Why do you do what you do?

你為什么要做手頭上的事呢？

It’s a serious question and one you’re likely not asked all that often.

這是一個(gè)很?chē)?yán)肅的問(wèn)題，但也是一個(gè)你不會(huì)經(jīng)常問(wèn)自己的問(wèn)題。

Take a look at what you do each day and ask yourself “why am I doing this?”

看一下你每天都在做些什么然后問(wèn)問(wèn)自己：“我做這些是為了什么？”

On a typical day I’m up with my kids, playing with them, tending to them, teaching them. Why do I do it? Because I love them, I want them to have our values, I want to teach them and I want to experience what it’s like to be a mom. I could choose to go back to a job outside of the home and earn a fairly good income, but I choose to stay home because it just feels like the right thing to do … for me. I realize that this isn’t a luxury a lot of people have despite wanting it and believe me when I say I am grateful for being able to stay at home with my kids.

有一天，我抱起我的小孩，和他們一塊玩耍，照顧著他們，教育他們。我不禁想：我為什么做這些事情呢？因?yàn)槲覑?ài)他們，我想他們能夠擁有我們的價(jià)值觀，我想教導(dǎo)他們并且通過(guò)這些去感受作為媽媽的經(jīng)歷。我可以選擇回去工作，而且會(huì)有一份相當(dāng)好的收入，但是我選擇留在家里因?yàn)槲腋杏X(jué)這就是我要做的。我也意識(shí)到這并不是一件奢侈的東西，很多人都有，盡管很多人口里都喊著想要這樣的生活，相信我，我很感激能夠呆在家里和我的小孩在一起。

I write. Why? Because it allows me to get in touch with my creative side, something I didn’t get to do too often when I was heavily embedded in the sciences. Writing helps me gather and focus my thoughts. It allows me to.

我寫(xiě)作。為什么？因?yàn)閷?xiě)作激起了我的創(chuàng)造靈感，這些靈感不是我堅(jiān)信自然科學(xué)就能夠獲得的。寫(xiě)作讓我收集靈感、專注于我的思維上，它給了我這樣的契機(jī)。

I coach/consult people. Why? Because it allows me to work in a way that I’m passionate about, I am able to contribute financially to my family, and it’s helping me get closer to my goal of personally funding 2 children’s wishes for the Children’s Wish Foundation. Since one of my son’s is a wish kid this is near and dear to me and at $20K a wish I have a VERY long way to go. But I don’t doubt I’ll get there in my lifetime.

我是顧問(wèn)。為什么？因?yàn)檫@份工作是我的激情所在。通過(guò)這份工作，我不但可以支持家庭，我也朝我的目標(biāo)更近了一步：為兒童愿望基金會(huì)資助兩名兒童，幫他們實(shí)現(xiàn)愿望。我最親愛(ài)的兒子也是個(gè)愛(ài)許愿的孩子，所以雖然幫每個(gè)兒童實(shí)現(xiàn)愿望需要2萬(wàn)美金，我得花很久才能實(shí)現(xiàn)，但是我堅(jiān)信在我的有生之年我肯定能實(shí)現(xiàn)。

These are just a few examples of what I do and why I do them. They may not sit well with everyone but I do what I do in these respects with purpose and reason.

這只是我所做的和為什么我要做這些的幾個(gè)例子。它們不可能適合所有的人，但我知道做我手頭上這些事情的目的和意義。

I could also mention that I watch TV from time to time. If you asked me why I do it, I wouldn’t have a very good answer – to curb boredom, to relax and just sit at the end of the day. There are a lot of better things I could be doing with my time but occasionally TV is okay.

在這里我還想提到一點(diǎn)，即我時(shí)常也看電視。如果你問(wèn)我為什么會(huì)看電視？我可能沒(méi)有一個(gè)很好的答案，或許只是無(wú)聊，只是想放松一下，或許只想在一天結(jié)束的時(shí)候坐著休息一下。我的一生還有許多許多更美好的事情等著我去做，但偶爾看看電視也很好。

I think doing things without purpose, a plan or the bigger picture in mind can be fun but it may be wasting your time, effort, energy, talents and skills.

我認(rèn)為做事情沒(méi)有目標(biāo)，沒(méi)有計(jì)劃或是在腦海中沒(méi)有一幅藍(lán)圖，會(huì)很有趣，但這樣子確實(shí)浪費(fèi)時(shí)間、精力、才能和你的技能。

So what are you doing and why are you doing it?

所以說(shuō)：你在做些什么？你為什么要做？

Take inventory of what you’re doing in major life areas and try to understand why you’re doing them.

列下在你重要的人生領(lǐng)域里，你所做事情的清單，找到做這些事情的原因。

Does what you do play to your strengths? Do you get great joy out of doing it? Is it helping you get closer to a goal or a dream you have?

你所做的有助于發(fā)揮你的實(shí)力嗎？你快樂(lè)嗎？做這些事情能幫你朝既定的目標(biāo)或者夢(mèng)想邁進(jìn)一些嗎？

If you spend too much of your time focusing on things that don’t really matter, that don’t really excite you and you don’t have a reason for doing what you’re doing you could be missing out on a lot of great things.

如果你把過(guò)多的時(shí)間花在這樣一些事情上：無(wú)關(guān)緊要，不會(huì)讓你興奮，你也沒(méi)有很好的理由來(lái)解釋為什么要做現(xiàn)在正在做的事情，那么你將會(huì)失去很多美好的事情。

Think of all the opportunities you could be missing out on if you’re tied up in activities that don’t matter to you. Wouldn’t you hate to realize one day that what you wanted all along passed you by because you were too busy doing other things. Menial things.

想一下：如果你在一些無(wú)關(guān)緊要的事情上面忙忙碌碌，你將失去多少機(jī)會(huì)？你會(huì)不會(huì)有一天突然意識(shí)到：因?yàn)槟忝χ鲆恍┢渌阏J(rèn)為重要的事情，而你真正想要的東西卻通通都已溜走。

So my question remains: What are you doing and why do you do it?

所以我的問(wèn)題依然是：你在做什么，你為什么做？