Comments on: What do you wish you could have known, aged 15?

By: Medost Nepali

Medost Nepali — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:19:25 +0000

Its very hard to be in track in teenage and we can’t even determine about right and wrong. In my case i do believe in god and i am self confident. I am 18 now.

And ye, everyone wants to become 15 years old i guess.

By: harlequin

harlequin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:40:44 +0000

1. Stop believing God.
2. Understand that the world doesn’t circle around you
3. Parents aren’t always right
4. Don’t take all the offenses personally
5. Stop wasting your free time

By: Kirsten "Hearing His Call"

Kirsten "Hearing His Call" — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:17:56 +0000

First off, I am 15 years old and I found this by accident. But it really did encourage me. So, Don’t think your words are going to waste. The other thing is a question. What is the purpose for life? Most of you talked about enjoy life, and you also said “don’t just go all out for money.” Which I totally agree with. But this “world” tells me/ us differently. It tells you to have sex, money, get drunk, have boyfriends/ girlfriends, and ect. If none of those are right then where does that leave me or even you?
Only one place, to God to find your happiness! You can only be happy with Him because he does not violate you, slip right out of your hands, hurt you emotional or physical. Like all the other “pleasures.” They leave us empty handed and in hopelessness.
I recommend you share the most important answer to 15 year olds or even early, Because He will save you and them a lot of hurt and hard times.

By: Roo Reynolds - There is no plan

Roo Reynolds - There is no plan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:02:38 +0000

[...] It’s OK not to have a plan. In fact, there is no plan. [1] Your parents and teachers may look like they know what they’re doing, and they may expect you to have your life mapped out, but here’s the shocker: they’re all making it up as they go along! It’s perfectly OK to do what you think is fun and interesting. Of course, choosing the things you want to focus on means you’ll need to know enough about the world to know what you find fun and interesting, which means you’ll have to be open minded rather than passive. Most importantly you’ll need to be flexible and prepared to change. [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:46:57 +0000

Sorry to resurrect a very old thread, but I saw this (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html) recently and thought of you and your talk. (You’ve probably seen it already, but…)

Anyway, good luck!

By: Tom Scott

Tom Scott — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:29:22 +0000

Don’t ever pick a subject because you think it’s the “right” thing or because someone tells you that that’s the right career choice. Do what interests you, remain optimistic and try to build cool things.

Working on interesting stuff, with interesting people is the best way to learn and be happy. Working on boring stuff rots your brain. Don’t do it.

By: Cat

Cat — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:23:25 +0000

It pays to be nice to people. You never know when you will need help or a job, and more likely than not that help or job will come from someone unexpected.

By: miserableold

miserableold — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:04:35 +0000

There’s so much optimism and lovely sentiment here. I don’t think it’s representative. The majority of people in the world, and likely the majority of youth you will be talking to, will never do work that inspires them. They’ll do things because it makes them feel important, or because it gives them money to do the things they actually enjoy, the most important way in which they’ll change the world for the better is from the relationships they have, not their work. And that is OK. And that is how the world must work, until we have robots to do everything uninspiring.

So when you talk, tell people that it is possible to find work that inspires, and that they should put great effort into seeking it, but don’t boast too much. You don’t want to sell them on a lie, just because you and your friends have been lucky in life.

The skill they need is to be able to find friends and challenges and be themselves whatever they do in life.

The important thing is to be prepared to change. Change is one of the hardest things people can do. You may not have a dream now, but when you do, give up your secure life and persue it. Don’t worry too much if other people who have never followed theirs say that yours is unfeasible. They don’t know. You’ll learn if it’s not only by doing it.

Things I would warn people:

1. If you have any self awareness, there’ll come a time when you realise that your actions do not match up to your self image. This is a crisis of identity. Don’t worry about it too much, you’ll cope. Try to work out who you really are according to what you actually do. If you truly wish you were more the person you thought you were, then take that as something to aspire to rather than beating yourself up about not being that person.

2. Lots of people suffer from mild depression a year or two after university because work isn’t as much fun as uni was. Don’t let it get you down.

I enjoyed 35.3, it’s a true insight that you will lose peers if you make yourself immune to peer pressure, but probably the majority of people you’ll be talking to are on the worrying too much about fitting in side of that equation.

By: Thoroughly Good

Thoroughly Good — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:50:11 +0000

That the place you dream about working when you sit in the careers libraries looking at leaflets will turn out to be everything you hoped for, even if it will bare more than striking resemblance to the place you’re really quite keen to escape from at the moment.

By: Roo

Roo — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:14:52 +0000

There’s a whole month to go yet.

So much to digest here. I’m not really in to giving advice unless it’s sought. I give quite a lot of advice at work, but it’s specifically about social media stuff, and people generally seem to find it useful. Real Life is different, and teenagers are totally different) so there was already much more in my head than I’d ever want to say to them.

Many of the comments here underline things I already wanted to say, including that it’s OK not to have a plan. This amazing feedback has given me some more confidence, but a couple of additional ideas too. This is such a good resource that I’ll probably point them at it and say look.. I asked random friends on the internet what they’d tell their younger selves, and this is what they think. :-)