The idea that work might be fulfilling, rather than just painfully necessary, is a strikingly recent invention.
工作能让人获得满足，而非无可避免的痛苦，出乎意料是近期才发现的事。
Open Dr. Johnson's celebrated dictionary, published in 1755,
打开 Johnson 博士 1755 年出版的著名辞典，
and the word fulfillment doesn't even appear.
会发现"fulfillment"（满足）这个词根本没被记载在上面。
Nowadays in a prosperous world, we don't only expect to obtain money through our labor,
在现今繁荣的社会中，我们不仅仅预期从劳动中获得金钱，
we also, to a greater or lesser extent, expect to find meaning and satisfaction.
我们也同时希望能在其中找到意义和满足感。
It's a big ask and helps to explain why so many of us have career crises often on a Sunday evening as the sun begins to set.
这是个令人为难的要求，所以才会发现有很多人在星期天日落之际，开始感到职业生涯危机。
To help us on the quest for fulfilling work here are six useful ideas.
以下六个方法将有助于我们找到有满足感的工作。
Firstly, accept that being confused about careers is perfectly normal.
首先，因为职业而感到困惑，是再正常不过的事。
In a pre-industrial world there were, at most, some 2,000 different trades out there.
在工业革命前，约有 2000 个不同的行业。
Nowadays there are estimated to be half a million different options.
而现今，市场上大约有 50 万种的工作选择。
The result? We can become so anxious about making the wrong choice,
结果显示：我们会因为害怕做出错误的决定而感到焦虑，
we end up making no choice at all.
所以最后干脆不做任何决定。
Psychologists call this "the paradox of choice,"
心理学家称之为"选择的悖论"，
paralysis stemming from too many options.
因为太多选择而导致麻木不仁。
We should acknowledge that confusion is natural, and fear entirely normal,
我们应该接受感到困惑是很自然的，恐惧也是极为正常的事，
but let neither of these scupper our chances forever.
但不要让这些负面情绪使机会泡汤。
Secondly, know yourself.
第二，了解自己。
It's the oldest philosophical recommendation, and has particular relevance to careers.
这是最古老的哲学建议，与职业生涯有紧密的关联。
For 99 percent of us knowing what we want to do doesn't arise spontaneously like for example, knowing what to eat.
99% 的人都知道，我们的想法并不会凭空出现，就象是无法凭空知道要吃什么。
Most of us don't have a calling,
大部分的人都没有天职，
we don't hear a commanding God like voice directing us to accountancy, or packaging and distribution.
我们没有听到上帝般威严的声音指引我们进到会计、包装或物流的领域。
That isn't to say we don't have taste or inclinations,
并不是说我们没有兴趣或爱好，
we just don't know them clearly enough, which is a perilous position to be in,
只是我们了解得还不够清楚，这是一个很危险的处境，
as not having a plan quickly puts us at the mercy of those who do have one.
因为没有计划就很容易被有计划的人影响。
We only catch glimpses, little hints of our tastes.
我们只知道自己喜好的一小部分而已。
So what we have to do is learn to pick up on their faint sounds.
我们必须要学习倾听那些微弱的声音。
Start by parking any concerns for money for a time,
首先，将对于金钱的烦恼放在一边，
financial panic too often kills all dialogue with the more authentic, passionate sides of one's nature.
经济恐慌往往会扼杀所有与自己更真实、更有热忱那一面对话的机会。
Write down, without being too logical or analytical about it, everything you've ever enjoyed doing or making,
写下你一直以来喜欢做的事情或制作的东西，不需要有逻辑或做任何分析，
which might include building a tree house, or sorting out the winter clothes.
比方说，盖树屋或是整理冬季衣物。
The weirder and more offbeat list, the better.
越是稀奇古怪且不落俗套的清单越好。
In the long and confused tangle that follows there will, somewhere, be the shape of an ideal future working self,
在漫长的纠结中，终究会找出未来在职场上发光的理想自我，
but it'll be very messed up, and in need of being analyzed thoroughly.
但过程会非常混乱，也就是需要彻底分析。
That's where philosophy comes in.
这就是哲学发挥作用的时候了。
Philosophy is the art of clearing up, and demanding logic of our first thoughts.
哲学是一门能清晰化并理清思想的艺术和逻辑。
Thirdly, think a lot.
第三，多思考。
If it might take a couple of days, even a week, to choose a new car,
如果选购一台新车需要花几天、甚至是一周的时间，
it could, fairly, take a year or more of sustained daily reflection to start to identify a career that fits.
