At a conference where he received the Circle of Courage Award, psychologist Christopher Peterson (Peterson & Brendtro, 2008) noted that there is something about the architecture of the human mind that causes it to overlook strengths. He suggested three reasons the focus needs to shift to strengths: (1) competence makes life most worth living; (2) paying attention to what people do well is an excellent way to solve problems; and (3) it is a lot more fun to use strength-based approaches. This article reports on the application of these principles to a project for youth who had experienced troubled histories in school and life. (Contains 1 endnote.)