Adedoyin Adedeji – Assessments – International Institute for Global Leadership

As a Man Thinkth
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin Oluwarotimi (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main idea being conveyed by the author of the book is “we become what we think”. Whether our life would move in the right or wrong direction is dependent on our thoughts, whether we would fulfill destiny and accomplish our dreams is a function of our thoughts. The true purpose of our existence as human being can only be understood through intellectual thinking. The quality of our lives, our purpose, fulfilling destiny and our overall well being is a function of our daily thoughts which gradually forms the characters that defines our personality.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.

a. Guide Your Heart
“Guide your heart, because out of it flows the issue of life”. These are great words from the Holy bible which is very much in line with the major idea expressed in this book. A man would surely become what he accepts into his heart. At every point, we should careful weigh the options before us and block the bad ones from sowing a seed in our heart. Whatever a man sows in his heart, he would always reap in his
character and well being.

b. Our thoughts shape the reality
Our thought pattern shapes the reality of what we become. This is likened to the law of attraction that states that we attract into our lives what we think. Whether the reality before us is good or bad, they are direct consequence of our deep thoughts. Several times I had great ideas but the first thought that comes to my mind is the thought of failure, so most times, I just neglect the idea. The reality of this is that I still failed because I didn’t start at all.

c. Our deep thoughts manifests in our character and well being
Most times we try to hide our thoughts from people but in the course of time our thought pattern would also be revealed in our character. If we cultivate negative thoughts and pretend to have a good character, nature would always bring situations that would reveal what is inside us. Also the condition of our health is very much associated with our thoughts. Optimistic people are generally healthier than pessimistic people.

d. Good thoughts creates a purposeful life
Purpose in itself is an expression of good thoughts. The greatest obstacle to a purposeful life is not the challenges we face in life, neither is it a function of the people that try to distract us, it is our thoughts. The thoughts of failure and the fear of trying have caused extraordinary men to live ordinary lives. Year is year out, I have seen heroes who continuously live a zero life because of the negative thoughts they have about their purpose. They always feel they are not qualified enough to achieve the extraordinary so they spend the rest of their lives achieving the ordinary.

e. Great achievements are product of intellectual thoughts
Nothing great is achieved by accident, instead though intellectual thinking. We can always get answers to most of our questions through intellectual thinking. When we are faced with challenges and we think there is no way forward, our mind naturally shuts away every possible solution but if we devote ourselves to intellectual thinking we would always find great solutions that would lead to great achievements.

f. Dreams are the seedlings of realities
“Dreams are like diamonds, they remain forever”. The realities of today are the dreams of yesterday nourished with good thoughts. Great dreams results from good thoughts, the pursuit and achievement of these dreams is also a product of optimistic thoughts.

g. Cultivate Good thoughts
No matter how good we desire to be, our environment would always push us towards negative thoughts, but we have the choice to accept these negative thoughts and its consequences on our life or we throw them out. Cultivating good thoughts makes life more meaningful.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

Whatsoever our life will become is a direct result of our thought pattern. Changing the world starts from changing ourselves, changing ourselves starts from changing our thoughts. The only thing that limits the fulfillment of my dreams is the limitation of the mind; therefore if I can break apart the chains holding me down in my mind,

I can wake up every day to pursue my dreams. Once I can achieve my dreams, I know the world would be a better place. I can then go around the world to tell my story to motivate people for change, to build capacity in aspiring world changers thus creating a platform for a worldwide movement of change.

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking”. Our character is a pattern of behavior which we continually build over time. The major factor that determines whether our character is good or bad is our thoughts. Therefore, if a person commits himself to
continuously thinking right, he has a very high chance of having a good character.

“That man is the master of thought, the molder of character and the maker and shaper of conditions, environment and destiny” This quote points to the fact that everything that revolves around our lives is a reflection of how much we have been able to master our thoughts. Our thoughts are the molding blocks of our character and our character determines the conditions we will find ourselves and the environment we would be. All these in the long run would account for our destiny. Therefore, the mastery of good thoughts is a pointer to fulfilling destiny and living a peaceful life.

“Only by much searching and mining can man find every truth connected with his being” The older we grow or the further we go in the journey of life, we naturally tend to search for more answers to who we are, our real personality, our goals, visions and purpose. Most people don’t take time to carefully study who they are, they don’t ask their inner self for answers. Instead they make conclusions about themselves by what people say, what their environment and society have conditioned them to be. But by searching and mining inwardly, we would always find the true essence of our being.

“The divinity that shapes our ends is in ourselves.” The tools that shape what we become and how our destiny would turn out is right inside us. Everything that we need to make the choice of who we would become and how our life would be is already on the inside of us, we only have the choice to pick which ones we feel we need to become who we want to be. Life is about choices, the choices we make
determine the quality of life we live.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

PREDESTINATION
After reading this book, I have learnt some good lessons and I agree with the writer on several topics being discussed in the book. Nevertheless, I think the book is one sided. It’s alright to say that our thoughts determine what we become but I think predestination has its own effects on what we become. The concept of predestination could sound like a fairytale, discussing predestination could be complex but we can’t ignore its effects on our lives. A baby born blind is an example of predestination. Situations beyond us are responsible for cases like these and not the little baby’s thoughts, also the choice of the family, the country or race we are all born into is not a function of our thoughts. Though some would further argue that what we make of these natural conditions is a function of our thoughts. I just think predestination is such a big topic with reference to the context of the book that it should be left out.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

None

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.

None

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 6
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin Oluwarotimi (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main idea being conveyed by the author of the book can be summed up in one popular quotation “what the mind can conceive, you can achieve “. The story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull revolves around what I call “the cycle of great achievement”. The old pages of history are filled with stories of ordinary men and women who went through the cycle of great achievements to achieve extraordinary results. They had a passion which they pursued despite all odds till they got a breakthrough. Jonathan Livingston Seagull did not just have a passion which he developed, he led a revolution, he created a platform for change that positively altered the future of the flock and open the future generations of the flock to unlimited opportunities.

a. Pursue your passion despite all odds
We all have at least one passion deep within us that the world wants to see, but most people let the odds of life silence that passion; they allow the pressure of life flood the burning passion in them. They end up living like a zero when they have what it takes to be a hero. Jonathan Livingston Seagull would not have been the only seagull in the flock that loves the idea of flying but despite all odds he chose to be a hero. When I decided to explore the world of ICT I didn’t have any money for trainings so I had to use books from friends that went for the trainings to develop my experience in ICT. Today I do a lot of projects that people consider outstanding.

b. Never Give Up
“Quitters never win, winners never quit”. Jonathan Livingston Seagull had every reason to get up after a lot of verbal attacks from his parents and the flocks, several injuries during practice and the rejection from the flock, yet he chose to forge ahead to make a change. For some years now I had been involved in various businesses, some to offer services, others to sell products. I had made mistakes along the way but I have learnt to understand why I failed and continue my exploits in the world of business.

c. Don’t be held down by Tradition
One of the most silent yet profound reasons why we don’t achieve our dreams in life is because most people settle for the traditional way of doing things. People are who they are, they don’t always want to change. Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s father told him that feeding was more important to seagulls than flying so he should just be like the traditional seagulls but he chose to be different. I have had a lot of people ask me “ why do you put yourself through all this stress, just get a good job and enjoy your life” but like Jonathan Livingston Seagull, I have chosen to be different.

d. Mentorship
Mentorship is very instrumental to the development of a change agent. Chiang was instrumental to the flying genius Jonathan became. There are several mistakes I had made in life which I would not have made if I had a mentor, there were so many lessons I painfully took time to learn which I could have learnt from a mentor and moved ahead faster.

e. Building Capacity
After Jonathan Livingston Seagull became a flying genius, he saw the need to build capacity among his traditional flock. So he decided to return to the flock despite Sullivan’s objections and the fact that he was an outcast. In the last few years I have been involved in training and capacity building projects to help youths in my locality to fulfill their dreams and aspirations. The feeling of being involved in the positive development of lives could be a very fulfilling one.

f. Advocating for Change
Jonathan Livingston Seagull saw the opportunities flying would open the flock to and he advocated for change. Even though he was an outcast, he chose to return to advocate for the needed change. I have been advocating for change through my writings, speaking at various forums and meeting, social media and through my internet based empowerment project. Even though I may not have gotten the desired results from my advocacy, I would continue to advocate and educate the public that we need a change.

g. Transformational Leadership
Jonathan Livingston Seagull evolved from a passionate little seagull to a transformational leader. He chose to set a pace for the flock and altered their future possibilities for the better. Jonathan Livingston Seagull was indeed a transformational leader.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The entire story of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull symbolizes the developmental process of a world changer. As a young seagull he had a passion to fly and he went ahead to develop it. He left his flock to explore more possibilities in the world beyond, he found a mentor that developed the genius in him, he started the change process by developing other outcasts, those of whom eventually formed his advocacy team that went back to the flock to advocate for change. These lessons would help because it has taught me to take my personal development more seriously and to get a good mentor to help me develop faster so that someday I can be in the forefront building the right human capacity that would change this world for good.

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

a. “I don’t mind being bone and feathers mom ………. I just want to know” I have been in similar situations that had made me to put up a protest like this. A lot of friends and family at some point get some information about what I do and they just call me and start making statements like “is this what you have been wasting your money and your time on, instead of you to eat well and get yourself some nice clothes and shoes”. Though it is always painfully but most times I would just reply “Thanks for your concerns, but I don’t really care”.

b. “Short Wings, A falcon’s short wing!”
This was an example of an eureka moment when out of your deepest thoughts a solution to a great problem pops up. At times while working on a project and the deadline is short somehow a problem always arise that needs to be solved before I continue with the work. So I spend a lot of time thinking about a solution and all of a sudden when am about giving up an Eureka answer pops up.

c. “Irresponsibility? My brothers!”
It was the beginning of Jonathan’s advocacy for change. Not until we speak up and advocate for change, people would not understand the need for change. We have to do our best to use every opportunity we have to clamor for change, thus the more people that speak up for change the better for our society.

d. “The only true law is that which leads to freedom”
This quote is important to me because it expresses the true essence of the law. Laws are not just meant to guide the human existence, true and genuine laws should lead us to freedom of a better and safer world.

e. “I don’t understand how you manage to love a mob of bird that has just tried to kill you”. This is an expression of love, passion and commitment to what we believe. Despite the fact that they rejected Jonathan Livingston Seagull in the first place and later tried to kill him Jonathan Livingston Seagull never gave up on his vision to see a better flock of seagull.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

None

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.

Finally, I would like to comment on what I call “Leaving the scene”. Jonathan seagull’s mentor Chiang left the scene quietly once he saw Jonathan had learnt enough to be a true leader. Also Jonathan retired and left the scene when he felt Fletcher Seagull was matured enough to continue the change process. One of our major challenges in Africa is that too many leaders refuse to develop capacity in the younger generation because they don’t want to retire, they don’t want to leave the scene. African leaders need to learn this aspect of leadership transition in Governance.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Psycho-Cybernetics 2000
Adedeji Adedoyin Oluwarotimi (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main idea in the book Psycho-Cybernetics 2000 is the re-creation of one’s self. According to biblical references, our Lord God spoke everything we see today into existence and we human being have been given this same power to create. Therefore, we can create or re-program ourselves by speaking the right words through our conscious mind to the subconscious mind. All things equal, our lives tend to move in the direction of our thoughts and our thought is a function of the proclamations we make to our subconscious mind. Psycho-Cybernetics 2000 helps you take a broader look at your life, try to see the challenges in your personality, trace the source through reflective thinking and using the CRAFT method to confront these defects in your personality and win over life’s challenges.

(a) Self-recreation

Our reactions to the reality around us are directly related to our self-image. The more positive we see ourselves, the better we are able to control the reality around us. But when we have a negative perceptive of ourselves, we lose our self-esteem and confidence thus finding excuses for our failures and setbacks. These poor self images may be due to our growing up or painful experiences in life. Therefore, we need to reprogram ourselves to be able to move forward in life and this book offers practical solutions, which include CRAFT (cancel-replace-affirm-focus-train) and SEEDS. While growing up those around me always gave me the impression that I am inadequate to handle responsibilities, those impressions still pops up occasionally but I have learnt to go for opportunities irrespective of the feelings that I am not adequate.

