Can a Book that Targets Teens Help Them Help Us?

Books are important. You know, the ones where you can smell the paper, and actually flip through the pages.

When I was a teenager, I liked to read most of the time. The books I read were kind of dark. Think Stephen King. I remember how excited I got when one of his new horror novels came out. I went to the library as soon as one of his new releases was announced, so that I could reserve a copy.

Nowadays, when a new book comes out, especially if it’s from a hugely successful author, there’s some show biz involved. Have you even been to a bookstore on the day that a J.K. Rowling book comes out? 

I’m not exactly sure how to gauge this, but I’m wondering if books are as important to teens now as they were before the Internet. I know that it’s still required to read entire books as part of a school’s curriculum, but I’m wondering if the instant availability of information, electronically, has had a negative effect on a teen’s, “need to know.” Could it be too easy for them to get answers?

Once in awhile, a book comes out that has the potential to cut through the noise, and get our attention. In this case, I’ve found a book, (actually, my daughter won this book) that has the potential to not only get our attention, but if marketed properly, it could get the attention of our youth-teenagers.

Recently, Barry Moltz introduced me (online, of course!) to a mild-mannered lady by the name of Carol Roth. I started to read her blog posts, and engaged with her a little. A couple of weeks ago, she was on MSNBC’s Your Biz, so I was able to watch her in action. She’s sharp.

One of her blog posts was actually an interview with a gentleman by the name of Hank Wasiak. He’s a very successful entrepreneur, and has written a few books, too.

Hank was kind enough to offer several free copies of his book as part of the interview, so I emailed him as directed, and won one for my teenage daughter (aka, The Franchise Princess).

The title of his book, “Change the Way You See Everything (Through Asset-Based Thinking) For Teens,” sounded like something that my daughter and I could try to read together. Maybe we could connect!

I just started to read it, (just to get a feel of it, of course) and it’s impressive. This is the type of book that has the potential to help teens think differently. As a matter of fact, this book could even help a few of them become powerful entrepreneurs someday. If they read it.

It’s really about changing the way they think. Typically, teenagers tend to freak out about the little things. What Wasiak, and his co-author, Dr. Kathryn D. Cramer, try to do, is get them to shift their thinking from what they call “deficit-based” thinking to what they have termed, “asset-based thinking.”

Basically, it’s turning the thoughts that they get, (which happen almost automatically, according to the authors) from negative ones to positive ones.

As an example, if your teen is used to saying, “this homework is too hard,” it should be replaced with, “this homework is so challenging.”

Or, if your teen is fond of saying, “I am so clueless,” have them replace it with, “I don’t know yet.”

This positive book supplies many other concrete examples of how to replace those negative thoughts.

Writing a book like this, especially for teens, is truly innovative. It gives them choices. It doesn’t come across as a lecture, either.

If enough teens read this, just think how many positive, innovative adults we’ll be blessed with in a few years.

Maybe, some of them will be inspired enough to come up with positive solutions to adult problems.

Some of their solutions may end up as businesses. I’m all for that.