Welcome to One Thing Better. Each week, the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine (that's me) shares one way to be more successful and satisfied — and build a career or company you love.
欢迎来到《更好的事情》。每周，《企业家》杂志的主编（就是我）会分享一种让你更成功、更满意的方法，帮助你建立一个你热爱的职业或公司。

I was traveling with family last week, with no time to write. Today, I’m sharing one of my favorite posts from last summer.
上周我和家人一起旅行，没时间写作。今天，我想分享一篇我去年夏天最喜欢的帖子。

Today’s one thing: Worrying that your work isn’t important enough.
今天的一个想法：担心自己的工作不够重要。

That one thing, better: Recognizing where you are important.
那件事更重要：意识到你所处的位置。

You want meaningful work. But you also struggle to define what “meaningful” is.
你渴望有意义的工作，但却很难明确什么才是“有意义的”。

Meaningful to who? You? Someone else? Does it feel meaningful now? Yesterday? Compared to anything you did before, or will do later?
这对谁有意义？对你？对其他人？现在感觉有意义吗？昨天呢？与你之前做过的事情或将来要做的事情相比呢？

You can get lost in questions like this. Many people do.
你可能会在这样的问题中迷失方向，很多人都是如此。

Just recently, in fact, a friend told me she was struggling with this. Her career has evolved, and she worries that her work today isn't as impactful as it once was.
最近，一个朋友告诉我她在这方面感到困扰。她的职业经历了变化，她担心自己现在的工作不如以前那么有影响力。

So I sent her some thoughts, which included something Steve Jobs wrote to himself as he was dying. She said she didn't expect it to help, but that it did. “I hope you share it widely,” she told me.
所以我给她发了一些想法，其中包括史蒂夫·乔布斯临终时写给自己的话。她说她没想到这会有帮助，但实际上确实有。“我希望你能广泛分享这段话，”她对我说。

Today, that’s what I’m doing. I'm sending you what I sent her, along with a question you must ask yourself now. Because I have a message for you, whatever you do:
今天，我就是这样做的。我把发给她的内容发给你，还有一个你现在必须问自己的问题。因为我有话要告诉你，无论你做什么：

You’re more helpful than you think.
你比自己想的更能提供帮助。

How Important Is Your Work, Really?
你的工作究竟有多重要？

Let's start with my friend.
让我们先从我的朋友谈起。

She is a mission-oriented person. She wants to impact people's lives. And years ago, she did that very directly. She was the person helping others in crisis. It was hard and draining, but also deeply satisfying. And now, although she still does great work, she does not do that.
她是一个以使命为导向的人，想要改变他人的生活。多年前，她非常直接地实现了这一点，成为了帮助他人渡过危机的人。虽然这很艰难且耗人精力，但也让人感到非常满足。如今，尽管她仍在做着出色的工作，但已经不再这样做了。

She misses it sometimes, she told me. But even more: She wonders if yesterday's work was more important than today's.
她有时会想念它，告诉我。但更重要的是：她在想，昨天的工作是否比今天的更重要。

I've heard versions of this from many people. A writer will worry that they don't help others the way a doctor can. A friend in corporate wonders whether they're wasting their career, and should take less money in pursuit of a cause.
我听过很多人提到过这个问题。作家们常常担心自己无法像医生那样帮助他人。而一位在企业工作的朋友则在思考，他们是否在浪费自己的职业生涯，是否应该为了追求某个事业而减少收入。

I believe all of our work is important, but I wasn't sure how to make my friend feel better. Then, on Twitter, I stumbled upon an email that Steve Jobs sent to himself a year and a half before his death.
我相信我们所有的工作都很重要，但我不知道如何让我的朋友感觉好一些。后来，我在推特上偶然发现了一封史蒂夫·乔布斯在去世前一年半发给自己的邮件。

To be clear, I am not a Steve Jobs fanatic. I don’t love how he’s become deified. But this email really gave me pause.
我想明确一点，我并不是史蒂夫·乔布斯的狂热粉丝。我不喜欢他被神化的样子。但这封邮件确实让我深思。

Here’s what he wrote:  他写道：

And when I read that, I started to think:
当我读到这句话时，我开始思考：

Steve was right. He did not create any of these original things. But very few people in the world do — and yet we still create value. That's because Steve, like so many of us, built on top.
史蒂夫说得对。他并没有创造这些原创的东西，但世界上很少有人能做到这一点——然而我们依然创造着价值。这是因为史蒂夫和我们许多人一样，都是在前人的基础上进行创新的。

That’s what a good life is about, really — not just creating, but advancing.
这就是美好生活的真正意义——不仅仅是创造，更是不断进步。

