1、Meg Jay 20 岁，不可挥霍的光阴临床心理学家 Meg Jay 表示：二十几岁对于一个人异常重要，在这段时期内人的性格和世界观趋于完整，而如果你在 30 岁之前，还没有树立自己完整而独立的世界观，你就注定会失败。在这个点击过百万的 TED 演讲中，Meg Jay 分享给 20 多岁青年人的人生建议：“第一，我常告诉二十多岁的男孩女孩，不要为你究竟是谁而烦恼，开始思考你可以是谁，并且去赚那些说明你是谁的资本。现在就是最好的尝试时机，不管是海外实习，还是创业，或者做公益。第二，年轻人经常聚在一起，感情好到可以穿一条裤子。可是社会中许多机会是从远关系开始的，不要把自己封锁在小圈子里，走出去你才
2、会对自己的经历有更多的认识。第三，记住你可以选择自己的家庭。你的婚姻就是未来几十年的家庭，就算你要到三十岁结婚，现在选择和什么样的人交往也是至关重要的。简而言之，二十岁是不能轻易挥霍的美好时光。”When I was in my 20s, I saw my very first psychotherapy client. I was a Ph.D. student in clinical psychology at Berkeley. She was a 26-year-old woman named Alex.记得见我第一位心理咨询顾客时，我才 20 多岁。当时我是 Berkeley 临床心
3、理学在读博士生。我的第一位顾客是名叫 Alex 的女性，26 岁。Now Alex walked into her first session wearing jeans and a big slouchy top, and she dropped onto the couch in my office and kicked off her flats and told me she was there to talk about guy problems. Now when I heard this, I was so relieved. My classmate got an arsoni
4、st for her first client. (Laughter) And I got a twentysomething who wanted to talk about boys. This I thought I could handle.第一次见面 Alex 穿着牛仔裤和宽松上衣走进来，她一下子栽进我办公室的沙发上，踢掉脚上的平底鞋，跟我说她想谈谈男生的问题。当时我听到这个之后松了一口气。因为我同学的第一个顾客是纵火犯，而我的顾客却是一个 20 出头想谈谈男生的女孩。我觉得我可以搞定。But I didnt handle it. With the funny stories tha
5、t Alex would bring to session, it was easy for me just to nod my head while we kicked the can down the road.但是我没有搞定。Alex 不断地讲有趣的事情，而我只能简单地点头认同她所说的，很自然地就陷入了附和的状态。“Thirtys the new 20,“ Alex would say, and as far as I could tell, she was right. Work happened later, marriage happened later, kids happene
6、d later, even death happened later. Twentysomethings like Alex and I had nothing but time.Alex 说： “30 岁是一个新的 20 岁”。没错，我告诉她“你是对的” 。工作还早，结婚还早，生孩子还早，甚至死亡也早着呢。像 Alex 和我这样 20 多岁的人，什么都没有但时间多的是。But before long, my supervisor pushed me to push Alex about her love life. I pushed back. I said, “Sure, shes dat
7、ing down, shes sleeping with a knucklehead, but its not like shes going to marry the guy.“ And then my supervisor said, “Not yet, but she might marry the next one. Besides, the best time to work on Alexs marriage is before she has one.“但不久之后，我的导师就要我向 Alex 的感情生活施压。我反驳说：“当然她现在正在和别人交往，她现在和一个傻瓜男生睡觉，但看样子
8、她不会和他结婚的。” 而我的导师说： “不着急，她也许会和下一个结婚。但修复 Alex 婚姻的最好时期是她还没拥有婚姻的时期。”Thats what psychologists call an “Aha!“ moment. That was the moment I realized, 30 is not the new 20. Yes, people settle down later than they used to, but that didnt make Alexs 20s a developmental downtime.这就是心理学家说的“ 顿悟时刻” 。正是那个时候我意识到，3
9、0 岁不是一个新的20 岁。的确，和以前的人相比，现在人们更晚才安定下来，但是这不代表 Alex就能长期处于 20 多岁的状态。That made Alexs 20s a developmental sweet spot, and we were sitting there blowing it. That was when I realized that this sort of benign neglect was a real problem, and it had real consequences, not just for Alex and her love life but fo
10、r the careers and the families and the futures of twentysomethings everywhere.更晚安定下来，应该使 Alex 的 20 多岁成为发展的黄金时段，而我们却坐在那里忽视这个发展的时机。从那时起我意识到这种善意的忽视确实是个问题，它不仅给 Alex 本身和她的感情生活带来不良后果，而且影响到处 20 多岁的人的事业、家庭和未来。There are 50 million twentysomethings in the United States right now. Were talking about 15 percent