(b) Relaxing

Relaxing is one of the greatest phenomenon of our existence. The rewards of relaxing is unlimited and it is the only antidote to stress and burn-outs. A lot of people go through life with various health challenges and deep frustrations because they don’t understand the importance of the peaceful side of their inner self. Stress keeps a lot of folks in a circle of frustration that hinders their creativity. But when we take some time to relax or take a retreat, our health improves, we are able to see into the future properly and our creative mechanism is unleashed. Every time I am confronted with challenges and under a lot of stress I have noticed I mess up more things, therefore I take sometime out to watch one or two movies and before the end of the movies most of the challenges already has a solution in my head.

I have seen a lot of people that can’t live the kind of life they dreamt of because those around them think it is silly or their dad, mum or spouse would be mad with them. People can’t pursue their dreams because they concentrate too much on what people will say or the criticisms of their loved ones. We live our lives based on what ours think is right for us. Instead of taking the responsibility to write our own life script, we usually let ours pen down the scripts for us thus we end up not fulfilling our lifetime dreams. Most times I just launch out to do what I want to do irrespective of the criticisms of those around me.

(d) Goals, low self esteem and wishful thinking

“Our goals are like orchards, the more energy we put into them the more they bear fruit”. A lot of people sincerely have the passion to pursue their dreams but low self esteem could be a very huge barrier. Most of the time we try to concentrate our energy on achieving our goals but our low self esteem tends to ask us questions when we seem to be achieving some level of success. That inner weakness in us would ask questions like “this thing may not work out, by put in some much effort aimlessly” or “Even if you succeed, do you think you can handle the fame and wealth this idea will bring your way”. Thus, we settle for less by following these thoughts, which we justify by telling ourselves “I just want to play it safe” in the process of “playing it safe” good planning gradually starts turning into wishful thinking. Some months or years later we look back and see we have done nothing to achieve success with our dreams.

(e) Overcoming procrastination

Through Psycho-Cybernetics 2000, I have come to understand that it is not only the fear of failure that makes us to holdback thus procrastinating but also the rewards and fame of succeeding. A lot of time I had always told myself “you dream too big, you are too young to handle this magnitude of achievements” so unconsciously I postpone most of the actions that needs to be taken. But most of the time, I am more held back by the fear of failing. The thoughts of the time and money that would be wasted, the ridicule of those around me makes me procrastinate most big ideas to a “more comfortable day”. So I have been reprogramming myself to overcome procrastination by writing down by thoughts and getting a time frame to complete the task involved. Generally, if we develop ourselves to me more optimistic about life, we will do less of procrastination. When we procrastinate we lose time and passion , that is why procrastination remains one of the biggest dream killers.

(f) Taking small steps

“Any small step you take toward your goal helps shape your self-confidence and points you towards success”. “Little drops of water dripping continuously can form a pond, if the dripping continues the pond can become a flowing stream of water that expands to someday form a river”. So also is it for our dreams, taking those small steps continuously would give us the possibility of a big success tomorrow. We always wait for the best time to take steps towards the fulfillment of our dreams, sometimes we procrastinate till when we have some big money or have all the time to take a giant step towards our dreams. But we have to begin to learn that there is a great potential is taking small steps. The path to the top is not an instantaneous thing but a series of small steps that form the big step which gets us to the top. In some books I read about fulfilling your dreams, they generally recommend that we should see the big picture, pen it down and wake up every morning to do something that takes us closer to that big picture.

(g) Accepting who we are

According to the book “the cornerstone of happiness is accepting yourself as a worthy human being”. I have seen a lot of people do unspeakable things to themselves because they feel God had not been fair to them because of their conditions. I have seen potentially great men reduced to nothing because they lost confidence in their personality. We all have one thing or the other is our lives that we are not proud of, that we wish we can reject but they are there and there is nothing we can do about them than to accept them as part of our lives and learn how to deal with them. Self-acceptance is one of the foremost steps towards reprogramming ourselves for success. We all need to look both inward and outward, list out those things that causes us to be judgmental about our existence. Once we have this list, there will be some that can change. Other can’t change thus we should start working out methods on how to deal with these unchangeable. Self-acceptance will always bring internal peace that will increase our confidence and self-worth in the cause of time.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

Like I said earlier, this book is about the re-creation of oneself. The great lessons I have learnt in this book has formed a road map for me to reprogram myself for success. Once I can speak optimistic words to my subconscious mind and I carry around the “big picture” in my heart, I can wake up every day to pursue these dreams with awesome confidence. During the study of this book I was developing the second
phase of our web portal – www.getinspirednigeria.com which is dedicated to the motivation and empowerment of the Nigeria people. I just realized that the whole idea behind the project start to explode in my head into something much bigger than I had thought of initially. Right now I see more possibilities of things that can be done which fear or doubt had hindered before. This second phase will be launched
in July 2010 and I strongly believe that the Nigerian Youths will be empowered beyond our expectations. Nigeria remain the world’s most populations African Nation, therefore I believe this change will not just be for Nigeria, it is going to sweep across Africa, thus Africa will take her rightful place in world affairs and the whole world will be better for it.

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“Everyone of us always acts, feels and behaves in a way that is consistent with our self-image – regardless of the reality of that image” – Page 3. This quote was the pointer to what I should be expecting in this book. It was the wake-up call for me to increase my expectations on this book.

“Each of us is capable of taking control of our self image and programming our automatic guidance system for success” – Page 5. This made me to start understanding that I need to take responsibility for changing my self-image and redirecting my automatic guidance system towards success.

“Change comes about through awareness of a negative self-image by challenging the bad habits that support this image and by creating a new, positive self-image” – Page 25. This short quotes summaries the shortest possible route towards becoming a more positive person.

“Physical relaxation plays a key role in the dehypnotization process” – Page 97.
Taking some time out to relax physically helps to reduce the weight of the challenges around you thus being out your creativity.

“When we say that a person has a good personality, what we really mean is that he has freed the creative potential within him and is able to express his real self” – Page 234. A lot of people of people have bad personality because they don’t feel secured internally but for someone that has unlocked the creative potential within himself, he is able to confidently express himself because he knows his creative potentials will always secure him.

“Courage does not have to mean being a hero in a moment of crisis, it can mean acting boldly in the little things” – Page 245. It is not necessarily those big things we do for others to see that should be called courage but also those little internal battles we fight and win within us every day as we move ahead to be a positive person.

“I am not judged by the number of times I fail but by the number of time I succeed” – Page 274. This is a reminder that no matter the obstacles we face on our road to destroy, we should keep moving. Nobody cares about your failure; they only want to see your success.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes I complete the exercises on most of the chapters exercises on
chapter 4 and 7 were really helpful.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.

The last two sentences of the first paragraph on page 250 is what I would like to comment on. Bobbe Sommer was insightful to have pointed out that self-esteem is not the solution to a universal problem, but instead it is the foundation of a multitude of universal solution. Those two sentences were profound to my thoughts and created a great balance between the lessons I learnt in this book and the reality
before me. For example a family that has a grandmum suffering from cancer, self esteem may not cure cancer but it can really help the family to deal with it and they are able to spend great times together as a family.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Napoleon Hill’s Keys to Success
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

It is a fact that Napoleon Hill remains one of the most successful motivational writers of modern History. This great book is the compilation of 17 great principles that Hill’s mentor Andrew Carnegie and the more that 500 titans he interviewed for 20 years had in common. Interaction with these great men and women gave Napoleon Hill a powerful insight into their success philosophies which he later put together and presented to us as a book and a signpost for as many that are determined to succeed. He simply used this book to convey the 17 most powerful philosophies of some of America’s greatest minds.

2. What are the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.

i. Definiteness of purpose

“A man that has no purpose for his journey will always arrive nowhere”. One of the biggest challenges passionate people face in the our journey to destiny is that we have too many attachments to our purpose because of the boiling passion within us, we see too many possibilities of what we can do with our purpose thus distraction sets in and we wake up one day to realize we haven’t gone too far with our purpose instead we have spend more time on the attachments. Therefore, having the self discipline to focus on where we are going is the first key to succeeding. That’s what Napoleon Hill discovered to be one of the greatest differences between those that succeeded and those that succeeded greatly. Definiteness of purpose is something I struggle with most of the time because with advancement in technology comes more exciting options of things that can be done, but I have learnt to deal with it by writing down a work plan to guide me through.

ii. Building your success team

Having a team that believes in your purpose is very paramount to the level of success we can achieve. There is the popular saying “No man is an Island”, thus we cann’t succeed without a great team. Even Jesus our ultimate example of success had a team of twelve. Building a great team requires commitment and trust which will help us to explore the experiences, skills and gifts of the team members to achieve a common goal. When intelligent minds come together, great results are achieved. Once we have a defined goal of what we need to achieve, it forms a roadmap for the team to do exploit.

iii. Infinite Intelligence

Thinking people have always seen evidence of Infinite Intelligence in the external world. Every process of nature is orderly with this Napoleon Hill has been able to prove that there is a wisdom which is far ahead of us – the wisdom of a divine Being. Every outstanding breakthrough in the history of humanity has its root in a wisdom that is far more higher than the human thinking. Infinite Intelligence is the wisdom of the creator – our Lord God Almighty. We could have a define purpose and a great team but I must say that every success that has lasted through the ages has its roots in the wisdom of God. Therefore, in our journey towards destiny, we should always learn to depend on this Infinite Intelligence through prayer and meditation.

iv. Faith and Fear

The most accurate definition of faith we can find in any literate is the one is the Holy bible – “faith is the substance of things hoped for, an evidence of things not yet seen”. Faith is the direct opposite of fear. Faith is put into action through positive mental attitude persistent action backed by definiteness of purpose is what increases our faith. Most times when we take an overview of our purpose, it looks so overwhelming and bulky that causes us to doubt it, once we dwell too much on this doubt, the doubt is replaced with the fear of trying but we can overcame this through positive affirmation. We have to keep reassuring ourselves that we will fulfill purpose and destiny. The major way I maintain a position mental attitude is through music. Whenever doubts and fear sets in, I have a playlist of inspirational songs on my music player that I just listen to all night and I woke up in the morning fired up to pursue my dreams.

v. Going the extra mile with Personal Initiatives

On chapter five on the book, the short story of the only partner the great inventor Thomas Edison had Edward C. Barnes Edward Barues was a man that went the extra mile with Personal initiative thus got his name into the old books of History.

With Napoleon Hill’s Personal Initiatives, he went the extra mile for 20 years working with Andrew Carnegie’s Commission to organize and publish the principles of success of some of the greatest minds of all times. If he never went the extra mile, we would never have had these awesome literatures he left behind that have blessed billions of people across the world several years after him.

vi. Self Discipline

Self Discipline calls for balancing your emotions with your reasoning. This means you must learn to consult both your feeling and your reasons before you reach any decision we have to make. Trying to strike a balance between these two extreme points of judgment is very important.

It is usually not easy to strike a balance between the two but with the human will, we can enforce Self-Discipline to make the best decisions. The greatest manifestation of Self – Discipline is in the strength of your will. Without Self – Discipline, the road to success will end in tragedy and regrets.

Every great achievement in history are stories of men and women enforced their internal will to discipline themselves above their weaknesses and adversities.

vii. Creative Thinking

As the challenges facing our world gets more complain as the years go by, there continues to be increase need for creative thinkers. The level of our creative thinking depends on how far we can go with going the extra mile and how personal Initiatives we can put to action based on the challenges before us. We have to take time to medicate and stimulate our imagination to proffer solutions towards s definite purpose. The world is full of people who just want to settle for the normal but the world is full of people who just want to settle for the normal but the world is in great need of man and women, boys and girls that are willing to take time out to connect with Infinite Intelligence to offer creative solution to environmental issues, technology, businesses, Government and Society.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

With this book “Napoleon Hills keys to success”, we have been given a roadmap to the minds of some of the world’s all time greatest men and women. Personally, developing a definite purpose and establishing a waster-mind alliance are the two most important issues I have to deal with now and in future. For some of us that love to do one thing at a time and I think with proper self discipline we can put this over-zealous nature under check. We all can create a better world it we discipline ourselves and have a define purpose.

