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I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most startups don't, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that. MacKenzie, also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row, told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor. I'd invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn't work very well, out of an umbrella and aluminum foil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings. I'd always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.
我告訴妻子麥肯琪說我想辭去工作，然后去做這件瘋狂的事情，很可能會失敗，因為大部分創業公司都是如此，而且我不確定那之后會發生什么。麥肯琪告訴我，我應該放手一搏。她也是從普林斯頓畢業的，現在就坐在第二排那里。在我還是一個男孩兒的時候，我是車庫發明家。我曾用水泥填充的輪胎，不太好用的太陽灶，一把雨傘和鋁箔以及用來詐騙兄弟姐妹的報警器制作了一個自動關門器。我一直想做一個發明家，麥肯琪支持我追隨內心的激情。
I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, "That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job."
我當時在紐約一家金融公司工作，同事是一群非常聰明的人，我的老板也很有智慧，我很欽佩他。我告訴我的老板說我想開辦一家在網上賣書的公司。他帶我到中央公園漫步良久，認真地聽我講完，最后說：“聽起來真是一個很好的主意，但是對那些目前沒有謀到一份好工作的人來說，這個主意會更好。”
That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I'm pround of that choice.
這一邏輯對我而言頗有道理，他說服我在做出最終決定之前再考慮48小時。那樣想來，這個選擇確實很艱難，但是最終，我決定拼一次。我認為自己不會為嘗試后悔，為失敗遺憾，倒是有所決定但完全不付諸行動會一直煎熬著我。在深思熟慮之后，我選擇了那條不太安全的道路，去追隨我內心的激情。我為那個決定感到驕傲。
