清晨朗读138：Why Does Purpose Matter?

文／王渊源John

Good morning!

终于买了个话筒，昨天到货了，今天第一次用。还不太会用，所以应该还没有达到最好的声音效果，可以根据大家的反馈调整一下。

注意：好像声音会比以前大一些，可能要先把手机的声音调小，再慢慢往上调。

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今天的朗读内容来自Steve Pavlina。这篇文章谈的是purpose的意义与作用，在这里purpose讲的是最终目标或使命。

朗读部分是文章的开头，他列出了task, project和goal。Goal给project赋予意义，project与task也是这个关系，而purpose在goal之上。

Have fun!

John

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朗读内容

Why Does Purpose Matter? 

By Steve Pavlina

Why does it matter whether or not your life actually has a purpose?

Let’s take a few steps back and creep up on this question….

If you complete a task, and there’s no overall important context for that task, then the task doesn’t really matter. So you watch a TV show. It doesn’t make a difference — there’s no larger context for it. But if you complete a task that’s part of a larger project, now it suddenly matters, at least within the context of the project. If you create a web page, and it’s part of a new web site you’re building, that task matters. It takes you closer to the realization of the completed project.

Now when does a project matter? Projects matter only within the context of a larger goal. If your goal is to increase your income, and you complete a project that is likely to facilitate it, the project matters. It brings you a step closer to the realization of your goal. But if you complete a project like digging a trench through your backyard, and there’s no real goal you’re trying to accomplish, then the project is pointless. There’s no meaning behind it.

If a project isn’t part of some larger goal, then that project has no context and is therefore irrelevant. You don’t need a complicated goal to give meaning to a project. It could be something simple like increasing your happiness or even just entertaining you for a while. But human behavior is purposeful, and we humans don’t tend to undertake projects if there is no good reason for doing so. People don’t often work hard at digging holes and refilling them for no reason.

What’s the difference between projects and goals? Goals are outcomes, objectives. They’re states of being — a state where you’d like to be at some point. Projects are encapsulations of the actions you feel you can take to help you achieve a goal. Owning your own home is a goal. Writing a screenplay is a project.

So to reverse the order, you start by setting some goals, create projects to achieve those goals, and perform tasks to complete those projects and thereby achieve your goals.

But now what’s the context for your goals? Why do they matter? If a task needs the context of a project and a project needs the context of a goal, don’t goals need a context as well in order for them to matter?

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/01/why-does-purpose-matter/