Adeyemi Johnson Adetunji – Assessments – International Institute for Global Leadership

As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Adeyemi Johnson Adetunji (Nigeria)

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

The main idea of the book is that “You” are your thoughts.

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.

i. Your Thought is Bigger Than Your Body

Mind is the control valve of your destiny. Every acts is a product of your thought. If you control a man’s thought you can control his life. Your life is at the mercy of your mind. Thought is a metaphor of a mighty man in whose hand is the bow and an arrow whenever he faces the bow that is where the arrow goes. Your life goes to whenever you mind directs. Your mind is a lamp to your destiny. There was an argument among the members of the body about who is in charge in the affairs of man. At the end of the day, thought was unanimously agreed to be in charge. Ear was not was not in charge for whatever it listening to must be processed by the mind. Eyes could not be said to be in charge for whatever it looks must pass through the mind . Mouth cannot get the credit of be in charge for whatever it says come from the thought. Hand has never been in charge for it can only touch things has directed by the mind. Leg has never been in charge for it only goes to where mind directs. Even nose smell only what the mind permits. Where your mind goes that is where your body goes. Mind is the driver of destiny. Therefore for whatever happen to man whether good or bad mind is to be held responsible.

ii. Take Care of Your thought

When you take care of mind, your circumstance take care of itself. To change any situation for bad or for good, just change your mind. Your circumstance or situation is a reflection of your mind. A good thought will produce good circumstance and a bad thought will produce bad circumstance. As fruit is dependent on root so is circumstance or situation depend on thoughts. Your thought determine the happenings of your life. Your thought need to be in harmony with your circumstance before you can be affected by it. You have power over circumstance and situation. That power is mind power. Experience and observation reveals that people focuses on circumstance rather than mind. People’s attention are eradicating bad fruit without addressing the root. Every circumstances are rooted in the Thought. By man’s circumstance you can know man’s thought. Show me a man’s circumstance, I will show you his or her mind. Your circumstance is at the mercy of your thoughts. What comes from your environment is not your problem. Your mind is your problem. Whatever comes from environment that has what it takes to affect your life will first take root in your mind. It’s always from within to without. Experience reveals that people tend to use external influences to explain their situation neglecting their mind.
iii. What you think is what you attract

What you think towards things and other is what you attract from others. You cannot be thinking of evil towards others and expect others to think good of you. To change other people’s thought towards you, then change your thought towards others. Thought is a seed. Every seed sown brings harvest. Therefore, the seed of thought you sow on others will determine what you receive from them. Whatever thoughts a man have on others so shall he reap.
To attract honest from other think honest towards them
To attract truth from other think truth towards them
To attract what is just from other think what is just towards them
To attract what is lovely from other think what is lovely towards them
Think on purpose and you will be free from fear and worries. A purpose driven mind is the way out of fear. Purpose driven mind is the way out of worries, fears, troubles and self pitying.

You are what you think. What you think is what you will become. If you think evil so you will attract evil and if you are thinking good, you will experience good. Control my our thought and you take charge of your life. A pure or sanctified life is a product of a pure and sanctified mind. Uncleanliness in any form is a manifestation of unclean thought
You are to give thoughts to what you want and not what you detest. Never focus your thought on what you do not want or on experience you do not desire. Concentrate on what you desire. Experience reveals that if man only focus on what they want, this world would have been better than these. Never only think on what you want. Acting on your though is very vital. It is acting on your thought that gives value to your thought. No matter how lofty, good, just, true a thought may be, if it is not acted upon it will never become a reality. A man that does not act on his thought is not different from a man who does not think

iv. Transformation begins from the Mind

You cannot be transformed beyond the level at which your mind is renewed. At the root of every transformation is mind renewal. Minds can be renew by information . Information is raw materials for mind renewal. No individual, society or state can be transformed beyond the level at which the mind of its citizenry are renewed neither the circumstance of any nation or individual can be better than the thought of its citizenry.
Mind is alterable by information. Information, insights with which you are feeding your mind will determine the output from your mind.

