Simplify Success: Jen Sincero on Building Better Beliefs
How much of what you believe about yourself is true? And how many of your beliefs are based on what someone else told you, or what you inherited from the society and family you grew up in? According to Jen Sincero, author of You Are a Badass among other bestsellers, taking some time to examine the beliefs that you might not even know you hold close, is the first step to changing your life for the better.
Sincero doesn’t just pay lip service to these ideas. She’s living proof that identifying and challenging your subconscious beliefs can throw open doors to whole new ways of being yourself.
“I’ve seen so clearly that everybody has the ability to create what they desire. It’s just so many people aren’t willing to do what it takes.”
In this episode of Simplify, Sincero talks to Caitlin about why we get comfortable in uncomfortable lives, how our beliefs about ourselves and others form the foundation of what happens to us, and how you — yes, you! — really are already badass enough to make real change happen.
Who’s Jen Sincero?
Jen Sincero is a New York Times bestselling author, success coach and “motivational cattle prod” who’s helped countless people transform their personal and professional lives via her products, speaking engagements, newsletters, seminars and books. Her #1 New York Times bestseller, You Are a Badass®: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, has sold well over two million copies, is available in twenty-plus languages, and continues to grow in popularity around the globe. Her follow-up, You Are a Badass® at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth, another bestseller, is written with the same inimitable sass, down-to-earth humor and blunt practicality that made You Are a Badass® an indomitable bestseller and Jen a celebrated voice in the world of self development.
You Are a Badass
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
You Are a Badass at Making Money
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
Jen Sincero’s Recommended Reads
1. My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem is a world-famous writer, activist, and community organizer. Her memoir, My Life on the Road, candidly delves into her nomadic childhood, and how various experiences shaped her choices and the life she would end up living.
Jen Sincero says: “Who knew she had such an interesting childhood?! They were like gypsies roaming around. I did not know that about her.”
2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel sat on The New York Times bestseller list for over two and a half years. It tells the story of a blind French girl and a German boy who meet in occupied France during World War II. It focuses on how their lives interweave and how, even in unlikely circumstances, people can try to be good to one another.
Jen Sincero says: “I demand you read it. It is really the greatest book I read in like 30 years. It is so beautifully written and what a story. […] I just love it when people use language in a way that is so creative and exciting to me, and it’s an amazing story.”
Extra Credit Reading
If you would like to dive deeper into some of the topics Jen Sincero covers in this Simplify episode, check out this book list composed by Ben and Caitlin!
Get Your Sh*t Together
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
Simplify alumna, Sarah Knight, — listen to her episode here — has written a series of no-nonsense, tongue-in-cheek self-help books, the most famous of which is The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck. In this episode, Ben recommends one of her follow-ups, Get Your Sh*t Together chiefly because it’s really easy to put into practice and Blinkist users love it.
The Discomfort Zone
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
In this episode of Simplify, Jen Sincero speaks about challenging ourselves on a personal level to break through our comfort zones to reach a more fulfilling place. This book is a how-to guide for leaders to help them guide difficult conversations with employees from breakdown to breakthrough.
The Index Card
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
Some of the key challenges Sincero faced were related to money. She had to change how she thought about money and her capacity to earn it in order to become financially successful. This is a practical guide to managing your finances, assessing your money situation, and finding your way out the other side of debt.
What’s Simplify?
Simplify is a podcast for anybody who’s taken a close look at their habits, their happiness, their relationships, or their health and thought “There’s got to be a better way to do this.” We talk to bestselling writers, productivity wizards, sex geniuses, and happiness experts to find it for you.
Simplify is made with love by Blinkist. Click here to try Blinkist free for 14 days with the voucher code: badass
Talk to us!
We want to hear from you! Drop a line to us at [email protected] about whatever tickles your fancy.
If you want to say hi to Ben, Caitlin and Terence in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto, @CaitlinSchiller, @terence_mickey.
Who made this?
Your hosts are Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and Terence Mickey.
Research and production assistance by Natallia Darozhkina, sound and editing by Terence Mickey, Ben Jackson, and Ody Constantinou.
Thanks to Nico Guiang for our awesome intro and outro music. Listen more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.
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