漂浮的青春，卡住的人生，不知下一步何去何从的心情，正在全世界蔓延。长期研究青少年发展的美国斯坦福大学教授威廉•戴蒙，在大型研究与深度访谈的基础上，发现了年轻人心中所缺乏的关键元素——目标感
启动亲子深度对话
帮助年轻人培养正确的人生观
9大秘诀
12个关键步骤
作者赢得美国家长严选奖
御宅族？拖延族？啃老族？
为什么现在的年轻人拒绝长大，
甚至怀疑“这一生，为何而来？”
比成功更重要的事──培养正确的人生观。
威廉•戴蒙认为现在的年轻人大致可以分成四类。
第一类，疏离者（约占25%）
他们还没有采取任何行动去追求有意义的人生目标。其中有些人冷漠且疏离，有些人则是把兴趣局限在追求个人的享乐或虚荣之上，对于自己以外的世界不太关心。
第二类，空想者（约占25%）
他们通常拥有一些充满想象的梦想，也常幻想自己会对世界做出伟大的贡献。但直到目前为止，他们几乎没有采取任何行动尝试将自己的想法付诸实现。
第三类，半吊子（约占30%）
他们兴趣广泛，参与很多活动，但不知道这些活动与未来生命里需要完成的事情有什么关联。他们的兴趣都太短暂，稍纵即逝，以致无法成为一个持久的目标。
第四类，前行者（只有20%）
他们已经发现一些有意义的活动，并且献身于这些活动。 他们对此的兴趣已经维持一段时间，而且清楚地知道自己想要在这世界上完成的事情，以及为什么要这么做。
到底是什么造成了这些年轻人的不同？他们缺少的是更高的竞争力，还是更强的学习动机？是更多的热情，还是更大的梦想？本书将会告诉你答案：都不是！今天年轻人心里所缺乏的是动机的来源，是对人生观的认识模糊不清。
在不确定感越来越高的时代，培养正确的人生观显得更加重要。本书介绍了第四类年轻人与众不同的9个关键特质，为父母提供了12个步骤，透过更多深刻的对话、分享与适时的资源提供，培养年轻人的人生观，这将可以帮助他们迈向更圆满丰富的、属于自己的英雄旅程。
Drawing on the revelatory results of a landmark study, William Damon — one of the country’s leading writers on the lives of young people, whose book “Greater Expectations” won the Parents’ Choice Award — brilliantly investigates the most pressing issue in the lives of youth today: why so many young people are “failing to launch” — living at home longer, lacking career motivation, struggling to make a timely transition into adulthood, and not yet finding a life pursuit that inspires them. His groundbreaking study shows that about one-fifth of youth today are thriving — highly engaged in activities they love and developing a clear sense of what they want to do with their lives — but approximately one-fourth are still rudderless, at serious risk of never fulfilling their potential. The largest portion are teetering on the brink, in need of guidance to help them move forward: some are “dabblers” who pursue strings of disconnected interests with no real commitment; others, “dreamers” who have no realistic plans or understanding of what success will require.
What makes the difference? Damon shows that the key ingredient for the highly engaged is that they have developed a clear sense of purpose in their lives that motivates them and gives them direction. Based on in-depth interviews, he takes readers inside the minds of the disengaged and drifting kids and exposes their confusion and anxiety about what they should do with their lives. He then offers compelling portraits of the young people who are thriving and identifies the nine key factors that have made the difference for them, presenting simple but powerful methods that parents and all adults can and must employ in order to cultivate that energized sense of purpose in young people that will launch them on the path to a deeply satisfying and productive life.
