Listed as a #1 New York Times best-seller with over 2 million copies sold, You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero is a self-improvement book filled with positive affirmations and humorous anecdotes on how to “stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life“. I was gifted this book by a friend; I’ve enjoyed it to the point where I started circling and underlining things on the pages (something I never do).
Have you noticed that happy people tend to be surrounded by other happy people, pessimists stick with other negative people, and go-getters are surrounded by those of a similar mindset? The premise of the book is based around the notion of “raising your frequency” to attract more positivity. High frequencies are feelings of gratitude, joy, and other desirable energies. On the opposite end of the spectrum, low frequencies are feelings of pessimism, jealousy, shame, disappointment, and other undesirable energies. Whatever energy you put out into the world, will attract a similar energy back to you — so you need to actively emit to the world, the type of energy you want to receive in return.
You Are a Badass is based on the belief that everything you could possibly desire in your life is already readily available to you; you just have to summon it to you by shifting your perception and making it a reality. In other words, “raise your frequency and expect more good things to come your way“.
Similar to most self-improvement books, You Are a Badass reads like a small textbook, with different chapters, bulletpoints, wise quotes from respectable people in our society, humorous anecdotes from the author’s own life and her life coaching clients, and key takeaways. The lessons in the book are generic enough that everyone can find some sort of reliability to it. Some may find the language used in the book a bit too hippy dippy — using phrases like universe, manifest, love yourself, creating the reality you desire, blahblahblah — but if you can overlook some of the goofy spiritual language and just concentrate on the themes the book touches on, from validation, to forgiveness, to generosity, to gratitude — I’m certain you’ll find something to take away from it.
To give you a taste of what this book has to offer, here are some of my favourite You Are a Badass quotes:
You Are a Badass: On Giving and Generosity
“When we trust that we live in an abundant universe and allow ourselves to give freely, we raise our frequency, strengthen our faith, and feel awesome, thereby putting ourselves in flow and the position to receive abundant amounts in return. When we’re in fear, we hold on to what we’ve got because we don’t trust that there’s more. We pinch off the energy, we’re scared to share, and we focus on, and create more of, the very thing we’re hoping to avoid, which is lack. If you want to attract good things and feelings into your life, send awesomeness out to everyone around you.”
I love how this quote speaks to collaboration over competition! You have to believe that there’s more than enough of everything to go around, so just give.
You Are a Badass: On Taking a Risk and Going for It
“Shirley, are you really going to quit your secure, corporate job to open a nail salon when you’ve got two children, a mortgage, and high blood pressure? So few new businesses succeed, especially in this economy — aren’t you worried about what will happen to your family if you fail? Of course Shirley is worried about what will happen to her family if she fails! She wakes up every night seized by panic about it, but she’s moving past her fear to create something she’s really psyched about, rather than dying a slow painful death by hanging around the water cooler with you.”
This quote in particular, I relate to parents and other people who may have a well-meaning reason to “worry” about you. When you’re confidently stepping outside your comfort zone to do something awesome and different, it’s important to surround yourself with people who encourage you to pursue your dreams and ignore the nay-sayers.
You Are a Badass: On Perception of Self-Worth
“If you base your self-worth on what everyone else thinks of you, you hand all your power over to other people and become dependent on a source outside of yourself for validation. Then you wind up chasing after something you have no control over.”
This is particularly relatable to our social media generation, who may rely on “likes” and other forms of social currency to determine their own self worth. Don’t base your value on something you can’t control because you’ll never be able to control someone else’s opinion of you.
Anyway, this was a taste of what You Are a Badass has to offer — if any of the above points resonate with you, I recommend reading the book in full! You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero — among other self-improvement books perfect for starting the new year right — is available at my favourite bookstore in Vancouver: indigo.ca.
