Jodi Moreo recently wrote a book for Stephens Press entitled, You Are More Than Enough: Every Woman’s Guide to Purpose, Passion & Power. She wants about $24.95 for a copy of it. I, like any other self-respecting consumer, first wanted to know what qualifies Ms. Moreo to write such an all-encompassing tome, and, more so, why I should pay $24.95 for this all-encompassing knowledge.
Turns out Ms. Moreo works as a “performance enhancement specialist” and serves as president of a Las Vegas-based company dabbling in the same vocation. Her authority stems from studying “the lives and habits of highly motivated and successful people” for over 25 years. She also used to be a model. Other than these facts, I couldn’t find much else that would make her any more of an expert on “purpose, passion, and power” than anyone else. But, recognizing that wisdom looms in the seasoned and articulate—regardless of their per se qualifications—I stood ready to learn from Moreo. After all, President Andrew Johnson never had a lick of formal educations, and Americans let him lead the free world.
Moreo’s grandiose claims for heart of the book got me even more pumped. In the very first sentence of the foreword, Moreo writes, “Readers, you are in for a treat.” The introduction added fuel to the fire with, “[by reading this book] you will go through a whole range of emotions. You may cry. You may laugh. You may get angry.” Ah, “emotive, provocative,” I thought.
Indeed, Moreo reaches out to her targeted crowd with this litany: “Did you think you would be more successful by now? Do you want something, but don’t know what it is? Are you struggling with finding your life purpose? Are you disappointed and discouraged with where you are or where you seem to be headed? Do you feel like you were created for something more, but you just don’t know what?”
In her chapters, “Realize Who You Are,” “Explore Your Possibilities,” and “Make Life Work For You,” Moreo attempts to instill such lessons as practicing positivism and ceasing self criticism, with such subheadings as “Stop demanding perfection from yourself,” “Be yourself,” “Give up the fear.”
The problem with Moreo’s book tends to be that she doesn’t present any real or even insightful solutions to these rather obvious barriers to success, such as low self esteem and a bad attitude. Her treatment of depression proves instructive. She writes, “If you are caught up in depression, get some therapy right away…this is not how you should live.” Yep, that’s all she writes. The rest of the book echoes this pattern, presenting rather abecedarian problems without a solution, or worse, with an unsound one.
Without studies, professional experience or knowledge, and rich examples, Moreo’s book doesn’t do any more for a reader than five minutes of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” would. Sure, Moreo might have had some challenging life experiences and learned from them…but haven’t we all?
Something striking about reading this book—that I don’t usually find—concerned its format, which I found incredibly distracting. First, the book is littered with pictures of stars, the celestial variety. The front cover, every chapter page, and even the built-in book mark has big, ebullient stars. This took away the seriousness of the book and made it seem even kitschier.
Second, the format of the book contained large, extremely long paragraphs. For example, it wasn’t unusual for a paragraph to take up nearly half or whole page, and when one reads the fluff that’s in this book, it’s overwhelming.
That being said, the book wasn’t all bad. It’s certainly not viable as a scholarly work, profound treatise, or unique literary piece. Perhaps as a graduation gift or a book used for refocusing a person on what they already know and believe to be true, it holds some weight.
For example, each chapter has a little “workbook” section wherein a reader can write or participate in an exercise, such as the “realization exercise” or “imagination expansion exercise” in furtherance of the chapter’s goal. Some exercises could be valuable; however others were merely nominal, such as the “Establish Your Look Exercise,” which is just a place to write down a “Shopping List.” Even worse, some exercises were downright ridiculous, like the “Overcoming Obstacles Exercise,” where the author instructs the reader to “[g]ive yourself a gold star for [each obstacle in your life] you have overcome.”
Finally, be forewarned that one should not recommend this book to a business colleague or anyone that is not an intimate or close relation, for two reasons. The first reason—you may risk insulting someone’s intelligence.
This book, as previously mentioned, contains extremely basic information about business, personhood, and life. How would someone feel knowing that you’ve recommended or given them a copy of a book that contains such admonishments as “hold doors for handicapped persons, senior citizens, and people carrying packages” and “women of taste have an appearance of freshness.”?
Similarly, Moreo makes some comments that either demonstrate her lack of thoughtfulness or her abundance of snobbery. My mouth (literally) dropped when I read the following passages: “As I travel around the world, I am astounded at the lack of importance many people place on their teeth. Good grief. There are whole cultures of people out there with ugly mouths. Your teeth are part of your smile.” And, “Crossing your legs when sitting makes the legs look larger and can cut off the circulation to your top leg. This can cause your leg to fall asleep. If the circulation is cut off often enough and long enough, it can lead to, or aggravate, varicose veins.” Oh my, varicose veins and ugly mouths!
The second reason one should exercise caution is squarely summed up in Moreo’s Chapter 12, “Achieve Power Through Faith.” Although Moreo makes the compulsory, politically correct statement about inclusive spirituality, she does unequivocally explain that her creator is “God” and she runs with it, writing, “Once you accept that there is a higher power and find your own expression of your faith, you will be amazed at what your belief will do for your confidence.” (Emphasis in original.) Of course, the chapter doesn’t use anything but Christian parlance in “God’s answer, not yours” and “God’s law is always working.” As such, I would caution any recommendation or citation to this book to anyone other than one strongly practicing in the Christian faith. As such, this book again strikes out a book that can be used in business practice.
I suggest skipping the 256 pages of this book, pocketing your $25 bucks, and calling your mom or another wise woman in your life instead. I can almost assure you you’ll get more out of the experience than you would by reading this book.
