For Instructors

This page offers resources to instructors who are using Taking the Stairs and Liking It: Seven Steps to an Amazing Life. It is tailored to use in the context of the African classroom. Here you will find: 1) Videos with the author in a Question and Answer session with students; 2) Details from the book; 3) Study questions.

Sunday-school resources and biblical references can be seen on the methodology page at NHM Ministrants. More educational materials (including a Portuguese-Language Edition planned for 10/1/25) are on the way. Taking the Stairs and Liking It: Seven Steps to an Amazing Life is available online as ebook / print / audiobook. Learn more here.

Question and Answer Session

Short Animated Videos

About the Book

Drawing on the wisdom of the late President Jimmy Carter and a lifetime of personal experience, Taking the Stairs and Liking It inspires readers to find joy through leading a life of purpose, coherence and significance. The style is very approachable, like a friendly chat with someone who wants to help you expand your horizons and reach for your dreams. Guiding readers on a journey towards joy and purpose, it centers around seven key steps, each with its own dedicated chapter. These are: Vision, Special Skills, Non-duplication, Partnership, Credit-Sharing, Feedback, and Staying Power. One step at a time, readers ascend a metaphorical staircase, looking beyond the obvious to find where their skills and affinities address a real need. The book offers the guidance to help them form partnerships with others who can further the vision, and shows how sharing credit works to everyone's advantage. It highlights the role of appropriate feedback as a tool for assessing progress, refining the approach or even changing course where needed. And finally, students delve into how success requires perseverance. They learn how to maintain motivation, manage setbacks, and magnify their commitment to their vision over time. The book is rounded out with a case study in which all steps are clearly outlined, and an appendix with advice from successful individuals in various fields. Throughout the book, you find practical advice, personal anecdotes, and real-world examples that bring each step to life in a way your students can put to use immediately to create a more fulfilling and impactful life. Ultimately, Taking the Stairs and Liking It aims to help you equip each of your students with practical tools and encouragement to embrace the amazing life they were born to live.

Seven Steps Sample Study Questions

1. Your Vision – Discover and Refine It

• Role Model Questions: Where do I feel I can be a role model?" "Where can I have the greatest, most positive effect?" "What qualities in my heroes would I like to embody?"
• Positioning Questions: "Is this vision truly my own, or someone else's vision for me? "Does it reach beyond me to serve others? "How does it feel, in my heart?""
• Naysayers: Have you ever experienced a naysayer against your vision?

2. Your Special Skills – Appreciate and Grow Them

• Define "character." Do you believe character is a skill that can be developed? Why or why not?
• Review the list of skills at the beginning of this chapter. In which ones do you excel? Do you have others? Which of these skills would you like to refine, expand, or explore, and why? Which do you think would be best to supplement, through partnership?
• What small steps can you take by next week at class time, to identify and learn more about your special skills and proclivities, and to improve them? How might you commit to taking those steps?
• Identify and prepare a brief profile of someone in your life or experience, who has demonstrated the special skills you aspire to expand?
• HALTS stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired, Sad.  How does knowing when to step away from a problem for a moment help you be more skilled in making decisions?
• What did you think of astronaut Chris Hadfield's advice about tenacious patience (working on a skill so you'd be the best candidate when the job finally opens)? Would that make sense for you? Why or why not?

3. Non-Duplication (Your Authentic Niche)

• Ponder the question "When do I feel most alive?" "What do I love to do?"  "When does time fly by for me?" Does this help you find what you might want to explore for your life path? If so, how so?
• How would you explain the meaning and the benefit of seeking "non-duplication?" Share an example in context. 
• What sort of niches would mirror your interests, abilities, and passions? Why so?
• Name some of the many different roles you hold in life, such a student, a friend, a younger or older brother or sister, and so on. Given the blend of background, outlook and gifts you bring to these roles, what qualities of yours make these roles distinct to you? Nobody else is the sibling that you are, or the friend you are, for example.
• Think of someone or some organization that has found its niche. How is it serving them?

4. Partnership – Together We Go Far

• What do you consider the most important or effective attributes of a productive partnership?
• What do you admire in a partner? Make a list. Strategize and schedule activities to strengthen these very attributes within yourself.
• Are the attributes you consider important the same among friends, coworkers, and significant others? If different, how so?
• Where in your life right now do you consider your partners (friends, study buddies) to be well-chosen or well-fitting? Why or why not? Are there changes you want to make?
• Think of two or three times in your life when partnership made things easier or harder. Elaborate on your experiences.
• Are there circumstances in life when it may be more effective or productive to go it alone, rather than working in partnership? Explain your perspective.

5. Credit Sharing – Recognizing the Contributions of Others

• What life projects (e.g., class, household, or work project) are you involved in now, and with whom can you share the credit for your vision, endeavors, and achievements? How might you go about acknowledging others?
• Have you ever run into problematic social "politics" in your school or circle of friends? How would showing appreciation or sharing credit for efforts or achievements help the situation, if at all?
• Discuss the outcome and effects of sharing credit for a job well done, withholding credit where due, and offering blame when someone makes a mistake or a project is not successful.
• Do you believe belated thanks are better than no thanks at all? Why or why not? Offer an example of the effects of sharing gratitude, even if delayed.

6. Feedback – On Track? Need a Change of Course?

• Consider a time in your life when you polled friends or family, or you convened folks for their opinions. Discuss the context, experience, and outcome. How did it go?
• Have you ever confided doubts about something with someone? What sort of feedback did you receive? Did your doubts prove valid? How did you feel then, and what did you learn?
• How can setbacks provide feedback? Have you ever had a setback experience that provided useful feedback and resulted in putting you on a different path that turned out well?
• Assess key areas of your life using the S.H.I.P. (Spiritual Holistic Inquiry Process) by answering the following questions: 1) In – How is my internal world, in my mind and within my body, my emotions? 2) On – What are my roles in this world, and how do I feel about them? 3) Around – How are my relationships going? 4) Above – What is my relationship with the spiritual dimension? 5) Below – How do my roots come into play in my life? 6) Behind – How would I describe my life up to this point? 7) Before – What flavor is my vision of my future? Hopeful? If not, why not?

7. Staying Power (Perseverance) – Even After Setbacks

• What gives you staying power? List ten things that bring you joy or help you recharge when your spirits are down.
• What are your "Why's" that get you up in the morning and keep you going?
• Create a list of ten songs that uplift you, and ten songs that give you courage. 
• Do you feel having an outward vision towards others is helpful in life? Why or why not?
• Start journaling gratitude. Take a gratitude walk. How did that go for you?

Cover & Promo Material