I had a 15-year-old write to me and ask about figuring out what to do with her life. She writes： \"As a high-school student I'm constantly being reminded to figure out what to do with my life， what career I would like to have and so on. I definitely feel huge amounts of pressure when my teachers and parents tell me to figure out something now. I'm young and I don't want to make a mistake and ruin my future. I know what I like and what my interests are， but when I read about a job related to those interests I always feel as if I wouldn't enjoy it and I don't know why.\"

What an extremely tough thing to figure out： what to do with your future！ Now， I can't really tell this young girl what to do， but I can share what I've learned looking back on my life.

Here's what I'd say.

You can't figure out the future. Even young people who have a plan （be a doctor， lawyer， research scientist， singer） don't really know what will happen. Life doesn't go according to plan. Other things come along to change you， to change your opportunities， to change the world. The jobs of working at Google， Amazon or Twitter， for example， didn't exist when I was a teenager.

So if you can't figure out the future， what do you do？ Don't focus on the future. Focus on what you can do right now that will be good no matter what the future brings. Make stuff. Build stuff. Learn skills. Go on adventures. Make friends. These things will help in any future.

Learn to be good with discomfort and uncertainty. The best things in life are often hard. Learning is hard. Building something great is hard. Writing a book is hard. Starting a business is hard. All are amazing. But if you're afraid of discomfort and uncertainty， you'll skip them.

How do you get good at this？ Do things that are uncomfortable and hard on purpose. But start with small doses2）. Try exercising for a little bit， even if it's hard， but just start with a few minutes of it， and increase a minute every few days or so3）. Try writing a blog or meditating every day. When you find yourself avoiding discomfort， push yourself just a little bit more.

Overcome distraction and procrastination4）. All of this is useless if you can't overcome the universal problems of distraction and procrastination. You might seize an opportunity because you're good at uncertainty and discomfort， but then not make the most of it because you're too busy on social media and watching TV.

Learn about your mind. Most people don't realize that fear controls them. They don't notice when they run to distraction， or rationalize5） doing things they told themselves they wouldn't do. It's hard to change mental habits because you don't always see what's going on in your head.

Learn about how your mind works， and you'll be much better at all of this. The best ways： meditation6） and blogging. With meditation you watch your mind jumping around， running from discomfort， rationalizing. With blogging， you are forced to reflect on what you've been doing in life and what you've learned from it. It's a great tool for self-growth， and I recommend it to every young person.

Make some money. I don't think money is that important， but making money is difficult. You have to make someone believe in you enough to hire you or buy your products/service， which means you have to figure out why you're worthy of someone believing in you. You have to become worthy. And you have to learn to communicate that to people so they'll want to buy or hire you. And you get better with practice. I worked as a clerk at a bank and then a freelance sports writer when I was in high school， and those were valuable experiences for me.

Build something small. Most people fritter away7） their time away on things that don't matter， like TV， video games， social media， reading news. A year of that and you have nothing to show for it8）. But if you did a sketch every day， or started writing a web app， or created a blog or a video channel that you update regularly， or started building a cookie business ... at the end of a year you'd have something great. And some new skills. Something you can point to and say， \"I built that.\" which most people can't do.

Become trustworthy. Learn to be trustworthy by showing up on time， doing your best at every task， being honest， admitting mistakes but fixing them， trying your best to meet deadlines， being a good person. If you do that， you'll build a reputation and people will recommend you to others， which is the best way to get a job or investor.

Believe this： it doesn't matter if you don't know what to do with your future. If you are prepared， you can do anything you want.

曾經(jīng)有一位15歲的讀者寫信給我，向我咨詢有關(guān)如何度過自己一生的問題。她在信中寫道：“作為一名高中生，我不斷被人提醒要弄清楚該如何度過自己的一生、自己想要從事什么樣的職業(yè)等等。每當(dāng)我的老師們和父母要我現(xiàn)在就把某件事兒想清楚，我當(dāng)然會感到壓力山大。我還年輕，我不想在這種問題上犯錯誤，自毀前程。我知道自己喜歡做什么，對哪方面感興趣，可當(dāng)我去了解跟我的興趣愛好相關(guān)的某個工作時，我總覺得自己好像不會喜歡那份工作，我不知道這是為什么?！?/p>

確定未來要如何發(fā)展，這是多么困難的一件事?。〈藭r此刻，我雖然無法明確地告訴這位年輕的女孩應(yīng)該做些什么，但卻可以跟她分享我通過回顧自己的人生學(xué)到的那些心得。

以下便是我想說的。

你無法明確未來的人生之路。即使那些有所規(guī)劃的年輕人（不管是要成為醫(yī)生、律師、科學(xué)家還是歌手）都并不真的知道未來會發(fā)生什么。人生并不會按照預(yù)定的計劃發(fā)展，一些事情將會發(fā)生，它們會改變你，改變你的際遇，改變這個世界。舉個例子，我十幾歲的時候，到谷歌、亞馬遜或推特工作的機(jī)會根本都不存在。