11、 of the population, or 100 percent if you consider that no ones getting through adulthood without going through their 20s first.现在在美国，20 多岁的人有五千万，也就是 15%的人口，或者可以说所有人口，因为所有成年人都要经历他们的 20 多岁。Raise your hand if youre in your 20s. I really want to see some twentysomethings here. Oh, yay! Yalls awesome. I
12、f you work with twentysomethings, you love a twentysomething, youre losing sleep over twentysomethings, I want to see Okay. Awesome, twentysomethings really matter.如果你现在 20 多岁，请举手。我很想看到有 20 多岁的人在这里。哦，很好。如果你和 20 多岁的人一起工作，你喜欢 20 多岁的人，你因为 20 多岁的人辗转难眠，我想看到你们。很棒，看来 20 多岁的人确实很受重视。So I specialize in twenty
13、somethings because I believe that every single one of those 50 million twentysomethings deserves to know what psychologists, sociologists, neurologists and fertility specialists already know: that claiming your 20s is one of the simplest, yet most transformative, things you can do for work, for love
14、, for your happiness, maybe even for the world.因此我专门研究 20 多岁的人，因为我坚信这五千万的 20 多岁的人，每一个人都应该去了解那些心理学家、社会学家、神经学家和生育专家已经知道的事实：你的 20 多岁是极简单却极具变化的时期之一。你 20 多岁的时光决定了你的事业、爱情、幸福甚至整个世界。This is not my opinion. These are the facts. We know that 80 percent of lifes most defining moments take place by age 35. That
15、 means that eight out of 10 of the decisions and experiences and “Aha!“ moments that make your life what it is will have happened by your mid-30s.这不是我的看法。这些是事实。我们知道 80%决定你生活的时刻发生在 35 岁之前。这就意味着你生活的重要决定、经历和突然的领悟，有八成是在你 30 多岁之前发生的。People who are over 40, dont panic. This crowd is going to be fine, I th
16、ink. We know that the first 10 years of a career has an exponential impact on how much money youre going to earn. We know that more than half of Americans are married or are living with or dating their future partner by 30.那些超过 40 岁的朋友不要惊慌，我想这群人会没事的。我们知道职业生涯的前10 年对你将来的收入有重大影响。我们知道到了 30 岁的时候，超过半数的美国人
17、会结婚或者和未来的另一半同居或者约会。We know that the brain caps off its second and last growth spurt in your 20s as it rewires itself for adulthood, which means that whatever it is you want to change about yourself, now is the time to change it. We know that personality changes more during your 20s than at any other
18、 time in life, and we know that female fertility peaks at age 28, and things get tricky after age 35.我们知道人在 20 多岁的时候大脑停止第二次也是最后一次重组，以适应成年世界的快速发育阶段。这就意味着不管你想怎样改变自己，现在就是时间改变了。我们知道在 20 多岁的时候，性格的改变多于生命中任何时期。我们也知道女性的最佳生育时期在 28 岁的时候达到顶峰，35 岁之后生育变得困难。So your 20s are the time to educate yourself about your
19、body and your options. So when we think about child development, we all know that the first five years are a critical period for language and attachment in the brain. Its a time when your ordinary, day-to-day life has an inordinate impact on who you will become.所以你的 20 多岁正是了解你自身和选择的时期。当我们想到孩童的成长时，我们
20、都知道 1-5 岁是大脑学习语言和感知的重要时期。这个时期，日常的普通生活都会对你的未来道路影响巨大。But what we hear less about is that theres such a thing as adult development, and our 20s are that critical period of adult development. But this isnt what twentysomethings are hearing. Newspapers talk about the changing timetable of adulthood.但是我们却
