Frequently asked questions

Don't young people already get enough advice from parents, teachers, helplines and youth organisations?
Though all of our participants agreed that life in your teenage years or twenties is far more complicated now than it was even 10 years ago, it was also agreed that precisely because of this increasingly complex world, there is less advice available from the traditional sources of parents, grandparents, schools and churches.

To the best of our knowledge, there has previously been little or nothing as comprehensive as this report offering detailed thoughts on a person's emotional, intellectual, physical and spiritual life.

Isn't life all about learning for yourself and making mistakes?
Consider the following two points:
Major mistakes, or too many mistakes, can severely inhibit a person's enjoyment of life and their chances for future improvements.
Each new generation does not reinvent all of its cities, libraries and educational systems. For the most part, they try to improve things from where the previous generation left off. We don't think 'building a life' should be any different.

Aren't the roads to accomplishment and happiness too complicated to be studied, distilled and passed on to others?
The overwhelming evidence of this report shows that there are common themes in many people's lives, and that there can be a strong consensus of opinion on the sorts of things that can greatly increase the likelihood of life working out for the best.

Isn't this just a collection of truths that we all knew already?
This report would suggest that 'knowing what the goal is' just isn't enough. What is also required to translate good intentions into effective and sustainable action, is step by step know-how and motivation from within. Accordingly, younglives.com hopes to promote not simply knowledge of what, but knowledge of how and why. It is noteworthy that in 1982, the McKinsey & Co. partners, Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr, wrote a landmark business book called 'In Search of Excellence' identifying 8 key factors that characterised America's top 20 corporations. The author's concluded that the top 20 did not disagree with other less successful companies on what constituted the 8 key factors of corporate success, they differed simply in the intensity with which they were applying those key factors.

Isn't it the case, that as our society and economy changes, this report's findings may very quickly become out of date?
This may be true of some factors but not of others. Our job is to differentiate between the two and that's why this report will be regularly revised and updated in the light of our on-going research.
Wouldn't it make more sense to focus on those young people who are finding life too difficult, rather than on success stories?
We know a great deal about how some young people run into serious and debilitating problems. However, we know comparatively little about how other young people thrive, and thrive against the odds.