翻译天堂  2016-10-05

Don’t Talk Yourself Out of Trying a Second Career

As we move through life, we inevitably close doors that cannot be reopened. There is the romantic partner we turned down, the child we had or did not have. But some of these doors aren’t really locked; the challenge for us is to recognize which ones still have a key within reach. If we assume a closed door will never reopen, we are building our own prisons, limiting ourselves by default and fear.当我们在生活之中穿梭，不可避免地会关上一些无法重开的门。我们会拒绝自己喜欢的人，要或不要孩子。但是其中有一些门并不是真正地锁上了；我们所面临的挑战是要辨识谁的手里依然还握有一把钥匙。如果我们假定一扇关上的门将永不会重开，那我们就是在为自己建起一座牢笼，使自己被囚禁于拖延和恐惧之中。

This is the case with many professional decisions. As our lives and marketplaces change all too rapidly, past career decisions can become obsolete or even dangerous to our wellbeing. This is true even if the decision was carefully made and effective at the time. However, we should never be trapped by decisions that can be reversed, should we care to do so.这是一件涉及许多专业性决定的事。随着我们的生活和市场飞速变化，我们过去所做的职业决定会变得不合时宜甚至会给我们的幸福带来危险。即使那些决定是经过认真考虑并且在当时看来是切实可行的，但这种情况确实是真的。然而，我们从不应该被那些可能会被颠倒的决定所困，我们应该谨慎地应对。

Your first step is to decide what your second life would look like. With the experience of your first career to draw on, you should know what you enjoy and what you could learn to do. But be careful. Even if you want to change careers to improve your income, you will still need to find a field you will enjoy, if not be passionate about. The reason is straightforward: You will have less time to be successful in your secondcareer and therefore you will need to establish your reputation quickly. That will simply not be possible unless you offer new solutions to key problems. And without a strong interest in the types of problems common in your new job, your chance of offering better ideas is remote.你首先要做的是确定你的新生活将会是怎样的。凭借你第一次的职业经验，你应该知道你喜欢什么、你可以学着去做什么。但是要小心谨慎。如果不是热衷于某项事业，即使你改变职业是为了增加收入，你仍需要选择一个你会乐享其中的领域。原因很简单：在你的第二次职业生涯中你并没有很多时间去获取成功，因此你需要快速地树立自己的声誉。除非你就关键问题抛出新的解决方案，否则这将是不可能的。但如果你对在新职业中所面临的与以往相同类型的问题没有浓厚的兴趣，你能提供更好的点子的可能性仍是微乎其微的。

Moreover, since most career transitions take commitment and effort, even sustaining that energy will be questionable for a field in which you have no real interest. Why doom yourself to fail?此外，既然大多数的职业过渡都会需要付出努力，那么就一个你并不真正感兴趣的领域而言，你对其能否维持精力都是需要质疑的。为什么要判定自己注定失败呢？

Unfortunately, those who do speculate about an alternative future in an area of interest often make an immediate mistake. Instead of carefully thinking through various possibilities, they quickly and incorrectly dismiss many of them. Yes, it is unlikely that at age 40 you might turnyourself from an accountant into a brain surgeon. But you could turnyourself from a research chemist into a family physician. The latter is a stretch but feasible if you apply to the right medical school and have a supportive partner. I have seen it happen.不幸的是，那些在一个感兴趣的领域预测未来发展趋势的人经常会犯下一个即时的错误。对于多样的可能性，他们不予以认真考虑，而是草率又错误地加以忽略。是的，你不大可能在自己40岁的时候把自己从一名会计师转变成为一名脑外科医生。 但你能够把自己从一名从事研究的化学家转变成为一名家庭医师。后者是一种延伸，但如果你申请进入一所合适的医学院并且有一个支持你的伙伴，那将是可行的。我曾见过有那样的事发生。

Of course, you need to do your research aggressively. For example, if you need additional education, there are wide range of programs that welcome and accommodate mature students, including at the degree and professional level. For professional transitions that don’trequire a degree or special certificate, you can read your way to competence. And all the while, you need to look for how you can distinguish yourself and sell that distinction.当然，你需要积极地去做一些研究。例如，如果你需要深造，有许多欢迎并适合成年学员的项目可供选择，包括学位层次和专业层次。对于那些没有学位或特种证书要求的专业的转换，你可以以自己的方式去学习并获得相应能力。同时，你始终需要寻找一种能够让自己脱颖而出的方式并且把自己推销出去。

