21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act

The first installment in a two-book series followed by Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are, Do Hard Things is written by nineteen-year-old twin brothers Alex and Brett Harris, homeschooled Christians from Oregon. The book functions as a manifesto for what they call the Rebelution, a youth movement challenging teenagers to reject society's low expectations and pursue purposeful, demanding endeavors for the glory of God. A five-year anniversary edition includes a retrospective introduction noting the book's translation into over a dozen languages and personal milestones such as their mother's death and their marriages. The book also features a foreword by Chuck Norris.

The authors frame Do Hard Things as distinct from typical teen literature: It is neither condescending nor dumbed down, and it is written by teens for teens. They pose provocative questions about whether cultural messages about adolescence amount to a lie and whether the teen years offer a window for significant accomplishment. They summarize their alternative with three words: "do hard things." To clarify what this does not mean, they invent the humorous fictional example of the Dundress monks of Dundelhoff Abbey, who pursue physical misery in the mistaken belief that suffering itself pleases God, distinguishing purposeful challenge from pointless pain.

Part One, "Rethinking the Teen Years," traces the personal origin of the Rebelution. In the summer of 2005, the sixteen-year-old twins felt directionless after leaving competitive speech and debate. Their father assigned them an intensive reading program spanning history, philosophy, theology, science, business, and globalization, which convinced them that teens needed to engage with serious ideas. In August 2005, they launched a blog called The Rebelution, a coined term combining "rebellion" and "revolution" to mean "a teenage rebellion against low expectations" (11). The blog attracted passionate readers, and the New York Daily News published a feature about it within weeks. The twins were subsequently invited to intern at the Alabama Supreme Court in Justice Tom Parker's chambers, positions normally reserved for law students. Accepted at sixteen, they progressed from basic tasks to contributing to judicial opinions, then returned to Alabama as grassroots directors for four statewide judicial campaigns, recruiting hundreds of teenagers for high-level work. Although all four candidates lost, the experience crystallized the three pillars of the Rebelution: character, competence, and collaboration.

The authors then present the Myth of Adolescence, arguing that the modern concept of the teenager is a historically recent invention. They use the analogy of an elephant restrained by twine: trained from youth to believe it cannot break free, the elephant never tests the rope despite possessing enormous strength. They note that the word "teenager" first appeared in print in 1941 and present historical examples of young people who shouldered significant responsibilities, including George Washington, who became an official surveyor at seventeen; David Farragut, who commanded a captured ship at twelve; and Clara Barton, who nursed smallpox patients at fourteen. They explain that early twentieth-century labor and school reform laws, while justifiably protecting children from exploitation, had the unintended consequence of removing teens from productive roles. Two studies in which teachers were told that randomly divided classes consisted of either gifted or slower students showed that students rose or fell to meet those artificial expectations, demonstrating the self-fulfilling power of expectations.

The authors reframe the teen years as a launching pad rather than a vacation, contrasting Raymond, an eighteen-year-old from Baltimore involved in drugs who perpetually defers change, with the trajectories of Washington, Farragut, and Barton. They reference a 2005 Time article on "kidults," adults in their twenties and beyond who still live with parents, as the logical consequence of extended adolescence. They cite William Wilberforce, the British statesman who wasted his first twenty-five years on parties but then fought for over forty years to abolish slavery in the British Empire. The authors introduce the "Five Kinds of Hard" as the framework for the rest of the book.

Part Two presents these five categories. The first involves stepping outside one's comfort zone, with the authors arguing that fear, not inability, is the primary obstacle to growth. They identify three principles: God works through human weakness, courage means acting despite fear, and success requires risking failure.

The second kind involves going beyond what is expected or required, with complacency as the central enemy. The authors open with Sarah, a college sophomore who coasted on low expectations until a demanding professor revealed the gap between her grades and her actual learning. They close with Theodore Roosevelt, who as a severely asthmatic boy dedicated his teen years to rigorous physical training at his father's challenge, a discipline that shaped the rest of his life.

The third kind involves projects too big for one person, requiring collaboration. The authors trace the Modesty Survey, an online questionnaire about modesty in women's clothing initiated by fifteen-year-old Kelsey and built by teenage collaborators. Within three weeks of its January 2007 launch, 1,700 Christian guys from forty-eight states and twenty-six countries submitted 160,000 answers. When the results were released on Valentine's Day, the survey received 420,000 hits in twelve hours, crashing the server.

The fourth kind involves small, repetitive tasks with no immediate payoff, which the authors argue are often the hardest challenges. They draw an analogy to the Vikings, whose combat effectiveness stemmed partly from rowing their own ships, as the repetitive labor built the extraordinary strength that made them formidable in battle. They cite Jesus's Parable of the Talents to argue that faithfulness in small things leads to greater responsibility.

The fifth kind involves taking a stand against the crowd. The authors present Eva, a sixteen-year-old in rural Germany who stops attending the drinking parties that define her peers' social lives. They acknowledge the real costs of such stands but highlight unexpected blessings, and they present six guiding principles, including starting with Scripture, examining oneself for hypocrisy, and being part of the solution.

Part Three, "Join the Rebelution," broadens the focus to a collective vision. The authors cite Jesus's teaching on salt and light as the movement's mission: As salt, Christians preserve society by fighting sin and corruption; as light, they bring God's truth into every sphere. They profile several young "rebelutionaries," including Zach Hunter, who at twelve launched a campaign against modern-day slavery and despite having an anxiety condition spoke to over half a million people by sixteen; Jazzy Dytes, a gifted Filipino student whose academic collapse and suicide attempt led to a Christian conversion and redirection into children's rights advocacy; and Brantley Gunn, who at sixteen founded a nonprofit renovating houses for needy families in Mississippi.

The authors conclude with practical guidance, presenting three composite teen profiles with five-step action plans: Noah, who must break a video game addiction; Serena, a Latina teen who channels her past mistakes into a sexual purity ministry for other girls; and Brandon, who reevaluates his friendships after recognizing their negative influence. Across all three plans, the authors identify common wisdom: getting honest with the right people, ending destructive patterns, connecting with helpful allies, and staying close to God.

In the afterword, the authors warn that inspiration without action becomes spiritually corrosive, quoting C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters on the danger of feeling without acting. They present four testimonials from young people transformed by the book, demonstrating how small beginnings led to significant growth. The book includes appendixes presenting the Christian gospel as the theological foundation, practical guidance from the follow-up book Start Here, a list of 100 real-life hard things, and a chapter-by-chapter conversation guide.