As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Adedamola Adejobi (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea the writer of this book is trying to espouse is how powerful our mind and thinking process is. James Allen the writer of this book, made to understand the fact that a man cannot grow beyond the level of his or her thought, for there lies the power that motivates us into action. Also the book made us understand the fact that no matter what we harbor in our mind, we will surely get the reward, whether positive or negative and it’s now up to us to decide, which one we desire.
James Allen also talks about the fact that sacrifice is a big part of progress and achievement. He made us understand that sacrifice is really important in achieving whatever we want to achieve.
James Allen also goes on to bring out the fact that calmness of mind is a beautiful jewel of wisdom. He explores the beauty of managing to keep calm and having your emotions under control no matter how much turmoil there is around you. Challenges will always show up, we have to be calm to face the situation and overcome it.
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.
The seven ideas I found most important were:
A. Positive image
From this I realize the importance of having positive image of one’s self, nobody has the right to maintain our image for us, we have to handle that personally and what we project is what people see.
B. Watch what we feed our mind
It is essential for us to watch what we take in, because we work just like the computer, its garbage in garbage out. likewise our mind if we feed it with low self esteem, poverty mentality we get the result and if we feed it with joy, happiness, success we get that also.
Also it is important to watch the company we keep because they have a strong way of influencing our thought. You have the power to choose your friends, because it is important to be surrounded by people of like minds. When you are down, this people can lift you up, but when surrounded by people of negative thoughts, then you yourself will be affected by their thoughts and you have nobody to pull you up when you are down.
C. Have a target:
It’s not just enough to think rightly, it’s quite important we set targets for ourselves on whatever we want to achieve. With target, we get more enthusiasm to fulfill our desires which makes us happy when we finally achieve that thing and also gives us a sense of discipline.
This idea greatly applies to me and as always worked for me in planning for my organization or anything I am involved, because it makes to track progress, to know how well am doing
D. Discipline
Discipline is the ability to stick to plan one has designed and not chicken out when faced with an obstacle on the way. We have to be disciplined to achieve a set target. Nothing good comes easy and all the obstacles we face on the way, it’s a lesson for us and it’s to make us stronger and have a real sense of worth for whatever we have achieved.
E. Adaptability
No situation is permanent, that is why it is important to learn how to adapt to condition, am not saying we should be satisfied with negative conditions, but while still going through that condition we can learn to make best use of that experience to be a better person . There will always be up and low moment, it is what we do with those times that matters.
F. Be open to new knowledge
We have to learn always. It is said that a man that fails to learn is dead, because new things comes up daily and we cannot afford to continue with the old ways of doing things, we have to be updated.
Most times we believe we know all things mean while our knowledge of that is obsolete and there is now a new way of doing them better. I seek to learn to daily, even when I know I won’t have time to learn a particular thing at a point, I would rather contract out the job to someone who has an updated knowledge.
G. Courage
It’s scary sometimes to dream of a big thing, not even talk of doing it. If your mind can conceive that dream then you can do it. No dream is too big and nothing is impossible to achieve, all that is needed is the courage to carry on and stay put, till the vision is accomplished. We must have courage to dare the impossible.
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?
These ideas will definitely remind me of the need to guard what comes into me and what I harbor in my heart, because this book has made me to see the usefulness of having the right thoughts always and how this affect the whole of my being.
We are a reflection of our inner self, so to be successful; we have to have the right thinking, which will spur us onto greatness. It is not too late to start having the right thoughts so that our life will be great.
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.
“Man is made or unmade by himself.”
This quote shows that man has his destiny in his hand; he can choose to be successful and can also choose not to be. All lies in his thinking.
“Thought and character are one, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer condition of a person’s life will always be found harmoniously related to the inner status.”
What this is telling us is that our thinking brings to us what we picture often in our mind and also we are always a product of our thinking. We are where we are today, because of the way we had envisioned ourselves in the past and we will be in the future what we see today.
“Thought is the fount of action, life and manifestation; make the fountain pure and all will be pure.”
As long as we want to be healthy and live a happy life, we must always keep our thoughts pure, because we are what we confess we are.
“Until thought is linked with purpose, there is no intelligent accomplishment.”
Not until we match our beautiful desires with strong action, then all our thoughts will just be a fantasy. There as to be a strong commitment to actualize our desires.
