We’re losing too many young people to anxiety, isolation, and life diminishing poor choices. But what if the solution isn’t more rules or restrictions? What if it’s about giving them something better to say yes to?

David S. Anderson’s new book, The Intentional Life: Crafting Your Legacy, One Day at a Time, makes a bold argument: when young people discover genuine purpose, they don’t need artificial escapes. They’re too busy building lives that actually matter.

What Makes The Intentional Life Different

This isn’t your typical self-help book filled with empty platitudes. Anderson has gathered 365 perspectives from real people who’ve wrestled with life’s big questions and come out stronger. Dr Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, former Assistant Secretary of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, calls it “daily doses of wisdom” that provide “unique perspectives on living with purpose and intention.”

The structure is deceptively simple. Seven sections cover Optimism, Values, Self-Care, Relationships, Community, Nature, and Service. But here’s what matters: these aren’t abstract concepts. Each day presents a tangible way to build the kind of resilience that makes destructive choices less appealing.

Dr Luoluo Hong from Georgia Institute of Technology points out something crucial about The Intentional Life. She notes it arrives “at a time when our country [most of the world] is grappling with ongoing concerns about anxiety and stress, social isolation, and overall wellbeing of our youngest generation.” The book doesn’t just acknowledge these struggles. It provides a roadmap through them.

Building Internal Strength That Lasts

Think about the young people in your life – Gen Now and Gen Next;. What protects them when things get hard? Not lectures. Not fear. What protects them is having something real to hold onto. 

When a university student knows her values deeply, when she’s connected to a community that matters, when she’s engaged in service that gives her life meaning, she’s got natural defences. She doesn’t need temporary relief from stress because she’s building something that outlasts the moment.

The Intentional Life recognises that individual strength and community wellbeing feed each other. A young person who’s living intentionally doesn’t just benefit himself. He becomes someone his peers can look to. He creates ripples that strengthen everyone around him.

The Legacy Question Changes Everything

Anderson opens with a simple question: What legacy do you want to leave?

For a generation drowning in instant gratification and quick fixes, this question reframes everything. Legacy thinking requires seeing beyond Friday night, beyond this semester, beyond graduation. It demands considering who you want to become, not just how you want to feel right now.

This shift in perspective is powerful. When you’re focused on crafting a meaningful legacy, daily choices take on weight. You start asking whether this decision moves you closer to or further from the person you want to be. That kind of intentional thinking builds resilience that no amount of external intervention can match.

Practical Wisdom for Real Life

What makes The Intentional Life genuinely useful is its daily structure. Lasting change doesn’t happen through massive overhauls. It happens through small, consistent choices repeated over time.

The book’s format acknowledges this reality. One day, one insight, one practice at a time. Whether you’re finishing school, starting university, or launching a career, the approach remains the same: intentional, manageable steps that compound into transformation.

The diverse contributors share lived experiences, not theories. They’ve been where young readers are now. They’ve faced the same pressures, the same temptations, the same struggles. And they’ve found that a life built on purpose provides everything needed to flourish.

The Intentional Life for Young People

We’re at a crossroads with young people’s wellbeing. Traditional approaches haven’t worked as well as we’d hoped. Maybe because we’ve been so focused on what young people should avoid that we’ve forgotten to give them something worth pursuing.

The Intentional Life flips this script. It’s about abundance, not restriction. Connection, not isolation. Purpose, not emptiness.

When young people are optimistic about their futures, when they’re grounded in strong values, when they’re part of communities that support healthy growth, they naturally make better choices. They don’t need artificial supports because they’re building something real.

For educators, parents, youth workers, and anyone invested in supporting young people, this book offers more than inspiration. It provides a framework for cultivating the kind of internal strength that protects from the inside out.

Anderson has created something rare: a book that meets young people where they are while challenging them to become who they’re capable of being. The Intentional Life doesn’t promise easy answers. It promises something better: a path to building a life so rich with meaning and connection that destructive alternatives lose their appeal.

That’s not just good for individuals. It’s how we build healthier communities, one intentional life at a time.

Check here: The Intentional Life: Crafting Your Legacy, One Day at a Time