【H026】Steve Pavlina| What’s your Career ?

这篇文章来自Steve Pavlina, 专注于时间管理，效率提升，个人成长。

关于Steve Pavlia 的简介和文章都可以在他的博客上看到https://www.stevepavlina.com，

Steve Pavlina 致力于“ 追求个人成长，追随人生真理” 并把此最为他的终生事业， 目前居住在 LAS VEGAS， 他很喜欢见不一样的NEW People , 和不同的人交谈，产生不同的灵感。

前面说他经历传奇，如果阅读过他的博客简介就知道了。 他被伯克利大学计算机系录取，这是美国计算机专业最好的学校。 然而，他大学沉迷于打游戏，可以一口气连续打游戏18小时。同时也陷入自我毁灭和失去自我控制的状态，并因为重窃罪入狱。

后来听一些激励性的音频，慢慢得到改善，并且自律起来。 出狱后，又重新考入一所新的大学， 并且仅仅用3学期就修完2个学位（计算机科学和数学）， 而别人都是4年修完。

之后就是建立自己的游戏公司，04年博客新起的时候，他意识到博客是一个很好的写东西的地方， 所以他建立了自己的博客。并且在上面发表文章， 影响力逐渐增大 ， 并受邀参加各种研讨会，出版书籍。 随后从主业游戏公司隐退，把副业类似个人发展培训师转成了主业，获得了持续的收入。

这个人最了不起的一点，也是比其他的现在的各种大V更让人钦佩的一点是， 他2010年宣布所有博客上的文章他都放弃版权。

别人可以随意使用，随意翻译，随意拿去用或者用于商业用途。

这也是我们可以在各种渠道，比如亚马逊很多书籍，都可以看到他的内容的影子。 被誉为属于全人类财富的美国人，Steve Pavlina 当之无愧。

这才是我心中的大V 的模样 。真实，有钱，贡献全人类。比较后悔的一点就是，为什么我现在才看到他的文章。我之前的消息和世界如此闭塞？

好了，跟着Steve Pavlina 来看看关于职业的问题

What Is Your Career?

什么是你的职业？

January 6, 2005

What is your career? Forget about how you define this to others for now, and just think for a bit about how you define your career to yourself. What does it mean to you to have a career? Is it just your job? Is it something you do to make a living? Is it what you do for money? Is it your work?

什么是你的职业？ 现在忘记如何定义他人的职业，仅仅思考一下如何定义你自己的职业。对于你来说， 拥有一个职业意味着什么？ 这仅仅是你的工作吗？ 还是你赖以生存所做的事情 ? 还是你赚钱的方式？ 是你的工作?

Most people would define a career as more than a job. Above and beyond a job, a career is a long-term pattern of work, usually across multiple jobs. A career implies professional development to build skill over a period of time, where one moves from novice to expert within a particular field. And lastly, I would argue that a career must be consciously chosen; even if others exert influence over you, you must still ultimately choose to become a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant. If you didn’t make a conscious choice at some point, I would then say you have a job but not a career.

大部分人定义职业更甚于一份工作，高于并且超越一份工作，职业是工作的长期模式。通常跨越不同的工作。 一个职业意味着在一个时期内职业发展构建技能， 在职业中，使得一个人从新手成长为某个特殊领域的专家。 另外最后， 我认为一个职业应该有意识的选择。即使其他人会对你施加影响，你必须还是最终选择成为一个医生或者一个律师或者会计。如果你在某些时候不是有意识的选择， 那么我认为你拥有的是一份工作而不是一个职业。

One of the difficulties I see a lot of people experiencing lately is that they spend the bulk of their days working at a job that isn’t part of a consciously chosen career. Once you graduate from school and enter the work force, you don’t suddenly gain the knowledge of what kind of career to build. Most likely you just focus on getting a job as your first step after school. And you probably have to make this choice in your early 20s. After a decade or two, you’ve established a pattern of work and built up some expertise. But at what point did you stop and say, what is my career going to be? 其中一个困难是我看见很多人最近经历的是他们花费了大部分的时间不是在他们有意识的选择的工作上。 一旦你从学校毕业，参加工作。 你不会立马知道去建立成就何种职业。 更多的是你仅仅是专注于毕业后找到一份工作作为第一步。 并且你有可能必须要这么做在你20岁出头的时候。 再过十年或者二十年。 你已经建立了工作的模式并且建立了一些专业技能。 但是在某个点你停止并且会问，我的职业将会是什么？

Sometimes when you ask people what their career is (instead of asking what their job is), the question makes them uncomfortable. Why? Because they think of a career as something intentionally chosen, purposeful, and meaningful, and they don’t see those qualities in their job. Another possibility is that they feel deep down that their real career lies elsewhere.

