Open Dr. Johnson's celebrated dictionary, published in 1755, and the word fulfillment doesn't even appear.

打開 Johnson 博士 1755 年出版的著名辭典，會發現「fulfillment」這個字根本沒被記載在上面。

Nowadays in a prosperous world, we don't only expect to obtain money through our labor, we also, to a greater or lesser extent, expect to find meaning and satisfaction.

在現今繁榮的社會中，我們不僅僅預期從勞動中獲得金錢，我們也同時希望能在其中找到意義和滿足感。

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.

這是個令人難為的要求，所以才會發現有很多人在星期天日落之際，開始產生職涯危機。

To help us on the quest for fulfilling work here are six useful ideas.

以下六個方法將有助於我們找到有滿足感的工作。

Firstly, accept that being confused about careers is perfectly normal.

1. 因為職業而感到困惑，是再正常不過的事。

In a pre-industrial world there were, at most, some 2,000 different trades out there.

在工業革命前，約有 2000 個不同的行業。

Nowadays there are estimated to be half a million different options.

而現今，市場上粗估有 50 萬種的工作選擇。

The result? We can become so anxious about making the wrong choice, we end up making no choice at all.

結果顯示：我們會因為害怕做出錯誤的決定而感到焦慮，所以最後乾脆不做任何決定。

Psychologists call this "the paradox of choice," paralysis stemming from too many options.

心理學家稱之為「選擇的弔詭」，因為太多選擇而導致麻木不仁。

We should acknowledge that confusion is natural, and fear entirely normal but let neither of these scupper our chances forever.

我們應該接受感到困惑是很自然的，恐懼也是極為正常的事，但不要讓這些負面情緒使機會泡湯。

Secondly, know yourself.

2. 瞭解自己。

It's the oldest philosophical recommendation, and has particular relevance to careers.

這是最古老的哲學建議，與職涯有緊密的連結。

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，我們想要的東西並不會憑空出現，就像是無法憑空知道要吃什麼。

Most of us don't have a calling, we don't hear a commanding God like voice directing us to accountancy, or packaging and distribution.

大部分的人都沒有天職，我們沒有聽到上帝般威嚴的聲音指引我們進到會計、包裝或物流的領域。

That isn't to say we don't have taste or inclinations, we just don't know them clearly enough, which is a perilous position to be in, as not having a plan quickly puts us at the mercy of those who do have one.

並不是說我們沒有興趣或愛好，只是我們了解得還不夠清楚，這是一個很危險的處境，因為沒有計劃就很容易被有計劃的人影響。

We only catch glimpses, little hints of our tastes.

我們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.

我們必須要學習傾聽那些微弱的聲音。

Start by parking any concerns for money for a time, financial panic too often kills all dialogue with the more authentic, passionate sides of one's nature.

首先，將對於金錢的煩惱放在一邊，經濟恐慌往往會扼殺所有與自己更真實、更有熱忱那一面對話的機會。

Write down, without being too logical or analytical about it, everything you've ever enjoyed doing or making, which might include building a tree house, or sorting out the winter clothes.

寫下你一直以來喜歡做的事情或製作的東西，不需要有邏輯或做任何分析，比方說，蓋樹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單越好。

In the long and confused tangle that follows there will, somewhere, be the shape of an ideal future working self, but it'll be very messed up, and in need of being analyzed thoroughly.

在漫長的糾結中，終究會找出未來在職場上發光的理想自我，但過程會非常混亂，也就是需要徹底分析。

That's where philosophy comes in.

這時是哲學發揮作用的時候了。

Philosophy is the art clearing up, and demanding logic of our first thoughts.

哲學是一門能清晰化並釐清思想的藝術和邏輯。

Thirdly, think a lot.

3. 多思考。

If it might take a couple of days, even a week, to choose a new car, it could, fairly, take a year or more of sustained daily reflection to start to identify a career that fits.

如果選購一台新車需要花幾天、甚至是一週的時間，那麼要找到適合自己的職業，何嘗不用一年或更長的時間進行日常反思。

We tend to feel guilty about this, imagining we're being self-indulgent, far from it, we may need to empty every weekend for months to sort out the biggest conundrum of our lives.

