Show Up: Mindset, motivation and creating your dream life

by Tammy Hembrow

Have you ever wondered what you could achieve if you knew how to show up as your best, strongest self every day?

Tammy Hembrow knew she wanted to make an impact on the world – and do it her way, as her own boss.

Since founding Tammy Fit and Saski and becoming a mum aged 20, Tammy has had her share of ups and downs. But through it all she’s held strong on her values and motivations, and used a positive mindset to create a life she adores.

Now, as she runs two multi-million-dollar businesses, raises three young kids and continues investing in her relationships, health and fitness, Tammy reveals what she’s learned about keeping everything balanced – while staying grounded and happy.

In her first book, Tammy explains how she approaches and balances the big life

- Work
- Relationships
- Movement
- Nourishment
- Parenting
- Challenges
- Development
- Celebration

Through candid stories from the behind-the-scenes of her life, Tammy shares her secrets about setting goals, building habits, staying motivated, embracing vulnerability and having fun.

Written with Tammy’s characteristic warmth, energy and sense of humour, Show Up is filled with practical takeaways you can apply whenever you need a boost to drive you closer to your dreams.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction

297 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 16, 2024

Reviews

[Ally Marov · Rating 1 out of 5]

”Not wasting energy pretending to be someone you're not is an amazing gift of freedom.
Imagine how much more you'll be able to do with your life when all that worry is redirected to making your dreams come true. All you have to do is be you”.

✨1 star✨

Just finished the book… to sum up, thank God! It’s finally done 😪

As a follower of Tammy Hembrow, when she announced she was coming out with a book, I was surprised.
In her YouTube vlog, EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!!! Follow me around vlog, Hembrow mentions that the book talks about:
”the ups and downs throughout my life… things I’ve experienced… parenting… my family, my relationships. It talks about pretty much everything, a little bit of everything”.

Going into this book, I thought this would be an autobiography mixed in with some self-help strategies/activities… well, needless to say, I was disappointed.

In the beginning, she says she’s just a “regular Aussie girl at heart”… you’re not just a regular Aussie girl. You’re an Insta-celebrity with two successful businesses, lapping it up in luxury on the Gold Coast.

The amount of mentions of her stepdad’s library when she and her family were living in Singapore was almost enough to make me DNF this book. Like, I get it, if you didn’t stumble upon that library, you probably wouldn’t have been the person you are today.

Then, the amount of cheesy quote and little Instagram/journal-esque quotes, some honourable mentions being:

1.’You are what you eat, think and do’
2.’Procrastination is literally a waste of time’
3.’Okay, a little glitz and glam is fun’

I didn’t get what the point of half of them were.
As I mentioned in one of the updates, I watched a BookTok review on The Diary of A CEO by Steven Bartlett, which also had pointless quotes IN. THE. SAME. EXACT. FONT!!! Something’s telling me that Tammy is trying to be like the Aussie female version of Bartlett… 👀👀

There may be more thoughts but I’ll just wrap up this review here.

Overall, this book felt like it was a bit of a cash grab (glad I got my physical copy from a street library and used my Spotify audiobook hours to get through it because I would’ve been pissed off if I spent money on this 🤣).
Also, seeing as there were so many activities, I felt this book probably would’ve worked out better if it was in a journal/workbook format… regardless, never again 🤷🏽‍♀️

[Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

“You’re not perfect, you never were and you never will be, and that’s perfectly okay” ??!

[Abbey Jennings · Rating 1 out of 5]

Save yourself the read and don’t read it x

[charlies.bookshelf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really expected more from this book, I thought it would have more insight into Tammy’s life however it was a lot of really small chapters (1-2 pages with added random quotes that took up an entire page or snippets from her IG captions, followed by workbook questions) and there didn’t appear to have any actual structure or timeline.

I’m not even sure what the purpose of this book was. It felt quite tone-deaf and way out of touch with reality. The constant mentioning of her stepdad’s library as well as recycled quotes from other authors irritated me a bit. She even added in the SAS “Who Dares Wins” as a quote and I really struggle to see how she can even relate to this meaning or if she even knows that it comes from the SAS…

Super let down as I’ve followed Tammy since 2015 and thought this would be way more in depth about her as a person rather than a random assortment of “motivational” quotes. It barely even went into depth about how she started her businesses and there was hardly any detail about her struggles or success with this all. There is nothing I would take away from this book in regard to being motivating sadly.

[Mia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not trying to hate but seems like there’s a few lies in this book, for example at the beginning she brags about how much she likes to read, but i’ve been a huge fan of hers since wolf was born & i remember her saying in vlogs etc that she barely read. why lie Tammy? That’s just one of many lies.

[Samantha // fictionfigurine]

WHAT! I must have this! Tammy do you need arc readers??? 🫶🏼

[Clauds · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished in one sitting however, it was repetitive and an accumulation of cliche quotes. Wouldn’t recommend as a self help book

[POPPY · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shit book, very superficial and full of ego.

