Maria Shirver Shares Her Wisdom

She's written five books, given birth to four children, and serves as the first lady of California. And yet Maria Shriver has found time to write yet another book: "And One More Thing Before You Go..."

The idea for the book came from a graduation luncheon for girls and their mothers. Shriver was giving a speech.

"All the moms started calling me, saying you should turn that into a book," Shriver tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "A friend of mine actually sent it to my agent who said I can definitely turn this into a book. There was nothing out there. I had done 10 things.

"But kids graduating from high school don't have a lot of time. When I had done 'Ten Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World,' so many people came up and said I wish I had something like that when I graduated high school because it's a very defining moment."

After reading the guide for girls, Smith says he was impressed by the fact Shriver's message is not to be afraid.

She explains, "I think that fear is a paralyzing thing. I think if you walk through your fear, you get courage, you get wisdom, you get strength. And everybody is afraid. I think you're not only afraid when you graduated high school, I'm sure you're afraid as an adult. I'm afraid in what I'm doing right now."

Why would such a smart and beautiful woman who comes from such a famous family be afraid?

"I've been afraid with everything I've done," she says. "I'm afraid when I put out a new book. I was afraid when I did this show, when I first became an anchor of the 'CBS Morning News.' I was terrified. And I think you can't say: 'Oh, well she can't be afraid because she's this or she's that.' Everybody has fears. And the way to get rid of them is to walk through them and do the things that actually scare you. I'm a big believer in that."

Shriver points out that women always feel that they have to be perfect and behave in a certain way, but notes that is actually confining.

She says, "There is a great quote that I use in the book which says, 'Well-behaved women rarely make history.' And I tell that to my girls all the time, because I think you got to go out there, you have to experience life and that's where you get your courage."

Shriver also shares the story her father told in a graduation speech.

She recalls, "He said to the graduating class at Yale: 'Break your mirrors, because your mirrors stop from you looking at the world outside of you.' He said, 'You'll get more satisfaction from helping people than you'll ever get from a car or your credit rating, who you're married to or your house.' I think that's a great thing, because young people aren't spoken to a lot about public service - the option of public service. Because you see all these incredible young people in AmeriCorps, JobCorps, The Peace Corps, they're changing their lives and changing the world."

And yet, it is not without cost. When her husband was running, there were horrible things written in the press about Shriver and her family and she had to go out and stand in front of audiences and say, 'This is irrelevant.'

But Shriver says she refers to not just elective public service, but to service in general.

She says, "My mother started the Special Olympics. It's changed the world. My dad had great impact with his public service and it wasn't through elective office. When you talk about public service, I'm not necessarily advocating for people to go out and run. That's a whole separate book."

Thinking, however, what Shriver has been through, Smith says it couldn't have been easy for her.

"You know what? People go through much worse," she notes. "People have their kids die serving this country in Iraq. Single mothers, working two or three jobs; they're on welfare. People are poor in this country. People are disabled in this country. People are old and alone in this country. That's tough. What I went through is not tough."

So how does she like the new job of first lady of California?

"It's interesting, it's challenging," she says. "Don't know how to do it like I didn't know how to do journalism so I'm learning on the job."

As for her family, she says her kids are tired of being in the public life.

She says, "They just think that's his gig. We want to play basketball. We want to play football. My daughter is 15. She wants to do her social thing. My other daughter is 13, and they can't wait for it to be over."

Do they listen to her advice?

"Yeah. They read it and actually said it was good," Shriver says about her book. "Which coming from particularly my kids, it's a compliment. It's the first book I've written that they said, 'It's actually pretty good and it didn't take long to read.'"

And knowing it was time for the interview to end, she promoted her book and directed viewers to stay tuned for the next Early Show segment by saying fast, "It's the perfect gift for Mother's Day, for graduation. Every person you know, graduating from high school should buy this book, give it to their mother for Mother's day. We'll be right back!"