If I were to ever write a book, this is one I wish I had written. Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations, written by twin teen brothers Alex & Brett Harris was meant to be a message for teens by teens. This book is packed with humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action. I can’t say enough about this book! In fact I paid full price to buy the hard-back copy.

This common phrase ‘just do your best,’ actually encourages the opposite.  When someone says, ‘just do your best,’ are you inspired to reach for more? Or does it feel like permission to just get by? We say, ‘Hey, I did my best.’ But did we really? More likely what we mean is, ‘Hey, I gave it a shot, and that’ll have to be good enough.”

Did you know the first documented use of the word “teenager” was a Readers Digest issue in 1941?

Teenagers are challenged to stop thinking that their teen years are supposed to be an extended vacation for the mind, but that they should be doing something—anything—that will impact their world and prepare them for a future. This book stems from the lie says two things: 1. People in their teens are incapable of doing anything significant (or even grasping the foundational means to do such significances), and 2. because of this inadequacy, teens should just party throughout their teen years and not worry about the consequences.

“To quote an old Pepsi ad from the nineties, ‘Be young. Have fun. Drink Pepsi.’ Nike tells us, ‘Just do it.’ Sprite tells us to, ‘Obey your thirst.’ And who hasn’t heard the joke that 92 percent of teens would be dead if trend-setting Hollister decided breathing was uncool.”

This thoughtful book points out that wasting your teen years prepares you to be second-rate and inadequate in early adulthood. Waiting to start preparatory activity until you are in college (or graduated from college) only causes you to have to start your training later. Assuming that youth keeps you from being capable of doing important work handicaps not only you, but society at large.

“It’s easy to be content with less than our best, especially when our half-hearted efforts seem  to satisfy everyone around us. And being ‘good enough’ can turn into a special hazard.  Those who could do ‘a lot better’ or tackle a ‘much bigger challenge’ seldom do so when they’re already ‘good enough’ by other people’s standards.”

Combating the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, the authors weave together biblical insights, history, and modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life.  Then they map out five powerful ways teens can respond for personal and social change.

Doing hard things that take you out of your comfort zone. Doing hard things that go beyond what is expected or required. Doing hard things that are too big for you to do alone. Doing hard things that don’t pay off immediately. And doing hard things that go against the crowd.

Alex and Brett Harris founded TheRebelution.com in August 2005 and today, at age 20, are among the most widely read authors, speakers, and writers for Christian teens. The twins serve as the main speakers for the annual The Rebelution Tour conferences, and have been featured nationally on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, and The New York Times, as well as in publications like WORLD, Breakaway, and Ignite Your Faith.

Sons of homeschool pioneers Gregg and Sono Harris and younger brothers of best-selling author Joshua Harris, who wrote I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Alex and Brett have a passion for God and for their generation. Though this book is targeted squarely at teens, I can’t deny that the message rubbed off even on this reader whose teen years are far behind me. What I really appreciate about the message is that you can disagree with certain political and religious views of the authors and still get a lot out of this book.

Buy it for yourself and buy it for a teenager in your life.  I am about to have my 11 year old read it next so that she can go into her teens with these concepts already percolating in her brain.

GENRE: Non-Fiction