Ahua Bem Gura – Assessments – International Institute for Global Leadership

As A Man Thinketh
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The author’s message in the book, as a man thinketh, is about the power of thought. That tool which man can use to build heavenly mansions of joy, strength and peace for himself or, the amoury with which he can destroy himself. Man is the product of his thought by virtue of the thoughts which he chooses and encourages. Which in essence, influences his condition and circumstance at any particular time of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. A noble character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. The act of a man is the blossom of his thought and the result associated with this are joy and suffering as he earn that which is association with the kind of thought he encourages. By the right choice and true application of thought man ascends to the divine perfection, by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and man is their maker and master.

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. Thought Centered On Purpose: it is important to me because until after I read the book, I never knew that, my thought should be around a purpose. I normally let my thought to wander with out a particular purpose, but as I read, I discovered that until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment. And that aimlessness is a vice which would lead to catastrophe if not avoided. As well that by making ones purpose the center of his thought, then and only then can thought be gathered and focused and their resolution and energy developed.

II. Vision And Ideal: this idea had me thinking about my life, I always have this picture of being prosperous with a lovely family, but I have not seen that change which I want for the world. So this was like, you have a personal vision and not a vision to change your environment, but several time I look around me, I see a lot of flaws that I think shouldn’t be so. This idea reminded me that if I earnestly want to change the way things are around me then I should start picturing the change I seek around me in my thought and one day it will come to be with effort put in place. This idea is a whole lot of eye opener. To desire is to obtain, to aspire is to achieve as well as the greatest achievement first and for a time a dream.

III. Thought Factor In Achievement: I wondered as I read, reflecting on past achievement, what I hope to achieve in the future and I was like, hey! All that I have achieved and those that I couldn’t achieve, wonderful were as a result of my thought. And I know I complained and blamed someone or circumstances for those that I couldn’t achieve. There was this, simple and straight forward that all that a man achieve and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. And that there could be no progress; no achievement without sacrifice, and a man’s worldly success will be in the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance. And that all achievements are the result of definitely directed thoughts.

IV. Self-Control: this is important to me because, it just encourages me that, I could go on and learn to control my thought as I have to some extent self-control over the years. I thought to myself without self-control cannot control his thought, giving it direction and all that. From the section of serenity I discovered that calmness of mind is the result of long and patient effort in self-control and that more the more tranquil a man become, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. More so only those, whose thought are controlled and purified makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey them.

V. Practice: only by much practice, can I learn to discipline my thought, keeping it pure and with a purpose or direction. I know for sure that my thought aren’t disciplined yet, in order to discipline my thought, I have to practice restrain on my thought so that it dose not wander aimlessly and pure. If I would be prosperous, happy, and healthy; I would have to adjust my thought which would in turn reflect in the environment. Along with practicing pure thought, I have to carry out self analysis of the effect of pure thought on myself and other people around me.

VI. Man Is A Product Of Thought: I am who I am because of the kind of thought I choose and encourage. Never had this occurred to me, but after reading the book, I now am aware that man is the maker of himself, by virtue of the thought which he chooses and encourages, that mind is the master weaver, both of the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance. The character of a man is the complete aggregate of all his thought be it pure or impure or both. How prosperous, his health and circumstance associated with a man are products of his thought and these describe a man.

VII. Effect of Thought On Circumstances and Health of Body: looking around me at the environment I wondered as I read how unconsciously I have created this situations. How my health condition at any time is as a result of the kind of thought that run through my mind. Over the years, I have wonder and have been trying to find out the why and how some of the illnesses come about. But now without hesitation, I would say it is the encouragement of sickly thought.

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. Thought Centered On Purpose: Now that I know the power of thought, its effect on me and circumstances around me. I would definitely have to change my thought pattern from thinking without purpose or focus to engaging myself in thought with central purpose or focus. As this is the way to joy, success and toward perfection. And this would bring about change in me and circumstances around me. In order to create a better world, I would constantly focus my thought around that change which my heart yarns for the world.

II. Vision And Ideal: in order that I change, I need to envision that change I want to be. I have to dream about it; that is having a mental picture of who I would want to be in the nearest future. In the same way it applies to creating a better world, I have to develop a mental picture of what I want the world around me to look like in the next 10,20 or 30 years from now, which should be the driving force, constantly reminding me of that world.

III. Practice: without much practice, very little or nothing is achieved. And in order to change and follow the idea in the book properly, I need to practice constantly the idea in the book as constant practice would make the ideas part of me. With this ideas becoming part of me, I would have the tool with which to create a world that would be better than that which we live in today. By helping one or two initially understand this idea and spread it as well.

IV. Self-Control: generally, I am a gentle person, but I have a history of losing my temper a couple of times. Just recently, I had opportunity to losing it again. I got myself into a heated argument with a guy I gave my printer to fix, normally; this would end in a fight. It kept flashing in my mind self-control, calmness. And I control my emotion, and that helped, because it ended with both of us shaking hands. He did not know this, I did. In essence I have benefited form this and I hope to transfer this idea to my family member; since charity begins at home, in order to change the world.

V. Thought Factor In Achievement: this will help me keep focused on what I want to achieve at the end of a specific task. After perceiving the goal, then in order to achieve that goal I would concentrate my thought on achieving, planning on how I would achieve the goal.

VI. Man Is Made by Thought: I being a creation of my thought, I would be careful of what I think about, and would guard against unconscious wandering of my thought and become selective and conscious of my thought , so what ever I set out to achieve I would achieve.

VII. Effect of Thought On Circumstances and Health of Body: to change the circumstances around me, I have to practice virtuous thought. To have a healthy body, I definitely have to keep my mind pure by abstaining from impure or vicious or sickly thought.

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.

I. “That man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny”: man is the master of thought, but then, that I am the molder of my character, the maker and shaper of conditions, environment and my destiny, the question was how? And have I been doing this? Until I got to a line in the book that if the reader so resolves, should trace the action of the laws of thought in his own mind and life, so doing; I got to understand what that meant.

II. “As a being of power, intelligence, and love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills”: this I found very interesting, as I have being using this not knowing it to be a law of thought, but I called it power, before embarking on any thing for instance going to the local market to obtain some items, I reflect my thought on the amount I bought certain item previously and would decide right there in my thought I wanted to buy it on that day, and it usually worked. So with the book I discovered that this is a very power tool and I should be careful how I use it.

III. “As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking”: to me this was an awaken that I should start exercising my thought with right thinking, in order that I have it properly developed and set for the task ahead of me. As it is going to be a tool I would need in the nearest future.

IV. “Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplished anything, and never can. They always lead to failure”: Most occasions, when an idea pops in my mind, to do something, while trying to develop this idea then other thought start popping along side this idea such as doubt and fear. That I might not make it for certain reasons and most time I give these thought of doubt or fear enough consideration that they discourage me and it ends with me giving up the idea. After reading this book doubt and fear would not be given too much consideration so that they do not hinder me from accomplishing my goals.

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. “Man is buffeted by circumstance so long as he believes himself to be the creation of outside condition”: I do not comprehend this sentence, especially the part of being buffeted by circumstances. Because I tend to believe that certain things happen because of certain limitation (conditions) around me. It actually worries me.

II. “The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it”: so I wonder, those people who fear HIV are they the ones who eventually contact it? Or how? Because I think if one is afraid of something, he/she would do every thing possible to hide or stay away from it. So how does one who fears a disease eventually contact that disease? I think if we are scared of anything we keep our guard and would avoid being caught off guard.

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 think so, though not directly but was optional for those readers who so resolves, to trace the action of the laws of thoughts in his own mind and life. I did trace some actions of the laws of thought in my life. It was helpful especially when I traced my thought concerning a course I failed, which I blamed the lecturer for. I discovered indeed that I had failed the course even before writing the examination. It didn’t only help to discover truth about some issues, but it brought me joy to know that I have and can develop this powerful tool of thought to do what I will.

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.

Now I know the power of thought, and that it right use is what is required if positive results are expected. Though I am finding it difficult exercising my thought with right thinking, when I try exercising my thought with right thinking I soon discover that my thought have wandered off unconsciously. Never the less, I have not given up and never will.

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? 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? 10

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

From my view the main idea the author, conveyed is that with practice anything one has perceives to be or do, he would definitely get there or accomplish it. Consistent practice with goal in mind would keep one focused and the energy to keep pushing to stain the set goal and being resolute in accomplishing that goal, what ever it is, would be achieved. From the book, at some time, Jonathan was faced with defeat, but instead of giving up, still went back to practice; and analyzing issues, to find out why he committed a particular error. And each time he found what had caused that error, he immediately went back to practice to put his findings to practice and find out if it works.

More so, that continuous practice would lead to perfection which is what most of us strive for, at least to attain some perfection in one or two areas of our lives

Form the context of the story; I saw that Jonathan loved to fly. And since he loved to fly, his initial goal was speed and went at any length to achieve this even sacrificing food and socialization.

The ideas which were personally important to me are listed below with reasons why they were important to me.

I. Practice: Being a tennis player at the university, I understood how important this is. As simple as a foe arm stroke, it was continuous and constant practice that helped in getting it right. This I was doing unconsciously and so as I went through this book, it revealed to me the power of consistent practice. As I discovered that this could become a tool which I use to achieve virtually any thing, I quickly applied it other areas of my life, like my academics.

II. Goal: I know that one need to set goals in every thing he intend to do or go into. But to me not in little things or thing I would consider trivial. After going through the book, it became obvious to me that I need to set goals for even the most trivial of issues. Jonathan from the book would set a goal, as he accomplishes that one, he immediately set another. He had this broad picture of what he wanted to do and so it was easier setting goals after goals until he reached that which he had perceived.

III. Love For What We Do: This idea arouse in my mind as I was reading the book, where it is written that Jonathan loved to fly. And, that love for flying inspired Jonathan to learn everything concerning flying. He did this by practicing regularly on different aspect of flight. From what I love, I should go on to find out what it entails to reach perfection and practice afterwards, towards perfection and at being the best in that which I love.

IV. Thought: Thought was a great tool for Jonathan , when ever he was successful or was faced with failures, he was always thinking of ways to make it better. Jonathan had great control over this thought, as it was focused mainly towards what he loved, flying. Every of his thought was on how he would fly better, faster, make certain turns, searching for reasons, why he failed at some point. Generally his thoughts were focused at being successful at most flight maneuvers. And to me this is a great tool to behold and utilize.

V. Humility: Even with what Jonathan knew, he remained humbled with his dealings with other seagull. Arrogance and pride weren’t part of him; he was always willing to teach other what he had learnt. And on most occasion he never wanted to be seen as some one who was more divine o as son of the great gull. I was struck amazingly by this fact and wondered, if I were Jonathan what the case would be like. And I decided to try this personal humility.

VI. Limitation: Some time while my mind is wondering, it just comes across an idea that I think, if implemented can put my country on the path to recovery, then and there another thought out of the blue just pops-up pointing out my limitations (weaknesses), with, such limitations, I give up on the idea. From the book I discovered that I can reach perfection on anything I want to do, only if I refuse to be limited. And I am holding strong to this.

VII. Perfection: Form the book; I saw that perfection could be reached with continuous practice. I used to believe; as most people would say no situation or circumstance could be perfect. But the book gave me a contrary view; that with a lot of effort in practice and refusing to be limited will move one towards perfection or even lead one to perfection. And that one of our goal should be to attain perfection in what ever we do and help others achieve same.

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 believe to change the world; it starts with one individual at a time. Should I apply these ideas and I, myself am changed, then a step has been taken in the right direction to change the world. If I am not changed then I certainly think I can not change the world. Since it is said that; one can only give, that which he posses. I have this ambition to become a great leader in the nearest future and I think this is a good way to start. Back to where we were, these ideas appear to be in a linked chain, that if strictly followed form good goal setting for myself to having discipline thought, regular practice on what I want to achieve and disciplining my thought, refusing to be limited by anything, having passion for that which I want to become, remaining humble no matter the progress or lets say achievement would set me in the direction of perfection.

Goal: The goal I set for myself is to become a great leader. That is one of the reason why I applied for this institute; to build my leadership and I would constantly remind myself of this goal.

Thought: Great leaders are disciplined people with discipline thought. In order to achieve my goal, I have to discipline my thought.

The idea of goal setting will help me in setting SMART goals and this goals being the yard stick to measuring my success. While thought will help remind me to keep my thought focused and discipline enough to generate ideas on how I would achieve my goal. Practice has helped me to know that without practice no success, and so with regular and continuous practice comes success. In order to achieve my goal I would need to practice regularly. Limitation would help me in disciplining my thought; in the sense that consideration shouldn’t be given to limitation but how to achieve my set goal, while remaining humble at any level of achievement. With these being followed strictly, should lead me toward perfection in setting goals and achieve it. And in order to create a better world, I being a changed person or some one practicing these ideas would exhibit the changes so that others can see and help other understand these ideas as well, so that they too become changed and help others understand these ideas too.

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.

I. “Stop seeing himself as being trapped inside a limited body”: this touched me in that, being from a developing country, I feel limited by my background; that I can not achieve certain things because of where am from. I think of being different, and then the limitation of being from a corrupt nation just weighs me down. So it touched me, to stop seeing myself as being trapped by situations.

II. “This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one’s self popular with others.” this I have experienced myself in areas of my life as there are certain principles I follow that, most youth see as being old fashion or as some of them would put it I am exhibiting elderly character.

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. “Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.” I am not clear about this statement; what it means or the message the being conveyed by the statement as this is contrary to my belief. I am not trying to dispute it, but if clarification can be made on this statement it will help.

II. “Perfect invisible principle of all life” not that I do not understand the statement, but I need little clarification on what this perfect invisible principle of all life are. And I can get to know this perfect invisible principle of all life.

III. “Life is the unknowable”. This statement does not seem to strike any chord in my mind; it just does not make any meaning to me. Life is the unknown and the unknowable, how? May be one day I would get a hold on it.

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, that I took note of (directly or indirectly). I only observed that, I had to start practicing these ideas, which I did and on some of them I can say, have been helpful because I have seen some result, but others not yet. And so I can not say if they are helpful or not now.

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 book is an interesting one and is quite inspiring that at some point I had tears in my eyes. The book’s characters are seagulls and we are human, which could make the book difficult to follow at first because I did think for a moment, that they are birds and are built to do those things that were in the book which we humans can’t do. But then as I read on, I thought of how to apply these to myself as human.

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? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

Success Through Positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The main idea of this book, is it seeks to demonstrate the power of the mind and how the power can be learned and controlled to achieve results. And this power of the mind is positive mental attitude (PMA) which most successful people have used in their accomplishment. Now this book shows, how this positive mental attitude can be learnt and used to tap the power of the subconscious mind. By demonstrating how PMA works using illustrations form the lives of successful people and a step by step approach on how to develop this positive mental attitude with the other success principle.

This ideas are most important to me, and i will dmonstrate that, when i enlist these ideas and state the reasons why they are important to me. And they are as follows, … and something more, you’ve got a problem? Thats good!, learn to see, motivate yourself, how to find satisfaction in your job, motivate others, how to raise your energy level.

And Something More
Going through this idea, this chapter of the book, i kept reflecting on experience that i had been involved in where i either needed to do that something more or where i had done that somrthing more. Well unknown to me any way. It will just occur to me that, this can not be the end of this, that there is something that is left to be figured out. And in other instances , i would try to figure it out, but without success i just give it up. But now i know to be successful, i need to put all the parts together to make the whole, because the whole is greater than any of it’s parts.

You’ve Got A Problem? That’s Good!
That’s good, why? This has brought to life the proper response when we are faced with challlenges, because, i for instance; when am faced with certain challenges my first response is always aggressive, why me? What did i do wrong and so after a while , I calm down and then analyze the situation or circumstances calmly and properly. Now, what i read or obbserve, is that i do not necessarily need to react aggressively, but calmly analyze the situation critically and plan a way forward.

