Book Reviews

Book Reviewer: Tyler Tichelaar for MQT Reviews

The Definitive Guide to Dream Fulfillment

Patrick Snow’s Creating Your Own Destiny is the most energetic and inspiring book written about fulfilling your dreams and finding true happiness in life. While thousands of self-help and motivational books exist in the marketplace, this book should be at the top of the list for everyone who wants to improve his or her life. I have had the incredible honor to talk to Patrick Snow in person and to hear him speak in public, and I can truly say he is the genuine article, a man whose energy and incredible gift of vision can help you succeed, a man who truly wants each of us to create our own destinies and choose to live the lives we deserve.

Creating Your Own Destiny breaks down the achievement of your destiny into four steps: Dream, Plan, Execute, and Soar. Patrick Snow takes the reader through each of these steps, beginning with dreaming or visualizing what the reader wants because “Only those who can see the invisible, can achieve the impossible!” Snow provides numerous exercises and thoughtful questions to help you decide what you want out of life, and he gives extensive details on how to achieve these goals. He reminds us it isn’t that people plan to fail but that they fail to plan which causes them to be stuck in jobs they hate while living paycheck to paycheck. To back up his program, Snow provides numerous examples of people who have become successful, and he lists many resources beyond his book, which include his own coaching services, Creating Your Own Destiny University, many other books, websites, and professional services to help you achieve your dreams.

One of the key points Patrick Snow focuses upon is how over fifty percent of people are unhappy at work, and how the corporate 9-5 model no longer provides security for workers. He enforces the importance of having multiple streams of income, and he teaches the reader how to create these multiple streams of income by following his passions rather than working a job he hates to make an employer rich. Snow advocates self-employment, emphasizing that the only way a person will truly be rewarded for his talents is to own his own business. His chapter on using the Internet to grow a home-based business is one of the best resources I have ever read for Internet marketing. Snow gives examples of how to execute your plans a little everyday, so over time you will succeed. I especially liked his suggestion to plan as if you only had thirty days left to live so you have a sense of urgency to create your destiny. He also emphasizes that happiness is not just about money and that we must also make time to nurture our health, spend time with family, and follow our higher calling.

What I find most impressive about Creating Your Own Destiny are the examples of real-life people Patrick Snow uses, especially examples from his own life. The reader may be tempted to say, “Sure, Patrick, it’s easy for you to tell us what to do; you’re already successful.” But Patrick Snow has had an incredible journey that led him to his success. Throughout the book, he bravely shares many details of his life—how his dreams of playing college football were destroyed by an injury, how he has been laid off from work, how he has had his utilities turned off for non-payment and how he nearly lost his home; despite these difficulties, he never lost sight of his vision to succeed. He is now one of the greatest motivational speakers alive today, and his book has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. Most importantly, he talks about overcoming fear and self-doubt; what a loss to the world if he had let his fears prevent him from writing this book, a book thousands have declared to be a great inspiration to them.

I highly recommend Creating Your Own Destiny. I do not doubt it will be a classic in the field of self-help and inspiration beside Think and Grow Rich, The Power of Positive Thinking, and Ask and It Is Given. I also recommend the reader visit Patrick Snow’s website www.CreateYourOwnDestiny.com where he provides several free worksheets and resources to help you achieve your goals. You can even listen to one of his remarkable motivational speeches. If you want to live a happier, richer, more empowering life, go out and buy this book!

-- Tyler R. Tichelaar, author of Iron Pioneers and
International Book Reviewer for MQT Reviews.
(If you are in need of a book review, call Tyler direct at (906) 226-1543)

Book Reviewer: Jennifer Manlowe, PhD

Can We Really Shape Our Futures? Patrick Snow Thinks So!

"Creating Your Own Destiny: How to Get Exactly What You Want Out of Life," written by Patrick Snow, is my favorite self-improvement book this year. Such praise proffered is saying a great deal because my blog, “Helpful Books” [http://helpfulbooks.wordpress.com] reflects my very choosy appetite.

As a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology and Religion, I fancy myself able to separate the bogus self-schleppy, New Age fluff from the wisdom of the ages. I can tell when a person is pushing candy and when they’re sharing real life experiences that offer authentic encouragement to the reader. "Creating Your Own Destiny" is of this latter ilk.

All 16 chapters are chock-full of wisdom (both ancient and “kitchen-table”)—most of it drawn from Snow’s direct experience as an employee, husband, father, son, and entrepreneur. He also mines his favorite inspiring quotes from those admirable people he’s tried to emulate (including his own parents).