You move others forward too
你也在推动他人前进

I sent Steve’s letter to my friend, and then added this note of my own:
我把史蒂夫的信寄给了我的朋友，然后又加了一条我自己的备注：

As I wrote that, I’d thought about a conversation I had years ago with an entrepreneur who makes candy. He owns a large, recognizable brand, and told me about all the letters he gets from people about this seemingly incidental product.
当我写下这些时，我想起了多年前与一位糖果企业家的对话。他拥有一个知名的大品牌，并告诉我他收到的关于这个看似偶然的产品的许多信件。

Candy is just sugar, right? It’s not important. And yet —
糖果不就是糖吗？这并不重要，但——

People write to share memories of their parents, now gone, who they’d eat that candy with. They write about how, when they’re feeling lost as adults, the candy can transport them back to childhood. They write deep, intimate things about this candy. Because it matters.
人们写信分享他们已故父母的回忆，曾与父母一起享用的那种糖果。他们写道，当作为成年人感到迷茫时，这种糖果能让他们回到童年。他们对这种糖果表达了深刻而亲密的情感。因为这真的很重要。

This guy didn't invent candy. He didn't even invent this candy. He just bought the company, so that it could continue to make the candy, so that people could continue to eat the candy, so that, when it was needed, it was there.
这个人并没有发明糖果，甚至连这种糖果也不是他发明的。他只是收购了这家公司，以便它能够继续生产糖果，让人们能够继续享用，确保在需要的时候糖果能够随时供应。

And it's not just him, of course: Someone markets the candy. Someone packs the candy. Someone ships the candy. Someone cleans the machines that make the candy. Someone hires and manages the people who do all that. Without any of them, the candy doesn't get made. Without any of them, the people who want the candy have a hole in their life.
当然，不仅仅是他：有人负责销售糖果，有人负责包装，有人负责运输，还有人负责清洁制造糖果的机器。还有人负责雇佣和管理这些工作人员。如果没有他们中的任何一个，糖果就无法生产；如果没有他们，想要糖果的人生活中就会感到空虚。

So here’s what I want you to do:
所以我希望你能这样做：

If you worry that your work doesn't matter to others, stop that.
如果你担心自己的工作对他人没有价值，那就放下这种担忧吧。

Instead, start with the assumption that it does.
不如先假设它是这样。

In some small way, even if you're just fixing something that broke, even if you're just saving someone time, even if you're just making someone a little bit happier — whatever it is, assume it matters to someone. Because it does.
在某种程度上，即使你只是修理坏掉的东西，节省别人的时间，或者让某人稍微快乐一点——无论是什么，假设这对某人来说都是重要的。因为它确实重要。

Now ask the better question, which is: How can you make that matter even more?
现在问一个更好的问题：你如何才能让这件事更加重要？

Because you can do that too.
因为你也能做到这一点。

And that's how to do one thing better.
这就是提升做事效率的方法。

P.S. Watch this cashier hug a customer! It’s a perfect, heartwarming example of doing meaningful work in overlooked ways. Watch!
P.S. 看这位收银员如何拥抱顾客！这是一个完美而温暖的例子，展示了在被忽视的方式中做有意义的工作。快来看看！

P.P.S. Miss my last newsletter? It was about how to find something new that makes you happy. Read!
P.P.S. 你想念我上期的通讯吗？那期内容是关于如何找到让你快乐的新事物。快来阅读吧！

P.P.P.S. I’m taking 1:1 calls. I’m trying something new my One Thing Better community: I’m taking 1:1 consulting calls, and then sending the videos of these calls to all members. That way, everyone can drop in on the sessions and learn together. The first round of calls are booked, but the videos will go out next week. Sign up here to get them, and to know when future calls are available!
P.P.P.S. 我正在进行一对一的电话咨询。在我的 One Thing Better 社区，我尝试了一些新方法：进行一对一的咨询电话，并将这些通话的视频发送给所有成员。这样，大家都可以参与这些会议，一起学习。第一轮的电话已经预约，但视频将在下周发送。请在这里注册以获取视频，并了解未来的电话安排！

P.P.P.P.S. I just got the greatest DM — and given the subject of today’s newsletter, I want to share it with you. This is from someone who read my book:
P.P.P.P.S. 我刚收到了一条非常棒的私信——鉴于今天通讯的主题，我想和你分享一下。这是来自一位读过我书的朋友：

Wow. When you put things out into the world, you just have no idea what kind of impact they’ll have on others. This one really got me!
哇，当你把事物展现给世界时，你完全无法预料它们会对他人产生怎样的影响。这让我深受触动！

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💌 你觉得怎么样？请告诉我！

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📕 购买我的书，为你的职业生涯做好未来准备！

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🎧 最新播客：“我该如何告诉我的员工我可能会解雇他？请帮帮我！”