有时候当你问人们他们的职业是什么（ 而不是问他们的工作是什么）， 这个问题使得他们感到不舒服，为什么呢？ 因为他们把职业看作是某种有意的选择， 有目的性，并且充满意义的。 并且他们在他们的工作中看不到这些品质特征 。 另一种可能性就是他们深刻地感受到他们的真实职业在其他的地方。

Just because you’ve been working in a field for many years doesn’t mean you have to turn that pattern of work into your career. The past is the past. You can continue to run the same pattern and follow that same path into the future, but at any time you’re also free to make a total break with the past and turn yourself onto an entirely new career path in the future. Ask yourself if you were starting over from scratch today, fresh out of school, would you still choose the same line of work? If the answer is no, then you only have a job right now, not a career. Your career lies elsewhere.

仅仅因为你在一个领域工作了好多年，然而这并不能说明你必须把这种工作模式转换成职业。 过去就是过去。 你可以继续运行同样的模式，并且未来也按此路径走下， 但是任何时候，你也可以自由的与过去做个隔断，并且未来把自己投入到一个完全新的职业中去。 问下你自己，如果你今天从头重新开始， 刚从学校毕业， 你还会选择同样的工作吗？ 如果这个答案是NO , 那么你现在仅仅拥有一份工作，而不是一个职业 。你的职业在其他地方。

I went through this process myself last year when I asked myself, “What is my career?” I’ve been developing and publishing computer games since 1994. And that was exactly what I wanted to do when I was 22 years old. Game development was the career I had consciously chosen; I didn’t just fall into it. It took a lot of work to start my own company and build it into a successful business. But at age 33, I had to stop and say that I no longer wanted game development to be my career. I still enjoy it, and I may continue doing a little on the side as a hobby for many years, but I no longer think of it as my career.

我去年就用这种方式问了我自己 ，“ 我的职业是什么？” 从1994年开始，我就一直在开发和发布电脑游戏。并且这正是我22岁的时候想做的事情。 游戏开发是我有意识地选择的。 我没有陷入其中， 我做了很多事情来开始我自己的公司，并且运转成为一项成功的生意。 但是在33岁的时候，我必须停下来并且说我不再想游戏开发作为我的职业。 我还是享受做游戏，但是我可能多年继续一边做点作为兴趣，但是我不再当做我的职业了。

And yet, when I looked around for what else I might define as my new career, I was in a quandary. I saw all the assets I’d built in my game development career… and a long list of goals yet to be accomplished. Of course, the real problem was that I was looking to the past and projecting it onto the future. So all I could see on the road ahead was a continuation of the road behind. My solution was to use zero-based thinking… imagining I was starting from scratch again, forgetting the past for a moment, seeing the present moment as something fresh and new that didn’t already have a directional vector assigned to it — it could point in any new direction I gave it.

然而，当我环顾四周看其他的什么我可能定义为我的新职业， 我陷入了困惑。 我可以看见所有我在游戏开发职业中成就的资本。和一个很长的目标清单但是需要去完成的。当然， 真正的问题是我回首过去并且计划未来。 所以所有我能看到前方的道路是这条路后的延续。我的解决办法是使用零思维模式。。。设想我再次从头开始， 忘记过去一会 ， 把当下当做全新的，我已经没有任何指导方向指向- 它可以指向一个我给定的新的方向。

At the same time I started thinking like this, I also decided to broaden my definition of career. While running my games business, I had been operating with a very 3rd-dimensional view of a career. It was about success, achievement, accomplishment, making a good living, sales, serving customers, etc. At different times my career was that I was a game programmer, a game developer, or a game publisher. Those were the labels I used.

同时我开始这样想， 我也可以决定拓宽我职业的定义。 当我运行游戏生意的时候，我已经在运行一个职业的第三维视角。 这是关于成功，达成，成就， 创造好的生活， 销售，服务客户等等。 在不同的时期，我的职业是游戏程序员，游戏开发者，或者游戏出版商。 这些是我曾经使用过的标签。

But whereas these kinds of objectives were very motivating to me when I was in my 20s, years later I found them to be far less motivating. Achieving more and succeeding more just wasn’t enough of a motivator by itself. And I’ve seen others fall into the same situation too — the things that motivated them greatly at one point no longer seem all that motivating years later. The motivational strategies that work in your 20s don’t necessarily keep working in your 30s.

