The Teenage Guide to Success: The TICK TOCK Formula for Life, Relationships and Careers

By Colton Fidelman

In The Teenage Guide to Success, Cole Fidelman lays out the proven TICK TOCK formula for teens to take control of their lives and create the future they want. This book is the life raft teenagers need to navigate challenges and unlock their full potential.

Based on wisdom from highly accomplished leaders, the TICK TOCK principles guide teens to tame social media, inspire resilience, choose mentors, overcome adversity, find purpose, fuel passion, cultivate relationships and expand knowledge.

With engaging stories, practical tips and expert advice, The Teenage Guide to Success hands teenagers the tools to strengthen self-esteem, achieve their goals, and reject society’s narrow definition of success.

For any teen facing anxiety, loneliness or lack of motivation, this book provides the crucial roadmap to self-actualization. The future starts now with the TICK TOCK formula lighting the path. Every teenager needs this essential guidebook to create a life of meaning, purpose and empowerment on their own terms.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Nov 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781665752428

Colton Fidelman

Cole Fidelman is a Senior at Army Navy Academy in Carlsbad, California. While enduring the make or break moments of life, Cole was determined to find the positive in the experience and to improve himself. As part of that journey, Cole began interviewing successful people and quickly realized that the information he was learning would be valuable to all teenagers. Cole realized sharing the wisdom he gained from interviewing accomplished individuals could make a big difference for teenagers everywhere. Through intensive research and numerous interviews, he gleaned lessons from some of the world’s most successful business, sports and entertainment stars. Cole’s own story of perseverance in the face of challenges shapes the foundation and mission of this book: to inspire teenagers everywhere to pursue their passions, overcome adversity and define success on their own terms.

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Copyright © 2023 Colton Fidelman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-5241-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-5243-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-5242-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023920808

Archway Publishing rev. date: 11/2/2023

Contents

Introduction 

Chapter 1    Navigating the Social Media World: Maximizing the Benefits and Minimizing the Risks 

Chapter 2    From Dreams to Reality: The Hard Work, Resilience, and Determination Needed to Succeed 

Chapter 3    Unlocking Your Potential: The Power of Finding a Mentor to Guide Your Journey 

Chapter 4    From Darkness to Light: Overcoming Adversity and Finding a Path to Success 

Chapter 5    Money Is a Tool, Not the Answer: A Bold Look at the Truth 

Chapter 6    Fueling Your Passion: The Key to Finding Purpose and Success 

Chapter 7    The Power of People Skills: Mastering the Art of Building Relationships and Leading Teams 

Chapter 8    Invest in Yourself: Broaden Your Horizons through Education and Exploration 

Chapter 9    The TICK TOCK Formula: Integrating the Principles for a Flourishing Life and Career 

Acknowledgments 

Notes 

About the Author 

Introduction

I was at rock bottom. There were days I was so deeply depressed I couldn’t drag myself out of bed.

My parents were going through a very nasty divorce, and it was a tough, stressful time for all of us. None of my friends were speaking to me. I couldn’t blame them. In my resentment toward the world, I’d turned everyone away and resorted to addictive habits to cope with feelings that were hard to understand. One habit was binge eating; I ate excessively day after day for months, piling on sixty pounds, and furthering the roots of depression seeded deep in my mind.

On top of that, I saw myself as a loser who failed at everything. I felt useless. What’s the point? I thought. So, I shut down and stopped trying. In Proverbs 19:15, slothfulness is shown to mean laziness, sluggishness, or indolence—the avoidance of activity or exertion. The slothful person not only doesn’t want to work but also avoids it and may go out of their way to avoid it. That was me.

It was a negative mindset that could easily have turned quite ugly. And I was just fourteen years old.

I found the solution through insights provided by authoritative online sources and family figures who were still willing to help. The plan? In the first place, get rid of the excess weight. And the best way to motivate myself to do that? Remove distractions that might trigger impulsive indulgence such as video games, food, social media, and faulty friendships. I avoided them and instead made it a priority to exercise every day and to eat less than two thousand calories a day.

I went for it, but it didn’t stop me whining every step of the way for the first couple of weeks. I willed myself to exercise even though part of me still thought it would lead to a dead end like all my other endeavors. But when I began to see the fruits of my labor, my attitude changed. Getting through one disciplined act was the hardest part of the journey, but once I accomplished it, I was unstoppable.

I lost sixty pounds in five months and became so motivated that I created my own routines and strategies to become as fit as possible. I began to run every morning at six o’clock, even in freezing rain. I worked out at the gym every day. I counted calories. I was chasing the goal of being in complete and total control of my life.

My attitude: life is like riding a dragon. If you let the dragon out of your control, it will do what it wants, breathing fire and swooping through the sky while trying to shake you off its back. You must take charge and tame the dragon, like Daenerys Targaryen in A Game of Thrones.

Your life is a big, powerful beast that’s very hard to control. But when you tame it, everything becomes so much easier. It didn’t happen right away for me. I had a few false starts, wanting to change but not following through. It was an emotional rollercoaster, and one of the biggest learning experiences was coming to realize the length to which I went to excuse my actions (or lack of actions.) It turns out that making plans and promises on emotional impulses—especially when you’re depressed all the time—isn’t a smart move!

