四小時(shí)工作周的謊言
撰文：Jonathan 翻譯： Shayne Yeats
The promise of a four hour workweek magically righting all wrongs in your life, is a lie. Not only is it highly implausible, but if you ever do achieve a four hour work week, you’ll probably want to get rid of it.
你認(rèn)為一周工作四小時(shí)會(huì)奇跡般地改善提升你的人生嗎？這只是個(gè)謊言。因?yàn)?，這不僅僅是那樣的令人難以置信，而且假如你真的曾有一周工作四小時(shí)的經(jīng)歷的話，我想你大概會(huì)去擺脫這樣的生活。
Why is the Four Hour Workweek (4HWW for short) a lie? Well, there’s two reasons. Number one, it’s come to the attention of quite a few people that Tim Ferriss really defines “work” as something you don’t want to do. Mandatory, unpleasant, tedious, repetitive tasks that you’d rather defer or delegate to someone else. This is quite a narrow definition of work. I would be more inclined to say Tim’s definition of work is more synonymous with a chore.
為什么四小時(shí)工作周是個(gè)謊言？有兩個(gè)原因。第一，提姆·菲利斯給“工作”下的定義就是“你不喜歡去做的事”，而許多人對(duì)此深信不疑。面對(duì)這些強(qiáng)制性的、不愉快的、乏味的、重復(fù)性的任務(wù)，你更情愿去拖延或委托給他人。這是一個(gè)非常片面的定義。我更傾向于說提姆給工作下的這個(gè)定義是苦差事的代名詞。 這就是第一個(gè)原因。第二個(gè)原因就是，大部分人對(duì)“工作”這個(gè)詞的理解完全的消極的。他們把工作和奴役、勞苦和吃苦頭畫上了等號(hào)。工作被視為一種你不得不要去做的事，這樣你才能擔(dān)負(fù)起你的一切費(fèi)用。你有多少次曾聽到你的母親或父親像個(gè)孩子那樣說“我努力工作給你買了/做了/加熱了這些食物，你最好給我吃掉！”在父母的潛移默化的影響下，我們就會(huì)認(rèn)為工作是為了“讓自己過上更美好的生活”而做出的某種殘酷的犧牲。（長(zhǎng)輩們的本意是想給我們灌輸對(duì)努力工作的尊重之情，而其結(jié)果往往是讓我們感覺到內(nèi)疚。） 自從工作被視為一種必需-----我們借此才能付清賬單和生存-----但是，我們沒有意識(shí)到其實(shí)工作并不僅僅是苦差事的代名詞。并不是說我們生來就被灌輸了一種負(fù)面的思想，我們就得終生信仰它。對(duì)我來說，工作可不是件煩人的事。 工作是神圣的。 工作是賜給你自己的一份禮物。這是一種富有創(chuàng)造力的表現(xiàn)自我的方式。這是一個(gè)敞開你的心胸并給他人帶來價(jià)值的過程。這是你與他人交流學(xué)習(xí)的機(jī)會(huì)。這是一個(gè)讓你給這個(gè)世界變得更好的機(jī)遇。 把工作視為勉強(qiáng)維持生計(jì)就好像在打你自己的臉。 下面就列舉了我不該再打我自己的臉的原因： 【】我不想讓自己生命的三分之一時(shí)光在乏味中度過。 【】我不想把我的身體和頭腦出租給每個(gè)工作日。 【】我不想我的生活變成每日倒數(shù)著午餐時(shí)刻的到來，然后又盼著五點(diǎn)快到來。 【】但最為重要的是，我不想選擇一份對(duì)我來說是毫無意義和一點(diǎn)都不重要的工作。 把工作視為一種下等勞動(dòng)是一個(gè)很嚴(yán)重的問題。假如你給工作下了這樣的定義的話，你就無法領(lǐng)略到工作的意義到底是什么，而且你也把自己關(guān)押在了一個(gè)狹小的空間里。沒錯(cuò)，工作有時(shí)會(huì)是乏味的。交稅，提交收據(jù)、裝訂東西，回復(fù)電子郵件，做重復(fù)性的任務(wù)會(huì)很無聊。你也無法騙自己去相信這些不是乏味的工作。（不去抵制單調(diào)乏味，可以減輕你的痛苦。）但是，除了乏味無聊之外，工作還有其深刻的意義。當(dāng)你離開人世的時(shí)候，你所做的工作可以是一份你送給后人的禮物。你會(huì)給別人的生活帶來不同的改變。 不同之處。 當(dāng)你擴(kuò)展了對(duì)工作的定義，你就會(huì)認(rèn)識(shí)到工作是一種互利的價(jià)值交換，你就會(huì)視其為一種恩賜和一個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)。 