但是然而这些目标， 当我20岁的时候，对我来说是非常有激励性的。 多年以后我发现他们不再那么有激励性了。 成就更多和成功更多本身仅仅不再足够是激励因素。 我已经了解其它的人也陷入同样的情况 ， -那些曾经非常激励他们的，在某个点上多年以后不再激励他们了。 在你20岁有效的激励因素不再需要适用于你的30岁。

The solution I found was to look behind the labels and discover the core of my career. When I looked behind the labels of game programmer, game developer, and game publisher, I saw that the core of my career was entertaining people. That was the real purpose behind what I was doing. And that’s when it made sense to me that this was a very motivating purpose for me in my 20s, but that in my 30s it lost its edge because I had grown to the point in my own life where I felt that entertaining people was no longer the BEST way for me to contribute.

我找到的解决办法是看见这些标签的背后并且发现我职业的核心。 当我看向这些标签作为游戏程序员， 游戏开发者， 游戏开发商的背后，我看见了我职业的核心是娱乐大众。 这是我过去所做的事情的真正的目的。 当我20岁的时候，这对我来说是有意义的而且是非常具有激励性的目的。但是当我30岁的时候，它失去了优势，因为我已经成长到某个点 ，在我的生活中我感觉到娱乐人们不再是我贡献的最好的方式。

Think about this for a moment. What is the core of your career? What do you contribute? What is the big picture of what you do? If you work for a large company, then how do your actions contribute to some larger purpose? Be honest with yourself. And don’t ignore the role your company plays in your career; your career depends heavily on what you’re contributing down the line. If you truly assign a noble purpose to what you do, that’s great. For example, if you work at a grocery store, you might be inspired by the fact that you help feed people. But don’t force it if you don’t actually believe it. If you feel your contribution is weak or even negative, then admit that to yourself, even if you don’t immediately plan to do anything about it.

想想这事一会。你职业的核心是什么？ 你付出什么？ 你要干的事情的重点是什么？ 如果你为一个大的公司工作， 那么怎么样你的行为可以贡献给一些大的目的。对你自己诚实。 不要忽略你的公司在你职业中的角色地位。 你的职业非常重的依赖于你你正在这条线上的贡献。如果你给自己所做的事情指派了一个高尚的目标。那么太好了。 比如， 你在一个食品杂货店工作，你可能会被这样的事实鼓舞，你帮助喂养人类。 但是不要强迫这点如果你并不是事实上相信这点。 如果你感觉你的贡献是微弱的或者甚至是消极的。 那么对自己承认，即使你不是马上计划要做相关的任何事。

Go behind the labels. Don’t stop at defining your career as computer programmer or lawyer or doctor. What are you contributing as a computer programmer? How does your career make a difference in other people’s lives? Is it nothing more than a way for you to make money? As a lawyer do you resolve disputes and spread peace, or do you milk conflict for money? As a doctor do you heal people, or are you just a legal drug pusher? What is the essence of your career right now?

探究标签的意义。 不要停留在将自己的职业定义为计算机程序员或者律师或者医生。 你作为一个计算机程序员贡献了所些什么？ 你的职业是否使得其他人的生活有所不同？ 是否一所是除了是你赚钱的途径？ 作为一个医生，你治愈病人还是仅仅是一个合法的药品贩卖者？ 你职业的本质是什么？

Now when you have your answer, you next have to ask yourself, is this you? Is this truly a career that reflects the best of who you are as a person?

现在当你有自己的答案了，你下一步该问自己 ，这是你吗？这是真实的这个职业反应出你作为一个人的最好的一面了吗？

For example, if you see the real purpose behind your current line of work as making a handful of investors wealthier… nothing more noble than that… then is that an accurate reflection of your best contribution? Is that you?

打个比方， 如果你看见你现在工作背后的真正目的是使得一些投资者更富裕。 没有比这更加高尚的了。 那么这能真正反映你最好的贡献吗？ 那是你吗？

If you already have a career that accurately reflects the best of who you are, that’s wonderful. But if you don’t, then realize that you’re free to change it. If your career as a regional distributor for a major soda manufacturer basically boils down to pushing sugar water to make people fatter, you don’t have to keep it that way.

如果你已经拥有了一个职业可以真实地反映最好的你。 那太好了 。 但是如果你没有， 那么请意识到你有可以去改变的自由。 如果你的职业是一个主要的苏打水的区域分销商， 归结为将糖水推广让后使得人们变胖， 你不用如此保持这种方式

I think if you realize that your current work doesn’t fit who you are, then you have to make a choice. You have to decide if you deserve having a career that truly suits you. If you don’t feel you deserve it, then you will settle for defining your career in such narrow terms as job, money, paycheck, promotion, boss, coworkers, etc. No one is forcing you to accept that as your definition of career.

