Why do you do what you do?

　　你為什麼要做手頭上的事呢？

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

　　這是一個很嚴肅的問題，但也是一個你不會經常問自己的問題。

　　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麼然後問問自己：“我做這些是為了什麼？”

　　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 home with my kids.

　　有一天，我抱起我的小孩，和他們一塊玩耍，照顧著他們，教育他們。我不禁想：我為什麼做這些事情呢？因為我愛他們，我想他們能夠擁有我 們的價值觀，我想教導他們並且通過這些去感受作為媽媽的經歷。我可以選擇回去工作，而且會有一份相當好的收入，但是我選擇留在家裏因為我感覺這就是我要做 的。我也意識到這並不是一件奢侈的東西，很多人都有，儘管很多人口裏都喊著想要這樣的生活，相信我，我很感激能夠呆在家裏和我的小孩在一起。

　　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.

　　我寫作。為什麼？因為寫作激起了我的創造靈感，這些靈感不是我堅信自然科學就能夠獲得的。寫作讓我收集靈感、專注于我的思維上，它給了我這樣的契機。

　　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.

　　我是顧問。為什麼？因為這份工作是我的激情所在。通過這份工作，我不但可以支援家庭，我也朝我的目標更近了一步：為兒童願望基金會資助 兩名兒童，幫他們實現願望。我最親愛的兒子也是個愛許願的孩子，所以雖然幫每個兒童實現願望需要2萬美金，我得花很久才能實現，但是我堅信在我的有生之年 我肯定能實現。

　　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.

　　這只是我所做的和為什麼我要做這些的幾個例子。它們不可能適合所有的人，但我知道做我手頭上這些事情的目的和意義。

　　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.

　　在這裡我還想提到一點，即我時常也看電視。如果你問我為什麼會看電視？我可能沒有一個很好的答案，或許只是無聊，只是想放鬆一下，或許只想在一天結束的時候坐著休息一下。我的一生還有許多許多更美好的事情等著我去做，但偶爾看看電視也很好。

　　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.

　　我認為做事情沒有目標，沒有計劃或是在腦海中沒有一幅藍圖，會很有趣，但這樣子確實浪費時間、精力、才能和你的技能。

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

　　所以說：你在做些什麼？你為什麼要做？

　　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領域裏，你所做事情的清單，找到做這些事情的原因。

　　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?

　　你所做的有助於發揮你的實力嗎？你快樂嗎？做這些事情能幫你朝既定的目標或者夢想邁進一些嗎？

　　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.

　　如果你把過多的時間花在這樣一些事情上：無關緊要，不會讓你興奮，你也沒有很好的理由來解釋為什麼要做現在正在做的事情，那麼你將會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：如果你在一些無關緊要的事情上面忙忙碌碌，你將失去多少機會？你會不會有一天突然意識到：因為你忙著做一些其他你認為重要的事情，而你真正想要的東西卻通通都已溜走。

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

　　所以我的問題依然是：你在做什麼，你為什麼做？（來源：滬江英語）