“Everything is Figureoutable” by Marie Forleo
It is perhaps a bit unfair that this book was written after hundreds of self-help books before it.
It comes after the many brilliant ideas and insights from its predecessors, from the GOAT Dale Carnegie to the life-changing Anthony Robbins; from the guru Sadhguru to the philosopher Ryan Holiday; from the quirky Eric Barker and Mark Mason to the financially serious Morgan Housel; from the doctor Mark Hyman to the biohacker Dave Asprey; even from the OG con-artist Napoleon Hill to the modern-day [proven] fraud Robert Kiyosaki; and of course not to mention the contemporary self-help podcasters such as Jim Kwik, Tim Ferriss, Lewis Howes, Tom Bilyeu, Vishen Lakhiani, Jay Shetty; and the business-minded Simon Sinek, Brene Brown, and Adam Grant. And these are only the ones that made it to the top of the chain.
So what makes Marie Forleo stands out in the saturated self-help industry and perhaps be among this particular crowd? One catchphrase: Everything is figuroutable.
And this is where the book starts, the story of Forleo’s mother, who had a relatively tough life but can survive due to her resourcefulness. It is obvious where Forleo gets the idea of figureoutable from, and the short story made me initially hooked.
The book then proceeded to tell stories of everyday people confronting losses, illnesses, and pains; which are inspiring. It is a light enough read, but with weighted wisdom. It inspires, without pushing too much of its ideas. My favourite story got to be the story of Tererai, a child bride from rural Zimbabwe who struggled her way up from being a young mother of 5 constantly being beaten by her husband, to taught herself how to read, and after enduring hunger and hardship managed to eventually earn a PhD in the US and becoming a champion of African women’s education. Her life’s motto: Tinogona (it is achievable).
However, although the main figuroutable premise of the book is refreshing and the stories are intriguing, every other thing in the book are borrowed cliches from the self-help genre. There’s the usual mix: the story of putting a man on the moon, life-coach-styled chants, cringy action-points, and of course journaling complete with daily affirmations. With catchphrases such as your beliefs determine your destiny, train your brain to avoid destructive thoughts, and the encouragement to avoid distractions and be more productive. It even have testimonial boxes at the end of every chapter, from women (all of them are women) who are moved and grateful that Forleo has helped them.
And although Forleo’s personal stories give an intimate flavour to the book, they are contrasting the stories between the harsh struggles of other people and unemphatically highlighting Forleo’s privileges in her own journey to success. I mean, quitting from a job at the New York Stock Exchange (which she never explained how she got it) and rejecting an offer to work at Vogue magazine to create a life-coaching business at a young age of 23 are not necessarily rags to riches.
Another example is the Malala Yousafzai story in the book to inspire you to do your calling without fear – where Malala champions girls’ education with the risk of fury from the Taliban – but then contrasted later when Forleo is complaining about the fact that she and her actor boyfriend “had been together for seven years and not once had we taken a vacation together… I sat in our therapist’s office feeling angry, scared, and conflicted. From my point of view, one of the things I loved – my career – was threatening the relationship with the man I loved.”
I mean, I get the sentiment about finding your true calling and the difficulties to have a work-life balance, but her personal stories are poorly spread in between other harsher stories that dilute the appeal and make them look more like a humble brag (she eventually went on a vacation to Barcelona with her boyfriend, a story told in the book not long after the story about a woman who helped to end Liberia’s civil war).
Hence, the book could easily be a thin but masterclass book if only it focuses on the essentials, especially the chapters on fear and dismantling a damaging perfectionist trait. But instead it is standard-size length but with a lot of unnecessary noises, repetitions, humble-brag personal stories, and cliches in between that look a lot like a summary of previous self-help books.
So perhaps if the hundreds of self-help books before it did not exist, what is left in this book is only an overstretched essay around the concept of “everything is figuroutable” (which can easily be an article), and how she became a “multipassionate entrepreneur” (which is an ego fest). A truly chaotic mixed bag of great and disaster.
THE CHAOS THEORY 