我想如果你意识到你现在的工作不适合你。 那么你必须要做选择 。 你需要决定你是否值得一个真正适合你的职业。 如果你不能感觉到你值得， 那么你将会定义你的职业为狭义的工作， 钱，支票，提升， 老板， 同事 等等。 没有人强迫你接受那些作为你职业的定义。

On the other hand, you can choose to embrace another definition of career that uses terms like purpose, calling, contribution, meaning, abundance, happiness, fulfillment, etc. This requires a top-down approach. You first think hard about what your purpose here is… what kind of contribution do you want to make with your life? Once you figure that out, then you work down to the level of how to manifest that in terms of the work you do.

另外一方面， 你可以选择拥抱其它的职业定义用目标，唤起，贡献，意义，富有， 快乐， 成就等 。这需要从上到下的方式。 你首先要努力思考你的目标是什么？ 你的一生想要做出何种贡献。 一旦你想清楚了， 那么你向下工作按照怎么样显示你所做的工作的水平。

And for many people, the seeming impossibility of that manifesting part is paralyzing. This is especially true for men, who usually take their responsibility as breadwinners very seriously. You see yourself logically having two choices: I could stay in my current job, which pays the bills and earns me a good living, or I could go jump into something that fits me better, but I just can’t see how to make money at it. I have a mortgage to pay and a family who depends on me; I can’t do that to them.

另外， 对于很多人来说，表面上看起来不可能的部分就是麻痹。 这对于男人来说非常正确， 男人通常承担负责赚取面包的责任并非常严肃地对待此事。 你看自己逻辑上通常有两种选择： 我可以继续当前的工作，因为这份工作提供工资并且让我很好的生活。 或者我可以跳到可以更适合我的地方但是我不知道通过何种方式来赚钱。 我有贷款需要偿还，而且有一个家庭需要靠我养活。 我们不能对他们做这样的事情。

The problem though is thinking that these are the only alternatives… thinking that you have to make a choice between money and happiness. That assumption is what causes the paralysis against action. You can also envision the third alternative of having money and happiness together. In fact, that’s actually the most likely outcome. If you don’t currently have a career that is deeply fulfilling to you in the sense that you know you’re contributing in a way that matters, then deep down, you will sabotage yourself from going too far with it. You will always know that you’re on the wrong path for you, and this is going to slap a demotivating slump over everything you try to do in that line of work. You’ll do your job, but you’ll never feel that you’re really living up to your potential. You’ll always have problems with procrastination and weak motivation, and they’ll never be resolved no matter how many time management strategies you attempt. Your job will never feel like a truly satisfying career — it just can’t grow into that because you’ve planted your career tree in bad soil. You’ll always be stuck with a bonsai.

不过问题是认为那些是唯一的选择。 想想你必须在金钱和幸福之间做选择。 这种假设是什么导致麻痹对抗行动 。 你也可以预期第三种选择同时拥有金钱和幸福。 事实上， 这事实上看起来像产出。如果你现在没有一个让你深入投入的职业 概念上你知道你正在以一种事关重要的方式奉献。然后，深入下去， 你会因为做得太过火而破坏你自己。 你将总会知道自己在一条错误的道路上。 你将会做自己的工作，但是但你永远不会觉得自己真的是在发挥自己的潜力。你总会有拖延和动力不足的问题。 同时无论你尝试了多少次时间管理策略， 它们都不会被解决。 你的工作永远不会是一个真正令人满意的职业——它只是因为你把你的职业树栽在了糟糕的土壤里而无法成长。你总是会被一种盆景困住。

But when you get your career aligned from top to bottom, such that what you’re ultimately contributing is an expression of the best of yourself, the money will come too. You’ll be enjoying what you do so much, and you’ll find your work so fulfilling, that turning it into an income stream won’t be that hard. You’ll find a way to do it. Making money is not at odds with your greater purpose; they can lie on the same path. The more money you make, the greater your ability to contribute.

但是当你的职业从上到下，你最终做出的贡献是你自己最好的表现，钱也会来的。你会享受你正在做的事情，并且你将发现你的工作充满意义， 并且将之转变味收到的来源不会太困难。 你将会找到一个方式去做它。 赚钱与你的更大目标并不矛盾，他们可以躺在同一条路上。你赚的钱越多，你的贡献能力就越大。

But most importantly you’ll feel you really deserve all the money you earn. When your career is aligned with the best of who you are, you won’t secretly feel that your continued career success means going farther down the wrong path. You won’t hold back anymore. You’ll want to take your career as far as you can because it’s an expression of who you are. And this will make you far more receptive to all the opportunities that are all around you, financial or otherwise.

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