Customer Reviews

Your Road Map for Success: You Can Get There from Here

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The following is what I liked best:

The section on Goals
They MUST be activities that are: written, personal, specific, achievable, measurable, and time sensitive.

The Quotes:
"You can not make any progress when you are facing the wrong way." & the another one by Charles 'Tremendous' Jones who said "The only difference between the person you are today and who you will be in 5 years come from the books you read and the people you associate with."

The Benchmarking idea:
To attain success you should ONLY pick 3 to 5 areas to work on & grow in at one time.

The section on Choices:
In order to make progress it will involve 3 choices: to gain something, to lose something, or to trade something
and when you choose: pick the former rather than latter:
Achievement over affirmation
Excellence over acceptability
Personal growth over pleasure
Future potential over personal gain
Narrow focus over scattered interests
Significance over security

And finally the Laws on Developing others:
Take someone with you: "There is no success without a successor"

Rating: Strong Buy

The Roadmap to Success is by far the best motivational book I have ever read. It was the first book that I have read by Maxwell, and since then I have read four others. He teaches us a new way to think about success. Clearly stated success is: knowing your purpose, growing to reach your potential, and sowing seeds to help others. It is amazing how much better you perform and how much more you enjoy life when you view success through this framework. If you have been successful so far in your life, this book will help reinforce any doubts you have about your choices and reaffirm the actions you have taken. If you are committed to growth and development then this book is a great start to helping you put aside your fears to get the most out of your life. If you are closed minded, resistant to change and generally a pessimistic person this book is not for you. While those people that continue to make excuses for their failures or the way their life turned out will never succeed, those who have the right mindset and follow Maxwell's advise will surely go far in life and reap the beiefits and joys of success.

This title is not merely an inspirational book, and certainly is not pop-psychology. Maxwell's latest work (actually previously released in 1997 with different titleing - now with minor revisions) is by far the BEST work I have ever read in the area of personal development. In it, Maxwell lays out the foundation for understanding true success - essentially: Knowing Your Purpose, Developing Your Maximim Potential (which comes from the former), and Sowing Mentoring Seeds In Others.

Each of these sections is well written and makes a strong, as well as compelling case for personal change and lifelong development (regardless of age). Maxwell clearly articulates the often difficult challenges to personal development and provides practical suggestions for overcoming them. The reader cannot, in good conscience, go from one chapter to the next without applying what has been learned. Maxwell asks you to sign the end of one of the early chapters, committing the reader to a life of excellence! Each subsequent chapter has more interesting yet simple exercises to work thru, helping to ensure the readers interaction and active learning.

Some major themes include: The true meaning of success, keys to defining your purpose, fulfilling your purpose practically, attitude as key to success, how to develop and maintain a good attitude, how to weather detours on the success journey, and much, much more. This book changed my life! Buy one for yourself and a few copies for those you care about who have the slightest capacity for greatness... this book will surely help facilitate their next level. Good reading!

I wish I had this book available to me 30 years ago. The problem is that most young people (like myself when I was young) don't read such valuable resourses. I may have been the same. If you want someone you really care about who is beginning a carrer rather in a job or school this book brings to light some very important concepts that makes you think about what is truly important in life. John Maxwell has put many of his previous ideas into this one book and pulls it all together. This book is a great resourse for speaking before future leaders at any level. If you read the first chapter and are not sold you need some serious time to evaluate what you are doing in life. Maxwell uses all of the areas that you need and developps them in a consice manner value, attitude, goal setting, vision, leadership,commitment allows you to create your future with those close to you at home and work.

I am definitely a John Maxwell fan. This man is truly gifted and knows how to communicate so all can understand and benefit.This book was great but even better if read as a sequel. Don't get me wrong this is a stand alone book by itself but I am glad that I first read The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. The 21 Laws is much more dry and technical while this book is personal in its application. You will better understand the process by first knowing the driving principles.There are several excellent lists that are explained in detail but my favorite is entitled, "How to Take Others for a (Life Changing) Ride. #2 states to , "Limit Who You Take Along". This one explanation alone is worth the book. It should prevent burn out and minimize disappointments.Page 177 has a chart on communication styles and the results. He applies this not only to the business world but to the family unit as well.I particulary like the chapter, What Should I Pack in My Suitcase. This will help me redeem my "downtime" as I travel. This guy is a genius.

We all know this: the choice of our "favorite" book is a difficult one. Perhaps the "most influencial" one is easier, at least in my case it proved to be so. This book has shaped my way of thinking like no one, perhaps just "The power of positive thinking in business" by Scott Ventrella came close to it, but one step below.
As an IT consultant I use to read mostly technical books, which of course become outdated pretty soon and their value diminishes with time without discussion. The value that "Your road map to success" provides is enormous because has not timeframe, I can't see it outdated anytime and provides guidance which can be life-long followed and reintepreted.
I am finding myself to recommend this book to just aybody I care for. Chances are you'll do the same after you read it.
Absolutely recommended.

Aside: Doesn't Maxwell look like the teacher/monitor from the 80's movie, The Breakfast Club? Anyway...

I applaud John Maxwell, who writes books integrating Christian principles into non-spiritual topics, like leadership. In this book, Maxwell brings up three things that we need to understand in order to be a success: 1) To know our purpose in life, 2) To maximize our potential, and 3) To sow seeds that benefits others.

