Chapter 6

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The Map of Decision

Bản Đồ Quyết Định

Position or Career

Địa Vị hay Nghề Nghiệp

A few years ago, as I was attending a social function on the other side of town, I saw an old acquaintance of mine. We talked for a few minutes about our families, other people whom we knew, and some of the common experiences we had in the past. Since he and I had been trained to do similar work, I was actually surprised to find out that he still lived in the same city that I do. I thought that surely I would have heard about him working at an organization that was similar to mine. And then I asked him the big question that men ask one another, where are you working now?

Cách đây vài năm, khi tôi đang tham dự một buổi họp mặt xã hội ở phần bên kia của thành phố, tôi đã gặp một người bạn cũ. Chúng tôi nói chuyện vài phút về gia đình, những người chúng tôi biết và một số từng trải chung của chúng tôi trong quá khứ. Vì anh và tôi đã được đào tạo để làm công việc giống nhau, nên tôi thật sự ngạc nhiên khi biết anh vẫn còn sống trong cùng một thành phố tôi đang sống. Tôi nghĩ chắc tôi đã từng nghe về anh làm việc cho một tổ chức giống như tôi. Rồi, tôi hỏi anh một câu hỏi lớn mà những người đàn ông hay hỏi nhau – “Hiện anh đang làm việc ở đâu?”

I am a rather cautious person, and I would never desire to ask someone a question that might embarrass him. It was one of those moments where, as soon as I asked the question, I thought to myself, why did I ask that question? If he was working, I should have already known about it, because our paths would have crossed many times, and if he was not working, it could be an embarrassment to him.

Tôi là một người khá thận trọng và tôi không bao giờ muốn hỏi ai điều gì để làm cho người ta khó xử. Lúc đó, ngay khi tôi hỏi xong, thì tôi tự nghĩ sao mình lại hỏi thế? Nếu anh làm việc, thì đáng ra tôi đã biết rồi, vì chúng tôi thường đi qua chỗ của anh nhiều lần và nếu anh không làm việc, thì điều đó có thể làm anh khó xử.

His answer was one I totally had not expected, and one I had actually never heard before. He said, “I am looking for position.” I was shocked. Here was a guy who was married and had a family. He was young and intelligent, healthy, a college graduate, and even had an advanced degree beyond college. He had all the credentials people were looking for, yet he told me he was looking.

Câu trả lời của anh là điều tôi hoàn toàn không mong đợi và là điều mà thực ra tôi chưa bao giờ nghe trước đây. Anh nói: “Tôi đang tìm một chỗ.” Tôi bị sốc. Đây là người đã có vợ và gia đình. Anh còn trẻ, thông minh, khỏe mạnh và tốt nghiệp đại học, thậm chí có bằng cấp trên đại học. Anh có tất cả những phẩm chất thành tích mà nhiều người đang tìm kiếm, nhưng anh nói với tôi là anh đang tìm việc.

To me, there was not any reason for this guy to be looking for a job. There were plenty of jobs available. I had known of some of his work in the past, as well as his ability to relate to people, and it was all good. He seemed the same, as I had known him in the past, so I could not envision why he was not working.

Đối với tôi, không có lý do gì mà người này phải tìm việc cả. Nhiều công việc có sẵn. Tôi biết một số công việc anh làm trong quá khứ, cũng như khả năng quan hệ với mọi người rất tốt. Anh có vẻ không có gì thay đổi, so với những gì tôi từng biết anh trước đây, vì thế tôi không thể hình dung tại sao anh ta không có việc.

I reviewed in my mind what he had actually said to me. But I realized what was more important was what he had not said. He did not say anything about looking for a job. He did not say anything about what he wanted to do with his life. Nothing was mentioned about his passion to be involved in any life changing experiences. Nor did he say anything about what he dreamed of doing in the future. He simply said “I am looking for position.”

Tôi ôn lại trong trí những gì mà anh ấy thực sự đã nói với mình, nhưng nhận ra rằng còn điều quan trọng hơn mà anh chưa nói. Anh không nói gì về tìm việc làm. Anh không nói gì về việc anh muốn làm gì với cuộc đời anh. Chẳng đề cập gì đến đam mê liên quan đến những kinh nghiệm đổi đời. Anh cũng không nói gì về điều anh đã ước mơ làm trong tương lai. Đơn giản anh chỉ nói: “Tôi đang tìm một chỗ”.

At that point, I decided to look up the word position in the dictionary to see if there was something I was missing in my understanding of what he meant. I found five different situations in which the word position was used in the dictionary. Each situation had to do with the stationary placement of an object or a point of view. I thought about that for a moment and realized that I have never had a job like that, a job where I was stationary. Every type of work I had been involved in whether it was manual labor, teaching, coordinating, or leadership required me to be on the move. The concept of being paid just because I had a title was totally foreign to me. Could it be that I had asked the question in the wrong way?