[Emily🧚‍♀️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a few thoughts on this one.
I found this relatively motivational for every day life and an interesting enough read, however I think that it is not relevant for anyone interested in business or entrepreneurship. In my wholehearted opinion I don’t think Tammy has any relevant advice for these people and her brand was successful because of pretty privilege in the right place and time. And her saying that she didn’t have luxuries growing up is a bit rich considering she also talks about her step dads library every 5 chapters, and living in singapore and how easy and accessible travelling was and continues to be for her.

[Narm Lawrence · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wish there was a 0 star rating. I never have high expectations for self-help books but this one was a total flop. It came from a place of privilege, whiteness and able-ness and and the 'profound words of wisdom' seemed like common sense, revelations that I myself had at about 9 years old. Don't waste your time with this one.

I even read it twice to see whether I'd missed the point, but I hadn't. Just wasted my time twice.

[Jessenia Del Carpio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concepts and take home messages. She is definitely not an author and it shows.

[Shayla Spiteri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this was such a disappointing book. She did not go into the depths of anything. It was all very surface level. Doesn’t go about her personal life which is what people were wanting to read and get to know more. I feel like everything that she spoke about, we already knewI wouldn’t look at this as a self-help inspirational book. I felt to be a biography but it fell short very very short.

[Sinead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it was a bit more surface level than expected and written quite simply, I still have a newfound respect for the life she’s built for herself, particularly running multiple businesses through pregnancies/raising kids. I feel like she doesn’t get enough credit for that

[Kayla Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first ever self help book, loved it. Resonated deeply with where my head is at the moment. Love Tammy 🥰

[Sam With Veggies · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this but I feel like it was surface level. It would have been better if it were abit more deep, and expressive. It’s a book, recounting experiences is supported to take up room with words. And this book just doesn’t. The lessons are good though.

[Ratbag · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be super basic in terms of content, writing, structure- the lot. There weren't any real pearls of wisdom and think it's a far cry 'personal development' book for people who read this kind of genre. A lot of the advice was very straight forward and obvious- but hey, maybe that's just my experience of the world and someone who doesn't have the same background might find this super helpful. She danced around topics which would've appreciated further expansion- it felt very elusive and not worth making note of it it didn't go into the topic. I really didn't like how broken up the book was. Every second page had a quote or an activity or a title page that disrupted the flow of the book, and made it appear very novice, as if there wasn't actually much to write about and instead fill out the book with random pages. I really wanted to appreciate the book, I really did. I think Tammy is such an awesome example to follow in terms of career, business, discipline, fitness- but I think really missed the mark for me here.

[Liv James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easy read, not the most thrilling of books. Also, not the most believable ($400 to entrepreneur, without any assistance from her rich Step-Dad, or semi famous dad??). In addition to the above, there’s annoying instagram captions being inserted along with emoji’s taking up full pages which was so unnecessary, clearly wanting to fill the book up to hit a certain amount of pages.

[Chloe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this book because I've followed Tammy since she had her son Wolf but this book fell short with my expectations. I think, like others, we all expected a look into her personal relationships and life but we didn't get anything that we don't already know. Maybe good for those that don't follow her, though. Tammy did lead us on and I understand it was to sell her book but it's made her look like a scammer. Nothing about that Kylie Jenner party collapse that made her well known, no names mentioned anywhere, although in interviews she said there was more information in book. What you read in tabloids is what you will read in her book. All she said about Reece was basically that he worked all the time and left her to raise the 2 kids on her own. That again, wasn't what we expected from the interviews. Some may not know she was born into wealth, her bio dad being a well known Australian actor/ producer/ writer and director and her stepfather being a multi millionaire international entrepreneur, whom she grew up with living in different countries and attending private schooling. Honestly I'm glad I bought it with gift voucher. It was kind of boring and repetitive with the business side of the book, which was 90%, maybe more.

[Tash Lansborough · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did anyone have trouble with the timeline of events? She claimed to be a teenage mum at 19 but she had Wolf at 21. I don't understand why she would lie about something so obvious. And I remember so well the feuding between her and Reece Hawkins after the split. It's all over the news still. But she claims she's had great co parenting relationship with her kids fathers. She even unfollowed and made a childish TikTok towards her third baby's father, Matt Poole, when he announced his new girlfriend after their split. Who is Tammy trying to reach out to? It's not her fans because we all know these details. So many inconsistencies. And claiming to be poor when she lived a life of privilege is tone deaf. Her bio dad lead a simple life, not a poor life. He's a millionaire. Currumbin Valley has always been prime real estate, even back then. They lived there by choice, not because they were poor. She painted herself in a completely different life to what she's painted on Instagram. The book is cheesy. Might motivate someone who lives by quotes and manifestion but its no use to anyone else.

