How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life

by Lilly Singh

It’s all about how you feel in the clothes you wear. If you’re uncomfortable in your clothes, you likely won’t be confident, no matter how impressive the brands you’re wearing.

It’s also important to dress the part. If you’re going out for a fun evening, make sure you’re dressed in clothes that make you FEEL fun.

Believe it or not, clothes can evoke certain emotions in us.

POWER POSES Before you go to an event and/or meet new people, look in the mirror for a few minutes and do some power poses.

Looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing yourself the way you want other people to see you is a great way to inspire confidence. LISTEN TO YOUR JAMS Listen to music that makes you feel confident and powerful.

This may seem like a minor thing, but listening to music that pumps you up will send signals to your brain and set a certain tone.

SPEAK IN STATEMENTS When you speak to people, make sure you’re speaking at an audible volume. Speaking softly will make you seem less confident. Another tip: unless you’re actually asking a question, don’t sound uncertain. Start strong and end strong. Say things as if everyone really wants to hear them. Just make sure you give everyone else a chance to speak too!

BODY LANGUAGE Body language can often speak louder than words. Crossing your arms or putting your hands in your pockets will make you seem unapproachable.

If you aren’t directly facing someone while they are talking to you, it will seem like you’re...

Whenever you do anything with your body, I want you to feel purposeful and powerful. Stand as if someone is creating a ...

If you say what you mean, you don’t need someone to edit your words. Your feelings are authentic to you and therefore don’t need revision.

There’s great beauty in speaking in straight lines.

Bawse doesn’t make empty gestures; a Bawse says what they actually mean.

Communication should be relatively easy, but we often make things complicated by not saying what we mean. We convince ourselves that we need to sugarcoat things to such a degree that our actual message ends up buried in sprinkles.

“Say what you mean, but don’t say it mean.” Being straightforward doesn’t mean you have to be rude or harsh. There’s always a way to be open and honest while also being respectful. Anyone who behaves otherwise is just being lazy.

This mentality is particularly helpful when you need to confront someone.

No matter what the situation is, it’s always tempting to rehearse dialogue so that you say what you think you’re supposed to say.

Bawses don’t just say things; they communicate with purpose.

We’re so used to communicating at a surface level that we often underestimate the power of communicating on a deeper, more human level.

instead of forcing people to read between the lines, you can allow them to read the actual lines, which saves everyone a lot of time and energy.

Communication shouldn’t be a guessing game.

It should be productive and stra...

Concluding that your failures and shortcomings are caused by other people and situations is a great way to give up all of your power. It’s also a great way to take the easy route in life and draw attention away from any real issues that need resolving.

“Nothing ever works out for me,” the real problem is that they’re unwilling to change something or try a different tactic. Or when people say “everyone is against me,” the real problem is that they aren’t willing to see things from a different point of view. In reality, people are too busy worrying about themselves to devise some master plan to destroy you.

“There is no wrong or right. There’s just different.”

Realizing that you have a weakness everyone but you can see is a tough pill to swallow. It’s difficult to believe and it’s even harder to fix. But a Bawse knows that accepting a weakness is the first step to strengthening that part of you.

it made more sense to adjust my behavior. It’s about working with what’s in your control

At the end of the day, we’re all reactive beings. We react to the environment we’re in. So if several people are reacting negatively to you in the same exact way, maybe it’s because you’re doing something to cause that reaction.

it’s clear that the majority of failed relationships are caused by one thing: having different priorities.

What we need to remember is that priorities are like opinions, because everyone has different ones. AND, most importantly, priorities are not facts.

priorities are not facts. This means that they cannot be right or wrong; they’re simply different.

If you absolutely cannot accept someone else’s priorities, that’s a good indication that maybe you’re not the best fit for each other. After all, sometimes we base our expectations of people based on what we want them to prioritize. As with all expectations, you risk disappointment. But if you can learn to work with people in a way that doesn’t make them feel like they have to sacrifice everything they care about, you’ll go a long way.

A Bawse knows how wonderful it feels when someone respects your priorities.

If two people get to care about their priorities in addition to caring about each other, that’s a win.

So don’t just assume everyone cares about what you

care ...