评论
打印
I’ve met more people who, essentially, somewhere along the way picked up: 'You go to school,
我遇到过很多人 他们基本就是在某个时刻开始：‘上学
you get trained in something, then you go get a job in that and then you do that job and that’s your career and then you die.'
培训某项特长 找份对口的工作一直做下去 直到终老’
But then they got into this thing and realized they don’t actually want to do this with their life.
但是等他们真正做这一行的时候会发现他们其实并不喜欢这件事
Or nobody wants this particular trade anymore.
或者他们所做的事没有任何市场了
You make eight-track players; people aren’t buying eight-tracks anymore.
比如你是做八轨播放器的 根本就没人买八轨播放器了
There’s this weird thing about the market where if you go in with, 'Well, this is a thing that I do,'
市场有一点很奇怪 如果你说“嗯 我就做这件事了”
there may be forces beyond you that like: 'No one wants to pay for that anymore.'
但还有很多不可控力 比如“再也没有人愿意买你做的东西”
And so over the years, I kept meeting people who had this very single track 'this is what I’m supposed to do' thing
所以这些年来 我经常遇到思想很单一的人 他们会想“我就做这件事了”
and then it disappointed them for reasons out of their control or simply, “I got trained to do this thing that I don’t like to do.”
但却往往会因为一些不可控因素而失望 或者单纯只是因为“我的专业并不是我喜欢做的事”
Then I stumbled on this Japanese word “ikigai” and ikigai essentially is that which gets you out of bed in the morning.
后来我无意间知道了“ikigai”这个日语单词 ikigai其实就是指让你早上有动力起床的东西
Sometimes it’s translated as 'your reason for being'.
有时候它被翻译为“你存在的理由”
And in Japanese culture they have this very well thought through idea of ikigai:
在日本文化中 他们对ikigai的概念非常透彻：
that you never stop working out your ikigai—what it is that gets you out of bed in the morning.
那就是永远不要停下制定你的ikigai的脚步——是它给了你早上起床的动力
And so in this season of life, this is what you’re doing but that may change. It may shift.
所以在生命的这个阶段 这就是你所做的事 不过它也有可能改变 它可能会变化
Somebody you love may get sick and so you need to care for them.
你爱的人可能会生病 你需要照顾他们
You used to do this and now that industry is sort of dried up but now you need to go back to school because you need to now go do this.
你以前做的是这件事 现在这个行业要倒闭了 但现在你需要重返学校 因为你得换一行
And they had this really interesting idea that when you no longer have something that gets you out of bed in the morning,
他们有这种很有趣的想法 如果你早上再也没有了起床的动力
then you’re kind of dead, even if you’re still alive.
那么你活着也像死了一样
And the reason why I find that fascinating is you can be successful, you can have a nice job, you can have a nice house,
我之所以觉得这一点很迷人是因为 你可以功成名就 事业顺利 坐拥豪宅
you can do all the stuff that everybody says, “Hey, you’ve made it,”
你做任何事情都可以让大家称赞“嘿 你做到了”
and yet wake up in the morning with a profound sense of dread like,“Ugh, another day?”
但你早上醒来 却是无边无际的恐惧 “呃 又是无聊的一天？”
And despair is a spiritual disease.
而绝望是一种精神疾病
Despair is when you believe that tomorrow will simply be a repeat of today.
绝望就是指你相信明天会和今天一模一样
Despair is when you look ahead into the future and each day is just another version of this.
绝望就是当你展望未来 看到的却是日复一日的循环重复
What we really want, no matter how educated, sophisticated, accomplished we are,
我们真正想要的 无论教育水平有多高 经验多丰富 事业多成功
we want to wake up in the morning with this sense of anticipation.
我们都想在早上醒来时怀揣希望
Like, “Look what I get to do today!”
比如“看我今天要做的事多棒呀！”
The great Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “I didn’t ask for success, I asked for wonder.”
伟大的亚伯拉罕·约书亚·海舍尔曾经说过 “我不追求成功 我要的是奇迹”
And I love that because for many of us we were trained for success.
我很喜欢这句话 因为多数人学习的目的就是为了成功
Here’s how you work hard and multitask and network and get stuff done and climb the ladder.
他们学会了努力工作 一心多用 跟人交流 完成任务 顺着梯子往上爬
What we weren’t taught oftentimes was to ask, “Is this ladder even leaned up against the right building?”—which is a different set of questions.
但通常我们没有学到的是去问一下“这个梯子靠的是对的建筑吗？”——这又是一系列不同的问题了
It exerts a different set of muscles. It’s one thing to be successful.
这完全是两码事儿 成功是一回事
It’s another thing to wake up and think, "Check out what I get to do today! How great is this?”
早上醒来想的是“看我今天要做的事！多棒呀” 这又是另一回事
It’s as if success asks this question, “What more can I get?”