“A strong man cannot help a weaker unless that weaker is willing to be helped.”
You cannot help a man without his permission to do so, or else all efforts will be futile. If there is no cognitive change in a man who ism help is been offered to, then all the assistance is a waste of time, because you do not change a man outside out, you change him from inside out.
“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.”
When you dream great things, you are actually preparing your mind for that thing and your sense will have no choice than to corporate with you to achieve it.
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?
The book is really explicit enough and fully agrees with the author as written.
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?
There are no exercises in the book, but the lessons I will always apply in my everyday life.
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.
No.
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? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Adedamola Adejobi (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main message the writer was trying to get across to the readers was to see reasons why they should live up fully to their potentials. We all can achieve great and noble things only if we could stretch our mind and believe we can do achieve it. We all can do the extraordinary, with constant effort and perseverance, we will surely get there.
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.
The most important things seven things I got from this book are stated below:
A. Thinking pattern of changing and challenging status quo
Our pattern of thinking is really a great thing and also a strong key determining our altitude. According to the book to most gulls it is not flying that matters but eating, but for Jonathan Livingston Seagull, it was not food that matters, but flight. Jonathan Livingston Seagull loves flying, something strange to its folks, he dared and challenged status quo and believed in himself.
I remember a time in my life too when I was in my second year in the university to start my NGO with a friend, I was scared initially thinking of the so many hurdles before and how someone like me will be able to achieve such a great task of bringing students together and coordinate them, not to even talk of teaching them about leadership, entrepreneurship and societal development, but I summed up courage that I was going to dare the impossible and make effort and see what comes out of it, because I was not happy with what was happening around me and really wanted a change in the scheme of things, I gave it a shot and today I am very happy that I took that decision, which as influenced lives now living there dream.
B. Perseverance
Jonathan Livingston Seagull practiced hard inspite of challenges he encountered initially, he did not allow that to stop him from achieving his aim, he had doubt at some points but he overcame that and kept on with his lofty dream. Same applies to us, we should not expect a smooth transition from our dreams to reality. Life is not like that, if wishes were horses beggars too will ride. At the early stage of starting my NGO, it was a bit difficult combining that huge task with my academics and also recruiting people that could help kick starting the organization, but I kept moving and trying my possible best, most time I failed but did not allowed that to deter me from the goal, my focus was on the end. I saw my mistakes as a lesson and how not to do what I was trying to achieve. Finally I got the right team and today we are soaring, thanks to perseverance.
C. Having the right association or team
When Jonathan Livingston Seagull got to heaven he was challenged by the few gull he saw doing great things, he saw that there was more to learn about flight where he had found himself than what it used to be from where he had came from. In the new place he found himself, there were gull of the same thought, for each of them the most important thing in living was to reach out and touch perfection in that which they loved to do and that was to fly.
Having the right association not only helps you in achieving your goals faster, it helps in having the right motivation to move on when you encounter challenges. With right association you feel safe and see each other as a family.
D. Mentorship
Jonathan Livingston Seagull saw the importance of mentorship when he approached Chiang for more training on flight lesson about been perfect like Chiang who is an elder in the flock. It is really important to identify with a particular individual in ones area of career for development, guidance and mentorship. We need the knowledge of those that as gone ahead of us and also to learn from their mistake so that we don’t fall victim of such too. Having the support of senior colleagues in our area of career makes some task easier for us to accomplish. The role of a mentor in my life cannot be overemphasized because they have been of great support to me in time of need and make me achieve some goals with ease.
E. Leadership
When Chiang left the flock, he handed over the others to Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Jonathan Livingston Seagull stayed and worked with the new coming in, who were all very bright and quick with their lessons. Leadership is essential for progress and continuity of training of the coming generation. Right leadership is very key in shaping the coming generations correctly. In our present generation we all see that leadership is very important ranging from politics to child training.
F. Charisma
Jonathan Livingston Seagull has a good charisma which really helped him to get more gulls to come for flight lesson and also to be smart with the lesson been taught by Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It has been said that charisma is an essential ingredient for a leader. A good leader must possess this characteristic to be successful in achieving his aim. People don’t want to care how much you know, but are genuinely interested in how much you care about them. Jonathan Livingston Seagull proved this when he helped Maynard Gull who had problem with his wing to be able to fly and also master the act.
