Put Your Dream to the Test: 10 Questions that Will Help You See It and Seize It [Hardcover]

John C. Maxwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2009

What’s the difference between a dreamer and someone who achieves a dream? According to best-selling author Dr. John Maxwell, the answer lies in answering ten powerful, yet straightforward, questions. Whether you’ve lost sight of an old dream or you are searching for a new one within you, Put Your Dream to the Test provides a step-by-step action plan that you can start using today to see, own, and reach your dream. Dr. Maxwell draws on his forty years of mentoring experience to expertly guide you through the ten questions required of every successful dreamer:

• The Ownership Question
• The Clarity Question
• The Reality Question
• The Passion Question
• The Pathway Question
• The People Question
• The Cost Question
• The Tenacity Question
• The Fulfillment Question
• The Significance Question

More importantly, Dr. Maxwell helps you to create the right answers, giving you principles and tips to so you can make good decisions and maximize every moment to achieve your dream.

Don’t leave your dream to chance.  This book is a must-have and can make the difference between failure and success.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John C. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold more than 19 million books. He is the founder of EQUIP, a non-profit organization that has trained more than 5 million leaders in 126 countries. Read his blog at JohnMaxwellOnLeadership.com.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson; 1 edition (March 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780785214120
• ISBN-13: 978-0785214120
• ASIN: 0785214127
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (191 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, coach, and author who has sold over 19 million books. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP and the John Maxwell Company, organizations that have trained more than 5 million leaders worldwide. Every year he speaks to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and organizations as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point, the National Football League, and the United Nations. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell has written three books which have each sold more than one million copies: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. You can find him at JohnMaxwell.com and follow him at Twitter.com/JohnCMaxwell.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

(What's this?)

#8 in Books > Business & Investing

#24 in Kindle eBooks > Business & Investing

#49 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

#51 in Books > Self-Help

#8 in Books > Business & Investing

#24 in Kindle eBooks > Business & Investing

#49 in Books > Religion & Spirituality

#51 in Books > Self-Help

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A sad life is a dream unaccomplished. Help is on the way with this book April 8, 2009

By Dan E. Ross

Format:Hardcover

I met John Maxwell on March 28th, 2009 and he was speaking about this book, at a Success Magazine Symposium where I bought an advanced copy with a DVD/CD training course (my first time doing such a thing.) Dreams, within Maslow's hierarchy of needs, are at the top and tend to cause people to attain "self actualization." Dreams are BIG, important and rarely attained. They are the kinds of concepts that great men realize and so very few of us actually attain.

In this book Maxwell states that a dream is an inspiring picture of the future that energizes your mind, will and emotions, empowering you to do everything you can to achieve it. He evaluates the process of setting a dream and will that dream be enough to propel you to success. Does your dream pass certain tests? In his opinion, the more questions below you can answer yes to the greater your probability of success

The questions, which comprise the ten chapters of this book. Here they are:
1. The Ownership Question: Is my dream really my Dream?
2. The Clarity Question: Do I clearly see my dream?
3. The Reality Question: Am I depending on factors within
my control to achieve my dream?
4. The Passion Question: Does my dream compel me to
follow it?
5. The Pathway Question: Do I have a strategy to reach my
dream?
6. The People Question: Have I included the people I need to
realize my dream?
7. The Cost Question: Am I willing to pay the price for my
dream?
8. The Tenacity Question: Am I moving closer to my dream?
9. The Fulfillment Question: Does working toward my dream
bring satisfaction?
10. The Significance Question: Does my dream benefit others?...

As Maxwell states "Leading your life requires making the right decisions and managing those decisions daily. Find the right dream for you then manage it daily."

