Why do you do what you do?

你为什么要做手头上的事呢？

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

这是一个很严肃的问题，但也是一个你不会经常问自己的问题。

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问问自己：“我做这些是为了什么？”

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，和他们一块玩耍，照顾着他们，教育他们。我不禁想：我为什么做这些事情呢？因为我爱他们，我想他们能够拥有我们的价值观，我想教导他们并且通过这些去感受作为妈妈的经历。我可以选择回去工作，而且会有一份相当好的收入，但是我选择留在家里因为我感觉这就是我要做的。我也意识到这并不是一件奢侈的东西，很多人都有，尽管很多人口里都喊着想要这样的生活，相信我，我很感激能够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.

我写作。为什么？因为写作激起了我的创造灵感，这些灵感不是我坚信自然科学就能够获得的。写作让我收集灵感、专注于我的思维上，它给了我这样的契机。

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.

我是顾问。为什么？因为这份工作是我的激情所在。通过这份工作，我不但可以支持家庭，我也朝我的目标更近了一步：为儿童愿望基金会资助两名儿童，帮他们实现愿望。我最亲爱的儿子也是个爱许愿的孩子，所以虽然帮每个儿童实现愿望需要2万美金，我得花很久才能实现，但是我坚信在我的有生之年我肯定能实现。

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.

这只是我所做的和为什么我要做这些的几个例子。它们不可能适合所有的人，但我知道做我手头上这些事情的目的和意义。

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.

在这里我还想提到一点，即我时常也看电视。如果你问我为什么会看电视？我可能没有一个很好的答案，或许只是无聊，只是想放松一下，或许只想在一天结束的时候坐着休息一下。我的一生还有许多许多更美好的事情等着我去做，但偶尔看看电视也很好。

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.

我认为做事情没有目标，没有计划或是在脑海中没有一幅蓝图，会很有趣，但这样子确实浪费时间、精力、才能和你的技能。

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

所以说：你在做些什么？你为什么要做？

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领域里，你所做事情的清单，找到做这些事情的原因。

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?

你所做的有助于发挥你的实力吗？你快乐吗？做这些事情能帮你朝既定的目标或者梦想迈进一些吗？

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.

如果你把过多的时间花在这样一些事情上：无关紧要，不会让你兴奋，你也没有很好的理由来解释为什么要做现在正在做的事情，那么你将会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：如果你在一些无关紧要的事情上面忙忙碌碌，你将失去多少机会？你会不会有一天突然意识到：因为你忙着做一些其他你认为重要的事情，而你真正想要的东西却通通都已溜走。

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

所以我的问题依然是：你在做什么，你为什么做？