5 life lessons you will learn the hard way

1.It takes consistent time and effort to be an expert in any area.
无论想成为哪个领域的专家，都需要持之以恒地付出时间和努力。

This is the first and foremost thing to keep in mind. People usually get discouraged when it takes more time than they thought it will. One thing to keep in mind is that people refer only to people who have already achieved what you want to be, which most people fail to do. They look at other unsuccessful people and apply those criteria to them even before they take action. Look at any successful person and you’ll notice one thing common in all of them. They took time to learn and mastered their craft like no one else. There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs.
这是你要记住的第一件事，也是最重要的一件事。当人们觉得所用的时间比预想的要长时，通常都会垂头丧气。但要记住一点：人们只会提起已经取得成功的人，而大部分的人都以失败告终。人们看着其他没成功的人，自己还未行动，就把那些准则用到他们身上。随便找出一个成功的人，你就会发现成功人士的共同点。他们都比常人努力，拿时间去学习并掌握技能。通往成功的路上没有电梯，你只能去一级一级爬楼梯。

2.You don‘t have to live your life in a way society wants you to.
你不必以社会想让你生活的方式去生活

Decades of old beliefs, superstitions and rituals are being performed these days and are followed blindly without questioning their rationale. Parents sometimes force their children to select a career they don‘t want because other children have selected that career. Girls are made to follow some rituals in their family which makes no sense to them at all. Worst of all, people follow them without even asking. There is no harm in old rituals and beliefs but when you pursue them before your interest, sooner or later you‘ll realize that you should first do what you think is right.
几十年的旧习、迷信和规矩最近又开始风行，人们盲目地跟风而不去质疑这样做的理论依据。父母们有时会强迫孩子选择孩子不喜欢的专业就因为其他孩子选择了那个专业。女孩们在家里要守一些对她们来说无任何意义的规矩。最糟糕的是，人们连问都不问，就这样做。老规矩和旧习俗并无什么害处，但当你在感兴趣之前就去做时，不久你就会意识到你应该先做自己认为是正确的事情。

3.We don‘t care about the things we get easily.
我们不在乎容易得到的东西

This is true in all the areas of life. Take health for example. Very few people take their health seriously. They know that if their health is lost, they won’t be happy, still they eat junk food and never exercise, keep accumulating fat and keep spending on weight loss programs. Still nothing works. Why? Because they don’t take their health seriously and the real reason behind that is they have got it for free. We spend thousands on cars and take care of them nicely. Imagine what would have been the price of human body if we had to pay for it? And then imagine how well we would take care of it if we had paid a huge amount of money to get our body.
这一点放之四海而皆准。就拿健康为例吧。很少有人把健康当回事儿。他们知道当他们不健康时，会不开心，但是他们还是会吃垃圾食品，不去锻炼，不断积攒脂肪，又不断去减肥。但仍是毫无效果。为什么？因为他们不拿自己的身体当回事，因为他们没有付出任何代价就拥有了身体。我们在车上花了成千上万元，所以会好好保管车。假如人的身体是有价的，那我们得付出多少钱呢？然后再想一下，如果我们得付出很大一笔钱才能得到自己的身体，我们会怎样对待自己的身体呢？

4.In a world where everyone is trying to be like someone else, it takes great amount of courage to take the road less traveled.
在一个大家都想成为别人的世界中，需要很大勇气才能走少有人走的路。

In our whole life, we are always asking ten people before taking any step. We always want to validate that we are sure and do not make any mistake. We are too scared to fail hence, we follow the same path that everyone suggests, do the same thing everyone does, take the same career path everyone takes, wear the same clothes everyone wears, and hang out with the same people we work with. Why? Because we are scared. But when you get bored of life, you realize that you are not meant to do what everyone does and that your destiny is different than anyone else’s out there in the world. But the price we pay to realize this is high because it takes a tremendous amount of guts to follow your own trail by listening to your heart.

在我们的生活中，我们总是在行动前问10个人的看法。我们总是想确保这样做是可以的，这样做是不会犯任何错误的。我们太害怕失败了，所以我们按着别人建议的道路去走，做别人做的事情，走别人走的职业路线，穿和别人一样的衣服，和同事一起出去玩。为什么？因为我们太害怕了。但是，当你觉得生活无聊时，你会意识到，你不该去做别人做的事情，你的命运和世界上其他人的命运都不同。但是我们意识到这一点所需要花费的代价太高了，因为这需要大量的勇气去倾听自己的内心来走自己的道路。

5.You have to break the rules sometimes.
有时你需要打破规则。

We follow rules so that things are in order and no one is disturbed unnecessarily. This is true in case of traffic and other company rules but when it comes to your life, there are rules made by people who are scared to do something apart from their routine and therefore they made rules to prevent others doing so. But when time passes by and you think you are not being directed towards your goal and these so called rules are your biggest obstacles, BREAK THEM. Sometimes, we need to be bold and act courageously.
我们遵守规则，这样事情就会有序，没人会受到不必要的干扰。这适用于交通规则和公司的一些规则。但是在你的生活中，有些规则是由一些除了日常活动外什么也不敢做的人设定的，他们设定规则来阻止其他人这样做。但是随着时间的流逝，你认为自己没有朝着目标前进，那些所谓的规则是你最大的障碍。那就打破它们吧。有时，我们需要大胆一点，需要勇敢地行动起来。

After all, life lessons are always learned the hard way. However, if you are smart enough to learn early and wish not to waste your precious time learning them the hard way, learn them now and apply it to your life as soon as possible.
毕竟，生活中的教训总是需费一番苦功才能学到。然而，如果你足够聪明想早点儿学到它们，不想把宝贵的时间浪费在费劲去学这些教训上，那么你现在就可以学习它们，并可以尽早把它们用到你的生活中。