Bigger, Better, Bolder: Live the Life You Want, Not the Life You Get

This upbeat manual by Habits & Hustle podcaster Cohen (Strong Is the New Skinny) provides guidance on achieving one’s goals. She outlines 16 principles for living a “richer, fuller life,” including “choose a direction, not a destination” and “be obsessively curious.” Urging readers to believe in themselves, Cohen recommends building confidence by completing “small, bold” tasks, which can be as minor as asking for extra ketchup from a server or as consequential as negotiating a better mortgage. She advocates for simplifying one’s lifestyle to reduce “decision fatigue,” and to that end endorses developing routines, planning meals, and completing difficult tasks early in the day when one has the most energy. Cohen sometimes struggles to find evidence supporting her advice, as when she posits that naivete can be a strength and recounts how musician Jewel negotiated her first record contract while homeless at age 19, but then notes that Jewel “went to the library and did her research” beforehand, raising the question of whether someone who educated themselves can actually be called naive. Readers in need of a boost will find it here, even if some of the recommendations don’t check out. (Dec.)