认知决定选择。在离开学校以前，就应该清楚地意识到，世界很大，变化很快。你在大学里学到的知识，绝对不足以帮助你建立一个广阔的视野。你必须养成随时随地跨界学习的习惯和能力，不断探索那些与自己的专业貌似无关的知识新边疆。

2. 在人生大事上学会运用经济学思考模型。人的价值高低取决于稀缺性，即不可替代性。所以，无论做什么工作或者选择和谁一起生活，都要把事情做到别人无法替代的程度，这是对自我价值最好的保护和经营。

3. 利他和利己是一枚硬币的两面，应该把不计回报的帮助他人，变成自己的一种本能。所谓成功，就是在多大程度上满足了他人的需求。利他的范围越大，就越接近世俗意义上的成功。反之，想要在越大范围内成就自己，就越需要得到来自更多人的力量和认同。所以，利他精神发展到极致终究是成就自己。

4. 我家里挂了一幅字，上书“唯大丈夫能本色，是真英雄自风流”。本色、真情是人的重要品质。在人生的一些重要时刻，一定要把自己内心深处的想法和感情表达出来，让对方知道你的真情实感。没有什么比本色示人、真情待人更能拉近人与人之间的距离了。

5. 就金钱而言，成长性比绝对值重要得多，结构性比起步点重要得多。要尽量选择那些能够给自己带来杠杆性收入和“收入本身带来收入”的工作。所以，与其拼命寻找一份领取高额工资的职业，还不如参与一家靠谱的创业公司、学会用互联网把自己的能力产品化、研究这个时代新产生的财富创造机制，才会更有可能接近财务自由。

6. 金钱的作用有其“临界值”。在达到这个临界值之前，金钱是和个人幸福感正相关的，所以必须尊重和重视金钱的基本价值。使自己成为一个体面的人，这是你参与社会交往的前提。但是，一旦突破这个临界值（美国人的研究是年收入7.5万美元），金钱就不再直接创造幸福感，而是变成一种工具，把这个工具的力量最大化成为它本身的目的和意义。从这个意义上说，我做天使投资，和比尔盖茨做慈善，本质上都是一样的“自私”：把金钱变成帮助和影响他人的工具，以此获得自己的精神回报。

7. 人生远比我们想象得漫长，所以不争一城一池的得失，要把一切机会和挫折都放到尽可能长的周期里来思考。新东方创始人俞敏洪老师当年高考一共考了三次，作为一个年轻人，在当时所经受的压力和摧残是不可想象的，可是站在今天回头看，那只不过是非常非常短暂的一个瞬间。

8. 当有两件事摆在你面前，一件你轻松可以上手，一件需要你从头学习摸索，别犹豫，选那件难的。我也不知道为什么，但是每次都是那件更难的事情成就了更大的成果。我所认识的所有高手，都有一种“舍易求难”的本能。 

9. 在任何一个领域，输出能力最强的那些人都会摘走最大的红利。无论是写作、还是演讲，你一定要尽最大努力强化培养至少其中一种输出能力，并且长期坚持向外界输出自己的思考和观念，直到成为市场中最强的前20%。

10. 时间是每个人与生俱来所持有的唯一且最重要的资源。但时间并不是在所有事情上都产生同样的回报。你必须有能力做出取舍，把时间投入在那些最有价值的事情上，同时承受可能由此带来的遗憾。当然，什么最有价值，见仁见智，就我个人六十年的人生感受而言，依次排序是：持续的学习发展自我、友情、成就那些比我年轻的人。

11. 强化自省能力。自省是人防止精神衰老、事业衰退的秘诀。自省的能力来自不断学习。有一个手机应用「得到」App挺好的，下载它，使用它，做一个我这样被“致敬”的终身学习者。

【附】徐小平的毕业演讲：生命因给予而繁盛（中英对照）

尊敬的校监 Romanow 先生、校长 Stoicheff 先生、政府代表、出席嘉宾、教师代表、毕业生、朋友、女士们、先生们：

这是一份无与伦比的荣誉，我由衷地表示感激。谢谢你们！

Ladies and gentlemen. Chancellor Romanow, President Stoicheff, government representatives, distinguished guests, members of the faculty, graduates and friends: This honor means everything to me. I am truly grateful. Thank you so very much.

我的新学位使我成为了 2017 年毕业生中光荣的一员。在这个美好的日子里，请允许我向各位同学们，以及你们的家人、朋友们献上一句简单的祝福，我要向你们了不起的成就表示热烈祝贺！

My new degree makes me a proud member of this Class of 2017. To my classmates, your parents, your families, may I offer a simple message: For the great achievement you share on this wonderful day, Congratulations!

