The Art of Being A Brilliant Teenager E-Book

Andy Cope

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 126

Beschreibung

The BESTSELLING book on BEING A TEEN, now updated into an all new edition. In a world where there's a lot of talk about 'living your best life' and being your 'best self', The Art of Being A Brilliant Teenager shows you how. The book has a strong academic underpinning (its DNA is taken from the author's PhD) but is written in a fun and non-patronising way. The Art of Being A Brilliant Teenager is a book that prepares young people for REAL life; addressing modern issues of screen time and social media, as well as the teenage perennials of confidence, positivity, motivation and relationships. The book is built on a rock-solid foundation of wellbeing and human flourishing but is quirky in tone and entertaining to read. Dr Andy Cope's words are brilliantly brought to life by award winning illustrator, Amy Bradley. The book includes activities and thought-provoking questions that encourage the user to interact with the material. Reflecting and journalling helps make the messages stick. Learn how to: * Stay upbeat in a fast-paced world * Be resilient and rise to life's challenges * Create strong relationships * Tackle anxiety * Tap into your values and use them to guide your life * Shape your future The book has a deliberately light touch but is not light-weight. It doesn't dodge the issues. In a world of rising anxiety, The Art of Being A Brilliant Teenager provides a personal upgrade to 'world class'. It shows young people how to let go of bad habits and develop positive traits that will fire up their future. It covers themes of resilience, values, consumerism, purpose and communication, in a page-turning way. The Art of Being A Brilliant Teenager is THE go-to book to ease young people into adulthood.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1. Truths, half-truths and nothing like the truth

Story 2. The Golden Buddha

Lesson 3. Dr Andy's marvellous medicine

Episode 4. It's always choose-day

Subject 5. The School of UN-Learning

Theme 6. Bouncebackability. Rolling with life's punches

Idea 7. Five seconds that will change your life

Discussion 8. How to be an influencer

Proposal 9. Shut up and listen!

Challenge 10. The missing 44 days

Activity 11. #V4Victory

Explanation 12. Growing Pains

Clause 13. The ONE thing

Lightbulb Moment 14. Success: The Cheat Code

Argument 15. Ready. Aim. SPEND!

Instalment 16. Finding your WHY-Factor

Question 17. Who wants less on their mind?

Thought 18. #DearAnxiety

Ultimatum 19. Emigrating to heaven

Notes

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Wiley End User License Agreement

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The Art of Being a BRILLIANT TEENAGER

Andy CopeAmy Bradley

This edition first published 2024

Copyright © 2024 by Andy Cope and Amy Bradley. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

The right of Andy Cope and Amy Bradley to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.

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While the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials or promotional statements for this work. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and authors endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data is Available.

ISBN 9780857089397 (Paperback)

ISBN 9780857089410 (ePDF)

ISBN 9780857089403 (ePub)

Cover Design: Amy Bradley

Famously, fish live in schools, sheep in flocks and cows in herds. There are armies of ants and lions hang around in a pride. But the best collective nouns are the lesser known ones; a tower of giraffes, a flamboyance of flamingos and, my all‐time favourite, a dazzle of zebras.

For the record, the collective noun for teenagers is a ‘grunt’. Apologies for the terrible stereotype but, hey, don't shoot the messenger! I didn't invent it, I'm just reporting it.

But it begs the question, what description would you choose for yourself and your tribe?

A bravery, a risk, a determination, maybe? Or a boredom, sulk or grumble? You could be a hope, disappointment, energy, creativity, joy, blessing, pain, pleasure, disruption… or all of the above.

One thing you definitely are is potential and, plot spoiler, this book is 100% about that.

But before you get started, I need a quick word about how the book works. The aim was to write a book that ticks all the teenage coming‐of‐age boxes, and so much more!

Life is like Mario Kart. There are a lot of crazy characters jostling for position. It's fast and furious. You'll experience bumps, sharp bends and dirty tricks. While other books will focus on the banana skins and what might go wrong, BRILLIANT TEENAGER focuses you on the power‐ups. What are they, where are they, and how can you use them to your advantage?

The aim is to challenge, entertain and inspire. BRILLIANT TEENAGER has depth, breadth and silliness. If it makes you think, ponder, question and laugh, that's great. If you maybe cry a little, even better.

It's your book so please own it. I want you to engage with it. If I ever pop round to yours for tea and cake and this book is sitting on your shelf in mint condition, I'll be heart‐broken!

I want BRILLIANT TEENAGER to have coffee stains, Post‐it Notes and folded‐over corners. Basically, the tattier and more dog‐eared, the better.

I want BRILLIANT TEENAGER to feel more like a journal than a book, so please get stuck in; scribble, draw, doodle, ponder… use the book like a spiritual windscreen wiper.

