Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen - Book Review by Mike Matthews
Rating - 4 out of 5 Stars
The Best Advice in the book!
Best Prices for the Book, CD and Cassette
Joel Osteen's 7 steps to your Full Potential
Critics and Followers
What I Liked
What I didn't Like
Joel Osteen's bio
On-line Streaming Videos, Interviews and the Blog
Your Best Life Now - Why you should buy it today
To get the full impact of this book, Your Best Life Now, I recommend that you see one of Joel's sermons. Did you know he has one of the largest congregations in the U.S? Did you know he didn't want to become a minister because he didn't think he could effectively talk in front of large audiences? If you've never seen him preach, you're in for a treat - take some time and:
Watch one of his TV broadcasts at www.joelosteen.com
Check out one of his on-line streaming videos
Visit the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas
NOTE: You may need to register on his site to get access to this information.
Joel Osteen's ability to deliver a message is a gift and he uses all his talent to deliver his message. His smiling face, his accent, his stage presence, his sincerity, his analogies to real-life situations and his enthusiasm are just a few ways that Joel captures your attention for the 30-60 minute talks. Listen to Joel at least once before you read his book, Your Best Life Now. As you read, you will easily visualize him up on the stage in front of you as he personally reads you the book. His writing style mirrors his Sunday morning messages and you'll find the same enthusiasm while reading this book.
Rating - 4 of 5 Stars 
Overall, Your Best Life Now is a very good motivational book. Many chapters will hit you directly with a positive force, while others will cause you to ask "...why did he include this in book...". I would have rated this a 5, but there were a few conflicting points in the book and there were a few times he strayed from the topic of living to your full potential.
One of the best points is Joel's discussion about making time to focus on your pursuit of true goals, instead of crowding your day with mundane tasks and other people's priorities. Losing focus on the important goals is so easy to do and his thoughts on this subject are well written in the book. One of points that I found difficult to accept is, trusting God to bring justice into your life. In my opinion, this belief is too simplified and naive.
Even though I am not a strong religious person, Your Best Life Now contains more good points than 'not so good' points and for that, it is a must read. His enthusiasm will help motivate you to improve your life and to improve the life of others. If you want to listen to him read the book, then consider ordering the
CD version (about $18) or cassette version (about $17) of Joel Osteen's book, Your Best Life Now.
The Best Advice - Enlarge Your Vision
Joel starts with a great analogy about a gorgeous house in Hawaii that a vacationing friend was admiring. The friend's comment was something like "I can't imagine ever living in a place like that." In the book, Joel states it well with one of his many quotes; "We have to (first) conceive it on the inside before we're going to receive on the outside." You need to change your mindset and first, imagine yourself living in that fabulous house. Your Best Life Now discusses the need to create a larger vision for your life and your personal goals. He also mentions the need to avoid getting stuck in a rut and you'll see more successes with your relationships, personal finances, health, etc. Joel also proceeds to tell us that God expects much more from all of us and settling for a small vision is not what God or others expect.
Personal Commentary
Do you think Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, Warren Buffet - had small visions? Absolutely Not! Every successful person starts with a great vision of possibilities. They were not born with a set of grandiose goals and a lifetime vision. Their goals and vision were developed over time and became a focal point later. You too can create a vision, make it your personal focal point and use it as your driving force to succeed with your personal goals. You can check out some other great motivational secrets and articles at http://www.your-key-to-success.com/index_articles.html. End of personal commentary.
Best Prices for the 'Your Best Life Now' book, CD and cassette version
I've found the best pricing and availability for this book, CD and cassette on Amazon.com, Booksamillion.com
or Simplyaudiobooks.com.
