August 2019 PANP Reads: “You are a Badass” by Jen Sincero.

 

Hi! I hope everyone enjoyed August's selection: 'You Are A Badass" by Jen Sincero, or at the very least found a few personally significant take aways!

A quick synopsis for those of you who didn’t get a chance to read or finish the book:

“Best-selling author, speaker, and world-traveling success coach Jen Sincero cuts through the din of the self-help genre with her own verbal meat cleaver in You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. In this refreshingly blunt how-to guide, Sincero serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, life-changing insights, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word.

Sincero, a former skeptic herself, delivers the goods minus the New Age cheese, giving even the snarkiest of poo-pooers exactly what they need to get out of their ruts and start kicking some ass. By the end of You Are a Badass, you will understand why you are how you are, how to love what you can’t change, how to change what you don’t love, and how to start living the kind of life you used to be jealous of.” -Audible

When I bought this book, I really had no clue who this author was. All I knew was that this book received a ton of reviews and overall had a positive rating. I assumed she was some type of online/internet personality or celebrity, but I didn’t look her up. Maybe she has a huge online following or maybe not. Shrug. Maybe she’s some sort of motivational speaker or something.Who cares? I wanted to have a clear slate when it came to my opinion of her, so I could just focus on the writing. Either way, I had a feeling that I’d be motivated or that the book would be inspirational. I think this was key for me (underline and emphasize those words: KEY FOR ME)… I went into it with the frame of mind perfectly open to many of her concepts and ideas.

Self help books can sometimes be touted as stupid, or like a waste of time, depending on your mindset. And then,  when you come across one that resonates with you all the disbelief and mockery etc. flies out the window. I definitely feel like this book was a great read if you wanted to experience a feel-good book, especially about self-love and self-focus!

 I loved that it was 90% motivation, and then 10% tactics and calls to action at the end. I felt like it really got me excited about understanding myself and wanting better, really revved up to go get the life I wanted for myself, and then told me how to try and do it and then ended so I could!

I found Sincero’s writing to be witty and funny. I enjoy a more conversational tone to a book like this, so was very happy with her style and approach. 

She doesn’t sugar coat what she says; she just says what she wants and goes with it. I found it to be an easy and engaging read.

The beginning; first few chapters, are more surface level in terms of self-help. Almost a “self help 101” or introductory course. Whether you are just starting your journey into this genre, or a seasoned self-helper I think this start was so important as it covers fundamental and very important topics like mindset, limiting beliefs, internal scripts and understanding how your subconscious mind works. Great information to have or to be reminded of.

I didn’t mind all the “rah rah” attitudes she has. I think the juxtaposition against her own trials and stories was actually very relatable and vulnerable and endeared me to her, leading me to be more open to accepting her advice. Even to the more out there ideas!

The book got amazing for me around the sections on gratitude! I think the most notable take aways for me were power of self-love, gratitude, faith, and the law of attraction.

As far as how good of a self-help book it was, I can only speak for myself and say that I took a lot out of it. I don’t know that any of her ideas or topics were ground breaking or completely new ideas I had never heard of before… BUT 

She includes a lot of lists and short quotes that make the book easy to get through while making you think about yourself. Lots of action steps and exercises the reader can apply to their own situations. If you are looking to really figure out who you are, I wouldn’t suggest this book necessarily-- I found it to really be more of a confidence booster and an embrace-who-you-are type read rather than a change-everything-about-yourself-to-be-better read.

I hope you found this book as entertaining and worthwhile to read as I did. I hope it made you feel good, motivated and capable of achieving anything. As Lizzo says:

“Come now, dry your eyes, You know you a star, you can touch the sky, I know that it’s hard, but you have to try, If you need advice… let me simplify”…