What I Know for Sure Book Summary - What I Know for Sure Book explained in key points

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What I Know for Sure summary

Name: What I Know for Sure
Rating: 4.4 (126 reviews)
Author: Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Collected life lessons from Oprah's popular column

4.4 (126 ratings)

10 mins

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What I Know for Sure
summarized in 6 key ideas

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What’s in it for me? Learn how to be truly content from one of the world’s most influential figures.

“What do you know for sure?”

This was the question film critic Gene Siskel asked Oprah during an interview. Later, the question would inspire Oprah to write a column for O, The Oprah Magazine, which would serve as the foundation for her book What I Know for Sure.

These blinks take you through significant and trying times in Oprah’s childhood and adult life, from her mother’s pregnancy to a health scare that woke her in the middle of the night.

Understandably, such hardships have a long-lasting impact. So how do you pick yourself up after a harrowing experience? How do you learn to love yourself?

Not only did Oprah have to overcome the struggles of her early life; she transformed them into her strengths. Throughout these blinks, you can discover how you, too, can use your experiences to strive for excellence.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

about the ridiculous diets Oprah tried;
why Oprah threw her boyfriend’s keys down the toilet; and
the story of a reverend’s father and the long-lasting impact he had on Oprah.

Oprah’s early childhood struggles taught her resilience.

People usually see pregnancy as a joyous occasion, but this wasn’t the case for Oprah’s mother. Because she was unmarried, she hid her pregnancy until the day of Oprah’s birth in 1953, during which time she felt only deep shame and regret.

You may have thought that such an ill-fated start to life would’ve impeded the young Oprah’s spirit, but it only made her stronger.

As a child and teenager, Oprah faced years of loneliness, abuse and loss. When a counselor asked her to think about her early childhood years during an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1991, Oprah recalled a lonely little girl brought up by two inattentive grandparents.

Sadly, her loneliness and suffering only got worse when she entered her teens. Oprah was sexually abused for four years between age ten and 14, and she eventually fell pregnant. Echoing her mother’s shame, Oprah hid her pregnancy from everyone. Tragically, her baby didn’t survive more than a few weeks after being born.

Though she experienced incredible hardship early on, Oprah believes that it’s what eventually made her so successful.

In her opinion, the loneliness that gnawed at her as a young child taught her the importance of being self-sufficient; she learned that no one else was going to take care of her, and so she would have to fend for herself. She also learned that happiness was something for which she couldn’t depend on others; she would have to achieve it on her own.

To underpin all this, Oprah believes that determination and an open mind will enable you to overcome your most difficult struggles and turn them into your greatest strengths.

Oprah looks to herself, not others, for love.

Previously, Oprah hosted an episode of her show that featured married men who had been unfaithful. After chatting with them, she realized that there was one common reason why they all cheated on their wives: the men felt loved and special with their mistresses – and not with their wives. However, they were seeking love in the wrong place.

Oprah also used to believe that love and the good feelings associated with it came from being with someone.

Oprah’s secret to loving her body comes from the power of gratitude.

The power of gratitude is a concept in which Oprah has always strongly believed. For more than a decade, she wrote five things for which she was grateful in her gratitude diary every day. But, just like us, Oprah sometimes found it difficult to appreciate what she had and focused instead on what she didn’t have.

One constant that Oprah has difficulties feeling gratitude for is her body.

Oprah was able to reach her full potential by overcoming her fear of judgment.

Given all the successes she’s achieved in her life, it would seem that Oprah exemplifies someone who has reached their full potential. But Oprah herself doesn’t agree with this claim, and she is still on the hunt for new ways to improve.

One thing that Oprah does agree with is that no matter your age, you should never let fear stop you from becoming the best version of yourself.

Oprah conquered her deepest insecurities and learned the importance of saying no.

When Oprah first started hosting her show, she struggled to deal with the expectations people had of her. Fans would show up regularly to the studio and seek her help, including runaway children and women who had been abused. Oprah tried to help everyone, but she soon became overwhelmed by all the commotion, eventually realizing that she had to start turning people down.

This realization came when Oprah took a moment to remove herself from the situation to consider why she was pushing herself to help an impossible amount of people: the reason, she found out, was because she wanted to be liked. Or more accurately, she was afraid that people wouldn’t like her if she told them no.

Oprah’s pursuit of excellence and her goal to get people to vote are informed by racism.

Oprah’s birthplace, Mississippi, was known for being home to the highest number of lynchings of black people of any American state. Segregation was a common facet of everyday life there, but despite this racism, young Oprah managed to find flickers of inspiration during bleak times.

First, the 1950s and 1960s were a period when black adults were hopeful that their children’s futures would be bright. In 1954, for example, the same year that Oprah was born, the Supreme Court decreed that African Americans would have the same rights to education as white Americans. This access to education was further emphasized by civil rights activist Jesse Jackson coming to Oprah’s school in 1969. Jackson told Oprah and the rest of her school that one must pursue excellence to defeat racism. Oprah wrote Jackson’s words down and stuck them to her mirror, where they stood as a reminder for her to become the best person she could be.

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What is What I Know for Sure about?

What I Know for Sure (2014) outlines the moments that shaped Oprah Winfrey into the phenomenally successful person she is today. Oprah shares her experiences and insights on overcoming hardship and how she used that strength to forge a path toward reaching her full potential.

Best quote from What I Know for Sure

There is one irrefutable law of the universe: we are each responsible for our own life.

—Oprah Winfrey

Who should read What I Know for Sure?

People who want to improve their self-esteem
Anyone looking for tips to overcome childhood trauma
Oprah fans who are interested in her backstory

About the Author

Oprah Winfrey was the host of the wildly popular and hugely successful American talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired from 1986 to 2011. Winfrey was the first female black billionaire.

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