Self Help Book Review: How to be a Bawse – Lilly Singh

How to be a Bawse by Lilly Singh finally dropped last week. I was STOKED to get my hands on it.

DISCOVERY:

I’ve known Lilly Singh ever since she was pre-millions of subscribers as the very, VERY funny Indian-Canadian girl who did both funny and inspirational in her YouTube videos. I even wrote an article about her way back in 2013!

I found out via a YouTube video she was writing a book. Because Lilly is positive and inspiring as hell, I pre-ordered that baby and had been impatiently waiting until it finally hit my iBooks.

I bought myself the iBooks version, but I ordered a hardcopy for my friend who loves Lilly as much as I do via Bol.com*. You can also find Like A Bawse on Kindle* f0r 13$.

*Affiliate links! 

SUBJECT:

Lilly isn’t just a boss, she’s more than that. She’s a BAWSE. And in How to be a Bawse, she explains how she is a BAWSE in her career, her private life and her personal development. While simultaneously inspiring you to do so too. It’s a “How BAWSES do 101”-guide.

KOOKINESS (1-10): I’d say a 2.Why?

One point for the chapter about God/the Biggest Bawse of them all. I know I shouldn’t be judging with all the drivel that I’ve written about the Law of Attraction and Universe back when I was a young and naive little dandelion, but that whole higher power thing is not really my scene (anymore).

The other point added to the Kookiness Scale is that this book is very much “if you can dream it, you can do it” and doesn’t allow for much leeway for things out of your control. However, I do believe the “decide what you want to do and then go for it”-attitude is a healthy and useful mind in like only 80% of the time. Plus, Lilly specifically states in the first chapter: “Let go of your resistance for the sake of this book.”

MY FAVORITE PARTS:

  • CHAPTER 15: SCHEDULE INSPIRATION: I’ve struggled with huge amounts of guilt for how much I love Netflix, YouTube and scrolling through Tumblr for awesome inspiring quotes and hilarious memes. After all, I should be doing useful things always, says the inner perfectionist. But Lilly shares her ideas on how that actually helps her relax and makes her a better entertainer, because it inspires her and gives her things to reference. In conclusion: The things I love to watch to relax me, make me happy and they improve my work.
  • CHAPTER 24: DON’T BE MADE. DON’T BE BROKEN. Your career is built on pillars. Lilly makes videos every Monday and Thursday, and her vlogs, made the Trip to Unicorn Island video, does collabs, wrote her book, and has her other projects. All of these things are the pillars of her career. It’s not a singular thing that made her successful or that ‘made’ her career. You have to work on pulling up the different pillars.
  • CHAPTER 45: NO PIGGYBACKS. No piggyback rides. When you want to be successful, you have to do it yourself. You can only hope that people will be nice and supportive when you do the work, but you can’t ask for promos and shortcuts when you’re not putting in the work. In that same vein, when people come knocking to make use of your followers, your audience, your presence and your approval while you don’t think they have the right to it, you are entitled to tell them no. You didn’t get piggyback rides, so you don’t have to give them either.

MY FAVORITE “HOW TO BE A BAWSE” QUOTES

  • “(…) putting yourself in uncomfortable situations is CRUCIAL to developing new skills and gaining valuable experience. I know Drake told you he went from “0 to 100 real quick,” but I promise you: he went from 0 to 1 to 2 to 2.2 to 3.
  • “Mistakes don’t exist just to make us feel bad about ourselves; they are opportunities that we should not ignore or shy away from.”
  • “Taking ownership of a mistake is like attending a class—it’s the only way you’ll learn something from it. If you cannot admit to a mistake, you’re skipping school and wasting your tuition.”
  • “For most slip-ups in life, it’s easy to find solutions that simply cover up the problem. But when it comes to your professional, personal, and behavioral problems, a cover-up won’t cut it. You need to go beyond blanket solutions and get to the root of the problem.”
  • “If you don’t put in the work to create content, my support will do nothing beyond giving your flat line a bump.”
  • “Don’t tell your boss you work hard; let your work prove it. Don’t just tell your girlfriend you’re loyal; be loyal. Don’t tell your opponent you’re going to knock them out; just knock them out. Talk is cheap, so leave it at the thrift store.”
  • “If everyone who worked hard gave all the slackers a handout, the art of the hustle would die”
  • “Empires are not built upon a single pillar and, similarly, your career should not be built on a single success.”
  • “Being active has nothing to do with being sexy, sculpting a six-pack, or fitting into a smaller size. It’s about making sure your body can keep up with your hustle.”
  • “It’s a beautiful thing to let achievements make you feel good, rather than praise and other fluffy things. You’re not a parking ticket. Don’t get so easily validated.”
  • “You’re never too good to stop investing in yourself.”
  • “Doing a good job should be more important than how you look. With that lesson in mind, I created a rule for myself: if you don’t understand something, ask questions until you do understand it. And I mean REALLY understand it. If that takes two or three questions, then so be it. That’s not “looking dumb,” that’s being dedicated to learning something new.”
  • “Say what you mean. If you say what you mean, you don’t need someone to edit your words. Your feelings are authentic to you and therefore don’t need revision.”
  • “Not being nice is like poisoning yourself with bad vibes.”
  • “A Bawse understands that there are many things in life you have no control over and it is inefficient to become frustrated by that reality.”
  • “I learned there is a difference between trusting people and allowing yourself to be too vulnerable.”
  • [On depression] “I’m not running away from this place, but I am graduating from it.”

SELF HELP HIPSTER STAMP OF APPROVAL:

Um, I read this whole thing in 3 days while also spending half the time on a snowboard in the mountains. That shows how good it is and how easy it is to read.

I say go for it.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

5 comments

  1. Thanks for writing this but I wanted to tell you that some words like development (as developmen) have errors. And what’s going on with the “2. Why?” And “Two, this book..” cuz there’s not a number one/1. What list were you trying to make?