【奧德賽】理想生活/{Odyssey}Ideal Life

朋友S來家裡小住幾天，聊起對於目前生活與工作上的迷惘。（真的很迷惘啊，不然正常人是不會想要來我這個小鎮旅遊滴~）

S 擁有一份待遇相當於初階主管、工時固定不用天天加班、又非常穩定的工作。這工作也是從小到大所有家人親戚都期待且滿意的。但S並不快樂－生活圈狹小，日子平淡無趣、工作上也沒有充實進取的必要。他想要換工作，卻不知道該做什麼，同時也擔心捨棄現有的一切，萬一未來後悔，就再也回不來了。

在我看來，這考量有兩個層面：對於理想生活的認知與進行改變的勇氣。

先來談談我的理想生活。

從我淺薄的經濟學知識出發，理性的選擇就是在有限的資源裡極大化效用。既然是談生活，那麼資源就是時間。極大化時間效用，在我的定義裡，就是能夠喜愛、及快樂度過每一天。然而資源有限，在我必須將每天三分之一的時間分給工作的前提下，自然我希望能夠從事我喜愛的工作。如果我這三分之一的時間是懷著憤怒或沮喪的心情，豈不是可惜了？

不過要找到喜愛的工作並不容易。除了自己感興趣，還要能夠與自己的專長或能力結合。若是只有興趣缺乏能力，工作上不容易獲得肯定與成就感，隨著時間流逝，興趣也被磨淡了。多年前朋友曾轉給我哈佛的幸福課這篇文章，其中這位教授提及用三個關鍵問題來尋找發揮自己熱情和優勢的工作：一、什麼帶給我意義？二、什麼帶給我快樂？三、我的優勢是什麼？想法幾乎和我不謀而合（好啦！我是在往自個兒臉上貼金沒錯）。

然而基於現實的考量，不是每個人都有機會從事自己喜愛的工作。若是這樣的情況，那更得要好好利用剩下的時間。其實本來就沒有一定或可以從工作中獲得生活裡全部的快樂，不是嗎？工作之餘從事自己喜愛的活動，也可以均衡生活的各種滋味。這也是在有限資源內，將時間效益發揮到極大了。

ps. 哈佛的幸福課主要是介紹哈佛正向心理學的課程，告訴大家如何尋找生命中的幸福，是一篇非常好的介紹性文章，相當值得一讀。當然在這網路資源豐富的年代，在Youtube上也可找到一系列的課程影片，還有中文字幕，希望更進一步了解的捧油們不可錯過。

My friend, S, came to the US and stayed at my place for couple days.  She talked about how she felt lost in her current life. (Well she was really lost; otherwise no tourist will visit my current town.)

S has a stable job which pays quite well and does not require overtime.  This job is what her family expects and is satisfied with.  But S is not happy.  To her, this job provides limited chance to meet new people, and has no room/need for advancement.  She wants to change her career, but she isn't clear what she should do.  Also, she worries that she will regret in the future if she gives up what she has now.

To me, this problem is related to two aspects: the recognition to the ideal life, and the courage to make change.

Let's talk about my ideal life first.

Based on my shallow economics knowledge, a rational choice is to maximize the utility within resource constraint.  Since it is life that we study here, then the resource is time.  To me, my time utility is maximized when I can love, and happily live my day.  However, resource is limited.  Since I have to spend one third of my time working, naturally I hope I can do the job that I love.  It would be a great waste if I am angry or depressed during the one third of the time.

It is not easy to find a beloved job.  In addition to passion, strength to do the job well is critical too.  Having only passion but no strength, it would be difficult to obtain recognition from others, and also sense of achievement.  In the long run, the passion will fade.  The idea is almost the same as Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar, except that he asked a deeper question - the meaning of the job.  He suggested to identifying a suitable career by answering the three questions: 1. what gives me meaning? 2. what gives me pleasure? 3. what are my strengths?

Knowing what the right career is doesn't guarantee the opportunity to do it.  There are other situational factors to be considered.  If that is the case,  well utilizing the rest of the time becomes more important.  In fact, it isn't necessary to seek happiness from work. is it?  Enjoying things that you love outside work can also balance your life.  It is also a kind of maximizing time utility within limited resource.

ps.  Here is a good introductory article about the positive psychology taught by Tal Ben-Shahar.  You can also find his lectures on Youtube.