Erasing the Finish Line - by Ana Homayoun (Hardcover)

About the Book

"What if a getting into top four-year college is no longer the holy grail of success that it once seemed to be? What if the key to kids achieving their potential in life has less to do with grades or test scores and more with critical skills overlooked in schools? Erasing the Finish Line directly addresses those points by highlighting a reality about our education system that we seem to hear about more and more these days-college acceptance is a faulty finish line to adolescent development, and this false finish line feeds a heightened level of anxiety and uncertainty. Erasing the Finish Line is a groundbreaking new way of thinking about education, for parents, teachers, administrators, and policymakers deeply invested in our children's well-being, happiness, and success. Academic counselor Ana Homayoun argues that we have to fundamentally change how we think about education and learning if we want to focus on eliminating barriers and helping students navigate systems in a way that helps students explore, discover and build in a way that allows interests and abilities to grow and thrive. She shows how to look beyond assessments, grades, and college acceptance as indicators of long-term success and shares new strategies, including, including how to: - Ask open-ended questions without judgment - Tie answers to those questions to the underlying foundational skills needed - Acting as a resource, connector, and sponsor as applicable - Suspend notions of disbelief, negativity, and general malaise - Convey compassion and empathy while having high expectations With this new blueprint, we can focus on critical and undervalued executive functioning skills, social capital, sponsorship, shared experiences, and greater exposure to a broader range of opportunities. In her work across tens of thousands of miles, she's seen how these foundational skills allow kids to reflect, adapt, redirect, and thrive in a world so different from the one their parents grew up in"--

Book Synopsis

Moving beyond a prescribed path for success, Erasing the Finish Line highlights the essential skills to help each young person thrive in school and life

For years, we've been led to believe that great grades, high test scores, and college acceptance are key to a successful life. Yet our laser focus on these achievements leaves students feeling anxious, demoralized, and unprepared.

What if we've overlooked the critical skills young adults need to navigate an ever-changing world? What fundamental skills help young people adapt, persevere, and thrive?

Academic advisor and early career development expert Ana Homayoun answers these questions and more in her accessible and solutions-oriented guide to transforming future generations. In her ground-breaking new book, Erasing the Finish Line, Homayoun flips the way we think about education.

In this refreshing approach, Homayoun reveals new strategies to help each student develop their own blueprint for success, including how to:

• Develop a system based on executive functioning skills
• Build valuable social capital while fostering genuine connections
• Identify energy profile and how to recharge
• Expand perspective through immersive exposure
• Remain adaptable in the face of disappointments and setbacks

Through a powerful blend of theory, strategies and storytelling from former and current students, Homayoun's layered approach to revisioning education will bring sharp realization to parents, educators, and policy-makers alike.

Review Quotes

"Erasing the Finish Line is the book I will recommend over and over in the coming years, a gift to parents, educators, and adolescents confused by the conflicting demands of achievement and fulfillment."--Jessica Lahey, New York Times best-selling author of The Gift of Failure and The Addiction Inoculation

"Ana Homayoun has given parents a blueprint for guiding all kids--not just the most advantaged--in the "how," not the "what," of authentic, lifelong success. . . . What matters most are the skills our kids use to make sense of [things to] take on life's challenges. . . . This book will come as a relief for every parent who wants to help strengthen the bones of the building [and] not just its façade."--Rachel Simmons, Author of Odd Girl Out and Enough As She Is

"Eye-opening and compelling, this book has the answers that parents and educators need right now. We've been mismeasuring achievement and pushing kids toward the wrong goals. Homayoun shows us how to shift our mindsets and nurture the real skills children need to identify and fulfill their own aspirations."--Jordan Shapiro, Author of Father Figure and The New Childhood

"Getting into college has become an endless series of jumping through hoops for teenagers, yet when they get to campus they don't often know their purpose for being there. . . . In this timely and important book, Ana Homayoun gives students and families the blueprint they need to launch into a fulfilling life and engaging career. At a time when the skills needed to keep up in any job are churning at an ever faster pace, Homayoun provides us with a guide to the foundational skills that will help us succeed no matter what."--Jeffrey Selingo, New York Times best-selling author of Who Gets In and Why and There Is Life After College

"Goodbye to the false finish line! Ana Homayoun is stoking important conversations, and we can only hope parents, teachers, and counselors are listening. I love her empowering, open-minded approach to guiding young adults on their varied paths to adulthood."--Mary Laura Philpott, Author of Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives

"In an exponentially changing world, Erasing the Finish Line gives us new perspectives and frameworks for redefining success. Recognizing the range of barriers every individual faces and the scope of talent each [young adult] brings, this brilliant book helps students and parents prepare for a fulfilling future in which one can run [their] own race."--Sanyin Siang, Executive director at Duke University's Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics (COLE), CEO Advisor, and author of The Launch Book

"In her thought-provoking book, Ana Homayoun fearlessly questions the prevailing mindset that a good life is simply a linear path from good grades to a good school and ultimately a good job. . . . With unflinching conviction, Homayoun gives readers the insight and encouragement needed to dismantle this harmful fallacy. Erasing the Finish Line will resonate deeply with caring adults who believe that young people deserve the opportunity to self-define success and chart their own authentic path."--Kyle Schwartz, Author of I Wish My Teacher Knew and I Wish for Change

"There is a 'door's always open' sensibility to Erasing the Finish the Line. Ana Homayoun seemed to be writing just to me, as if I were one of the thousands of parents who've walked into her office looking for sage guidance for my kids from that advisor to whom everyone wants to talk. She answers your questions yet, more importantly, encourages you to ask better questions about what your kids genuinely want and need. This book offers smart [and] practical advice that will help every parent reset household expectations for what success really means."--Gregg Behr, Coauthor, When You Wonder, You're Learning: Mister Rogers' Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids

"What's more important than any acceptance letter? Self-acceptance. . . . This book is practical, extraordinarily empathetic, and a breath of fresh air, and it's just what the doctor ordered for anxious parents and anxious teens alike."--Anya Kamenetz, Author of The Stolen Year and The Art of Screen Time

About the Author

Ana Homayoun is an academic advisor and early career development expert working at the intersection of executive functioning skills, technology, and personal energy management. She is the founder of Silicon-Valley based Green Ivy Educational Consulting and the executive director of Luminaria Learning Solutions, a non-profit initiative developing the Life Navigator School Advisory Program. She is the author of three previous books: That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week, The Myth of the Perfect Girl and Social Media Wellness. She lives in San Francisco.