Learn To See
This is important to me because it has taught me a valuable lesson that seeing is not only a function of the eyes alone but that the brain has to interpret that which the eye has seen for it to actually make sense. And that i could learn to see both near and far. Thuogh i see myself as someone who is balanced in sight, i think ther is a lot still to learn.

How To Motivate Yourself
I have long been looking for a way to motivate myself to act easily because some times, i just don’t feel like moving a muscle, so demotivated to act. And i know how important it is to be motivated in order to get things done. And i found a solution that seems very simple and down to earth in it application. I also found a valuable success formula, that i must try out as soon as i am through with this assessment.

How To Find Satisfaction In Your Job
The authors said somewhere in the chapter that to find satisfaction in ones job depends on his/her mental attitude towards that job and i do agree. I have been in situations where, i had to do a certain task and i do not feel like doing that task and because i didn’t feel like doing that task, it would sometimes take me the whole day to complete that task. In other instances, there might be a task that would soon be carried out and because i love this particular task i would be the one who would want it started as soon as possible and won’t get tired until it was completed. Now i learnt 2 ideas here, which i would apply, when i am in a situation were i do not like the task; to use the self suggestion i feel healthy!, i feel happy!, i feel terrific! And use the step stone theory.

How Is Your Energy Level
The importance of relaxation and rest has as well being pointed out here too. It effect i can testify to, because relaxing and mental and physical body i found to have help me in certain situation in the past. Taking spiritaul and mental vitamins daily, though i have not been do this for long, but for the time being, it has helped lift my spirit, before i sart the day and maintain me through that day.

How To Motivate Others
Like motivating myself, motivating others is very important to me. In the sense that, whatever our major definite goal, it most likely will require the assistance of some other persons and then the question of how to motivate them mostly will arise. And if i lack the know how of motivating other this will become a problem. That could delay success for a while, but now i know what to do, should i need to motivate anyone.

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 7 are just ideas and cannot help me in my personal life or in any other way until i apply them or put them in to action. And how i intend to put them to act for me will be what i would do here.

And Something More
In everything there is always th esomething more. I am a leader and in order that i become the leader i want to be, i need to find that something more needed . In anything, wether it is trivial or serious, i would apply this ideas so that it turn out successful. I would apply this idea to my academics, daily routine;because some of them give me a tough time and any task given to me.

You’ve Got A Problem, That’s Good!
This to me is good motivator that would easily send me staight into action. Used as a self-suggestion whenever i am faced with a problem, would open my mind to ideas on how to solve the problem at hand. And it it wil help me use other principle of success without much effort. Because i have got a problem and that’s good, it the means that i can solve that problem and then nothing can make me believe otherwise.

Learn To See
Oppurtunity are all over around us and because we have not developed the act of seeing, which is important in achieving whatever it is that means success to us. I use to say to myself that i can not see oppurtunities, but now i know, that such is negative and if i apply positive mental attitude in learning to see, then i would start seeing oppurtunities around me, no matter how small. Acting on those oppurtunities would eventually lead me to achieveing my definite major goal.

How To Motivate Yourself
With the knowledge of this idea, i should be more productive, that is using my time well, less procrastination and then getting more things done in a day, than i previously do; by using he self-starter ‘do it now’ . Someday i wake up completely demotivated that i do not feel like doing a thing, or even knowing what to do first or how to go about anything for that day. And then, i just watch 24 hours of my life just waste away

How To Find Satisfaction In Your Job
In whatever we do, there is some form of satisfaction that we have to unlock. To do this, depends on our mental attitude. In whatever i do or intend to do, i would approach it with the right mental attittude which is the positive mental attittude (PMA) , so that at the end i find satisfaction in it outcome (result) no matter how small. And if involved in a team, i would encourage every member to turn on his positive mental attittude, so that we could all be satisfied with the results.

How Is Your Energy Level
I know my energy level rises and falls on a regular basis and this worries me, because i do not notice my energy level dropping and then i am like zero with no desire to do anything worth while. Now hat i know that mental vitamins can be gotten from inspirational book, a daily dose won’t be a bad idea and i hae to DO IT NOW. I do not like to read but now i have to, if i must sustain my energy level on the high, read books daily.

How To Motivate Others
Motivating others is a skill i would love to develop and use effectively. Because i always blame myself for not motivating other properly, so that they are motivated to do a particular task. With this idea i have got a new tool to try out, so i woulkd have to learn how to use this tool properly. So it becomes an effective tool, that i could use to motivate other people who would aid me towards success.

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 whole is equal to the sum of all the parts and is greater than any of its parts”:at time, i am faced with a situation where a single piece of information is preventing me from success, and as i came across this sentence a few of those incidence flashed through my mind quickly. And this sentence awaken me, that i am never to give-up in similar situation again, as there is always that small part yet to be discovered.

“no critical judgement is permitted until after many ideas are written down”:sometime in my quit time, ideas may start poping-up in my head, now instead of getting paper and pencil to put them down. After one or two ideas i start analyzing these ides and waste the remainder of the time on analyzing instead of keeping the mind open for more ideas before analysing them.

“he looked around for ways to make his stay in prison as pleasant as possible”:though i am not in prison, but i sometimes find myself in places that make me feel uncomfortable, not because of any particular reason. But here was a man, making the prison a pleasant place for his stay, then why can’t i do the same in every environment or place i find myself.

“we have to train the mind to interpret what we see”:i have given up that i can be creative when it comes to business and see oppurtunities that are bound around me. As i came across this, it struck me, i can learn to see oppurtunities, if i train my mind to interpret what i see, then i can become the entrepreneur i so desire to be.

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?

“you must commit your belief”:i do not understand this statement, previous line before this says “when you motivate others by having faith in them, then you must have an active faith” , and then “you must commit your belief” , This part of commiting belief, i do not really get what it means.

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?

The book did contain one exercise, i won’t really say it is an exercise, but a sort of test or analysis, showing were one is, as it relate to success. And it is called the success quotient test. I did complete it and the result indicated that i am on the average side. A position i would not like to be, but then it tells me that i need to work hard so that i can grab the 17 principle firmly. And i would do just that.

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.

I Feel Healthy! I feewl Happy! I feel Terrific!
On one particular day just before i stepped out, i recited this suggestion to myself and whilke i was on my way i kept reciting it. And that day was a wonderful experience, every person that came in contact with me that day left me, with a smile on their faces, whether they were familiar to me or not.this suggestion ignited something inside of me that was so powerful that i cannot really explain, but whatever i thought of or wanted i got on that day.i assisted people with ease not thinking twice about it.

If You Don’t Have Money – Use OPM!
The idea of using other people money usually frigthens me. But this idea made me see that if OPM is used the right way, it is a much easier way to be coming wealthy. Having a definite goal and a plan on how to use othe people mone, removes the fear of how to pay back the money. So this idea has taught me how to use other people money the right way. And what is required, inorder to use other people money, which means that i need to start developing those characters now if i intend to use other people money

Your Magnificent Obsession
I derive joy helping others, i love helping others but some how i just feel i should be appreciated even if it is in the form of commendation; but this idea say otherwise “share yourself without expecting a reward, payment, or commendation. And above all else- keep your good turn a secret.”this is something i must learn to do, and start doing it quickly. Avoiding payment for my good deed.

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

Keys To Success
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The main idea in this book is on the elaboration of the 17 principles of personal achievement that certain individual applied in their live to achieve lasting success in what ever they set out to do.the book give direct, simple and brilliant advices on how to implement the 17 principles as well as illustrations on how certain persons implemented these ideas, the outcomes of implementing this ideas as well. The book also show the relationship between the principle which makes it easy to learn and apply. Which of the principle in most case should come first, and those that will usually follow. As the 17 principle are treated, it just waken, the reader and the ideas start flowing through the mind of the individual.

The 7 ideas which are most important to me,not that other weren’t important, but since i had to pick just 7 of them and they are as follow – use of applied faith, going the extra mile, build a positive mental attitude, control your enthusiasm, budget your time and money, self-discipline(enforced), control your attention.

Use Applied Faith
this principle is important to me because it taught me valuable lessons, that faith is a state of mind and must be used. It has to be active and not passive. Applied faith would help me draw from the power of infinite intelligence in accomplishing my definite major purpose. In order to draw from the power of infinite intelligence, my mind has to be open and away from reasoning. Another and very important lesson, is that of making my prayers an expression of gratitude and thanksgiving for the blessing i already have.

Going The Extra Mile
it is wonderful observing that, there are benefits of rendering more and quality services. And it is a state of mind i can actually develop and should develop myself, so i can apply it in every thing i do. And that rendering superior services with the right mental attitude (PMA) is the best recommendation , i can give myself. As well that going the extra mile would help me avoid procrastination, by doing my job eagerly and cheerfully.

Build A Positive Mental Attitude
of all the 17 principles of personal achievement, positive mental attitude is the bedrock of the other 16, if i have PMA, then i can easily develop and apply the other 16 principles. PMA is the single most important principles of the science of success. I must have a positive mental attitude to make life pay off on my own terms. In developing my PMA, i am to learn to close the door to my mind on all failures from the past, and recognize that my mental attitude is the only thing over which i can control.

Control Your Enthusiasm
enthusiasm this power, which, when controlled has the power to change any negative expression and experiences into positive ones. Enthusiasm applied with faith can transform adversity , failure and temporary defeat into action. When the power of enthusiasm is released to support definiteness of purpose and is constantly renewed by faith, it becomes an irresistible force for which poverty and temporary defeat are no match.

Budget Your Time & Money
this first illustrated the two camp most people fall into, the doers and drifters. How the doers use their time. Again, this principle stated something like, managing my life, managing my time requires knowing what i want to use it for. It went further to demonstrate a valuable skill on time management on the job. Though i create a budget for most of my expenses. But this had more that i must use; self-discipline in sticking to it.

Habit are an important part of budgeting your time and money. They are important to every principle in the science of personal achievement.

Enforce Self-Discipline
enforcing self-discipline requires self-knowledge and an accurate assessment of your current abilities. If i am self-discipline i wouldn’t act before thinking but the reverse would be the case.that must discipline myself so that my drive is always under control and directed towards the proper channel.

And that should i be self-discipline, i would achieve my definiteness of purpose, would be able to go the extra mile, use applied faith, assemble a master mind group.

Control Your Attention
with controlled attention all powers of the other 16 can be harnessed and channeled into the definite major purpose. Controlled attention is the act of coordinating all the faculties of the mind and directing their combined power to a given end. The difference between controlled and uncontrolled attention is great. I can feed my mind on thought which will produce what i desire, or can neglect my mind allowing it to feed on thoughts that will produce results i do not 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?

Use Applied Faith
Now, on my way to success i would refuse fear of any kind to interfere or should i be faced with defeat, i won’t let it put a barrier between me and my definite major purpose. I will keep my mind focused on my definite major purpose and believe strongly that i would accomplish that purpose, no matter the challenges that might come my way.

Going The Extra Mile
Most people want to be successful and wealthy, now not most people are willing to go the extra mile. It is those who go the extra mile that eventually make it. It is the more reasons why i would go the extra mile not only in achieving my definite major purpose, but as well everything i engage in life. Should i feel like not going the extra mile, i would remind myself of the benefits of going the extra mile; the rewards that could come out of going the extra mile.

Build A Positive Mental Attitue
I would have to put on the cap that carries positive mental attitude always and in all situation whether good or bad. I would just have to see that seed of equivalent benefit in every bad situation or set backs. With PMA, i would be able to focus on my definite major purpose and keep the believe that i would achieve it eventually. I would be able to keep disbelief away from my mind once am in a state were i have a positive mental attitude on.

Control Enthusiam
I know the power of this, but may be what i do not know’ is how to start this fire; yeah turning it on. So i did try one of the enthusiasm boasters, the complete a can-do task, doing that most time got me fired up for the day.

Now, that i know how to start this fire, i would not be procrastinating. And i should be able to transfer this fire to other people around me.

Budget Time & Money
Budgeting money i would say, this is something i have been doing, but have been i been sticking to it strictly? Then the answer, would be NO. but now it has to be. I have to stick to my budget strictly. Success and time management are 2 things, that go together. In order to be successful, i need to manage my time properly and i got some hint on how to go about it the right way from this principle.

Enforce Self-Discipline
Without self-discipline, it is going to be difficult keeping my enthusiasm under control, keeping a positive mental attitude, sticking to budgeted time and money, keeping disbelief from my mind. So i must say it is an important one, that sort of tie-up or bring the other principle into harmony. And the development of this principle just kind of build or prepare me to develop the others easily, and aid me in achieving my major define purpose by enforcing self-discipline in all my activities.

Control Your Attention
Success in it self could be a form of distraction, when we let small successes distract us form focus on the big picture. In order to achieve my definite major purpose, i would control my thought keeping it focused on the big picture, my definite major purpose and not allowing thought of things that i do not desire to distract me.

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.

“make any decision”: i was a member of an electoral committee and two persons appeared before the committee and both passed the screening. But we had to drop one of the candidate, and then we were to decide within the committee. It was at this point, that i first heard making any decision whether right or wrong is better than not making a decision. So this statement just reminded me of that incident.

“do not select people for your alliance merely because you like and know them”: at a time i thought, i should assemble a team of people, who would form some sort of ICT group that would develop over time. Those that i involved were either friends or people whose skills were known to me. Well it didn’t work any way. This statement brought to light that incident.

“comprehend that no one can hurt your feelings, make you angry, or frighten you without you full co-operation and consent”: i get angry easily, but as this statement puts it, it is always my reaction to whatever the other person has done. If i do not react angrily, if i do not allow the first emotion that comes to my mind to be in charge, then i can search through my mind and pick a emotion, that won’t leave me in an angry state.

“you must create a budget for all your expenses, and you must use self-discipline in sticking to it”:i some time create a budget and follow it strictly, but other time, some other thing might just pop up and then i just drop the budget and fix those that just came. Now i have been trying to learn the act of sticking to my budget form some because he does that very well. Sticking to his budget no matter what come up.

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 try to open my mind to these ideas, most of which are new to me. Since they are new to me, i have to give them all the concentration needed in order to grasp everything possible. So i would not say i do not understand any of these principles yet. On the other hand, i did not observe any thing that is contrary to my belief. I fine with the book content and would follow these principle as stated in the book strictly.

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?

It didn’t really contain exercises, except for one sort of exercise, it’s not actually one, but an analysis, to help bring to light areas in my life that need improvement or principles that i need to work on, so that they become part of me and help in my pursuit of success. I did go through the analysis and it did help in a proper analysis of myself and identify numerous area were i need to do a lot of work on improving these areas.

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.

Since i had to pick 7 idea that were important to me in question 2, so i did but there other idea or principle that were as well important, or reminded me of something. And i would look at one here and that is learning from adversity and defeat. I never knew that, this is a success principle. And this is one, is part of my life, as i tend to come back stronger, or change direction in order to respond positively from adversities or defeat. let me recount one of my experience, while i was in grade 5 primary school, i could not pay my fee for a term, and so i missed most of my exams. Because, i was not allowed to write those papers and now the result meant i took the 57th position in the class, ahead of only 3 people. How did i respond, well the next term, which was a promotional one, i had to study hard, and i did, the result for that terms exams , i came in 9th position in the same class, which was a first for me.

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? 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? 10

Psycho-Cybernetics
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

I would say he main idea the author conveyed in the book is how ones self image relates to ones successes or failures. How self-image leads to a success or failure personality. It is our self-image that set the limits for what we can and cannot achieve and by expanding our our self-image; we expand the limits of our talents and capabilities.