法学博士的头衔实在是一个让我受宠若惊的荣誉。这里有一个故事。很久以前在我获得音乐硕士学位之后，我仍然不知道自己想要干什么。于是我想到了学习法律，我也确实去上了一节合同法课，就一节。（笑声）当时我就明白了，我真不是读法学院的料（笑声）。然而，就上过这一节法学课的我，现在却获得了令人艳羡的法学博士学位（笑声+掌声）。对于那些寒窗苦熬、熬到今天终成正果的法学院毕业生们来说，你们有理由心生感慨：生活并不总是那么公平（笑声）！

For me, it is especially flattering to be called a Doctor of Laws. Let me tell you why. Long ago, after I earned my Master’s Degree in music, I still didn’t know what to do. So I considered studying at the College of Law. I attended exactly one class, in contract law. Right then and there, I knew that law school just wasn’t for me. One class – and yet here I am with this beautiful, impressive degree as a Doctor of Laws. Those of you graduating from the law school today, who worked and struggled for your degrees, would be entitled to reflect that life is not always fair.

确实，总有一些人，得到的比他付出的多。对此我有切身体验，因为我从萨斯喀彻温大学所得到的一切都证明了这一点。母校给了我很高的荣誉，但是，从心底里，我今天来是为了赞颂我的母校。

Sometimes we get more than we deserve. I know this, because it is how I have always felt, about what I received from the University of Saskatchewan. The university has honored me, but really, I am here today to honor the university.

30 年前的 1987 年，我和我妻子和我决定走出国门，看看外边的世界。如果你在北京的地下室住过，渴望换一种风景，没有什么比加拿大辽阔的草原风光，会给你带来更震撼的体验（笑声）。

Exactly thirty years ago in 1987, my wife Ling and I decided that we were ready to see the world beyond China. If you had lived in a basement in Beijing, and desire a change of scenery, it doesn’t get any more different than the Canadian prairie.

我妻子申请了这里的音乐系，立即得到了录取。而我，却不得不耐心等待。兜里装着全部家当一百美元，我去了美国华盛顿打工。这样，我妻子一个人生活在萨斯卡通，与她的小提琴为伴。而我，在离她三千公里之外一家叫“春卷先生”的中餐厅，当了一名厨房小工（笑声）。

Ling applied to study music here and was immediately accepted. I, on the other hand, had to wait. I went to Washington, D.C., with a hundred dollars in my pocket, and found a job. So my wife was alone with her violin in Saskatoon. I was three thousand kilometers away on the kitchen staff of Mr. Eggroll.

幸福，终于随着萨斯喀彻温大学给我的录取通知书降临。连续三天三夜在一辆灰狗大巴上渡过，对谁可能都是一种折磨，但我却一路欢快、一路亢奋地抵达了萨斯喀彻温（笑声）。我和我妻子都获得了全额奖学金。这是改变我们命运的决定性因素。每月如期而至的支票，超过当时我在北大教书好几年的收入。那些与我们素昧平生的人们，为什么要给我们如此巨额的金钱？这在我心灵深处引起的震撼，从此再也不能平息。

The happy day came when I was also accepted at this university. Nobody was ever as excited as I was to spend three days on a Greyhound bus to Saskatchewan. Ling and I had both received scholarships. That made all the difference for us. The same amount of money would have taken many years to earn in China at that time. We were amazed that such a gift could be granted by people who did not even know us.

满怀着挚爱之情，我想起我的研究生导师 David Kaplan 博士的仁爱胸怀。认识他的人，都会感到认识他是一种幸运。他是音乐系的创始人。对于我们外国留学生而言，他是淙淙流淌的友谊、帮助和鼓励的源泉。Kaplan 博士是我生命中一盏明灯，指引着我像他帮助我一样去帮助别人。

With special affection, I recall the generous spirit of Dr. David Kaplan. If you knew him, it was a privilege. He was the founder of the music department. To many foreign students, he was a source of constant help, friendship, and encouragement. Often in my life, Dr. Kaplan’s example has shined before me, a reminder to share with others as he shared with me.

学校给予我的一切是如此美好，但校园外的生活可并不总是那么阳光明媚。毕业不久我就意识到，做一名音乐人难以维持生计。人们虽然喜欢听莫扎特和巴赫的音乐，但他们并不急着聆听我的演奏（笑声）。我成立了自己的音乐公司，但公司生意惨淡。我谱写并录制民谣，但它们只在谣言里存在（笑声）。

I received so much from the University in those years, but life beyond campus was not nearly as forgiving. Upon graduation, it didn't take long for me to realize that I would not make my fortune as a performing musician. As much as the world loves the sounds of Mozart and Bach, the world was not waiting to hear them from my violin. I started my own music business, but business was slow. I wrote and recorded folksongs, but the folks were not listening.

这段时间对于我来说的确是举步维艰。我在家看孩子，靠我妻子教书养家。我也尝试做过各种各样的工作，其中一种工作，对速度节奏和交割时效要求极高——在座如果有人在 1995 年叫过必胜客披萨的外卖，我们很可能曾经有缘相逢（笑声）。

It was truly a difficult period for me. I watched our children at home while my wife taught school. I took various jobs, including one job that involved fast-paced and time-sensitive transactions. If anyone here received a delivery from Pizza Hut in 1995, there is a good chance we have met before.

