Book Review on Life Strategies for Teens Essay

This book tells about the ten Life Laws that the author’s father has written about, but into a way that teens can easily understand. These Life Laws are to get us understand more why our lives are like this at the moment, what we have done has led our lives to be like this. The Laws are to help us to get back onto the right track with life, dealing with the problems we face, creating our own lives and future. It tells us that it is up to ourselves to create a life that we want; it is all by our control. I haven’t learnt really much, in a narrow speaking definition, of studying in this book, as it most tells me about the attitude and things to do, concerning our whole lives but not just on studying. But Life Law Four ‘You cannot change what you do not acknowledge’ did help me to see that there are actually more I can do to improve my results and to achieve success. I came to know that I should have done much more. As it says in the book that ‘Life rewards action’ as Life Law five, I came to realize that I have much more that I want to achieve than I had even thought of. As I get to know that not until I do it, I would never know what is out there waiting for me. There are always greater possibilities than we could ever imagine for ourselves. We should always aim for more and higher, as long as you have the desire and is willing to do the things you want to do, you always can, in one way or the other. So after reading the book, there are a few things I would like to achieve. I would, of course, want to keep up with my result, as the curriculum will only be harder and requires more effort to be paid. Schedule is expected to be filled up with homework, tests, exam and revision, as well as projects of different subjects. Apart from keeping up my result and a GPA of 3. 5 or above, I would like myself to do more extra work for studying, like to prepare more before the lesson, read some more extra information about that topic, or even do more drilling papers. History is the subject that I would like myself to work extra hard on, not for getting an ‘A’, but to enrich myself with the subject and be more passionate about it. Other subjects are to be work hard on as well, but I will just put more effort on History, as t is what I want to do and is able to do. I should really strive the best and to exceed myself for my goals. Also, in a broader meaning of studying, I have learnt much about my life from this book. It somehow teaches me to have a better attitude on different aspects in life, with friends, with parents, in school, and most importantly me. About what I should do for the rest of my life, how I should deal with problems, face difficulties, and to go through the life journey with a smile on my face, as least knowing why everything would happen in such a way, and to change it into the way I want life to be. Both the first Life Law and the second Life Law, which are ‘You either get it, or you don’t’ and ‘You create your own experience’ it is just so true in my life. I really I had been struggling before I made the decision of switching school a year ago. I wasn’t doing so well in my school or with my classmates. I felt so ‘whatever’ all the time, thinking that this is just what I get, I have to go with it, I have to suffer it, etc. I didn’t think that I could have changed it, I didn’t think that I could change my own life into a better way. It wasn’t until one day, while chatting with my friend, she was talking all about the fun things she experienced in school, and I was thinking ‘Oh, I just wish I could be like her as well. ’ Then, she asked me ‘Hey, how is your school going? ’ I was astonished. I was thinking that I had told my friends a thousand times that my school isn’t going well and I simply hate it, why could she ask me like this? So, I asked her ‘I told you it isn’t so great, why you are asking again? ’ She shrugged ‘Well, I don’t know if you may have changed it or do something with it, as to make yourself happier or what. I froze there, wondering why on earth she thought I could have changed my life into a happier stage. Then I started to think hard, is there something I can change? Is my life really having no hope at all? From there, I thought as hard as I could ever have. Then, I gradually understand why I had my life so miserable and I chose to change it with the decision of switching school. By now, I have proven that I have my own control with my life. I see the change in myself, from not knowing what I am going to do with my life, to having a clear goal on my life and being optimistic with my own life. I have more friends, I work harder in school, I started to get better results, etc all these I can see myself changing and it proves that I really do have the power to change my life into a better way. After reading the first two Life Law, now I understand more on my life. I now get to know how I have chosen for myself to be happy. It is always good to know that you have done something right, isn’t it? And I am now more sure of how to make myself happy in my life. Now, here comes the third Life Law of ‘People do what works’. It tells that people, teenager here, sometimes found themselves doing something stupid over and over again. In this chapter, it stated that the people continue to do these things because they are getting ‘payoffs’. I get to realize why I still come back home later than my mum expected and I always knew that I am going to be scolded or even punished, but still I continued to be late at home. After reading this chapter and know more about it, I got to understand that my ‘payoffs’ is having more time with friends and don’t need to be home under my parents’ control. As I got to know what is my ‘payoffs’ and what I have in return, I can now balance the two things that I want. I can now tell myself that if I go back home punctually and always tell where I would go to my parents, they’d trust me and give me more degree of freedom and I could have more time with my friends. I now see another way to get what I want. Life Law Six: There is no reality, only perception. It somehow tells me that sometimes how I think of other people may not be the exact way that they think. I now get to know that I can choose how I think of other people and myself. By knowing this, I can now choose how to think others and the way I treat them. If I can always look at the good side of people, I can be happier with them, since I know they are good people with good intension. My life could be happier. As my emotions would be affected by my perceptions about people around me. I also learn that I should be influence by my personal view on a person, as there is always a great possibility that I would misjudge them. For the rest of the Life Laws, they are also useful and can be applied to my life, as to make my life happier and more meaningful. By ‘We teach people how to treat us’; I know that how I should do to earn my parents’ trust, and y own freedom. More importantly, I now understand how I should do to get a good impression with people. All the ten Life Laws have brought me to a deeper understanding of my present life, not just how I study but my life being myself and what I should live my whole life. Life Law Seven ‘Life is managed, it is not cured’ it emphasized once again that we are the one who controls our lives. We should always choose for ourselves, the way we treat others, the way we treat ourselves. This book has taught me much about life, not just studying in school but studying through my whole life.