And as well that every one of us always acts, feels, and behaves in a way that is consistent with our self-image. More importantly is how to develop a positive self-image; one which would lead one to success through the six steps to success. Which are, programming one-self for success, imagining one’s way to success, relax and turn stress into success, setting goals: a prerequisite to success, use negative feedback to point one toward success and dis-inhibiting one personality an fuel success.

This particular book, in it’s whole is very important but since i am to pick only 7 the following seem to be more important to me than the others. And are as follows; how to program your success mechanism [CRAFT] process, relaxation techniques, seeds, goals setting- how to set goals the smart way, goals getting- procrastination , success personality characteristics, failure personality characteristics.

i. How to Program Your Success Mechanism
i found the idea of craft very interesting because of it simplicity and the illustrations that followed, describing how it helped others in various areas of their lives. I observed while reading this book that i am a very self-conscious person, too worried about what the neighbors would say, i most time find it difficult to share my opinion on a general discussion unless the people are very familiar. With CRAFT i have started work at changing this and others.

ii. Relaxation Technique:
Aside the fact that relaxation is important in the CRAFT process the F-step (focus) which requires imagination,. I found this very important to me because some days seem to be too stressful that i find it difficult concentrating. And so when i got to this chapter of the book, extra attention was given to these techniques, so that i understand them and apply which ever one suit me when ever i am stressed or need to concentrate on something.

iii. Seeds
After reading this piece of work, i noticed that, i had already been using some part of this principle . I observed how helpful this principle is, in over coming our anxiety. I am some one, who, if frustrated, most time change direction and i have as well faced a lot of those button pushing situation and from my perspective , i have not handled them well. And i believe this is one principle which i can use to handle these situation properly.

iv. Goal Setting – How To Set Goals The Smart Way
Goal setting, most people do, including myself directly or indirectly. At some point in our lives we strive to achieve certain things, along the way we may fail and then abandon the pursuit. So i found this, very exciting an important; because now i can approach goal setting the smart way. Which should have less chance of being abandoned along the way and have more chance of landing me safely at success.

v. Goal Getting – Procrastination
This to me is my greatest inhibitor, it actually prevent me from achieving success in most of my endeavors. And this actually makes me feel terrible. I have been looking for a practical solution to this problem until i stumble across this, as i read ,it made a lot of sense and i am going to give it a trial.

vi. Success
i love this, it is a sort of guide telling me, if i am on course or not. The traits of a success personality. The 7 letters acronym actually summarized every thing about who a successful person should be. It serves as a yardstick to judge myself, my progress to becoming successful in whatever i intend doing.

vii. Failure
The danger sign, as i read this, i observed trait that i some times demonstrate (frustration), and now knowing that, these 7 letter acronym are signs of failure, actually gave me assurance that i would be successful only if i use this 7 acronym to alert and help in adjusting my course back towards my goal.

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?

To change the world, first we need to change that man inside of us; that man whom we could easily change, and when that man is changed we could as well now change the world in very little ways but surely by applying the principle we used in changing the man inside of us.

i. How to Program Your Success Mechanism

i never knew that ones self-image had any thing to do with ones success. Until i read the this book. Now, how would this idea help me, or is helping me, as i was reading the book, i identified certain areas in my life that needed to be worked on by replacing old data with new ones, in order to take some steps towards certain goals. And i have being working on that, using the CRAFT process to st my success mechanism int action.
ii. Relaxation Technique:
At some point, i easily got upset. Very little things got me very angry and at times when i needed to concentrate on something, i freak out, losing the whole thing, but after reading and applying some of these relaxation techniques, i must say i have observed tremendous changes in my attitude. Cool, calm and in control whether in heated argument, is how i would describe myself now. That is a changed me to some degree.

iii. Seeds
i have been faced with similar situations as those that were written in the book and i am amazed at the result of using this idea. Though, i have not been faced with similar situations for some time now, but i now know what to do immediately i am faced with one. Am more equipped with the right tool in dealing with kind of situation should they arise again. Even still if a friend or someone should approach me with similar issue, i would be glad in helping out by applying this principle.

iv. Goal Setting – How To Set Goals The Smart Way
Before now, i used to set my goals in my mind and they remained there, that was before i read this book, now no matter what the goal is, i always make sure i put it into writing and read it to my hearing as often as possible. And this days, my goals are all following the SMART principle, so that i do not have excuses if i fail to achieve it.because the goal would have been specific and not vague.

v. Goal Getting – Procrastination

I am someone who procrastinate a lot, i know i still do procrastinate, but, it is now on the low side thanks to CRAFT. I have been able to stay on course some of my goals. I do not really know how to explain this, it is just like magic.i now get things done more than i used to before i read this book. Though, there is still a lot of room for improvement and i would keep working on it.

vi. Success
idea basically sere as a guide to me, showing the path to success and letting me know whether i am on course or not. As well, it reminds me of the traits of a successful personality. I go through it daily before i step out of the house, so that it guides me.
.
vii Failure
i take this to be a warning signal that something may be wrong and then try to identify what that may be. Though i do not read this daily, but i am working on being able to identify every single symptom that may indicate failure. So that, i could spot it immediately and sir my way back to success.

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.

“if we watch limits instead of destinations, we bump up against those limits”: this reminded me of an experience; i wrote one of my semester exams, i did not write a particular paper(A) well that i was expecting to fail that course, though, i prayed about it, i still did not take my mind of failure. Fortunately and unfortunately for me i passed this particular course(A) and failed another, which i had written very well.

“what you want to be is often in bitter conflict with what you picture yourself as being”:when i got admitted to the university, the first thing that came mind was to graduate with a first class, but back at the secondary school level i had accepted the image of myself as being just above the average student. And after two semesters i gave up the idea of becoming a first class student.

“some people…are painfully conscious of every move they make…we speak of such persons as ‘inhibited’ , and rightly so ”: i am someone, who is over conscious of my body, speech, dressing, before i act i wonder what people would say, what they would think. And this prevented me from stepping out in the first place, not to to talk of acting.

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 do not think or know of anything or idea that i do not understand or i disagree with. Every idea is clear and straight to the point . What is left is for me to strictly apply the ideas in areas of my life that need strengthening or that require, a complete overhauling. Aside that i am fine with the content of the book.

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 were numerous exercises for the reader to complete and i did complete most of them; those that applied to me as it stand now. And they were really very helpful in pointing out areas in my life that need fixing, what might have caused what, investigating the history of certain issues or situation that i might be in at the moment. I did attempt all of the exercise but did not complete some of them. Still i found them helpful as i read further.

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 book is a collection of wonderful ideas and principles, that it is difficult deciding which 7 ideas to pick. The book as a whole is one great piece of idea. While, i was reading and came across this principle, i thought to myself; so this is the idea and principle that the developed countries apply in developing their country, while those of the developing countries complain,criticize, pray and wait for miracles to happen. I think if people in the developing countries, a good number of them who understand what a positive self-image would do in aiding the success mechanism, start setting high goals and going all out at achieving such goal he developing countries would actually be edging toward becoming developed nations.

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? 10
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 Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The author Anthony Robbins did a good job in this piece; Giant Steps. In the sense that he echoed, messages that I had read from other books. Basically I would say the author broke down these giant steps into smaller and simple approaches to these steps. Like in the case of decisions and goal setting, helped me especially the number two message there where he wrote ?its not what we do once in a while that counts, but our consistent actions?.our decisions-not the conditions of our lives- determines our destiny.? So the author is conveying inspirational message to inspire and motivate the reader towards taking simple but definite steps towards achieving success in whatever area, the reader determines. He inspires the reader to alter his mind set, fine tuning it, by following some simple steps he laid out in the book, if such a reader seek changes in his or her life.

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

The 7 ideas which were personally most important to me are as follows:

i. Decision & Goal Setting: before this book, I learnt why I needed to set goal and how important it is setting goals and being assertive in decision making from the book psycho-cybernetic 2000. It is this book that inspired me to start making decisions quickly and sticking to those decisions and following through. It has helped me in making decision promptly and this has given me some sense of fulfillment and joy.

ii. Pain/Pleasure & Mental State: this has taught me a lot on manipulating the emotions of pain and pleasure as well as tuning my mental state to help me get the best out of certain situation. pain can be your friend if you use it effectively?; ?what you link pain to and what you link pleasure to shape your destiny?, realize that you can expand your range of emotions just by directing your focus and changing your physiology? these are just three out of numerous statement from this section, that arose in me the feeling to act now.

iii. Question: this taught me a secret tool to overcoming obstacles or challenging situations, aside other numerous ways, I could use this to affect my emotions, change lifestyle, affect relationships, use it as a success tool. It taught me that our taught are basically questions and answers, and that the brilliant questions will results in the brilliant answers. The questions one ask consistently will create either enervation or enjoyment, indignation or inspiration, misery or magic.

iv. The Science of Success Conditioning. this is important to me because it taught me that we must take personal responsibility for our change by following a six-step strategy for producing lasting change. In any area of our life that we feel there is a need for change, we use the Neuro-Associative conditioning strategy. It also brought to light how behavioral pattern are formed and why changing behaviors may seem to take a longer time.

v. The Power of Transformational Vocabulary & Gobal Metaphors: this is important to me because, its emphasis is on the power of words, how words are to describe how we feel and situations around us affects us positively or negatively. Quotely from the book, ?the words we attach to our experience become our experience.? As well as the metaphors we use to describe various situation or part of our life experience and life generally could aid or prevent us from becoming successful.

vi. Emotions: this has taught me the sign and symptoms of negative emotions, how they are related, how to handle them and using them to my own advantage or canceling this negative emotions are action signals indicating the need for change. As well as how to use certain positive emotions called the Emotion of Power to enhance, enrich and guide my life richly.

vii. Values & Emotions: this has brought to light the effect of value on decision making. How my personal values has been affecting my decision. It has also given me more insight into value like pleasure value, pain value, end value, or means value. How pleasure and pain value can work at cross purpose in such a way that it affects my decisions. Furthermore, rules (beliefs) pain and pleasure rules determine how I feel and therefore I should develop rules that would ensure that I am happy most times and they should be as few rules as possible.

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. Decision & Goal Setting: the decision aspect of this section has taught me that making decision quickly is trait I did to develop if I want to be successful. This would or let me say, has helped inspired me to make decision rapidly. If I need to take decision rapidly. If I need to make a decision on an issue or a situation, to do it quickly, without hasting, since not making decision at all is also in way making decision. So I am not really worried if I am making decision. Now on the aspect of goal setting, I didn’t really learn something all new, but one which is so important and useful when setting goals, is I will never leave the site of my goal setting without first taking myself to do always.

ii. Pain/Pleasure & Mental State: making pain my friend being aware of it state, not fight resisting it to guide my mental state back it but using it to guide my mental state back to a state I would strive to maintain always; which is the state pleasure. To switch instantly and maintain a pleasure mental state I have to guide and change my focus to the right channel. I have to be able to identify how to i feel everytime of each day, analyzing this feeling and refocusing or learning (using) this feeling positively.

iii. Question: for every challenging issue or situation I encounter or come across daily, I xray it using question. In an attempt to solve, simply or learn from such issue or situation. Under no circumstance should I accept defeat without thorough questioning. Borrowing from section 1 a powerful enough why would I lead to the necessary how. Questioning my success in various aspect of my life, personal, professional, relationship etc would bring out the very best. Brilliant questions will result in brilliant answers. I would start and ask question.

iv. The Science of Success Conditioning: for every change I seek in my life, I am personally responsible and must be commited to make that change happen and not just desiring for such a change. The six-step strategy for producing lasting change is a fool I should employ to aid me in creating the change I seek by following the six-step and being committed to it. Should I come across anyone who seek change in any area of his life, I would share and explain this NAC six-step strategy with him/her. So that he or she could experience the change they desire.

v. The Power of Trnasformational Vocabulary & Global Metaphor: since the word we attach to our experience become our experience, I would be very selective on my choice of words for describing issues, situations and my experience. Developing an entire new set of words (vocabulary) to express my emotions and everyday life experience. The metaphors I use must have affected me because of misuse. Now I have learnt not to just use any metaphor, any time I wish, I would use the appropriate metaphor, any time and situation. And to create new more empowering metaphors for life and for each of my life.

vi. Emotions: understanding my emotions, how I feel at any particular point in time. Handling the negative emotions by identifying which of the negative emotions I am feeling at the moment and dealing with it as appropriate so that it does not reach the next stage. Analyzing the situation to find out whether the emotions has resulted because of my focus (perception) or my procedure, the way I am handling the situation at hands Basically following the authors Philosophy killing them monster while it is little to prevent negative emotions with less intensity from escalating into something more intense. On a daily basis, I should express the following emotion like, Love and warmth, appreciation and gratitude, curiosity, excitement and passion, determination, flexibility, conference cheerfulness, vitality and contributing.

vii. Value and Rules: Identifying my values arranging them in hierarchy, would and aid in making decision constantly guided by this value. Now I am aware that my values affect me, when taking decision, so when ever I am to take, a decision I would find out which of my value would be affected, and whenever I find out which of my value would be affected, and whenever I find it difficult making decisions, I would as well identify which value which would bring more pleasure. And I would work on my rule for feeling good, healthy, happy, loved so that I feel this emotions most of the time. Making them simple and as few as possible so that I feed these emotions more often.

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

i. The more decisions you make, the better you’ll become at making them. This sentences followed; muscles get stronger with use, and so it is with your decision making muscles. This second statement made the first clear to me, helping me connect with what the author meant with the first statements. Now why this is important to me, is that, it made me aware that I would become better at decision making, with the more decisions I make; and so I should act now and start making the decisions now.

ii. Success is the result of good judgment, good judgment is the result of experience and experience is often the result of bad judgment: this is important to me, because it encourages me to take decision even though they are wrong I should learn from such mistake so that I become experience, I can reference to in the future and make good decision. I should not be in a hurry to discard bad judgment, but learn from everyone.

iii. Those who succeed tend to make decisions rapidly and are slow to reverse a well thought out position. Though I view myself as someone who has achieve success in some area of my life. But this is a call to me to make decision rapidly, if what to achieve and experience success is general in my life. A well thought out decision so that I stitch it anything any day, since this is the trait of successful people. So it encourages me to make decision rapidly.

iv. Having a powerful enough why will provide you with the necessary how: having a powerful a powerful enough why, I think will inspire one to engage in deep thoughts. And on such in every situation, I should have a powerful why to lead me to necessary how of the situation. With a powerful why comes a corresponding How. It encourages me not to give up but seek out a powerful enough why.

v. Most individuals would work much harder to hang onto what they have than to take the necessary risks of shoot for their dreams: I used to be part of those who would hand on to what they have than risk, but all that sometime back. This is just a remember that I need to take cat calculated risk rather than to hang on to status quo.

vi. Some of the simplest things can make the biggest differences: this brought to mind, stories from the book success through a positive mental attitude by Napoleon Hill and Clement W. Stones, how a person like Thomas Edison and often did some thing more. And am encouraged to do something more like taking more water or exercising to keep me healthy. These simple things can make a bigger difference on ones health.

vii. Achievers usually see problems and transitory while those who fail usually see even the smallest problems as everlasting: I have a strong belief that problems or challenges are event belief that problems or challenges were are faced with, and this lesson will help us in the future. Most time once we have learnt the lesson, the solution to such problems challenges flot seen to pop-up fro nowhere. So I believe every problem or challenge a transitory.

viii. I don’t worry about maintaining the quality of my life, because every day I work on improving it: When I look at my life, where I am now and reflect where I ought to be, I feel myself this is hope. I need to improve on this, that here and there. And then I still struggle daily to maintain status quo. This awakened me that if I want to improve in those area, I need to work on improving them every single day and I can to act now.

ix. All human progress is proceeded by new question: Recalling some documentaries I used to watch on TV about the human development how in ancient times man used stone tool to heat questioned its effectiveness, developed wood tool, moved onto methalic tool. Looking at transportation, first on post, need to move from place to place first and save energy, then can bicycle, then further questions and developed brought about after poster and make efficient and development brought about other poster and more efficient means of transpiration reflecting on all tings it is clear to me that progress and questions go hand in hand and that for progress to occur, I need to question that status quo.

x. The words wt attach to our experience becomes our experiences. This is important to me because it reactions me to be selective in the wordings I used. That I should be careful with the choice of words I speak, I used when writing and my thought. It can not careful with the words I used to express my emotion and experience, they could just turn out to be what I get.

