当我快30的时候，我在担心些什么？

What I Started Caring Much More About As I Got Older

有哪些事是在你接近30岁的时候，才开始在意和担心的？我年轻的团队最近问了我一个这样的问题。当我听到时几乎没有迟疑地给出了答案——遗憾。或者更准确地说，是担心自己一辈子都在遗憾中度过。当我年岁渐长，这件事对于我来说就越发重要。

Is there anything that you started to care and worry about more as you got closer to 30 years old? This is the question I was asked recently by a younger team member in our company. When I heard the question, my response came without hesitation. It was regret. Or more accurately, not living and having a life full of regrets. This is what started to matter to me more as I got older.

追求舒适简单的生活

Pursuing a life of comfort and ease

没错，我的答案就是遗憾。事实上，我20好几的时候就已经开始很担心我的人生会在遗憾中度过。之前，我过着安定富足的生活。我在美泰（全球最大的玩具公司）工作，做设计玩具的工作。很酷吧？我工作做得尽善尽美，所以我会定期升职。我老板很棒，同事也很优秀。

Yes, regret. Actually, I began worrying about having regrets in life when I was in my late 20s. I was living a very good, very comfortable life then. I worked for Mattel, and designed toys for a living. How cool is that? I was doing well in my job and getting regular promotions. I had a great boss and worked with great people.

我的个人生活也不错。我住在洛杉矶，离海边大概五公里远。每天4:30就下班。沿着海滩打网球、骑自行车，几乎每天我都过着这种快乐的日子。我有大把的时间和朋友出去消遣。头几年还感觉挺惬意的，因为我单身，有很多的自由去做我想做的事情。我过着无忧无虑的生活。我感觉这就是我梦寐以求的人生！

I also had a great lifestyle. I lived in Los Angeles, about 5km from the ocean. Got off work at 4:30pm every day. Played tennis, biked along the beach, went to happy hours almost every day. Had lots of time to just hang out with friends. When I got home, I’d sit in front of the TV until I fell asleep. Every day was like this. The first couple years, it felt great. I was independent. Had a lot of freedom to do whatever I wanted. Felt very little stress or pressure in my life. I felt that I was living the life!

没有成为你期待的自己，这样的感觉并不好

Being less than you are isn’t a great feeling

但渐渐地，我开始觉得不对劲了。过去的每一年看起来都和前年毫无二致。我的内心深处开始觉得生活百无聊赖，并对自己感到不满。

But then gradually, something began to happen. Every year that went by began to look and feel exactly like the one before. And deep down, my life began to feel empty. And I began to feel unhappy about myself.

我知道我当时的生活没有任何动力和激情。我呆在自己的舒适区里，做的每件事都是安全的。生活中的一切对我而言都无比熟悉和舒适。我绝少会挑战自己，很少把我的才能和精力投放到工作里，我追求的一切都仅仅是舒适和有趣。

And the reason is because I knew that I was living my life without any courage or passion. Everything I did was safe and in my comfort zone. Everything in my life was familiar and comfortable. I rarely challenged myself. I rarely applied my talent or energy to my job. All I sought was easy and fun. 

我知道这种生活状态听上去很棒。但当你内心深处明白你现在的生活比你本来能够做的和应该做的贫乏得多时，你很难自我感觉良好。因为你正在浪费你的潜力，把你的好运气看作理所当然，你很难忽视这种感受。在这种方式下的生活，我知道我以后肯定会因此而后悔莫及。以前的我一直顺风顺水，但从这件事开始，我对未来感到忧心忡忡。

I know that sounds great. But when deep down you know that you’re living a life that’s much less that what you could be and should be, it’s hard to feel good about yourself. It’s hard to ignore the feeling that you’re wasting your potential and taking for granted your good fortune. Living my life in this way is something that I knew I’d regret later on. That’s the road I was traveling down. And that began to worry me a lot.

有目标和激情的生活让人感觉更好

Living your life with purpose and passion feels much better

这就是我鼓励和设法帮助年轻人去追求他们激情的原因。因为，随着你年纪的增长，你的遗憾将会更难以面对。最后，人们会后悔的最重要的一件事，就是他们过着一种内心明知道自己有能力去实现，却迟迟不去追求的生活。

So that’s why I encourage and try to help young people to pursue their passion. Because regret is a difficult thing to deal with as you get older. And one of the biggest things that people end up regretting is living a life that’s much less than what they know in their heart they have the ability to achieve.

幸运的是，当时的我意识到了这点，我开始改变看待生活的视角，去追求我生命中的一切可能。我辞去了这个我没有任何激情的工作，跳出了我的舒适区，回到学校读MBA，并开始我新的职业生涯。我来到台北，发现我喜欢帮助人们去追求他们的职业目标或取得事业的成功，于是我创办了自己的招聘公司：Wang&Li Asia Resources。然后我又去了香港，写了第一本有关职业规划的书。之后，我又去了上海、北京，先后写了两本相同类别的书。

I was lucky. I was able to recognize this back then and change how I viewed and pursued everything in my life. I quit my comfortable job that I had no real feeling for. I jumped out of my comfort zone. Went back to school to get an MBA. Began pursuing a business career. I moved to Taipei. Discovered my passion for helping people to pursue and achieve their career objectives and success. Started my own company, a recruitment firm, Wang & Li Asia Resources. Then moved to Hong Kong. Wrote my first book about career development. Moved to Shanghai, then Beijing. Wrote two more career development books.

如今，我住在上海。去年，我创办了第二家公司，是一个提供实用、高质量的职业建议和指导的网站。我希望它能成为市场上许多人寻求职业指导和启发的网站。

Today, I live in Shanghai again. Last year, I launched my second company, a website that provides very practical, high quality career advice and encouragement. I hope it can become the Go-To Website For Career Guidance And Inspiration for many people in this market.

如果，现在你问我如何看待我的生活，我不敢断言我实现了自己设定的所有目标。我也经历过人生的大起大落，大喜大悲，但我的生活充满激情和目标。每一天，我做的每件事对我都很重要，这种感觉很奇妙。因为我在做我真正想做的和在意的事。诚恳地讲，我没有遗憾。

If you ask me today how I view my life, I can’t claim that I’ve achieved everything I set out to do. I’ve had big ups and downs. And big disappointments. But I live my life with passion and purpose. Every day and everything I do matters to me. That feels good. I’m doing what I really want to do and care about. And I can honestly say, no regrets.

当你30岁的时候，你在担心些什么？

Is there anything that you started to care and worry about more as you got closer to 30?