Book Review

If you have teenagers, work with teens, or have children who will one day rise up to be teenagers then you need to read Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris. Better yet, read it together with your teen.

The premise of the book is that as a culture we have set the expectations of teenagers too low. They say, "Where expectations are high, we tend to rise to meet them. Where expectations are low, we tend to drop to meet them. And yet this is the exact opposite of what we're told to do in I Corinthians 14:20: "Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults." Our culture says, "Be mature in evil, but in your thinking and behavior be childish." The authors argue that teenagers have proven strength and God-given potential that is not being tapped into because as a culture we put low expectations. Their goal is to show that deep down teens what to do hard things, that they were created to do hard things, and they can do hard things.

They outline "Hard Things" into five categories:

1. How to do hard things that take you outside your comfort zone.

2. How to do hard things that go beyond what's expected or required.

3. How to do hard things that are too big for you to do alone.

4. How to do hard things that don't pay off immediately.

5. How to do hard things that go against the crowd.

The book ends by telling personal stories of teens doing hard things. It is a book for teenagers (and adults) written by teenagers.