How do you become flawsome?\u00a0 What does flawsome even mean anyway? Kristina Mand recently released her book on the topic.\u00a0 The word flawsome is a combination of the words \u201cawesome\u201d and \u201cflaw\u201d meaning that you can still be awesome and have flaws.\u00a0 I really like the concept and was honored to be asked to review her book \u201cBecoming Flawsome.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
(This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive compensation at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support! For more information, please see my disclosure.<\/a>)<\/p>\n Kristina is the co-founder of MindValley<\/a>, which is a huge website dedicated to personal development with many big-name creators and authors. She\u2019s an international speaker, entrepreneur, artist, philanthropist, and mother of 2 kids. I was given a digital copy of the book, but this book review of Becoming Flawsome<\/em> is all my own opinions and honest reactions. She also has her own website.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Becoming Flawsome<\/em>\u2019s main goal is to help people embrace their flaws and to help them realize that sometimes their flaws are actually incredible assets and strengths.\u00a0 It\u2019s about making peace with yourself and not being afraid to be authentically and honestly you.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Becoming Flawsome<\/em> is written for men and women who are perfectionists.\u00a0 If you consider yourself an ambitious go-getter, and goal chaser which has left you feeling overworked and like you\u2019ve lost that connection to yourself, Becoming Flawsome<\/em> was written with you in mind.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I love a good personal development book, and this one is pretty good.\u00a0 However, I\u2019m not a super high achieving professional and have never been in the corporate world.\u00a0 I also rely on God a lot to give me strength and peace.\u00a0 My faith anchors me, which was one thing not addressed in the book.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Though my experience was different from the author\u2019s I still got some good takeaways from it.\u00a0 I have been actively working on transforming my perfectionism<\/a> and I do love being honestly and authentically myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now we\u2019re getting to the good stuff!\u00a0 Let\u2019s dive in and look at some of the things and issues that Kristina Mand\u2019s book, Becoming Flawsome<\/em> addresses.\u00a0 The sections and chapters are really laid out in a rational sequence for growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n To begin your journey of becoming flawsome, Kristina addresses the subject of authenticity.\u00a0 I really liked how she said that it\u2019s one of those things that can\u2019t be a halfway-done deal.\u00a0 You\u2019re either completely authentic or your not.\u00a0 She also tackles perfectionism head-on, which I happen to be prone to as well as how we have linked working harder to more success, and success to happiness.\u00a0 The two actually follow the order opposite to what most think they should.\u00a0 My favorite exercise from the whole book is found in this section \u2013 it emphasizes that you find what you look for.\u00a0<\/p>\n Next up is finding your own truth.\u00a0 To do that, you have to be willing to change, and the change only goes one way.\u00a0 Once you change yourself and start being who you really are and want to be, then your life changes along with it. Much of our authenticity is internal \u2013 are we really telling ourselves reality or are we making up a pretty picture? Many of the words that we find, especially in the personal development field come with baggage and are called buzzwords.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n When you think of words like honesty, meditation, being fully present,<\/a> hustling, and perfectionism, they all have some sort of emotion attached to them.\u00a0 Kristina encourages us to let go of that emotional baggage and asks what those words mean to us, on a personal level.\u00a0<\/p>\n My favorite part of this section was actually when she described an experiment done by Dove in which women were asked to keep a diary and record their thoughts about themselves.\u00a0 Much of their thoughts and self-talk was largely negative.\u00a0 But here came the really interesting part \u2013 the women from the experiment were invited to a cafe where two actresses were talking and casually saying the things that the participants had said to themselves in casual conversation. The participants were outraged to the point that one even interrupted the actress and told her not to talk to her friend like that!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n To me, this highlights the huge importance of self-talk<\/a> and the importance of learning how to silence your inner critic<\/a>.\u00a0 It also incorporates a lot of self-awareness so you can identify your triggers. <\/a>\u00a0You can\u2019t change anything you don\u2019t know about!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Much of our lives are lived on autopilot.\u00a0 We form habits and those habits control our actions<\/a>.\u00a0 Those habits are so powerful that it\u2019s hard to change them.\u00a0 (Think \u2013 New Year\u2019s Resolutions!<\/a>) So how do we go about switching off our autopilot switch and changing our habits?\u00a0 Change happens slowly and Kristina guides us through exactly how to turn off that autopilot and change our habits for the better while still being patient with ourselves.