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

“Regard to anything I do not understand, I would say everything I clear straight forward, and I understand everything. As regards issue I disagree with, there is non.

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

To start with the book contained a lot of exercise at least an exercise for each section. I complete some totally others partially and I have not attempted others at all for the moment. Those that I did complete totally, I found than very helpful as they aided me to get clear picture of what the section was saying. And those that I here partially complete as those uncompleted, I seek to go our those section again before completing them.

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

In most sections some principles where to be acted on right away. And after then out we ought get result or not, so I thought we should be able to share. In most excess I applied these principles and the results were amazing. The one which was most fascinating to me is that of question. Questioning the status-quo.

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? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

Real Magic
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

Based on what the author has presented in his book, I would say that the author conveyed a message of making and experiencing whatever would be a miracle in our personal lives. And the how of making and experiencing these miracles, by helping the reader understand that in order to create and experience these miracles, one has to attain a certain level of awareness.
He also went further to give a blueprint to assist in developing this awareness and applying it to all aspects of the reader’s life. The book is divided into 3 parts which is aimed at helping the reader get to this higher level of awareness and experience real magic in his/her life. The first part of the book provides the foundation for realigning oneself in the invincible world. While the second part of the book; focuses on putting into practice that which one has committed oneself to in one’s mind. And the third, radiating that awareness to everyone in your life and the world as a whole.

i. A Transcedent view of Magic and Miracles:
Under this chapter of the book, some sections were more appealing to me and I would go ahead to explain. One is the 3 path to enlightenment; while I read, I was able to reflect back on my experiences at each of those stages especially the first and second that is enlightenment through suffering and enlightenment through outcome. I could recall at some point in my life while I was very young, something will happen, and I didn’t really know why it happened and I would really want to know why it happen and why it had to be me. So while I grew older, since no one could answer my questions, I thought it wise to accept things as they happened and that they happened for a reason. Going further, about 10 years back, a thought came to me, that I would not be on earth and alive, if I didn’t have a purpose or mission to accomplish here on earth, so I stopped viewing things that happened to me as just things that happened for a reason to lessons or sort of classes that are preparing me for a task in the future. Other sections which were important as well to me and which I would not be elaborating on are; getting to purpose, that is what I need to do, in order to identify and get to purpose, when the student is ready; it gave a breakdown of what happens when the student is ready using an ancient Zen proverb “when the student is ready the teacher will appear”. Others include believing in miracles and, real magic and seven beliefs for manifesting real magic.
ii. Becoming a Spiritual Being:

I chose this to be among the 7 ideas which were personally most important to me, because; this section of the book, Becoming a Spiritual being, how and what to do in becoming a spiritual being. It introduced me to new ideas, and in other case; help me understand certain thing I had experienced at some point in my life. These happenings became clearer to me. While reading this section, I became enlightened and serene about happenings around me and I also tried controlling happenings around me. And the results were positive.

iii. Creating a Miracle Mind-Set:

This is important to me, because; it provided me with a guide on how to create a miracle mind set. Fourteen of them with suggestions to help implement each one of them. Examining these fourteen guides, they seem to build on each other. In essence, if followed from the first to the fourteenth; it would seem like climbing a ladder to reach a certain height that is from reserving judgment and disbelief up to practice daily meditation and then finally landing on the miracle mind-set.
iv. Real Magic and Your Relationships:
In our everyday life, we are faced with conflicting situations around us, and we tend to react in like manner. I learnt in this section that this shouldn’t be so ; our relationship to others in our thought and so I should use my thought to create a purposeful relationship. In order to achieve this I should first live according to my spiritual self first. And that a relationship on purpose is mainly about giving LOVE , unconditional Love not seeking to understand, allowing for space, putting aside the idea of ownership and foregoing the need to be right.
v. Real Magic and Your Prosperity:
Most of us, if not every one of us, definitely want to be prosperous in whatever it is we chose. And I am not different in this regard either. This is important to me, because; it really defined what prosperity really is, things or thought that prevents us from experiencing. Prosperity, things/thought we need to apply in order to experience prosperity and how we should go about apply prosperity principles daily in our lives, if we are to be prosperous.

vi. Real Magic and Your Personal Identity:
This seems to be difficult writing about, the Big Lie. The big lie revealed vividly how I have lived my life or how I lived on these big lies. This is important to me, because it shows me that for certain changes to occur in my life, I have to overcome some of the big lies. And it also outlines ways to overcoming these big lies by using that simple technique which I misuse every day – Thought. It then goes further to show how to put real magic into our personality.

vii. Real Magic and the Spiritual Revolution:
There is this belief that most of us have that we are not just here on earth by chance and we are on earth at this time to carry out a grand mission which for me am still trying to identify. So this section pointed to me the relationship between thought and happenings (circumstances) in our environment. It also points out roles that I can play to create a better world which would know only love, peace and harmony among all. It went further to show how I could create this better world.

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?

A transcendent view of magic and miracles:
I believe, I have passed the stage of enlightenment through suffering but I cannot concretely say I have gotten to the stage of enlightenment through purpose because though I have passed enlightenment through outcome, I still find myself drifting back to enlightenment through outcome. And so I try to follow the principles stated in this section on getting to purpose so that I eventually get myself on purpose. I believe the student is ready, that is why I joined this program the time I did and reading these books. In every situation, circumstance, place and person I see my teacher and am always willing to learn from them.
Becoming a Spiritual Being:

The idea that I am not this physical body is new to me, as I have always seen myself as this physical body with a spirit that leaves the body when I die. I now know that I am a spiritual being and the ability to manifest anything exceptional exists in my invincible self. Which I am learning to relate with it, understanding it, and trying to use it, in affecting the physical world around me. Knowing that I am not alone, I have learned to appreciate my loving guidance (my intuition).

Creating a Miracle Mind-Set:

Knowing that I am an invincible being and that from my invincible self I can affect the physical world; I have learnt to listen to and be guided by my intuition (my invincible guardian) in my day to day running. Goal setting, wishes, hoping without intent will not result in the realization of that which we desire and so I have resolved and have been practicing how to use my intention to create the reality I wish to see.

Real Magic and Relationship:

This is where I have to put in a lot of work in order to learn and practice creating magical relationship with my thought. I now accept and believe that my relationship with others start from my thought, I reflected as I read how I reacted to certain persons in my life initially. So I do accept and I believe that my relationship with people is shaped by my thought. And it had been affecting me negatively. I would have to work seriously with this to improve my relationship with other being that I come in contact with daily.
Real Magic and Your Prosperity:

After reading this section, I quickly started trying to flip over my consciousness from that of scarcity to that of prosperity. Though I do not always feel these scarcity thoughts, I decided now that I know its effect on me; I should try to keep it away from my consciousness completely. Giving and selfless service to others is being on purpose, if I can give of myself in all my activities selflessly without expectation I could reach a flow; which is a state where the activity, instead of being a task becomes pleasure which I have experienced before on a task. So in giving and selfless service to others point towards prosperity.

Real Magic and your Personal Identity:

My personal identity, the big lie and my magical identity which I intend to become after applying these principles. Basically I struggle with some of this big lies, most especially “I can’t help the way I am; I’ve always been this way.” I do not make friends easily and if pressured, why? I definitely would give this excuse. Now with the power of my thought I am gradually trying to change this, by visualizing the sort of personality I would love to radiate or carry around.
Real Magic and the Spiritual Revolution:

The world is in this state because of our collective thoughts, since the physical is affected by the invincible (thought). For me I personally, rarely see any good in our world today, but I do believe that there are a few who have chosen to be good. But then I am reminded that “what I believe is what I would see”. So if I want to see a world full of love, peace and harmony among the people, I must believe that, there is love, peace and harmony in the world. For me to be part of this spiritual revolution, I have to give and serve others, and I can only give what is inside. If I am to give love I have to possess love inside. Basically I have resolved to share what I do know on the topic of thought with whoever is willing to listen.

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.

Below are some of the statements that personally called for my attention.
“All that you fight weakens you. All the you are for empowers you.”
I am made to believe by this statement that all that I am against weakens me, of which after reflecting on past incidence in my life I found truth in the statement. If I am going to experience authentic empowerment, I have to be for positives not against negatives.
“Forgive they servant seventy times a day.”
A deeper reflection on this statement revealed that, we are never to hold grudges but always forgive those who might have hurt us. I am always to have a forgiving heart, since in a particular day a person cannot hurt me up to 70. And perhaps I am to forgive every single day of my life without exception. This has taught me a great deal about forgiveness.
“It is neither the wind nor the flag, but your mind that moves.”

Everything physical is actually perceived in the mind. The mind (invincible self) actually does the seeing through the physical eye. No wonder some time we have different view or opinion on a particular matter. So with this knowing, I would avoid trying to prove people wrong or get involved in baseless arguments where there are different view or opinions.
“You create your thoughts, your though, creates your intentions, your intentions create your reality.”
Whatever it is I want to happen, I can create it using my thought which will then create my intention which is a tool to fashion the reality. This goes to show the power which I possess and should use in forging realities around me.
“If you would come to taste all things, then do not seek to taste anything…to reach what you are not, you have to go by the way in which you are nothing.”

These lines remind me of another statement, what one strive for, will elude him. To change status-quo, we have to do things differently, in different way. Most of the discoveries were as a result of some people doing or following a new and different path. So, if I am to experience anything exceptional, I am to follow my own unique path by listening to my invincible guardian and not to follow the crowd.

“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 of these.”

This caught my attention, because we do not live in isolation. And so, how we relate with others is very important. Do unto others, what you would have others do to you, and so how you treat others at any stage would most likely be how you would be treated when you get there.

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 subject of meditation is one I love and intend to learn and use. But it seemed not to be clear, as I tried using the writers directive/instruction on how to meditate but I was not successful. I would love to try other means to it if possible.

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?

The book did not contain any exercise as such, but there were things that had to be tried out immediately.

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.

Thoughts to me are very important and I think this should be shared with as much as possible everyone. And then, when we as human can guard our thought and use it in creating a world that will know all the good things of life, love, harmony and peace.

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? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 5
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

For me the author Dale Carnegie wrote explicitly on dealing or handling people. He covered every aspect of human relation; family, work place, business, etc. And he used live examples to demonstrate how these principles work, which made the book interesting and easy to comprehend. And it encouraged the reader to want to try these principles.

The author expresses himself in four main sections and he did very well relating the various sections. Showing how the technique in handling people is relevant in making people like you and so on. I think the author did very well on the topic of winning friends and influencing people.

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

These are the seven ideas (principles) which were personally most important to me.

A. Don’t Criticize, Condemn or Complain:

Would I say I am a victim of this or I am actually guilty of doing this; criticizing and complaining? In the sense, that, I complain and criticize a lot. So this is important to me, and has shown me the effects of criticizing, condemning and complaining, using illustration. And also illustrated how some people have been able to manage situation that might have required them to criticize, condemn or complain. This has taught me a valuable lesson, which I have ignored learning through experience.

B. Give Honest and Sincere Appreciation

I notice my lack of showing appreciation when I was working with a group of people. They would work hard; give their best to what ever task they were given. And what did I do to show I appreciated the effort they put in; nothing, not even thank you. I am not proud of it, but it did happen. I noticed son, most of them did not want to work with me any longer. Now I know why, because, I never appreciated them but ask more of them.

C. Become Genuinely Interested in Other People

I never knew just like the author stated I have been trying for as long as can remember to impress people so that they like and become interested in me. But now something new is being presented here, people most times are interested in just themselves; just like I was. And if we show genuine interest in others, then we can get them to be interested in us. As the author illustrated, using several examples to demonstrate this fact.

D. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.

Avoiding an argument is not easy, but that is what the author in this principle say is required to win an argument. Because, as he says “you can’t win an argument, if you lose, you lose and if you win, you lose.” An argument occurred at a friends place concerning GSM in Nigeria, this person was wrong and I knew he was wrong. I had proof to show he was wrong and that was what I did, prove him wrong. Well I won on that day, but lost because he wouldn’t even return my greetings any longer. I was dead right but lost a potential friend as if I was dead wrong.

E. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.

I actually used this principle a long time ago, I was a kid then and I was used to getting into all kinds of trouble. While I was playing, I damaged one of the appliances in the house and I knew that would not be taken likely; I would be punished severely. So as dad came in from work, I quickly reported my self with tears in my eyes, well I escaped punishment that day. But I found out that, this days even when am wrong I try to defend my position, this has brought to light a valuable principle.

F. Dramatize your Ideas

They say action speaks louder than word, and successful people use visualization a lot. While in a situation where mere words would not work, I have found another technique to try out; which is dramatizing my point or idea. I learnt a lot about dramatizing my idea from my dad; he knows how to balance the use of punishment. If he has said that we should not do a certain thing more than once, when we fault such directive again, we won’t hear a single word about it again but we always notice that action has been taken.

G. Ask Questions instead of giving Direct Orders

I found through experience that giving direct order, if not done grudgingly are most times ignored. And I have wondered how I could get things done without the assistance of people. And I struggle, doing most things myself of which some one else could have assisted me with. So I appreciate this principle, and would try it so I can reduce my daily work load.

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?

Don’t criticize, condemn or complain: Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. I was one of these fools before and I don’t want to be anymore and so I would try to develop self control to be understanding, so I can se thing from the other person perspective as well; because condemnation, criticizing and complaining do not build or improve anything. In fact there is little or no progress in an atmosphere of criticisms, complaining and condemnation. So what ever is required to delay my first reaction in a situation that might warrant criticism or complaining or condemnation, I would learn and practice daily.

Give honest and sincere appreciation: I find giving appreciation a little challenging, but after reading this, I decided, I would try it. And I did with a friend of mine and his response show that it works in calming nerves. I then thought I needed to explore this even more. I hope to practice this principle continually until it becomes a part of me. When ever an opportunity shows I would try it, until it becomes an unconscious act and then I would not need to wait and look for opportunity to try it. But will freely give honest and sincere appreciation every time and any time.

Become genuinely interested in other people: I am someone with very few friends and I use to wonder why it was this way. I would try to make friends and would fail. But now I see that I was going about it the wrong way. I wanted people to be interested in me rather than the other way round. Now if I want some one to be interested in me, I would first develop genuine interest in the person. Since making friends is one of my goals. I would start today to apply this principle and hopefully I would receive wonderful results.

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it: Most of us, if not all, well for me I always want to win, always wanting to be in a winning situation. In an argument, if you win you lose, if you lose, you lose. And the only way to win is avoiding arguments entirely always. Sine I love and always want to win, I would do everything to avoid every kind of argument. I would learn to identify potential argumentative situations, so that I can avoid it before it gets heated.

If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically: Its not easy admitting one is wrong, I want to believe it does work and it is easy admitting that one is wrong based on the illustrations the author used. I know this is doubt, but I hope to overcome it by trying it, over and over again until, I can admit am wrong quickly and emphatically. Since it is said that practice make perfect and success comes with consistency. I won’t give up on it this time. Until I can admit I am wrong quickly and emphatically.

Dramatize your ideas: Some times I t is that we express ourselves through our action and most times it is the best thing to do in order to get the required results. I am some one who generally does not talk much, and am excited now knowing I could use this with my kids, in future, we they are born. That is, instead of complaining, criticizing and condemning I would just act what I mean.

