Dare to Be You: Defy Self-Doubt, Fearlessly Follow Your Own Path and Be Confidently You!

by Matthew Syed, Toby Triumph (Illustrator)

From the bestselling, award-winning author of You Are Awesome comes the much-anticipated follow-up, Dare to Be You .

What would you dare to try if you stopped worrying about fitting in?

If you're the kind of person who I don't like standing out from the crowd ... I wish I could be more like the cool kids ... There's no point trying to change things ... then this book is for you.

Because guess what? There's no such thing as normal.

Drawing examples from sport, science and even business, Dare to Be You empowers young readers to follow their own path, love what makes them different and question the world around them. With You Are Awesome 's trademark mix of hilarious text, stylish illustration, personal insights and inspiring real-life examples, including Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai, Matthew Syed introduces children to the power of diverse thinking.

When you stop doubting yourself, embrace change and let your kindness loose, you become your own action hero. This groundbreaking, practical and positive book will help kids develop the inner confidence to grow into happy adults who know - and, more importantly, LIKE - themselves.

Praise for You Are Awesome , children's book of the year 2019 and Sunday Times no. 1

"A very funny and inspiring read! Brilliantly practical with a wide variety of examples that make it relevant for both boys and girls (and adults)!" - Online customer review

"Genuinely funny and engaging ... It's a must read." - Online customer review

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2020

About the author

Matthew Syed is an author and highly acclaimed speaker in the field of high performance. He has written six bestselling books on the subject of mindset and high performance – Rebel Ideas, Bounce, Black Box Thinking, The Greatest, and his celebrated children’s books, You Are Awesome and The You Are Awesome Journal – and has worked with many leading organisations to build a mindset of continuous improvement. He is also a multi-award-winning journalist for The Times and a regular contributor to television and radio. In his previous career, Matthew was the England table tennis number one for almost a decade.

Matthew’s work explores a thought-provoking approach to high performance in the context of a complex and fast-changing world. By understanding the intimate connection between mindset and high performance, organisations can unlock untapped potential in individuals and teams, driving innovation and agility to secure a future-proofed environment.



Matthew is also co-founder of Matthew Syed Consulting (MSC); the company has worked with an impressive portfolio of clients to build growth mindset cultures and drive higher performance in individuals, teams and organisations. Matthew Syed Consulting’s cutting-edge thought leadership programme and digital learning tools are becoming a catalyst for real and lasting change within business and the public sector.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Update: July 2025

This book is incredibly bittersweet.
Yes, I'm exhausted but I'm also incredibly sad that my class are leaving next week.
I'm moving year groups too so I won't be reading this next year... New adventures ahead for all of us.
______________________________
THE book for transition - 4.5*

We first started reading this on Monday 14th May - that day was really significant for my class. It was the first Monday after SATs. Grumble and argue as much as you want but SATs is a thing. When we first opened this, we were returning to reality but it also became really obvious that it wasn't long left until my class go to secondary school. It's been 5 years since I was last in Year 6 and this year will be the first year where my class leaves but I stay.

This book was perfect in preparing my class for transition. Normalising anxiety and worries into something called Kid Doubt, ensuring the words spoken were backed up by research and setting this through the life story of Matthew Syed. I really hope my class took on some of the messages as they approach being a teenager and the pressures of secondary school. Dare to be you!

Side note: getting to the end of this book was kind of bittersweet for me. It means that our class novels are over and my class are leaving to bigger and better things. Like I said - it's bittersweet.

[Meerah (matching w Cupcake and Madam big bells) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to my school for giving us this book. It really helped






NOOOOOOTTTTTT

[Rebecca B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book for my 8 year old but at first she was reluctant to read it so I decided to read it myself. I do think this book has a lot of important messages about individuality and resilience, I didn't find it a particularly compelling read. I felt it relied a lot on personal anecdote, and was a little repetitive. I also disliked how the chapter on being kind focussed almost entirely on how being kind benefits you, not talking about being kind because it's the right thing to do and benefits others. I think there are similar books which are more effective at getting the message across but without the heavy focus on success and popularity. My daughter did skim read it eventually and said it's 'OK' but wouldn't tell me any more! Perhaps it would work better for older children.

[I _teach_muggles · Rating 5 out of 5]

As humans we have a need to fit in with those around us and conform to the norms of society. Growing up is all about trying to fit in at school, being accepted by the cool kids and not being singled out for being different. But what happens when we dare to be our true selves…

Matthew Syed wasn’t like the other kids at his school; he read The Hobbit, played table tennis and was obsessed with wearing tracksuits. Like Syed, I have found myself not really fitting in either. I started playing lawn bowls when I was fourteen. Now if you don’t know about lawn bowls, it is not the typical sport played by a teenager, you’re more likely to find a retired granny or grandad on the bowls green. I’m now thirty-nine and my hobbies include reading kids books and building things out of LEGO (and I still play lawn bowls), again perhaps not what you might think as ‘normal’ for a thirty-nine-year-old. I’d like to think I have dared to venture away from ‘normal’ and have done the things that I like without worrying about what others thought.

Dare To Be You is a celebration of individuality and uniqueness and features founders and leaders of global companies, Noble Prize winners and successful people from the world’s of sport, fashion, entertainment and politics. The one thing that all of these people have in common is that it is their differences and a willingness to stand out from the crowd that have made them who they are today.

