Book Review: Put Your Dream to the Test

John Maxwell is a leadership expert and has sold more than 19 million books worldwide. If you are an ardent reader of his books, you would realize that although he doesn’t say anything particularly new in this book, he encourages you in different ways to put your dreams to the test.

I like the way he divides the books into chapters that ask the following questions:

A.      Do you own your dream?

B.      How clearly do you visualize your dream?

C.      How do you plan on achieving your dream?

D.      How passionate are you about your dream?

E.       What strategies have you put in place to actualize your dream?

F.       In order to realize your dream, who are the people you have included?

G.     What is the price of your dream and are you willing to pay it?

H.      How close are you to achieving your dream?

I.        Are you satisfied with the process you have set in motion to actualize your dream?

J.        Of what benefit is your dream to others?

Every chapter ends with a challenge/test. In situations where you cannot satisfactorily answer the questions, he gives strategies of improving yourself and increasing your chances for success.

For example, he makes us realize that we need to distinguish between desiring a dream and desiring the results of a dream.

I love quotes and I was glad to read many relevant quotes from different people in the book. This book encouraged me to reassess my dreams and the goals that I have set for myself. The theme I set for myself after reading this book is his quote: “If you have a clear vision, you will eventually attract the right strategy. If you don't have a clear vision, no strategy will save you”.




Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

Enthusiasm

There are times in our lives when we have no idea if we enjoy what we are doing or we are just taking each day as it comes. Sometimes it feels like everything we do goes wrong or makes no sense.  Well, you may not have such times in your life but I certainly do and it sucks.  However, I have found out that such situations serve as reality checks.

Whenever you feel disillusioned and constantly fagged out or you simply lack the enthusiasm to do anything positive about your lack of enthusiasm, you may be suffering from a burn out. Trust me, there are warning signs which we choose to ignore:

• You never have a good day.
• You constantly feel stressed out.
• You raise your voice above the recommended decibel for no apparent reason.
•  Lack of appetite…or unusual appetite.
• Irritability
• Constant physical pains: headaches, backaches, heartburn etc.

There are many other signs but these are the ones I am familiar with. Basically, I believe lack of enthusiasm is the beginning of death.

Most often than not, we do not take into consideration the fact that we need to stay constantly motivated to do things even when we enjoy doing them. Joyce Meyer would ask “Has your ‘get up and go’ got up and gone?” Do you feel like you have nothing to live for? Like you are simply surviving? Take a break. Yes, you read correctly, TAKE A BREAK.

Life is too short for us to be miserable; we need to take responsibility for ourselves. Some introspection is necessary. If you are not where you want to be, map out your plans and figure out where exactly you would rather be.

I am just recovering from a burn out and the following routine helped me:

•  Waking up every morning and taking 30 minutes to meditate.
• Subscribing to Dilbert.com for the daily comic strip (the humour helped me a lot).
• Hot Cocoa/tea (depending on my mood).
• Having breakfast…boy; you would be surprised what good breakfast does.
• 30 minutes exercise routine.
• Reading a chapter of a book every day. (This week, I'm reading  "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux)
• Re-evaluating my goals. (I realized I wasn't satisfied with my current status and instead of doing something constructive about the dissatisfaction, I was killing myself slowly)

I must add this caveat: my routine may not work for you because only you would know for certain what would work for you.

You need to keep the fire inside of you burning.

Religion + Laziness = Opium?

"Give a man a Fish and you would feed him for a day; give him religion and he would starve to death while praying for a fish." Timothy Jones.


I agree with him to some extent. We get so caught up in religion and religious activities and forget that our beliefs would be tested outside the confines of the church.


It surprises me to no end when people spend a large amount of their time in Church. What on earth are you doing there all the time? When do you get the chance to practice what you have heard?


I think its sheer laziness...crucify me later but I am entitled to my opinions however stupid they seem to you.


Although I cannot recommend what is enough when it comes to religious activities but I strongly believe that any exercise you engage in which renders you useless to your immediate environment is an exercise in futility.


I would be the first to admit that it is easy to get caught up in such exercise. We need to examine ourselves though...do we go to church regularly because it makes us feel spiritual or do we go because we simply enjoy the Word and want to fellowship with others?