Advance Praise for
PLAYING BIG
While reading Playing Big I kept thinking of the many people I knew (men too!) who would love it. With clarity, warmth, and deep wisdom, Tara shines a light on our blocks to manifesting our potential and offers practical, well-honed strategies that move us toward fulfillment. This is a book that can transform the trajectory of your life.
Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge
Tara Mohr shows us how to replace self-doubt, inadequacy, and worry with confidence, self-worth, and courage. She is a brilliant writer and teacher, whose warmth and passion fill these pages. Full of examples and practical tools, this is a gem of a book.
Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Hardwiring Happiness
Dont try to change the world before you read this book! In Playing Big Tara Mohr offers you the keys to unlocking your gifts, your potential, and your power to make a difference. I guarantee that you will find yourself and your dreams somewhere in this book; and when you do, Taras deep insights, her practical-action steps, and her real-life stories will set you free.
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfathers Blessings
Luminous, deep, and practical. Ive asked every woman in my all-woman company to put Playing Big first on her reading list. We want to make a difference in the world, we want to live full-on, and we know that our passion is powerful. We need this! Playing Big is like a torch that shows you where assumptions youve been holding could be holding you backeven if you think youre using your power to the fullest.
Danielle LaPorte, author of The Desire Map and The Fire Starter Sessions
For anyone whos afraid they dont have what it takes to live a bigger life, Playing Big shows that you unquestionably do. Mohrs goal is not about getting the next promotion (although that may come too) but something much more lasting and limitless: true empowerment from the inside and the capacity to change the world.
Patty Chang Anker, author of Some Nerve
When I was at a critical career juncture, I took Taras online leadership course and it was transformative. After just three sessions, I had decided to quit my current job, start my own consulting practice, and follow my passion around developing leadership for large-scale social impact. While Id already had some success, Taras work was instrumental in helping me find my own inner calling, unhook from others expectations, and start playing really big.
Heather McLeod Grant, coauthor of Forces for Good
This is the how-to manual weve been waiting for. Tara cuts through our playing small strategies with every brilliant word and liberating idea. This book will be passed from friend to friend, given as a graduation gift, and lauded in womens lists of books that changed my life. May this powerful book help us create a more just and happy world.
Jennifer Louden, author of The Womans Comfort Book and The Womans Retreat Book
If youve ever struggled (as I have!) with feeling like you have so much more to offer the world yet are unsure of the next step, Playing Big will give you the road map. Chapter after chapter I felt Tara was speaking directly to my soul. Taras tools will help you excavate your voice, clarify your mission and message, and fuel yourself renewably from the inside out.
Manisha Thakor, CEO of MoneyZen Wealth Management and coauthor of On My Own Two Feet
Playing Big enables the modern-day woman at any age to face her career and life with a sense of curiosity and confidence rather than fear and regret.
Sarah Brokaw, author of Fortytude
I have been searching for a book to recommend that will solve the epidemic in women of thinking theyre not enough. Playing Big is that book. Its an answered prayer for me and women all over the world. Smart, practical, profound, and heart-centeredTara Mohr nailed it.
Kate Northrup, author of Money, A Love Story
I have seen hundreds of women with big dreams get stuck behind walls of fear just as they are about to create something great. Playing Big holds the key to gently and firmly pushing down the wall so that no woman is held from her rightful destiny.
Pamela Slim, author of Body of Work
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Copyright 2014 by Tara Sophia Mohr
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from The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal, copyright 2012 by Kelly McGonigal, PhD. Used by permission of Avery.
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FOR HARRIET AND BILL
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Y ou know that woman. Shes a good friend or a colleague from work. Shes smart and insightful. She gets it: Whatever the situation at her company, or in her community, or in the news, she has great ideas about what needs to happen. Shes high integrity toono greed, no temptation to corruption, no big hunger for power. And shes funny, warm, and trustworthy.
Sometimes, you listen to her talk and think, if only people like her were in charge...
So heres the thing: The way that you look at that woman? Someone looks at you that way. In fact, many people do. To us, you are that talented woman who doesnt see how talented she is. You are the woman whoits clear to uscould start an innovative company or pull one out of the dysfunction its in, improve the local schools, or write a book that would change thousands of lives. You are that fabulous, we-wish-she-was-speaking-up-more woman.
Playing Big is about bridging the gap between what we see in you and what you know about yourself. Its a practical guide to moving past self-doubt and creating what you most want to createwhether in your career, in your community, or in a passion you pursue outside of work. Its not about the old-school notion of playing bigmore money, more prestigious title, a bigger empire, or fame. Its about you living with a sense of greater freedom to express your voice and pursue your aspirations. Its playing big according to what playing big truly means to you. And if you dont know what playing big looks like for you yet, the ideas and tools here will help you discover that.