Life as a teenager was complicated and chaotic¹ for me. I had too many feelings, frustrations², and too much anxiety about everything. I had placed no value on personal finance, and I had no desire to really talk with anyone. Needless to say, there are a lot of things I wish I knew when I was still in my teens. Instead of bottling them all up and just wishing for the best to come, I’ve decided³ to share them with you. I’ve decided that there will be no more regrets–an ample amount of wisdom and a greater appreciation⁴ for today will be my greatest drivers in the production of this list.

我的青年时期于我来说复杂且混沌。那时很敏感，又经常受挫，对每件事情都充满焦虑。我对个人理财不屑一顾，也没有心思跟别人真心交流。毫无疑问，我渴望太多的事情在我青少年时期就已知晓。所以我决定与其装在心里，默默缅怀，不如拿出来与大家分享。我也下定决心不再后悔—丰富的智慧和对当下更高的崇尚，将是我列出清单的动力。

Those butterflies in your stomach? That’s not love at all.

心跳加速？那根本不是爱情。

The top item on my “things I wish I knew when I was a teenager” list is about attraction. I wish I had known that feeling flushed, embarrassed and flustered⁵ mean you are nervous, not that you’re in love. It’s not that I was too young to fall in love: it’s that I was too self-absorbed and caught up in my own world that caring for someone else didn’t really make sense back then.

关于吸引，我列在了“那些我希望在青少年时期知道的事情”清单之首。我希望我当时可以明白脸红，尴尬和慌张只是意味着紧张，而非爱情。这不是说我那会太年轻，承担不了爱：而是我太自以为是，太过于沉迷在自己的世界里，以为关心别人没有实际意义。

Don’t go into a spending frenzy–you didn’t earn that money!

不要铺张浪费-那钱不是你挣来的！

Looking back, I shudder⁶ and cringe when I remember my past spending habits. Whenever I received my allowance back then, I never stopped and thought about saving some of it. I wish I had known–and really valued–the way money was earned.

回首往昔，过去的消费习惯让我不寒而栗。那会儿只要我拿到了生活费，就没有节制地去花，从来没考虑过存一点。我希望我当时明白—并且真正重视—钱是如何挣来的。

Failure doesn’t mean you’re weak.

失败并不意味着你是弱者。

I was easily discouraged. I thought that failing meant losing and that being a failure meant you were going to be poor for the rest of your life. Ha! How far was I from the truth? Failure is helpful in shaping your character. It helps you develop and come out stronger than before. Failure is priceless. And frankly⁷, everyone deserves to fail once in a while.

以前，我很容易失去信心。失败对我来说代表着输家，一时的失败好似余生都会穷困潦倒。呵！那时我离真相有多远？失败能够帮你塑造人格。助你成长为比以往更强大的人。失败无价。并且坦白讲，每个人都应该经历一段时期的失败。

You’re never too young to invest.

投资趁年轻。

I know I said no regrets–but come on. Whenever I think about the thousands I’ve lost, the thousands I could have invested, I can’t resist slapping myself for being too ignorant. If you’re still in your teens, please. Do yourself a favor and start investing!

我知道自己没有后悔—但听我说。每当我想到与本该收获的几千块擦肩而过时，我都恨不得因先前的忽视来扇自己几耳光。如果你现在还出于青春年华，拜托了。为自己做点好事，开始投资吧！

You can be who you want to be. I promise you.

你可以成为你想成为的人。我保证。

Sure, this sounds false, with all the bullies⁸ putting you down, all the mean teachers attacking your character and all the failures stressing you out, but it’s true. Don’t let anyone bring your dreams down.You don’t need gold （gold-plated） medals, a bunch of certificates or an A+ every single time! People–or people who do matter–won’t really care about that.

当然，这听起来像无稽之谈，毕竟那些恶人打击过你，刻薄的老师抨击过你的人格，历经的失败又耗尽了你的精力。但别让任何人贬低了你的梦想。你不需要金牌（镀金），不需要一堆的证书，也不需要每次都得A+！人们—或者有分量的人—不会在乎那些。

Gossiping, while fun, can be an energy-drainer.

用八卦来取乐只会消耗精力。

You need your energy so that you can do a lot of things. If you spend all your time and your energy gossiping, you’ll have imaginary power but little control over your life. Sure, there’s a bit of a fun in this activity, but all the negativity and emotional stress you’ll get aren’t going to be worth it.

你的精力是用来做许多事情的。如果你把所有的时间和精力都花在八卦上，那么你的能量将化为乌有，人生也会脱离掌控。当然，八卦可以带来乐趣，但也会带来不值得的消极情绪和紧张。

Emergencies happen. Please prepare for it in advance.

意外随时发生。请提前做好准备。

Just imagine: if I had saved up at least 5% of my monthly allowance, I could have been better off financially by the time I graduated college. By that time, I would have an emergency fund already! I really wish I had known to save up early in my teens. Granted, I started when I was 19, but imagine if I had started at 13!

想象一下：如果我每月至少存下5%的生活费，那我大学毕业后的经济状况会更乐观。那时，我早就该有一定的应急金了！我真希望在青少年时期能早早地存钱。还好，我19岁着手开始，那要是我早在13岁的时候就存了会是怎样呢！

Read about the Law of Attraction.

理解“万有引力”

No, I’m not talking about physical attraction here. What I’m saying is that it would have been better if I had known that my thoughts can be manifested through my actions! I would have spent more time thinking positively⁹.

不，我这里说的不是物理上的那个引力。我是说如果我早知道思想可以通过行动来产生引力的话，那会更好！我也将花更多的时间来积极思考。

It’s okay to not conform sometimes.

有时离经叛道一点也没关系。

“Study hard, get good grades and find a great company to work for.” –No, you can actually consider entrepreneurship as well. “Don’t strive to be rich or you’ll be evil.”–It just depends on the person. Money just magnifies your inherent character. “Help will always come.”–Not necessarily. No one owes you anything, really, so it’s better for you to depend on yourself instead of other people.

“努力学习，取的好成绩，然后找家好的公司工作。”—不，实际上你也可以考虑一下创业。“不要为钱努力，否则你会成为恶魔。”—这仅取决于个人。钱只会放大你的本质。“帮助总会来的。”—并不然。没有人欠你什么，真的，所以你最好还是依靠自己而非别人。

Start something.

开始一些事情。

Your teen years are the best time for you to create projects: put up a blog, write a novel, donate to charity, produce a song, read non-fiction books and basically start owning your life. You’re still young. You’ll still make mistakes. But the most important thing is that you’re making an effort, that you’re not afraid to try. Don’t wait until you’re old enough. This time will never happen! Now, let me ask you: are the things on this list also on your list?

对你来说青年时期是发挥创造的最佳阶段：开通博客，写小说，捐助慈善机构，写歌，阅读非小说类书籍，并且开始基本主宰自己的人生。你还年轻，仍会犯错误。但最关键的是你要努力做到不害怕去尝试。不要等到行将就木才醒悟。时光一去不返！现在，容我问你：这列表上的事情会同样出现在你的列表中吗？