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n A book about flawsomeness would hardly be complete without addressing the obvious issue of how to address our own imperfections. We all have masks that we wear and different roles that we play.\u00a0 This hit home for me somewhat, but I think it would be more relevant to the woman that\u2019s trying to juggle a high-stress corporate career.\u00a0 Sometimes our roles in life conflict. You know what I\u2019m talking about if you have ever tried to balance work obligations with your obligations as a parent.\u00a0 Sometimes those come into inevitable conflict. (Ex: You have to work to finish a project, but you really want to be there for your kid\u2019s school awards ceremony too.)\u00a0<\/p>\n My best takeaway from this section was the different defense mechanisms that people use.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s good to have a name for your behaviors.\u00a0 It helps to identify them so that you can change the ones you want to.\u00a0<\/p>\n She addresses the subject of love here as well.\u00a0 I found this part somewhat difficult because I have a different definition of love.\u00a0 If love is being used as a weapon, it\u2019s not really love.\u00a0 To me, love is more than just an emotion; it\u2019s a whole concept anchored by my faith in God.\u00a0<\/p>\n This statement in the book smacked me in the face \u2013 that no one wants my perfection.\u00a0 Since I am prone to trying to make everything perfect, this one hit home.\u00a0 I started noticing it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n We were camping at the time I was reading the book and I usually try to make sure that everyone is happy during vacation.\u00a0 I want to be the perfect cook, make sure the laundry is done mid-week if needed, we have the perfect plan, we have all the perfect tools that we need, etc. In short, I try to solve all the problems all by myself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But I tried something different this time.\u00a0 I took a chill pill.\u00a0 (Those are notoriously hard for me to take, by the way.)\u00a0 When a problem came up, I asked my husband \u201cHow do you want to take care of it?\u201d Sometimes he had a solution. Sometimes I had one, but whatever we did it was done with a minimal amount of fuss.\u00a0<\/p>\n No one wanted me to sacrifice myself or my happiness for the happiness of the camping trip.\u00a0 Do you know what happens when I do that?\u00a0 It makes the rest of the family miserable too.\u00a0<\/p>\n What if I could apply that simple concept to my whole life?\u00a0 That, in essence, is what this book addresses beautifully.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Honesty without kindness as a filter can be downright mean.\u00a0 It talks about how we lie to ourselves and why as well as how to change that and shift our thinking and thought patterns to one that is more friendly to embracing our flaws as part of us instead of trying to fix them all.<\/p>\n To me, kindness is a part of love, but the author separates the two concepts and says they pair well together.\u00a0 She talks about being kind to yourself, which to me is a large part of your self-talk. The part I found most interesting was how she separates self-care<\/a> from self-love.<\/a>\u00a0 That part made a lot of sense to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n It takes courage to make any sort of life-changing decision.\u00a0 People tend to not like any sort of uncertainty.\u00a0 We want to be in control.\u00a0 But sometimes you have to take that leap of faith even if you don\u2019t know what\u2019s on the other side.\u00a0 Sometimes you may miss and end up disappointed, but other times, you nail it and feel like you\u2019re flying.\u00a0 Sometimes we tend to overthink the decision and the thinking is actually worse than making the decision.\u00a0 That\u2019s what this section covers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n We are always learning and growing as people.\u00a0 We all have flaws and those flaws could be one of your greatest sources of strength.\u00a0 But it could also mean taking a path different from the one that most of the people around you expect.\u00a0 To take a quote from this section of the book:\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe hardest part of living life by your own rules is making a choice between what is important to you and what your loved ones expect from you. Will you choose you? Or will you choose to please the people that you love?\u201d -Kristina Mand, \u201cBecoming Flawsome\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Though I did not love the author\u2019s personal example, I could relate another one from my life.\u00a0 When I was pregnant with my first child, I had a career as a high school science teacher. I had made the decision to quit my job (that I loved and was good at) to be a stay-at-home mom. It was what I felt like was the right decision for our family.\u00a0 A friend and colleague took this decision rather hard.\u00a0 She did not want me to go.\u00a0 Many women successfully balance family and careers, as my friend did, but it was not the right decision for me.\u00a0 Though it hurt my friend, I\u2019ve always been glad that I made that decision, even though it was a hard one.\u00a0<\/p>\n This last section deals on finding your personal happiness.\u00a0 One of the last thing that I appreciated her addressing is that you can\u2019t change other people.\u00a0 They have to find their own happiness.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I would be very surprised if this book does not make the best-seller list.