這就是我開始思考工作的方式。我問我自己，“你怎樣才能讓自己在充實(shí)自己的夢(mèng)想的同時(shí)也給他人帶來最大化的積極影響呢？” 假如我所做的是一件極其無聊的工作的話（比如計(jì)算出我還有繳多少稅），我會(huì)問我自己，“我知道我不喜歡這份工作，但我又必須得完成這份任務(wù)，既然這樣的話，我可以采取哪些行動(dòng)來減輕我的痛苦呢？” 同時(shí)我也非常小心地去分辨哪些工作是必需的（如繳稅），哪些是貌似必須卻不必去做的。例如，每天花些時(shí)間在網(wǎng)上工作也許是個(gè)好主意，但是假如它看上去很虛幻的話，那就是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間了。假如我真的感覺我是在創(chuàng)造的話，那我應(yīng)該為此感到自豪。比起強(qiáng)迫自己去做我認(rèn)為還不錯(cuò)的事，當(dāng)我真實(shí)地表現(xiàn)了自我時(shí)，我自然就會(huì)帶來更深刻的影響力。 當(dāng)你開始把工作視為一種游戲，或?qū)⒆约赫宫F(xiàn)給時(shí)間的機(jī)會(huì)，還是做出改變的契機(jī)，你就不會(huì)再將工作視為一種負(fù)擔(dān)。 因?yàn)檫@些都是想要擺脫工作的渴望的起因（而這就是四小時(shí)工作周的本質(zhì)）。不論是扳著手指頭倒數(shù)每年兩周的假期的到來，還是設(shè)定每周工作四小時(shí)計(jì)劃或創(chuàng)建被動(dòng)收入；不論是渴望早點(diǎn)退休，還是中頭彩或大發(fā)橫財(cái)，這一切都與努力渴望擺脫無窮無盡的無聊瑣事有關(guān)。這就好像我們又回到了六歲，母親逼迫著我們?nèi)ナ帐吧⒙湓诖驳紫碌耐婢?，而我們卻不肯就范。是不是一切都沒有什么改變？ 但當(dāng)工作成為了你生活的一部分時(shí)，你就不會(huì)去回避它。再說，想象下你找到了一種逃脫之路。但，這真的能解決你的所有問題嗎？沒錯(cuò)，這樣你會(huì)有許多自由的時(shí)間，但那真的是你所要的結(jié)果嗎？?jī)H僅是自由支配的時(shí)間？ 我認(rèn)為問題還不止于此。我覺得這和缺少目的有關(guān)，對(duì)我們的工作缺乏深入的了解就會(huì)導(dǎo)致我們?nèi)プ非笠恢芄ぷ魉男r(shí)和自動(dòng)收入的美好想法。 你猜怎么著？ 再多自由支配的時(shí)間也不會(huì)滿足你活出別樣人生的欲望。 正如勞夫·波茲在他的杰作《瓦加邦丁》中所描繪的那樣，你只有每天在海灘上喝著馬提尼才能活得那么長(zhǎng)久。遲早，你會(huì)厭倦。那時(shí)你就會(huì)想去做一些真正有意義的事。 出了這個(gè)頭疼的社會(huì)令你覺得工作等同于奴役，那兒還有許多種能讓工作變得充滿樂趣的選擇。 其中的一個(gè)選擇就是《零時(shí)工作周》-----一個(gè)成為真正的自己的指南。 （筆記：我從《零時(shí)工作周》中學(xué)到了許多。我覺得提姆有許多非常棒的想法，比如迷你退休、極簡(jiǎn)的日常生活等等。同時(shí)我也認(rèn)為他非常出色地指出了“為了工作而工作”的愚蠢性。然而，我還是覺得通過一周工作四小時(shí)的核心想法來解決你生活中的問題是一種誤導(dǎo)。提姆將工作定義為你所反感的事物，而我覺得這樣的想法不僅無法讓人清晰地看到目前的處境，反而會(huì)讓人更加困惑。我猜這和語意有點(diǎn)關(guān)系，對(duì)不對(duì)？正如克林頓在莫妮卡·萊溫斯基丑聞期間所說的，“請(qǐng)你給性關(guān)系這個(gè)詞下一個(gè)定義。”）So that’s the first reason. The second reason is this… The definition most people have of work is totally disempowering. It’s more in line with slavery, toiling and punishment. Work is seen as something you have to do to pay your dues. How many times did you hear your mom or dad say as a kid “I worked hard to buy/make/microwave this food and you better eat it!” We’re brought up with our parents making us think that work is some kind of grueling sacrifice they’ve done to “give us a better life.” (The intended message may have been to instill respect for hard work, but usually the outcome is feeling guilty for being born.)