Đến lúc này, tôi quyết định tra lại từ “chỗ” trong từ điển để xem tôi có sự hiểu nhầm nào về điều anh muốn nói không. Tôi tìm thấy năm tình huống khác nhau mà từ “chỗ” được dùng trong từ điển. Mỗi tình huống liên quan đến sự cố định của một vật hay một quan điểm. Tôi suy nghĩ một lát và nhận ra rằng tôi chưa bao giờ có công việc như thế, một việc mà tôi ở yên một chỗ. Mỗi loại công việc mà tôi tham gia, dù là công việc chân tay, huấn luyện, điều phối, hay lãnh đạo đều đòi hỏi tôi phải di chuyển. Khái niệm được trả lương chỉ vì tôi có một chức danh hoàn toàn xa lạ với tôi. Phải chăng tôi đã đặt câu hỏi không đúng cách?

Then I thought that if it was helpful for me to look up the word position, then I needed to also look up the word that I thought would display the opposite. I then asked myself what word I would use to describe the relationship between my job and my life. The word I came up with is vocation.

Thế rồi, tôi nghĩ sẽ thật hữu ích cho tôi nếu tra từ “chỗ”, thì tôi cũng cần tra lại từ đối nghĩa. Bấy giờ, tôi tự hỏi phải dùng từ nào để mô tả mối quan hệ giữa công việc và đời sống của tôi. Từ mà tôi nhận ra đó là nghề nghiệp.

The dictionary has three different themes for definitions to the word vocation. All three themes are totally opposites of the word position. All three relate to some action, some work, or a function rather than just being in a stationary setting.

Từ điển có ba chủ đề định nghĩa khác nhau cho từ nghề nghiệp. Ba chủ đề này hoàn toàn trái nghĩa với từ “chỗ”. Cả ba đều liên quan đến những hành động, công việc, hay một chức năng nào đó hơn là đứng một chỗ.

Besides the obvious differences between the words position and vocation, I began to wonder what else is implied that created such a difference in our lives. This man had all the gifts to enable him to be successful in life. However, it had been at least 5 years since he had finished his advanced degree, and he was still looking. I, on the other hand, had a hard time finishing my degree because of all the work I was doing and wanting to accomplish just while I was going to school. He seemed much more intellectually prepared than I was. What was the difference? I continued to look at the way he looked at his potential career, and the way I looked at mine. I came up with the following three differences.

Ngoài những khác biệt rõ rệt giữa từ “chỗ” và nghề nghiệp, tôi bắt đầu tự hỏi có điều gì khác mà người ta muốn nói đã tạo nên sự khác biệt trong đời sống chúng ta. Anh này có tất cả các khả năng giúp anh thành công trong cuộc đời. Tuy nhiên, ít nhất đã 5 năm rồi từ khi anh học xong bằng cao học, nhưng anh vẫn còn đang tìm chỗ. Trái lại, tôi gặp khó khăn để hoàn tất bằng cấp của mình vì tất cả những công việc tôi làm và muốn làm xong hết trong khi còn đi học. Về mặt tri thức, dường như anh ta được trang bị nhiều hơn tôi. Sự khác nhau là gì? Tôi tiếp tục theo dõi cách anh nhìn công việc tiềm năng của mình và cách tôi nhìn công việc của tôi. Tôi đưa ra ba sự khác biệt sau:

1. Work to Achieve Rather than Survive

Being someone who enjoys sports, I sensed that a person who thought position was everything would be someone who would play the goalkeeper on a soccer team. Don’t get me wrong, the position of goalkeeper is extremely important, but if a team had all eleven players with a goalkeeper mindset, it would never score. They would spend the entire soccer match playing defense or playing not to lose rather than playing to win. That would make a pretty dull and boring game.

Làm Việc để Thành Đạt hơn để Tồn Tại

Là một người ham thích thể thao, tôi cảm nhận rằng một người cho rằng vị trí là tất cả thì người đó sẽ chơi ở vị trí của thủ môn trong một đội bóng đá. Đừng nghĩ sai về tôi, vị trí của thủ môn là cực kỳ quan trọng, nhưng nếu một đội có tất cả mười một cầu thủ đều có tâm trí thủ môn, thì đội đó không bao giờ ghi bàn. Họ sẽ dành trọn thời gian trận đấu để phòng thủ hay chơi thủ hòa hơn là chơi để thắng. Điều đó sẽ khiến cho trận cầu trở nên mờ nhạt và buồn chán.

