我對自己的工作內容不興趣，怎麼辦？

Recently, I had drinks with some friends and a few of their friends. Eager to get to know new people, I started chatting with one particular person about her job. Her responsibilities include riding boats with fishermen to regulate the environmental impact of their work.

最近，我和一些朋友以及他們的朋友們一起喝了一次酒。因爲我比較想結識新朋友，就開始和一個比較特別的人聊起她的工作。她主要是和漁民一起出海，以規範他們的工作對環境的影響。

After browsing through gorgeous pictures of her daily travels, I couldn’t help but exclaim, “Your job looks like so much fun!”

在瀏覽了她日常旅途中的精彩照片後，我不禁感嘆道:“你的工作看起來太有趣了!”

When I told her what I do—which is mainly sit at a desk and write stuff—it suddenly felt a lot less cool and exciting.

當我告訴她我所做的事情主要是坐在辦公桌上寫東西時，突然發現我的工作沒那麼酷和刺激。

Saddled with that newfound distaste for my seemingly boring desk job, I quickly reminded myself of something important: No job is fun all of the time.

我對看起來就很枯燥的辦公室工作又產生了新的厭惡，但是我很快就提醒自己一件重要的事情：沒有一份工作總是充滿樂趣。

You may say, “But Alyse, what about Netflix watchers or ice cream tasters? What about people who work on movie sets, in breweries, or for video game companies?”

你可能會說：“但是那些Alyse, Netflix的觀衆和冰淇淋品嚐師呢?那些在電影片場、啤酒廠或電子遊戲公司工作的人呢?”

To which I’d respond, sure, those could be fun—I’d have no reason to think otherwise (hit me up when I change careers to work at Ben and Jerry’s). But, you know what’s far more likely? They’re also hard work, like any other job.

對此我的回答是，當然，這些可能很有趣——我沒有理由不這麼想（就像當我轉行到Ben and Jerry’s工作時）。但是，你知道什麼可能性更大嗎？和其他工作一樣，他們也很辛苦。

I have a friend who has in fact worked on a movie set. He’ll be the first to tell you that seeing famous people up close and being part of a film coming to fruition is pretty thrilling, but he’d also admit that his day-to-day work was surprisingly uneventful.

我有一個朋友，他在電影片場工作過。他會第一個告訴你，近距離看名人，參與一部即將上映的電影是非常激動人心的，但他也承認，他的日常工作平淡無奇。

Your job can and should be a lot of things—fulfilling, energizing, rewarding, challenging—but it doesn’t always have to be fun. And you shouldn’t expect it to be.

你的工作可以而且應該有很多事情要做——充實、充滿活力、有回報、富有挑戰性——但並不總是那麼有趣，你也不應該期望你的工作總是有趣。

This isn’t to say that you won’t (or shouldn’t) be happy in your career, or that you won’t have exciting moments. Interviewing one of the first undocumented lawyers in NY state and turning our work area into a creepy carnival for our company’s Halloween desk decorating competition were truly fun experiences I’ve had on the job.

這並不是說你在職業生涯中不會（或不應該）快樂，也不是說你不會有激動人心的時刻。比如採訪紐約州第一批無證律師之一，還有萬聖節辦公桌裝飾比賽時把我們的辦公區變成一場恐怖的狂歡，都是我在工作中真正有趣的經歷。

My point is that your role isn’t necessarily meant to be a 24/7 enjoyable experience—that’s why you get a paycheck for doing it. Your job will never (and isn’t meant to!) inspire the same sense of glee that say, riding a roller coaster, watching a football game, or partying with your friends on a Friday night does. And think about it: If riding roller coasters was your day job, wouldn’t it eventually become less fun? Watching Netflix on the weekends can be a blast, but if it was an obligation five days a week, don’t you think it’d lose that appeal?

我認爲你的角色不一定要會帶給你全天候愉快的體驗，因爲這是你得到薪酬的原因。你的工作也永運不會（也不意味着）像坐過山車、看足球比賽或者週五晚上和朋友聚會那樣帶來同樣的喜悅感。試想一下，假如坐過山車是你的日常工作，它最終是否會變得不那麼有趣嗎？週末看Netflix的劇可能會很爽，但如果一週看五天的話，你認爲它還會那麼吸引人嗎？

When I reconnected with that friend of a friend at another gathering, I asked her how her job was going. This time, I didn’t immediately jump in to say something about how awesome her latest trip looked, and I’m glad I didn’t. Instead, I let her vent about some of the more frustrating parts of her role (see, even she has them!) and we talked about her long-term plans.

當我在另一次聚會上再次和我那位朋友的朋友見面時，我問她工作進展如何。這一次，我沒有立即插嘴說她最近的旅行看起來有多棒，我也很慶幸我沒有。相反，我讓她吐槽一下她工作中令人沮喪的部分（看，其實她也有），然後我們談論了一下她的長遠計劃。

Remember, what’s considered fun is different for everyone, and it exists both inside and outside the workplace. But it’s not a constant and ever-present force. Realistically, you can’t enjoy yourself all of the time—no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

記住，有趣的東西對每個人來說都是不一樣的，它在工作場所內外都存在，但是它不會持續存在。實際上，無論你在哪裏，無論你在做什麼，你都不可能一直享受自己。

I’ll end on this note: Be OK with a career that isn’t always fun. Focus on the things that matter more—cultivating the skills and interests you value, making change that means something to you, and interacting with people who make you feel good. It’s this stuff that proves that your career is about way more than just having a good time.

最後我想說的是：不要介意一份工作是否總是很有趣，關注那些更重要的事情，培養你看重的技能和興趣，做出對你來說有意義的改變，和讓你感覺良好的人交流。正是這些東西證明了你的職業生涯不僅僅只是玩兒得開心。

（翻譯：雅蘭）