Julie Ehlers's Reviews > You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

Page 238: Hang out with people who are kicking ass and will make you feel like a giant loser if you're not kicking ass, too. I (obviously) can't stress this enough.

NOW you tell me.

I'm not a fan of "tough love." I understand it's necessary in some situations, but for example, if I were on The Biggest Loser, there is NO WAY I would choose the personal trainer who bellows and screams at everyone as if she's lost her marbles. That sort of thing would make me angry but it wouldn't really motivate me. One thing I hated about You Are a Badass is that Jen Sincero works really hard to make you feel like a big loser if you haven't yet achieved every single dream you've ever had in life. I didn't find it motivating, I found it demoralizing and depressing. And I didn't even realize she was doing it deliberately until I got to the excerpt above. I wish I'd known it was intentional all along—I still wouldn't have found it motivating, but at least I would have been annoyed or angry instead of feeling like a giant loser the whole time.

Beyond that, this book was way more woo-woo than I was expecting. Sincero believes very strongly that we need to "vibrate at a high frequency" and this will cause good things to come our way. Of course, we also need to work really hard, keep our eyes on the prize, and possibly wait years and years for those good things, which makes you wonder if the vibrating part is actually necessary. But it is! Be vibrating at a high frequency at all times or you have only yourself to blame if your life isn't amazing every minute! If you're not put off by this oft-repeated bit of woo-woo, just wait until you see the out-there books she recommends in the suggested reading at the back. Frankly, if I'd known this was what I was signing up for, I never would have bought this book in the first place. (Don't ask me why I did buy this book in the first place, because I don't remember.)

As for what I liked about it. I know a lot of people are against self-help books on principle, but I'm not—people sometimes need advice, and as book people it makes sense we might turn to books. The only reason I've read so few self-help books myself is that most of them are deadly boring. But this one wasn't! It was well-written and lively and way funnier than any other self-help book I've tried. So at least I was entertained while feeling like a loser.

Also, sometimes it's just good to get a reminder that thinking positively is a better idea than thinking negatively. I'm looking to make some big changes in my life, but I know it's going to be hard and a lot of work, and I've just been feeling depressed about it. This book reminded me that, even if things don't work out exactly as you want them to, you make things much easier on yourself simply by trying to have a good attitude instead of a poor one. I realize this is an obvious point, but it was something I did need to hear right now. In that sense this book was helpful.

As I was getting close to finishing this book I was thinking I'd leave it in the lobby of my apartment building or my workplace's book swap rather than keeping it, but then I realized I'd done so much underlining in the book it would be a little weird to give it away. So that's where I'm at with this book—I apparently found a lot of meaning in it but still saw it as disposable. Should you read it? I think you all know whether this sort of thing appeals to you or not, and if it doesn't, this won't be the book that changes your mind.