Ask questions instead of giving direct orders: This is a wonderful idea, although not totally new to me. But I think, I have new ways in which I could apply it. First, with my immediate family members, that is my younger ones, and then, the unborn little ones, handling them tactically. so they can build their self confidence quickly. And finally this will work great, with my subordinates at 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.

“Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, people don’t criticize themselves for anything, no matter how wrong it may be.”

Though sometime, I wonder why people do this, that no matter the pressure; they won’t admit they are wrong. I some time find myself in such situation. Here it is stated 99 times out of a 100, one short of 100% will not criticize themselves. So it is of no use criticizing, since no meaningful thing will result.

“Judge not, that ye be not judged.”

I view this as being in the category of love your neighbor as yourself and do unto others, what you would want others to do unto you. But most time carelessly I let my mind take the lead and control my thought which leads me to judging other, when I am not supposed to. This is a remainder to discipline myself even more.

“I will speak ill of no man and speak all the good I know of everybody.”

This is an encouragement to continue, in speaking all the good I know of everybody and not a word of ill about any person. This statement, made me reflect and observe most times what I say about others, and I discovered most times, I speak only of the good they have done, but some time I lose it.

“A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.”

I aspire to be a great man and this statement got me wondering, how I have been treating those I assume to be little men now. Being great doesn’t mean preventing others from taking their own step towards greatness, rather help them by pointing the way to them, encouraging and appreciating them.

“I shall pass this way but once, any good, therefore that I can do or let me not defer not neglect it, or I shall not pass this way again.”

As I was walking home, I came across a motor cyclist and his passenger; they looked like they needed help. The passenger had gotten to his destination and had paid but the cyclist didn’t have change to give him. As I saw their predicament, this statement flashed across my mind, I discovered that the change they required I had it. With out hesitating I reached in my pocket and assisted them with the change.

“To think right is to create.”

Our thoughts become our reality and positive mental attitude help us maintain positive thought. Which I believe is rightful thinking and with positive mental attitude we can achieve more. This statement brought back to memory principles and lessons of PMA and the 17 success principles.

“Good manners…are made up of petty sacrifice.”

This is very correct, as I have observed even in my own life as well as some of my friends. They sacrificed certain social activities to develop and build some virtues, so that they can achieve their major definite purpose. Instead of hanging out, they choose to read books that would help them in their development.

“Here lies the body of William Jay, who died maintaining his right of way, he was righ, dead right, as if he were wrong.”

I have observed that this is the cause of some accidents on our roads, were some drivers would see a car trying to over take another car and they would not give way because they on the right lane. This statement helped me consider a decision, I had taken earlier of which I was maintaining I was right.

“Kindliness, the friendly approach and appreciation and appreciation can make people change their minds more readily than all the bluster and storming in the world.”

To me this statement can be notice clearly, when we observe a mother and child relation. A mother uses gentility, kindliness, and friendly approaches to get her children to do what she wants with little or no resentment from the child. With this approach she raises confident, courageous and loving kids. It just reminds me of how mom would get me to do things I really didn’t want to do.

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

I would say everything seem very clear, but just for some statement that I didn’t understand the message the conveyed:

“To know all is to forgive all.”

I am finding it difficult understanding the relationship between knowing something and forgiveness. I might know and the hurting might make it difficult to forgive.

“You can never say anything but what you are.”

This too isn’t clear, how is it that what I say is a reflection of who I am. Can’t I say something bad and be a good person?

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 wasn’t any exercise in this book for the reader to complete, but a couple of advice to put the principles to use; if what we have been doing has not been giving us the required result.

Part 4 of the book: Be a Leader: How to change people without giving offense or arousing resentment is particularly interesting to me. Since its leadership skills I really desire to develop. To get there, I need to learn so many other principle first which would help me grow and learn even more.

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? 10
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

The New Dynamics of Winning
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

I would say, the main idea, I believe the author conveyed to me, is that winning, being successful is a process. Winners or successful people are first born winner with all the resources they would need to win. And so they have to tap into this resource, learn to use them for their stated objective. In other to use these resources, they have to pay the price because everything has a price. Winners are always willing to pay while losers look for alternative to paying the price. In addition, winning can be learnt, since we all are born winner and have these resources in us. One can learn to use these resources and
then develop the mind-set and willingness to paying the price.

This book contains ideas that I have always wondered about and wanted to learn. They say persistence; see successful people through challenge, obstacle that seem insurmountable. I wondered how they did it.

i. Paying the Price

Everything has got its price, which is beautiful. It’s wonderful knowing you have the resources to pay for something you really want. This is very important to me, because I know I needed to give something for what ever I wanted, but funny, most times I don’t get to get what I have paid for. Why? Good I know now, commitment! Flashing
back, I would work hard; I believe hard work alone was enough to get me what I wanted. But the important one was not enough, let’s say I did not put in total commitment in most of my activities.

ii. Visualization of Victory

I learned my first lesson on visualization in this program from the Psycho-cybernetics 2000 by Bobbe Somme. Though I have been using this skill, in one of my school subject; fine art. But I never thought that it could affect my world until psycho-cybernetic 2000. This is important to me because if you go to market to buy something, you get
to see the product, feel it, smell it, sometime even taste it and then you pay. I believe seeing what I want in advance, would be a motivating factor in my willingness to pay the price.

iii. The Coachability Factor

I have had a lot of people in my life who have influenced my development from childhood up till this moment in my life. At some point I knew if I was going to go far in life, I had to identify some individuals who have succeeded in certain areas that I had interest. So I would from their mistakes and they would show me, some tricks they would have learnt along the way. I would say my dad had a lot of influence me and lucky me I picked just the positive from him. Participating in IIGL program, I have also met others on the pages of books; the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, etc. Being willing
to pay the price, seeing what I am paying for; it is a wonderful idea to get coached so I can accomplish my dreams.

iv. Strength Through Mental Toughness

I have always viewed mental strength to be a key, for winner. That
strength to hold on even when it does not seem like winning is
possible. This section helped me examine why I had not achieved at
certain time or situation in my life. It became clear that my attitude
toward success is my undoing. I always wanted success to be fast,
instead of it being a gradual process. Also, I always knew that the
unexpected could occur but I most time don’t prepare for such
unexpected events. Having paid the price, seen what I was to pay for,
having been coached, I am to believe that I would eventually win,
since my coaches, over their odds are winners. And then prepare for
the unexpected.

v. The Drive to Win

Winners are people, who put their desires to action. There desires motivate them to action. But then, I have to examine myself to discover the fears which are hindering me from taking the necessary steps to winning. Which for me most time are; fear of change and fear of failure. Once in while a little of fear of success, but I have learned to over come them some how. By using common sense, knowledge and relying on myself, would help me in facing and overcoming challenge. Another important point in this section is the stair-step method. Making my major goal a process, which brings more pleasure and
boost self-confidence achieving smaller worth while goals
periodically.

vi. Self-Confidence and Self-Transformation

The ability to hold one thought in ones mind without distraction is important in becoming a winner. Focusing on just what is important, on the major goal with out being distracted from both, internal or external factors is the ultimate for me becoming a winner. I know I
easily get distracted or mentally exhausted. Now when ever I notice any distractive thought, I will examine it properly and identify why that thought, had to come at the time it did and what is responsible. Then use some of the suggestion the author gave or handling each one.

vii. Beyond the Arena

In the course of achieving our goals, we sometimes compromise and do what ever we can to reach our goal. This should not be; because life should be treasured rather than it being a treasure hunt where we seek out treasures. It is important to me knowing that living with integrity is more important than what we would become or achieve in life. Living a life with integrity is not easy, but I try to live by it as much as I possible can. But since winning is a process, I believe I am growing ever time I live by integrity. Life is never just being it is becoming and creating; it is not a destination, it is a continual process involving growth and creation.

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?

Paying the Price: Paying the price, I believe is not a one shot thing. As success is a
process so should the price to pay be a continuous thing. Two keywords come to mind when the word paying the price is mentioned. First is sacrifice and next is commitment. I have had to sacrifice a lot on my way to this point, but that really has been able to bring me certain amount of success. To get to where I want, entails I sacrifice even more which I am wiling to do. One of which is to cut down the time spent watching TV and using that time to read books that would make positive impact in my life. Now commitment would certainly have to follow this or within a month, as have been the case most time before,
I would find myself returning back to the old habit. To remind me daily that I am committed to success I would put down on an A4 size paper; on the top Success and just below Commitment. So I know I am now going to be committed to my success process.

Visualization of Victory: Seeing the end, where I want to be. Holding that thought, believing it, that I would be it. Is something I couldn’t wait to try out and I have been trying it. Daily since I read this part of the book I have held a particular image (movie) in my mind of who I want to become in two years time. Though this is not the first time, I have come across, visualizing success; I think, it is just that now the student is ready
as Wayne Dyer puts it in his book Real Magic; “when the student is ready, the teacher would appear.” This as well is a process and if it has to become a habit, I have to be committed to it. Which is what I am achieving by sacrificing a little of my time to it. So that I can, master the act of visualization and be able to teach other people.

The Coachability Factor: You can’t give what you don’t have and the willingness to suppress ones ego is important, if one is to learn the tricks that the master has developed over the years. In order to avoid pit falls and have some sort of smooth growth in the success process is to be willing to listen, examine and learn from the masters. First I would take out time to sit and identify areas of my life that would need improvement
and which would require a mentor or coach to work with me. After identifying this area, I would identify and approach these individuals and ask for their assistance. If they are willing to assist, I would then try to be committed to the process and take out time to contact them and learn as much as they are willing to teach me. And may be some day I would be a mentor to some one and transfer what I have learned to them so that they too become successful.

Strength Through Mental Toughness: The ability, never to quit or give up no matter the situation, or challenges is an ability I believe I can learn. Expect the best, Plan for worst, be prepare for a surprise, to me just summarizes strength through mental toughness. Knowing challenges would come actually strengthens one mentally to face and overcome those challenges. Basically, I have to stop rushing success. Success is a process, a
gradual one and my focus at a particular point should be on what I am doing now, not what I sis yesterday or what I would be doing tomorrow or how today would affect tomorrow. My focus should be now and the desired results. In most of my activities now, if not all I will try and learn to anticipate unexpected events and prepare for them. Like I
have been doing now for a while, I would put down this statement “expect the best, plan for the worst, be prepared for a surprise” and hang it on my mirror beside my bed. So when I wake up first thing in morning it prepares me for the day.

The Drive to Win: The drive to winning for winners, is putting their desires into
action. That for me would be acting out my desires daily; even if it’s just a little, like reading a book. Just to see that I am making effort towards achieving these desires. I would do this by breaking down or making my goals simple stair-steps process which would require me to take action on it at least every two days. This I believe will
easily help me overcome the fear of failure. Which once in a while creep into my mind another fear which I would have to work on overcoming is the fear of change and I hoe to do this by using self-suggestion. Most preferably Act Now, when ever I have to try
something that is new to me.

Self-Confidence and Self-Transformation: I love the analogy of the archer and I don’t know which way would be best to use it; either to type and print it or read it out loud and
record it, so I can read or play it daily. So it reminds me that I need to be focused on my goal at all time and if I get distracted; I should stop and refocus. And I would achieve this by using self-talks. So I would create a list of self-talks that I would use when I notice
am not focused. I would type this list of self-talks in my mobile phone, so I can always view it any time I want.

Beyond the Arena: Life is not a destination, it is a process. How we choose to live and
accomplish our goals depend on us. But it is important to carry others along. When we’ve accomplished all our goals and there are no more new goals to accomplish, what would be our assessment of how we have lived our lives? It is important that we live our live with integrity and work towards our goals ethically. So that when we finally have
accomplished our goal we would not be bothered with integrity issues.

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.

“Champions know where they are and they see they want to go.”

I know am a champion, a winner; it does not matter what the present situation is or how others view me at the moment. From my understanding of this statement, it is what I see that matter. Where I want to be in the future not what is happening around me now, will
matter in the future.

“Lombardi had a theory that, once a weakness had been identified; hard work could turn it into a strength.”

This statement came to me as an encouragement, not to despair about some of my perceived weaknesses. Since I have been able to identify them; I could focus my attention and work as hard as possible to turn them into strength. I have been able to do this, turning weakness to strength in the past; but I definitely forgot how to do this.

“I discovered why commitments are definitely like riding a bicycle.”

This statement is not really what I am interested in, but the statement that follow; which for me gave a very brief and simple step in becoming a winner. ”First, you must Believe that a machine that can’t even stand by itself will transport you safely.” To me the keyword is believe, believing that a success principle that has worked for other will work for me. All I need to do is just believe and remain committed to it. “Secondly, you must let go of all forms of support and balance yourself with the sheer force of momentum created by your own strength.” This to me said I have to create the momentum from inside, balancing myself should not depend on external happening but from inside of me. “Thirdly, you have to lean into curves.” Challenges would come which from my perception of this statement is represented as curves, rather than despair no matter how sharp the curve I should lean into it. Just as Earl said, “bend with the wind and you’ll still be around when the hurricane passes and the good weather returns”. And “Fourth, you can coast for a while, but you won’t get far if you don’t keep pedaling!” Success is a process and if I start and because I start seeing progress and stop, I definitely won’t go far. Since it is an inner process I have to keep fueling this process by using the success principles I have learnt, reading and listening to materials that would build and fuel the process. “Lastly, you’ve got to get up and try again after you’ve fallen off the
bicycle;”somehow and it do happen often we fall. We fail at what we do or even to achieve what we want. But winners never give up, they know that, failure if they don’t conceit is not failure but experience and they go ahead to learn the lessons there in. “There are no mistakes or failures, only lessons. Growth is a process of gaining
knowledge, of trial and error, and of courageous experimentation. The
failed attempts can be as much as part of the success process as the
attempt that finally succeeds.”

“Expect the best, plan for the worst and be prepared for a surprise.”

Keep the mind positive; visualize positive pictures and being optimistic about my goals. And planning thoroughly on how to accomplish these goals, it won’t just happen, it won’t come easily, and there would be challenges. I should anticipate and expect them while remaining optimistic that I would over come them.

“Champions don’t shrink from risk. Champions know that the greatest risk is doing nothing, and real security derives from constantly testing your potentials.

When you know you have a major goal and that you have a purpose here on earth. I think, you definitely would not want to just sit and watch what have happens, but would against all odds want to make things happen for you so that you can accomplish that purpose of yours here on earth.

“Live never just being. It is becoming and creating.”

Without goals, I would just be one among the billions on earth, just wandering through life in what ever direction that the external forces dictate. But with goal there are things to learn, and grow into a new stature. Goals moves one to create what he wants to see in his life or grow into the person he wants to be.

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 best way to motivate People is to Pit them against one another.”This statement at first, I didn’t understand it, but reading further. I was able to get the meaning. Well that was after I looked at it in the whole context. Initially I wondered why this method would be the best way to motivate people. I read Charles Schwab used this method inthe steel plant he was in charge of. I personally don’t think this isthe best method to use. Since this was the first and only statement I didn’t understand it clearly in this book, I decided to include it here.

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 were a couple of them, and yes they were extremely helpful. Starting with the visualization of Greg LeMond victory in 1989, to the visualization exercise, the one that is clearly spelt out as an exercise is the 21 day plan; which I am currently working and so far, I have noticed a different result from what I am use to.

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.

There is nothing I would wish to comment about that has not already been covered. But may be at the time I get to this point I use to be mentally exhausted and cannot think of anything to comment on.