v. The worst form of Imprisonment

The worst of imprisonment is mind imprisonment. People across all ages and status are imprisoned by one culture, traditions, superstition or the other. This tradition hinders people from maximizing their potential. This traditions need to be challenged. To be delivered from mind imprisonment, people need to go for understanding on the worth of their potential. The imprisonment of the mind is one of the obstacles to human development. It set limit on human capacity.

vi. The Greatest Gift and Asset

The greatest asset a man can have is not gold or silver or diamond. It is the Mind. Why mind? The reason is not far- fetched. It is with the engagement of your mind that you acquired all the asset that you have. Somebody may argued, it is by work. But work begins from the mind. For unless, your mind is made up to work you will not work. All other asset can be destroyed but if the mind is intact, they can all be recovered with time.
The greatest gift to man by God is the mind. All the issues of life emanates from the mind. Whatever happens in life is determined by the mind. Your prosperity in every aspect of your life is at the mercy of your mind. You can never prosper spiritually, financially, materially and what have you beyond the prosperity of your mind.

vii. You are either in Your Mind or out of Your Mind

One of the evil under the Earth is for a man to be out of his mind. To be out of your mind is to be out of life. A man who cannot think and think aright is no different from a dead man. He is a walking corpse. Life is no longer reckoned with him or her. A man who cannot think is not different from a mad man. He or she is disenfranchised from his or her life election. You do not have what it take to determine and participate in the affair of your life. He who cannot control his mind has lost the control of his life. Also those who has no mind of their own will forever be controlled by others and live other peoples life.
Thinking is a non negotiable and non transferable personal responsibility. Nobody can think for you. You level of greatness will be determined by the level at which we accept responsibility for our life. Taking responsibility to think will determine you level of greatness. All the ever great man I have contact with are great thinkers. One the challenges we are facing in our is that only few people are thinkers . This accounts for why we are having few great men and problem solvers.

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

The ideas will help me to mind my thoughts for out of it are the issue of my life.

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?

“Circumstance does not make the man: it reveals him to himself.”

This caught my attention. This is important to me in the sense that it call my attention to the fact that I must look inside, that what I am on the inside is what my circumstance is reflecting. Therefore, to take control of my circumstance, I must start from my thought.

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?

I have the understanding of the book and I agreed with all the ideas in the book.

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

The book did not contain any exercises for the reader to complete

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 else to comment about.

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? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Adeyemi Johnson Adetunji (Nigeria)

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

The main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book is curiosity; challenge the status quo and tradition.

i. Curiosity

Challenge the status quo and take the initiative to pursue new idea. Our society is saturated with tradition, culture, superstition that hinders our progress and advancement as an individual as well as a society in its entirety. These traditions cover every aspect of our society. There are traditions in politics, social economic strata, matrimony etc that keeps individuals and our society in the state of inertia. These traditions need to be confronted and conquered if individuals will move forward. Our system is not helping the matter. We are in a society where when status quo or traditions are questioned it is classified as arrogance, pride or lack of respect for traditions or culture. We are in a society where when one is keeping quiet traditions that keep us in the same spot it is synonymous with humility and submissiveness. Traditions are man made. It is a way of life that becomes norm overtime. It should not become hard and fast rule or something that cannot be altered or improve upon.

Experience reveals that developed individuals and nation got to where they are today after challenging the status quo and alter unprogressive traditions and culture. Any tradition that does not translate into individual freedom and advancement of our society should be challenged. Individual should also take it upon themselves to challenge whatever has been lingering for long and is becoming tradition and is limiting their advancement. We are wired for advancement and to break new ground in all areas of our life. No culture or tradition should be allowed to hinder us. Ability to break new ground is in our DNA or nature. Our destiny is great. It cannot be allowed to be mortgaged by custodians of tradition. In our quest to break new ground, we should not take offence in those who says We can’t. Why? Majority of them cannot see what we are seen. They also have little understanding of their potential. There are those who are advising us against breaking the tradition out of concerns for our life. They are sincere but they are sincerely wrong.