In defining success within these three principles, he defines what success in NOT, namely wealth, power, or a number of other things that we normally equate with making it in this world. He brings up some good examples of the wealthy and powerful industrialists of the early 20th century who died penniless or miserable.

Principle #2 really spoke to me. Maximizing potential is something, by nature, that I constantly strive to do. Maxwell's chapters devoted to this principle were the most beneficial to me. The inevitability of change in our lives brings us to the point of what decision we will make. It's not like we can avoid change, we can't. This becomes an inflection point in our life and can determine what will happen to us over the next one, five, ten years. We can go into the unknown (which is hard to do) or keep the status quo.

Principles #1 and #3 also brought up some good things for me, but I have to say that the chapters relating to maximizing potential were the most interesting. But that is where I am in life. Perhaps the other two chapters are more suited for you.

The pits of the book that I feel compelled to highlight are few, but nonetheless present. While the material is useful, I found it rather simplistic. Some chapters had a bullet point list of "fix-it" solutions. Abstract areas like leadership are rarely solved by concrete methods of A, B, C, etc., although it can be a good start. I wish it would have gone deeper. Also, this may be a pet peeve, but Maxwell uses a lot of insightful examples using references like, "It is said that Abe Lincoln said this..." or "According to a 13th century monk..."

Like I said, the examples are useful in illustrating a point, but these roundabout references lose a little bit of legitimacy to me. I'm sure that he has a good research staff, but I am used to seeing more solid citations when referring to a story or person.

But this is a good overview of success, which is not derived from wealth or power, but of knowing the purpose that God created us for and to actually go out and realize it.

I have read 100's of very poor books on the Laws of Attraction in the last few years. I started reading books about goal setting, mind control and success principles in 1985. I have used what I learnt from my extensive reading, coupled with academic qualifications, business and psychology experience, to create a consulting company, teaching seminars to corporations in strategic thinking, leadership, marketing, goal setting and business development. I also use the principles to help individuals, by guiding them as a Life Coach, teaching people cognitive methods to help goal set and enhance their lives beyond what they could do on their own. As such, I read as many books as I can, on a variety of subjects to enhance my knowledge. I can honestly say, that with all that experience, this book has shattered me to the very core. It is the first John Maxwell book I have looked at, and it is simply one of the best books I have ever read for self/business development.

I have read so many very poor personal development books recently, that simply rehashed old material, into just another self help/development book. I have learnt very little in the past few months. This book, began as quite a boring read....and the first Chapter had me nodding off. I had listened to John Maxwell on a tape set many years ago, when we sold audio programmes into the European market. I had been totally under impressed by this product, I never bothered with Maxwell's work since. For some reason, I felt intuitively I had to buy this book, so going against my own prejudice for Maxwell I bought the book.

The first chapter was not great and I thought what a boring writer it is going to be just another one of those books.

I persevered and by the end of Chapter 2 my lights went on. Through the Chapters I began learning things about my past sub concious programming, that I had never thought about before. Chapter after Chapter went by and more and more introspection took place. By the end of Chapter 8, I had filled an entire journal book, with ideas for my work as a consultant, motivational quotes but most importantly personal introspection. A good book can change how you feel. A great book changes how you feel and act. This book has changed the way I will teach, think, act, plan, grow etc..... whilst looking at others and helping them on their success journey. This book more than any other, I have ever read, has shaken my core beliefs about my personal philosophy and how I view myself. It has taught me so much about judging my past failures, and how to use them not as negative landmarks, but as positive keys that unlock the door to more growth and achievement.

There is a saying, "When the student is ready the teacher will be found". I was ready, after 25 years of reading success books, to find this book that caused me so much introspection. I am not sure this book will do this for everyone, I think I was just ready. What I am sure of is, anyone who reads this book, works on the ideas within their own lives and thinks very carefully how to implement the philosophy, will change beyond where they are now, and will make their Success Journey more dynamic and successful than they would have believed.

I have already ordered my next Maxwell book. Great read!

This is the first of Maxwell's books I've read and I loved his writing style and excellent stories and examples he used. His chapter on leadership was eye opening and helpful. One of the things he stresses is to lead other potential leaders, which will in turn greatly expand your circle of influence, because as they grow and excel, they will also become great leaders.
His definition of success was excellent. He defines success as "a journey in which one is maximizing his/her potential and helping and influencing others along the way". He doesn't emphasize money as being a measurement of success like a lot of self-development "experts" do. Wealthy people can be failures. Money doesn't make one a success.
Great book! I would recommend it to anyone.

A popular leadership speaker and prolific author, John C. Maxwell has a great deal of experience in the process of personal growth, and he communicates it well. This book, published as The Success Journey in 1977, is a useful step-by-step guide to plotting your journey to success, right down to the thoughtful exercises at the end of each chapter. Maxwell does a nice job of mixing the personal and professional sides of success and encouraging you to redefine it. His definition is that success is following your true purpose and living up to your dreams and potential, rather than just accumulating wealth and possessions. The book is quite a fast read - probably because a good portion of it is devoted to quoting others - and its evangelical tone may not appeal to all readers. Maxwell also makes frequent use of catchphrases, which help fill a page but say little. We recommend this book to ambitious individuals looking for guidance on creating and following a workable, actionable life plan.