In high school, a friend said I couldn’t do more cartwheels than she could. I did 72 in a row and was still going, long after she had quit. As a child, I was told that I would never be successful, so I became the owner of multiple six-figure businesses and went to every continent on the planet in the process. Simply put, I don’t take kindly to being told I can’t.

Chances are that someone, somewhere, has also told you that you can’t. Maybe you had a dream to be an astronaut, and everyone around you poo-pooed it, saying you didn’t have the brain for that much science and math. Maybe you wanted to run a marathon, and your aunt told you that was a ridiculous idea for someone who could barely walk around the block. Maybe you thought of a business idea and your mom told you it would never make any money. Whatever your ambitions or dreams, baby, the naysayers are everywhere.

Throughout this book, we’re going to talk about these naysayers—the ones I call the blockmakers. The people who stand in our way, get in our heads, and fill us with all kinds of self-doubt. If left unchecked, their limiting voices can become our own. We cannot let that happen. When you meet a blockmaker, you have two choices: accept their words as truth and give up, or use those words as fuel and prove them wrong. I hope after reading this book that you choose the latter.

Society has been telling women what they can and can’t do, who they can and can’t be, and what they can and can’t look like, ever since Eve took a bite out of what I’m sure was a delicious apple. With that, women have been punished for eternity for their choices.

Can’t focus too long on your career, you’ll never have a family. Can’t start a family, you’ll ruin your career. Can’t be too sure of yourself or you’ll scare men away, can’t be too accomplished or you’ll be too intimidating—can’t, can’t, can’t. Where does it end? Trying to live your life by someone else’s standards is a losing game, so I propose we change the rules. What if we started to hear “can’t” as an invitation to do exactly that thing? What if we lived our lives exactly the way we want to, authentically and unapologetically?

We cannot control other people’s opinions, nor can we continue to live life within boundaries that have been designed to keep us small.

We are powerful.

You are powerful.

You have the potential to take all the hater-ade around you and turn it into a propellant that pushes you toward success.