Snow is a formidable optimist and a transparent truth teller; he shares what works and the exact techniques he’s used (and still uses) to thrive as an author, speaker, book coach and business consultant.

Like those other “Honest Abe’s” in business—Stephen Covey, Martha Beck, Brian Tracey, Warren Bennis, Oprah and Laurence G. Boldt—Snow isn’t “selling” this idea of “creating your own destiny” as if it’s easy. He testifies to how hard won it is to be diligent in your aim to “follow your heart’s desires.”
He humbly describes his own sense of failure and the lessons that came all along the way.

It is clear to the reader that Snow is a person of integrity, fairness, service and faith. One cannot help but feel his passion for giving away his secrets of success—specific methods from his own past achievements and current dreams.

All of what Snow makes plain throughout this book reiterates these four winning elements of uncovering your destiny: Let yourself have a vision (dream); Put it down on paper within a realizable time frame (plan); Step up to the plate and live into the dream, (execute); and reap the benefits of your hard work and tenacity (soar)!

Snow believes in his principled technology because he has been experiencing its benefits ever since he was a young man. His father encouraged him to write down what he wanted to see happen in his life (to check back in on them and be grateful for the miracles that follow). This method has been working for him ever since.

Snow clearly believes that his most profound learning has come from clarifying his aspirations, overcoming his greatest challenges–including what the naysayers may say–and getting clear on who it’s all for. His ultimate motivator is adding to the wealth of love embodied in all his relationships—especially his immediate family).

Many people gripped by financial fear and psychological insecurity do not think “family first” when it comes to creating wealth or insuring happiness (in fact, the pursuit of “abundance” can be such a red herring for the rotting fish in one’s personal life). In fact, when one looks to Wall Street, popular culture, or even the outgoing administration, we can see that principled solutions to most of our current crises are perceived as a thing of the past.

My favorite tenets of this book that are like no other, include the following:

1. Unique questions about your direction, priorities and past practices and room to fill in your own answers.

2. A plethora of wonderful quotes to inspire the reader—I’m talking more than 321 of them.

3. Humor and humility in equal measure.

4. Honesty about the marketplace and the greed and ignorance that can rule when profit comes before people.

5. Placing one’s priority on happiness within relationships, not just as a “successful” individual. So many “self-help” books begin and end with the “self” thus fueling the unhappy illusion that we are rocks, Islands, and legitimate narcissists.

6. Though Snow is a “born again” Christian, he doesn’t push what guides him in a religious sense. His advice seems to come from an open mind, one committed to leaving readers to find their own understanding to “destiny” and purposeful living.

7. He urges those who want to make money to look at their spending, saving and investing habits and asks readers what they believe “more money” will do for them. I love the idea that people who make more money often spend more money and feel just as fearful about money-lack as the rest of the middle class. Money smarts doesn’t necessarily come along with a better income.

8. Though Snow is an optimist, in no way is he naïve. He has clearly suffered many losses: his childhood home was nearly burnt to the ground, his agility after a back injury at 18, his dream of becoming an NCAA football player for Michigan, his first few jobs after college, a custom-designed dream home (in order to get out debt); and hearing initial reviewers of his CYOD manuscript tell him, “Don’t quit your day job, you’ll never make it as an author!” I’m sure he’s laughing his way to the bank after selling more than 125,000 copies of this book (now in its 9th Edition).

9. His nature as a person comes straight through his inspirational writing. He is clearly a person of great character – true blue – not just red, white and blue (though he is that, too).

10. He values loved ones and knows he would not be here without those special mentors, teachers, leaders who’ve paved the way. Snow is clearly driven to make the world a better place by having more “enlivened-by-their-work” human beings truly living in it.

As you might have guessed, I strongly recommend this book and so do his readers…some from Nairobi, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, Pakistan, India and Iraq. This book has been translated into many languages and appreciated by people of all ages.

It seems the perfect time to get inner direction, regardless of your context.
The sweeping changes in North American society would give any conscious person pause when considering positively affecting their future. Yet, the notion of counting on a secure marketplace or reliable employment is even more fanciful.

Asking ourselves Snow’s important questions could not be more relevant for the 21st century. That his writing speaks to so many people outside the U.S. tells us that these principles are universal, timeless and enduring.

Snow did not invent his recommended methods nor does he take credit for them. He’s simply identified, experimented, and organized them into a framework that nine to 109-year olds can test for themselves.

To order his book, go directly to his website: http://PatrickSnow.com