In my organization I have always displayed this charismatic attitude with my colleagues and members, because humans are very sensitive to emotions, most especially the youths. They truly want to know if you really care about them or you just want to exploit them. I make sure I share in there joy and pain, to let them know I truly care and stand with them in time of need, with that it was very easy for them to trust me.
G. Succession
Jonathan Livingston Seagull was aware of the fact that he cannot be with the gulls forever and the need to handover to someone to carry on with the work. Jonathan Livingston Seagull was able to hand over to Fletcher Seagull to carry on with the work successfully, having successfully mentored him.
Unfortunately most of our leaders want to remain in position for life, most especially in Africa and Asia, where we have sit tight presidents; they care less about giving other the opportunity to make a change. When I was about concluding my undergraduate studies I saw the need to raise smart guys that could take over from me and take the organization to the next level. To be realistic this was not easy initially, getting the right hand, but with strong determination to train and retrain the selected individuals with right attitude from them too, the aim was achieved.
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?
It has really wonderful reading this book, because it has helped to believe more in myself. I will love to share this book with friends who are really keen in improving their life and also with people facing one challenge or the other to keep strong and persevere.
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.
“Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body too.”
Jonathan Livingston Seagull made us understand the fact that every great thing start from our thinking, because “As a man Thinketh in his heart so his he.”
Our thought made us and every man has a creation of his own thought one way or the other.
“You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way:”
Jonathan Livingston Seagull believed that everyman is free to be whatever he or she wants to be, only if he or she can believe and have faith that they can become that thing. Nothing can stop us from getting to where we want if only we can overcome the barrier in our mind.
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?
The book is really explicit enough and fully agrees with the author as written.
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?
There are no exercises in the book, but the lessons I will always apply in my everyday life.
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.
Nothing to comment, but to thank the author for writing this great book. He could have decided to motivate himself alone, but decided to share it with the world.
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? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8
Keys To Success
Assessment by Adedamola Adejobi (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This major focus of this book is to show us how our thinking can have everlasting impact on our lives. The author showed us that we could embrace PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) or NMA (Negative Mental Attitude), so whichever one we go for we get the result. But most importantly we are advised to go for the Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) to achieve success.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal example from your life.
The seven ideas I found most important from the book are:
A. Know that you are the most important person in life
Know you are the most important person in life because the power to achieve greatness and success lies with you. No matter your predicament the invisible talisman in you can work magic all you require is the PMA (Positive Mental Attitude). PMA can get for you all the rich blessings of life. It can help you overcome your difficulties and to discover your strengths. It can help you step out ahead of your competitors and can also help you turn what you say is impossible to reality.
B. Keep a positive mental attitude
To achieve anything worthwhile in life it is necessary to set high goals for yourself and work to achieve them. You are born to be a champion, for all practical purposes you have inherited from vast reservoir of the past all the potential abilities and powers you need to achieve your objectives.
Ask yourself important questions such as “what will your picture say to you.” Definiteness of purpose with PMA is the starting point of all worthwhile achievement. When you define your definite aim there is tendency for several additional success principles begin to operate automatically to help you achieve them.
C. Explore the power of your mind: you are a mind with a body, because you are a mind, you posses mystical powers – known and unknown .
When you make discoveries awaiting you, they can bring you happiness, joy and wealth. The author identified that our mind as two parts, the conscious and the sub-conscious and that we should allow both to work for our advantage.
D. Accept failure as a lesson: we failed at times because we fail to obey some universal laws or some basic principles attached to that which we want to achieve.
When you seek success with PMA you keep trying and also keep searching to find more. The author used the case of Thomas Edison as example who tried severally to make an electric bulb, but failed severally but kept searching more until finally he discovered it.
E. Use the principle of OPM (Other People’s Money)
This principle has been used by many great and successful men in the world in achieving their aim. We might not have all the resources at times to fulfill our ideas and there is nothing wrong getting other people’s resources to achieve the idea, with all sincerity of purpose of fulfilling all the contractual agreement. Other People’s Money (OPM) is the way to acquire wealth.
F. Be satisfied
Be satisfied in whatever profession you find yourself you have to learn how to be satisfied once it is truly where your passion lies in. satisfaction is a mental attitude.
