But almost as important yet much less commonly recognized, is that a job should feel full of meaning.

但和薪水一樣重要，卻少為人知的，是工作應該要讓人感到充滿意義

Yet, how does a job get to feel meaningful?

但是，工作要如何變得有意義呢？

What even does it mean to say that a job has meaning?

到底一個工作怎樣才叫做有意義呢？

There seem to be three things that imbue work with meaning.

有三件事情可以賦予工作意義

Firstly, a meaningful job taps into the deepest, most sincere and talented parts of us.

首先，一份有意義的工作要能觸及我們內心最深處、最真誠且最有天份的一面

So different people will necessarily find different sorts of work meaningful according to what's inside their deeper self.

所以不同的人會根據他們內心深處的那一面，感受到對自己而言有意義的工作

For some, meaning might emerge from baking bread.

像是有些人從烘焙麵包中找到意義

Others will feel their deep self engaged by computer science.

有些人對電腦科學深感興趣

For others still, they'll feel most fully themselves, most fully alive when investing money

有些人，則在投資金錢中感到最自在並充滿活力

or teaching kids a foreign language.

或是教導孩子們學習一門外語

Secondly, a meaningful job is one which to some extent helps others, which fixes a problem that humans have.

第二，一份有意義的工作，在某種程度上能夠幫助他人，解決人生的問題

A job which in ways, large and small, serves humanity.

是一份透過或大或小的方式在服務人類的工作

Meaningful work provides a service to others.

有意義的工作在於提供服務給他人

And thirdly, a job feels meaningful when the person doing it can viscerally sense, day to day, the impact of their work upon an audience.

而第三，當一個人從日常的工作中，能發自內心感受到工作帶給他人的影響時，這份工作便充滿意義

Not only is the job theoretically meaningful, it actually feels meaningful as one does it in a course of an average day.

不僅理論上這份工作有了意義，每天做這份工作的人也能實際感受到它的意義

Why should it be so hard to find meaningful work?

為什麼要找到有意義的工作是如此困難呢？

Why are we in such a danger of doing work that brings in money but doesn't fulfill the meaning side of us?

為什麼我們會處於一個為了賺錢而工作，但心裡卻如此空虛的窘境？

Three big reasons stand out.

有三個顯而易見的主要理由

Firstly, because it's perilously hard for us to locate our true interests

第一，因為要找到自己真正的興趣定位是很困難的

in the time we have, before simply paying the bills becomes the imperative.

在單純付帳單這件事成為我們的當務之急之前

Our interests don't manifest themselves spontaneously.

我們的興趣並不會自然而然地顯現出來

They require us to patiently analyze ourselves,

而是需要我們耐心地去分析自己

and try out a range of options to see what feels as if it might have the best fit for us.

並廣泛嘗試各種選擇，看看哪一個最適合我們

But unfortunately, schools and universities, as well as society at large, doesn't place much emphasis on this stage of education,

但很不幸地，學校和大學，大至整個社會，並不重視這個階段的教育

on helping people to understand their authentic working identities.

不注重於幫助人們了解他們真實的工作上的特性

There's far more emphasis on simply getting ready for any job than a job that would particularly well-suited to us, which is a pity not just for individuals but for the economy as a whole, because people would always work better, harder and more fruitfully when their deep selves are engaged.

反而更著重於為了任何工作該做的準備

Secondly, many jobs are relatively meaningless because it's very possible, in the current economy,

而不是特定一個適合我們的工作

to generate profits from selling people things that aren't really helping them in any way,

這對於個人，甚至是整體的經濟而言，是一件很可惜的事情

but are more hoodwinking them, or preying on their lack of self-command.

因為當人們全心投入的同時，他們會工作地更好、更努力、有更好的成果

Most of us have a dangerously loose hold on what really brings us satisfaction long-term,

第二，許多工作相對地缺乏意義，因為很有可能的是，在現有的經濟狀況下

which gives room to entrepreneurs to build huge and profitable businesses

這些工作為了賺取利益，賣給人們一些根本幫不上忙的東西

selling stuff which no one's particularly proud of at the end an average day.

