• Life Perspective
  • Discover your purpose and inspiration
  • Build a living legacy
  • Direct your life toward others
  • Live life without regrets
  • Don’t define success by riches
  • Diversify your life
  • Don’t allow work to consume your life
  • Plan, practice, and persevere to succeed
  • Take risks—even if you might fail
  • See the glass as half full
  • Control what you can, but accept what you can’t
  • Value the ride, not just the outcome
  • Embrace change as an opportunity
  • Commit to being a life-long learner
  • Allow time to reflect
  • Immerse yourself in the beauty of God’s creation
  • Character
  • Demonstrate your capacity to love
  • Cultivate a servant’s heart
  • Be proactively nice
  • Preserve your reputation and integrity at all costs
  • When facing risky situations, ask how your conscience will feel tomorrow
  • Stand up for your beliefs and values with conviction
  • Give everything your best
  • Don’t make promises you can’t keep
  • Take responsibility for your mistakes and shortfalls
  • Choose humility over self-pride
  • Solicit and embrace constructive feedback
  • Laugh often
  • Don’t whine…just do it!
  • Be an encourager rather than a critic and always look for the best in people
  • Don’t say something about someone else that you wouldn’t mind them overhearing
  • Be on “role model behavior” around kids
  • Relationships and Communication
  • Put relationships before things
  • Express yourself!
  • Get connected with others who share your interests and values
  • Steer clear of destructive people
  • First impressions are huge
  • Know your audience
  • Be inquisitive when meeting others
  • Enthusiasm is contagious
  • Smile…your countenance matters!
  • Notice how others react to you
  • How you say it can matter more than what you say
  • Talk it out, don’t write it out
  • Be an inspiring team player
  • Regularly show appreciation and gratitude toward others
  • Strive to be an “agreeable disagreer”
  • Choose reconciliation over grudges whenever possible
  • Spiritual Life
  • Invest in your spiritual growth
  • Seek God’s wisdom in matters big and small
  • Count your blessings
  • Reserve time for daily reflection
  • Be a wise steward and cheerful giver
  • Connect with a worship family
  • Develop an accountability relationship with a trusted friend
  • Keep the faith during times of trial
  • Handling Adversity
  • Accept that adversity is a part of life
  • Adversity can be preparation for greater things and often makes sense in retrospect
  • Day follows night
  • Release your pain through prayer, loved ones, and exercise
  • Take seemingly insurmountable challenges one step at a time
  • Take charge of your worries
  • Don’t make an important decision while you’re upset—sleep on it
  • Seek opportunities to help others in even worse shape
  • Miscellaneous
  • Set and periodically assess your goals
  • Plan, don’t procrastinate
  • Time is precious…use it wisely
  • Become a masterful decision maker
  • Celebrate your victories and learn from your defeats
  • Don’t let technology control your life
  • Learn to speak comfortably in groups
  • Be a discerning skeptic of all you read and hear
  • Drive defensively, especially in these situations:
  • College Academics
  • Excelling is about planning, preparing, and performing
  • Consider this study method…
  • Career Selection and Advancement
  • Choose your major/career after conducting a comprehensive assessment of yourself and potential career matches
  • Consider if it’s a career, hobby, or volunteer opportunity
  • Build a winning competitive edge
  • Seek the wisdom of experienced pros
  • Demonstrate the qualities that employers value
  • Learn to persuasively market yourself
  • Likeability during the interview is huge
  • Consider career advancement opportunities when evaluating offers
  • The secret to a glowing performance evaluation!
  • Diversify your contributions to build your value and win promotions
  • Love and Marriage
  • Recognize the difference between love and lust
  • Love takes time…and timing!
  • Take a “3D approach” to dating
  • Choose your spouse as a forever decision
  • Fully explore your compatibility before committing
  • Don’t expect your spouse to change his/her ways
  • Maintain your friendships after marriage
  • Marriage is a partnership that requires continual investment
  • Keywords for a successful marriage
  • Have children when you’re married and ready
  • Commit to making these life choices to avoid poverty
  • Managing Your Finances
  • Commit to your financial literacy
  • Strive to become a wise steward, disciplined saver, prudent consumer, cautious debtor, and cheerful giver
  • Beware…even those with substantial assets can go bankrupt!
  • Live within your means and generate positive cash flow
  • Create regular cash flow statements and analyze your spending
  • Use credit sparingly and wisely
  • Develop a financial plan that reflects your short- and long-term goals
  • Understand your ability to handle risk and invest accordingly
  • Invest early, regularly, and as much as you can in a diversified, long-term strategy
  • Build an emergency fund for unforeseen circumstances
  • Grow your wealth patiently
  • Build and maintain a good credit rating
  • Be the only you
  • How will I measure "success" in my life?
  • What character traits will I model to others?
  • How will I build strong relationships and work effectively with others?
  • What role does faith play in my life?
  • How will I persevere through life's inevitable hardships?
  • How do I become a masterful decision maker, goal setter, and time manager?
  • How will I succeed in college academics?
  • How will I select and thrive in my career?
  • How will I know he or she is "the one" and prepare for a lasting marriage?
  • How will I achieve my financial goals and manage my money?
  • How will I measure "success" in my life?
  • What character traits will I model to others?
  • How will I build strong relationships and work effectively with others?
  • What role does faith play in my life?
  • How will I persevere through life's inevitable hardships?
  • How do I become a masterful decision maker, goal setter, and time manager?
  • How will I succeed in college academics?
  • How will I select and thrive in my career?
  • How will I know he or she is "the one" and prepare for a lasting marriage?
  • How will I achieve my financial goals and manage my money?
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About the Book: What I Wish I Knew at 18

Life Lessons for the Road Ahead by Dennis Trittin


What I Wish I Knew at 18 is an engaging, comprehensive, and conversational book written to help young adults achieve success in life. It provides practical, road-tested wisdom in essential life arenas as life perspective, character, relationships and communication, spiritual life, handling adversity, personal productivity, college academics, career selection and advancement, love and marriage, and managing finances. Through illustration, instruction, and reflective questions, the book reveals 109 success pointers that auger a soaring launch into adulthood. Unique in scope, universal in its message, and timely in its wisdom, What I Wish I Knew at 18 is designed to serve as an invaluable life coach.

Although conversationally written to graduates, What I Wish I Knew at 18 also is destined to become the definitive parenting guide to preparing children for fulfilling and thriving adulthood. Its comprehensive focus on both deeper subjects (character, relationships, purpose) and key decision areas (career, marriage, finances) provides parents a never before seen vision for successful preparation at this critical milestone. Parents will not only know all the essential bases to cover, but also the desired outcomes for their children in key areas of life. Children who embody the success principles and values captured in this book are well equipped to reach their full potential and positively impact the world.

What I Wish I Knew at 18 is also a must read for schools, colleges, faith leaders, mentors, and coaches as they partner with parents to educate students for life. Served in “bite sized morsels,” the success pointers average one to two pages in length, along with study questions to facilitate dynamic and engaging student discussions. Whether as a curricular resource or as a gift, What I Wish I Knew at 18 will help develop well rounded students for the betterment of themselves and mankind.

See all 109 Success Pointers here or read a sneak peek of the book here.

You can also learn more about how What I Wish I Knew at 18: Life Lessons for the Road Ahead applies specifically to you or your organization:



Get your copy of What I Wish I Knew at 18: Life Lessons for the Road Ahead from our online store today. Need to order in bulk for you or your organization? Click here to contact us directly.

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