\u00a0 Kristina has been in the personal development field for over 15 years and she knows her stuff.\u00a0 There is a lot of good well-researched information and the reflection prompts are designed to make you think.\u00a0 I learned things from reading this book, and some things I knew about but didn\u2019t know the name for. (I\u2019m looking at you, reticulated activating system!)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I wish I had been able to take my time and move through it a little more slowly to do the journal\/reflection prompts along with the book.\u00a0 The only disconnect I had was that the author likely has different core values<\/a> and life priorities<\/a> than I do.\u00a0 That made some of the examples a bit harder for me to relate to, but the book is about finding yourself, not about us all having the same opinions and views on everything.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t find it super uplifting or written in a feel-good style, but I did appreciate the logical way that she laid out useful information. Though I did not agree with all of the author\u2019s choices in her personal examples, the fact that she used examples from her own life did add depth to the book and make her more relatable.\u00a0 I read the example about asking herself if she was too old to wear shorts since she was over the age of 40 very relatable \u2013 especially on a day that I happened to be wearing shorts and had mentally asked myself the exact same question that morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n The book comes with a huge pile of bonuses, at least for now if you get it directly from Kristina.\u00a0<\/p>\n I love the concept of Becoming Flawsome because we all have flaws and many of us wrestle with them.\u00a0 It\u2019s one thing to know your flaws but it\u2019s another thing to come to peace with them and even embrace them as part of who you are.\u00a0 If you feel like you\u2019ve lost yourself or you are looking to combat perfectionism and really start liking not only who you see in the mirror, but who you know you are in your heart, this is the book that you\u2019re looking for.\u00a0 #BecomingFlawsome<\/p>\n How do you become flawsome?\u00a0 What does flawsome even mean anyway? Kristina Mand recently released her book on the topic.\u00a0 The word flawsome is a combination of the words \u201cawesome\u201d and \u201cflaw\u201d meaning that you can still be awesome and have flaws.\u00a0 I really like the concept and was honored to be asked to review […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":291246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122496,122497,102571,11788,122498,122499,122500,122501,122502,100359],"tags":[122503,11556,5454],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-291245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-becoming-flawsome","category-becoming-flawsome-book","category-book","category-book-review","category-flawsome","category-flawsome-book","category-kristina-mand","category-mindvalley","category-personal-development-book","category-personal-growth","tag-flawsome","tag-ready","tag-start"],"yoast_head":"\nWho is Kristina Mand, Author of \u201cBecoming Flawsome\u201d<\/em>?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Author](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/contentmentquesting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/A-Fest-Jordan-KHA_0360-Photo-By-Karen-Harms.jpg?resize=204%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nWhat is \u201cBecoming Flawsome\u201d<\/em> About?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Who is \u201cBecoming Flawsome\u201d<\/em> Written for?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
What Things Does Becoming Flawsome Address?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Becoming](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/contentmentquesting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Copy-of-book-image-home-page-min.jpeg?resize=300%2C255&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nPart I \u2013 The Path Back to You<\/h3>\n
Part II \u2013 Finding Your Own Truth<\/h3>\n
Related Posts on Contentment Questing:\u00a0<\/h4>\n
Part III \u2013 Switching Off Autopilot<\/h3>\n
Part IV \u2013 The Art of Imperfection<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/contentmentquesting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Becoming-flawsome-imperfection.jpg?resize=560%2C315&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nWhat do you Mean No One Wants my Perfection??<\/h4>\n
Part V: Honesty\u00a0<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/contentmentquesting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Becoming-flawsome-honesty.jpg?resize=560%2C315&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nPart VI: Kindness<\/h3>\n
Part VII: Courage<\/h3>\n
Part VIII: Living Flawsomely<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/contentmentquesting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/MindValley-Live-2023-Dubai-Day-1-KHA_9517-Photo-by-Karen-Harms.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nPersonal Reactions and Thoughts about Becoming Flawsome<\/h2>\n
Where Can I Get a Copy of Becoming Flawsome?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/contentmentquesting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/MindValley-Live-2023-Dubai-Day-1-KHA_9414-Photo-by-Karen-Harms.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nThe Last Thing You Need to Know About Becoming Flawsome<\/h2>\n
Related<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"