ii. Choose to be Different

It is only those who chose to be different that makes different in their own generation. Majority are not always right. If we chose to follow majority most of the time we may not make different. Everybody is a unique and isolated individual free to chose their destiny and responsible for their action. If we choose to follow the multitude we end up having common result. Multitude are common. In choosing to be different there may be season of pain but that is the link to success. One may end up becoming an outcast. Those who cast you out today may end up celebrating you tomorrow. They will line up cheering you up when you become outstanding. The most important thing is be sure of your vision and pursue it. Never listen or pay attention to critics and mockers.

iii. There is life beyond the Shore

The real life is in the depth. Only the man of vision and depth goes for the depth. The shallow men settle at the shore and lives a shallow life. A life of survival with no impart on others. What the waves of life will voluntarily brings our way are just ordinary and mundane thing, Why settles at the shore and be serving crumbs when you have what it take to dive into the depth of the sea and take what you want and not what wave bring to you. Go for what you want rather than waiting for what you served on a platter of gold. When the waves of life bring something on your way rather than settling for it ride on its wing to the depth of the sea to get what you want. The best that waves will bring to the shores are majorly dead organism. How can a living settle for what is dead and be satisfied. In every aspect of our life; career, ministry, finance we need to move to the depth where we will have access to the desirable not the available. At the shore it is the available but at the depth it is the desirable. There is more to our life to where we are. The best of life are not at the surface. They are at the depth. There is more meaning to life beyond where you are.

iv. We are not only Live to Eat

Food should not be our number one priority for living. Experience reveals that majority has not seen the reason for living beyond eating and die. Majority has never the reason for going to school beyond obtaining meal ticket. Their meal ticket is their certificate. Life is beyond food and drinking. When what one’s life centered around is eating, you are only surviving. Life is all about making impart. It’s about influence. It is living for other to live. It’s time to move from surviving level to impartial level. Those that live to eat never leave any legacy behind. They are never remembered for anything.

v. Never, Never. Never Give Up and Rest On your Laurel

There is no star without a scar. Champions are made in the school of challenges. There are seasons of pains in the course of pursuing our goal but that is the gateway to our success. Challenges should be seen as a launching pad into our success and not as our undertakers. In the course of pursuing our goals we may feel like giving up. Those who gave up never break any new ground, pacesetters, trailblazers are achievers who never gave up in the face of trials and challenges. If we are expecting large number of people to back us up and encourage us in the course of pursuing our goal or trying to challenge the status quo and overturning of tradition that keeps us where we are we may be disappointed. Rather than waiting for those who will encourage you encourage yourself. Success is not a destination. it is unending. As one is accomplishing one feat never rest. The accomplishment of one goal is the beginning of another endeavor. Those who rest on their soar will soon sours.

vi. Never Stop Learning

Learning is a lifelong issue. Learning never ends. When you stop learning you start dying. Learning is life and to learn is to live. Live to learn otherwise you experience stagnation. You remain in the state of inertia. Faith is not a substitute for skill. Skill is what give value to our faith. Breaking a new ground requires skills and this can be acquired through learning. Learning comes along with pain. But it’s gain worth the pain. To gain advancement in life you need to endure the pain of learning. To be afraid of pain of learning is to remain on the same spot forever.

vii. No more limits

There is no limitation anywhere, every man’s limitation is it’s thought. There is an ability in us that we need to be responded to. Until we respond to that ability our life remain on the same spot. In the march of life we will keep on marking time. Whatever one can think one can attain. We have an unlimited nature. We are wired up for a life without limit. Finance, government, people, situation and circumstances cannot limit us. Every man’s limitation is his thought. If any man is experiencing limitation, let him not think it is finance, government, people, situation and circumstances that is limiting him or her, it is his or her mind. Every higher flyers fly within before without. Whatever you can conceive you can achieve. Whatever you can attempt you can attain. The difference between a failure and successful is mind. If one attempts something and fail at the end of the day, one is far better than a man who attempt nothing. It is better to fail attempting something than fail at attempt nothing. If one attempts something and fails it will go into the annals of history that one has made an attempt. The reasons for one failure may in the nearest or far future become a resource material for people on how to guide against failure. Limitations are like bushel on the light of our destiny. Let remove them. Our nature is loaded and too strong than the bushel. Every bushel on the light of our life is our mind.