THE SELF-EMPOWERMENT JOURNAL

A concise book on how to discover “the real you.”

In his nonfiction debut, Wurie addresses his insights and self-invention tactics to someone he calls “Elite,” with the aim of inculcating an elite frame of mind in his readers. He calls attention to the common self-help notion of a triangle showing progress from the broader bottom layers to the pinnacle and then suggests changing that model to a circle from which progress radiates in all directions, in and out. He concentrates on a handful of very generalized headings, including familiar self-help concepts such as wealth, health, and creativity, and asks readers if they are the kind of people they want to be in relation to them. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises for readers to complete in order to make Wurie’s general insights more concrete. Many of those insights are so general, however, that they flatten into banalities, such as “No matter what you are going through, there [are] other people who have had it worse than you,” or “Start doing the things that a successful businessman or woman does,” or “There are endless possibilities.” Readers of self-improvement books will find their attention wandering when faced with vague maxims such as these. That said, Wurie recovers some of this lost momentum with the straightforward, plainspoken tone that he employs throughout the book. He also shows a vibrant optimism as he urges readers to imagine what they want for themselves, chart it, and then achieve it, and this cheerleading will resonate in many readers’ minds.

A familiar but sometimes-stirring action plan for improving one’s attitude toward life.