Sophia Allen
Lantern Staff
“A Bawse is like a boss, but so epic I had to change the spelling,” explains Lilly Singh, Canadian YouTuber turned author and ultimate Bawse, in a video promoting her new book. “A Bawse exudes confidence, turns heads and hustles relentlessly.”
How to be a Bawse is a self-help book and a guide to conquering life, no shortcuts or fluffy quotes. The book is divided into four parts, each containing several chapters covering a step on the way to Bawseness. Each part has an illustration showing the step, a photo before each chapter and a section called “Out of the Blue.” “Out of the Blue” compares Singh’s inner thoughts from 2009, when she was suffering from depression, with 2015, when she had 5.4 million subscribers that knew her for being “a nice, positive unicorn.” Since then, the numbers have grown (almost 11.5 million), and Singh is on her second world tour.
Singh starts the book with “Master Your Mind.” She talks about anything and everything related to the brain and emotions, using her experiences as examples. She uses creative analogies and processes to show how to analyze emotions and control one’s reaction, discusses how to ignore emotions when they aren’t convenient and when to step back and think. She includes rather serious topics, all while retaining a cheerful tone and including jokes.
The next section, “Hustle Harder,” is about focusing on goals and avoiding distractions. Singh gets straight to the point: you just have to get it done and give it your all. She talks about how to overcome obstacles such as lack of inspiration and she once again she uses her personal experiences as examples.
In part three, “Make Heads Turn,” Singh explains how to stand out and have an unforgettable presence. Using her standard humor, she teaches that in order to stand out, people need to be themselves and their projects should be reflective of themselves as well. She talks about the struggles she faced while planning her first tour. Singh explains that obstacles aren’t your fault, and that a Bawse works around them.
Singh closes the book with “Be a Unicorn” in which she talks about having strong values and positively impacting others. She discusses how kindness affects success and how important it is to not stray from values. Her most important lesson, however, is to remember that there will always be a bigger Bawse.
Overall, Singh did an amazing job at translating her video personality into a book and keeping the tone light while discussing relatively serious topics. Each chapter is amazingly unique while also building off of previous chapters and lessons. “How to be a Bawse” is a must-read for readers of any preference.