Other sites such as ebay and Joel Osteen's site also have this book, but I've always had good better experiences at Amazon.com. Your Best Life Now can be purchased as a book, CD or cassette version. ~~~~ Prices range from only $12 to $18 ~~~~
The 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
Your Best Life Now includes the 7 steps below:
Enlarge Your Vision - (in my opinion, the best advice)
Develop a Healthy Self Image
Discover the Power of your Thoughts
Let Go of the Past
Find Strength through Adversity - (another good chapter)
Live to Give - ('Give some, Receive More' would have been a better title)
Choose to be Happy - (Personally trying to make some changes with this one)
Critics and Followers
On a blog I created specifically for this book, I've listed some links to other web sites that contain reviews, testimonials and other personal thoughts about Joel Osteen, the Lakewood Church and his new book Your Best Life Now. There seems to be two extreme views that range from "Best person that touched my life" to "His use of 'God' to increase his personal wealth is not the Christian Way". After viewing about 50 of these comments, it's about a 25 to 1 ratio in favor of Joel, his teaching methods and his new book, Your Best Life Now. You can check out the full range by going to this blog at http://yourbestlifenowreview.blogspot.com.
Here are a few quotes from the Followers:
Chuck Norris, Actor - "As I was growing up, my mother taught be two essential principles for success: trust in God, and look for the best in people. Today, my wife, Gena, and I benefit greatly from Joel Osteen's similar positive messages of hope and encouragement."
Rudy Tomjanovich, coach, Los Angeles Lakers - "Joel has the unique ability to communicate the most complex spiritual principles in simple everyday language. He will motivate and inspire you to live a life of excellence and to fulfill your God-given destiny."
What I Liked
Enlarge your Vision is by far the most important point in his book. Without a big vision, you can't expect big things to occur your life.
Finding Strength through Adversity is another great perspective and realization. If we all lived without challenges, we'd never reach our potential. Some of toughest challenges can be both what is given to us as well as what we give to ourselves. One of his quotes sums it up well, "…turning your challenges into stepping stones for promotion.".
Choose to be Happy is a great way for Joel to end his book, Your Best Life Now. Smile more often, show enthusiasm and make the choice to be happy. It is your choice, no matter the circumstance, to be happy.
What I didn't Like
Chapter 22, Trusting God's Timing is personally difficult for me to absorb. Often, I will hear the phrase, "I'm going to pray for the (solution)." It is my opinion that praying may be a positive step for you in finding a solution and it may give you a sense of possibility, but it can't be the answer. Joel's comment to trust God's timing might lead some to simply give up and let God handle it. I believe you need to take some specific actions to get a solution & I don't think only praying, will get you a solution. In another section of his book, he states that perseverance is important in living to your full potential and getting all those things that you create in your vision.
Joel Osteen's Bio
Joel Osteen is the senior pastor of the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. An unbelievable 30,000 members listen to Joel each week and millions more watch him deliver his messages on national TV. Joel lives in Houston with his wife, Victoria, and their two children, Jonathan and Alexandra. Joel's book, Your Best Life Now has been #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold over 1,000,000 copies. Joel started the television outreach ministry with his father and remained behind the scenes, until his father passed away. He dedicated this book, Your Best Life Now to his father, John Osteen (1929-1999)
On-line Streaming Video, Interviews, Quotes and a Blog dedicated to the Book
Check out some of his most recent messages at his web site, www.joelosteen.com. (You may need to register to view).
Read the interview with Laura Sheahen or Bill O'Reilly.
I created a specific Blog to post as much as I could about Joel Osteen and his new book, Your Best Life Now, both the good and the 'not so good'. Take a peek at the Blog, you'll enjoy the interesting facts, interviews and personal comments.
Your Best Life Now - Why you should buy it today.
Here are a few quotes from his book:
"You must conceive it in your heart and mind before you can receive it" (Enlarge Your Vision)
"Don't worry about things you can't change" (Happiness is a Choice)
"It's in the tough times of life that we find out what we're really made of" (The Purpose of Trials)
"It's time to think about what you're thinking about" (Choosing the Right Thoughts)
Joel does a great job in enthusiastically conveying his ideas and principles with the reader. His use of humor, sincerity and analogies make the book both easy and inspiring to read. (It was tough to put down).
"Dreams will determine what you want in life,
Actions will determine what you get in life.
Do you truly have a desire to make your life better, do you just think about it and never take action? If you don't get this book, you'll miss out on hearing the message of one of the great motivational leaders of our time. Today is that day to take action, and buy Joel Osteen's, Your Best Life Now! For less than $12 (the cost of one dinner) is a small price to get the advice of one today's top speakers.
End of Product Review by Mike Matthews