Life can feel heavy, which is why I've given BRILLIANT TEENAGER a deliberately light touch. I figure you need something to brighten your day, to challenge your thinking and to put a spring in your step. Please don't mistake my light touch for the book being lightweight. It's crammed with science, heavily disguised as common sense and fun.

Putting myself in your shoes, I'm guessing you have two BIG questions and a demand:

How the heck am I supposed to be brilliant when I'm weighed down by the pressures of the world?

How is it that I don't ask much of life yet life keeps asking so much of me?

and your demand:

I want a signed apology from the world for the way it's been treating people. Including me!

The harsh reality is that the world doesn't care how you feel. If your plan is to sit patiently and wait for an apology, you'll die waiting. It's the same with success.

‘Sitting patiently’ is passive.

Talk is cheap.

This book will challenge you to get off your backside and get busy doing something meaningful. But there's something a million times more important than what you're doing, and that's who you're being. This is where BRILLIANT TEENAGER is different.

It challenges you to do more and BE more.

The world needsYOUat yourBEST.

The rest of this book is about how.

With fake news making the news, I've decided to throw some truths your way.

Here's your first fact of life. It's something they won't teach you in science even though it's actually one of the rules of the universe: the harder you work, the luckier you'll get.

Yes, I know, there's a piece of you saying, ‘I might win the lottery.’ If your life strategy is based on winning the lottery, your life will be very sad indeed. To save you a lifetime of hurt and disappointment, take it from me, you don't need a lottery ticket or scratch card, you need a better strategy.

If you want to get super‐lucky you need to work hard at school, and on yourself.Note, I didn't say you have to be hard on yourself, I said you have to work hard on yourself. You have to put effort into crafting a better you because here's a particularly hard‐hitting fact of life: only a few fulfil their potential. Too many people condemn themselves to a life sentence of boredom and under‐achievement.

So how do you become one of the few who are truly living their best life?

School's a great place to win some power‐ups. There's nowhere better for history, art, science, maths and learning about dinosaurs. I'm absolutely not knocking school. If you want to earn more, learn more. I'm all for that!

But there's an awful lot of school stuff that's been useless in my adult life. For example, nobody's ever ‐ I repeat never EVER – asked me to work out the area of a parallelogram or know the chemical reactivity of elements in relation to their position in the Periodic Table.

It would have been more useful to have lessons in why, periodically, I feel flat for no reason. How to bounce back from disappointment, regret and adversity – these are skills I've needed every single day!

At school we read a cracking love story called Romeo and Juliet, but my teacher never taught me how to love. Or how to be loved. Or what is love, actually?

A confusing English lesson…

‘I’ before ‘e’ except after ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’…

My PE teacher spoke about having a fire in my belly but what exactly did he mean. Where was the fire? How did it get there? And what if it goes out?

There were no lessons on how to repair a broken heart or how to make friends or how to maintain my enthusiasm for life when the world gets really tough. I had a massive argument with my bestie over something oh so silly. School never taught me how to say sorry (which I was), like I actually meant it (which I did).

I learned a foreign language but was never taught how to deal with the voice in my own head; how to live with nagging self‐doubt and worry.

School will push you to work hard, meet deadlines and pass exams. It teaches you to do more, but never how to be more. And the biggest missing link is that nobody ‐ not at school, college or in life ‐ ever teaches you how to love and respect yourself, how to build mental strength that doesn't shrivel up when the world throws banana skins in your path.

Which, just so you know, it absolutely will!

School is epic. Or, at least, it should be. If it's not, you're doing it wrong! You are built for learning, so please throw yourself into your lessons wholeheartedly. Soak it up but understand that school and life are different. In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.

So here's a test that life throws at you every day – a feeling of low‐level dreariness. Nobody feels amazing all of the time (except your dog, right?). Sure, amazingness exists but it's mixed in with a big complicated mess of compassion, love, burden, fear, shame, sympathy, guilt, embarrassment, confusion, responsibility, joy, jealousy, overwhelm, frustration, uncertainty and anger.

So if you're feeling any of the above, relax, you're perfectly normal. A life well lived means you've experienced every single emotion. The trick is to learn to experience more of the amazing feelings and fewer of the less amazing ones.

Another fact of life is this – you will mess up. The technical term for it is called ‘being human’. For now, all you need to know is that just because you have messed up doesn't mean you are messed up. Bad stuff will surely feel bad. But it's part of the journey. If you want to feel better about yourself, think about all the most amazing people in your life, and all the super‐duper celebs who've achieved greatness ‐ I guarantee they've messed up loads!

I'll round off with the two biggest truths of them all.

Firstly, this is your life. It's not a rehearsal. You're not practising at it. You don't get a do‐over, so it makes sense to embrace the whole thing. Savour the good. Learn from the bad.

The final fact of life is this: both shall pass.

Growing up, I had this sense that there was always some challenge or obstacle to be gotten through, and then my life would begin.