Here is Les Brown's personal formula for success and happiness -- positively charged thoughts, guidance, examples, plus an Action Planner to help you focus your thoughts on specific goals...and achieve them all. The answers are all here in this astonishing book -- with one simple, powerful We may not always be able to control what is put in our path, but we can always control what we are...and what we will become.
This is Les Brown, motivational speaker Les^^Brown is the author of warship books
Les Brown is a top Motivational Speaker, Speech Coach, and Best-Selling Author, loving father and grandfather, whose passion is empowering youth and helping them have a larger vision for their lives.
Les Brown's straight-from-the-heart, high-energy, passionate message motivates and engages all audiences to step into their greatness, providing them with the motivation to take the next step toward living their dream. Les Brown's charisma, warmth and sense of humor have impacted many lives.
Les Brown's life itself is a true testament to the power of positive thinking and the infinite human potential. Leslie C. Brown was born on February 17, 1945, in an abandoned building on a floor in Liberty City, a low-income section of Miami, Florida, and adopted at six weeks of age by Mrs. Mamie Brown, a 38 year old single woman, cafeteria cook and domestic worker, who had very little education or financial means, but a very big heart and the desire to care for Les Brown and his twin brother, Wesley Brown. Les Brown calls himself "Mrs. Mamie Brown's Baby Boy" and claims "All that I am and all that I ever hoped to be, I owe to my mother".
I want the kind of energy Les Brown has. This book is a history lesson on who the man is and how he got to where he is today. Since reading this book I printed his affirmation out and pinned it up on my wall in my office. Those who know it well have committed it to memory but I haven't been able to do that yet...
"If you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it, to work day and night for it, to give up your time, your peace and your sleep for it... If all that you dream and scheme is about it, and life seems useless and worthless without it... If you gladly sweat for it and fret for it and plan for it and lose all the terror of the opposition for it... If you simply go after that thing you want with all of your capacity, strength and sagacity, faith, hope and confidence and stern pertinacity... If neither cold, poverty, famine, nor gout, sickness nor pain, of body and brain, can keep you away from the thing that you want... If dogged and grim you beseech and beset it, with the help of GOD, you WILL get it!!"
We get sooooooo many negative messages from the world: You're not good enough, you can't succeed, you just don't measure up. It's refreshing to read a book so thoroughly positive. I place this book right up there with Purpose Driven Life and Dr. Covey's 7 Habits.
This book is kind of like physical exercise. I mean, the concepts are there...the key is to DO IT!
I'd much rather have a dream and strive for it, than having no dream at all. Because, even if you don't don't achieve your dream 100%, at least you have had an interesting, challenging and exciting ride. If you have no dream, every day is lackluster...you may not have any hurtful disappointments, but you won't have any great moments of satisfaction either as you make progress toward your dream.
If this book does not motivate and inspire you to live your dreams, nothing will. I absolutely love this book. I rented it from the library and had to put the book down and order it. This book is something that you want to have in your book collections to pass down to your children, children, children. Meme Baby Boy gives it to you straight! I absolutely love this book. Les is a gifted motivator. Oprah need him on her show!!!!!
This particular book is the one that jumpstarted my reading frenzy, and lead to me eventually becoming a bookhound!
While I think by now I could write the first half of any given self-help/my journey book out there (cause they are all the same old 'built myself from nothing' story), this is another one of the ones actually worth picking up. It pulled out of perhaps the darkest depression I have ever been in. One of the things in this book that is not in many of the others is the idea that you do not have to know everything, or be able to answer every question. You can seek out others to help or even use the concept of 'modeling' to emulate those whom you look up. It is a hard concept to explain, but it has helped me to become the man that I am today. - having said that, I did read it almost 6 years ago, and don't remember the specifics, so don't quote me on it.
Starting with the good stuff, the message of the book is quite good, and I appreciate the author’s perspective on life. There are many inspiring stories, and the stories are honestly the best part of the book. It definitely has a sense of uplifting, empowerment, and positivity that I enjoy.
On the other hand, it’s extremely generic. Even the worksheets at the end are vague, and not particularly helpful for definitive action. Sentiments like “move forward, don’t hold on to anger” are great in principle, but there’s nothing solid to hold onto to figure out how.
And possibly the worst part is that the grammar and spelling is so bad throughout the book that it seriously took away from the message for me. At times I had to re-read passages more than once in order to understand what was being said.
If you’re looking for a really long affirmation, this book will do it for you. But in many ways it personifies the issues a lot of people have with self-help books.
A friend recommended Les Brown to me. I liked his use of stories to get his message across.
Interesting how even though some of the technology and business framework is different today, his message is still valid after 20 years. He shared his background and journey to follow his dream to become of public speaker. One of my favorite quotes from the book is “I was an ant knocking on the door to the giant’s castle.” I think many people feel that way when trying to pursue their dreams. Persistence wins the day.