21、很少听到成年发展期，而我们的 20 多岁正是成年发展期的关键。但是 20 多岁的人却听不到这些，报纸讨论的只是成年年龄界线的变更。Researchers call the 20s an extended adolescence. Journalists coin silly nicknames for twentysomethings like “twixters“ and “kidults.“ Its true. As a culture, we have trivialized what is actually the defining decade of adulthood.研究者称 2
22、0 多岁是延长的青春期。记者就引用傻傻的外号称呼 20 多岁的人，比如“twixters” (twenty-mixters)和“kidults”(kid-adults)。 这是真的。作为一种文化，我们的忽视的正是对成年起到决定性作用的十年（从 20 岁到 30 岁）。Leonard Bernstein said that to achieve great things, you need a plan and not quite enough time. Isnt that true? So what do you think happens when you pat a twentysome
23、thing on the head and you say, “You have 10 extra years to start your life“? Nothing happens. You have robbed that person of his urgency and ambition, and absolutely nothing happens.雷昂纳德伯恩斯坦说过：要想取得成就，你需要一个计划和紧迫的时间。这是大实话啊！所以当你拍着一个 20 多岁的人的脑袋，跟他说，“你有额外的 10 年去开始你的生活” ，你觉得这改变了什么？什么都没改变。你只是夺走了那个人的紧迫感和雄心壮
24、志，绝对没有改变什么。And then every day, smart, interesting twentysomethings like you or like your sons and daughters come into my office and say things like this: “I know my boyfriends no good for me, but this relationship doesnt count. Im just killing time.“ Or they say, “Everybody says as long as I get sta
25、rted on a career by the time Im 30, Ill be fine.“然后每天，那些聪明有趣的 20 多岁的人就像你们和你们的儿子女儿一样，走入我的办公室开始说：“ 我知道我的男朋友对我不够好，但是我们的关系不算数。我只是在消磨时光而已。”或者说“ 每个人都告诉我只要能在 30 岁的时候开始我的事业，这就足够了。”But then it starts to sound like this: “My 20s are almost over, and I have nothing to show for myself. I had a better rsum the d
26、ay after I graduated from college.“ And then it starts to sound like this: “Dating in my 20s was like musical chairs. Everybody was running around and having fun, but then sometime around 30 it was like the music turned off and everybody started sitting down.但是实际听上去却是：“ 我马上就要三十了，却根本就没有东西展示。我只是在大学毕业时
27、有过一份最漂亮的简历。” 或是这样：“我 20 多岁时的约会就像找凳子。每个人都绕着凳子跑，随便玩一玩，但是快 30 的时候就像音乐停止了，所有人开始坐下。I didnt want to be the only one left standing up, so sometimes I think I married my husband because he was the closest chair to me at 30.“ Where are the twentysomethings here? Do not do that. Okay, now that sounds a little
28、 flip, but make no mistake, the stakes are very high.我不想成为那唯一站着的人，所以有时候我会想我和我丈夫之所以会结婚，是因为在我 30 岁的时候，他是当时离我最近的那张凳子。在场的 20 多岁的人呐，千万不要这样做。这个做法听起来有点轻率，但是不要犯错，因为风险很高。When a lot has been pushed to your 30s, there is enormous thirtysomething pressure to jump-start a career, pick a city, partner up, and hav
29、e two or three kids in a much shorter period of time. Many of these things are incompatible, and as research is just starting to show, simply harder and more stressful to do all at once in our 30s.当很多事都被挤到你 30 多岁的时候，就会有巨大压力，在很短的时间内快速启动一项事业，挑一个城市，找到伴侣，生两三个孩子。这些事大多是不能同时完成的，正如研究表明，在 30 岁的时候要想工作生活一步到位，难
30、度很高，压力很大。The post-millennial midlife crisis isnt buying a red sports car. Its realizing you cant have that career you now want. Its realizing you cant have that child you now want, or you cant give your child a sibling.千禧年后的中年危机并不是一辆红色跑车。而是意识到你不能拥有你想拥有的事业，意识到你不能拥有你想要的孩子，或者给你的孩子添个兄弟姐妹。Too many thirty