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

Goal Setting 101

Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The main idea the author is conveying in this book; goal setting 101, is about accomplishments, successes. Turning wishes into success; through a process of converting wishes to desires and onward to goal and executing activities with the aim of reaching these goals, success is attained. I may say goal are desires to be attained, with measurable outcomes and specific time frame by which it would be achieved. This anyway is my own view of goals.

i. Create a mission statement

I used to think that once goal were set, I could start going out and start trying to reach those goals. I never knew that goals and mission statement had a relationship. And as such I had not developed any mission for my life. I just had vision or goals I wanted to accomplish but no mission; the reason or purpose for the goal. This book on goal setting actually beamed light on that aspect of goal setting and accomplishment.

ii. Accept your power of choice

It is upon us to choose what we want to do, which direction we want to go and how we want to get there. It’s up to me to exercise that power of choice. When I was younger, I exercised this power a lot more frequently. But as I grew older, I got discouraged because most of my choices were not coming through. So I limited myself to making very few choices, mostly only when I have enough fact to work with. And in this book I got the awakening that the power to choose is my birth right and that the difference between what one person achieves and another, depends more on goal choices than on abilities.

iii. Respect reality – Face the facts

I have always ignored or overlooked fact when trying to plan for a goal, and most time, it has come back to hurt me by discouraging me form moving forward. And this has made me put off many goals of mine or if I eventually become successful it is by default it just happens without any thought out plan on my side. I never knew what went wrong, until now, knowing I didn’t examine the situation properly, gathering enough information and facing facts. And the fact has always come back to kill the momentum after setting the goals.

iv. Act like a leader

Leading as I understand; is about someone leading, pointing the direction and someone else following. I never viewed it this way. That one person can lead and the same person following. That me leading myself, questioning my actions towards my set goals, requesting progress report daily, this is wonderful to me and it is an important lesson not to be forgotten. Leader a find way or make it possible for their team accomplish set goals, there by building their reputation, as achievers. This felt really good.

v. Practice speed, simplicity, and boldness

This is one that I really need a lot of work on, because most times ideas come to me, I take my time in planning that idea and most time a key item like resource(money) will be missing, this then result in my delaying implementation and most times abandoning the whole idea. If I act boldly and swiftly on implementation of ideas, I would accomplish most of my goals and then success would be a regular thing for me. Simplicity is an important factor in dealing with doubt and fear. So I would work on make my plans simple and straight forward.

vi. Inspect what you expect

This is important to me because it is an eye opener to me towards a new idea on goal getting or goal attainment. Previously when I first learnt about goal setting I will just set my goal and then start planning on how I would accomplish such goal without setting performance standards (but now I know that I need to performance standard established). And when things are not going to work out, because I have not set performance standard, I don’t get the early signs. But now I know that I need to establish performance standard early before I even plan on accomplishing the goals.

vii. Learn to manage fear

Fears are part of life. It exist in and around each and every one of us, but successful people know how to win (move on) in spite of their fears. I have always wanted to be successful in everything I do but fear of failure has been one of y major obstacle in doing that. But this has taught me that once I have made the decision on what and how to achieve a goal, I shouldn’t entertain any fear again. And that the only time I should take council of my fear is just before I make an important decision and afterward, I should move full steam; firing on all cylinders.

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?

There are a lot of wonderful ideas contained in this book, 7 are to be chosen for this assessment, notwithstanding I would go on to implement the other ideas in my life as well.

Create a mission statement: I now know that mission statement could be the fuel that would fire me back up when things seem to be against me. In the sense that if I can clearly and unmistakably state who I am or the reason for my existence, it would arouse my pride when situations push me hard to give up. With this I would take out time to clarify to myself who I really am, the core that make me up. As well as the reason why I am here at this point and time. With these I should be able to come up with a mission statement that will aid me in setting the right goals and provide me with the required energy and fuel to see to the accomplishment of such goals.

Accept your power of choice: it’s our choice to set goals or not to set goals; it’s our choice to set one kind of goal or the other. We are also free to choice whether to make plans and follow through on how to accomplish a goal or choice not to. I observed from the book that the kind of achievement I would experience depends on the choice of goal I choose to set. I would intentionally and carefully choice my goals hence forth, so that they provide me with challenging situation to rise to. There by giving me the sense of self-fulfillment which are rear in my life right now.

Respect reality – face the facts: Truth will always create consequences. True and accurate information is essential for success. And truth or information does not always take or come in that we expect of them and as such we tend to deny or ignore them. And here is this idea that I should face fact at the planning phase or face the consequences of ignoring the facts. Most occasions I don’t critically examine facts before making a decision and this hasn’t fared well with me but I do tend to blame other things for my failure. Now I know that though decisions are to be taken quickly but they shouldn’t be before examining the facts, if success is intended.

Act like a leader: leaders lead, I have never seen leadership from this perspective before; that one person can be the leader as well as the follower. This idea says I should be the leader which sounds good but then who are my followers? Me. I do examine my thought and action in the course of the day activities at night. I never knew that, I should demand success from myself as a subordinate and explanation as well when I fail to achieve success and find ways of overcoming such obstacles. I would demand more success of myself as the leader and a daily situation report will be submitted to me as the leader from myself as the subordinate.

Practice speed, simplicity and boldness: Even though with the previous idea: Respect reality – face the fact, where I said I would critically examine fact before making decisions doesn’t mean I should spend too much time examining facts. This idea highlights the importance of speedy implementation of the ideas. I don’t need to be 100% right before implementing. If I am to be successful with every goal; I must act boldly and swiftly. Working out complex goals into simple step by step form, so that it is easy to implement within the required time frame and which make it easier to face fears and challenges.

Inspect what you expect: Inspecting what you expect entails avoiding time and resource wastage. That is we inspect form time to time to see that what we want done gets done. This requires a careful periodic monitoring of the actions taken and the measurable results of those actions. This will ensure that non essential or “make-work” are identified and weeded out. And so at the planning phase, I would ensure and establish performance standard along with review time/times so I notice what is working or bringing in results and what is not.

Learn to manage fear: Everyone is afraid from time to time. The courageous person forces himself or herself, in spite of fear, to carry on. We cannot learn to avoid fear, but we can learn to recognize when we are in danger of acting in blind accordance with it. Success depends on the ability to advance in the face of fear. The person who cannot face a fear will always be running from it. It is better to run towards a goal than run away from a fear. Having known these I did not hesitate, but immediately applied this idea to other situations in my life that have been delayed by a fear. And I will continue to move in spite of any fear or doubt I am faced with.

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.

“Goals establish direction for your life. If you never set goal, how will you know where you are going?”

When I first read this, the question that crossed my mind was; how? But then, with time, came experience and as such I now know how and why goal establish direction for our lives. I once set some goals and the dead line had come and gone, and my goals unaccomplished, so I decided to abandon the idea of setting goals. But all of a sudden opportunities aligned with my goals and I was back setting goals again.

“The power of choice: as my birth right, I am given the greatest power – the power to choose.”

Every moment offers me a choice; to exercise this power setting and holding a direction or to veer off course. Previously I used to delay decision until the situation was perfect but now I know that, whatever decision or not decision at; is a decision. With my goal set and before me; I base my decision upon my goal and not situations. Success the author said; is the intentional, pre-meditated use of choice and decision. As such I have to become intentional in my choices and decision making.

“Never stop planning: Planning must be done, analyzed, re-planned, and done again.”

I, like most people use to plan on an annual basis and I now know that planning should never stop and that there is nothing scared about annual planning. Now if a plan doesn’t work out s planned I don’t feel disappointed as in previous cases but I analyze to identify the challenges and opportunities and then re-plan and execute.

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?

Do your reconnaissance: I do not understand when the author says; you can never have too much reconnaissance and that I should use every means available before, during and after you have achieved the goal. In the process of doing my SWOT analysis won’t I have done the reconnaissance as well?

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

Yes there were exercises and I did complete every one of them. The first exercise actually helped me to identify goal, when it is actually a goal and not just a wish or statement. And the second exercise taught me a new way to using SWOT; implementing SWOT to goal analysis. Exercise 3 and 4 taught me a new process for identifying and setting goals for myself.

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 author did fabulous job with this book, this is the simplest book I have ever read on goal setting. The author condensed the process of goal setting in a compact but very simple straight forward format.

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

The Law of Attraction
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The theme of the book; is the science of attracting more of what you want and less of what you don’t want and the author did a good job by defining the law of attraction in a very simple manner easy for anyone to assimilate. He described what the law of attraction is, how the law of attraction operates. He didn’t stop at that he went further to demonstrate how the law of attraction can be applied in different scenarios or in different circumstance practically. The author did marvelous job on this theme as far as even demonstrating how the law can be taught to the younger generation and this was most appealing to me because I am just learning about this law in my 30’s and I find it very helpful how much more if this kids should learn and start applying it early on in life; they would grow up to be great men and women who would influence their communities and nation.

i. Learn how to teach the Law of Attraction to Children

I love kids and I believe our future depends on how well we prepare the kids for the challenge that they would face in the future. The law of attraction is an important law that one need to know and work with and I thought it important to be able to share it with tomorrow leaders. The author made this easier for me to be able to share this law with kids around me. Taking it exactly as it is in the book and teaching it to the kids around me would go an extent in raising their belief system and helping a lot of them to aspire higher than what they see around themselves. As simple as the use of 3 tips could help me share this powerful tool with kids make this very important to me.

ii. Words that are causing you to attract what you don’t want

Reading about the words that cause you to attract what you don’t want remind me of days I plan to get out of bed early and instead of say I intend to get out of bed early, I would be saying to myself that I should try not to get out of bed late and in most case I end up getting out of my bed late for whatever it is I was supposed to attend to. This has shone a light on something that looks inconsequential but has been affecting me negatively over the years. I am fond of using word like don’t, not and no; when communicating to myself and others. I wonder why this has not occurred to me, it ought to be obvious to me because when I was little; whenever my dad or mom would say don’t do a thing, they only needed to turn their back on me and I would be doing the same thing I was forbade to do.

iii. Identify your desire
In some area of my life I find it difficult identifying my desire but just as the author stated in this book it is easier for me to identify what I don’t like. And this idea has helped me to be able to identify what I desire through contrast, by identifying what it is that I don’t like. I have struggled in the past to concentrate my thought so I can identify my desires and the author through this idea has made it very simple and straight forward; that by using contrast I can identify my desire.

iv. Rewording your affirmations to make them feel better.

I first learned about affirmation from the book cyber-psychometric 2000 and I have been applying this whenever I see the need to. It did not always make me to feel positive or reduce the doubt I had at the time. But rewording my affirmation using the keyword “in the process” remind me of a similar phrase we used years ago; whenever someone referred to another as someone his is not at the moment, this person will simply reply “In the making.” As I read I had to try this out immediately and it felt very good and boosted my confidence.

v. The Desire Statement

The author explained that a properly written desire statement would help in giving our desires attraction and putting them within our vibrational bubble which will help to attract it in to our lives. Most times whenever I set a goal I desire to achieve it within a certain time frame, but somehow I lose concentration and seem to be pulled away by other events and I completely forget about the initial goal that was set. I am hoping if I have a desire statement for every one of my goal, it will help me to be focused on the goal until it is attained.

vi. Celebrate the Proof/Evidence

The author stated that in order for the law of attraction to manifest our desires, we would have to allow; which is the process of eliminating doubt from our mind and being positive. And celebrating the proof is one tool for allowing and this is most important to me because while I was reading this book I remembered instances that I had thought of something and somehow it appeared in my life and still remember how I felt for days after that event.

vii. How to hold your positive vibration

I tend to be open for people to discuss their problems with me, with the view that we could solve the problem together but a times this end up putting me in a sober mood because I start worrying about their problem most especially when the solution seem difficult. With this idea I can change the conversation form problem oriented to solution oriented where they would start talking about the possibility of solving the problem rather than focusing on the problem. This would in turn raise their vibration higher and probably put them in the solution mind set.
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?

There are a lot of wonderful ideas contained in this book, 7 are to be chosen for this assessment, notwithstanding I would go on to implement the other ideas in my life as well.

Learn how to teach the Law of Attraction to Children: The law of attraction being taught correctly to children will help them develop and grow in a more spiritual conscious way, knowing that the words you use will manifest in even what you might not desire in your life. I plan to use the idea of teaching the law of attraction to children just as the writer puts it in this book in teaching my children and help them understand the law. This is the sort of lessons I believe we should be teaching our children, this would help them control the words they use and they eventually grow positive and confident.

Words that are causing you to attract what you to attract what you don’t want: Because I know I use these words frequently in my communication, I would raise my guard so I can catch myself in the act and use the antidote but this is not going to be as effective as asking someone else to help point out when I use these word so that I can reduce it usage gradually until I can eliminate it completely. To change the results I am getting now I definitely have to change and eliminate the use of these words from my vocabulary. So that I refrain from using them on myself and others since it would only attract what I don’t want.

Identify your desire: I have had challenges identifying what I wanted when it came to relationship and career path just as the author mentioned, but with what the author described in this book; using clarity through contrast method it would be easier for me to identify those desires and use it in the process of goal development. Whenever I am having challenge identifying my desire I would as the author suggested list out all that I dislike from previous experience and for each ask so what do I want, this way I would identify my desires easily.

Rewording your affirmation to make them feel better: While I was reading about this, I had to try it out because I use affirmation a lot and doesn’t always work so I had to know if this works and it felt very good. It immediately took my mind away from my doubt and gave me confidence that I was going to attain the result I wanted. Just like taking pill for pain, I would this as my pill for doubt. Whenever I have doubt creeping in to take my attention away from my goal or whenever I encounter an obstacle and feel like giving up I would turn to this. I would write the phrase “in the process” and paste it to my mirror so that I see it every morning before embarking for my daily activities.

The Desire Statement: To be able to concentrate on my goal and keep my focus on this goal I would have desire statement in place for each goal. What I hope to do is with each goal as the author explained I would identify my desire associated with such a goal and use it in producing my desire statement for each of the goals. In using the desire statement produced to keep focus, I would start by reading my desire statement weekly. If that is not effective; I read it three times in a week. This way I would be able to concentrate and focus on these goals and give it the attention required to attract it into my life.

Celebrate the Proof/Evidence: I would love to work and operate with the law of attraction and that would require that I learn to allow it manifest. This I would be doing by celebrating the proof of the law of attraction manifesting in my life. I would get a note book in which I would record whenever the law of attraction manifest in some way in my life or around, most especially towards a goal or desire of mine. And I would read often so that I continually believe in the law of attraction.

How to hold your Vibration: I have allowed my friends and family member in the past quickly lower my vibration, of which a low vibration (negative) is not appropriate. I never was aware that this had a negative influence on me and the results I was getting in my life. Now that the author has brought this to my attention; in every of my conversation I would look out for this and would not fail to guide whoever I am have a conversation with towards the direction of what they want by gently asking about what they want and continue the conversation in that direction.

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.

“Only you can decide how long briefly is.”

There was a point in my life when I had negative result consistently showing up in a particular area in my life and I felt like there was no way I was going to get away from it. I don’t even remember how I got out of that but that is in the past now. And this reminded me of that experience that I kept getting the same result because I was focusing on what I didn’t want and that was just what the law of attraction kept responding to and bringing my way.

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?

Everything written in the book is very clear and easy to understand from my own point and as such I don’t have anything that I don’t understand or unclear about. I am new to the law of attraction and I am yet to grasp the topic wholly, so there is nothing that I disagree with for now.

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 were exercises in the book for the reader to complete and I did attempt and completed every one of them. Every single one of the exercises were very helpful. They helped me understand what the author said and how to approach each idea in the book.

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.

There is nothing in the book that I would want to comment about other than those I have written about in the previous questions.

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

Goals
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The book Goals by Brian Tracy is about goal setting and most importantly goals attainment. The author explains in details the techniques one need to employ to achieve whatever the goal may be once it is greatly desire, written down in a specific, time bound manner. Technique such as time management, measuring progress, making plan, these and more were addressed in a unique way; away from the usual approach.

