Written by: Jen Sincero
Review by: Julie Melaschenko
The Premise: Right out of the gate in the introduction, Jen Sincero outlines her previous suspicions for the “unforgivably cheesy” self help/spiritual world, and sets the scene for You are a Badass and who it will appeal to – those who feel they have more in them, or more to offer, or to achieve than where they are at this moment. Sincero gets right to the core of what she believes is the main problem – our subconscious mind and how we sabotage our own abilities and potentials by our negative scripts and beliefs about ourselves. She writes a bit like a cool, worldly, older sister or aunt who can ‘tell it like it is’ as she has lived and breathed all the experiences that colourize this book.
Sincero really believes that we need to accept ourselves and get out of our own ways. ‘Love the One you Is’ was a very powerful chapter that starts off the large sections describing what’s in the way of our happiness and greatness, and then every chapter ends with the affirmation ‘Love Yourself’. She talks about how we got to this place of self-doubt, how to really ‘embrace your inner badass’, tools for getting rid of the negativity (mini meditation, forgiveness and gratitude) and ‘how to get over your b.s. already’, and then, ‘how to kick some ass’ aptly finishes everything off.
The Bottom-line: I came across this book while breezing through Chapters, on a table whose sign read ‘Get Real’ (all the titles of the books had various forms of curse words in them) and I was intrigued. You Are a Badass stood out not only for it’s bright yellow cover, but for it’s subliminal promise to be less ‘new-agey’ than a lot of other books on this topic. Don’t get me wrong – I love this kind of stuff – bring on Brené Brown any day, but I wondered how this one could be different, maybe Brené meets Tina Fey?
While it was not exactly what I was expecting, it was an easy, interesting read, and was definitely a kick in the pants to owning one’s greatness. Sincero talks about the big energy sucks in life: fear, criticisms, negativity and grudges among many others. From the outside, these topics might seem tired and over done, but I really felt she did an excellent job of outlining them and their negative influence on our lives, our personal and professional relationships, our careers and our ultimate happiness.
Roundtable Rating: a great entry book to the self-help genre for leaders who are feeling stuck or want to get more out of themselves in their lives and careers.
