Last August, as I nervously navigated Penn's campus during orientation, every step was clouded by anxieties about my uncertain future.

Would I make any friends who weren’t just dying for a LinkedIn connection? Would my rusty math skills lead me to fail out? Would my peers take me seriously as an “influencer?”

Would my book deal get sold? Would my relationship last? Would my business survive?

A year later, a new version of Alexis Barber prepares to step on campus with a multitude of failures (see: a C- in statistics?) and extremely (!!!) unexpected successes: Too Collective prepares to launch our third and fourth products this fall fresh off a major celebrity collaboration, I finished writing the Too Smart For This journal with Penguin Random House (huh???) while doing a little too much drinking socializing with the new friends I’m obsessed with, and I’m still somehow an influencer you all tune in to watch every day (thank you for that, fr!)

And, I think you know what happened to my relationship. Business school is not for the weak!

My mental health was entirely hanging on by a thread as I bounced between feeling heartbroken, overwhelmed, challenged, and hungover. Still, I now credit every experience with introducing me to a new version of myself, one that was lowkey there all along.

I’m more myself, and that’s become my measure of confidence. 

In this week’s episode of Too Smart For This, I share the identity shift philosophy that I have applied as I’ve morphed into a more confident version of myself.

Could I credit all of this to my frontal lobe developing? Sure, but I also think these tactics I’ve identified can help you make progress in any area of your life.

Remember, if your “confidence” is coming from anywhere but within, it’s not real. I hope you love this episode. 

xx, Alexis

p.s., if you do love the ep, leave a comment! we have that now! that’s so fun!

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JOURNAL PROMPTS FOR THIS EPISODE:

* How have I been showing up the past few weeks?

* What identities would I want to be defined by?

* How would I want people to describe me when I’m not in the room?

* What environment do I have to create to show up as the person that I want to authentically become?

THIS WEEK’S FAVORITES: 

Revolve Beauty is 20% off till Saturday, so it’s a perfect time to pick up some of my favorite wellness essentials like my Acupressure mat that I lay on every night to unwind, The Skinny Confidential Mouth Tape that’s helped me reduce mouth breathing, and my tried-and-true Arrae Bloat pills.

My beauty go-tos like the magical SuperGoop Glow Screen and Charlotte Tilbury Lip Liners are also part of the sale so stock up!

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* a close-friends q&a ep where we talk ab the things I’m too afraid to say on TikTok

* an extra episode featuring resources from our illustrious guests

* a monthly “what I’m learning in b-school” round-up sharing the highlights of my $250k degree 🙃

* my everlasting love and gratitude

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