Customer Reviews

Ten Commitments to Your Success

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Steve Chandler's Ten Commitments is like a fantasy retreat with the world's greatest poets, artists, philosophers, scientists, entrepreneurs and self-help gurus. You'll have seminars with Leonardo and Michelangelo, strolls with Gandhi and Buddha, workshops with Emerson and Thoreau, dinner with Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer, and fireside singalongs with Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen. The trick is that Chandler is there to make all the introductions and put every song, every story, every insight into the context of how an "average" life can be organized to achieve extraordinary outcomes through commitment. Written with uplifting wit and down-home simplicity, Ten Commitments is scarcely 90 pages in length, but contains a virtual encyclopedia of ideas and wisdom. It's a book that could define your reading list for a decade.

I've read this and most other of Chandler's books. Be forewarned....if you need a "system" or some magic tricks to lead a better, more purposeful life, you won't find them here. Chandler gives it straight from the heart (and mind). Make commitments, honor commitments. Inspire yourself daily to do more, to be more.

One of Chandler's finest attributes as a writer is his self honesty. When he has failed (either the past or present) he tells you so. Then he simply disects the reasons for it and offers a better way. That probably would have been a good title for this book, "A Better Way", as many of us could make simple changes to lead a happier, more productive life.

My favorite chapter is the last...a Commitment to Your Music....its powerful stuff....I'm commited to not dying with any of my music "still in me".

Great job Steve........let's hope your commitment is to keep doing this for years to come.

Unlike other books of the author, this book is much more sophisticated and is like a highly condensed dose for all who want to improve themselves. No matter how many self help books you had read before, you would still be satisfied. Great return for your time and money. Highly recommended!

p.s. Below please find some of my favorite passages for your reference.
Fuller found that when he created a plan, and then made a series of first moves, he was creating and producing his life with action. Most people wait for the first moves to happen to them. They let the the world around them make the first moves and then they respond, living a life of second moves, all in response to others. pg3
Children are unhappy about 12 times a day and they are happy about 67 times a day. But it is not permanent. And they know it's not, which is why they always very quickly move on from unhappiness to happiness. Adults try to make it permanent, like trying to nail Jell-o to the wall. pg8
We are not troubled by things, but by the opinion we have of things. - Epictetus pg8
You can find a third world person with the highest IQ in his country and he wont be able to use the Google search engine ...while a low IQ person who understands Google could have gotten it for him in twenty seconds...Because intelligence is vastly overrated as to how far it can take you...it didnt save me at all from being suicidal about my ineffectiveness at making the very basic things in life work for me. pg18
The past cannot affect you in any way if you are not thinking about it. Notice, when you step back, that you are not your thought. You are whatever is witnessing your thought. pg20
When I feel something unpleasant it is my body's signal to me that my thought is contaminated and I am not longer free flowing....my body is trying to tell me to shift my thinking back to its natural resourceful, whole-brain state. (Or, even better, to drop thinking altogether for a while) pg22
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. - Ambrose Redmoon pg24
Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. - St. Francis of Assisi pg29
Without a plan, you run your day based on your fears. You check in each morning with your sense of dread....If people will take time, they will be able to come up with a way, a routine, a structure, to deal with any fear they ahve in grown up life. A way that does not scare them. But they dont take the time to figure this out because they're too afraid to even look at the fear. Avoidance feeds the fear. pg29/30
If my outcome goal is to have ten new clients every month, then that's the outcome that I want. I can use process goals to produce my outcome. Most people dont do this. All their goal setting is outcome based so their minds remain anxiously focused on what they dont have. They live in the future, which is the root of all anxiety. They cant relax into the process of now. pg32
The Buddha, the most practical of teachers, defined the wise man or woman in a thoroughly practical way: "One who will gladly give up a smaller pleasure to gain a greater joy." pg35
It's not how you feel. It's what has to be done. pg57
A committment to career is a committment to my communications always delivering value. pg70
What gets measured gets done. pg78
Discipline is remembering what you want. - David Campbell pg83

For those of you who measure success as the number of zeros in your paycheck, or the size of your empire, please move on. For those of you for who success is being a happy, viable, well balanced member of the human race, you will be happy to know that Steve Chandler has done it again.
Mr. Chandler has boiled down the components that make a person fulfilled, and splashed them on the page in his unique, and fun style familiar to his many fans. If you have read any of Steve Chandlers books, and like what you read, then this book belongs in your hip pocket.

I'd heard of this book before - other authors quoting it - and I always liked what I'd heard.

When I finally bought the book, I couldn't put it down. I'll be re-reading this book for years

to come. It's simple, but profound (like most of Steve Chandler's work), but it's even more

potent in content than his other books. I could put this under the category of "how

to live". This sums up quite a bit in a simple 10 item list - the ten commitments. I have read

many books on success, but not only is this the most practical, easy to assimilate book on the subject -

it is one I'd like to put in my permanent memory to help me live a fulfilling, happy life.

If you're going to try one of Mr. Chandler's books..........I'd really recommend this one.

It had a very powerful effect on me. I learned very important things from it that I would

never find in school. I couldn't do it justice in a review. Just read a few pages of it......

I read this twice before giving the book to my brother and I'm back for a second copy. Chandler is at his most eloquent and insightful in this collection of ten short essays. This is a book I will read a few more times until I have internalized his messages. Invest a few bucks and a little time for a quick readthrough and you're sure to pick up at least one treasured idea for living your life, whether you are young or older (like me).

