You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life (2013) by Jen Sincero
Jen Sincero shares her wisdom as a life coach to help the general population identify and challenge the negative beliefs that are keeping them stuck, hold folks accountable for the role they play in their stuck-ness; as well as cultivate faith, courage, and self-love. Sincero offers anecdotes to exemplify the dynamics at play and provides the reader with helpful exercises to help guide the reader to apply this material to their own unique circumstances. The book reads like a conversation–it’s fun and pithy in a way that helps diffuse the defensiveness we may otherwise feel when someone is challenging our core beliefs and calling us out on our s***. I’ve never read the hard copy book and have only listened to the audiobook and can therefore add that listening to the author read her own words to you brings a sense of safety and co-regulation via congruency between verbal and non-verbal communication. Her lightheartedness (and sometimes outrageousness) and humility facilitates increased accessibility to help digest what could be otherwise challenging topics.
Jen Sincero is a pretty renowned life coach (not a clinician).She does well to stay in her lane, though that leaves some of the content to feel oversimplified, over-generalized, and/or invalidating in cases where there might be histories of trauma, neurodivergence, etc. that needs to be processed and/or some other kind of therapeutic support needed to successfully let go of old patterns and develop the confidence and compassion to adopt faith, courage, and hopeful perspectives. That being said, I do think this book could be a great supplement to support the work being done during the therapy sessions (more on that below).
How did I hear about this book: A friend of mine recommended it to me when I was feeling a bit trapped a while back. I’ve since read it at least once per year (when I need a little extra support/push). I’ve found it to help me out in a variety of ways, so perhaps that is also a bias I bring to this review.
Would I recommend it to colleagues: Sure
Would I recommend this to clients: Sure, when clinically appropriate.
How do I apply this content to my work: I think the information and exercises in this book can be a great supplement and support to the work I do with my clients. For example, this book can help clients to identify negative core beliefs, stories, and/or automatic negative thoughts that I can help them process using EMDR or help them re-frame from the Polyvagal lens during therapy sessions. Sincero also regularly challenges the reader and holds them accountable for taking responsibility, and sometimes clients may be able to hear that more coming from a more objective perspective of a book (an author whom they’ve never actually met) versus a person they have a close relationship with (their therapist). And/or reading it in a book may reinforce some of the discussions the client may feel resistant to in the therapy session. As such, I encourage my clients to surround themselves with as much support as possible and in a diversity of ways (because a variety of perspectives can often be helpful). If working with a life coach isn’t accessible, borrowing this book from the library for 21 days may be another way to attempt to meet that need.
Disclaimers: These reviews are based on my own personal experience reading these books and do not reflect on the book’s author or publisher. I have not received any commissions or other incentives to promote my reviews. My reviews express my own unbiased opinions.