[Tamara Bodsworth-Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Love/ hate relationship with this book. Use to follow Tammy back in the days when she started out with her first fiance. Followed her journey until her engagement ended. She became too much after that, unrelatable and unlikable. If you're a book lover, you aren't going to like the way it's written. Alot of mumbo jumbo that really had nothing to do with how she actually started her business. And then we get onto that, she didn't even explain how. It's like someone else set the business up for her and she had no clue how to run it or explain it in the book. Inconsistencies, as others have said and obvious lies covering the truth. Nothing about the Kardashians if you are after the gossip, she's obviously too afraid of being sued for mentioning their name. I've given lowest score because it wasn't what she advertised. I find that misleading and a cash grab and I'm disappointed I wasted my money on it, even though it was Big W cheap (discounted actually).

[Tilly Swanston · Rating 1 out of 5]

This definitely isn't written by Tammy. Tammy seems more intelligent than how this is written. I bought it on the notion that she was going to go into depth about her personal life and relationships along the way. I learnt nothing than what she's already told us over the years. Quite puzzled by a few stories about her first fiance, that contradict what she has told us and news outlets have reported. Not sure who is telling the truth. Then she says she's never had lip filler. Its extremely obvious via old photos and new photos that she has had alot over the years. So I'm going to base my review on the fact that there are alot of lies in this book. Very disappointing. She could have used this to set the record straight, especially with that party and the Kardashians.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved reading about Tammy’s life. She has overcome a lot of criticism throughout her career, and has always remained true to her core values and beliefs. I really valued points on life being your own journey, with your ‘timeline’ not needing be to compared to anyone. I believe this would be a great book for young mums to read, as Tammy really shows that you can still have a successful career while also having children. You don’t need to have this choice of one or the other.

I don’t think the book needed the activities throughout, as the text was motivational and inspiring enough. There were a few grammar mistakes throughout the book, which I found annoying, maybe it needed further editing.

[Nycel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve been following Tammy since her pregnancy with Wolf, and I truly admire her, for her success across business, family, and romance is nothing short of inspiring. I love her to death, but as someone who has read a fair share of self-help books, I wouldn’t recommend Show Up to someone genuinely seeking in-depth guidance on “mindset, motivation, or building their dream life.”

That said, I did enjoy completing the reflection prompts throughout the book. They encouraged me to think more deeply about ideas I’ve been holding onto. Particularly the “backup” side hustles I’ve kept simmering in the backseat of my mind. Those moments of self-reflection were worthwhile.

[Rebecca Grandahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this more, and was hoping for her to go deeper and be more vulnerable - I feel like that is what writing a book is for. It all felt really shallow though, and I don't understand why there are random instagram captions/quotes placed in a weird way throughout the book (I don't think print books need to include copy and pasted emojis??). I did appreciate the actionable exercises at the end of each chapter. But overall, it felt pretty out of touch and didn't dig into a lot of what I thought it would.

[Angela Veljanoska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tammy Hembrow shared her tips and advice on how to achieve your goals and live the life you want. I thought this was a really good and easy-to-read book. She shares a bit more insight into her personal life and how she has been able to navigate through some hardships. While I found some of the chapters a bit short and broad, I thought this would be a great book for some extra advice and provides tips on manifestation and making your dream life happen.

[Mina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! I got some helpful tips. It is very common little sayings. However still helpful. Tips such as if you’re not in immediate danger letting your anxiety know that you got this and take a breather when trying something new. Tips like internally validating yourself rather than waiting for external validation. Also always remaining grateful. And my favorite rewarding yourself for the big and little wins!

[Tilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have followed Tammy for years and was so curious by her autobiography, was not expecting it to be half autobiography half self help book but I was pleasantly surprised! I found each chapter having a little self help activity at the end a really fun addition. I do wish she had dug a little deeper and fleshed out the chapters a bit more as some of them only barely scraped the surface but the most perfect read for a month like January!

[Alessandra Masciarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an incredible and inspiring book. I’m 21, I’ve followed Tammy since I was 12 when she was first starting out on Instagram and didn’t have many followers. I have always looked up to this girl she is honestly a powerhouse. As a mother, business owner and just an all round health guru she really is amazing and inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing your life with us Tam 💗💗💗

[Renae Li · Rating 1 out of 5]

Took a while to get through. Isnt a book that keeps you captivated. Boring. I too was led on to believe it was about her personal life. I'm probably too old to know that Instagram posts lie. All the quotes I've read before on those gimmicky gift cards. I dont think the book is selling well, haven't seen the shelf empty

[Amy Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great mixture of memoir and self help. Tammy has given us an insight into what it takes to become an all round success in both your personal and business life. She has created two very successful businesses which I am a customer, she is a wonderful support for her community and she has helped change many peoples lives for the better. Highly recommend!