Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

Having purpose in life is like living with a superpower as purpose provides energy, motivation, direction, and discipline. Research even shows that pursuing purpose in life is healthier than pursuing happiness. What’s more, research also shows that purposeful youth perform better academically and are more resilient in life.

None of this is a secret to those who work with young people in schools and universities. However, even in knowing the benefits of purpose, these institutions still do little to encourage the pursuit of purpose. This is why author, research psychologist, and Stanford professor William Damon wrote The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life.

Damon is the director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence. He is also commonly recognized as one of the world’s leading researchers on the development of purpose. The premise he lays out in this book is simple. “…virtually all young people need more attention and guidance from their elders than they are currently receiving.” Not in the form of “helicopter parenting”, but in the form of helping them “gain a wholesome sense of direction that will carry them…[to finding a life purpose.]”

Youth Purposefulness Classified into Four Stages

The research Damon presents in this book finds that nearly all young people can be classified into one of four stages as it relates to purpose:

1. Disengaged: express no purpose at all
2. Dreamers: express ideas about purpose but have done little or nothing to pursue it
3. Dabblers: has taken purposeful action, but doesn’t know why and show few signs of committing themselves to those pursuits long term
4. Purposeful: has found something meaningful to dedicate themselves to, has shown sustained commitment to make progress over a period of time, knows what they want to accomplish and why it’s important to the world.

Recognizing what stage the youth in your life are in and how to support them in that stage is the #1 reason parents, teachers, and coaches should read this book. Damon provides specific profiles of adolescents in each stage, and recommendations on how adults can provide support. In addition, Damon includes a questionnaire that can serve as the perfect conversation starter to talk to youth about purpose.

For parents short on time, chapter 6 just about sums up all you need to take action within your family. This chapter gets right into the specifics a parent needs to raise purposeful children. For coaches, teachers, counselors and others who work with children, chapter 7 is for you. This chapter is all about influencing children to live with purpose through the resources in your community.

In short, this book has something for every adult who influences young people. If it were up to me, I would make this a mandatory read for all adults who influence youth in any official capacity.