31、somethings and fortysomethings look at themselves, and at me, sitting across the room, and say about their 20s, “What was I doing? What was I thinking?“ I want to change what twentysomethings are doing and thinking.太多 30 多岁 40 多岁的人看看他们自己，看看我，坐在屋子里谈论自己的 20 多岁，“我当时都干么了？我当时都想啥了？” 我想改变现在 20 多岁人的所思所为。Her
32、es a story about how that can go. Its a story about a woman named Emma. At 25, Emma came to my office because she was, in her words, having an identity crisis. She said she thought she might like to work in art or entertainment, but she hadnt decided yet, so shed spent the last few years waiting tab
33、les instead.这里我想讲个故事说明问题。这个故事是关于名叫 Emma 一个女人。她 25 岁的时候走入我的办公室，因为用她自己的话说，她有自我认识危机。她说她也许想从事关于艺术或者娱乐的工作，但是她还没决定。所以取而代之的是她花了过去几年的时间当服务员。Because it was cheaper, she lived with a boyfriend who displayed his temper more than his ambition. And as hard as her 20s were, her early life had been even harder. Sh
34、e often cried in our sessions, but then would collect herself by saying, “You cant pick your family, but you can pick your friends.“为了减少开销，她和她的男朋友同居，一个脾气暴躁而无志向的人。正如她悲惨的 20 多岁，她早年的生活更加悲惨。她经常在谈话过程中哭泣，努力镇定下来后说“你没办法选择你的家庭，但是你可以选择你的朋友。”Well one day, Emma comes in and she hangs her head in her lap, and sh
35、e sobbed for most of the hour. Shed just bought a new address book, and shed spent the morning filling in her many contacts, but then shed been left staring at that empty blank that comes after the words “In case of emergency, please call . “有一天，Emma 走进来，她双手抱头于膝盖，然后抽泣了几乎一个小时。她刚买了一个新的通讯录本子，然后花了一整个早上的
36、时间填写她的联系人信息。当她填到“万一发生紧急情况，请联系.” 的时候，她没有任何人可填。She was nearly hysterical when she looked at me and said, “Whos going to be there for me if I get in a car wreck? Whos going to take care of me if I have cancer?“ Now in that moment, it took everything I had not to say, “I will.“她几乎崩溃地看着我并说，“如果我被车撞了，谁会在那里
37、？假如我得癌症了，谁会在那里？” 在那种情况下，我花了好大力气才忍住说“我会。”But what Emma needed wasnt some therapist who really, really cared. Emma needed a better life, and I knew this was her chance. I had learned too much since I first worked with Alex to just sit there while Emmas defining decade went parading by.Emma 所需要的并不是理疗师所
38、真正关心的。她需要一个更好的生活，我知道这是她的机会。自 Alex 开始，我从这份工作上学到了很多，不能只是坐在那里看着 Emma 十年黄金定型期白白消逝。So over the next weeks and months, I told Emma three things that every twentysomething, male or female, deserves to hear.所以接下去的几个星期几个月，我告诉 Emma 三件事，所有 20 多岁的男生女生都值得听一听。First, I told Emma to forget about having an identity
39、crisis and get some identity capital. By get identity capital, I mean do something that adds value to who you are. Do something thats an investment in who you might want to be next.首先，我告诉 Emma 忘掉她的自我认识危机，去获得一些身份认定的资本。身份资本是指做增加自我价值的事。为自己下一步想成为的样子做一些事一些投资。I didnt know the future of Emmas career, and n
40、o one knows the future of work, but I do know this: Identity capital begets identity capital. So now is the time for that cross-country job, that internship, that startup you want to try.我不知道 Emma 的工作将来是什么样的，也没人知道将来的工作是什么样的，但是我知道：身份资本会创造出更多身份资本。现在是时候去尝试你想要的海外工作、实习或者新起点。Im not discounting twentysomet