Through personal anecdotes and details about his own journey, Syed explains to the reader that there really is no such thing as ‘normal’. What holds us back from being who really are or who we could be are our own worries. As Syed alludes to, we all have a nagging voice that makes us question our decisions. Syed refers to this voice as the character Kid Doubt. Kid Doubt wants us to fit in and be like everyone else. The problem with Kid Doubt is that we often do things we don’t want to do or don’t even like just to please Kid Doubt and to fit in.

Using real life examples and inspirational quotes and snippets from the lives of successful people including Greta Thunberg, Richard Branson, Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Vincent Kompany, Michelle Obama and Malala Yousafzai, Syed gives children strategies and inspiration to develop the courage and confidence to be who they really are and to become their own action hero.

I was bursting with positivity after finishing this book, which I read all at once. Syed gets children to believe in themselves and be who they really are. Hammering home the message to do what they like and do not do things to impress others (Syed walked to and from school for a whole year carrying a skateboard just to try and fit in). Dare To Be You is filled with these kind of humorous anecdotes and Syed’s witty self-reflections, and this is what it makes it so appealing to the reader. Syed has had plenty of mishaps on his attempts to fit in - nearly burning down a bakery, a fashion disaster, and trying to imitate Kevin Keegan to name a few. His life became much more simpler and rewarding when he began following his own path. And a very successful path it has been - he has even made it to the Olympics (something that he might remind you of on more than one occasion in the book).

This book isn’t about following the same path as Syed though. Syed wants readers to find their own path and create their own manifesto for daring to be themselves. Through his coaching and informative writing, readers should be left with the feeling that anything is possible and that it all starts with them being themselves and silencing Kid Doubt.

The book is written over nine chapters and is full of practical advice, real-life examples and thought-provoking ideas and questions. An over to you section at the end of each chapter asks readers to reflect and complete a task. The layout is slick and modern featuring quotes, speech bubbles and black and orange illustrations. Dare To Be You is due to be published on 3rd September 2020.

Inspirational reading for both girls and boys and for getting them to love who they really are.

Recommended for 8+.

With thanks to Hachette Children’s Group and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy.

[Andrew Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have enjoyed Matthew Syed’s books (Bounce, Rebel Ideas) and until I came across ‘Dare to be You’, I had no idea that he also writes for teenagers. I have not read the precursor to this book: ‘You Are Awesome’.

I liked the idea of ‘Dare to be You’, more than I enjoyed the execution. The intentions are good, many teenagers would benefit from the confidence to ignore peer group or adult pressure and to simply be themselves.

But, is it all as simple as self-belief? Changes to the brain and to hormonal balances suggest that it is not. It is actually a lot more complicated than simply ‘daring to be different’. In many ways Syed’s book is typical of an adult’s point of view of adolescence. It is with this in mind that I suspect that most of the book’s sales can be accounted for by well-meaning parents buying it for their children – perhaps, in order to avoid having an adult conversation with them instead.

Whilst Syed does share his own experiences and offers some encouragement, there remains a very strong whiff of “listen to me… I am an adult, I have done this, let me tell you how it really works.” And being patronized by an adult, any adult, is exactly what a teenager wants to avoid. And so they should.

Unfortunately, my initial impression of the book was only reinforced by its tone and style. It seems to me that teenagers are on a quest to be adults. They respond best to being treated in the respectful manner in which we would treat other adults. So, why do we write for them as if they are still children? Why can’t more authors seek to elevate the discussion or the narrative rather than lowering it? Surely, that is what the best authors do? Good writers of teenage fiction, for example, address the concerns and imaginations and curiosities of young adults. They deal with complex issues, because it is in those issues that teenagers, just like adults, are interested.

For Matthew Syed the easiest solution to this problem, might be to have the publishers revise their age-group recommendation. I would certainly recommend it to a 10 or 11 year old child. I would be far less likely to recommend it to a 14 or 15 year old.

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Motivational book, gives inspiration but anecdotical.
The storyline is a bit all over the place, it jumps from one idea to another….

If you like inspiring stories, to listen during a workout this is a good book. However it doesn’t go in-depth, it goes from one idea to another. The examples used are well known, in places repetitive.

[Tin Bender-Dobardzic · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant continuation on Matthew Syed’s previous book “You are awesome”. Can be read after the previous one or this can be the first one. Boosts your confidence and gives you real-life examples. Very funny and easily written. Very understandable. Excellent for kids ( and adults 😀)

[Archisha Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an amazing guide for socially awkward kids. It helps them to let their inner self out, and (Spoiler Alert) helps them face their nerves by thinking about them as a human, to be specific, Kid Doubt. Would 126% recommend!

[Namita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does what it is meant to do. The Kid Doubt works really well. Easy read for kids. Conveys the message with the help of personal anecdotes and examples through out the book and a repetition at the end. Kids will find it easy to read.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of my book review books for ReadPlus.
It's a good book for young teens - all about self-empowerment and being yourself.

[Anil Singh Rana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring

Inspirational, impactful, creative and seminal book, so much wisdom yet simple and easy to understand, highly recommended- Anil from Mauritius 🇲🇺♥️💥🌍🙏

[Leo Margetts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is all about Matthew Syed and the tips he gives to people to be a better/more successful person. I learnt that you always have to do what you think is right and to always be yourself and to not change your personality because of the people around you.

[Megan Gentile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to boost self esteem 👌 if you haven't already, then read it ♡

[Matthew Trearty · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. Nothing special

[Danisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

i didnt use any of the advise.

but thanks for the school for buyinng 1000 copies