We can then form a great team and motivate every team member to think creatively to achieve our goals and objectives.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

i. “The differences in people are due to the way they have trained their conscious minds; subconsciously we all are very much alike” pg 7

ii. The Quote reinforces some of the key lessons I learnt from the book I read earlier – Psyo Cybnertics 2000.

iii. “The value of the wealth that comes with success is that it carries with it the lessons you have learned in acquiring it” – pg 11

iv. Success in not a product of luck instead it is a product of define purpose good planning and some elements of luck. I remember the words of Henry Ford” you can take everything I have today from me, but please live me with time along and I will recover all”.

v. “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve” – pg 50

vi. The use of this quote has increased in recent time thus it has become one of the most popular quotation used in any social or empowerment gathering this is because of the weight of message it carries.

vii. “If you make your prayers an expression of gratitude and thanksgiving for the blessings you already have, instead at requests for things you do not have, you will obtain result much faster” – pg 51.

viii. “I don’t care what your party is, but you must select it, as you select everything on the basis of accurate thought, not on the habits of other” – pg 131

ix. For us to succeed in life, we have to be independent in our thoughts and improve the level of accuracy in our thoughts, but as long as we continue to depend on other’s habits and thoughts to make chooses, we will be hindering our lives.

x. “And there will be other generations after ours. Their lot in life will depend largely on the inheritance we leave them. We all must become bridge builders, not only for the present generation but for generations yet unborn.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

Yes, they were so helping

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

The 2 % Club

It is amazing that only 2% of the world’s population achieve great success. These 2% of people are the ones that turn their wishes to a burning desire and settle for nothing less than the goals they have set for themselves. I have heard it over and over again that we all have dreams and aspirations but the painful truth is that only less than 30% of us pursue those dreams and more painfully is that only 2% of us achieve great success with those dreams. But the good news is that our destiny is a function of our choices and our choices is the function of our thoughts therefore by continuous learning, we improve our thoughts thus helping us to make better choices and increasing our chances of great success.

The woman who changed Napoleon Hill’s Life

On page 104 and 105 of the book, Napoleon Hill told the story of how his stepmother inspired him to greatness. Firstly, she saw hope in a family that thought their situation was hopeless and she did a great job to inspire them to achieve great success. Personally, I think she is the real hero of this book and other books Napoleon Hill has written. Even though we may not know her name, her profile may not even be popular in the old books of history, but what she transformed a little silly boy into would continue to be repeated throughout history. There is a drop of greatness is every human being, all that is required is to be motivated to build our dreams and aspirations on that drop.

Ratings:

A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by Adedoyin Adedeji (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

In this book, W. Clement stone was trying to convey the fact that positive mental attitude (PMA) remains one of the key ingredients for achieving great success. We may have a defined purpose and great ideas but without positive mental Attitude we may not be on our way to getting great results. A lot of people allow faulty ideas to shape their personality thus forming a barrier that hinders the manifestation of their dreams. The writer highlighted and discussed some of the most common challenges we all face on our road to success and he used wonderful true life stories to illustrate the effects of each those challenges highlighted.

i. Positive mental attitude and Negative mental attitude
The human mind is filled with numerous thoughts and these thoughts which are the molder of our lives are generally categorized into two. They include the positive mental attitude (PMA) and negative mental attitude (NMA), the one we choose determines the reward we get. PMA attracts increase and happiness while NMA attracts decrease and sorrow. Sadly, the human mind was designed to think negative first before we start thinking positive that is why almost 95% of the world population live below the human full capacity. But through studying, self-development and self discipline, we can reprogram our mind to think positive which will be a huge advantage to us, our destiny and the world.

ii. Changing your world with the right thoughts
The moment we reprogram our minds towards PMA, the right thoughts starts to flow into our minds thus causing a great change in our personal world. In the second chapter of the book, the story of Ben Cooper was told. How his world changed from being a victim to a victor. By reading Horatio Alger books, his thoughts changed from the thoughts of a victim to the thoughts of a champion. His world changed because he considered himself to be one of the Alger’s heroes. The fight was brutal but his world changed for the best. All this happened because a little boy’s thoughts were changed because he considered himself to be one of the Alger heroes. With positive affirmations, we can tailor our minds to right thoughts.

iii. Exploring the power of the minds

Albert Einstein that was considered to be one of the greatest thinkers in history was once said to have not explored a good amount of the power of his mind. The power of the mind is as boundless as the sight of the sky. The more we can explore the power of our mind, the more we can do, the more we can achieve. Exploration of the power of the mind can reward us with good health, sound mind, happiness, wealth, success and great relationships. The law of attraction states that we attract into our lives what our thoughts dwell on. Our brain sends signals to the universe thus attracting into our lives the results of our thoughts. When we explore the power of our mind, there is almost nothing we can’t achieve.

iv. Learning to see

A great man once said “we look at the same things but we see different things”. What people consider a barrier is what a man can see as an opportunity. For a man that has explored his mind with PMA, he will see more opportunities around him than problems. In chapter seven, we were told of the story of the town of Darby Montana, while the whole town looked up at what they called Crystal Mountain. Two men Mr. cumley and Mr. Thompson saw it differently, they chose not to see it as a mountain but as a very large deposit of mineral that was later discovered to be the world’s largest deposit of extremely valuable beryllium. Learning to see is something we have to develop with PMA and can open us all into a world of unlimited possibilities.

v. Doing Things NOW

Procrastination is one of the most silent yet powerful forces responsible for failure. Too many times we find irrelevant excuses to delay or postpone the things we have to do now to sometimes in future. After a period of time we realize we have not achieved most of the things we had planned to achieve within a space of time. Personally, procrastination is still something I battle with and am working towards overcoming it so that I can be a better person. Procrastination is a quick choice for us to make, this slows down our pace in life and destiny. Just like other books I have read that highlights this challenge, learning to say affirmative words like “Do it Now” to oneself is very important for those of us fighting against this monster called procrastination. Through this method, we can get more done thus helping to us to achieve more in life.

vi. Your magnificent obsession

Obsession is an idea or emotion causing a persistent preoccupation in one’s mind. Martin Luther King Jnr once said that “a man who has no purpose of living is not fit to live”. Our purpose in life should be our magnificent obsession after God. We all should live our lives to express our passion for our purpose. A man that is yet to be obsessed about his purpose is not set to fulfill his destiny. We all have the power within us to create a burning desire to affect the world positively with our ideas and dreams. As the years go by, the challenges of the world increasing in complexity therefore the need for men and women, boys and girls with magnificent obsession to change this world for good with their ideas are on the increase. One of my magnificent obsession is to see the next generation of empowered Africans therefore I developed a project called GET INSPIRED NIGERIA which is currently an internet portal for social networking and free empowerment resources – www.getinspirednigeria.com

vii. Healthy Living through PMA

Negative thinking could be a trigger for a bad health. Negative thoughts like fear, worry and anxiety over a period of time can lead to a general breakdown in our health. The number of people dying of hypertension and heart attack is on a high increase due to negative thinking. PMA is an effective tool towards living a healthy life. I had read most of Ben Carson’s books and most of his medical triumph was a product of divine guidance and PMA both from the doctors and patients. Generally, people that maintain PMA live healthier and much longer than those who keep NMA.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

The quality of our lives is a direct result of the power we choose to give our mind. Those that maintain a PMA give their mind an awesome creative force that will improve their lives, attract wealth, happiness and health while those who choose NMA give their mind a destructive force that will ruin the good things in their lives. The power of a librated mind can’t be estimated, a librated mind is a mind that trusts in the Almighty one and believes there is nothing we can’t achieve through PMA. I am trusting God to help me to always keep a PMA that will build a passionate obsession in me to change this world for good. The passionate obsession will help me to do things with urgency thus eliminating procrastination. With the elimination of procrastination, I can get more done and be able to explore great opportunities to affect the lives of men, and this I believe will help me live a fulfilled, healthy life and I will have done my own part in changing the world.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

(i) “We are poor – not because of God. We are poor because father has never developed a desire to become rich. No one in our family has ever developed a desire to be anything else.”

(ii) “Every adversity has the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.”

(iii) “If you are right, your world will be right.”

(iv) “Direct your thoughts with PMA to control your emotions and ordain your destiny.”

(v) “None of us can understand, he say the miracle of sight, unless we have had to do without it.”

(vi) “Open your mind and learn to see.”

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6 . Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

Yes, they were really helpful

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Ratings:

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Real Magic
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

Magic is a supposed supernatural power that makes impossible things happens or gives somebody control over the forces of nature. Magic defer the normal logic of the human mind. In this book, Dr wayne helps us to understand how we can create our own magic, using the power of our mind to create life changing occurrences that goes beyond the natural human reasoning. He illustrates how we can move from being a limited physical being to a spiritual being that knows no limit or boundaries. Not until we get to that realm, we will all be limited by the actions and reactions of our immediate environment. However if we choose to be a spiritual being, we know no boundary thus we can tap into a higher wisdom that is divine to set new pace and break new grounds for humanity.

i. Paths Toward Enlightenment
Creating magic in our normal world involves the transition from being a human being to a spiritual being. This transition will not just occur by wishful thinking instead it occurs through the paths of enlightenments. Adequate enlightenment is the starting point to being a spiritual being that creates miracles in our everyday life. Dr wayne pointed out three paths to enlightenment which include: enlightenment
through suffering, enlightenment through outcome, enlightenment through purpose.

Enlightenment through Purpose is what truly distinguishes those who are spiritual beings doing magic and those we desire to be a spiritual being.

ii. Creating a miracle mind-set
Once we have gone through the path of enlightenment through purpose, the next step in our journey to real magic is to set our minds and our invisible self towards the path of miraculous living. A good sense of purpose and a mind of possibilities are some of the key factors we will need to create miracles in our everyday lives. Living a purposeful life with a mind set of miracle assures us of the fact that we will spend our lives creating legacies that will bless generations of humanity to come. With this mind set, we can unlock divine or natural secrets that will solve some of the biggest challenges confronting humanity; we can reach heights that defer normal human reasoning.

iii. Creating magic in your Relationship
We human being are social being. The true measure of how our lives will go is a function of how we relate with other people. Creating magic in your relationship helps us to master how to live peacefully and joyfully with others. In a world of diverse culture and belief, creating real magic in our relationships with people around us is highly essential for a fulfilled life. The ability to create magical relationships around us starts and ends with us. If we want to create miracles for ourselves and truly live a fulfilled, self-actualized life, you need to accept complete responsibility for how you choose to relate with people.

iv. Purposeful Relationship and Love
The center point of every relationship is LOVE. A good sense of purpose is essential for us to create magic in our daily lives thus our purpose should positively impact the relationships we have. Purposeful relationships should seek to transform lives out of compassion and love. Putting love in the center of a purposeful relationship goes beyond saying the words “I LOVE YOU”, it is giving without expecting anything back. Loving with no expectation is the cornerstone of a purposeful relationship.

v. Real Magic and Prosperity
Purpose is a major ingredient for us to experience real magic. Therefore, with purpose comes value, the bigger the purpose of a thing, the higher the value. Wealth and prosperity flows in the direction of value. People of great value attracts great wealth to their lives, those that experience real magic in their lives have unlocked the potentials in their minds thus they are people of high value that will bring much prosperity into their lives. We all need to look inwardly to see all the prosperity within us. We all have the ability to achieve a prosperity consciousness rather than a scarcity consciousness.

vi. Real Magic and Personal Identity
How much we value our personal identity will go a long way to determine the level of real magic we will experience. We all grew up with the thought that we have some level of defect in our personality that may not be corrected; we believe these negative habits are part of our lives and that they will remain throughout our lifetime. But if we choose to look inwardly, we can create a personal identity that
attracts real magic. We can choose to live above our current limitations to create the real kind of person we like to be. Real magic can help us reach realities that were considered impossible, to reduce childhood fears and phobias. Improving our personal identity also helps us to be a more positive and loving person.

vii. Real Magic and Health
Our ability to create real magic influences ever part of our lives including our health. The state of our health is a function of the condition of our mind. A lot of people allow their negative mental attitude to affect their health while those that can create real magic with their positive mental attitude live much healthier. Real magic helps us to translate the positive state of our mind to our physical well-being. How our body functions, its relative state of health and all of its abilities stem from conditions of the mind. We attract into our lives the things we think of the most, therefore creating real magic with our health involves using our mind to attract the good health we desire.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

My ability to experience real magic means I have been translated from a limited physical being to a boundless spiritual being. Therefore, I can achieve the “impossible”, I can set new standards, break existing records and above all unlock some of the deepest secrets in nature to offer solutions to some of the greatest challenges confronting humanity. When I get to that realm of experiencing real magic, I would spend a lifetime creating legacies that will positively change the
face of humanity.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

i. Nothing is more likely to help a person overcome or endure troubles than the consciousness of having a task in life”.

ii. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

iii. How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all these.

iv. Circumstances do not make a man , they reveal them.

v. There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of
improving and that’s your own self

vi. Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners.

vii. Anything that has been accomplished by any other human being in
the physical realm is within the field of possibility.

viii. You become a cancer conqueror not because you go into
remission…… instead; you become a cancer conqueror because you choose
to become a new person

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

On page 26 of the book, Dr wayne made a statement that I do not totally agree with. He stated that “You overcome weaknesses by leaving them behind”. I will rather rephrase the statement like this “You overcome weaknesses through your commitment to be a better person and self discipline”.