我們往往為此感到內疚覺得在自我放縱，但其實不盡然，我們可能需要騰出好幾個月的週末時間來整理我們生活中最大的難題。

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, we need to be properly generous about the amount of time we'll need to give this.

要確保我們不會永遠困在 16 歲懵懂時期選擇的工作裡，就需要給自己更多寬裕的時間思考。

Fourthly, try something.

4. 嘗試做點什麼。

It's tempting to imagine we'll be able to work out the shape of the workplace, and of our own characters simply through pure process of reflection.

我們不免認為自己能夠想像未來工作的樣貌，或者順著自己的性格靠著單純的反覆思考。

But we need data, and we can only understand ourselves and others by colliding with the real world, in the process getting to know both it and our own natures.

但我們需要的是數據，唯有透過與世界接軌碰撞才能真正瞭解自己和他人，在過程中了解世界的運作和自己的天性。

We need to take small, non-irrevocable steps to gather information, for example, by shadowing, interning, or volunteering.

我們必須踏出小而扎實的一步去搜集資訊，例如當學徒、去實習或當志工。

We mustn't think we always have to resign on Monday, we can investigate our futures through branching projects on the side of existing jobs.

不必每次都覺得自己星期一就非得辭職，我們可以透過現有工作，去延伸探索我們的未來。

Five, reflect on what makes people unhappy.

5. 思考有什麼事讓人們不愉快。

Every successful business is at heart an attempt to solve someone else's problem.

每一個成功事業的本質，都是在試圖解決他人的問題。

The bigger and more urgent problem, the greater the opportunity.

若該問題越大且越是急迫，機會就越大。

To flex your entrepreneurial muscles, consider an average day and everything in it that might make someone unhappy, from losing the house keys, to finding the food a little greasy, to arguing yet again with their spouse.

為鍛鍊你創業的肌肉，思考一個平凡的一天和其中可能使人不愉快的事，從遺失家裡鑰匙、吃到油膩的食物到和配偶之間始終不斷的爭吵等。

Each of these is a business opportunity waiting to be exploited.

每一項問題都是等待被開發的商業機會。

It's a chance for us to serve, which is what work really is.

這是我們服務的機會，也是工作的真諦。

It's easy to imagine that everything's been done and tried—nonsense.

我們很容易覺得所有的事情都已經被其他人試過也做過——胡說。

We're unhappy enough for capitalism to have many more centuries of invention and creativity to it.

人們不開心的程度，用往後幾世紀資本主義下激發的發明和創意來填補都還綽綽有餘。

Six, be confident.

6. 要有自信。

So many bad self-help books are about confidence.

很多差勁的勵志書籍都在談論自信。

It can be tempting to dismiss the whole topic as nonsense.

所以人們很容易將該主題視為胡扯。

But in a peculiar and rather humbling way, it truly does seem as if the difference between success and failure is sometimes nothing less than the courage to give it a go.

然而令人感到不可思議和震撼人心的是，往往成功與失敗之間的差異就在於願意嘗試的勇氣。

The ability to imagine oneself into a role, to surmise one doesn't need to ask anyone for permission that many of the top positions simply belong to those who dare to boldly ask for them.

想像或揣摩自己在某種職務裡的行為，並不需要經過他人的同意，許多高層職位只屬於那些敢大膽爭取的人。

A lack of confidence is at heart a misunderstanding of the way the world works.

內心缺乏自信是對世界運作方式的誤解。

It's an internalized feudalism which imagines that only certain people but not oneself, have the right, preordained, to get certain things.

這是一種內心的封建制度，認為某些人而不是自己，才有權利或注定獲得某些東西。

It isn't true.

這是錯誤的思維。

As we know, a lot more is possible than we might think at our moments of timidity and doubt.

我們知道，在我們感到羞怯或存有懷疑時，事情成就的可能性其實比想中更大。

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.

這是通往至臨終前都不會後悔的工作道路上的開端，這也應該永遠是最基本的標準。