What I Know for Sure Book Summary

Book Summary

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Brief Summary

Oprah touches on topics she has personally struggled with, including isolation, loneliness, and feeling like she isn’t valued.

About the Author

Oprah Winfrey is an America media executive, actress, talk show host, television producer, and philanthropist. She is best known for the Oprah Winfrey show, broadcast from Chicago. She is the richest African American of the 20th century and North America’s first black multi-billionaire. She grew up in poverty in Mississippi to a teenage single mother and was raised in Milwaukee. By 19 years old, she was the co-anchor for the local evening news. She popularized and revolutionized the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Her show focuses on literature, self improvement, mindfulness, and spirituality. President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She owns her own television network, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Topics

Self Development Biography & Memoir

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Key Insights

Oprah Winfrey is iconic. When people think of her, images like Oprah screaming “You get a car! And you get a car!” on her famous talk show come to mind. Even though she seems larger than life in many ways, In her book What I know for sure, Oprah unleashes some very down to earth advice.

The book title was chosen from an interaction where someone asked her what she knew for sure, and she couldn’t find an answer in the moment. Later, as answers came to her, she began to write. Soon afterwards, her column “What I Know for Sure” was created.

This book is a compilation of those columns. In each essay, she touches on topics she has personally struggled with, including isolation, loneliness, and feeling like she isn’t valued. And since the advice is coming directly from Oprah herself you know it's good (even if it might not be a car).

Struggling with a difficult decision:

We’ve all been there, even Oprah. Sometimes there seems to be no right answer, or conversely, sometimes both all solutions seem to have equal merits. In regards to indecision, Oprah wants you to ask yourself:

“What would I do if I wasn’t afraid of making a mistake, feeling rejected, looking foolish, or being alone?”

Sometimes fear is the invisible force that is preventing you from doing the things that you really want to do. What feels like indecision is really an inner battle between what you want, and how strong your fears are. If you take your fears out of the equation for a moment, what decision do you want to make?

But even the process of struggling through making decisions presents it's own gifts. Oprah talks about how facing struggles and moments of indecision show you what is meaningful to you, and can showcase your greatest strengths. Let’s say your a mom who is trying to decide whether or not she should go back to school to finish her degree. Wrought with indecision and paralyzed with fear, she cannot make a decision. If she goes back to school, she is worried that her children will not get enough attention. On the other hand, she is absolutely terrified that she won’t be smart enough to be successful in her education. Choosing to leave is different than being too stupid to perform. She imagines falling behind, being ostracised for being older… and she can’t make a choice. She’s always dreamed of furthering her education, but fear has prevented her from moving forward.

If she looks to Oprah's line for guidance, the choice becomes a little simpler. What would she do if she wasn’t afraid of looking stupid? Of making a mistake?

Though this example may seem simple, many life decisions can become almost as simplified when you take the fear out of the equation.

It is ok to struggle with indecision. It is ok to let fear play a role in your solutions. However, it is not ok to let the fear of making a mistake, reeling rejected, looking foolish, or...