Book Review: Do It Scared by Ruth Soukup

Ruth Soukup is a blogger and author.  The basis of this book is “Finding the courage to face your fears, overcome adversity, and create the life you love.” It is a very motivational book and a call to action, a call to take ownership of your life, and not just expect good fortune to fall in your lap.  She separated her book into three main sections.

The first part helps you determine your “Fear Archetype”, as she refers to it.  There are 7 main types of fear that may hold you back in your life.  She polled over 4,000 individuals to research and break these fears down.  I, without question, fell into “The Procrastinator” archetype.  I wanted to refute this, but further reading confirmed it. I am a perfectionist who is afraid of making mistakes, doing something wrong and failing.  This is exactly the reason it has taken me a year to launch my blog.  I’d call that major procrastination, wouldn’t you?  While I major in Procrastination/Perfectionism, I clearly minor in several other “fear archetypes” as well.  I would say “The Self-Doubter” and “The Outcast” are highly evident in my personality. It stings a little to have your psyche broken down, but as the 12-step cliché goes: The first step to fixing your problem is admitting you have one.

The second section of her book is all about what she calls “The Principles of Courage”. These seven chapters present the ideology of how to face your fears.  There is a lot of great concepts in this section.  I really liked her perspective on mistakes, which (I just made the connection while typing this.) makes sense being that it is my primary fear that hold me back. She states, “There are no mistakes, only lessons.”  Ruth’s principles really help you to adjust your way of thinking and your perspective on challenges.

The final section of Do It Scared, it all about doing just that – accepting your fear but moving through it.  She calls you to determine what your goals really are and why they are.  She then urges you to strategically go after it.  She reiterates several times throughout the book that “action is the antidote to fear”.  It is a kick in the pants to not let yourself hold you back.  I really enjoyed the chapter on not comparing yourself and your success to that of others, and the chapter on doing away with excuses.

So, who is this book for?  If you have a goal but can’t find the motivation to go after it, this book is for you.  If you are fed up with your life as it is and need a goal, this book is for you.  She is motivating in a no nonsense, not coddling you sort of way.  She has turned a lot around in her life and her experience is obviously the inspiration behind this book.  Ruth really puts it all in this book. You can’t control everything, but you can control how you react and live your life no matter what obstacles you face.