A simple example is those people with bad temperament. It is almost impossible to leave a great weakness like that in the past and move on with life, instead we have to reach that commitment that we went to be a better person and with self discipline we can stick to that commitment by finding suitable ways or alternative to deal with these weaknesses.

6 . Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

None

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Ratings:

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 7
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

The New Dynamics of Winning
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

This is my first time of reading a book written by Denis Waitley and I think he is a great down-to-earth writer. At every phase of history there are winners and for each phase there are different philosophy that determines the winning team. Mr. Denis Waitley being the head of the mental training program for the us Olympic Committee’s Sports medicine council in the early 1980s used a great deal of this experience to explore the minds and moments of Olympic Champions to illustrate these philosophies guiding the new dynamics of winning in life and business. With these stories, he helped the readers understand how we can maximize these points to move our lives to the next level. When we adopt this new dynamics of winning, we can always achieve the dreams we have always dreamt of for ourselves.

(i) The Drive to win
Winning starts with a desire backed with action. Champions in every area of our daily lives start on a common ground which is a “burning desire” to succeed or like Lee Iacocca put it, “Champions have fire in their belly”. This burning desire is the fuel needed to drive them to the next stage of winning – which is taking action. Champions don’t just take actions; they channel their actions into the “fire in their belly”. According to the author of the book, Desire plus Action results into motivation. Therefore, motivation is the true drive of champions. Looking back at history, we will realize that winners in every phase of life are highly motivated individuals who went beyond their limits to achieve the impossible. They had the drive to go the extra mile, to endure the extra pain and stress to secure a place for themselves in the hall of fame of champions.

(ii) Commitment – The entry fee of success.
Backing your burning desire with action to motivate yourself to win is a short term process; the long term process which is most difficult on our way up the ladder of champions is commitment. Staying committed to our dreams is the Key factor that distinguishes those who tried and those who become champions. On our way up, there will always be challenges and setbacks, at some of these times we may not have anyone to encourage or motivate us. We have to generate energy from within us to keep moving. We have to drive ourselves from within; this drive is the commitment we need on our path to winning. Therefore, the entry fee into the hall of fame of champions is that inner energy, that inner drive, that inner passion to keep moving higher no matter how many times life drags you down. This entry fee is commitment.

(iii) Fame, fortune and our Integrity
I remember the popular quote of my secondary school geography teacher – “He that thinks he stands should take heed, less be fall” – with winning comes fame and fortune. The biggest challenge of winners is how to manage their fame and fortune and also how to protect the integrity that brought them to stardom. Names that once were destined for the hall of fame are now hanging in the hall of shame. Young people today more than ever before need role models and less people that will only criticize their actions. They need champions that will set an example of honesty, consistency and commitment. Winning does not always have to be in business, sport, entertainment, career or politics; we also have to win in our personal lives and relationships.

(iv) Self-confidence and self-transformation
Self-confidence is another essential quality of a winner. Believing in one’s ability and having that internal assurance that we can make it all through the way. People with good self-confidence have high expectation of success which is the single most valuable quality you can bring into any challenging situation. High expectation of success is more important than normal ability, practice or preparation. When people with low self-confidence face challenges, they become negative, frustrated and pessimistic they find reasons why they can’t succeed but when people with high self – confidence faces similar situation they becomes stronger, more focused and determined. We can transform ourselves through the pictures we keep in our minds. Self – transformation can occur through self-talk, saying positive words to our subconscious mind to accept and process.

(v) Strength through Mental Toughness
On our journey to the hall of fame there will be hard times that will want to cause us to withdraw and give up. True champions have a tough resolution in their minds to reach the number one spot, this is where their inner strength comes from. We need to have that mental toughness that no matter the mountains and road blocks before us, the only place considered to be the last bus-stop is the number one spot. We need to focus on our desired results and dwell on the rewards of success for us to have a tough mental attitude to succeed.

(vi) Leadership Qualities
John C.Maxwell, one of the world’s most renowned resource people on leadership always say “Everything rises and falls on Leadership”. Every winner needs a leader to guide them through the path of success. These leaders could be our parent, coach, spiritual head, office boss or even a very close friend. The quality of their personal lives has an overall effect on how high we climb the ladder of success. The goal of these leaders is to cause winners to think more on the goals ahead of them. Good leadership motivates others to their highest levels by offering opportunities not obligations, they ask questions before they offer opinions, good leaders listen, learn and then spark the internal values in others to gain decisive movement towards accomplishing the common goal.

(vii) The arena of Champions
In the concluding part of the book, Denis Waitley told the short story of one of basketball’s Hero – Magic Johnson who shocked the world after discovering he was infected with HIV. We all thought that will be the end of the great Magic Johnson. But no! He retired from professional basketball and dared to be a superhero against the spread of the virus. He displayed great courage confronting his infection and creating a national awareness against HIV. Magic Johnson displayed great commitment even beyond the boundaries of his passionate game of basketball. He proved himself to not just a champion but that he also dwells in the arena of champions. This arena exists wherever a human being faces a challenge and fights bravely to overcome it, not just for himself or herself but for the benefit of humanity.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

Denis waitley’s words in this book have not only broadened my understanding of the new dynamics of winning, it has also increased my chances of winning. It has helped me to gain insight into the mind –set of sport champions thus this will help me go the extra mile to achieve unlimited success in my life and business. As I continue going up the ladder, I intend to teach others the principals of my success thus creating a world full of champions.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

There were quite a number of statements in the books that are worth
noting but I did not really have anyone that got my attention.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so,
did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

Yes, I did. The exercises were quite helpful.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Ratings:

A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

How to win Friends and Influence People
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

“The road of life is sweeter when travelled with loved ones”, our lifetime could be full of fun or disaster depends on how we build relationships and handle people. The people in our lives will only mean two things to us; they can either be our friends or our foes. Whichever side they are, is a factor of how we treat and handle these people. No matter how far we go in life, no matter the things we do and achieve, if we all reflect on our lives carefully we will realize that everything we do in life, everything we achieve, everywhere we go, everything we say or decide revolves around relationships. The better we know how to treat and handle people, the more loved ones we have and the happier our lives. In this fantastic book on “How to win friends and influence people”, the great Dale Carrnegie laid the foundation of an ever-green principle on how to build good relationships and influencing people to go the extra mile to do what we want them to do. He created a blueprint for us to learn how to relate with ourselves to build a better world.

(i). Handling people
One of my teachers once made a statement that “human being is the most difficult animal to handle”. In a general context, the human being is complex but in the chapters on the book Mr. Carnegie revealed the simplicity that lies in the complexity of handling people. According to Mr. Carnegie one of the big secrets about handling people is to avoid criticizing or condemning people. We all don’t like to admit that we are wrong about our decisions and actions, therefore when we are criticized; we tend to get into a defensive mood that could worsen the situation and destroy great relationships. Another very important point about handling people is appreciating people honestly and sincere complement, thus we can build great relationships through it. Therefore, human being is not the most difficult animal to handle as long as you avoid criticizing them and you sincerely appreciate them for a job well done. We will all be amazing how much cooperation we get from them when we arouse an eager want in them.

(ii). Show Genuine Interest in people
We can make great friends that will lighten our world if we show genuine interest in people. Mr Carnegie gave us a simple illustration of why the dog is man’s best pet. When you within ten feet of him, he will begin to wag his tail, when you stop to pat him, he will almost jump out of his skin to show you how much he likes you. When we have this type of affection towards ourselves with no strings attached, we will make good friends. ”it is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to other. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring”. Personally, I have seen this principles work for me; I realized that those I unconsciously show interest in end up being among the list of my best friends.

(iii). Making people like you
Making a good first impression will go a very long way to determine how much people like you. One of the biggest factors that create a good impression is smiling. Our facial expressions either attract friends to us or push away people. People like to talk about themselves so when you encourage people to talk about themselves and you listen to them, they intend to like you in return. When you allow them to talk about themselves, they express their interest to you so when you talk with them in terms of their interest, you make them feel important thus this helps to strengthen the bond of friendship and also helps you to make more friends. Therefore, making people like you starts with a good smile, encouraging them to talk about themselves and their interest, you will have to take time to listen to them, and then talk to them in terms of their interest. This makes everyone feel important and special thus you get their love and loyalty in return.

(iv). How to avoid making enemies.
The fastest way to making enemies is by criticizing, condemning and complaining about people. People don’t like to admit they wrong therefore, criticizing or condemning them always lead to a lot of argument and sometimes fighting. When we take too many people as enemies, we live our life’s in anger, frustration and sorrow. And these negative attributes have a great influence on our other relationships, physical and mental well being. The best way to avoid making enemies is by showing people respect irrespective of their status, encouraging them and respect their opinions. When we get things wrong, we should learn to admit and apologise for it.

(v). Getting other people’s cooperation.
The most reliable way of getting people’s cooperation is through the proper management of their ego. The human ego is our feeling of importance. Naturally, people are not willing to cooperate with you until they see reasons to believe that one way or the other they can get benefits that will boost their ego-their feeling of importance. In the process of seeking people cooperation, make them comfortable and present the task at hand to them. Let the people do a great deal of talking and discussion about the task let them have feeling that it is a great task, which will increase their personal worth. Try to understand their point of view, their desires and needs. Once they feel good about the task, you can then assign them to various aspects of the task.

(vi). Giving people a fine reputation to live up to.
When people repeat a task over time, due to the routine, they tend to neglect some details about the task. This attitude most of the time affects the quality of task and the duration taken to the task. The best way to improve a person is to act as through that particular trait were already one of the people’s outstanding characteristics. By giving people a standard to live and making them realize it; people tend to live up to their best. People will be willing to go extra mile to protect this reputation.

(vii). Spurring people to success
Encouraging people is a good way to spur them to success. When we are working with a group of people, there are bound to be challenges along the way they will threaten the progress of the task. Therefore, it is very important to encourage people to move on with their task. Another very good way to spur people to success is through praises. People loved the feeling of knowing they are doing a great job. When you praise people, you spur them to go the extra mile to achieve success

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

How I relate and handle people will go a very long way to affect the quality of my life and the things I can achieve. Irrespective of how small or big my goals and objectives are, I can’t achieve them without people. Therefore, people are one of the greatest assets we can have. We get in return what we give to the world. When we treat people badly, they will always have negative attitude towards our goals and objectives but when we treat them rightly, they tend to go the extra mile for us. I have learnt to handle people properly and make them understand what my goals are thus building a team of people that are committed to making the world a much better place.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“There lies the most perfect ruler of men that the world has ever seen” – Page 8

“I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again” – page 28

“It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring” – Page 53

“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated” – page 95

“I judge people by their own principles – not by my own”- page 126

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6 . Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

None

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Ratings:

A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

Giant Steps
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

In this book, Anthony Robbins made it clear that small changes can make a big difference in our lives. Thus he divided his thoughts on personal transformation into 365 daily lessons. He broke down the core principles of self-mastery into a simple 365 lesson that almost anyone can understand. Self mastery starts with our decision to succeed and the goals we set for ourselves. Once we have our goals spelt out, we need to prepare our mental state to direct positive thoughts to our mind. These thoughts form our belief which will go a long way to determine whether we will succeed or not. There is also a great need to explore the options before us by asking questions. As we climb up in the ladder of success, challenges will always arise and we can use our vocabulary to communicate the change we need.

(i). Dreams of Destiny
Great Dreams are the seed of a great future. Looking back at history we hear awesome stories of how the great empires we see today started out as mere dreams in the heart of a little boy or girl. Deep down in us, there is always that conviction in us that we have something special in us, that we can make a difference in this world in a special way. There is always that fire that glows in us that we can make the world a better place. When we take time to reflect on this and we reach a commitment to explore this aspect of our being, a great destiny awaits us. We have to understand that the decisions we make based on our dreams determines our destiny. History makers are men and women who despite the limitations life posed on them, they still went ahead to make those tiny dreams in their hearts become a big reality.