Since work is seen as such a must — something we must do to pay the bills and to survive — we don’t realize that it’s not required that we see work as something other than a chore. Just because we’re born with a bad definition of something doesn’t mean we have to keep it. Work is more than just a chore, at least to me.
Work is sacred.
Work is giving yourself. It’s creative self-expression. It’s opening your heart and providing value to others. It’s exchanging a part of yourself with someone else. It’s a possibility for you to make a difference in the world.
Seeing work as just something to do to get by is like slapping yourself in the face.
Here’s why I just can’t slap myself anymore:
I don’t want to spend one third of my life living out of a sense of drudgery.
I don’t want to rent out my body and mind for five of seven days of the week.
I don’t want to spend every day counting down the minutes to lunch, then counting again to five o’clock.
But much, much, much more than that, I don’t want to confine myself to choosing work that isn’t meaningful and doesn’t matter to me.
And that’s really the biggest problem with seeing work as menial labor. By defining work as such, you incarcerate yourself in a narrow field of possibilities of what work could be. Yes, work can be tedious. Doing your taxes, filing receipts, stapling, responding to email, and doing repetitive tasks can be pretty damn boring. There’s no way to trick yourself into believing otherwise. (Non-resistance to the tedium, however, can make it a lot less painful.) But despite the tedium, work can be much more than that. The work you do can be the gift of what you leave behind on this earth when you’re gone. It can be the difference you make in other peoples lives.
Something different.
When you expand your definition of what work is to a mutually beneficial exchange of value, it becomes more of a blessing and an opportunity.
This is the way I’ve started to think about work; I ask myself, “With the work you do today, how can you create the biggest positive impact in other people’s lives, while fulfilling your own dreams at the same time?”
And if I have work to do that is truly boring (like figuring out how much taxes I owe) I ask myself, “I know this work isn’t what I’d absolutely love to do, but since it must be done, by not resisting it, can I make it less painful?”
I also have to be careful to distinguish between work that must be done (like taxes) and things that seem required, but really aren’t. For example, it might be a good idea for me to spend some time every day networking, but if it doesn’t feel authentic, it would be a waste of time. If I really felt like creating, rather than connecting, I should honor that feeling. When I express myself authentically, I naturally have a greater impact then when I force myself to do something because I think it would be a good idea.
When you start to see work as play, as giving yourself to the world, as being an agent of change, you completely shatter the perception of work as a burden.
Because that’s where all this seeking to escape from work comes from (which is really what the 4HWW is about). Whether it be counting down the days to your yearly two week vacation, setting up a four hour workweek or creating passive income; whether it be the desire to retire early, win the lottery or strike it rich, it’s all in the effort to escape from the obligation of spending your life in a state of endless resistance to doing chores. It’s like we’re six years old again, fighting with mom about cleaning up all the stuff we’ve crammed under our bed. Not much has changed, huh?
But when work becomes something reverent to you, you no longer to seek escape from it. Besides, imagine if you really did find that elusive escape. Would it really solve all your problems? Sure, you’d have a lot of free time, but is that really what you’re looking for? Just free time?
I think it’s something more than that. I think it’s the lack of purpose, the lack of depth in our work that leads us to chase ideas like a four hour workweek and autopilot income.
Guess what?
No amount of freedom of time will quench your desire to make a difference, to live with purpose.
As Rolf Potts represents in his awesome book, Vagabonding, you can only live so long sipping martinis on a beach. Sooner or later, you’ll be bored. You’ll want to actually do something that matters.
Despite all the head-drilling society does to make you think work equates slavery, there are many possibilities for work to be a joy.
One of those options is The Zero Hour Workweek — a guide to getting paid to be who you are.
(Note: I did learn a lot from The Four Hour Workweek. I think Tim has some great ideas, like mini retirements, following a low information diet, etc. I also think he did an awesome job pointing out the stupidity of “work for work’s sake.” However, I do think the central idea of the achievement of a four hour workweek solving all of your problems is misleading. Tim defines work as something you really despise, and I just think that’s confusing things more, rather than bringing clarity to the situation. I guess it’s all about semantics, though, right? As Clinton said during the Monica Lewinski case, “Please define sexual relations.”)
聯(lián)系客服
