HAPPY IS COOL.

Professional life coach Brocato’s (Manage Yourself, 2011, etc.) third self-help book describes how to achieve “coolness” by cultivating positive traits that engender happiness.
The concept of coolness changes at different stages of life. High schoolers may be preoccupied with wearing eyeliner, for example, while adults may be consumed by their desires to have families and contribute to their communities. This book shows that wherever one is on the spectrum, coolness is fundamentally about having self-confidence based on genuine achievements, which allows one to feel good and project happiness to others. In a conversational style, Brocato presents a single idea at the beginning of each chapter, such as “Empathize with Others” or “Limit Your Worry,” and then delineates precisely what it means. For “Respect Everyone,” for example, he writes, “No one in this world is better than anyone else. Someone might be the president of the United States, or a scratch golfer, or a billionaire, but he or she is no better than any one of us as a person or spiritual being. Every single person in this world deserves the utmost respect.” He groups these ideas into sets of five, and then reviews them in “Visioning Coaching Keys” sections, which invite readers to answer specific questions (“What would your life be like if you took more time to think before you spoke? Would your relationships be stronger?”). The book’s warm, good-natured approach to life leads to solid, if unoriginal, advice, and Brocato’s examples of “cool” moments, such as trusting one’s gut feelings in matters of love and risk-taking, are inspiring without being groundbreaking. That said, the book’s broad advice will help readers who are willing to put the work into understanding their own desires. It also offers them the comfort of knowing that by honoring such values, they’ll eventually attain a feeling that’s far more desirable than the chilly, removed perspective traditionally associated with being “cool.”
A straightforward, concise self-help guide for readers who have the courage to trust their own feelings.