(ii). Getting What You Really Want
As many as we are across the world, we all have dreams and aspirations, but the reality is that a large percentage of us don’t bring these dreams to reality. In some of the books I read earlier, I learnt that some of the major reasons why a lot of people don’t manifest their dream include the fear of failure, the fear of winning and procrastination. Most individuals would work much harder to hang on to what they have than to take necessary risks to shoot for their dreams. For us to get what we really want, we have to identify what is holding us back from taking action. We can then reach a commitment to take conscious steps to overcoming it. Getting what we really want requires our inner determination to realize our dreams against all the obstacles on our way to the top.

(iii). The power to create
“What the mind can conceive, we can achieve”. The power for creation is in the mind. Therefore, every form of creation starts with the mind. Our belief system determines whether we create something or nothing, whether we create good or bad. We can create the good life we want for ourselves if we dwell on empowering beliefs that can positively shape our lives. We can achieve almost anything as long as we dwell on the right thoughts. Too many people blame events and people for their ability not to create, they didn’t realize that it is the decisions they made about these events and people that limited them. Our beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. It has the power to create something or nothing. Our beliefs are shaped by the things we expose our minds, these things register in our unconscious mind and forms what we believe. Our beliefs can either make us zeros or heroes.

(iv). Questions: The Guidepost to Success
According to Anthony Robbins, questions are the laser of human consciousness; we can use its power to cut through any obstacle or challenge. We have to keep questioning everything until we find the perfect answer. Successful people know how to ask the right questions and are always patient enough to get the right answers. Thinking is the process of asking and answering questions, therefore to change our status from zero to a Hero, we must change what we usually ask of ourselves and others. There is an African proverb common among us which states that “a traveler that is not tired of asking questions will never miss his way”. On our journey to the top, there will always be junctions where we will be confused about where to go. Asking relevant questions at these times can help us reach our destination much faster and easier.

(v). Our Personal Values
Our personal values are more like an inner compass within us trying to point the right and wrong direction for us. If we want the deepest fulfillment in our lives, we have to decide what we desire most in life, what our highest values are, then commit every single day of our life to work towards its manifestation. If we truly went to succeed, we have to take a stand for what we believe and try our best not to settle for less than our target. Values are emotional pointers to experience pleasure or to avoid pain. Unless you live consistent with your deepest values, you may succeed but you will lack the ultimate fulfillment you truly deserve. Some of my personal values in recent times had been to avoid unnecessary distraction and focus my mind on social enterprise ideas that will be of benefit to all.

(vi). Communicating for change
According to Aldous Huxley “Words form the thread on which we string our experiences”. The words we use can twist situations around for good or bad. Words have been used in history to cause a positive change. They have been used to arouse nations towards a positive change. Our communicating has the power to inspire or discourage, it has the power to cause war or peace, improve or destroy great
relationships. Change starts from within; therefore we need to communicate positive words to our subconscious mind to cause a positive change. We need to adopt new set of affirmative words that can transform our emotional pattern. By using affirmative words to describe our bad experiences, it helps us to handle these experiences better and will go a very long way to improve how we feel, think and live.

(vii). Selfless Contribution
In the book, Anthony Robbins stated that “the history of the world is simply a chronicle of the deeds of a small number of ordinary people who had extraordinary levels of commitment. That small group of people who went the extra mile to contribute selflessly to make a meaningful difference in our lives and advanced the welfare of humanity, they are the ones we call heroes. Selflessly contributing our efforts for a better world will cause us to experience life’s deepest joy – true fulfillment. Inbuilt in every one of us is the capacity to do the right thing. A hero is a person who courageously contributes under even the most trying circumstances. We all have to understand that the effects of one man’s actions cannot be underestimated. Therefore, even if we are the only one fighting for change, you never can tell how loud that single voice will be. Sam Labudde is a good example; he
risked his life to stare up an entire nation to fight against the carnage wrought upon dolphins by tuna fishing. Small efforts can add up to giant results.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

In the book Giant Steps, Anthony Robbins made a very clear point that small changes add up to make big differences. This small but mighty point made a whole lot of difference to me in this book. Most times, I try to find time to do things at once but it increasingly becomes difficult to get that time so I think am now beginning to see that doing things bit by bit with those short free time will make a huge difference later on in future. This will greatly help me to achieve a lot of personal things and also in my pursuit to implement some of my social enterprise ideas.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

i) “Nothing happens unless first a dream” – it is a statement that enforces the fact that everything we see today was a tiny dream in the heart of someone.

ii) ”our decisions – not the conditions of our lives determine our destiny” – our inward decisions creates our destiny. There are people that started out as a nobody that ended up as a somebody. Every change we see is a reflection of the quality of our decision.

iii) “Some of the simplest things can make the biggest differences” – those simple things we take for granted most of the time can make the biggest difference in our lives.

iv) A hero is a person who courageously contributes under even the most trying circumstances

v) “ small efforts can add up to giant results”- we need to start small to achieve great results

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6 . Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

None

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Ratings:

The Power of Intention
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

In this book – The power of Intention, Dr Wayne W.Dyer helped us to change our perspective and thoughts about Intention. He went further to explain how to connect and utilize the power of Intention. Intention used to be viewed as our self determination, ego or individual will to make things happen in our lives, but in the chapters of the book Dr Wayne made it clear that intention is a universal force that exist all around us. It is an invisible field of energy that we can always access to make things happen in our lives. He further stressed that by learning to connect and access this universal force, we can add so much meaning to our lives. Connecting to Intention can take us to a realm that used to be impossible to us.

i. The Concept of Intention
The concept of Intention as explained by Dr Wayne creates a new path of thought into how we should see and utilize intention. This new way of thought about intention helps us to understand that intention is an energy field built into everything created by nature, thus making it universally available. A tiny acorn with no apparent power to think or make plans for its future contains intention, if you cut the acorn open, you won’t see a giant oak tree, but it is there. Also an apple blossom in the springtime appears to be a pretty flower, yet the intention built into it transforms that pretty flower in an apple at summer. Every aspect of nature has this energy field built into it and as far as we can tell, nothing in nature questions the path or concept of Intention.

ii. Steps to Intention
Taking steps to activating intention requires that we as individuals put aside or let go totally of our ego identification and let our natural self connect with our mind. From our natural self, intention will be manifested. The steps to activating intention require four major steps which include discipline, wisdom, Love and surrender. Discipline helps us to train our body to perform as our thoughts desire. We can eliminate our ego identification through self discipline. Wisdom combined with discipline fosters our ability to focus and be patient with ourselves. It helps us to harmonize our thoughts, intellect and feels. Love is another essential step to intention; we have to be excited about everything we do. We also have to discipline ourselves by allowing intention run the show instead ofyour body and your mind.

iii. Faces of Intention
Intention as presented in this book as an invisible energy field that is inherent in all physical form. It eludes attempts to explain and it is a boundless form of energy. We can feel, connect, know and trust intention. In an attempt to further clarify the concept of intention, Dr Wayne presented seven faces of what he imagined intention looks like. These faces include the face of creativity, face of kindness, the face of love, the face of beauty, the face of expansion, the face of unlimited abundance, the face of receptivity. Therefore, by fixing our mind on the supernatural, we can connect to this field of intention.

iv. Connecting to Intention
The key to connecting to intention is freeing our mind from thoughts of the physical world and let it focus on the spiritual realm where ideas, solution and innovations can be gotten from a wisdom that is much higher than us. The way to establish a relationship with spirit
and access the power of this creating principle is to continuously contemplate yourself as being surrounded by the conditions you wish to produce. We have to allow our mind dwell on the desire for a supreme infinite power producing the results that we desire to see. This power according to Dr Wayne is the creative power of the universe. Connecting to Intention causes you to apply the law of manifestation, you must contemplate it working for you instead of contemplating it not working

v. Obstacles to Connecting to Intention
The obstacles that form a blockage to our desire to connect to intention starts from within us. How we see ourselves determines how much connection to intention we can achieve. Our way of thinking can prevent us from reaching for and connecting to the universal creative force of intention. Our inner speeches which are the words we speak from our conscious mind to our subconscious mind go a very long way to determine how much connection to intention we can achieve. We have to start thinking in terms of the final results we desire to achieve with no doubt or fear for us to get connected to intention. Our level of internal energy also has a huge effect on how we connect to intention. Our thoughts have an energy that will either strengthen or weaken us. We have to learn to eliminate thoughts that weaken us because they form the obstacles to creating a connection to the supreme source of intention. Self importance is another major impediment to connecting to intention. Self importance is one of man’s greatest enemies. We have to manage our feeling of self importance to get the best of Intention.

vi. Impacting others with intention
We get in return what we give to the world. Connecting with intention helps us to live a purposeful life thus we can impact our world with our dreams and ideas. The nature of this impact is profoundly important in our quest to utilize the power of intention. We can only give away what we have in our heart and attract back into our lives what we are giving away. Our impart on others is an evidence of the strength of our connection to the universal creativity power of intention. We have to develop holy relationships with others to facilitate the power of intention. When you recognize other people’s holiness, you will treat them as divine expression of the power of intention. Impacting others with intention gives us the true picture of what the real essence of life is.

vii. Applying Intention
Applying Intention in our daily lives speaks a lot about the quality of our life and what we will make out of our existence. Connecting to intention causes us to respect ourselves at all times thus increasing our inner energy and the prospect of what we can achieve. A good sense of purpose is also another key benefit of applying intention in our daily lives. Once we are constantly connected to intention, a purposeful life is inevitable. The rewards of applying intention are enormous therefore everyone should do their best to stay connected to intention. It allows us to live a happy, purposeful and stress-free life in peace and abundance.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

“The power of Intention” is the first book I read on the topic “Intention” and it has opened my thoughts into a whole new concept about nature and our existence. Everything created by nature has intention built into it, and the essence of this is for them to fulfill a purpose in the continuous existence of humanity and the world at large. I have to let go of the limits within me so that I can connect to that universal creative force of intention. Once I get connected to this force, I have access to an infinite intelligence that offers unlimited solutions to problems and ideas to meet the needs of humanity.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

i. “The law of flotation was not discovered by contemplating the sinking of things, but by contemplating the floating of things which floated naturally and then intelligently asking why they did so” – page 35

The key to achieving greatness in life is to contemplate on the
success of the goals we intend to achieve without fear and doubt.

ii. “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself . . , serve and thou shall be served.” – Page 89

The change we want to see in our world today must start from within
us. We cannot step out to change the world if we have not changed
ourselves.

iii. “Those who have failed to work towards the truth have missed the purpose of living” – Page 147

We have to do our best to work towards life’s truth which is for us to
attain our God given Purpose.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

None

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Ratings:

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 7
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Law of Attraction
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main idea behind the book is relatively simple – “we attract into our lives what our minds focus on continuously”. The human brain which remains one of the most fantastic creations of nature is responsible for almost every action of the human body. In the course of its working in our daily lives, our brain continuously sends out vibrations or signals to the universal system thus attracting sequence of events into our lives. Therefore, the nature of vibration we send out to the universe consciously or unconsciously determines the results we get in our lives. Negative vibrations will always attract negative results while positive vibrations will bring positive results into our lives. Also the universe does not know whether we are sending out the vibrations consciously or unconsciously, it only reacts back based on the vibration it received from us, so we should always evaluate the state of our mind from time to time.

i. Positive and Negative Vibration
The human mind as we know it, is always in a constant state of work thus continuously sending out vibrations to the universal system. These vibrations could either be positive or negative depending on what we focus our minds on. The word vibe is usually used to describe a mood or feeling. Vibe is a shorter word from vibration, every vibe, mood or feeling causes us to emit, send-out or offer either a positive or negative vibration. The law of attraction is responding to vibration you are sending out. It is matching our vibrations by giving you more of the same rewards whether positive or negative. By maintaining a good vibe or mood, we send positive signals to the universal system which in turn delivers positive rewards into our lives.

