How to create a fulfilling career has been one of my most requested topics lately. Career development is such a rich and complex subject, however, that I can’t do it justice with a single article. Consequently, I’ve decided to devote a new series of articles to it.
Over the next several days, I’ll be writing specifically on the subject of career, especially on how to choose and transition to the right career for you. I haven’t decided in advance how long this series will be, but I’ll write whatever it takes to cover the topic thoroughly. I’m going to try to keep the articles in this series shorter than usual, so it’s easier for you to pinpoint the specific subtopics that are relevant to you.
Here are my goals for this series:
- to deepen your understanding of the role of your career in your life
- to paint a picture of what a fulfilling career looks like, and to help you assess your current career in that light
- to help you identify the right field and type of work for you
- to encourage you not to settle for a career that isn’t deeply fulfilling
- to balance practical issues like income, job satisfaction, and your personal qualifications
- to help you navigate the transition to a new career if that is something you want to do
- to offer some career development tips to assist you in your ongoing professional growth
Do you find, build, or create a career?
As the title of this article suggests, a fulfilling career is something you create. It isn’t something you just find, since the word “find” implies a passive role on your part, as if your ideal career is already out there somewhere, and you simply need to locate it. You can find a job, but I don’t think it’s accurate to say that you can find a fulfilling career… unless perhaps you get really lucky.
Similarly, I wouldn’t use the phrase “build a career,” since to me that implies that you’ll follow an established blueprint and knock out a career via some sort of cookie cutter manufacturing process. While professional growth is a key part of any meaningful career, your career is uniquely your own, and the construction process will be very personal.
I prefer the word “create” because the development of a truly fulfilling career is a highly creative endeavor, and you are the ultimate creator. Cultivating a good career is like creating the Mona Lisa. The right tools and strategies will only get you partway there — the soul of the artist is necessary to create something worthwhile.
A career that’s uniquely you
When you succeed in creating a fulfilling career, it will be uniquely you. Your career will absolutely ooze with your own creative self-expression. It may take the external form of a job, a business, a web site, volunteer work, or some other entity, but it will never be generic because you are not a generic person. The right career will be so ridiculously you that if you thought about replacing yourself with someone else, it just wouldn’t make sense.
Consider the career path of the Three Stooges. You couldn’t just substitute some random actors for the roles of Moe, Larry, and Curly and have it turn out basically the same. No one can be Moe, Larry, and Curly except Moe, Larry, and Curly. If you sub in a different actor, you get something entirely new that ideally reflects that person’s own unique creative expression. While some people didn’t like Shemp (Moe and Curly’s brother who joined the trio after Curly suffered a stroke), personally I thought he was very funny and talented because he expressed himself uniquely and didn’t try to be a Curly stand-in. Some fans even liked Shemp better. When the trio later resorted to Curly look-alikes such as Joe DeRita, it didn’t quite work. Ultimately there’s only one person who could fill the role of Curly, and everyone else who tried to be Curly ultimately came up short.
You are the star of your own career path. Don’t make the mistake of trying to copy someone else’s path. Learn to tap into your inner Curly and express that which is uniquely you. You can’t follow in another person’s footsteps, and no one else will be able to follow in yours.
译文:
如何创造圆满的职业生涯
最近，如何创造圆满的职业生涯成为人们需求最多的主题之一。职业生涯发展是个如此丰富而复杂的课题，然而，我无法仅通过一篇文章就把它正确地阐述出来。
在接下来的几天中，我将特别地为职业生涯一题撰文，特别是在你该如何选择或转换到正确的职业生涯这方面。我并未预估该系列文章会有多长，但将会把覆盖该主题的一切内容彻底讨论。我将尝试把该系列中的文章写得比平时短小一些，这样你便可以更容易地找出与你有关的副题。
以下是我撰写该系列文章的目标：
- 加深你在生活中对自身作为职业生涯角色的理解
- 描绘何为圆满的职业生涯，并以此为准，协助评估你目前的职业生涯状态
- 协助鉴别适合于你的领域和工作类型
- 鼓励你不要满足于不曾圆满的职业生涯
- 平衡诸如收入、工作满意度，以及个人资格等方面的实际问题
- 假如你有想做的职业，则协助你转向新的职业生涯
- 提供一些职业生涯发展的提示，以协助你目前的职业成长
你是否发现、建立、或创造了一种职业生涯？
正如本文的标题所言，圆满的职业生涯是你创造出来的。它并非仅仅是由你找到的，因为“找到”这个词暗示了你是被动的，就像你理想的职业生涯已经存在于某处，你只需定位即可。你可以找到一份工作，但我认为这并不能正确地说明你可以找到一个圆满的职业生涯……除非你可能相当走运。
同样，我也不会用“建立职业生涯”这个短语，因为对我而言，那暗示着你将会如同从流水线上的某种饼干模具中敲出饼干一样，从某种已经成型的蓝图上敲出一个职业生涯来。虽然职业成长对于任何有意义的职业生涯而言都是关键部分，但你的职业生涯是独特的，因而它的建成过程也将是非常个性化的。
我倾向于用“创造”这个词，因为发展一个真正圆满的职业生涯是一种高度创造性的努力，而你是最终的创建者。培育一个良好的职业生涯就如同创作《蒙娜丽莎》，正确的工具和策略只能起一半作用——艺术家的灵魂才是创造有价值的作品的必需物。
因你而独特的职业生涯
当你的成功地建立了圆满的职业生涯时，这将是只属于你的。你的职业生涯将完全取决于你创造性的自我表现。它可能会以一份工作、一门生意、一个网站、志愿工作，或是其它的实体表现出来，但它决不会是雷同的，因为你不会雷同于他人。一旦你想用别人来取代自己，本来正确的职业生涯就会显得滑稽可笑，而且不会有任何意义。
考虑一下电影《活宝三人组》里的职业生涯道路。你没法随便找些其他演员来取代原班人马扮演Moe、Larry和Curly的角色，而还能演得一模一样。如果你起用另一个演员，就会因为那个人自身创造性的独特表达方式的完美反映，而得到全新的结果。有些人不喜欢Shemp（Moe和Curly的兄弟，在Curly遭难之后加入了三重唱），但我认为他是个有趣且精明的人，因为他表现了自己的独到之处，而不是仅仅作为Curly的替身。有些影迷甚至会更喜欢Shemp. 当后来三重唱又起用了Joe DeRita等长得很像Curly的人，依然得不到好的效果。始终只有一个人能够担当好Curly的角色，其他任何想演好Curly的人最后总会有缺陷。
你是自身职业生涯道路上的明星。不要试图去复制他人的道路。学会接近你内心的“Curly”，并表现出那个独特的你。你无法跟着别人的脚步走，别人也无法跟着你走。