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

i. Determine your focus of control

The idea of determine your locus of control is important to me because; whenever I set a goal and the goal is not achieved, I look for something or someone to blame for not attaining my goal. But this idea about locus of control has points out to me that people with internal locus of control are generally optimistic and positive. They feel they are in control of their lives, self-directed.

ii. Program yourself with goals

The idea of this; is that, the subconscious mind function best with clear goal, deliberate measures and firm deadline. And that if deadlines are in place it is likely that one would not procrastinate or delay working on a goal. I noticed in the pat that when deadline approaches, I tend to be more energetic and work on a particular task without relenting until the task is complete. It is usually as if my mind becomes sharper.

iii. The formula for success

Proper prior planning prevents poor performance. Before I read this book, goal setting was just simply getting a pen and paper and then putting down whatever I desired to get within a certain time and putting it away. Sometimes, I take random action towards the attainment of some of the goals; which most times are not intentional actions. That is there is no plan to act towards the attainment of that goal. The formula for success says that I have to have a plan in place towards the attainment of my goal and that in the process of this plan that I would identify issues that if dealt with will lead to success.

iv. Practice the “ABCDE” Method

This idea is about prioritizing the activities necessary to accomplish or attain a goal by putting beside every goal letters A, B, C, D, E, this will help increase efficiency and effectiveness. Activities assigned “A” are important and has serious consequences for completion or non-completion. “B” a little mild than “A” and “C” mild compared to “B” etc. I remember some time back when I used a to-do list to manage time and organize my day, then I didn’t know that I had to arrange my list in terms of their importance. As a result, I wasn’t getting much out of my to-do list, so I abandoned the idea of a to-do list. I am now learning that I should arrange my list of activities in terms of their importance and consequences for completion.

v. The balanced scorecard

Every form of assessment makes me alert and attentive to minute detail. The idea of a balanced scorecard has suggested that I have a scoring system in place which I would use to evaluate and score my activities and progress towards my goals. I easily get carried away or lose concentration in carrying out most activities that necessary but not pleasurable doing but knowing I would be scored at the end of the day would help keep me going. Matter of fact I dislike failure and as such I would be forced to work harder to meet the required bench mark.

vi. Practice single handling on each task

I usually start a task with enthusiasm but as progress is been made somehow the enthusiasm fade off and I have an uncompleted task. This idea suggest that I having picked a task I should focus and concentrate on that task until it is 100% complete not 95% but 100%. And that when I feel like taking a break which I always do feel, I should motivate myself by saying get back to work repeatedly until I return back to the task.

vii. Set priorities on your fears

I have had fears of different kinds and I had always used affirmations to put them aside. Here is an opportunity to understand my fears, which one affects me the most putting the in the order in which they affect my actions; I have not tried this out yet but I believe that if I provide answers to these 3 question; “How does this fear hold me back in life?” “How does this fear help me, or how has it helped me in the past?” “What would be my payoff for eliminating this fear,” would greatly help me to put to rest quickly these fear and move toward my goal enthusiastically.

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?

Determine your locus of control: Now that I know that those with internal locus of control are confident, in control of their lives and self-directed; I would work at improving my internal locus of control by learning to take responsibility for the outcomes of my goals. With the idea that I am responsible for the outcomes in my life and that I can determine the direction I want my life to go; I would improve on the amount of effort I put into getting my goals and stay committed to its attainment until it is attained.

Program yourself with goals: With the knowledge that if I establish a series of measures that I can use to evaluate my progress on a goal and that this established measure will help guide me in attaining my goal and keep me actively moving towards my goal without delay or procrastinating; I would have to make changes in my goals setting approach. Previously; I use to set goals without measures to evaluate my progress, that is activities that can be done weekly or daily with deadlines and just hope that my goals would be attained without doing much. But now every of my goal would be broken down into activities that I can do daily or weekly with deadline for their completion OF each activity.

The formula for success: Proper prior planning forces one to organize their thinking and identify issues that must be dealt with to be successful and a well help one plan their actions carefully. I had previously not taken out time to sit and properly plan toward the attainment of a goal. And now that I know that this is the way to approach my goal for them to be attained faster, I would include proper prior planning into my goal setting and attainment activities. In this way I would be able to identify issues to focus more on and plan the proper use of resources, this way I would be more efficient at my goal attainment.

Practice the “ABCDE” method: This idea suggest that I should organize the activities which would have to be completed in order to attain my goal in terms of their importance and consequences for completion or non-completion. This is an idea I would not delay in implementing. At this point in my life; I need to be more organized and limit stress and worries, because attending to activities that are important and have serious consequences for completion first before others; would go a long way in reducing anxiety towards the attainment of a goal. Whenever I set a goal and after breaking the goal down into activities, I would evaluate the list of activities for their importance and assign A, B, C, D, E, accordingly. This should keep me focused on my goal and guide me in attending to the activities that are important for that goal attainment.

The balanced scorecard: I have never thought of this before or heard about it anyway; that I can and should score my progress on my goals. I know the impact this will have on me and the goals I set when I implement this. This would literally put me on my toes, forcing me out of bed early and pushing me hard until I get the needed result. I had set goal in the past that were not accomplished either I abandoned it half way and blaming circumstance around me because I didn’t have a system that help me accountable. Henceforth every goal I set, I would have a timeline for evaluation and scoring of the progress made on its attainment this should energize and keep me focused.

Practice single handling on each task: I had taken a break after writing about the balanced scorecard, mentally something told me not to leave my table but I still did, while I was away I remembered getting back to work and I started motivating myself internal to get back to work. I didn’t feel enthusiastic as initially by I got back to writing and completing this and hope to continue and eventually finish the assessment for this book. I would practice with this on other activities so that it becomes part of me which will help me respond much easier to it.
Set priorities on your fears: The knowledge of this idea has prepared me to face my fear strategically and not just trying to push it away quickly. As soon as I sense a fear, I would seek to understand what the fear is about and apply the 3 questions the author suggested; “How does this fear hold me back in life?”, “How does this fear help me, or how has it helped me in the past?”, and “What would be my payoff for eliminating this fear?” and with the answer provided by me, I should be motivated enough to continue on my task forward.

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.

“Your Subconscious mind requires a forcing system composed of deadlines that you have imposed on yourself for task accomplishment and goal attainment.”

This statement helped me answer a question that has bothered me for many years which is that “why do I read and usually fail to recall what I have read during normal course activities?” When exam time-table are published whatever course material I pick up and read, recall almost everything I read. It helped me to understand that when there are deadline in place I tend to be more focused and concentrated

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 relatively easy to read and understand as such I can comfortably say that I understand the ideas the author wrote about in this book and that there are no ideas I disagree with.

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

The book contained exercises for the reader to complete but I didn’t complete all of the exercises. Those that I completed were very helpful and I am hoping that I would go back to the book after completing my assessment of the book and complete the other exercises.

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 book is very interesting and I found it difficult resisting the urge not to implement the ideas in the book until after my assessment, I had to quickly put some idea to work before continuing with my assessment I love this book.

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

Maximum Achievement
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The main idea that the author Brian Tracy in the book maximum achievement is conveying is that there are principle, if followed strictly would lead to success. The author narrated that there are principles which if one apply and live by would ensure future success in life. If these principles are applied in the right combination and at the right order would ensure achievement of certain ideals in life. Furthermore that there are other principles which one should avoid and keep away from your thought and life, if one hopes to be successful. The effort one put in learning and applying this principle would determine the nature of result one would get.

i. Taking it Back

This idea is one that held a lot of interest for me. As a kid I wondered why my dad would wrongfully punish me and when he eventually finds out that he was wrong, would not want to acknowledge that he had wrong me. As a kid I was really hurt by this and would be upset with my dad. Whenever I had the opportunity to get even; I take my opportunity. Most time I felt he wasn’t fair in his treatment towards me, I only needed him to acknowledge that he wronged me not even to apologies because I had accepted that adults don’t apologies to kids.

ii. The Law of Expectation

As the author puts it; “what we get is not what we want but what we expect. What we expect confidently becomes our self-prophecy.” I have applied this principle (law) unknowingly and unintentionally and the results too have come in haphazardly. Whenever I expected something without doubt and went about it expecting the result just as I have expected it to be. And the results are just as I was expecting. Other times I expected something and my approach towards it doesn’t produce the expected result. This law has taught me that I am to expect and confidently approach matters knowing that at the end I would achieve the expected result.

iii. Homeostasis

The author described homeostasis impulse as another term for comfort zone. And this trend to keep us doing things and acting in way that we have consistently done before. Whenever we try something different that feels uncomfortable to us, we abandon that and return to what is comfortable for us. I agree with the author when he says most people achieve for less than they are capable of because whenever I am comfortable I refuse change, even though there are issue and would strive to remain there rather than being awkward in a better situation. I like the comfort my home provides me and I have been very reluctant leaving and looking for job where the pay is better.

iv. Peace of mind

I used to be focused on the happiness of others and would put in a lot of effort to make others happy not minding the cost on me. And when I needed others to assist me get some peace of mind, they ignore me and focus on their business. I soon learnt that no one is bothered about my peace of mind, matter of fact they do not notice whether my peace of mind disturbed. I am to focus on my peace of mind and not to wait for anyone to assist me. In order to do that; I am to eliminate negative people, situations and emotions that make me unhappy.

v. Stimulating super-conscious activity

I find mediating challenging because I really don’t know how to go about it. The author seem to have presented me with an alternative to meditating which is easier and straight forward for me; sitting still for an hour and let my mind wander until it settle and become focused. When I experimented with this idea the result was wonderful, I enjoyed the whole experience.

vi. Pass it on

I love listening to others problems and offering them advise on what to do. I honestly thought what I was doing was helpful until I read this section of the book where the author stated that the advice which I offered might not be wanted and would probably be ignored. And that in such a situation I should empathize with the person involved and let them know that they are responsible politely and that they should fix the issue themselves.

vii. The Law of Forgiveness

I used to hold grudge against anyone who hurt me and this didn’t serve me well because this make it easy for me to get angry and to be angry most times. At a point I decided to stop holding on to those hurts and pain, instead I focused on my life and put in effort towards my success and this usually changed my mood. The author has helped me reinforced the need to forgive when he stated that “to fulfill your potential, to develop your full mental capacities and to liberate your emotional and spiritual energies, you absolutely must forgive everyone who has ever hurt you in any way.”

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?

Taking it Back: As a kid I wondered why adults don’t apologies when they wrong kids. Several years after, as an adult I do understand that the ego of an adult would prevent him from apologizing to anyone who they might have perceived to be inferior to them not to speak of kids. Knowing how I felt as a kid I have tried a lot to avoid repeating the treatment I was given, on other kids. I have had to apologies to kids whom I had punished and it didn’t affect our relationship. As a matter of fact, it strengthened our relationship in some cases. It never occurred to me that I could use this with my kids. Because of my experience and how it affected my relationship with my dad, I would work at putting the relationship between me and my kids ahead of my ego and apologies to them whenever I wrong them.

The Law of Expectation: What we expect confidently become our self-prophesy. I would go about my day to day activity expecting the best to happen to me and I would do this confidently. I would review any expectation that might not serve me positively and hold high and positive expectations of myself. As the author stated in the book, to improve my expectation in any area of my life when it is challenging; I would repeat this statement 50 times as a mantra before embarking on my daily activities “I believe something wonderful is going to happen to me today.”

Homeostasis: All growth and progress require you to move out your comfort zone in the direction of something bigger and better and that success and happiness are only possible for you when you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable; these are the statement the author made in the book which I agree with totally. I am completing my third assessment in 3 weeks because I was willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable away from the comfort of my home. I would refuse to settle down in new comfort zones, once it occurs to me that I am beginning to be comfortable, I would seek areas that I would change to feel awkward so that I change and keep growing and not remain static at a position for too long.

Peace of Mind: My focus has to change from others peace of mind and happiness to my peace of mind and happiness and not hurting others in the process. Whenever I observe that I am unhappy I would identify what is causing me to be unhappy and stay away from it or eliminate what is causing me to be unhappy. I would completely avoid worrying about any situation most especially the once I feel I cannot handle and whoever hurts or cause me to get angry because I am responsible for how I respond; I would respond by forgiving this person and focus on other business.

Stimulating Super-Conscious Activity: There are times when I am faced with a tough situation which will normally stress me up because I don’t seem to be coming up with solution and when I think of meditation, either I don’t do it right; it doesn’t work. This idea of sitting still for an hour which I experimented with immediately worked for me. When I am faced with a challenging situation before approaching the problem I would sit still for an hour while reflecting on the problem to stimulate my super conscious mind before approaching the problem.

Pass it On: People are used to sharing their problems with me and in my usual manner listen to them and offer advice as to what is best to do as I perceive at the time. I know telling them out rightly that they are responsible would be difficult for most of them initially but I know that is the best thing to do. Whenever a problem is brought to me by a friend; I would listen as usual but this time I would refrain from advising but would let them understand that they are responsible and would encourage them to fix whatever the issue might be.

The Law of Forgiveness: The author mentioned that our outer world reflects our true inner world, because we attract people and circumstances that harmonize with our dominant thought, and because we become what we think about, my ability to forgive quickly is the one indispensable quality I have to develop. Even though I know the benefit of forgiving others, I find it challenging doing that quickly and this uses a lot of my mental energy as well as waste my time thinking of how to get even instead of focusing on what is important to me which are my goals. The author mentioned some methods which I would adopt to help me forgive others quickly like the letter technique which I would employ immediately because I have noticed that when I am angry and I write the anger goes through the pen to paper and I feel free.

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.

“Life is hard.”

I agree with the author that life is hard. I have had plans, worked positively toward my plan but failed to get the desired result. This failure have helped in strengthening me mentally. Growing up I saw my dad struggle to provide for his children and now I am an adult and that has not changed for me, I too have to struggle to meet my goals.

“When you are ready, the desired changed will occur.”

This is similar to a statement in real magic by Dr. Wayne Dyer; when the student is ready the teacher would arrive. I have had desires for something and would struggle to get it over and over but fail. And when it finally arrive, it is usually at the right time because when I reflect back to when I desired it, I most times was not ready for it. I sometimes think of it being a want at the time I desired it and when it actually becomes a need it arrives. I tend not to struggle too much this days but work towards my plan positively.

“Do what you can, with what you have, right where you are.”

I have always heard that start small. A journey of a 1000 miles start with a step. To be useful in life I should start with what I know now, with all I have learnt up to this point and make progress forward. With what I know now I might be able to achieve little but it has to be in the right direction.

“Your attitude is determined by your expectation.”

Positive or negative attitude is determined by your expectation of how the world would treat you. It didn’t occur to me that my expectation affects my attitude, though I just believe I am born optimistic. I have and will always look at the bright side of life, even when I had a tragic loss I was optimistic that things were going to be alright. I didn’t know that it was my expectation that kept me positive all through.

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?

There is nothing in the book that I do not understand; the content and the principle in the book are clear to me. The ideas and principle seem easy to implement.

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

There were exercises for the reader to complete. I completed some of them and they were very helpful, such that they helped me understand the ideas and principles better and how to go about implementing the ideas and principles in the book.

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.

There is nothing I read in the book and that I would like to comment about that has not already been dealt with in the previous questions.

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

Nonviolent Communication
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The main idea the author expressed in his book the nonviolent communication a language of life is that; there is a different way to express oneself that does not carry a form of negative emotions that will affect compassionate relationship. The author explained that one can express him or herself in a non-judgmental way by focusing on what one is observing and expressing how one is feeling as a result of what they have observed. And that we can also receive others message in a non-judgmental way by focusing on what the speaker may be observing and/or how they may be feeling. Nonviolent communication is a four part system of communicating compassionately.