所以，既然無法確定未來，那你應(yīng)該做些什么呢？不要把注意力放在未來，而要放在當(dāng)下，看看自己可以做哪些不論未來如何都對你有益的事。動手去制作和創(chuàng)建一些東西，去學(xué)習(xí)技能，去冒險，去交友。無論未來將會怎樣，這些事情都會助你一臂之力。

學(xué)著去適應(yīng)不適感以及不確定性。人生中那些最美好的事情往往都不容易。學(xué)習(xí)不易，創(chuàng)建偉大的事物不易，寫書不易，創(chuàng)業(yè)不易。所有這些都很了不起。但如果你害怕不適和不確定性，你就無法做到這些。

如何才能讓自己善于面對不適和不確定性呢？有意地去做一些令自己感到不舒服并且有難度的事情吧。不過，要從點(diǎn)滴做起。試著做點(diǎn)運(yùn)動吧，就算很困難，但剛開始時可以先做個幾分鐘，然后大約每過幾天就多做一分鐘。試著每天寫一篇博文或者冥想吧。當(dāng)你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在回避那種不舒服的感覺時，就輕輕地推自己一把。

克服注意力不集中和拖延的毛病。如果你無法克服普遍存在的注意力不集中和拖延的毛病，那么所有這一切都將是徒勞。你可能會因?yàn)樯瞄L應(yīng)對不適和不確定性而抓住某個機(jī)會，但之后卻會因?yàn)檫^度沉迷社交媒體和看電視而無法充分利用好這個機(jī)會。

了解自己的想法。大多數(shù)人都沒有意識到恐懼會控制他們。他們往往意識不到自己分心了，或者在做了告誡自己別去做的事情后為自己開脫。改變自己的思維習(xí)慣很難，因?yàn)槟銦o法時時刻刻都弄清楚自己在想什么。

了解了自己的思維模式，你在做這些事情時就會更加得心應(yīng)手。最佳的方式是冥想和寫博客。通過冥想，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)你的思維正在跳躍，發(fā)現(xiàn)你在逃避不適抑或是在為自己開脫。通過寫博客，你會強(qiáng)迫自己反思人生的各種經(jīng)歷以及從中得到的收獲。這是有利于自我成長的利器，我將其推薦給每個年輕人。

掙點(diǎn)兒錢。我不認(rèn)為錢有那么重要，但掙錢并不容易。你必須讓某人足夠信任你，這樣他們才會聘用你或者購買你的產(chǎn)品/服務(wù)，這就意味著你必須弄清楚自己憑什么值得別人信賴。你一定要讓自己變得值得信賴，也必須學(xué)會告訴別人這一點(diǎn)，這樣他們才會愿意買你的東西或者雇傭你。通過不斷練習(xí)，你會做得越來越好。我上高中時在銀行做過職員，后來又做過自由撰稿人，寫體育方面的文章，這些對我而言都是非常寶貴的經(jīng)歷。

積少成多，聚沙成塔。大多數(shù)人都會把時間浪費(fèi)在一些無關(guān)緊要的事情上，如看電視、打電子游戲、玩社交媒體和閱讀新聞。如果你整整一年都在做這些事情，你將一無所獲。可是，如果你每天都畫一幅素描，或開始編寫網(wǎng)頁應(yīng)用程序，或開一個博客，或創(chuàng)建一個視頻頻道并定期更新，抑或是開一家餅干店……到這一年結(jié)束時，你將收獲一些很棒的東西，并學(xué)習(xí)到許多新技能。你可以指著它說：“這是我做起來的?！边@可是大多數(shù)人都做不到的。

成為一個值得信賴的人。通過準(zhǔn)時露面、竭盡全力完成每項(xiàng)任務(wù)、誠實(shí)、勇于承認(rèn)并改正錯誤、盡己所能按時完成工作、做一個好人這些方式，學(xué)著做一個值得信賴的人。如果做到以上這些，你將建立良好的聲譽(yù)，大家也會向其他人舉薦你，而這是獲得工作或投資的最佳方式。

你要相信：對未來感到迷茫沒有關(guān)系，如果你已經(jīng)做好了準(zhǔn)備，你就可以做自己想做的任何事情。

1. Leo Babauta： 利奧·巴博塔（1973～），暢銷書作家、素食者，奉行簡約主義，著有《少的力量》（The Power of Less）一書。他創(chuàng)建的博客網(wǎng)站ZenHabits粉絲眾多，2009～2010年連續(xù)兩年被《時代周刊》（Time）評為最知名的25個博客網(wǎng)站之一。他定期在博客中發(fā)表的文章主要涉及簡單生活、健康、勵志、節(jié)儉、家庭生活和人生目標(biāo)等話題，意在倡導(dǎo)在日益喧囂的生活中尋求一絲簡單，把精力集中到重要事情上，提高創(chuàng)造力，尋求快樂。

2. dose [d??s] n. （尤指數(shù)量很多的）一份，一次，一點(diǎn)

3. or so： 大約

4. procrastination[pr???kr?st??ne??n] n. 拖延

5. rationalize [?r??n?la?z] v. （為……）作自我辯解

6. meditation [?med??te??n] n. 沉思；冥想

7. fritter away： 浪費(fèi)；消耗

8. have nothing to show for sth.： 一無所獲