The bottom line is that my life was a sedentary quagmire, and I got tired of it. Changing my mindset to disregard those emotional impulses is eventually what led to tangible results.

After I had seen true success for the first time in my life, I began to build on it, not wanting to lose the momentum. I realized that to lose that weight and adopt a change in attitude had, in the first place, required an acknowledgment of my issues and a genuine willingness to change. Then, as part of the crusade to better myself, discipline and perseverance were vital. All of this is easy to say, and not so easy to do—especially with the distractions of today’s environment.

Looking back, my negative attitude prior to my change pushed people away. I was constantly spiteful and critical of others. I’d find someone’s insecurities and exploit them, and I was outspoken about anything or anybody that irritated me. I cut everybody off because they weren’t talking to me anyway. I not only felt they were a distraction in my life but also was fearful of antagonizing them so much that it would permanently sever relationships. I was inconsistent, and that led me to absolutely hate inconsistency in other people.

Within a year, though, people noticed a change in me beyond the dramatic weight loss. I was more confident and more pleasant to be around. I reconnected with old friends, and they told me that I was completely different. You were angry all the time. Argumentative. You hated everything. You were so negative. Nobody wanted to be around you. But now you seem a lot happier.

Those reactions brought home to me how much I had changed. I had set my mind to do something and been successful. I had set a goal and worked step-by-step to achieve it. It had required discipline and perseverance, an indomitable force of will, and building a habit until it became second nature.

Knowing just how hard it was to change, I realized that not many people could have shared a similar experience. As a result of this epiphany, I decided the least I could do was share my understanding of what led to my success with my peers. But, as a teenager with limited life experience, it was obvious I didn’t have all the credentials and know-how to put together a decisive action plan. First, I asked successful family friends for their input and advice. That’s when it occurred to me that other successful people in this world would be willing to share their experiences and wisdom. So, I made it my mission to find highly accomplished individuals who had been there, done that and would be happy to contribute to a book written by a teenager for teenagers.

Through hours of emails and borderline harassment I pursued and interviewed nineteen incredible role models who have pushed through obstacles of their own to realize their dreams.

They come from a wide range of life experiences, activities, and careers including millionaires and billionaires, world champions, and creative geniuses. There are people who have made a name for themselves in their respective fields of endeavor—inventors, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, military leaders, sports stars, social media influencers, and entertainment celebrities. It is an excellent representation of success stories across the board. I also researched other renowned individuals to derive lessons from their struggles and triumphs.

I’ve crystallized it all into a plan for teenagers to follow, a way to construct a mindset for winning in all aspects of life. I call it the TICK TOCK Formula. First, because such a name is a reminder that the clock is ticking and that we shouldn’t waste time before making impactful life changes. Second, because it’s a useful acronym, as well as a play on the phenomenon that is TikTok, to remember the key elements in this formula. TikTok, as I will discuss, is a pernicious influence that dominates the lives of many young people.

The TICK TOCK acronym stands for:

T—Taming Social Media

I—Inspiring Hard Work

C—Choosing a Mentor

K—Knowing Your Struggles

T—Treasure Beyond Money

O—Owning Your Passion

C—Cultivating Relationships

K—Knowledge Expansion

I will cover these subjects chapter by chapter. But in a nutshell:

Chapter 1, Taming Social Media, explores the impact of social media, especially TikTok, and how teens can turn it into a positive instead of a negative.

Chapter 2, Inspiring Hard Work, makes the point that success is not achieved without rolling up your sleeves and making a commitment to work hard.

Chapter 3, Choosing a Mentor, provides evidence that finding a successful individual to guide you can make a big difference.

Chapter 4, Knowing Your Struggles, identifies the kinds of adversity that teenagers face and suggests how to overcome them.

Chapter 5, Treasure Beyond Money, smashes the myth that financial riches pave the road to happiness and delivers positive alternatives.

Chapter 6, Owning Your Passion, reports how it’s extremely unlikely you’ll reach the pinnacle of success if you don’t find a project or career that you can be passionate about.

Chapter 7, Cultivating Relationships, makes the case for working with like-minded people who support your cause.

Chapter 8, Knowledge Expansion, tells it straight—education and lifelong learning are essential. Knowledge is power!

All these chapters, crystallized in chapter 9, The TICK TOCK Formula, are full of powerful insights and real-world examples from the peak performers I interviewed. Let’s get started.

1

Navigating the Social Media

World: Maximizing the Benefits

and Minimizing the Risks

T—Taming Social Media

While the social media landscape is increasingly complex, it’s not hard to find good reasons why it’s a net negative for youth today.

At first, it seemed harmless enough when creators and influencers went all out to develop ever more stimulating content that would gain the most traction. But some consumers, especially teenagers, have found themselves craving more interesting and emotion-igniting topics to experience and think about.

It has become an addiction with increasingly sophisticated algorithms that constantly show us