You Are a Badass Author: Jen Sincero's Journey

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "You Are A Badass" by Jen Sincero. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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Do you want to know how You Are a Badass author Jen Sincero was able to go from feeling unfulfilled and broke to living her dream life in a matter of months? Do you want to know how you can too?

You Are a Badass author Jen Sincero “took one for the team,” in essence wading through all the good and bad of the self-help world for the rest of us. In her book, she compiled all of the best lessons she learned and shares them with us.

Keep reading to learn how You Are a Badass author Jen Sincero was able to turn her life around so quickly.

You Are a Badass Author Jen Sincero “Took One for the Team”

You Are a Badass author Jen Sincero was once unimpressed with her life. Sure, she had published a couple of books and had family and friends, but she wondered, “Is this the best I can do?” She was barely able to pay the rent each month, dated a series of “weirdos,” and wondered about her deeper purpose. Her life felt lukewarm with “occasional flare-ups of awesomeness.” Deep down she knew she was “a total rock star,” capable of a great relationship and doing important things professionally, but she just couldn’t seem to get there.

Sincero decided to make some serious changes to get her act together, committing to the process of creating a new, better life. She embarked on a self-improvement journey that was at times colorful. She tried a series of self-help methods, including seminars where she had to shout “You’re awesome and so am I,” along with writing a love letter to her uterus, bonding with her spirit guide, participating in a ceremony where she married herself, taking her inner child on a playdate, and spent money that she didn’t have on life coaches.

You Are a Badass author Jen Sincero “took one for the team,” in essence wading through all the good and bad of the self-help world for the rest of us to pull out the essential things that helped her make major shifts in her life. And it worked — she was able to get herself out of a rut and find personal and professional success. Within 6 months of her decision to change her life, she tripled her income by creating an online writer-coaching business.

She decided to take every bit of useful self-help wisdom she found and share it with others via this book. So many people are unhappy and feel unfulfilled with at least some areas of their lives. This book’s goal is to help people get clear about what makes them happy and feel most alive and give them the tools to go out and create the brightest, best, “badassiest” version of themselves.

Creating a New Life

The good news: Creating a better life requires only one simple shift: Going from wanting to change your life to deciding to change your life. Wanting is easy; you can want things while laying in bed or sitting on the couch watching TV. Deciding, however, means jumping in all the way and going after your dreams with, as You Are a Badass author Jen Sincero puts it, “the tenacity of a dateless cheerleader a week before prom.”

Creating a new life means doing things you never thought you’d do, believing in things you can’t see, and pushing past your fears while you stick to your decision. It will be challenging, but it’s certainly better than living with regret, feeling that your life is passing you by.

This process requires an open mind; you’ll need to roll with some “out-there” methods, but living a life you’ve never lived means doing things you’ve never done. Besides, you got to where you are now by doing what you’re doing, so it’s time to change it up.

This world offers limitless possibilities for you. If you work hard, take some risks, and go for your dream, you can live the kind of life you used to be jealous of. You Are a Badass author Jen Sincero was able to do it and so can you.

The book consists of five sections, each with chapters supporting the main theme:

How Did I Get This Way? This section will help you understand how you came to be living a life that doesn’t thrill you. Once you understand the deep-seated beliefs that have been holding you back, you can begin to change them.
How to Leave Insecurity Behind and Love Yourself. This section explains what you need to do to free yourself to live your best life.
Tapping in to the Source. This section explains how to connect to Source Energy and get yourself into top mental and spiritual shape.
Getting Over Your Own BS. This section will help you make the changes you need to create a life you’ve always wanted.
How to Go Forth and Live Your Dreams. This section will help you take action as you live your new life.

You Are a Badass Author: Jen Sincero’s Journey