就像成功问的问题是“我还能得到什么？”
And then there’s this other question, very different, that comes out of ikigai,
而ikigai所问的问题却截然不同
understanding your life is a craft that you’re endlessly working out—
要明白你的生活是一个需要你不断打造的工艺品——
and that question is: “Can you believe I get to do this?”
那个问题就是“你敢相信我会做这件事吗？”
It’s like you have this thing that’s been sort of buzzing in your mind and heart.
就像这种想法萦绕在你的大脑和心中
Like, "I would love to go try that." But then all those voices come back in of who you aren’t.
比如“我愿意尝试那个” 但随后所有声音都告诉你你不是那样的人
“You don’t have enough resources. You’re not smart enough.
“你没有足够的资源 你不够聪明
You haven’t gone to the right schools."
你上的学校不好”
By the way who you aren’t isn’t interesting.
顺便说一下 你不是谁谁谁一点意思都没有
The long list of things you haven’t done or where you haven’t been or who you don’t know or money you don’t have.
你没做过的事 没去过的地方 不认识的人 没有挣到的钱 这长长的清单
It’s so boring! Who you aren’t isn’t interesting.
太无趣了！你不是的那个人很无聊
And then when you are finding your path and when you are saying yes to whatever it is
当你在寻找自己的道路
that’s sort of welling up within you that is filling you with a sense of wonder and anticipation:
并为心中萌发的想法 让你充满了好奇和希望的想法叫好时：
who other people are in relation to your path isn’t interesting.
与你的道路相关的其他人并没有趣
Because often what happens is we think, “I would do that but so and so is smarter, and so and so is faster, and so and so has more endurance and can work harder.
因为我们往往会想“我本来想那么做的 但是这样这样更明智 速度更快 这样会更持久 可以更加努力
And so and so always gets…” Not interesting. It’s not interesting.
这样总会...” 很无聊 一点意义都没有
You finding your path, the only question is, “What is the thing that you’re here to do, and what is the next step?”
你寻找自己的道路 唯一的问题就是“你要做的这件事是什么？下一步是什么？”
And fear often raises its voice and fear lists all the ways it can go wrong.
而恐惧总会油然而生 恐惧会列出一切可能出问题的地方
And by the way, the best thing with fear is to talk back to fear.
顺便提一下 应对恐惧的最佳办法就是跟恐惧对话
Because fear is like, “You could lose a lot of money.
因为恐惧会想“你可能会损失一大笔钱
People might not understand this.
人们可能无法理解你
I mean you might really fail.”
说真的 你可能会失败”
And the thing you do with fear is talk back to fear.
你所做的就是要跟恐惧对话
Because fear thinks it’s quite intelligent.
因为恐惧自以为很聪明
It’s like, “I’m here to warn you of all the bad things that could happen.
它会想“我是来提醒你所有可能发生的坏事的
And you probably haven’t thought of this and this and this.”
你可能没想到这个那个等等”
And here’s the thing you do is you talk to fear and you say to fear whenever fear is like: “You know what?
你要做的就是跟恐惧对话 每当恐惧告诉你“你知道吗？
This could really, really be a giant catastrophe.
这可能是一场大灾难
This could be a mess. You could really fail.”
可能会搞砸 你可能会失败”
What you say to fear is you say to fear, “I know.”
你就告诉恐惧“我知道”
And then you smile. “I know. I know.”
然后你就笑着说“我知道 我都知道”
Because fear has no idea what to do with that.
只要你这么做 恐惧就束手无策了
“I’m aware of all that.” Life is difficult enough.
“那些我都知道” 生活本就很困难
You might as well be doing something that fills you with life.
你最好是做一些能让你充满活力的事
It’s going to beat you up enough, you might as well be getting up in the morning with some sense of, 'I’m headed somewhere.
它会让你遭受苦难 你早上醒来最好是觉得“我在朝着某个方向前进
I’m a step closer to being my true self today.'
今天我离真实的自己又近了一步”
And you know you’re making progress when all those voices come and say, “Who are you to do this?
当有声音来质问你“你在做什么？
Who do you think you are?”
你以为你是谁？”的时候 你知道自己在进步
You know you’re making progress when you start talking back to those voices, and you have an even better question which is: 'Who am I not to do this?'
当你跟这些声音对话的时候 你知道自己有进步 然后你就会发现一个更好的问题“我为什么不做这件事呢？”
There will always be somebody smarter.
总有人比你更聪明
There will always be somebody who knows more people.
总有人比你人缘更广
There will always be somebody who’s traveled to more places and got better grades in school and has more money.
总有人比你去过更多地方 学习成绩更好 也更加富有
There will always be somebody better.
总会有人比你更优秀
But you can say, “But who am I not to do this?”
但你可以说“我为什么不做这件事呢？”
And that’s interesting.
这才是有趣之处
