BOOK REVIEW : CONFIDENCE LOST / CONFIDENCE FOUND – HOW TO RECLAIM THE UNSTOPPABLE YOU BY KATE MCGUINNESS

TITLE : Confidence Lost / Confidence Found: How to Reclaim the Unstoppable You

AUTHOR : Kate McGuinness

GENRE : Non-Fiction, Self-Help, Personal Development

FR RATING : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars

FR REVIEW

DISCLAIMER : Thank you, Netgalley and Two XX Press for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I am so glad I requested this book as it is one of the best non-fiction, self-help books that I’ve come across. As someone who has struggled with self-confidence and still at times falters in terms of confidence, this book has come at a time of immense demand in my life. The author shares her life experiences in this book, showing us her most vulnerable self. Reading the personal experiences and the trials Kate has to face in her life in her ongoing journey towards finding confidence helped me connect to her on a deeper level. Giving us her life story helped connect to her struggles and made this book even more relatable.

The book is divided into chapters that are easy to follow through and one can start at different chapters depending on what you need. The chapters are simple and effective in delivering the message. It also gives practical advice that can be used to attain maximum results. This book gives us easy-to-follow plans and exercises that can be readily incorporated into our daily routine to give us the perfect amount of boost to our confidence. 

Kate McGuinness helps us with techniques to silence our inner critic and also curb the perfectionist tendencies that will thwart our progress towards attaining a confident self. Our inner critic is our worst judge and can cause a lot of damage to our already waning confidence. Some techniques and exercises can be used to make sure the inner voice is silenced. This can be done by simply accepting the flaws and faults we as humans will have and will continue to have. Silencing the harshness of our judgmental inner critic is of utmost importance in raising confidence. This will help us closer to achieving the results we want.

Being a perfectionist is the other factor that adds to decreased confidence. One would never get around to finishing a task as they are constantly trying to make it perfect. This only leads to an endless cycle of doing and undoing your work and ultimately never completing it. I have struggled with this myself and I found the advice given in the book to be quite advantageous.

There are exercises to help with our attitude and also simultaneously practice self-compassion and assertiveness to grow our confidence. The book is deeply rooted in science to make use of the power of neuroplasticity. The well-formulated plans and mindfulness techniques are simple and easy to do and I loved learning about new tools that I can use in different scenarios and come out of them successfully.

Overall, this book is one I would highly recommend to women and urge them to pick it up as it is well-written and manageable for people who have busy lives. I gave the book 5 stars. Check this book out to learn something new to boost your confidence and become a better version of yourself.

SYNOPSIS

Practical Strategies to Boost Your Confidence.

With unflinching honesty, Kate McGuinness describes the blows that undermined her confidence. She went from flourishing as a high-flying Los Angeles lawyer to existing as an exile in an Iowa farm town. The downward spiral started with her surprise termination from a dream job and deepened with divorce and financial loss. Then Kate began the journey to confidence found by becoming trained as an executive coach. The plans she shares in this book enabled her to create sustainable self-confidence.

Confidence Lost / Confidence Found: How to Reclaim the Unstoppable You serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of relatable stories and simple exercises that offer a road map for building and maintaining confidence. McGuinness guides readers on how to:

Tame perfectionism and muzzle one’s inner critic. Build confidence by increasing eight attitudes, including assertiveness, self-compassion, and authenticity. Minimize five self-sabotaging behaviors that erode confidence. Rich with real-life examples and road-tested practices, Confidence Lost/Confidence Found is grounded in breakthrough brain science to unleash the power of neuroplasticity. The author’s step-by-step approach shows readers how to become aware of helpful and harmful behaviors through mindfulness.

Whether networking, interviewing for a job, public speaking, or even looking in the mirror, Confidence Lost / Confidence Found will help you create lasting change, inspiring you to live with authentic confidence and awaken sleeping goals. Please visit katemcguinness.com.