In "Ten Commitments to Your Success" Steve Chandler explores and dramatizes how to experience the power of synergy in your life. Steve's stories and illustrations guide the reader in applying these strategies to life transforming principles. Steve explains, "The beauty of a life organized around all ten commitments...is that one will experience life to the fullest."

Chandler often draws on his own life experiences in providing a broad range of creative ways to access the priceless gift and power of synergy. Steve has an easy, enjoyable, writing style. He provides common sense clarity and simplicity in application of the principles of commitment.

Chapter one is an introduction and helps the reader organize their energy. Steve starts with a reminder of the importance of balance and focus as keys to making things happen.

I found the story of Buckminster Fuller intriguing. Fuller introduced the concept of redesigning self, becoming a newly created personality. I was reminded of the importance of meditation in the commitment to use my mind while allowing the spirit to work through me in my commitment to spirit.

The ten chapters that follow each contain a commitment to success. These commitments are arranged in a logical progression from committing to your spirit, to your mind, and to action. Commitments to wealth, friends, partner and career are among the remaining seven considered.

When all ten commitments are in balance, you will find your life is in harmony with your career, you will experience the joy of celebrating and serving those your care fore, you will experience financial freedom, and peace of mind. "Ten Commitments to Your Success" is Steve Chandler, making a difference, one reader at a time.

Reviewed by Susan Pettrone for Reader Views (1/07)

"Ten Commitments to Your Success" by Steve Chandler is a small book of less than 100 pages, but within it's narrow binding packs a lot of advice and wisdom from the bestselling author of "100 Ways to Motivate Yourself." Divided into the ten commitments; to spirit, to mind, to action, to wealth, to friends, to commitment, to your partner, to career, to your body, and to music, this book is easily read and easily absorbed by readers from all walks of life.

From the beginning section entitled "commitment to spirit," the reader is introduced by the author to the idea that we are beings in this world who live with "spirit" everyday and that it is an important part of us as individuals. According to the author, spirit is most easily noticed in our lives when we take a step back and watch from afar, seeing spirit for what it really is and letting it appear in its true light. Spirit is present in each of our lives and it is only when we realize that it is there, that we can fully appreciate it and grow from its existence within us. And so this book continues from this point.

As the author covers all ten of the commitments he feels are vital to a satisfying and complete life, he illustrates that it is only with the commitment of all ten of these areas, that we can truly be content within our lives for who and what we are. In this day and age of discontent around every corner; from the man on the street complaining about politics or the salesclerk in the corner store, feeling "down" about his dead end job, it seems to me that would the average person, implement this author's ideas, that life would not only be more pleasant for those individuals but for all those who come in contact with them as well.

I must admit, when I picked up this book I was a bit reluctant to begin reading it and, in fact, placed it at the bottom of a stack of books I was to review. But when the stack came to the end and I was faced with this book, once opened, I found it's information not dry and typical as I expected it to be, but easy, not only to read, but to envision applying to my life as well. There are a lot of books on the market today that promise a "quick change" to ones life or a "miraculous, revolutionary way to improve ones being." This book is not that way. It speaks to the common man in language that is easily absorbed, with practical advice and everyday stories which illustrate well the author's intentions within its covers.

I would suggest "Ten Commitments to Your Success" book to all those who are sincerely looking for a way to change their lives through solid commitment. One caution though with this book. Don't read it expecting to only apply one or two principles to your life. This book is the total package and one that must be sincerely and completely read with the intention of applying and working with all ten commitments to better ones life. All ten commitments work together like pieces of a puzzle to give the user the total picture. And it is only when all ten pieces are placed in the right areas within our lives that the true puzzle is solved and the final image revealed. Be prepared to think differently about your life and the commitments you make within it after reading this book. "Ten Commitments to Your Success" is a book that will change your perspective simply by committing yourself to its principles within its pages and by making the decision to begin a new commitment to your life and yourself as well.

Book received free of charge.

I read this book the day I got it.
It's written in such a simple and straight forward way that gets the ideas through to you very quickly.
Some very good advice there.
10 commitments, I knew the importance of some, and had no idea about the rest.
I just need to work on all of them gradually to have them all going on in my life (as the author advices) and get the success I desire.
Thank you Steve for the great book :)

I am disappointed in the shallowness of the book.

As an earlier review indicates, "it is like a fantasy retreat with the world's greatest poets, artists, philosophers, scientists, entrepreneurs and self-help gurus. You'll have seminars with Leonardo and Michelangelo, strolls with Gandhi and Buddha, workshops with Emerson and Thoreau, dinner with Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer, and fireside singalongs with Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen." If you have any idea of what these successful people espouse and contribute, the book is of little value. How and what other people in this group contribute to your success has little relationship to another persons success. Each of these persons were successful in their own right are most likely not related to your DNA for success - great stories, little help.

One must understand and pursue success using a systematic model and process based on the tried and true valid success factors (not the single minded approach of most authors - setting goals, planning, meditating, buying or selling, networking/marketing, etc.). No one or even a combination of two or three factors insure success, but may be part of valid success model.

He does recognize the critical factor in success - commitment. But, the elements covered in the chapters don't tie together to form a model for individual success.

Even after being entertained by the stories I read only half the book, my time was to valuable to waste on a "C" priority when I had "A" and "B" priorities. It is now in what Alan Lakein calls the "C" drawer. Things I might read for entertainment.

Very disappointed. Thought the content and approach would have been better structured. Just another book, like too many seminars and classes that add nothing to help a person pursuit of success.