MOST PEOPLE DON’T…
A different kind of teen book
Most people don’t expect you to understand what we’re
going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand,
they don’t expect you to care. And even if you care,
they don’t expect you to do anything about it. And even if
you do something about it, they don’t expect it to last.
Well, we do.
This is a different kind of teen book. Check online or walk
through your local bookstore. You’ll find plenty of books
written by fortysomethings who, like, totally understand what
it’s like being a teenager. You’ll find a lot of cheap throwaway
books for teens because young people today aren’t supposed
to care about books or see any reason to keep them around.
And you’ll find a wide selection of books where you never have
to read anything twice—because the message is dumbed-down.
Like, just for you.
What you’re holding in your hands right now is a challenging
book for teens by teens who believe our generation is
ready for a change. Ready for something that doesn’t promise
a whole new life if you’ll just buy the right pair of jeans or use
the right kind of deodorant. We believe our generation is
ready to rethink what teens are capable of doing and becoming.
And we’ve noticed that once wrong ideas are debunked
and cleared away, our generation is quick to choose a better
way, even if it’s also more difficult.
We’re nineteen-year-old twin brothers, born and raised in
Oregon, taught at home by our parents, and striving to follow
Christ as best we can. We’ve made more than our share of mistakes.
And although we don’t think “average teenagers” exist,
there is nothing all that extraordinary about us personally.
Still, we’ve had some extraordinary experiences. At age
sixteen, we interned at the Alabama Supreme Court. At seventeen,
we served as grass-roots directors for four statewide
political campaigns. At eighteen, we authored the most popular
Christian teen blog on the web. We’ve been able to speak
to thousands of teens and their parents at conferences in
the United States and internationally and to reach millions
online. But if our teen years have been different than most,
it’s not because we’re somehow better than other teens, but
because we’ve been motivated by a simple but very big idea.
It’s an idea you’re going to encounter for yourself in the pages
ahead.
We’ve seen this idea transform “average” teenagers into
world-changers able to accomplish incredible things. And
they started by simply being willing to break the mold of
what society thinks teens are capable of.
So even though the story starts with us, this book really
isn’t about us, and we would never want it to be. It’s about
something God is doing in the hearts and minds of our generation.
It’s about an idea. It’s about rebelling against low
expectations. It’s about a movement that is changing the attitudes
and actions of teens around the world. And we want
you to be part of it.
This book invites you to explore some radical questions:
- Is it possible that even though teens today have more
freedom than any other generation in history, we’re
actually missing out on some of the best years of our
lives?
- Is it possible that what our culture says about the purpose
and potential of the teen years is a lie and that
we are its victims?
- Is it possible that our teen years give us a once-in-alifetime
opportunity for huge accomplishments—as
individuals and as a generation?
- And finally, what would our lives look like if we set
out on a different path entirely—a path that required
more effort but promised a lot more reward?
We describe that alternative path with three simple
words: “do hard things.”
If you’re like most people, your first reaction to the phrase
“do hard things” runs along the lines of, “Hard? Uh-oh. Guys,
I just remembered that I’m supposed to be somewhere else.
Like, right now.”
We understand this reaction. It reminds us of a story we
like to tell about a group of monks. Yep, monks.
On the outskirts of a small town in Germany is the imaginary
abbey of Dundelhoff. This small stone monastery is
home to a particularly strict sect of Dundress monks, who
have each vowed to live a life of continual self-denial and
discomfort.
Instead of wearing comfy T-shirts and well-worn jeans like
most people, these monks wear either itchy shirts made from
goat hair or cold chain mail worn directly over bare skin.
Instead of soft mattresses, pillows, and warm blankets, they
sleep on the cold stone floors of the abbey. You might have
read somewhere that monks are fabulous cooks? Well, not
these monks. They eat colorless, tasteless sludge—once a day.
They only drink lukewarm water.
We could go on, but you get the picture. No matter what
decision they face, Dundress monks always choose the more
difficult option, the one that provides the least physical comfort,
holds the least appeal, offers the least fun. Why? Because
they believe that the more miserable they are, the holier they
are; and the holier they are, the happier God is.
So these miserable monks must be poster boys for “do
hard things.” Right?
Wrong!
We’re not plotting to make your life miserable. We’re not
recommending that you do any and every difficult thing. For
example, we’re not telling you to rob a bank, jump off a cliff,
climb Half Dome with your bare hands, or stand on your
head for twenty-four hours straight. We are not telling you to
do pointless (or stupid) hard things just because they’re hard.
And if you’re a Christian, we’re certainly not telling you that
if you work harder or make yourself uncomfortable on purpose,
God will love you more. He will never—could never—
love you any more than He does right now.
So that’s what we’re not doing. What we are doing is challenging
you to grab hold of a more exciting option for your
teen years than the one portrayed as normal in society today.
This option has somehow gotten lost in our culture, and most
people don’t even know it. In the pages ahead, you’re going
to meet young people just like you who have rediscovered
this better way—a way to reach higher, dream bigger, grow
stronger, love and honor God, live with more joy—and quit
wasting their lives.
In Do Hard Things, we not only say there is a better way to
do the teen years, we show you how we and thousands of
other teens are doing it right now and how you can as well.
