The picture William Damon paints with his groundbreaking book The Path to Purpose: Helping Our Children Find Their Calling in Life provides a wake-up call. His research shows that almost 25 percent of US youth ages 12 to 22 are “rudderless.” They have little to no direction in life and are at serious risk of never fulfilling their potential. Another 25 percent have purposeful goals but have taken few if any steps toward those goals. Approximately 31 percent have actively tried several purposeful pursuits without knowing why they are doing so or whether they’ll continue with these interests in the future. Only 20 percent have a clear vision of what they want to accomplish in life and why and have realistic plans.

Jeffrey Froh, “Making Grateful Kids,” (Templeton Press, 2015), page 194