“What do you do for a living?”

“你做什么的？”

Whenever you meet new people, some variant¹ of this question is bound to come up, and probably pretty early on in the conversation too.

每当你遇到新朋友，这类问题总是会被提及，并且可能是在对话之初就被提到。

And here’s something I've noticed: When you ask people what they do, most people will give you their job title. As in“I'm an engineer” or “I'm a project manager” or “I'm a writer”. Or consultant², speaker, software developer, manager, contractor³, freelancer⁴, secretary, or…

并且我发现：当你问别人做什么时，大多数人都会告诉你他们的职业。例如“我是个工程师”，“我是个项目经理”，“我是个作家”。又或是顾问，发言人，软件开发，经理，承包商，自由撰稿人，秘书等等。

But that's not what you do - that's just your title. It really says nothing about you or your job, so I always find myself asking follow-up questions. “So what kind of projects do you manage.”

但这并不是你做什么—这不过是你的头衔。它并不能说明你或你的工作，所以我通常发现自己会继续问一个问题。“所以你负责何种项目。”

Some titles DO say what you do. If you're a pilot you fly planes. Teachers teach. Builders build. Coaches coach. But most titles are more ambiguous.

一些职称的确说明你做了什么。如果你是个飞行员，那你就驾驶飞机。老师教书。建筑商造房子。教练训练学员。但是大多数的职称是模糊不清的。

So think about it for a moment. How much does your job title really say about what you do? And what would be a better way of telling people what it is you do in just a few words.

Whenever people ask me, I always tell them that “I make people happy at work.” That is what I do.

所以想一下。你的职称到底说明多少你做的事？如何用数个单词来更好的告诉别人你做了什么。每当别人问我时，我总是告诉他们“我让人们在工作中感到快乐。”这就是我所做的。

This may look like just semantics, but it matters. See, your job title is never going to make you happy at work, but knowing what you do, may. Knowing your contribution, how you add value, how you make a difference - THAT can make you happy at work.

这个看上去可能有点咬文嚼字，但是它很重要。看看，你的职称从来不会让你在工作中感到快乐，但是知道自己做什么，也许吧。知道你的贡献，你如何增添价值，你如何与众不同—这些才能让你在工作中感到快乐。

So now it's your turn. Think of what it is you do in your job and put it a comment here.

所以，现在到你了。想想自己工作中做了什么，有想法就留言吧！