Roxie Nafousi’s Confidence sets out to be an empowering and accessible guide for anyone seeking to build self-worth. With a warm tone and clear structure, she offers eight steps that promise to help readers reconnect with themselves, overcome limiting beliefs, and develop confidence from within. While the author’s intention is sincere and many of the exercises she proposes are useful in their own right, the book ultimately lacks depth, originality, and critical engagement with the subject matter.
Much of the content feels like a remix of familiar ideas from the self-help canon. Practices such as affirmations, visualization, setting boundaries, and identifying personal values are standard fare in personal development literature. That’s not inherently negative—these tools can be powerful—but Nafousi doesn’t bring new insight or perspective to them. Instead, she repackages well-known advice in a polished, easy-to-digest format without challenging the reader or offering much that hasn’t already been said elsewhere.
One irritation came along when she drifted into esoteric metaphors that substitute for deeper psychological understanding. For example, she claims that interpersonal friction is simply a matter of people being “on different frequencies,” and that not everyone is energetically aligned. While such language may resonate with a spiritually inclined audience, it oversimplifies complex social and emotional dynamics. These explanations sidestep more grounded insights from psychology or sociology and end up feeling superficial.
Another recurring issue is the heavy reliance on her own life as the primary source of examples. Nearly every key point is illustrated by a story from her podcast, one of her seminars, or her personal journey—often ending with subtle promotion of her own offerings. While personal experience can be a valid narrative tool, the frequency and format here feel more like self-branding than storytelling. The anecdotes are often trivial or overly curated, and they lack the narrative or emotional richness needed to truly inspire.
The design of the book further contributes to this sense of curation. The text is broken up by frequent pull quotes, bullet points, and boxed affirmations—visually more akin to a self-help website or PDF workbook than a flowing narrative. While this may appeal to casual readers or those looking for quick takeaways, it undermines the sense of intellectual and emotional continuity.
By the final chapters, repetition sets in—particularly with regard to visualization, which is covered multiple times without substantial new insight. This redundancy might not bother every reader, but it contributes to the overall impression that the book is stretched thin over its 200 pages.
That said, it’s important to note that the exercises included in each chapter are well structured and effective when done seriously. They guide readers through meaningful self-reflection, and for someone new to this kind of inner work, they can be genuinely helpful. The real value of the book lies less in its theory and more in the practical application of its prompts.
In the end, Confidence will likely resonate with readers who are new to self-help or who connect personally with Roxie Nafousi’s voice and brand. But for anyone looking for deeper psychological insight, a more diverse range of perspectives, or intellectually challenging content, the book may feel repetitive, overly curated, and light on substance. It’s a well-intentioned and occasionally useful introduction—but not a transformative or essential one.