Without going into more detail I would say that this course (book and CDs) really has helped me shape my goals and dreams. I've listened to the CD set 3 times and read the book once. I've been doing a deep immersion into this topic as I see it being critical to my long-term success in life. Read more ›

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Just For Dreamers April 8, 2009

By Laurence T. Baxter VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

"It's one thing to have a dream. It's another to do the things needed to achieve it" - that's the premise behind John Maxwell's latest book "Put Your Dream to the Test: 10 Questions That Will Help You See It and Seize It" (which I just read as part of Thomas Nelson's blogger review program) Maxwell doesn't try to tell you the right answers, but instead delivers ten great questions that really should be considered by anyone with a dream. The book is full of stories and inspiration that affirm the message - the passion of Bob Taylor for guitars, the tenacity of Elizabeth Keckly rising up from slave to friend of the White House, and the fulfillment of Wilbur Wilberforce's amazing dream.

The ten questions involve: ownership, clarity, reality, passion, pathway, people, cost, tenacity, fulfillment, and significance. In each case Maxwell covers vital issues a leader needs to work through if the dream is going to become realized. For example, in discussing the fulfillment question, he asks "Does Working toward My Dream Bring Satisfaction?" Maxwell references Seth Godin's book, 'The Dip', that chasm between embarking on a dream and the first sign of significant results. Realizing how tough the obstacles, learning curve, and hard work will be, it's critical to have a strong sense of fulfillment or satisfaction along the way. Each chapter ends with the challenge: "Can you answer 'Yes' to this question?" Fortunately, he also walks through several important follow-up questions if that answer is currently a 'No'.

I didn't know what to expect in this book, as I'm not an entrepreneur or CEO, or someone with a single 'lightning-bolt from the sky' dream. And yet the more I read, the more I saw how the questions discussed are relevant for any leader.... And on that subject, John has a lot of great things to say. The chapters on clarity and vision, passion, people, and significance were particularly good. Maxwell concludes it's not good enough to do well in just one or two of these areas. Being able to answer 'Yes' to as many questions as possible will improve the chance of success greatly.

For anyone with a big dream, and wondering if or how it can be done, this is an excellent book. It will change the way you look at your dreams, in a good way. Read more ›

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Should be a must-read... but isn't September 26, 2009

By Jeff Noble

Format:Hardcover

It's been a while since I read a book by John Maxwell, and now I remember why that is.

Maxwell's most recent publication, Put Your Dream to the Test should be a must-read for anyone wanting to see their hopes and ambitions become reality. But it isn't.

For starters, I'm not really sure who actually wrote the book - John Maxwell, his staff of quote researchers, or the hundred+ people whose quotes and anecdotes he strings together to try to make a cohesive statement.

Don't get me wrong. At times, PYDTTT soars and is inspiring. At other times, it plods. Maxwell's uncritical use of quotes and their context is like reading a Chicken Soup for the Soul book (He tells the story of the chicken soup books in this book).

He does help you evaluate your dream/goal with diagnostic questions which form the basis for each chapter's content. The 10 questions are:

1. The Ownership Question: Is my dream really my dream? (I would love for him to ask, "Is my book really my book?")
2. The Clarity Question: Do I clearly see my dream?
3. The Reality Question: Am I depending on factors within my control to achieve my dream?
4. The Passion Question: Does my dream compel me to follow it?
5. The Pathway Question: Do I have a strategy to reach my dream?
6. The People Question: Have I included the people I need to realize my dream?
7. The Cost Question: Am I willing to pay the price for my dream?
8. The Tenacity Question: Am I moving closer to my dream?
9. The Fulfillment Question: Does working toward my dream bring satisfaction?
10. The Significance Question: Does my dream benefit others?

The chapter on the cost of your dream was, for me, the best one in the book. I found myself underlining more there, at least....

Each chapter begins with an inspirational story of someone who has achieved a great dream. These stories alone make the book better. It's when Maxwell attempts to derive steps and propositional bullet points from their experiences that the book becomes stale and linear.

Andy Stanley's Visioneering: God's Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Vision remains one of the best books out on the subject of vision/dream pursuit. Maxwell's book, Put Your Dream to the Test is inspiring, but its content seems to be more cut and paste than cohesive. Read more ›