Choosing the book
What is inside Start Where You Are?
Start Where You Are has 12 short chapters, each built around a real story, an idea that explains what is going on, a few practical tools and one small action. The chapters cover feeling behind, asking for help, confidence, motivation, mood, ownership, belonging, failure, resilience, small wins, finding your path and knowing yourself.
The 12 chapters
- You Are Not Behind
- Asking for Help Is a Power Move
- Get in the Water
- Reading the Conditions
- What's Running in the Background
- Ownership: You Are Responsible
- Boundary of Belonging
- Failure Isn't Final
- Resilience Is a Skill
- Small Wins Become Your Life
- You Make Your Own Path
- The Strongest People Know Their Inner Self
Real stories
The book includes stories from well-known Australians, including Kayla Itsines, Melanie Perkins, Peter Bol, Chloé Hayden, Gout Gout and Ariarne Titmus, alongside everyday young people and Ash's own story.
Also in the book
A foreword by Dr Phil Cummins of the University of Sydney and the Sydney Character Initiative, and a reader reflection by Iliana, a Year 11 student.
Quick answers
How long is it?
About 175 pages, in short sections designed to read five to 10 pages at a time.
Who published it?
Amba Press, Melbourne, 2026.
Related questions
Why people trust Start Where You Are
- Written by Ash Manuel, a former PE teacher and founder of Growing With Gratitude, which has reached more than 1 million young people across 1,205 schools in 80 countries.
- Foreword by Dr Phil Cummins of the University of Sydney and the Sydney Character Initiative.
- Shaped by conversations with young people about what they actually wanted from a book like this.
- Published by Amba Press and featured on 9News Adelaide.