BN Book Review: Unleash Your Superpowers by Foluso Gbadamosi | Review by The BookLady NG

Navigating life without a clear purpose or a sense of direction is a recipe for unfulfillment. Mediocrity flourishes in this state and talents are forgotten and left to rot. When this happens, it is difficult to believe the words of Catherine Pulsifer that say, “we all have genius within us, never doubt that fact.” Foluso Gbadamosi‘s Unleash Your Superpowers was written to reaffirm Catherine’s words. This book redefines what self-awareness is, connecting it to the innate talents and abilities that make us unique from the rest of the world and empowers us on our journey of self-improvement.

We have probably heard the word ‘superpower’ a thousand times while growing up and many of us, if asked for a connotative reference to it, would simply say, “It is the powers superheroes possess that are unique to them.” Spiderman’s power is totally different from that of Batman’s and of course, we have been sold the idea that these superheroes are the only ones with superpowers. But, individually, we have superpowers. Embedded in each of us is a distinct gift that no one else possesses. This is what Foluso identifies as talents in this book. She shifts our focus from the conventional definition of talent to “the imperceptible uniqueness of our makeup that informs what we enjoy, excel or struggle at, and why.” Talent literally means a natural aptitude or skill, but the key word is ‘natural’. Talent is innate, it is “a combination of traits that helps us approach issues and solve problems differently from others around us, bringing our own SuperPowers to the table.”

Discovering your talent and connecting it to a purpose are not mutually exclusive. A few pages into this book will provide an in-depth explanation of this. Foluso poses significant questions about self-discovery, talents or unique gifts and the purposeful application of these gifts. She opines that “purpose is at the crossroads of your talents.” These two have to be connected in order to unlock a more satisfying life. When talent intersects with purpose, it fuels the journey of living an impactful life, a life that affects others positively up to the future generation. Foluso believes that “purpose is found in motion, in the daily discovery of the things that energize or drain, fulfil or otherwise.” The point is that purpose is a driving force that could either propel you to make a negative or positive impact. In other words, “having a strong sense of purpose usually drives our goals and influences the decisions we make in life.”

One of the things that stands out about Foluso Gbadamosi is that she is tenacious and intentional about her life. From the start of the book, she expresses her dissatisfaction with the trajectory of her life at one point and she takes action to change course. Meaning that it takes recognition that something is not right to make a change. And after recognising the need for change, you have to be intentional about your course of action. It is obvious that Foluso Gbadamosi is not one of those people that belong to the “what will be will be” school of thought. And like she rightly quotes C. G. Jung: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” Foluso provides a structured approach to intentionally discover your superpowers/talents using the strengths approach, self-reflection, and a few other approaches. Worth mentioning is the CliftonStrengths Assessment which she absolutely recommends for its broad range of themes and representation.

Foluso has written this book with everyone facing internal or external conflict in mind. If you don’t know where you stand or what you bring to the table or if you don’t feel like you have anything to offer, read this book. Though most people believe that self-help books are redundant and they have nothing new to offer, at the risk of sounding like a broken vinyl, Unleash Your Superpowers is not that book. It offers novel perspectives on exploring yourself to your core and discovering what you need in order to leave the world a better place than you met it. Contained in this book of a little over a hundred pages are some hardcore questions intended to provoke deep reasoning. And at the end of each chapter, comes a time for reflection. There is no way you are closing the last page of this book without new thoughts bursting at the seams.