ii. The significance of words
Our feelings are a product of our thoughts and our thoughts are the manifestation of the words we send into our conscious and subconscious mind. Words are everywhere; we speak, read, write and hear them. The nature of the words we choose to accept determines our vibration. The words we often think about determines the vibration we generate and send out. The regular use of negative word like don’t, not and no causes our unconscious and conscious mind to automatically filter out these words and internalizes in our mind the exact words we don’t want to internalize. The law of attraction only responds to our vibration not the words we intend to use. To avoid using these negative words most of the time, we should always ask ourselves “so what do I want” each time we hear ourselves using these negative words. When our words changes, our vibration also changes. Using optimistic words puts our mind in the right frame thus helping us to continuously send out positive vibrations to the universe.

iii. Clarity through contrast
Contrast in relations to Law of attraction is anything you don’t like or things that do not make you feel good thus they cause us to send out negative vibrations each time we complain or talk about them. However, contrast could be very useful when applying the law of attraction. By observing and identifying the things we don’t want or like through contrast, we get a clearer picture of the things we want. When we identify the things we want and we focus our mind on them, it helps us greatly because it puts us in a good mood thus we send positive vibrations to the universe. By identifying what makes you feel good and doing more of it, it puts us in a continuous state of mind that attracts goodness into our destiny.

iv. Give your desire Attention
By giving your desire more positive attention, energy and focus, we increase our vibration level. We have to devote more attention into our passion or those things that make us happy, if we desire to boost our vibration. It is not enough to merely identify our desire cannot be transformed into manifestation. We have to identify our desire and continuously give it adequate attention, energy and focus. By doing this, our life will always manifest positive attractions that lead to a life of great happiness and fulfillment. The law of attraction responds to how we feel about what you think since words form our speech and thought, it is essential to use affirmative words to motivate ourselves to go the extra mile to manifest our desire.

v. Allow it
Allowing is simply the absence of negative vibrations like doubts and fear. The process of allowing is about freeing our mind of every fear and doubt thus making your mind to focus on the possibility of achieving our goals and objectives. It is not enough for us to just identify our desire and what we truly want, we also have to remove any doubt surrounding our belief. The speed at which the law of attraction will manifest our desire is in direct proportion to how much we allow the absence of doubt or negative vibrations. A strong desire and strong doubt will cause our desires to manifest slowly, therefore our rate of winning in life though the law of attraction is determined by how much doubts we have.

vi. Attracting Abundance
Abundance is a feeling and we understand that every feeling gives off vibrations, either positive or negative. The feeling of abundance has a corresponding vibration that we can always duplicate. The good thing about feelings is that you can generate and duplicate them through our words and thoughts. We can intentionally change the way we feel. By creating the vibration of abundance more deliberately and more often, we are increasing the rate at which abundance will come into our lives.

vii. Relationships and your vibration
Our relationship is another very essential part of our lives which we can use our vibrations to achieve a life time of happiness. Relationships could range from marriage partners, parents, neighbours, business relationships, office colleagues, students or clients. The distance between your vibration and someone else’s vibration is equal to the amount of negativity you feel when you are with them. To achieve the best in our relationships, we have to reduce as much as possible the negativity that exists between us. Our job is to look after our vibration and steer any conversation that you have with people to be more uplifting and positive. To attract ideal relationships into our lives, contrast – the feeling of what you don’t want would be very necessary, knowing what you don’t like about a past partner is very useful and gets you the information you need to get clarity about the kind of partner you do want. When contrast helps us to generate clarity about what we want, this clarity becomes our new, clear desire. This new clarity has now become your desired relationship and that is the first step to manifesting your ideal relationship.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

Understanding the law of attraction helps me to tune my mind towards generating positive signals that will help me transform my life and things around me. The law of attraction will help me focus on some of the best things in life like purpose and relationships thus attracting the best of these things into my life. This will make me a better person and empower me the more to impact positively the lives of as many as possible through the manifestation of my purpose. Law of attraction has given me a clearer picture of how to implement ideas and projects that will be of great benefits to humanity.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

None

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

Yes, they were really helpful.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Ratings:

A. How interesting was it to read? 7
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 7
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7

Leadership for Dummies
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

Everything rises and falls on leadership – John C Maxwell. This book – Leadership for Dummies is about teaching the basics and the core of what true leadership should be. It is a book that highlights and explains what is required for us to move from the back seat of followership to a people-centered leader. It focuses on how to develop the three key leadership skills which include seeking cooperation of others, listening to your followers and putting others before yourself. The essence of these key skills is to enable the leader to achieve his/her set goals and objectives. Through the book, some of the challenges of leadership were addressed and how upcoming leaders can avoid them. We all have to understand that leadership is a process and for us to be effective leaders, we need to develop a vision and build an effective team of people that will be committed to the vision and its fulfillment.

i. Taking responsibility
The journey to effective leadership begins with taking the lead. It starts will taking responsibility for positive change in our circle of influence and beyond. Accepting responsibility is not just enough, we have to be willing to embrace and commit ourselves to the success of responsibility before us. We can’t be effective leaders if we are afraid of responsibility and accountability. Accountability enables followers to trust us that we have what it take to implement our goals and objectives. We have to be bold enough to accept responsibility for both the success and failure of our goals. Taking responsibility for change will always put you in the spotlight for everyone to see both your strengths and more painfully your weaknesses but we have to understand that for us to see that change we desire, we have to lead by taking responsibility for that change.

ii. Time and chance
According to the holy bible “the race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong.. but time and chance happen to them all”. In the second chapter of the book, the author highlighted that the transient nature of leadership could lead to any of these four types of leadership – situational, hierarchical, transitional or chaotic leadership. Time and circumstances is what determines the nature of leadership that will be produced at every point. Sometimes the time and circumstances will be right for the new leadership while some other times, the time or circumstances may be wrong. Therefore, to get the perfect type of leadership which is situational leadership, we have to be mindful of the whether the time is right or wrong for this leader to emerge and whether the circumstances of that time is suitable or not for the emerging leadership. A total ignorance about time and circumstance could lead to a total chaos that can lead to setbacks and total failure in leadership.

iii. Developing leadership skills
Often times, we are always tempted to assume that some people are naturally leaders. Probably because of some of their natural personality or natural traits, we believe they are destined for leadership. This type of thought is not right because leadership is not hereditary instead it is situational. We all have to understand that irrespective of our personality, we all can be an effective leader if we devote ourselves to developing the right leadership skills. Practice they said makes perfect, therefore, people who diligently develop their leadership skills, end up better than those who depend on their natural abilities. Developing the right skills to be an effective leader requires are good level of critical thinking of what the expectations of the followers are, and how you can adequately prepare yourself to meet those expectations. We have to learn to start with what we have, be flexible in our response to situations, taking advantage of circumstances, innovative thinking and also learn a great deal of effective communications.

iv. Leadership and Everyday Life
Leadership is about embracing responsibilities for positive change. All around us in our everyday life, there are situations that require someone to take that bold step forward to lead the change. Whether in our cooperate circle, social circle, religious circle or in our community, there is always a great need for volunteers. The increasing busy nature of the cooperate world, has made it quite challenging for people to volunteer their free time and skills. Most people send more time trying to support their family and they always want to spend their little free time with their children. According to the book, people can find time to volunteer by volunteering for activities that involve your children. Other ways to find time for volunteering activities is to volunteer for an activity that is close to work or close to the home. When we discipline ourselves to create time for volunteering for positive courses, it is amazing the level of sacrifice and fulfillment we will get in our everyday life.

v. Leadership and vision
The essence of leadership is to successfully lead ours to achieve a goal. And achieving a goal starts with having a vision. A vision forms a yardstick with which leaders can measure their progress and the effect of their leadership on the followers. Great leaders provide vision for their followers; they effectively communicate achievable dreams that will change the present realities to their followers. It enables everyone on the team to understand his/her position and what is expected of them. A leader with a great vision attracts commitment from people and also gives followers the energy to continue their drive to achieving their goals. A vision serves as a bridge between the past, present and the future. To effectively create a vision, a good leader needs to take a proper look at the past, assess the present to effectively create a vision of what is to be achieved in the future. Vision also helps us to convert simple ideas to projects, thus with proper planning, great changes can be achieved.

vi. Building a Winning Team
Every effective leader understands that for him or her to maximize time and achieve a good level of productivity, he or she needs a well motivated team. The leader no matter how dynamic can’t do everything alone. Therefore, more effective hands and heads are required. To build a winning team, a good insight into the human nature and the ability to carefully align skills and personalities is important. The leader of a winning team should have the ability to get the maximum amount of effort out of the team to reach the desired goal. Building a great team requires a carefully selection process of the team members. Create time to talk with potential team members and make a reasonable assessment of the intelligence of the team members. Also select based on skills, a team leader should have a great idea of what technical and personal skills are needed for the team’s success. The leader also has to make the team as diverse as possible. With diversity come a broad array of insight, innovation and creativity. Set an agenda for the team and ensure that they are motivated to win.

vii. Characteristics of a True Leader
Anyone irrespective of their current situation has to the ability to lead if he/she understand the characteristics of a true leader and can discipline his/her self to develop these characteristics. Being eager to embrace responsibilities is one of the most important natures of a true leader. Great leaders don’t just sit and watch, they step forward to take responsibilities of change. Leaders cannot do it alone, they need a team. To effectively achieve the set goals, leaders need to be cheerful around the team especially in troubled times. This is essential because the cheerful nature of the leader is what inspires the team to go the extra mile to achieve their goals. To get the loyalty of the team, the leader needs to be transparent with his team. This helps the team to see him as trustworthy and honest thus it makes it easy for the leader to get the loyalty of his followers.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

The world they say is in great need of effective leaders, and like the words of John.C.Maxwell “Everything rise and falls on leadership”. One of the greatest lessons I had learnt in this book is that there is nothing like a natural leader, so people may be born with traits of a leader but the truth is that we all have the opportunity to develop into a great leader if we discipline ourselves. I have learnt that taking responsibility for change and being able to carry other along to achieve a defined goal are some of the biggest character a great leader should develop. The lessons I have learnt from this book will go a long way to help me especially in taking my social enterprise projects- Get Inspired Nigeria and Prolance NG to another level, a level where we will effectively be touching lives and helping people to build capacity.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”- JF Kennedy – Continuous learning is very important to great leaders. If leaders want to continue to the relevant, they have to be learn continuously.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6 . Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

None

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Ratings:
A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

Nonviolent Communication
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The world has it is today is going through a great deal of pain and destruction which is mostly caused by improper method of communication. Thousands of people are dying across the globe because leaders at various levels refuse to adopt non-violent mode of communication in their desire for change. Change does not have to be violent; this is one of the key lessons leaders have to understand to make the world a better place. Like the world of Gandhi “we become the change we wish to see in the world”, if we truly want to be a world changer, we have to change our mode of communication while demanding change, we have to adopt the non-violent method of communication.

Non-violence is about developing positive attitudes to replace the negative attitudes in us. Non-violence is about allowing the positive nature within us to grow and let ourselves be dominated by love, respect, understanding, compassion and concern for others instead of greed and hate. Global peace cannot be built on the foundations of fear and pain. Non-violence communication offers a peaceful resolution of global issues instead of the use of force.

i. The process of NVC

The process of NVC has four components. These components include observations, feelings, needs and requests. For the process of NVC to work, we have to first observe what is actually happening in a situation. During the process, we observe what is right and wrong in the situation without passing judgments or evaluation. The next step is to state how we feel about the situation. Thirdly, we say what needs of ours are connected to the feeling we have identified. These first three processes help us to place a request for what is needed to be done regarding the situation. This process will help us in communicating effectively with others and also to help us express our desired need for change.

ii. Communication that blocks compassion

Non-violent communication involves the expression of compassion from both parties. However, there are some communications that alienate us from our natural state of compassion. Some of these types of communications include moralistic judgment that implies wrongness or badness on the part of people who don’t act in harmony with our values. Moralistic judgment results in blames, insult, criticism that blocks any chance for non-violent mode of communication. Making comparison is also another form of communication that blocks compassion from groups of people. A very easy way to frustrate people is to continuously compare them with other people. Making comparison induces misery that blocks compassion for us and others. Denial of responsibility is another kind of life-alienating communications. When we refuse to take responsibility for our own thoughts, feelings and actions, it blocks every chance we have to receive compassion from other people thus making compassionate communication impossible.

iii. The heavy cost of unexpressed feelings

Two key components of NVC are to observe without evaluating and to express how we are feeling. Too many people are trapped in the mentality of doing things the acceptable “way” as defined by those who held positions, ranks and authority. We are trained to live by the general norm rather than to be in contact with ourselves, to freely express ourselves. We are to engross wondering “what is it that others think is right for me to say and do”. Therefore, for us to implement NVC, we have to be able to identify and express our feelings properly.

