You Can Make It Happen: A Nine Step Plan for Success [Hardcover]

Stedman Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 1997

A motivational guide on how to overcome the adversities of life explains how to build self-esteem, surmount problems, and achieve personal success by determining who we are, creating a vision for ourselves, and making a commitment to realize that vision. 100,000 first printing. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A successful businessman, community activist, and Oprah Winfrey's boyfriend, Graham has written a plan for all who want to improve their lives. His nine-step plan involves increasing self-awareness, creating a vision, developing a plan, understanding and following personal values, taking risks, managing responses to those risks, building a support team, making wise decisions, and forming a total commitment. Although his plan may be most applicable to people focusing on business and career goals, Graham notes that this plan can also be applied to other aspects of life. In fact, he emphasizes that all aspects of one's life must be healthy and looked after for any to flourish. As in most self-help books, much of the text is repetitive. However, Graham's holistic approach is unique, and his examples?his own and those of many other African Americans?are inspiring. Recommended.
-?Elizabeth Caulfield Felt, Washington State Univ. Lib., Pullman
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Stedman Graham is best known for being Oprah Winfrey's boyfriend. Even he knows that, and it bugged him for a long time. But Graham, a businessman and civic leader, got beyond that designation just as he got beyond the difficult times in his life. Born into a working-class minority family and teased about the mental difficulties of his two younger brothers, Graham hoped to be an NBA star but never made it quite that far in professional sports. But when the going got rough . . . well, you know the rest. His secret, revealed here in detail, is a nine-step plan for success whose precepts are familiar from the works of numerous other motivational authors. Graham is articulate, and his book will provoke readers of all backgrounds to take a look at their own lives and perhaps adapt the author's blueprint for success. With so many personal anecdotes, the book functions as autobiography as well as motivational guide. And yes, Oprah makes a few appearances here but only when absolutely necessary. Ilene Cooper

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (March 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068481448X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684814483
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,321,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inspiring Book For Anyone, January 2, 2001

By 

Washington Toapanta (Glendale, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Can Make It Happen: A Nine Step Plan for Success (Paperback)

You Can Make It Happen by Stedman Graham is a book based on improving your life by using a nine-step process that Graham developed himself. Even though this book is intended to be inspirational and motivational, I recommend it for anyone, not just people who are going through rough times and need motivation. The book was quite easy to comprehend and definitely serves it purpose. Graham used examples of his life to show the reader that he truly understands the feeling of despair, loneliness, and lack of motivation. Once Graham establishes confidence with the reader he begins to offer truly inspirational solutions and once again uses examples of his life to show that it is possible to become successful, self-motivated person.

In You Can Make It Happen, Graham describes various scenarios where lack of motivation plays a key role in the situation. What really intrigued me about You Can Make It Happen is that for every scenario Graham offered an easy to understand solution that made sense. This makes the book not only interesting and helpful, but makes it great.

For example, Graham mentions in many occasions his frequent insecurities while playing basketball professionally. He often thought that he was not playing well and suffered lapses of confidence. These lapses caused him to not take certain shots when he was open and things of that nature. Finally he concluded that he had to solve this problem. What he did is, he took shots before practice that he knew he could make. This would get him on a role and before he knew it he was making most of his shots. This gave him confidence that he needed for the game and told him that he could make the important shots in the game. So his good shooting would continue on to the game. These are the types of simple solutions that Graham gives to problems throughout the book. He emphasizes that us humans make problems seem much bigger than they really are.

Some more reasons why I feel the book is so great and Graham wrote such a great book is its clearness on messages Graham tries to get across. Graham sometimes uses techniques that at first I thought were strange, but as the book goes on I understood more and more. For example, Graham gives the reader reasons why people often get depressed and tells the reader that this is the mentality of a quitter. By calling the reader a quitter I thought Graham was going a bit too far but then I realize that Graham uses such a strong word because it wakes the reader up. The biggest reason I think this book is so great is because of its helping nature. You Can Make It Happen was written specifically to help people who suffer from low self-esteem and lack motivation but I recommend it for anyone who wants to be successful in life. This book shows you how to push yourself when you think you have nothing left in you. This book is for achievers and those who want to be. The book teaches you how to set goals for yourself but most importantly how to stay on track to achieve your goals.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, August 20, 2004

By 

P. A Lewis "[e-mail]" (St Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Can Make It Happen: A Nine Step Plan for Success (Paperback)

I saw this book in a store for about $2.50 and thought to myself what could it hurt to purchase "You can make it happen". Well purchasing Mr. Graham's book turned me around to the point that I see my vision for the future and what it has to offer me. I started by purchasing a day planner and already positive results have come into my life along with some positive thinking people. There are still many areas in my life that need to grow and improve, but we have to start somewhere. I would like to thank Mr. Graham for giving me the blueprint to success.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT BOOK ON SUCCESS WHILE HAVING BALANCE IN YOURE LIFE!, December 15, 2000

By 

Mark Llewhellin (Haverfordwest, Wales, Great Britain.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Can Make It Happen: A Nine Step Plan for Success (Paperback)

If you want to create a better life for yourself and help others then this is the book for you! This book goes into Stedmans own story, the background he came from and the challenges he went through in his persiut of a better life. Rather than just saying "charge towards success with the blinders on" Stedman talks about keeping a balance in your life and checking who you are in the proccess. As he says in chapter 8 of his book " do not become so focused on your own journey that you cannot stop occasionally and help others along the way." It is an easy to read and down to earth book.

Mark Llewhellin (U.K)