A Penny for Your Thoughts...

By Stanley Bing

On this last Monday before Labor Day, as the summer lies dying and new school year begins for us all, a question has bubbled up in my mind: Do you like your job?
 
In my work, I meet a lot of people. Some are young. Some are older than they look. Most of them do not like their jobs. Some do, though. And it's possible that it has nothing to do with the job itself.
 
I had a drink with the marketing director of a very large advertising agency the other day. She's in her mid-twenties. That would seem to be a very good gig, right? She doesn't like it.
 
"It's a good job, I guess," she said. "It just turns out that it's not what I want to be doing." She wants to be painting, it turns out. Which I suppose is about as far from marketing as you can get.
 
A young man I know has a very good job working for a movie company. He loves movies. He wants to make them, in fact. But he doesn't like his job, either, because he "doesn't like to work inside." That's going to be a problem going forward, I think, unless he wants to be a farmer.
 
I heard some news last week about a young woman who used to work here. Since leaving, she's had about four different jobs in different businesses. She didn't like any of them. So she's going to business school this fall. I think that's tragic.
 
A guy sent a resume to me the other week. Actually pushed so hard to speak with me that I figured that to resist on the matter was worse than submission, so we scheduled a call. He's an attorney. Been working at it for 15 years. He's now in his early 40s.
 
You know what that means. If you're not where you want to be when you're 40, a certain kind of depression/panic sometimes sets in. He's got it. What does he want to do? Anything but being an attorney.
 
That seems to be a common attribute of many who don't like their jobs. When you ask them what they'd rather be doing, they get kind of glazed over and thoughtful, and then they tell you some variation of the theme, "anything but what I'm doing right now."
 
When asked what they are good at, they often reply, "I can do a lot of things." If you had a product you were trying to sell to people, would you put on its label, "It can do anything!" I don't think so. What is it? A breakfast cereal? A floor wax?
 
There are, of course, many people who DO like their jobs. They may not tell you so, but they do. Some are even attorneys, although not very many. The thing is, it's tough to say, "I love my job," because on most days, even if you love your job the details of it worry, aggravate and oppress you. Especially Mondays.
How about you? As we prepare to celebrate our national holiday honoring labor (as well as Labor), how do you feel about yours?

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作者：Stanley Bing

    在这个劳工节前的最后一个周一，夏季就要过去，我们所有人都迎来了新学年，我头脑中冒出了这样一个问题：你热爱你的工作吗？

    我在工作中遇到很多人。有些人年轻，有些人看起来比较老成。尽管有些人喜欢自己的工作，但大多数人都不喜欢。可能这跟工作本身并没有多大关系。

    一天，我跟一家大型广告代理商的营销总监一起喝酒。她大概二十五六岁。这看起来是份非常好的工作，对吧？但她并不喜欢。她说：“我想这是份好工作，只是这不是我想做的工作。”她想从事绘画，而在我看来，这跟营销简直就是天壤之别。

    我认识的一个年轻人在电影公司有一份非常好的工作。他热爱电影。事实上，他想亲自拍摄电影。但他也不喜欢自己的这份工作，因为他“不喜欢在室内工作”。我想除非他想当个农民，否则他早晚会碰到这个问题。

    我上周听说了一些关于曾经在这里工作的一位年轻女士的消息。离职后，她共做了4份不同领域的工作。然而她哪份工作也不喜欢。所以今年秋天她打算去读商学院。这实在是悲哀。

    前几周我接到了一份简历。寄简历的人极力想要与我通话，让我难以拒绝，于是我干脆答应了，我们通了一次电话。他是位律师，已经干了15年了。他现在四十出头。你知道这意味着什么。如果40岁的时候还没有实现理想，有时会感到失落/恐慌。他就有这种感觉。他想做什么？除了律师，什么都行。

    这貌似是那些不喜欢自己工作的人的通病。当你问他们更想做什么的时候，他们变得目光呆滞、陷入沉思，然后总是告诉你同一个意思：“只要不是我现在的工作，其他什么都行。”当被问及擅长做什么的时候，他们通常会回答：“我可以做很多事情。”如果你要推销一种产品给顾客，你是否会在产品标签上注明“它可以做任何事情！”我想没人会这样做。它是什么？早餐麦片？地板蜡？

    当然还有很多人的确热爱他们的工作。他们可能嘴上不承认，但他们的确热爱。甚至有些律师都喜欢自己的工作，尽管这样的律师并不多见。关键是，“我爱我的工作”很难说出口，因为大多情况下，即使你喜欢你的工作，也会被繁琐的工作细节困扰，甚至感到压迫。每周一这种感觉尤甚。

    那么你呢？我们正准备庆祝劳工节，你热爱自己的工作吗？

算是一个劳逸结合的假期，书也算看了不少，虽不奢望这次有什么惊人大突破，只求比去年好些。想在一个月内考过职业考试科目还是大有难度；日常在自己工作范围内对考试涉及范围了解有限，但毕竟是花时间和精力复习，希望有个对得起自己的考试成绩。

放假三周多，倒是有些担心紧接下来的工作会不会开始跟不上节拍，希望能在考后整理好心态投入紧张的工作中。还是很感谢公司对员工的职业考试安排，让自己在一个忙季之后能小喘一口气，也为未来充充电。

这段时间也想了很多，对自己的将来有了初步的想法。应该算是成长了一些吧，相信自己的脚步会在大家的支持下更加坚定。