We all have to learn to strengthen our feelings vocabulary, this is essential for us to effectively communicate our feelings to others. Often times, to hide our vulnerability, people put up strict, logical, rational and unemotional attitude when resolving issues. However, this should not be the case, expressing our true feelings and vulnerability can help resolve conflicts and give up those things we desire. By developing a vocabulary of feelings that allows us to clearly and specifically name or identify our emotions, we can connect more easily with one another thus creating a pathway to meaningful resolutions.

iv. Communication that enriches our life

The importance of using positive language cannot be over emphasized. In our daily lives and in making request using positive language goes a very long way in helping us to achieve the things we intend to achieve in life. When our needs are not being fulfilled, we follow the expression of what we are observing, feeling and needing with a specific request, we ask for actions that might fulfill our needs. We have to be able to express our requests so that others are more willing to respond compassionately to our needs. Naturally, people tend to be defensive and may deny our request if we approach them with negative forms of communication. However, by finding ways to express our requests in positive action language, they tend to be more cooperative.

v. The power of Empathy

The power we get from showing empathy can’t be quantified. A lot of people with problems know the solution to their problems but most times what they really need is to talk with someone not to seek advice but just to release the pressure within them before moving on with their lives. They want people they can talk to that will show them empathy by just listening to what they have to say and not someone that will judge them. It is amazing how good it feels to just get someone to just listen to what we have to say. Empathy unlocks the good side of every man, defuses internal anger and bitterness that can cause potential violence. People transcend the paralyzing effect of psychological pain when they have someone to listen to them empathically.

vi. Passionate connection with ourselves

“The day we stop caring about ourselves, that is the day we start losing humanity” from the movie 2012. NVC starts from within us; we have to defuse the internal violence and rage within ourselves for us to be able to show compassion. Most of the crimes we hear about across the globe are committed by people that have lost control of how to connect with themselves passionately to find the peace and love within themselves. They are people that have allowed their internal rage and self hatred to overwhelm them. Too many people judge themselves harshly because of their mistakes or the things life brings their way thus they consequently change their behavior that is guided by internal hatred and frustration but when we see these mistakes as a stepping stone to something greater, it will greatly enrich our lives.

Let’s develop an internal mechanism of self-forgiveness and internal enrichment because from it flows the spirit of NVC.

vii. Protective use of force

Every situation or crisis will not always be an ideal one where the different parties can reach an agreement and move on. In some situations the chances of dialogue may not exist or some of the parties involved may not be willing to dialogue thus the use of force is inevitable for peace to be truly achieved, the use of force at some points is essential. However, world leaders have to learn to use force to protect lives, regions or tertiary and fundamental human rights.

Protective use of force should be used to prevent injustice and oppression. The punitive use of force tends to generate hostility and to reinforce resistance to the very behavior
we seek to tame.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

I had only learnt about the concept of non-violence advocacy through the reading of Martin Luther King Jr. and M.K Gandhi’s biography and speeches. This book just gave me a much deeper understanding of what non-violence communication is truly about. From the biographies and speeches I had read in the past, I have always thought that NVC was a way to only fight for social injustice but now I understand it is more than that. It is something we have to live our everyday lives around.

The book has also inspired my new interest in conflict management and resolution. I hope to go for humanitarian courses on it someday to get involved in conflict management and resolution with NVC around my country Nigeria and beyond. A huge percentage of the conflicts across the world today are caused by improper mode of communication. World leaders think first of force before dialogue but in recent times, I think the way we handle conflict is changing. Therefore, it is important for us to first advocate for dialogue before the use of force just like the recent case of African Union reaching out to rebels in Mali before sending in troops. It will be amazing how much killing, sorrow and destruction we can avoid when we choose to sit together and talk before taking military actions.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

None

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

None.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Goals!
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

Goals setting form the bedrock of every great achievement in life. Our ability to clearly define our goals and pursue them sets the stage for a great future for us. In this book, Brian Tracy did a great work by breaking down the concept of goals and how to achieve them. Once we are able to identify our goals and generate enough passion and drive to pursue them, we will unlock our inner potentials. Unlocking our inner potentials helps us to take charge of our life and create the type of future we want for ourselves. Also in the pursuit of our goals, life would always present us with challenges that would want to force us from going after our goals; we have to be persistent until we succeed. Like the popular saying “Quitters never win and winners never quit”. We have to keep trying and some day, success will be delivered unto us.

a. Unlock Your Potentials

All successful people are very much goal oriented. They know what they want and they are focused single-mindedly on achieving it. Our ability to set goals and pursue them is a great asset to achieving success. Setting goals unlock our positive mind and release ideas and energy for us to attain greater heights. The sure way to unlock our potentials is to set clear goals. Clear goals increase our confidence, develop our competence and boost our inner motivation. Goals according to Tom Hopkins are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. We can unlock any kind of potential within us when we set our minds on our goals. We become what we think about most of the time, thus when we continually think and plan towards our goals, the chances of them coming to reality is very high.

b. Take Charge and create Your Future

To achieve success, we have to take charge of our lives and create the future we seek. Taking responsibility for our life is the key to chart a new course for our lives. We have to drop the altitude of complaining and blaming others for the outcome of our lives because it won’t solve anything. Instead, we should take charge of our life and create the future we desire. Let go of the past and take charge of our lives, negative emotions like fear, self pity, envy, jealousy and anger holds us down and we are in trapped in the past. Not until we free ourselves from these negative feelings, we may not be able to take complete responsibility for our destiny. Let’s see ourselves as the master of our own fate and in complete control of what our future will look like.

c. Determine Your True Goals

Clarity of our true goals is very key to our achieving of success.
There is a direct relationship between the level of clarity about who we want to be and what we want in life and the outcome of our life. Great people have been known to be people who invest quality time to develop absolute clarity about themselves and what they intend to achieve. We have to ask ourselves” what do I really want to do with my life”. To determine your true goals, you start with your vision, values and ideas. We have to sit and ask ourselves” what are my three most important goals for my business and career right now?”, “what are my three most important financial goals right now?”, “what is important for my family, relationship and health at this time?” Determining our true goals helps us to plan properly for the future and to have a full understanding of what to work towards.

d. Change Your Thinking

We have to constantly evaluate our thinking pattern for us to achieve success. The law of belief states that “whatever you believe with conviction becomes your reality”. Our approach to things in life is a reflection of our innermost beliefs and convictions. Personal improvement and growth comes from changing our beliefs. Our self-concept precedes and predicts the level of performance and effectiveness in the things we do. Most of our problems in life are rooted in our thinking. If we can carefully identify these negative thoughts that hold us back and we take conscious steps to change them, it will go a long way to influence our productivity and the positive events in our lives.

e. Start and Measure Your Progress

One of the biggest benefits of goal setting is that it vastly helps your thinking powers and also to use this mental power far more than other people. Most of this power comes from the sub-conscious mind thus it is essential that you learn to tap into these power to motivate, stimulate and drive you forward towards the achievement of your goal. By setting clear goals, specific tasks, deliberate measures and deadlines, we program our subconscious mind to tap into our incredible mental power. As we do all these, it is very essential that we establish a series of benchmarks or measurement to evaluate our progress. Without these measurements, it becomes easy for us to procrastinate and delay important task.

f. Become an Expert

To achieve great success in life, setting goals is not just enough. We have to be masters in our chosen field to achieve success. The economic system only pays excellent rewards to excellent performance.

One major quality of most successful people is that at some points in their life and career, they decide to be the best at what they do. As a result, they pull away from the pack of average performers to the pack of high performers. We have to make a solid determination within ourselves to be the best in our field. We start this journey to excellence by asking the questions, what additional knowledge, skills and information will I need to lead my field? Once we can identify them, we start working towards them.

g. Make an Action Plan

Planning is another outstanding tool to achieve good success, our ability to set clear goals and make proper plans for the accomplishment of these goals is a key factor to success. The reason of having an action plan is to enable us turn our major definite purpose into a planned, multitask project with specific steps. All successful people work from written plans. Every minute spent in planning saves ten minutes in execution. Every minute that you spend planning and thinking before you begin, will save you time, money and energy in getting the results you desire. The six P formula for personal and business success: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

As an aspiring Social Entrepreneur, this book, Goals by Brian Tracy is very instructive for me because to achieve success with social enterprises, passion or drive is not enough. Proper planning and goal setting is required. With some of the key lessons in this book, it helps me to have a better understanding of better ways to achieve success. Therefore, if I apply some of the key principles in this book to my daily activities as a social entrepreneur, I can help build businesses and develop ideas that will empower and change lives for good in my country Nigeria and the world at large.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“You become what you think about most of the time.”

This quote shows that our life reflects what we constantly think about, if we change our thoughts, we change our lives.

“A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with.”

A man is what he makes of himself.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None.

6 . Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

None.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

Unlimited Power
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

There is no doubt that we have so much power within us than we know.
This book Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins helps readers to identify the unlimited power within them and explore it. It helps you to master your inner power by harnessing the power of the mind to bring your inner desire to reality. Studying unlimited power, helps the reader to figure out what they want, how to reprogram their mind to eliminate the fears holding them back and to aim for great success. The book is a guide book to superior performance by gaining emotional and financial freedom, attaining leadership, self confidence and winning the cooperation of ours.

i. Information: – The Commodity of Kings

Every age of humanity and era has its own uniqueness and something that defines them. What defines and drive this era is information. In the industrial age, investment capital was the power that drives that era but today, power is determined by the quality of specialized knowledge that we have. Business capital fueled the industrial era but in today’s information era, the primary force of this era is knowledge. Thus world’s structure is splitted between those who are informed and those who are not informed. This new global hierarchy is not determined by money or industries, instead it is determined by the knowledge base of individuals. However, the good thing about this is that the key to today’s power which is knowledge is available to almost everyone thanks to the explosion of the internet and digital devices. Today, everyone has the access to empower themselves to move from their current position to the realm of the kings. Information in this era is the community of the kings and those with access to certain forms of specialized knowledge can transform themselves and in a lot of ways change the world for good. Information with creative thinking can go a long way to create products and services that can solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

ii. Quality of our Lifetime

It is no doubt that as we go along in life, life would always confront us with challenges. In our lifetime, there would always be that time that life would bring challenges that seems like the ultimate when everything we have within us would be pushed beyond their boundaries.

Our core values, inner faith, patience, persistence and compassion would be stretched beyond their limits and everything around us just seems so unfair. Tough moments like this determine the quality of our lifetime. Some use the time to build a better and tougher personality while others allow it to destroy their personality. Whatever we choose to make out of these moments would determine the quality of our lifetime. In everything, we will always have a choice and we can choose to determine whether we want to make life’s challenges a stepping stone to a better life or to destroy the quality of life that we have. The difference in the quality of our lifetime comes down to the way we communicate with inner selves and the actions we take.

iii. Our Belief System

Our belief system plays a huge role in how much power we can unleash from within us. Our belief system is the guiding principle, faith, drive or passion that provides a pointer to our direction in life.