41、hing exploration here, but I am discounting exploration thats not supposed to count, which, by the way, is not exploration. Thats procrastination. I told Emma to explore work and make it count.我不是轻视 20 多岁的自我探索，而是轻视那些随便玩玩无所谓的探索，或者从某种意义上说那不是探索。那是拖沓！我告诉 Emma 去探索工作，让她的探索有所回报。Second, I told Emma that the
42、 urban tribe is overrated.第二，我告诉 Emma 不要高估自己的朋友圈。Best friends are great for giving rides to the airport, but twentysomethings who huddle together with like-minded peers limit who they know, what they know, how they think, how they speak, and where they work. That new piece of capital, that new perso
43、n to date almost always comes from outside the inner circle.好朋友会载你去机场，而和“志同道合的朋友” 瞎混的 20 多岁的人，他们的交际圈、知识面、思维方式、说话方式和工作层面都被限制住了。新的资本或者新的约会对方往往是从内部交际圈之外来的。New things come from what are called our weak ties, our friends of friends of friends. So yes, half of twentysomethings are un- or under-employed. B
44、ut half arent, and weak ties are how you get yourself into that group. Half of new jobs are never posted, so reaching out to your neighbors boss is how you get that un-posted job. Its not cheating. Its the science of how information spreads.新的事情来自我们所谓的“远的关系” ，我们朋友的朋友的朋友。没错，半数 20多岁的人处在失业和半失业的状态。但是另外一
45、半的人却不是这样的，“远的关系”正是你融入一个新的群体的纽带。有半数的新工作从来不公示出来，所以联络你邻居的老板是你找到那些未公示工作的方式。这不叫作弊，这是信息传播的科学方式。Last but not least, Emma believed that you cant pick your family, but you can pick your friends. Now this was true for her growing up, but as a twentysomething, soon Emma would pick her family when she partnered
46、 with someone and created a family of her own.最后一点也很重要，Emma 相信你无法选择你的家庭，但是你可以选择你的朋友。可这只是她成长时期的状况。作为一个 20 多岁的人，Emma 很快会与某人为伴组建她自己的新家庭。I told Emma the time to start picking your family is now. Now you may be thinking that 30 is actually a better time to settle down than 20, or even 25, and I agree wit
47、h you. But grabbing whoever youre living with or sleeping with when everyone on Facebook starts walking down the aisle is not progress.我告诉 Emma 现在就是你选择你家庭的时候。现在你也许会想相比于 20 岁，25岁或 30 岁时组建家庭会更好。我同意你的看法。但是当你 Facebook 上的朋友都开始步入婚姻殿堂时，你随便抓一个人一起生活、睡觉绝对不是组建家庭的过程。The best time to work on your marriage is bef
48、ore you have one, and that means being as intentional with love as you are with work. Picking your family is about consciously choosing who and what you want rather than just making it work or killing time with whoever happens to be choosing you.经营你婚姻的最佳时间是你还没结婚的时候，这意味要像你为了工作一样精心谋划。选择你的家庭是有意识地去选择你想要
49、的人和事，而不是为了结婚或者消磨时光，任意选择一个正好选择你的人。So what happened to Emma? Well, we went through that address book, and she found an old roommates cousin who worked at an art museum in another state. That weak tie helped her get a job there. That job offer gave her the reason to leave that live-in boyfriend.Emma 发生了什么变化呢？我们翻了一遍通讯录，她发现她原来的舍友的表妹在另一个州的一家艺术博物馆工作。这层远关系帮助她在那里得到一份工作。这份工作给她一个理由离开她那同居的男友。Now, five years later, shes a special events planner for museums. Shes married to a man she mindfully chose. She loves her new career, she lov
