I don’t read self help books because I feel like they all say the same thing, but I really enjoyed You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero. It definitely helped that I was listening to the audiobook (which is read by the author) because it felt like she was just a friend talking to me about these really important but simple life-changing things she knows. I’m actually thinking about listening to it again!
Synopsis: Jen Sincero serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word. This fun guide will help you identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that stop you from getting what you want, blast past your fears so you can take big exciting risks, figure out how to make some damn money already, learn to love yourself and others, set big goals and reach them – it will basically show you how to create a life you totally love, and how to create it NOW.
I’m honestly feeling pretty inspired after listening to this book. I checked out a copy of the paperback at work, but honestly, I think that listening to this author is a much better way to get pumped up to be a badass. She’s a motivational speaker, after all, so she knows how to speak to an audience. No matter which way you plan to enjoy this book, I think that the way it is written and presented is very accessible. Sincero really breaks things down into bite-sized pieces, and continually repeats the core messages throughout her book, making it easy to internalize the messages of being brave, staying positive, and loving yourself.
“So often, we pretend we’ve made a decision, when what we’ve really done is signed up to try until it gets too uncomfortable.”
My issues with most self-help books, and most non-fiction, is that once the basic message is presented to the reader, it all starts to feel so repetitive. I get that the author is trying to drive home the point by bringing up more evidence, but at some point I always start thinking “okay, do you have anything else to add? I get it already!” I only felt this a couple of times while listening to this book, which makes it one of the best non-fiction/self-help books I have ever read.
What I learned
- making a change it about breaking out of your comfort zone and confronting the false beliefs that are weighing us down
- just because you don’t know what your ultimate life goal is doesn’t mean that you have failed, it just means that you need to keep doing things until it becomes clear
- getting to where you want to be is going to take work, but if you love it then the time you spend on it will fly by
This was a great book to read at the start of this new year. I don’t particularly like making resolutions, but I do think that setting goals for yourself is important. The messages in this book were just another reminder to keep pushing myself to break out of my comfort zone, and to not be afraid of reaching for the stars.
Do you ever set New Year’s resolutions? Do you follow through with them? What are they? What helped you reach your goals?
LC rating: 
The Literary Counsellor 
This sounds fantastic. I agree with you that most self-help books are endlessly repetitive, so it’s good to know that this one doesn’t do that so much. This year was the first year I haven’t made New Year’s resolutions, because I feel like I always make the same ones and they never go anywhere, so I’m trying to evaluate what I actually want to do with myself this year — something I can actually accomplish. Maybe I’ll give this book a listen to help me along. :p Great review!
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