Your own mental attitude is one thing you possess over which you alone have complete control. Happy satisfied people control their mental attitude; they take a positive view of their situation. They look for the good and when something is not so good, they look first to themselves if they can improve it. They try to learn more about their work so that they can become more proficient and make their work more satisfying to themselves and their employer.
G. Monitor your health
Our health is really important, if we are to enjoy success. Positive Mental Attitude plays in our health and day to day energies and enthusiasm about our life and work. Positive Mental Attitude will help develop mental and physical health and a longer life, while Negative Mental Attitude will undermine mental and physical life and by extension shorten life. It all depends on the side of the talisman we turned on.
If you have not developed a Positive Mental Attitude it’s high time you develop the philosophy. Prepare for any emergency and always have something to live for. And remember when you have something to live for, the subconscious mind forces upon your conscious mind strong motivating factors to keep you alive in time of emergency.
3. How will this ideas or lesions 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 following ideas gotten from this book will go a long way in the following ways in my life which I plan to focus on and practice:
Build a strong positive mental attitude
Take failure as a challenge
Be consistent about life
Take patience as a virtue
With all these knowledge and insight gotten from this text, my life will really experience more positive changes and growth in areas in where it is most necessary, using the principle of positive mental attitude (PMA).
4. Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why were important to you.
The following quotes got my attention:
“If life hands us a problem, it hands also to us the abilities to meet the problem.”
Comment: what this quote is talking about is that in every problem or challenge we face there lies in it the solution to solve the problem, only if we can look at the bright side and stay focused on it until the problem or challenge is solved.
“Your success, or failure in meeting the problems presented by the challenges of change will be determined by your mental attitude.”
Comment: what this quote is saying is that our perception of the problem we face is of great essence, if we have an optimistic attitude towards the problem, we will surely overcome, but if we are so pessimistic about it then we are bound to fail on that assignment. So our attitude determines it all just like someone said our attitude determines our altitude.
“What we see is always the interpretation of the mind.”
Comment: what this area is talking about is about feeding our mind with positive things, because by extension we are a reflection of our mind. If the mind is not fed with positive things that can bring success, there in no way success can be achieved. When we continually feed our mind with good information we are bound to reap good things, just like the case of computer garbage in, garbage out.
“Remember that money is of the prolific, generating nature. Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more.”
Comment: what this quote is talking about is how we can use money to generate more money. There is nothing wrong using OPM to implement certain project as long as we are sure of positive reward. It will be only foolish to use the principle of OPM on liabilities rather than on assets.
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?
No, everything was clear enough for me to understand.
6. Did the book contain exercise for the reader to complete? If so did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
No. I did not find any exercises in this book. What I see is practice that is recommended for the full implementation of the ideas presented by the author.
7. Was there anything you read in this book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
Nothing else to comment on.
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? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9
Psycho-Cybernetics
Assessment by Adedamola Adejobi (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This book is about how the self image of man can make or mar him in every aspect and r food, how to build or foster this self image to make life more meaningful and to be happy.
The “self-image” is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self-image and you change the personality and the behavior.
The “self-image” sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment. It defines what you can and cannot do. Expand the self-image and you expand the “area of the possible.” The development of an adequate, realistic self-image will seem to imbue the individual with new capabilities, new talents and literally turn failure into success.
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.
Here are the seven ideas I found to be most important:
A. Built-in Guidance System
There is an in-built guidance system that propels us to success and always making sure we are in tandem to our goals. This in-built system works like the instinct that guides the animals to seek for food and shelter and seek for mates for procreation.
“Success Mechanism” in man also is much broader in scope than in animals. In addition to helping man avoid or overcome danger, and the “sexual instinct” which helps keep the race alive, the Success Mechanism in man can help him get answers to problems, invent, write poetry, run a business, sell merchandise, explore new horizons in science, attain more peace of mind, develop a better personality, or achieve success in any other activity which is intimately tied in to his “living” or makes for a fuller life.
B. Imagination
The author makes us realize that imagination plays a far more important role in our lives.
Our imagination can be creative or destructive, the choice is ours. “Creative imagination” is not something reserved for the poets, the philosophers, the inventors. It enters into our every act. For imagination sets the goal “picture” which our automatic mechanism works on. We act, or fail to act, not because of “will,” as is so commonly believed, but because of imagination.