如果能够避免，我不建议大家刻意去经历这样一段时期。不过，有时候这种事情确实也无法避免。但它不应该成为休止符，它甚至可能是“大器晚成”的预兆，就像我自己的经历一样。即使在我最艰难的日子里，我也从未失去自我，没有丧失信心。我屡战屡败，但屡败屡战。我深信，天降大任于斯人，我来到世界，尚有使命未达，更有好梦未成。我不会让失败带走我的信念。

I do not recommend a period like that in your own careers, if you can avoid it. But sometimes it happens anyway. That doesn’t have to be the end. It can even mark a late beginning, as it did for me. Even in my darkest moments, I had a sense of who I was and what I could do. More than once I failed, but I refused to give up. I knew in my heart that I was here on earth to achieve good and meaningful things. I never let any failure take that conviction away.

在这种信念的支持下，我回到了中国，加入了一个名叫新东方的英语学校。中国正进入改革开放的大潮，很多年轻人渴望走出去，看看外面的世界。我如痴似醉地投入到了帮助他们实现留学梦想的工作中。面对那些求知若渴的莘莘学子，我竭尽了自己一切所知，耗干了自己的全部精力。

Sustained by this feeling, I went back to China and joined a small English school in Beijing called New Oriental. China had opened up and many young people were eager to see the world. I threw myself into the work of helping them find opportunities to study abroad. I shared everything I knew to serve them in every way I could.

十年转眼过去，随着新东方在美国上市，我们很多学生也开始从海外学成归国。他们找到我，想让我为他们的创业想法寻找资金。那时的中国，天使投资还是一个比较罕见的事情。我非常理解这些年轻人，因为我深知胸有大志、阮囊羞涩是什么滋味。于是我开始资助他们的创业梦，并在不知不觉间成为了一名天使投资人。

Ten years later, after that school, New Oriental Education, went public in the U.S., many of my former students returning from overseas approached me looking for money for their business ideas. At the time in China, there was no such thing as angel investing. I understood these men and women, because I knew what it was like to be rich in ideas and poor in money. So I began to finance their start-up dreams and became an angel investor before I knew it.

被人们称之为“成功人士”是一件让我高兴的事。说实话，我感到庆幸，命运对我实在非常宽厚仁慈。但我不会用财富排行榜来衡量成功，也不会用能够买得起什么来评判成败。我衡量成功的标准，不仅仅是自己如何战胜逆境，而是如何也帮助他人反败为胜。《悲惨世界》中主教对冉阿让的一句话让我非常难忘：“无论我们的生命多么微不足道，我们要倾尽一切与他人分享。”我不记得我的朋友 David Kaplan 博士是否听说过这句名言，但他确实践行了这种美德。我的人生，因为他和他所象征的萨斯喀彻温大学，而变得更加美好。

I am happy to be called a success today – and frankly, still a bit relieved. It was a close call. But I do not measure success in rankings of wealth. I do not measure it in the things I can buy. I measure success, not just in overcoming one’s own adversity, but in helping others overcome theirs. My favorite line in the musical Les Miserables is from the Bishop: “Though our lives are very humble. What we have, we have to share.” I don’t recall if my friend Dr. David Kaplan ever heard those words, but he certainly lived them. And mine is just one life that he, and this university, changed for the better.

无论是在商界，还是在法律界，人们所做的一切，都是为了追求成功。第一份工作——甚至是第二第三份工作——不一定就是我们的理想岗位，但你的面前却有一个永远不需要等待的绝佳机会：那就是在别人有需求的时候鼎力出手、倾其所有、给予超出对方期待的帮助。无论身份高低、无论境遇逆顺，你都有这样的机会展示你的价值。每一天，每一刻，总有人需要我们；总有一些事情，缺了你就无法做成。如果你怀着这种信念一路前行，你一定会发现自己独一无二的价值、并渐入成功的佳境。让我们都记住这么一句至理名言：生命以获取而续存，生命因给予而繁盛！

In business, in law, in any work we do, all of the same things are true about succeeding. First jobs – maybe even second or third ones – are not always dream jobs. Yet there is one opportunity that we never have to wait on – that is the chance to give our best, to give without holding back, and to give more than what is asked. We can do that in every position, high or low. We can do that in every circumstance. Every day, at every turn, we are needed; there are good things that only we can do. That’s how we show who we are, and find success along the way. There is great wisdom in the saying: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

对今天在场的每一位毕业生，我祝福你们拥有成功事业和幸福人生。我也希望你们同样怀着我对母校的这份真情：为学校给予我们的一切致以崇敬、挚爱和感恩。多年前我从这里得到的关爱与慷慨，在我心中隽刻下永不磨灭的痕迹，愿你在此的躬读岁月也给你留下高贵闪光的印记。

For each one of you graduating here today, I wish a great career and a happy life. And I hope that you will always share the feeling I have toward this university: respect, affection, and gratitude for all it has given to us. The kindness and generosity I received here long ago still touches me. May these years of learning leave a gracious mark on you as well.

2017 届的同学们，我祝你们好运连连，幸福满满！

Classof 2017, I wish you good luck and great happiness.

谢谢大家！（掌声）

Thank you very much.