Making growing up a little easier

I’m always keen to look at anything designed to make growing up a little easier. So I was interested to receive a copy of Chris Quigley’s Secrets of Success which aims to help children understand how to be successful.

Success means different things to different people, of course. It is also a difficult concept for children, especially as young as seven, to really understand. Nevertheless, I like the definition of success presented in the book: Success isn’t just about money. It’s about happiness, choices and feeling good about yourself.

The book goes on to say that successful people feel good about the following:   

• How hard they have tried
• What they spend their time doing
• The choices they have in their lives
• Who they are

The book is divided into eight chapters, including Try new things, Work hard, Concentrate and Understand others. Some of the concepts were a little difficult for IJ to understand. She didn’t really know what was meant by listening to feedback and took the idea of ‘pushing yourself’ literally, but it opened up topics for us to discuss together, which was extremely useful.

The book is very colourful with excellent graphics and perfect for holding a child’s interest. There are rules at the end of each chapter covering the points and room for children to make their own lists of areas they want to work on. The lists were a little advanced for IJ but it’s something we would return to, perhaps in a couple of years’ time.

The book is excellent if a little complex for younger readers. It is the sort of book you would need read together and a great starting point for discussions about getting on in life and how to deal with some of the obstacles that are likely to get in the way.

I particularly liked the following points:

• Everyone has their setbacks and failures
• By trying lots of things, you might find something you love doing
• There are no short cuts, it’s all about practising
• TV, games consoles and browsing the internet can distract you from concentrating
• Remember to say ‘well done’ to yourself
• Back luck, setbacks, failures, criticism and rejection are all part of life, but stick with it and don’t give up
• Ask for help if you need it

The book includes a Success-O-Meter where children can rate how successful you are feeling with relation to the eight areas covered in the book.

The book is targeted at children aged 7-13 but I found I gained a lot from it too.

It is available from www.chrisquigley.co.uk priced at £8.95 plus £2.50 p+p

Comments

[DD]

Sounds like a great book - very motivating - and brilliant that it is not equating success with money.

[Iota]

I like that it's not just about money and measurable success, but thinks about how you define success in the first place.