Brave, Not Perfect

Publisher's Summary

In an audiobook inspired by her popular TED talk, New York Times best-selling author Reshma Saujani empowers women and girls to embrace imperfection and bravery.

Imagine if you lived without the fear of not being good enough. If you didn't care how your life looked on Instagram or worry about what total strangers thought of you. Imagine if you could let go of the guilt and stop beating yourself up for tiny mistakes. What if, in every decision you faced, you took the bolder path?

Too many of us feel crushed under the weight of our own expectations. We run ourselves ragged trying to please everyone all the time. We lose sleep ruminating about whether we may have offended someone, pass up opportunities that take us out of our comfort zones, and avoid rejection at all costs.

There's a reason we act this way, Reshma says. As girls, we were taught to play it safe. Well-meaning parents and teachers praised us for being quiet and polite, urged us to be careful so we didn't get hurt, and steered us to activities at which we could shine. The problem is that perfect girls grow up to be women who are afraid to fail. It's time to stop letting our fears drown out our dreams and narrow our world, along with our chance at happiness.

By choosing bravery over perfection, we can find the power to claim our voice, to leave behind what makes us unhappy, and go for the things we genuinely, passionately want. Perfection may set us on a path that feels safe, but bravery leads us to the one we're authentically meant to follow.

In Brave, Not Perfect, Reshma shares powerful insights and practices to help us override our perfect-girl training and make bravery a lifelong habit. By being brave, not perfect, we can all become the authors of our biggest, boldest, and most joyful life. 

©2018 Reshma Saujani (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

“I love this book! A timely message for girls and women of all ages: perfection isn’t just impossible but, worse, insidious. The prose is so clear, so honest - you feel like you’re sitting across from Reshma sharing stories.” (Angela Duckworth, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, and New York Times best-selling author of Grit)

“The perfect is not just the enemy of the good; the pressure to be perfect is the enemy of girls around the world. In this courageous, convincing book, Reshma Saujani shares a bold vision to free girls - and women - from the shackles of social expectations.” (Adam Grant, New York Times best-selling author of Originals, Give and Take, and Option B with Sheryl Sandberg)

"For any woman who has ever thought to herself "I just can't...” or "I'm just not...," this eye-opening book will help you showing up every day as brave, not perfect changes how the world sees you, but more importantly, how you see yourself - and what you are capable of. This book is great reminder that having the courage to stare your mistakes and your imperfections in the face is one of the most overlooked sources of power." (Amy Cuddy, Harvard lecturer and best-selling author of Presence)