I cannot recommend this book enough.
If you are female and you want to achieve anything at all, read this book.
It will help you to see where you are holding yourself back, often unconsciously because of internalised, patriarchal voices, and then give you the tools to shake those voices off and to move forward. It is well written, easy to follow, and the practical exercises are short, simple, and effective.
If you struggle with speaking up when you want to, read it.
If you struggle with procrastination, read it.
If you struggle with not feeling successful, read it.
If you often feel self-doubt, read it.
If you want to do ‘more’ but haven’t worked out what ‘more’ is for you, or how to actually do that ‘more’, then read it.
I am writing this review from the perspective of a women who left her previous job adamant that she did not want to work for anyone else ever again but having no idea how to start and grow a business. I had many skills at the time, but not much confidence in my business and entrepreneurial abilities. In fact, I struggled to even use the labels ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘business owner’ for quite a long time.
Although I didn’t read this book until my business was already a few years old, the lessons that I learnt from it were still incredibly valuable to me.
The book has contributed to my ability to grow my business by helping me to become more confident and clearer in my goals. If you are starting, or have your own business read the book!
Don’t let the idea of ‘BIG’ stop you from reading Playing Big by Tara Mohr
The description of Playing Big on Goodreads begins, “a ground-breaking women’s leadership expert and popular conference speaker gives women the practical skills to voice and implement changes they want to see – in themselves and in the world.”
If I had read a review like that before reading the book, I honestly might not have even picked the book up. I would have felt intimidated and that perhaps the book wasn’t meant for me. Words like ‘ground-breaking’ and ‘leadership’ used to make me think of other people and not of myself. But the book is written to challenge and change that exact thing. We can all allow ourselves to play bigger.
What ‘bigger’ is will be different for each of us, it might be writing your own book, creating your own online course, starting a business, asking for a raise or a promotion, or anything else. Whatever it is the tools in the book will help many of us to move in that direction.
Read the book!
Something that I learnt from Playing Big by Tara Mohr
I certainly don’t want to give too much of the book away. I think that working through it, in the order that it is written, is a key part of how it is useful for readers. And also, I’m not in the habit of stealing content from other writers but I have written the next part of this blog post (based on a page or so of content from the book) to give you a tiny glimpse of what I gained from reading the book.
A key takeaway for me, from early in the book (chapter 3) was that Tara breaks down fear into two different types. This part of the book is based on the work of Rabbi Alan Lew in the book Be Still and Get Going, which in turn is based on the explanation of two different words for fear found in the Hebrew Bible. The first type of fear is pachad – “over-reactive, irrational fear that stems from worries about what could happen.” The second kind of fear is yirrah – “the feeling that overcomes us when we inhabit a larger space than we are used to, or when we suddenly come into possession of considerably more energy than we had before, or when we are in the presence of the divine.” Distinguishing between these two things helps me to make decisions and to move forward in my business. For me yirrah is that good kind of fear that tells me the thing I am doing or about to do is worth my time and energy.
This new understanding of the fear has helped me to frame any fear that I feel within the purpose of me feeling it. This has helped me to work out when those fears are entirely unhelpful, and then to move past them and to get on with whatever thing I was trying to do in the first place. Learning this one thing has helped me to procrastinate less (at least less when it is fear-related procrastination, I still procrastinate in many other ways) and to confidently do things that previously sacred me far more.
In short, this one thing has helped me to progress towards my goals. Read the book!
Feminism – is it a dirty word?
If you have read this review this far you might be thinking that the book sounds good but that maybe it is all a bit too feminist-focused. It is not. It is a practical book for women. Yes, it is aimed at women (and not men) and at addressing some of the issues we face (and create) because of societal gender imbalances, but it is focused on moving ourselves as individuals who happen to be female forwards.
Perhaps you are concerned about the backlash feminists and women often face when they speak out about gender imbalances. If you are, then this book will help you understand that fear better and give you the tools to work through it.
And finally on this point, feminism is not a dirty word. Yes, it is often co-opted these days and used to make women who expect and campaign to be treated fairly seem aggressive and unreasonable, but all of that is just noise. Carefully calculated noise used to undermine women, and to keep women playing small.
Feminism is quite simply the belief in full social, economic, and political equity for women.
Reading Playing Big will give you a better understanding of just how gender imbalances have shaped your life, and how to unpick them as you do the things you want to do.
Is Playing Big aimed at entrepreneurs only?
No. The Goodreads description of Playing Big by Tara Mohr says; “The book offers tools to help every women play bigger – whether she’s an executive, community volunteer, artist, or stay-at-home mum.”
The End
That’s it from me.
Read the book. You probably won’t regret it.
You can see all of my book recommendations, and shop for your books independently by heading over to my bookshop.org shop. This is an affiliate link, meaning that if you follow the link and then buy from an independent bookshop via that link, I may earn commission. This does not cost you anything extra. You can always look at the reading lists and then choice to make your purchase else, or even head to your local library to borrow your next book.
Happy reading!
xxx