反而比較像是欺騙消費者，瞄準人們缺乏自制力的這項弱點

Those working in these businesses know in their hearts that they haven't really helped anyone have a better life.

我們大部分的人對於什麼是能真正帶來長遠滿足感的東西有很深的誤會

The job pays. That's why they keep doing it, but there's sadly very little meaning.

讓商人們得以創造有利可圖的商機

Thirdly, a job may have real meaning may genuinely be helping others, but it may not feel like this day to day, because many organizations are so large, so slow-moving, so split up over so many continents

最終兜售一些不值得一提的東西

that the purpose of everyone's workday gets lost amidst endless meetings, memos, conference calls and admin.

那些在這樣的企業之下工作的人，心知肚明他們絲毫沒有幫助到他人過上更好的生活

If you're one of the 10,000 people on four continents working towards a product that will help humanity in 2022,

而是因為有收入，他們才日復一日的工作，但其中卻毫無意義可言

you may well lose the thread of what the real purpose of it all is.

第三，一個可能真正有意義工作，是真心幫助他人的類型

No wonder people who work in large organizations often fantasize about throwing it all in

卻有可能無法時常體會到它的意義

and working in a job with more tangible sense of the end result.

因為許多組織的規模是如此龐大、行動緩慢、如此分散於世界各地

For example, running a small B&B or landscape gardening firm.

以致於所有人在無限的會議、備忘錄、電話會議和管理中迷失了工作日常的目標

The very scale of modern enterprise has sapped a lot of work of a sense of meaning.

如果你屬於四大洲中萬分之一的那個人，為了能在 2022 年前幫助人類的產品工作

This diagnosis helps to point the way to what we might begin to do to make work more meaningful for people.

你很有可能會對一切的目的，感到毫無頭緒

Firstly, pay a lot more attention to helping people find their vocation, their real working authentic selves

難怪在大企業工作的人們，時常想著不幹了

through moves like career psychotherapy, extended work placements and changes to school and university curricula,

和轉換跑道到另一個更能看到實際成果的工作

so as to allow students to start to analyze their identities and aptitudes from a much younger age.

例如，經營一個小型的民宿或是花園景觀公司

Secondly, the more we as customers can support businesses engaged in meaningful work, the more meaningful jobs there will be.

正是因為現代企業的規模消磨了許多工作中的一絲意義

Consumers have an enormous power over what kind of lives we can have as producers.

這項結果幫助指引我們方向，或許我們可以這麼做，好讓工作對於人們來說更有意義

By raising the quality of our demand, we raise the number of jobs there are which can answer to mankind's deeper needs.

首先，要更著重於幫助人們找到他們的使命感、他們工作的真實自我

Thirdly, in businesses which should do meaningful work but on too large a scale over too long a period for it to feel meaningful day to day,

透過像是職涯心理治療、額外的工作實習、學校和大學課程的調整等行動

we need to get better at telling stories of what the business is up to.

以幫助學生們從更早的年齡就開始分析自己的特性和才能

We need to give work some of the intimacy of a small B&B even if it's a giant multinational.

第二，如果我們能更以消費者的角度去支持企業投入於有意義的工作，世界上就會擁有更多有意義的工作

Ensuring that work is meaningful is vital. It's not a luxury.

消費者對於身為製造者的我們，可以過怎樣的生活有很大的決定力

It determines the greatest issue of all in modern economics and politics:

藉由提升的我們的需求品質，我們就能增加更多能夠滿足人們內心需求的工作機會

how hard and well people will work,

第三，在該做有意義工作，但礙於過於龐大的規模、太過漫長的時間，以致於無法在日常生活中體會到工作的意義的企業中

and therefore, how successful and wealthy our societies can be.

我們需要把企業職責描繪得更精彩