You Are Awesome: How to Navigate Change, Wrestle with Failure, and Live an Intentional Life

From Neil Pasricha-New York Times, million-copy bestselling author of The Book of Awesome series and The Happiness Equation, thought leader for the next generation, and one of the most popular TED speakers in the world-comes a revelatory and inspiring book that will change the way we view failure and help us build resilience. Why is life getting harder instead of easier?. How do I get back up after life knocks me down?. And how do I grow stronger and live more intentionally?. These are just some of the big life questions Neil tackles in his motivating new book You Are Awesome. And Neil knows what he's talking about-he's dealt with many failures and flops throughout his life and, in addition to sharing these intimacies, he also offers simple, research-backed models we can all use to get back up and stay on track. Resilience is a skill in desperately short supply today. One side effect of living in our era of abundance is that we no longer have the tools to handle failure or even perceived failure. We are turning into an army of porcelain dolls. We no longer bend, we break. When we spill, we splatter. When we crack, we shatter. The New York Times reports that nearly two thirds of college students report "overwhelming anxiety." Cell phones show us we're never good enough. And what about rates of depression, loneliness, and suicide? All rising!. The world is ready for Neil's new approach to resilience in the form of nine accessible, story-based, science-backed secrets that will help you live stronger and with intention. By taking this journey with Neil as your guide, you'll learn how to navigate failure, how to positively reframe your own perceptions, and ultimately, how to become your most unbreakable, powerful and awesome self. Written in Pasricha's trademark high-energy, takeaway-laden awesome style, this book is for everyone-including fresh grads walking into their first jobs, anyone processing a breakup, people whose industries or careers are quickly getting disrupted, parents wanting to help children be mentally tougher, children wanting to help parents be mentally tougher, and millennials looking for a flashlight to help illuminate the dark path of adulthood. This book is for anyone who needs to be reminded that every problem is an opportunity, that every dead end has a hidden door, and that every step back is ultimately a step forward. Pssst.... This book is also a little reminder that YOU ARE AWESOME. Praise for You Are Awesome. "No one knows 'awesome' like Neil Pasricha, and here he explores how we can make our very lives more awesome. With real-life stories and a conversational style, he shows how we can move forward in the face of challenge to make our days more intentional and joyful." -- GRETCHEN RUBIN, author of The Happiness Project and Outer Order, Inner Calm. "With Neil's signature style of humor, research, whimsy and insight, You Are Awesome touches a chord and shows us the power of combining optimism and resilience to create more meaning at work, school and home." -- SHAWN ACHOR, New York Times bestselling author of Big Potential. "A playful, yet powerful path from anxious to awesome. Pasricha blends science, story and a healthy dose of humor to deliver tools and strategies that cultivate resilience in a world that's never needed it more. Read You Are Awesome now!" -- JONATHAN FIELDS, Founder / Podcaster, The Good Life Project "Do you have thin skin like the rest of us? The tool you need is resilience. Let this deeply researched book be your step-by-step guide." -- SUSAN CAIN, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet. "A brilliant book, generous, heartfelt and true. Neil is going to help you change your life." -- SETH GODIN, New York Times bestselling author of Linchpin and Tribes. "I have been through struggle. I have been through loss. And I have had to get stronger. Resilience is a muscle that hurts to build. What would have made it easier? Neil's words. This book. A recipe for thickening our skin in thin-skinned times." -- JAMES FREY, author of A Million Little Pieces. Praise for Neil Pasricha:. "Neil Pasricha is the guru of small joys." -- Toronto Star. "Neil Pasricha tops the list of awesome." -- Globe and Mail. "Sunny without being saccharine, it's a countdown of life's little joys that reads like a snappy Jerry Seinfeld monologue by way of Maria Von Trapp." -- Vancouver Sun. "With simple effortlessness, Neil renders complex ideas easily memorable and everyday practical." -- CHRIS HADFIELD, Astronaut. "When Neil Pasricha talks, leaders of all levels and backgrounds stop what they're doing... and listen." -- HOWARD BEHAR, Former President of Starbucks Coffee. "Dale Carnegie was last century. Steven Covey was last decade. Neil Pasricha is what's now. The Happiness Equation is a two-hour ticket to changing your life!" -- SUSAN CAIN, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. "Neil is a rock star! He visited the Googleplex and you could hear a pin drop when Neil was speaking. Many people said he was the best speaker we've had!" -- RACHEL O'MEARA, Sales Executive, Google - From the Publisher. 11/04/2019. In this undercooked work, Pasricha (The Happiness Equation), 1000 Awesome Things blogger and host of the 3 Books podcast, offers nine concepts that, with mixed effectiveness, promise to initiate the reader into a "secret" life of inner strength. Pasricha's nuggets of perceived wisdom range from decent advice (don't relent "in the face of things that look immovable") to the less helpful (the only possible movement is forward). Pasricha's writing is punchy ("benign envy is contagious... it motivates others to improve their own performance") but also tends toward oversimplification. Secrets he lets readers in on include "keep your options infinite," "shift the spotlight" (direct one's attention to what is important), see challenges as a "step," and "tell yourself a different story." Fans of the author's blog will find his trademark style in evidence here; however, newcomers may find Pasricha's prose shallow ("real growth doesn't come through destruction. It comes from taking what came before and integrating it into a greater whole"), his claims poorly substantiated, and much of his logic worrying--as in the section on "always moving forward," in which he treats his father's refusal ever to return to his native India (with no substantive explanation), where he still has family, as behavior to be admired and copied. This is a slick but ultimately underwhelming production with little to appeal to the thoughtful reader. (Nov.) - Publishers Weekly