Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations

I'm 37 years old and just finished this book. It's one of many that I have started over the last 16 months, but the only one I have finished.I was inspired to read the book after listening to an audio about a father who watched his son's love for baseball, be cut short as he tried out for the High School team and was cut. This sent the son on the "normal" teenage path of bad choices, friends who were bad influences, and ultimately a party that changed his son's life.The father came home from a family outing that the young man, who was 14 at the time, decided not to go on. What he found once he got home, was the remains and evidence of what had been a wild party. With fire in his eyes, and not knowing what to do, he chased his son to his room, bent him over his knee and spanked him. Further discussion came with the price of not knowing what further consequences would be, but for the immediate future, he was grounded. Shortly after this experience, the father came across this book. The new consequence would be, his son could be ungrounded once he read the book and wrote a report about what he had learned from the book, not just a report about what the book was about. The young man has since started his own free enterprise business, leads others in the fight of free enterprise education, and continues to grow and inspire others his own age and is only 18.My oldest son is now 14 and he excels in school. He should only be in 8th grade, but is dual enrolled in both High School and College as a freshman, taking a handful of sophomore classes. He also has his own business as a subcontractor doing miscellaneous jobs to earn money. Because school comes so easy for him, he doesn't push himself to his limits or full potential. His spare time and all of his money is drowned in video games and he knows everything there is to know about the Zelda Universe.He recently asked my wife and I if he could skip a couple days of school to buy the newest game system and the newest Zelda game that came out the same day. Neither of us liked the idea, but we also knew how hard he had worked to save up the money to achieve his goal. At that point I made a deal with him. He could have the 2 days off of school if he agreed to read this book and write a 2 page report of what he learned from the book.I gave him this challenge a month ago, 02/02/17. My wife, in her infinite wisdom, 2 weeks later, challenged me too read and finish the book before he did. She thought it would be a good idea for me to be able to discuss what I'd learned from the book with him once we were both done reading it. He finished late last night, I finished this morning 03/01/17. I look forward to reading his report and discussing my goals and the hard things I plan on accomplishing this year. My hard things include significant weight loss, tripling my income, and taking my entire family (I'm a sole provider of a family of 9) on a 2 week long tropical getaway. 2017 will be my best year!

My 13yo dd grabbed this up before my 15yo ds could (I bought it for him), and she has been challenging herself to make and keep routines, be more helpful, and even wants to start a non-profit helping the homeless now! She has all kinds of great ideas. I haven't read the book yet myself, but just judging by her response, I am impressed!

They say some good things in this book, but I wasn't looking for the sole reason to do something "hard" is for God. I am not taking away the value of doing something for God or believing, but I feel that pushing the connection with God could have been in another book. I didn't understand the authors background ahead of time - my fault. This is not a book my children will connect to. It would be great for a church youth group though.

This is a book that can change every teenagers life. The message that God has a plan for your life and it starts now, not when you turn 21, is so inspirational to a young person who wants more. This message can plant a seed in your heart that grows into a deep belief that God has bigger ,greater plans for you when you trust Him.

I bought this book for my daughter and granddaughter. It is written by two homeschooling brothers who discovered a secret most teens are missing-that they are capable of doing way more than we give them credit for! A must read for all youth groups and middle to high school kids! Our daughter is a high school sophomore and read this and gave her class a book talk on it-very important stuff here. Makes a wonderful gift for teens, especially those who are leaders.

Purchased this book for my 15 year old son for Christmas. He doesn’t “love” to read but we make it a priority as a family. He came to me yesterday and said “mom this book is a page turner!” He is inspired, motivated, and has enjoyed reading. I would highly recommend!

We read this in our youth group and it's an incredible read! Really inspired many of our youth and transformed their lives! We bought theses two copies for our kids as a summer reading project. They are really enjoying their read of them! Incredible for teens to help them believe they can do way more than society expects of them!

Our high school church class is going to be studying and applying this book this school year. I don't teach the class, but I wanted to read it to be on the same page. The book is really good. The young people who wrote it are sincere and they have a burning passion to see high school kids repudiate mediocrity. The beginning of the book discusses the myth of irresponsible adolescence. The authors show from Scripture (1 Timothy 4, 1 Samuel 17) and from history (George Washington, Clara Barton, Theodore Roosevelt) that young people can do hard things and be successful, and even if they are not, they can still learn and grow from their experiences. Nothing in the Bible encourages the idea that the teen years are throwaway fun years.The authors discuss five hard things that teens can do (things that go against cultural norms, things that go unseen and unrewarded, small things that don't seem like a big deal, things that can be done in concert with others, such as helping with a political campaign or going on a mission trip, etc).The writers give examples from their own lives and from the lives of young people today who are doing hard things, then they challenge readers by giving some suggestions about how they can be rebelutionaries (writing down 5 concrete goals for starters).The book ends by giving teens an opportunity to accept Christ and become a rebelutionary for Christ. Great book.