Brave, Not Perfect : Fear Less, Fail More, and Live Bolder

New York Times bestselling author and Girls Who Code founder/CEO inspires us to discover the power of female bravery. Do you ever feel crushed under the weight of your own expectations? Do you often lose sleep ruminating over a tiny mistake or worrying about what someone else thinks of you? Do you run yourself ragged trying to do it all, at home and at work, with a smile and not a hair out of place? Have you ever passed up an opportunity--a relationship, job, or challenge--for fear you wouldn't immediately excel at it? For you, is failure simply not an option? You're not alone. As women, we've been taught from an early age to play it safe. Well-meaning parents and teachers rewarded us for being quiet and polite, urged us to be careful so as not to get hurt, and steered us to activities at which we could shine. Meanwhile, boys we expected to speak up, get dirty, play rough, and climb to the top of the monkey bars. In short, boys are taught to be brave, while girls are taught to be perfect. As a result, we grow up to be women who are afraid to fail. As too many of us eventually learn, being scared to take risks, to take a stand, to ask for what we want, even to make mistakes, leads to a lot of disappointment and regret. When we hold ourselves back for fear of not being good enough, we tamp down our dreams and narrow our world, along with our chance at happiness. But it doesn't have to be that way. In a book inspired by her popular TED Talk, Reshma Saujani shows us how to end our love affair with perfection, and rewire ourselves for bravery. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with girls and women from across the country, inspiring stories of women changing the world one brave act at a time, and her own personal journey to accept her imperfections, Saujani shares an array of powerful insights and practices to make bravery a lifelong habit. By being brave, not perfect, we can all become the authors of our biggest, boldest, and most joyful life.