C. The power of relaxation
Our currently held beliefs, whether good or bad, true or false, were formed without effort, with no sense of strain, and without the exercise of “will power.” Our habits, whether good or bad, were formed in the same way. It follows that we must employ the same process in forming new beliefs, or new habits, that is, in a relaxed condition. Physical relaxation, when practiced daily, brings about an accompanying “mental relaxation,” and a “relaxed attitude” which enables us to better consciously controls our automatic mechanism. Physical relaxation also, in itself, has a powerful influence in “dehypnotizing” us from negative attitudes and reaction patterns.
D. Rational Thinking
The author made us understand that automatic mechanism, or what the Freudians call the “unconscious,” is absolutely impersonal. It operates as a machine and has no “will” of its own. It always tries to react appropriately to your current beliefs and interpretations concerning environment. It always seeks to give you appropriate feelings, and to accomplish the goals which you consciously determine upon. It works only upon the data which you feed it in the form of ideas, beliefs, interpretations, opinions. It is conscious thinking which is the “control knob” of your unconscious machine.
E. Making happiness a choice
Happiness is native to the human mind and its physical machine. We think better, perform better, feel better, and are healthier when we are happy. Even our physical sense organs work better.
Happiness is not something that is earned or deserved. Happiness is not a moral issue, any more than the circulation of the blood is a moral issue. Both are necessary to health and well-being. Happiness is simply a “state of mind in which our thinking is pleasant a good share of the time.” However, if we make a moral issue out of happiness and conceive of it as something to be earned as a sort of reward for being unselfish, we are very apt to feel guilty about wanting happiness. Happiness comes from being and acting unselfishly—as a natural accompaniment to the being and acting, not as a “pay off” or prize.
F. Don’t place Limitation on Life
If we are to “Get More Living out of Life,” we should not limit the channels through which Life may come to us. Another important channel is other people. Let us not refuse the help, happiness and joy that others may bring us, or that we can give to them. Let us not be too proud to accept help from others, or too callous to give it. Let us not say “unclean” just because the form of the gift may not coincide with our prejudices or our ideas of self-importance.
G. Have a winning attitude
Our automatic creative mechanism is teleological that is, it operates in terms of goals and end results. Once you give it a definite goal to achieve you can depend upon its automatic guidance-system to take you to that goal much better than “you” ever could by conscious thought.
Our automatic creative mechanism always acts and reacts appropriately to the environment, circumstance or situation. The only information concerning the environment, circumstance or situation available to it is what you believe to be true concerning them.
Thus, if we dwell upon failure, and continually picture failure to ourselves in such vivid detail that it becomes “real” to our nervous system, we will experience the feelings that go with failure. On the other hand, if we keep our positive goal in mind, and picture it to ourselves so vividly as to make it “real,” and think of it in terms of an accomplished fact, we will also experience “winning feelings:” self-confidence, courage, and faith that the outcome will be desirable.
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?
It has really wonderful reading this book, because it has helped to believe more in myself. I will love to share this book with friends who are really keen in improving their life and I will also make time to put my creative imagination to work
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.
The quotes I liked are these:
“Self-confidence comes out of a balance for striving for new achievements with ongoing recognition of your existing strengths.” By: Terry Paulson
Comment: Whether we realize it or not, each of us carries about with us a mental blueprint or picture of ourselves. To really “live,” that is to find life reasonably satisfying; you must have an adequate and realistic self image that you can live with.
“To the degree that we deny the gift of life, we embrace death.”
“The faculty of imagination is the great spring of human activity, and the principal source of human improvement.” Stated by: Glenn Clark
“Ideas are in the air, and if he had not discovered it, someone else would have.” By: Thomas Edison
“There are no great and no small.” By: Ewaldo Emerson
“You cannot believe yourself the image of God, deeply and sincerely, with full conviction, and not receive a new source of strength and power,” says Dr. Frank G. Slaughter.
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?
The book is really explicit enough and I fully agree with the author has written.
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?
I completed all the exercises and they were really challenging and also helpful to make me a better person.
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.
Nothing to comment on. I feel the writer has really done a great job. The book is really an eye opener to so many things.
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? 9
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