I really enjoyed this book. The main focus of this book is motivation. I enjoyed the book because I am drawn towards anything that is positive. Les Brwon keeps it simple and tells it like it is. We truly can make our dreams come true if we only believe in ourselves.
The book is a compilation of his talks from the nineties. You can hear them and watch some of them on youtube. Les is dynamic and a great inspiration - even after all these years. I highly recommend the book and listening to his live performances.
The kind of book that should not stay far away and could be read multiple times. It’s inspiring to have the lessons taught in this book with still humbleness. Les Brown explains in his own words his life and motivation you need to find in your own. Just living your life the way you want it.
Les Brown is beloved by several people I associate with. I figured I'd give him a spot in the reading rotation. Somewhere along the line this book was recommended and I put it on the To-Read list. When I noticed Amazon would let me read this for free, I began. Thankfully it was a free read for this book just did nothing for me.
Truth be told, I am not a motivational/self-help type person nor do I lean to reading this genre. But as someone interested in public speaking, I find myself occasionally reading stuff that leans this way.
Mr. Brown spoke over and over that he was pigeon-holed into the special education track of his public education. His writing, logic in presentation of skills, and command over what has his name on it did nothing to dispel that he was mislabeled. I read the Kindle version of this book. I would not have accepted the writing from my fourth grade students. There were so many spelling mistakes that I gave up on highlighting them. I kept thinking that the OCR software that converted this must have had serious trouble. But then there were things that OCR would not have done. It was difficult reading because the English was quite broken.
The format of the presentation did not lend itself to the reader. It was just a bunch of rambling thoughts. I heard about Mr. Washington oodles of times throughout the book and each time it was the same thing said about the man. There seemed to be no specific point to each segment but rather a stream of consciousness type of writing.
Much like horoscopes, there isn't much wrong with the points Mr. Brown attempted to make. Surround yourself with positive people, have goals, don't get down when things don't work out, etc. We've all heard/read it before. There is absolutely nothing about this presentation that stands out.
Brown began to bother me greatly when he drifted into politics. The man can write about anything he wants, but he is open to scrutiny when he delves into politics. He called for taxpayers to spend more and more money to make people feel as though they have value. Really? That's the role of the taxpayer?
Mr. Brown hurt his reputation with this book, imo. I am not a fan in the least.
Les Brown’s Live Your Dreams should be required reading for the aspiring dreamer, for those with a plan to be someone, and more importantly those who don’t. This book is a classic of modern motivational literature. Les Brown shows that anyone from humble beginnings can rise through the mess of it all with will and tenacity.
Les Brown, born on the floor of an empty apartment, left by his mother, and adopted by Mrs. Mamie Brown, his guiding light who taught him to be the man he would become.
Les Brown, who was written off from teachers as a lost cause, stuck in special education classes, and set up with the expectations of failure, would rise up to be Les Brown, the influencer, and mega motivator.
Live Your Dreams, illustrates that a good mentor can change your life. In Les’ case it was Mr. Washington. Les had a gift. And Mr. Washington saw it. With determination and Mr. Washington’s guidance Les would find the courage to defy the stigma of special education, rise up from his upbringings to become a disc jockey and then a State Legislature to improve his community, and soon after that rise the ranks of the world’s leading motivational speakers.
The chapters are short, to the point, offer helpful ideas with encouraging snippets of Les’ extraordinary life, and move on. They don’t drag. I also like that Les offers the reader an Action Plan. At the very end of the book there are thoughtful exercises, a step by step game plan to learn yourself, your skills, your weaknesses, and to capitalize on what you are good at, and more importantly realize what you can offer to the world.
I wished there were more chapters. I could read Les Brown all day. Thankfully, there are more of his books, and more of his speeches to listen to. But the will of one man shows his worth. And if you believe you are worthy then you will make it.
Jason’s Takeaway: Read this book. 5 Stars.
“Shoot for the moon, even if you fail, you will still land among the stars.” Les Brown.
In summary, the book is a good jump start for a person who seems to be leading life without much direction, wants that extra kick to get somewhere and start "living one's dream".
It seems to encompass both a brief biography and a certain approaches that have helped Les Brown become the man that he is, and hopefully make you find your inner greatness.
The book to a certain degree has a Christian undertone which is understandable when you look at Les Brown's life as a whole and people who have influenced him such as his mom and his fellow Christian companions. And it seems to refer to God as the universe, from what can be observed.
Les Brown seems to be a man that has helped my father become the man he is today, and in turn helped out our family as a whole. Thus it was a personal endeavour to understand how big of an influence he was, and he seems to have been a huge stakeholder as the advice my dad has given me over the years resonates over quite a lot of the pages in the book.