2. Put Others First

The most obvious difference between a person who sees their life as holding on to a position rather than accomplishing an objective would be to think of themselves all the time. There would be no desire to help others by serving them. The “me first” person tends to spend their time consumed with getting their position, keeping their position, and how much they get paid. They keep the very people they can help at a distance rather than helping them. The person who is vocationally minded knows that their current job is a means to an important calling – a calling to work with others to accomplish the task or goal that is before them. As they finish the assignment or project they are working on, they are actually being a blessing to others who they may be following or leading.

Đặt Người Khác Trước

Sự khác biệt rõ ràng nhất giữa một người xem cuộc đời họ là phải “nắm lấy địa vị” hơn là hoàn thành một mục tiêu thì lúc nào cũng nghĩ về mình. Người này không có ước muốn nào giúp đỡ người khác bằng cách phục vụ họ. Một người “đặt mình trước” có khuynh hướng dành thời gian tìm kiếm, gìn giữ địa vị và quan tâm đến việc được trả lương bao nhiêu. Họ giữ một khoảng cách với những người mà họ có thể giúp đỡ. Một người có tâm trí nghề nghiệp biết rằng công việc hiện tại là một phương tiện cho sự kêu gọi quan trọng – một sự kêu gọi đồng công với những người khác để hoàn tất nhiệm vụ hay mục tiêu đặt ra trước họ. Khi họ hoàn thành công việc được giao hay dự án, họ thật sự là phước lành cho những người cấp dưới hoặc lãnh đạo.

3. Be a Change Agent

Taking the previous idea a little farther, it would be obvious that a person who considers position in society to be everything would be a person who would like to maintain the status quo. Their thinking would be to keep everything just like it is and not make any changes in order to protect themselves. They want to keep everybody else looking to them and their position for their needs. Whereas a vocationally minded person would be concerned about the end result and what is to be achieved. They are always asking the question, is what we are doing making a difference in the world? Will we actually make a profit on this project? If I make an assignment to another employee, will he be successful and will it enable him to take on a bigger assignment at a later date?

Là Một Nhân Tố Thay Đổi

Mổ xẻ khái niệm trên thêm một tí, rõ ràng một người xem địa vị trong xã hội là tất cả những gì một người muốn đạt được và giữ nó. Suy nghĩ của họ là giữ mọi thứ y như thế và không tạo thay đổi nào nhằm bảo vệ chính họ. Họ muốn cho mọi người khác có nhu cần phải trông chờ vào họ và địa vị của họ. Trong khi một người có tâm nghề nghiệp sẽ quan tâm đến kết quả cuối cùng và điều cần đạt được. Họ luôn đặt câu hỏi: có phải những gì chúng ta đang làm đem lại một sự khác biệt cho thế giới không? Chúng ta có thực sự sinh lợi trong dự án này không? Nếu tôi giao một công việc cho một nhân viên khác, anh ta sẽ thành công không và có giúp nhân viên đó đảm nhận công việc lớn hơn sau này không?

We have a decision to make. We can live our lives in fear of losing our position in life, or we can decide that we want the type of job that will allow us to help people, enable others to be successful, and strive to accomplish the impossible. Jobs such as this are much more demanding and challenging. These jobs require that we:

Chúng ta có một quyết định phải làm. Chúng ta có thể sống cuộc đời trong nỗi sợ mất địa vị, hay chúng ta có thể quyết định làm công việc cho phép chúng ta giúp người, giúp họ thành công và cố gắng hoàn thành những việc không thể. Những công việc như thế này thì có nhiều đòi hỏi và thách thức hơn. Những công việc này yêu cầu chúng ta phải có:

Make sacrifices (Hy sinh)
Put others first (Đặt người khác trước)
Adapt to change (Thích nghi với sự thay đổi)
Accept new challenges (Nhận những thách thức mới)
Develop a mindset of efficiency (Phát triển tâm trí làm việc hiệu qủa)

With a job such as this, you can develop your own Personal Vision Statement. Ask yourself what you really want to do with your life, and how you see what you do as having an impact on your community or world. Then you can set goals or steps to reach your vision, and determine the Action Plans you will take to accomplish your goals. This type of life will be rewarding rather than just one of attempting to hold your position.

Với công việc như thế này, bạn có thể phát triển Tôn Chỉ Khải Tượng Cá Nhân. Hãy hỏi chính mình điều gì bạn thật sự muốn làm với đời sống mình và bạn muốn thấy những gì bạn làm ảnh hưởng như thế nào trên cộng đồng hay thế giới của bạn. Kế đến, thiết lập mục tiêu hay những bước để đạt đến khải tượng và xác định Kế Hoạch Hành Động mà bạn sẽ làm để hoàn tất những mục tiêu của mình. Loại cuộc đời này sẽ được ban thưởng hơn là cuộc đời chỉ cố nắm địa vị của mình.

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