The Story of You: And How to Create a New One (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Everyone at the Starting Over show is still talking about Steve Chandler and what he did for the show." -- Ivana Vanzant, host, NBC's Starting Over

"If you put together the best of Anthony Robbins and Wayne Dyer, you would almost have Steve Chandler." -- Dale Dauten, Chicago Tribune, King Features Syndicate

"Steve Chandler is the most orginal and inspiring figure in the highly competitive field of motivational speaking." -- Arthur Morey, Renaissance Media

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Product Description

On the heels of his successful 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself and Reinventing Yourself, motivational speaker and author Steve Chandler has written his life's masterpiece, The Story of You.

The Story of You is the book Steve Chandler was always meant to write. In the tradition of Covey's 7 Habits and Scott Peck's Road Less Traveled, Chandler's personal growth gem transcends all categories to impact psychology, business, self-help, and contemporary social commentary. For the first time in history, readers have a definitive book on what keeps them from succeeding.

Chandler breaks new ground with his startling revelations and fresh interpretations about people as diverse as: Elvis Presley, Van Gogh, Governor Bill Richardson, actor Tyrese Gibson, Dr. Andrew Weil, Hugh Hefner, Mark Twain and the biblical character Lazarus.

By exposing people's stories as the most false and limiting part of their lives, Chandler invites you into a new world of action and creative accomplishment.

With humor and biting critiques, Chandler exposes people's false ego stories for what they are and reveals the source of all success: the inner energy of will and spirit. Filled with stunningly candid dialogue from pivotal coaching sessions that Chandler has conducted (and been the subject of!), this book is the most dramatic exposure yet of how we hold ourselves back by the stories we believe and then tell.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Career Press; 1 edition (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564149072
• ISBN-13: 978-1564149077
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #279,211 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another stellar effort, April 3, 2006

By	J. C Clark "eanna" (Overland Park, KS United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Stephen Chandler may or may not be among America's most beloved public speakers and authors, but he's one of the most effective. This book, like all the others of his I have read, is pithy, funny, and direct. But it also has the potential to be life changing.

Yeah, yeah, well every motivational book has the "potential" to be life-changing. Heck, a chance encounter with a bore on an airplane has that "potential" as well. What's so special about this one?

Several things. First, Steve is an autobiographical writer, and, having a biography that has forced him to rethink his direction on many occasions, he is without pretense or phoniness. The tales where he helped someone and the tales where someone helped him are spread thoughout the book, with neither gloating nor self-flagellation. Which is a necessary, but not sufficient, pre-requisite.

But his clear-thinking shines through. I really believe that the great ideas can be reduced to a few words. They're not new. But they need to be restated in new ways sometimes. Why is a Tiger Woods or a Stephen King so wildly successful in their chosen fields? A certain natural talent is undoubtedly helpful. I will never break par on the golf course. But though I envy those who are within 10 pounds of their ideal weight, I do nothing but envy. Why? Because I choose not to. Because I tell myself stories about how it's not my fault (egged on by publishers, diet folks, and daytime television magnates who get rich off my inertia and victimitis.) The stories I choose to tell myself about myself are just that, stories. They are not divinely inspired, though it is comforting to think they are sometimes. I can't finish my book because I don't have time. Too busy, rush, rush, oh, aren't we all, you know how it is, blahblah. Well, phooey! Tolstoy wrote War and Peace by hand about 7 times. I don't have time to sit at my computer and type??? I don't because I allow my lazy/busy stories to crush the "I am a writer" story.

Truly want to change? Let Steve guide you. Want comforting platitudes about how you're too busy or your body structure or your childhood or ...well, try elsewhere.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a deep understanding of Life, April 9, 2006

By	Bruce A. Salisbury (Farmington, NM USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I know that Steve Chandler does not really think of himself as a motivational speaker. He is however, a motivational thinker. He has woken up my sleepwalking neurons again, with his latest effort, "The Story of you".
The story of you, yet again, proves his ablity to capture a thought and present it with tremendous clarity. In this case, how people trap themselves in their existances through the fables and fabrications they believe about themselves. He shows the reader how to invent the new, clear, vibrant, Story of you, in a way that is concise, and easy to follow.
If you liked Chandlers' "Seventeen Lies", you will love "The Story of You". My only complaint about this book, is really about myself. I read the entire book at one sitting, so the joy of new discovery must wait, until I reread this book(which I shall), or Steve Chandler writes another book.
All in all, a fabulous read!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Trifecta Story, September 4, 2007

By	Dave Carpenter "Peak Performance Scholar" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

From all directions, three related products hit me upside the head. Each of the products, Chandler's excellent book, Debbie Ford's excellent audio The Answers are Within You: Unveiling Life's Greatest Spiritual Secrets in the Shadow of Your Soul and Joe Caruso's excellent audio The Principles of Authentic Power (best audio I have ever purchased) all deal with concept that we are very much a product of the stories we tell ourselves. After three whacks upside the head, I think I got it. :) I hit the trifecta, or should I say the trifecta hit me.

Steve Chandler has written another engaging book. The author is an excellent story teller, weaving in short stories about himself (occasionally) and others to make his points more forcibly. Having read others of his books, I believe this to be his best yet with more consistent adherence to a theme.

I wanted to give the book a five star rating because of its impact on me. I am sure that if I heard this highly regarded speaker talk on this subject it would be a five star speech. But, I agree with other reviewers who suggest that some more polishing would have made this a true five star (ironic in that the author tells of his advice to other authors to polish, polish, polish).

I am just going to hold my five star rating for his best book yet, one that is undoubtedly on its way given Chandler's observations about his own journey. I truly admire what Chandler is doing with his own life and that of others with his superb storytelling.

For readers who have not yet absorbed the power of the stories we tell ourselves (and others), may I suggest getting the message from one of the trifecta. Three authors with different styles of communicating, all making a point we need to understand if we want to achieve a higher level of personal performance. Not everybody will need three whacks upside the head, like I did, to fully absorb the message.