那么要找到适合自己的职业，何尝不用一年或更长的时间进行日常反思。
We tend to feel guilty about this, imagining we're being self-indulgent,
我们往往为此感到内疚觉得在自我放纵，
far from it, we may need to empty every weekend for months to sort out the biggest conundrum of our lives.
但其实不尽然，我们可能需要腾出好几个月的周末时间来整理我们生活中最大的难题。
To make sure we don't continue to spend the rest of our lives trapped in a job unwittingly chosen for us by our unknowing 16 year-old selves,
要确保我们不会永远困在 16 岁懵懂时期选择的工作里，
we need to be properly generous about the amount of time we'll need to give this.
就需要给自己更多宽裕的时间思考。
Fourthly, try something.
第四，尝试做点什么。
It's tempting to imagine we'll be able to work out the shape of the workplace,
我们不免认为自己可以靠着单纯的反复思考，就能想象未来工作的样貌，
and of our own characters simply through pure process of reflection.
或者了解自己的性格。
But we need data,
但我们需要的是数据，
and we can only understand ourselves and others by colliding with the real world,
唯有透过与世界接轨碰撞才能真正了解自己和他人，
in the process getting to know both it and our own natures.
在过程中了解世界的运作和自己的天性。
We need to take small, non-irrevocable steps to gather information,
我们必须踏出小而扎实的一步，去搜集信息，
for example, by shadowing, interning, or volunteering.
例如去当学徒、去实习或当志愿者。
We mustn't think we always have to resign on Monday,
不必每次都觉得自己星期一就非得辞职，
we can investigate our futures through branching projects on the side of existing jobs.
我们可以透过现有工作，去延伸探索我们的未来。
Five, reflect on what makes people unhappy.
第五，思考有什么事让人们不愉快。
Every successful business is at heart an attempt to solve someone else's problem.
每一个成功事业的本质，都是在试图解决他人的问题。
The bigger and more urgent problem, the greater the opportunity.
若该问题越大且越是急迫，机会就越大。
To flex your entrepreneurial muscles, consider an average day and everything in it that might make someone unhappy,
为锻炼你创业的敏感度，思考一下平凡的一天和其中可能使人不愉快的事，
from losing the house keys, to finding the food a little greasy, to arguing yet again with their spouse.
从遗失家里钥匙、吃到油腻的食物到和配偶之间始终不断的争吵等。
Each of these is a business opportunity waiting to be exploited.
每一项问题都是等待被开发的商业机会。
It's a chance for us to serve, which is what work really is.
这是我们服务的机会，也是工作的真谛。
It's easy to imagine that everything's been done and tried—
我们很容易觉得所有的事情都已经被其他人试过也做过——
nonsense.
这是胡说。
We're unhappy enough for capitalism to have many more centuries of invention and creativity to it.
人们不开心的程度，用往后几世纪资本主义下激发的发明和创意来填补都还绰绰有余。
Six, be confident.
第六，要有自信。
So many bad self-help books are about confidence.
很多差劲的励志书籍都在谈论自信。
It can be tempting to dismiss the whole topic as nonsense.
所以人们很容易将该主题视为胡扯。
But in a peculiar and rather humbling way,
然而令人感到不可思议和震撼的是，
it truly does seem as if the difference between success and failure is sometimes nothing less than the courage to give it a go.
往往成功与失败之间的差异就在于愿意尝试的勇气。
The ability to imagine oneself into a role, to surmise one doesn't need to ask anyone for permission,
想象或揣摩自己在某种职务里的行为，并不需要经过他人的同意，
that many of the top positions simply belong to those who dare to boldly ask for them.
许多高层职位只属于那些敢大胆争取的人。
A lack of confidence is at heart a misunderstanding of the way the world works.
内心缺乏自信是对世界运作方式的误解。
It's an internalized feudalism which imagines that only certain people but not oneself, have the right, preordained, to get certain things.
这是一种内心的封建制度，认为某些人而不是自己，才有权利或注定获得某些东西。
It isn't true.
这是错误的思维。
As we know, a lot more is possible than we might think at our moments of timidity and doubt.
我们知道，在我们感到羞怯或存有怀疑时，事情成就的可能性其实比想象中更大。
That's a start of the path towards a job we won't regret on our death beds, which should always be the ultimate criterion.
这是通往至临终前都不会后悔的工作道路上的开端，这也永远应该是最基本的标准。
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