I read this beautiful book by Reshma Saujani a while ago and I loved it so much. I listened to the book, and then bought the kindle book. It was such a wonderful book about how important it is for women to work on bravery instead of striving for perfection. To tackle some of the hard things they are afraid to do and just be brave enough to try.
Saujani also founded the Girls Who Code movement. She helps get girls interested in and involved in programming and they want to “change the image of what a programmer looks like and does.” There are also some great young chapter books written by them as well. And I think this is important because the younger you can get programming and coding into the minds of younger children, the earlier they will be able to learn how cool it is! Here is a summary of the book from Amazon:
Imagine if you lived without the fear of not being good enough. If you didn’t care how your life looked on Instagram. If you could let go of the guilt and stop beating yourself up for making human mistakes. Imagine if, in every decision you faced, you took the bolder path?
As women, too many of us feel crushed under the weight of our own expectations. We run ourselves ragged trying to please everyone, pass up opportunities that scare us, and avoid rejection at all costs.
There’s a reason we act this way, Saujani says. As girls, we were taught to play it safe. Well-meaning parents and teachers praised us for being quiet and polite, urged us to be careful so we didn’t get hurt, and steered us to activities at which we could shine. As a result, we grew up to be women who are afraid to fail.
It’s time to stop letting our fears drown out our dreams and narrow our world, along with our chance at happiness.
By choosing bravery over perfection, we can find the power to claim our voice, to leave behind what makes us unhappy, and to go for the things we genuinely, passionately want. Perfection may set us on a path that feels safe, but bravery leads us to the one we’re authentically meant to follow. In Brave, Not Perfect, Saujani shares powerful insights and practices to help us let go of our need for perfection and make bravery a lifelong habit. By being brave, not perfect, we can all become the authors of our best and most joyful life.
Reshma also did a TED talk as well and it was a good summary of the topics she touches on in her book. The link to the TED talk is below.
Her book and her message is one that can be universal and not just applicable to women in technology. I think that overall, women are starting to bridge the gender gap and make themselves more of a staple and asset in many other forms of business, not just technology.
Let me know if you end up reading or have read this book already. I would love to hear your thoughts on the book and her message in general.