They form the compass and maps that guides us toward our goals and give us the courage to attain those goals. The greatest force within everyone that determines the miles they cover in life is the belief system. To change who we are, we have to start changing our belief system. If we intend to launch our lives toward the path of excellence, we need to learn to model our belief in line with the principles of excellence. Our belief system is a choice, so whether we choose to be positive or negative, it is all a matter of personal choice. The birth of excellence begins with our awareness that our beliefs are a choice, and it is our belief system that determines how much of our potential we will be able to unleash.

iv. Mind Mastery

Reshaping our belief system is very essential to unleash the power within us. The best way to effectively transform our belief system is to master the use of our mind. The biggest challenge of most people is not resource but how to effectively manage the limited resources they have. We all have the power within us to generate the right thoughts in our mind to attain the desired heights we wish to get to. Like every skill that is worth acquiring, mastering the use of our mind to produce positive thoughts is a skill that requires conscious repetition and practise. To master our minds to generate positive thoughts, we have to identify the behaviour we want to change and consciously start to create positive mental picture of what you want to become. As we move on in life, we will always be faced with situations that will bring bad or negative memories but our ability to dwell more on our positive memories is mind mastery that will in turn enrich our lives.

v. Precise Communication

Communication plays a huge role in our daily lives and the ability to effectively communicate is probably one of the greatest gifts any man can have. Words and how they are used are very powerful, they can build and destroy. Precise communication plays a big role in the success we achieve in life and the amount of power we can unleash.
There are special moments in our lives when people have spoken with so much force and precision that their words stayed with us forever. Some of the most successful people seemed to have the mastery of getting to the heart of information rapidly and communicating to other. They need to use key phrase and words that convey their most important ideas with great precision. Precise communication helps us to guide others towards a desired outcome, thus helping us to achieve what we want.

vi. Handling Resistance and Solving Problems

Being able to control our mind is not enough to get us our desired results, we also have to be able to resolve problems and handle differences between people successfully. We can’t direct the behavior of others with speed, certainty and effectiveness with which we control ourselves. This is a vital key to success is learning the process of handling human differences successfully. To handle resistance and solve problems, we have to learn to communicate properly. The only way to communicate well is to begin with a sense of humility and a willingness to change. You can’t force someone into understanding your point of view. You can only communicate by constant, resourceful and attentive flexibility. Good communicators learn to handle resistance and opposition by aligning themselves with the force directed at them and guide it in a new direction which they desire. We meet resistance when we are inflexible and are pushing issues at the wrong time and in the wrong direction.

vii. Keys to Wealth and Happiness

The hallmark of we unleashing the power within us is to generate wealth, impact the world positively and live a happy fulfilled life.

Irrespective of what life presents to us, if we are able to understand the vital keys to wealth and happiness, then we will have an enriched life. The great truth about living in happiness is that we all have similar challenges; the big difference is how we handle these challenges. Affirmation and positive thinking are a start to the process of a lifetime of happiness. One of the keys is to learn how to handle frustration. If we allow frustration to set into our lives, it kills dreams, change positive attitude into a negative one, and destroys self discipline and esteem. Another key is learning how to handle rejection. To succeed and be happy we must learn how to cope with rejection and its hold over our lives. Learning to handle financial pressure is also another key. Financial pressure has led people to do unthinkable things. It creates greed, envy, deceit and hatred. Also learn to judge yourself by your goals instead of by what your peers seem to be doing. We all should learn to give more than you expect to receive. This may be the next important key of all because it virtually guarantees true happiness.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

I have learned quite a lot in this book that will be of great benefit to me and the society around me. First is the importance of information at this time. I have been able to understand that it is very vital to increase my knowledge base to achieve good success.
Another thing this book points out clearly is the importance of changing our belief system. The state of mind plays a big role in what we can achieve and the changes we can bring to the community around us. Mind mystery is another very key lesson. I have learnt that we have to be the mind of our own mind to achieve the desired future we want for ourselves. For me, I think the biggest lesson in this book is finding wealth and happiness. This is because no matter what we achieve in life, if we are not happy with ourselves, it will always lead to self destruction. Finding reason to stay in happiness irrespective of the things around us is perhaps one of the biggest lessons any man can develop. When we express happiness, it reflects on the people around us thus helping people to see the positive side of every challenge they are faced with.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

None.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None.

6 . Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

None.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

The Law of Attraction
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

i. Positive and Negative Vibration

The human mind as we know it, is always in a constant state of work thus continuously sending out vibrations to the universal system. These vibrations could either be positive or negative depending on what we focus our minds on. The word vibe is usually used to describe a mood or feeling. Vibe is a shorter word from vibration, every vibe, mood or feeling causes us to emit, send-out or offer either a positive or negative vibration. The law of attraction is responding to vibration you are sending out. It is matching our vibrations by giving you more of the same rewards whether positive or negative. By maintaining a good vibe or mood, we send positive signals to the universal system which in turn delivers positive rewards into our lives.

ii. The significance of words

Our feelings are a product of our thoughts and our thoughts are the manifestation of the words we send into our conscious and subconscious mind. Words are everywhere; we speak, read, write and hear them. The nature of the words we choose to accept determines our vibration. The words we often think about determines the vibration we generate and send out. The regular use of negative word like don’t, not and no causes our unconscious and conscious mind to automatically filter out these words and internalizes in our mind the exact words we don’t want to internalize. The law of attraction only responds to our vibration not the words we intend to use. To avoid using these negative words most of the time, we should always ask ourselves “so what do I want,”each time we hear ourselves using these negative words. When our words changes, our vibration also changes. Using optimistic words puts our mind in the right frame thus helping us to continuously send out positive vibrations to the universe.

iii. Clarity through contrast

Contrast in relations to Law of attraction is anything you don’t like or things that do not make you feel good thus they cause us to send out negative vibrations each time we complain or talk about them. However, contrast could be very useful when applying the law of attraction. By observing and identifying the things we don’t want or like through contrast, we get a clearer picture of the things we want.

When we identify the things we want and we focus our mind on them, it helps us greatly because it puts us in a good mood thus we send positive vibrations to the universe. By identifying what makes you feel good and doing more of it, it puts us in a continuous state of mind that attracts goodness into our destiny.

iv. Give your desire Attention

By giving your desire more positive attention, energy and focus, we increase our vibration level. We have to devote more attention into our passion or those things that make us happy, if we desire to boost our vibration. It is not enough to merely identify our desire cannot be transformed into manifestation. We have to identify our desire and continuously give it adequate attention, energy and focus. By doing this, our life will always manifest positive attractions that lead to a life of great happiness and fulfillment. The law of attraction responds to how we feel about what you think since words form our speech and thought, it is essential to use affirmative words to motivate ourselves to go the extra mile to manifest our desire.

v. Allow it

Allowing is simply the absence of negative vibrations like doubts and fear. The process of allowing is about freeing our mind of every fear and doubt thus making your mind to focus on the possibility of achieving our goals and objectives. It is not enough for us to just identify our desire and what we truly want, we also have to remove any doubt surrounding our belief. The speed at which the law of attraction will manifest our desire is in direct proportion to how much we allow the absence of doubt or negative vibrations. A strong desire and strong doubt will cause our desires to manifest slowly, therefore our rate of winning in life though the law of attraction is determined by how much doubts we have.

vi. Attracting Abundance

Abundance is a feeling and we understand that every feeling gives off vibrations, either positive or negative. The feeling of abundance has a corresponding vibration that we can always duplicate. The good thing about feelings is that you can generate and duplicate them through our words and thoughts. We can intentionally change the way we feel. By creating the vibration of abundance more deliberately and more often, we are increasing the rate at which abundance will come into our lives.

vii. Relationships and your vibration

Our relationship is another very essential part of our lives which we can use our vibrations to achieve a life time of happiness. Relationships could range from marriage partners, parents, neighbors, business relationships, office colleagues, students or clients. The distance between your vibration and someone else’s vibration is equal to the amount of negativity you feel when you are with them. To achieve the best in our relationships, we have to reduce as much as possible the negativity that exists between us. Our job is to look after our vibration and steer any conversation that you have with people to be more uplifting and positive. To attract ideal relationships into our lives, contrast – the feeling of what you don’t want would be very necessary, knowing what you don’t like about a past partner is very useful and gets you the information you need to get clarity about the kind of partner you do want. When contrast helps us to generate clarity about what we want, this clarity becomes our new, clear desire. This new clarity has now become your desired relationship and that is the first step to manifesting your ideal relationship.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

None

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None

6 . Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

Yes, they were really helpful.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 7
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Goal Setting 101
Assessment by Adedeji Adedoyin (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

Goal setting is the bedrock of every success. The world they say will step aside for a man that knows where he is going. Thus people that know where they are going are people that set clear goals. Helping people that intend to succeed set goals is the essence of this book.

It is a simple but very effective book that breaks down the requirement for setting goals into a simpler form for people to easily understand. It helps people to understand the importance of goal setting and positive attitude to achieving success. It also offers practical steps on how to plan our activities to achieve a fulfilled and successful life. The more planning we do, the better our changes of achieving our goals and the more goals we achieve the more successful and fulfilled our lives become.

i. Goal Setting and its importance

Goal is an end or result towards which you direct specific efforts. When setting goals, we have an idea of what we intend to achieve as the end result. The three key element of a goal are having a specific accomplishment to be achieved, a measurable outcome and a specific date, time to accomplish the goal. It is important to set clear goals because it gives us a direction in life, identify results and challenge us to grow. It also improves our self-image, confidence and forces us to be specific. When we discipline ourselves to set clear goals and objectives for our future, the chances of us achieving success is increased.

ii. The power of choice

“In everything, you will always have a choice and you can always choose to do the right thing”. That was a quote from the superhero movie – Spiderman 3. One of the biggest powers given to humanity is the power to choose, the power to choose between right or wrong, good or bad, to plan or not to plan. Every choice counts whether they are intentional or not because they can either lead us towards our goals or keep us away from them. Success is the intentional, pre-meditated use of choice and decision. Nothing happens by chance, we have to choose whether we want to succeed or not. The big difference between successful people and others are the goals they choose to pursue. We can always be anything we choose to be if we passionately follow our dreams and pursue our goals. There is nothing more rewarding and fulfilling in life as choosing to do something that we love to do.

iii. The ten crucial Life Dimensions
Values lay the groundwork for our goals in life. Goals need to be set in ten key categories of our lives. These categories include our personal life, our health status, recreational activities, family, friends, our community, career, finances, household and our spiritual life. It is very essential to set goals for these crucial dimensions in our life. If any of these areas is affected, setting and achieving goals becomes difficult. At every stage of our lives, we have to set clear goals for each of these ten areas of our lives for us to live a fulfilled life. Every of these ten areas is very important and should be treated as such.

iv. Plan your way to success

There is no shortcut to achieving success; everyone that had succeeded in life has a plan. Therefore, we have to know that planning is very essential to the results we will get. Setting goals is not enough; we have to plan for a way to achieve those goals. Planning helps you analyze where you are and can point the way to where you want to be, planning helps you to continuously seek improvement in life, career or business that leads to wealth and growth. Plan informs the people around you that you are a purposeful person. Planning must be done, analysed and done again till the desire results are achieved.

v. SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis is a very good tool to find immediate and effective analysis to a given situation. SWOT stands for Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. During the planning towards our goals, we have to analyze these four elements. We have to ask ourselves what strengths do I have to achieve these goals, what weaknesses do I have that can limit me or stop me from achieving this goal. We have to identify the opportunities that we can get when we achieve the goal and keeping our mind on them to motivate us as we set out to achieve our goal. We have to identify the threats that can stop us from achieving this goal. By carefully doing an analysis of our SWOT, it allows to have a deeper insight into what we need to focus our attention on for our goals to be achieved.

vi. Watch your language

Successful people are positive and affirmative people, what we continuously confess with our mouth surely become the reality we see. We have to be positive while pursuing our goals by consciously using positive languages. The continuous use of such words registers in our subconscious mind thus helping us to be better and more effective. The habit of using positive language increases our confidence towards the possibility of achieving our goals and objectives. Therefore, anyone that wants to achieve goals and succeed should be very mindful of their use of words because our language can determine whether we will succeed or not.

vii. Learn to Manage Fear

There will always be times when fear will set in while planning or pursuing our goals. We have to learn to manage fear. The more intelligent we are, the more we may be frightened. We have to be courageous and push ourselves in spite of the fear to pursue those goals. Self discipline, inner pride, self respect, confidence and the passion for victory are the qualities that will help us to be courageous in spite of our fears. Fear sometimes could be a good thing forcing us to be careful but most times, fear holds us back from our true potentials. The time to take council of your fear is just before you make an important decision, once you have all the facts, make the decision and move ahead. One of the most common fear is the fear of failure. Most people have already concluded that they will fail in the executing of a project even before they start. They fear people will mock them if they fail so they we will rather not try. To effectively manage fear, we have to look beyond the what people will say or think and step out with boldness to pursue our goals.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

The book goal setting 101 is a very effective book for people to learn about setting and achieving goals. I will be using some of the steps, exercises and lessons in this guide book to train people in the coming months on goal setting. I hope to help people understand why goal setting is important to their life and the fulfillment it brings. If we have more goal-oriented people in our community, the country will surely be a better place. So in my own little way, I hope to help people set goals and achieve them through training and implementing some of the things in this book for my personal projects. By reading this book, I have learnt a lot about the importance of goal setting. I have to discipline myself to plan and set clear goals and objectives rather than dwelling on wishful thinking. As an aspiring social entrepreneur, if I succeed with my projects, it will surely impact on people’s lives positively.

4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

None.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

None.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them useful?

None.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?

None.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9