Ruth Soukup’s new book Do It Scared has the tagline “Finding The Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Adversity, and Create a Life You Love.” There are many books that are packed with tools and suggestions for goal-setting and encouragement. But what makes this book unique are Soukup’s unabashed willingness to share very intimate truths about her own journey and her no nonsense framework for exploring how fear shows up uniquely for each of us.
The book has been divided into three parts. In the first part, Soukup
describes and explores seven different fear archetypes. This part of
the book contains very detailed examples of how women from all walks of
life often rely on their circumstances, tragic events and innate fears
as justification for settling for life as is. The Seven Fear Archetypes
are:
- The Excuse Maker
- The Outcast
- The People Pleaser
- The Pessimist
- The Procrastinator
- The Rule Follower
- The Self-Doubter
Our fears are very difficult to face. Looking at the list, are you afraid you might have a certain fear? She addresses this in the book. And although each may have its own negative connotations, she includes not only the ways each fear may hold one back, but also positive traits of each archetype.
In the next part of the book, Soukup introduces Principles of Courage and challenges readers to question a great deal of default thinking and commonly held beliefs. By challenging limiting beliefs, in this part of the book Soukup outlines many tools for empowerment and tells the reader how to set intentions and then take regular actions to accomplish any goal. Then, by shifting their mindsets and taking very intentional action, women are able to take more ownership of the their lives, accomplish their goals and be more fulfilled by life.
It is in this middle section that Ruth Soukup provides the reader with the most insight into the mind of Ruth Soukup. Chapter 9 Rules Are For Suckers was my favorite chapter. In it she agrees that common sense and obeying rules is important–and necessary. “Following rules is the default option, a part of our natural survival instinct. Questioning our boss or ignoring their rules can get us demoted or fired, so we toe the line.” She realizes that the reason we have some fears is precisely because there is often so much at stake. Then she lays out how, that even with these fears, using common sense as a touchstone, readers can still take action to do things differently and craft a life that is better.
The final part of the book is where Soukup gives a peek into some of her proprietary time management tools. Though we all know this book is from the self-help genre, it is here that she really emphasizes the “self” part of self help. She is encouraging and strict about holding oneself accountable for laying any of our excuses to rest and employing the tools in this book and from elsewhere to get what we want out of life.
If you are already a fan of Ruth Soukup, then you already know that Do It Scared is a must-read. If you are not familiar with her work, she has written several other books about sales and marketing, is a speaker and has a podcast that is also called “Do It Scared.” Many people look for self-help because. . well they want to help themselves. A unifying theme in all of Soukup’s work is how affirming it can be for women to identify and claim their talents and use their talents to help others.
Have you ever scrolled through your Instagram feed and happened upon a quote that resonates so deeply that you yell “Yass” aloud and have to fight the urge to applaud? This book is filled nearly cover-to-cover with quotable wisdom. Ruth Soukup doesn’t promise the moon or treat the reader gently, but this is a very upbeat and encouraging book. I enjoy tests about self-awareness. Even if you don’t read the book right away you can take The Do It Scared Fear Assessment on her website to learn your own Fear Archetype. That’s the best way to get the most out of the book.
Photo by Lukas Becker on Unsplash.