I was 45 years old when I decided to learn how to surf. They say that life is tough enough. But I guess I like to make things difficult on myself, because I do that all the time, every day and on purpose. Thats because I believe in disrupting my comfort zone. When I started out in the entertainment business, I made a list of people that I thought would be good to me. Not people who could give me a job or a deal, but people who could shake me up, teach me something, challenge my ideas about myself and the world. So I started calling up experts in all kinds of fields. Some of them were world-famous. Of course, I didnt know any of these people and none of them knew me.

So when I called these people up to ask them for a meeting, the response wasnt always friendly.

And even when they agreed to give me some of their time, the results werent always what one might describe as pleasant. For example, Edward Teller, is the father of the hydrogen bomb. It took me a year of begging and more begging to get to him to agree to meet with me. And then what happened? He ridiculed me and insulted me.But that was okay. I was hoping to learn something from him—and I did, even if it was only that Im not that interesting to a physicist with no taste for our pop culture. Over the last 30 years, Ive produced more than 50 movies and 20 television series. Im successful and, my business are, pretty well known. So why do I continue to subject myself to this sort of thing? The answer is simple: Disrupting my comfort zone, bombarding myself with challenging people and situations —this is the best way that I know to keep growing. And to paraphrase a biologist I once met, if youre not growing, youre dying. So maybe Im not the best surfer on the north shore, but thats okay. The discomfort, the uncertainty, the physical and mental challenge that I get from this—all the things that too many of us spend our time and energy trying to avoid—they are precisely the things that keep me active in the game.

我在45岁的时候决定学习如何冲浪。他们说生活够艰难。但我想我喜欢给自己出难题，因为每一天我做的所有的事情都是有目的的。那是因为我认为要打破自己的舒适生活。当我开始在娱乐圈工作是，我列出那些对我有好处的人。不是说那些能给我一份工作或生意的人，而是那些能够动摇我，教我东西，挑战我对自己和世界的想法的人。所以我开始打电话给各种领域的专家。他们中的一些人是世界闻名的。当然，我不认识他们中的任何人并且没有人认识我。

所以当我给这些人打电话请求与他们见面时，反应并不都是友好的。

甚至当他们同意给我一些时间，结果并不总是令人愉快的。例如，Edward Teller，氢弹之父。我花了一年多时间请求到他同意跟我见面。然后发生了什么事?他嘲笑我，侮辱我。但那是好的。我希望从他身上学到一些东西，我也做到了，就算是在对我们的流行文化没有帮助的的物理学家。在过去的30年里，我已经制作了50多部电影和20部电视剧。我是成功的，在我的生意是众所周知的。那么我为什么还要继续受制于这种事吗?答案很简单：扰乱自己的安逸，让自己面对具有挑战性的人和事-这是我知道的最好的方式来保持提升。套用一个我曾经遇到的生物学家所说的，如果你不成长，那么你快死了。所以也许我不是北海岸最棒的冲浪者，但那是好的。不适，不确定性，身体和心理的挑战，我从这所有的事情所获得的，是太多的人花时间和精力去避免的，这些让我在比赛中保持活力的事情。