All and all the book brings a different spin compared to most "self-help gurus" such as Stephen R Covey and Tony Robbins who are seem to connect more towards the middle class audience. This book seemed to echo the same sort of story that is preached in most self-help books but with an African-American take on motivational talk as Les was brought up from the lower class.
And as with all self help books, the best way to help yourself is to start doing and start learning along the way.
There is an action planner at the back of the book, which I didn't get time to read through but seems to be of some help.
Personally not my cup of tea in terms of reading (which is most self help books), but at least it has been read.
I wouldn't say that I was excited to read this book. It's one that sat on my bookshelf for a few months, maybe years. My thought was that if it's going to be on my shelf - I should read it, otherwise get rid of it. And since it was right around New Years I thought it might be appropriate to read something motivational.
To be honest, I was not really engaged with this book at he start, the middle, or the end. I really like listening/watching Les Brown's speeches - they are fantastic! His writing was not. Some of the stories in the book I had heard before in his speeches - but the book seemed to be less entertaining, less engaging, and I was just not able to connect with it like I had expected I would and like I'm able to connect with his speeches.
As I read the book, a lot of it seemed to be repetitive. "Go after your dreams!" "Work hard!" - just a lot of self-help fluff. It just fell flat. Reading the words just seemed like I was reading a corny self-help book from the 90's.... which I was.
There were some interesting points. I didn't realize that he had already served as an Ohio senator prior to being homeless and living in his office building. That part did hit me - he had some money and some good stuff going and he gave it all up, even his home, to go for his dream. That takes guts; that's cool - and maybe irresponsible.
As I went back through and wrote down the quotes I had noted while reading, I really liked them all. The quotes by themselves, out of context, almost seemed more motivational or engaging than when i was reading the book. All in all, I won't read another Les Brown book, I will keep listening to his speeches.
Cover Art: 🥕 Title: 🥕🥕 Review: 🥕🥕 🐰 Some helpful self-talk though it took almost the entire year to complete this because the stories were lackluster. I've learned that I don't do too good with books that I find unrelatable to my own life. First Page Nibble: 🐰 We called the few blocks that were my territory as a boy "The Alley: and they an alley's nature. It could get tough, so we had to be tough. My adoptive mother, Mrs. Mamie Brown, tells the story about the time I was coming home from the grocery store with a big bag of rice and a can of kerosene and she heard the new neighbor yell to two of his own sons. " Jump on that boy and beat him up!" Quotes: 🐰 There comes a time when you have to drop your burden in order to fight for yourself and your dreams. Many of us carry baggage from the past that hinders our ability to fight for the things we want in life, our goals, and our dreams. pg.14 🐰 our parents bring us into this world, but in the end, we are responsible for what we become pg.15 🐰 we take life's requirements as seriously as we take life's opportunities pg.27 🐰 When you decide to pursue greatness, you are taking responsibility for your life...you can always control who you are pg.27 🐰 Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. pg.41 🐰 Develop a sense of urgency pg.46 Format: Paperback Date Read: December 19, 2018🐇
Somehow I was on youtube listening to the true meaning behind the words of the Star spangled banner, when that ended an on came old Les Brown. So being a kindle unlimited dude I looked him up an started reading. His book is inspiring with many great stores. If I had two things I would ask Les to do, they would be this. Hire someone (me perhaps) to read thru your book and remove all of the spelling errors. That just continually threw me off. You know things like "We road off into the distance" instead of "We rode off into the distance". Then the ending was too vague maybe its me but I need concrete plans Eat this, do that, read this, do that again.
If you have listened to Les Brown many of the stories in this book you have heard before. The book gives great examples and practical steps to achieving your goals and dreams. It was an easy book to read with exercises at the end of each chapter to help you apply what you have learned. This book is a great resource as a pick me up of motivation, a resource to help you develop positive self talk and just a great book to give daily motivation.
This book is so motivational and keeps you thinking about what you want to do with your life. This book actually keeps me going, and I'll be going back to it. Les Brown wraps his life with how to go after your goals, and also the workbook at the back of the book keeps you going with your goals. I am thinking about going back to it.
This book is utter crap. It could be written as a 20 page pamphlet on how to write SMART goals with a short bio (rather than repeating the same stories 15 times to fill pages.) Everyone can be a millionaire if they really want to!!!!!!!! No.... you can't..........
This guy is larger than life and has an inspirational background story. Truly spectacular motivational speaker. This book was fun to listen to. I recommend watching Les Brown motivational videos on YouTube.
I truly enjoyed this book. Book is filled with so many good nuggets once you are able to get past his lack of writing style. If you are seeking motivation the stories used were relatable. I have pages of highlighted passages. Great book !!