Heather Monahan’s New Book

In a world full of embellished social media profiles, fake news, Instagram filters, and people who are filthy rich and infinitely famous (for contributing absolutely nothing to this world), it’s hard to distinguish what’s “real” anymore. That’s just one of the reasons why Heather Monahan’s voice is so refreshing, relevant and relatable right now. She approaches “Overcome Your Villains”, much like her last book, with an astonishing amount of humility, humbleness, candor, and connection to the audience.

Monahan isn’t trying to put on a façade- instead, she introduces her “Beliefs, Actions and Knowledge” formula by exposing moments from her past that most of us would never dare to publicly address. Yet, she does so in a way which doesn’t make her a victim and doesn’t try to establish herself as our savior. In contrast to a “Villain,” you come out of this experience with Heather believing that she is your champion and the kind of person you’d love to be your best friend. More importantly, she demonstrates the importance of self-respect, self-love and owning your own destiny.

>For many of us (yours truly included), the memories of Villains past and present is a painful one. The truly debilitating realization, however, comes when you discover that your most influential Villain is yourself. But just like the best friend we’ve always hoped for, Heather isn’t going to let us wallow in our self-pity. Instead, she calls for quick and decisive action. Yes, unfair things happen to good people, and there are times when it looks like the sociopaths rule the world. But Monahan empowers us to turn the tables on self-limiting beliefs and our antagonists, thereby taking back our power and becoming the best, most “real” version of ourselves we can be. And there is really nothing more meaningful in life than that.”

"How did she know?" I am asking myself after finishing this book. How did she know everything I needed to hear?

In the description of Overcome Your Villains on NetGalley it says, "If you’ve ever felt alone, down, defeated, or discouraged—this book’s for you." Heather, I do not know if you realize how true that statement is!

I am in my first year of full-time entrepreneurship and solely working for myself, and this book feels like the road map I needed. Heather covers the highs and the lows from both a corporate stand-point, to life after. Heather (I feel like I know her, and that referring to her as Monahan just feels impersonal after this read!) details the real, gritty and not always pretty path to achieving some of her most notable accomplishments. Those accomplishments include keynote speaking, having incredible podcasts guests, BEING a podcast guest on incredible shows, giving a TedX talk and basically everything else I have on my vision board right now.

I feel as though Heather was holding my hand throughout this book, personally invested in my future, like the female role model I never had. Except...now, I do. 

If you are looking to take the leap into being your own boss, read this book. If your friend is taking that leap, give them this book! If you, or a loved one just got fired from a job...you guessed it, read this book. It shows you that there is always something better awaiting, and that anyone can achieve it.

This was a great self help and advice book.

Premise

Whether you’re facing the glass ceiling, a toxic work environment, or anything in between, limit-breaking female founder Heather Monahan’s 3-Step BAK process will help you evaluate and eliminate any outside or self-defeating blockers between where you are now and where you deserve to be.

It focuses on the things that hold us back or we presume to be the villains in our lives and gives us the tools and skill set to overcome those obstacles on the path to being our best selves.

A few years ago I went through some transitions in life and stumbled over a podcast with Heather Monahan. That was a defining moment in my life. Her message about how she was treated when she lost her job helped me a lot, I had a similar experience.

With Overcome Your Villains, Monahan is brutally honest and authentic in her warm and heartfelt writing. Her stories speaks volumes and so does her conclusions and the lessons she teaches. I am so proud of her for sharing the journey with the rest of us. Anyone that has had a tough time in life and want the winning mindset back should read this book.

Thank You for writing this book, the world needs this message.

I would give it 10 stars out of 5 if i only could.

I'm going to come right out and say it. I love this book by Heather Monahan. It was more than 'a good read', I found it inspirational, motivational and truly made me dig deep on my own self awareness of emotions and feelings.

I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced digital copy, but my analogue copy is still on order awaiting the November 9th, 2021 launch date - and I am so looking forward to sitting down with it again in paper form, and making full use of the margins and the exercises provided to make a lasting resource on my journey forward.

Like many in the world, I 'was fired', with the very real trauma, self doubt, financial worries, long job search, depressing days, and sleepless nights that comes along with an unexpected 'walking out' by Human Resources. In my case, I was also 'downsized' a few years later, so went through these same turbulent emotions all over again.

This perhaps is why Heather's book, Overcome Your Villains so resonates with me on a personal level, as in both cases, there were external villains and the ever present internal villain in my case. However, it is on the intellectual level that I am truly overwhelmed and astonished at the same time. Heather was able to pull experiences from her life, outline not only her coping mechanisms for those experiences, but with poise and finesse in her writing, has identified and reiterated those learnable and transferable skills. These same skills that she documents as using over and over, building upon, and improving with each additional challenge that was thrown at her, are captured and summarized for the reader to absorb and make personal application with.

And so, whether you are new or old, self employed, an entrepreneur, or looking to take that next step, or perhaps you identify with someone in your life that is a villain personified - this book, in my opinion, can help.

This book is an amazing resource to help you tap into your personal greatness.  Heather's actionable guidance is a game changer for anyone looking to live their best life- both personally and professionally!

Disclaimer - I know the author personally and I am a huge fan!! That being said, this is an unbiased review....I was simply blown away by this book. From start to finish. She was so open and honest and spoke about some things that I know were extremely hard for her to share, but in doing that, made herself vulnerable and relatable on so many levels. In addition to opening up personally and sharing so many stories which really shape the book, integrating the BAK concept and giving tangible examples on how to use them make this book extremely useful for every day use. The key takeaways at the end of the chapters are super helpful so that the reader can go back again and again to remind themselves how to implement these strategies.
One thing that really stuck out for me was the concept of "neutral thinking." So many times we hear "stay positive" over and over - I am guilty of saying this frequently. But sometimes you just have to keep it neutral and that is a wonderful thing because it makes what you are going for more realistic and attainable.
I really appreciated the honesty, humor and practicality of this book - a wonderful read!!!

Wow! Just another mind blowing example of how believing in yourself and taking charge of your own life can really change it for the best. Taking steps to move forward, launching ideas before they are perfect! Heather is an example of how a strong women can transition from one career to her life's purpose in just a few short years when we are pushed out of careers that are not for us.

Wow what a great read! Heather’s story and the way she tells it is so inspiring and entertaining. I really enjoyed reading it and listening to her podcast as well. I recommend this book to everyone!