Being a young adult is a critical stage of your life. It can affect your happiness in your thirties and forties, and right up to the final stages of your life. The most important decisions, such as which career to pursue, obtaining university qualifications, and meeting your life partner, occurs at this stage of your life. I have spent eight years of my life being obsessed about what makes young people successful and happy. I have also read many books to try and figure this out. This book is a compilation of answers in the form of the tools that I have used to change my life as a rural boy living in poor conditions.

I wrote this book for young adults who want to change their lives from being ordinary to being extraordinary. It will give you the tools that you need to motivate yourself, to take action and pursue your dreams.

Everyone who has achieved success has their own unique individuality that enables them to rise above the crowd and differentiate themselves. It is therefore important for you to understand how you can use your unique individuality to shine; and to create something unique to share with the world that only you can give. For this reason, Part I of the book is dedicated to a better understanding of yourself and using your individuality to become, what I call, Kick-S.

Everyone who is or has been successful has had people along their journey that provided support, guidance, and assistance. I refer to these people as your A-Team. In order for you to be successful, it is important to have the ability to influence your A-Team. I have therefore provided you with tools in Part I of the book which you can utilize to influence the people who will be key in your journey to success, so that they are willing to support you on your journey.

First survive, then thrive!!

They say you should not judge a person until you have walked a mile in their shoes. I believe this with all my heart.

I speak to young adults from all backgrounds: rich, and poor, black and white. Many of these young adults face immense challenges. Drug addiction. Teenage pregnancies. Alcohol abuse. Absent parents. Mental illness. Bullying. Crime. Poverty. Career problems. Relationship problems. Depression. Today, it is not easy being a young adult.

I cannot judge these young people. Only they can truly understand what they are living, their situations and the way they deal with them. I cannot. I have not lived their lives. I have not walked a mile in their shoes.

Therefore, I do not pretend to know everything. I do not give youngsters all the answers to all their problems. What I talk about are my own experiences while growing up: my problems, my struggles to overcome them, and the rewards that awaited me when I succeeded.

Moreover, I talk about what I have learnt along the way. That success and strength is within each one of us. We just need to know how to harness it, and how to use it to change our lives and our world.

Through my story, I show young adults that at the end of those long, hard miles, there can be happiness, fulfilment, and even riches.

First, however, they have to survive.

About the Author: My name is Phillip Ramphisa. I grew up in a typical rural South African village. Saying that my life was difficult is an understatement.

We were a big family. My father had two wives. I had nine brothers and sisters. My mother suffered from schizophrenia. She was never at home. She was always away due to illness. When I was 11, my father left us and went to live with his second wife.

Pick up the book to read more of Phillips story and what he has to offer young adults!!