There are literally too many pathways to alternative careers to list them all. Many are situational. Some jobs at some employers can be morphed into remarkably different careers. Technical support can become marketing; marketing can turn into human resources; back office managers move to the front office and the other way around. But it will take a step-by-step plan. If you cannot do this at your current employer, then change employers.确实有许多途径可以通往你的备选职业，把它们全部列出来，你会发现其中有许多是由具体情形所决定的。一些雇主提供的一些工作能够转变成与其本身非常不同的职业：技术支持可以转为销售，销售可以转为人力资源，后勤管理者可以转到决策部门，反之亦然。但那需要一个可以分布实施的计划。如果在你现在的雇主那里不能这样做，那就换一个雇主。

And for every obstacle you encounter, look for a workaround. Not every obstacle can be overridden, but many yield to ingenuity. It is important not to get caught up in conventional definitions. Suppose, for example, you wanted to become an architect, but know that it would take years of additional graduate work. So instead you become an architectural consultant, who advises clients and helps shape the instructions given to the licensed architects. In all but name, you are designing buildings.对于你会面对的障碍，寻找一个变通方案。并不是所有的阻碍都能够被突破，但是许多都会被具有独创性的智谋所征服。不被传统定义所束缚是很重要的。例如，假设你想成为一名建筑师，但是你知道那将花费数年的额外的研究工作，那么，转而成为一名建筑师顾问，为客户提供建议和帮助那些有执照的建筑师们完成建筑技术说明书。虽然你没有建筑师的名头，但你正在设计建筑。

For many people with widely different aspirations, consultancy has been a secure base for their second careers. No, you do not lie about your qualifications; you have no need to do so. You will sell the quality of your ideas – your true credential. As a consultant, you might be self-employed, but if you are an innovative problem-solver, you can find work. Whether first or second career, this is the primary skill.对于拥有许多不同抱负的很多人来说，咨询公司俨然已成为了他们新职业生涯的安全基地。千万不要就你的资历问题说谎，你完全不需要那样做。你将因你思想的质量取胜—那才是你真正的凭证。作为一名顾问，你可能不受雇于他人，但如果你是一个富有创新精神的问题解决者，你能够自己找到工作。无论是在你的第一个职业还是在新的职业中，这都是一种基本的技能。

However, many who carefully explore their options for a new life, then make a different kind of mistake. Since they are starting “late,” they believe they should do a cost benefit analysis to see if their reorientation is “worth it.” This is a logical question that indeed should be asked. But do it correctly. If you only included financial costs and benefits, your analysis is flawed. You need to also include such intangible benefits as pride in your work, personal growth, less stress, opportunities for advancement and social interaction. Happiness, too, must have a value.然而，许多认真探索他们新生活选择的人会犯另外一个错误。因为起步“晚”，他们认为他们应该做一个成本与效益分析，以此来看他们的重新定位是否“值得”。这确实是一个应该被问起的逻辑问题，但是要正确地来做。如果你只是把经济成本和收益考虑在内，那么你的分析是有缺陷的。你需要把一些无形的收益诸如对工作的骄傲、个人的成长、更少的压力、获取进步和社会交往的机会也包含在内。幸福也一定要有其价值。

You will need courage to face the uncertainties that lie behind a new door, and resourcefulness to find the right key; making this kind of change cannot be described as easy. But it is worth it. 你将需要勇气去面对藏在新大门之后的不确定因素，还需要足够的智谋去找到那把正确的钥匙。做出这样的改变是不容易的，但这些改变是值得的。

Larry Smith is an adjunct associate professor of economics at the University of Waterloo. He has won several awards in his tenure, including the University of Waterloo’s Distinguished Teacher Award, and is the author of No Fears, No Excuses: What You Need to Do to Have a Great Career (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).Larry Smith（拉里·斯密斯），滑铁卢大学经济学兼任副教授。在聘期内获得过包括“滑铁卢大学杰出教师奖”在内的多个奖项。