When flying to Florida for my review course, I saw someone at the airport reading You are a Badass: how to stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life by Jen Sincero and was immediately intrigued. It’s no secret that I greatly appreciate a good self-help book and while roaming around Target on a particularly off day in my studying, I picked up this one (anyone else always walk out of Target with 3924238x as many things as they came to get?).

I hadn’t read anything about the book myself but had seen it in passing multiple times and was mainly looking for something to help me stay motivated during four very intense weeks of studying for boards. I had high hopes when I saw that her dedication included one of my favorite Rumi quotes:

And still, after all this time, 
the Sun has never said to the Earth, 
‘You owe me.’
Look what happens with love like that. It lights up the sky.

But, unfortunately, it didn’t do much for me. Most of the book felt very redundant and none of Sincero’s ideas felt particularly revolutionary or new. I realize she’s ‘preaching to the choir’ with her ideas because I’m very passionate about self reflection and regularly check in with myself to ensure my life is heading in a direction I want. For those who want to understand how they can better their lives but are at a loss as to where to start, this could potentially be a good option.

There are parts of the book I found to be extremely condescending. Most people who pick up this book are likely in a difficult place in their lives and could probably benefit from a compassionate advisor but that’s not Sincero’s style. For those who benefit from a more tough love approach, this may be right up your alley – and as she said in her text ‘tough love is still love.’

The only part of the book I truly disliked was the chapter on depression. She made having depression sound like you’re throwing yourself a pity party and that you could just ‘get over it.’ Depression is a clinical diagnosis and shouldn’t be interchanged with sadness. Using medical diagnoses so freely can be extremely dangerous because it makes people feel even guiltier about their behaviors when it’s actually due to a chemical imbalance in their brains. We wouldn’t throw around diagnoses like diabetes and hypertension like they’re just describing a craving for sweets or being angry, so we should do the same when it comes to psychiatric diagnoses.

The final chapter ‘Beam Me Up, Scotty’ was definitely my favorite. It inspired me to stop making excuses and finally start brainstorming and working on the books I want to write so for that, I will be forever grateful to Jen Sincero.  There are so many reasons to put off the things that are important to us but nothing will ever get done unless we prioritize and invest our time in things that are actually worth our time.