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 they were important to you. Use your personal examples from your own life.

i. Observing without Evaluation

This is important to me because the author made me understand that to experience a compassionate communication, I have to remove evaluation from my communication and turn my attention towards what I was observing the other person saying, while focusing on their feelings and needs in the words they us. Trying this idea out myself helped me to validate what the author wrote in the book about focusing on feelings and needs which helped keep even heated argument between me and others positive and my emotion positive as well.

ii. Identifying and Expressing Feelings

Pointing to how I am feeling has been a challenge to me. I usually find it difficult expressing my feelings to others. I most times think that I am expressing my feelings but it is not usually the case because the use of this phrase “feel that” most times in my communication. My vocabulary for expressing my feelings is so limited that I was amazed that there are these much words to express feelings. The words I use in my communication to express feelings; which I thought I was actually doing; expressing my feelings was pointed to me in this book that these were actually evaluation and not expression of feelings.

iii. Taking Responsibility for our Feelings

I grew up enjoying the feelings of blaming others for almost everything bad that happened to me. For most part of my life option 2 has been a default for me; which is blaming others when I get negative feedback, other times I blame myself. The author, using this book has taught me a different approach to negative messages. One approach is to sense the needs and feelings of mine that are not being met. More powerful was the approach of focusing on the needs and feelings of the other person. This will enable me respond positively to the other person.

iv. Requesting that which would Enrich Life

I get upset easily when I instruct for to be done and it is not done. Now in this book I am introduced to a better way of requesting that has better chance of being carried out. I use to request in a way to me which was clear but now I know why most times they are not carried out; they were usually vague and unclear about the particular action to be taken. Requesting that enriches life has to be in a clear positive action language. The particular action that would lead to our needs being met.

v. Receiving Empathically

I usually listen to people challenges and offer them advise at some point. In my listening, I only identify where they did something wrong and then advise them on what they needed to do next time. And this idea of receiving empathically has taught me to empty myself by just being there without any form of preconceived ideas in my mind. And listen to what the other person is observing, needing, the feelings involved and what they are requesting. This will enable me to truly listen and help my understanding of others better.

vi. The Protective Use of Force

Growing up I had the opportunity to experience punitive measure to correct me from the wrong I did at the time. I was flogged every single time I did wrong, to the point I got used to the pain of the cane; I became immune to physical pain. To me, the only way to correcting a child who did wrong is by flogging the child. Even though the turning point in my life wasn’t influenced by a cane; but by my introduction to karma that really changed me. When I read about what the author is with those student, I suddenly had a shift in my view of the use of punitive force.

vii. Liberating Ourselves and Counseling Others

I have struggled to keep out the thought in my mind that I have failed or under performed from distracting me but it keeps coming back in different form. I never knew what to do about it other than being positive and using affirmations. This has persisted because a certain need has not been met. If I pay attention to the feeling and the need that are unmet in those thoughts, I could transform it into a statement that state clearly what I truly want.

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?

Observing without evaluation: This idea would help improve my communication with others by helping me to focus on their feelings and needs rather than evaluating or judging them. Because this idea helps to keep my emotions positive by focusing on feelings and need, I would put this inscription FOCUS ON FEELINGS AND NEEDS on my dressing mirror and desk in office to remind me to always focus on the feelings and needs expressed by others. This will help me make the change from the old way of communicating to the new in due time.

Identifying and expressing feelings: I loved the fact that these number of new words to express feelings are introduced to me in this book. This word would help me communicate in a different way with my feelings expressed clearly using the appropriate word for the feeling. Some of these words are new to me in expressing feelings. I would study them and their proper usage and gradually introduce them into my communication; this would help improve my communication.

Taking responsibility for our feelings: I now know that, whatever other do or say is not the cause of my feelings (anger), they are just stimulus and that the cause lies in my unmet needs or feelings. In order to control and understand my feelings, I would focus my attention on my needs or feelings in every situation so that it becomes part of me to identify the needs and feelings associated with my actions either verbally or nonverbal. Once I can start identifying my needs and feelings easily, I would move to the next stage of identifying the needs and feelings associated with others actions as this would help me understand what is going on inside them.

Requesting that which would enrich life: most of my request have been vague even when I make request of myself, it is usually in the form of what I don’t want and most times I don’t get to do what I want. I would change my approach to making request, by making request with positive action language; clearly specifying the action that would lead to my needs being met. I would start this with request made to myself and then progress to requesting from others in positive action language.

Receiving empathically: Understanding others has been very challenging for me and now I know the reason why. It is because I lacked the knowledge that I had to listen to what they were observing, feeling, needing or requesting rather than being in a hurry to respond to what I was hearing them saying. I know it is quiet challenging but I would love to at all times even in tensed situation, listen to what the other person is observing, needing, feeling and requesting. I believe when I am used to listening to others like this, it would reduce the number of times I feel hurt by what others say to me.

The protective use of force: I have had to use punitive force on others and it is easier and quick in trying to correct others. But certainly not the best approach because even after the use of punitive measure on others I feel hurt inside, knowing I have caused someone to go through pain and It most times affects our relationship at least for a while. Whenever I need to use force to correct, my focus would be to educate rather than punish, since the shift in my own behavior; was as a result of the education given to me on the law of karma. I would try to identify the needs of others which they are trying to fulfill with such action and together come up with alternative to meeting their needs.

Liberating ourselves and counseling others: I am usually faced with internal conflict on certain decision to take or a direction to move towards. And this keeps me from taking any meaningful action or even getting anything done, which results in me blaming myself further. The author showed me how to relief this by rewording those thought using “when ____, I feel ____, because I am needing ___. Therefore I now would like ___.” This requires me to identify what I am feeling and the need of mine that is not being met. I would be using this a lot in resolving this constant conflict in my head.

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.

“Feel with the word that.”

I use this often when referring to feelings, and the author pointed out that “feel that” does not refer to feeling but opinion; if I remove the phrase from my communication when referring to feeling, would help me in improving my identification of feeling and communication skill.

“I only identify what I don’t want to do, without clarifying what I do want to do.”

I have always found it challenging, clearly identifying what I want but what I don’t want has always been easy for me to identify. This help emphasis the impact of clearly identifying what I want just as I learned from the book the law of attraction.

“I should have known better or I shouldn’t have done that.”

When I used to be involved in the blame game, this was frequently in my thought blaming myself and self-pity as well as regret for what I should have done. This just reminded me of how I used to be when I was full of regret. And the beauty of leaving that behind.

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 message in the book is very clear and was easy for me to understand.

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 were exercises in the book and I attempted every one of them. The exercises were very helpful as in the sense that they made it easy for me to understand the ideas contained in the book.

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.

There is nothing else I read that I would want to comment about.

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

Leadership for Dummies
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The main idea this book is addressing is that of leadership. The what, why and how of leadership. The authors said; the key abilities of a leader are attentive listening, elicitation of others cooperation and placing the needs of others above his or her own needs. The authors then take it a step further by giving details of what a leader need to do in order to demonstrate these abilities. Most importantly is that leadership is about responsibility, that is a leader has to step forward and take the responsibility of leading.

i. Responsibility and Accountability

I remember my first and second call to lead; when the calls came I wasn’t willing to step forward and take responsibility as a matter of fact I rejected the role but I was persuaded to take up the roles. The authors state that leadership starts with stepping forward to take responsibility and being accountable to the group one intend to lead.

ii. Plot Your SWOT

I have struggled in the past with applying SWOT. I knew what SWOT is and how it can help me but I never fully grasp how to apply SWOTt after listing out the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. This grid format for presenting SWOT and the way the authors described it usage has made it easy for me to apply SWOT in most situation and with myself before taking on a task.

iii. Size Yourself Up – Fairly

This was important to me because it taught me how to identify my skills using my previous accomplishment. Skills such as the ones listed by the authors had been very challenging for me to assess myself properly because I didn’t know what they were and how to go about it. I also learnt how to assess the effect of the leadership skills on my personal skills and this has helped me to see why I am at the level I am at currently and things to work on.

iv. Eliciting Cooperation from Others

I usually work very well within a team, carrying out my assigned task as well as doing little such as assisting others on the team complete theirs. But when asked to lead a term I struggle a lot because I find it difficult seeking other people cooperation so I just carry on alone trying to complete as much as the team is meant to complete hope that others would join in late, sometimes they do join in. The lesson here for me is to communicate properly the benefit of achieving the vision and requesting that we work hard now to accomplish it.

v. Delegating to your team

Being the first of 3 children, it’s expected that I should be able to delegate very well (born to lead) but that is not the case with me as I find it very disturbing to ask someone to complete a task that I can do to some extent. I often feel sad when I see someone carrying out their task grudgingly. From what I have learnt here if I am going to delegate, I should delegate task to the right people; those who are willing to take responsibility, those whose strength match the task as hand. And carry out a SWOT of the important people on my team would help identify individual strengths.

vi. Diplomacy Nurtures the Grass Roots

Diplomatic skills is one that I really want to have and use. Reading this reminded me of a time when most members of my team would not agree on the way forward and instead of stepping in diplomatically by applying diplomacy, I got carried away and allow negative emotions of anger rule. The group finally separated with every member going their way. So when I was reading this I thought to myself; how I wish I had known about this 10 years ago, it would have meant a big deal to me and the team. So this is an important skill I need to learn.

vii. Defining Missions and Goals

The importance of mission is again stated in this book though different from the mission statement in the book Goal Setting 101. It further emphasizes the importance of being on a mission. Goals without a strategy or reason for its accomplishment make a mission difficult to accomplish. My ability to accomplish my goals have been limited largely due to the fact that I ignore including the reason and strategy for accomplishing the goals which I have stated.

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?

Responsibility requires that I step forward to take up leadership role and since I desire to develop my leadership skill, I would constantly be looking out to identify situations or circumstance that require a leader to step forward. So that I can start trying out the leadership skills I have learnt in leadership position which have low consequences for failure.

Sometimes I encounter challenging situation and most time I get discouraged or even give up all together. But with this grid format of viewing SWOT which gives me a quick pictorial view of things I should take advantage of as well as the things I need to improve on. Preparing SWOT this way can easily motivate me to put in the effort needed to complete a task. I have to study it a little more so I can get a step by step approach to this method of SWOT analysis.

I learned to identify skills that I wasn’t aware of and I would put that knowledge to work by identifying accomplishment that would help me identify other skills I might have. After identifying these skills, I would use the personal inventory of skills grid to help me assess the impact my leadership skills had on my personal skills. It is difficult for most of us to identify the skills that we don’t use frequently. I plan to teach this to those younger than myself as well as my peers, on how to identify their own skills through their accomplishment and help them see the impact their leadership skills had on the development of those skills. I could but not sure yet about taking this to the schools within my locality.

The success of any team requires that every member of the team move in the same direction. And this make eliciting the cooperation of the members of a team important and vital. I would improve my communication of the team’s vision by linking the needs of the team to the benefit the achievement of the vision would bring and work on improving my delegation skill, this will enable delegation task to team members efficiently and getting their commitment to completing the task assigned to them.

Hopefully I would start learning to delegate little task to some persons I trust and would follow-up to see that the task is completed. I would be looking at trust first because those I trust to complete task would most likely do and that would boast me emotionally and increase the prospect that I would delegate more in the future. After, I have mastered the emotion involved, I would assess the strength and weakness of those close to me so that I can move to the next phase in learning to delegate by delegating task according to the strength of those close to me, and in areas that I might be weak in . I hope by the time I have done this for some time I would be comfortable delegating task in a formal team setting.

Reflecting on the failures I had experienced with the team back in 2008 and the fact that presently I am not leading a team, I would still try out diplomacy in a one to one relationship with friends and colleagues at work so that I get to understand how this approach works. This will allow me to learn the skill in situation in which consequences are not high. I have tried some form of diplomacy over the years but when my approach fails to persuade others to shift grounds I get upset and abandon the whole thing. I think in order to be successful at this I would identify the needs of others so that a compromise can always be reached between their needs and the teams or my need.

The mission statement mentioned in Goal Setting 101 was personal and this one mentioned in leadership for dummies is more of a group thing but I am looking at the possibility of trying it out on my personal goals, this should enable me to learn to always state the reason or strategy for achieving every goal. This will make it a part of me and when I am given the opportunity to lead a team it would be easy for me when setting direction for the team to follow, to always state both the goal and the strategy for accomplishing the goal.

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.

“He or She buys time to assess a situation, trying to figure out exactly the right thing to say or do to bring agreement or movement toward a goal.”

Over the years as maturity sets in for me; I have noticed this change in me whereby I tend to take a lot of time to think about the things or situations that bothered me and the options I have in dealing with it in a positive manner. I am more interested in the consequence of these options available to me. This has helped to keep me calm in tensed situation most times.

“You gather information and intelligence and carefully put it together. Only then do you make your presentation, relying more on the facts to help you make your case than on an appeal to vision.”

I have most times used this approach and because it is a slow process, I didn’t like it. I have tried doing away with it and I noticed that I have struggled even more with me. I delighted knowing that even though I have a weakness in eliciting cooperation I could use this approached as an aid in helping me improve on my elicitation skill.

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?

In this book I came across this statement. “Often, goals are misstated so that the mission isn’t obvious.” And I am wondering if a goal is stated SMART-ly could it by chance be misstated? Because I know that if a goal is specific, Measurable and Realistic then the mission should be obvious.

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 were exercises in the book and I attempted every one of them. The exercises helped me to understand the ideas contained in the book.

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.

There is nothing else I read that I would want 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? 7
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
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

Unlimited Power
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

I think the main idea the author is conveying in this book is the importance and the proper use of communication to get the results we desire. He pointed out in this book how effective communication can cause us to take the necessary action that would produce our desired outcomes. And that we communicate in two forms; that is, the internal communication where we picture, say or feel and external communication comprising of physical actions, facial expression, and body posture. The author made me understand that with my communication I can model the successes of others by observing the way they communicate using their body and eliciting their internal communication. The author also points out that beliefs are the pre-arranged, organized filters to our perceptions of the world and that beliefs are like commanders of the brain. Through our beliefs the brain can receive commands to act in a certain way. While our values are our beliefs system about right, wrong, good and bad; and that if our values are not clear, it would be difficult to respond to.

i. The Seven Lives of Success

This caught my attention because most of the beliefs the author discussed in this chapter are beliefs I am currently working on such as; everything happens for a reason and a purpose and it serves us; this belief has helped me over the years to be hopeful and optimistic no matter the circumstance, I look forward to my desired outcome. The belief on whatever happens, take responsibility, there’s no abiding success without commitment, which the author made mention of, are currently the beliefs I am trying instill in myself. He said that successful people believe that the world around them did not just happen and that they made it happen the way it is irrespective of if it meet their desired outcome or not. But the one that has the most impact for me and one which I would always remember this book for, is that; there is no such thing as failure. There are only results. Whenever I said to myself that I had failed at something, my thought just goes to sleep, I never feel like making any attempt again but applying this idea to previous experiences I had labeled as failure only this time viewing them as results of my actions at that time instantly made me want to try other ways to accomplish my desired outcome.

ii. Energy: The Fuel of Excellence

In this chapter of the book there are two principles the author talked about that are important to me. Where he mentioned in the power of breathe, that the foundation of health is a healthy blood stream, the system that transports oxygen and other nutrients to all the cells of the body and that if you have a healthy circulation system, you’re going to live a long, healthy life. He also mentioned that the environment is the blood stream and that the control button for the system is breathing. Breathing is the way to fully oxygenate the body and thus stimulate the electrical process of each and every cell as well as control the flow of the lymph fluid. The body’s cells depend on the lymph system as the only way to drain off the large toxic materials and excess fluid which restrict the amount of oxygen. Also that deep breathing and muscular movement activates the lymph system. Another is the principle of effective fruit consumption, where the author mentioned that fruit is the most perfect food and that it takes the least amount of energy to digest and give the body the most in return. Fruit is primarily fructose and it’s mostly often 90-95% water which means it cleanses and nurtures at the same time. Fruit are to be eaten on an empty stomach this is because fruit are primarily digested in the small intestine and not the stomach. The presence of meat or starchy in the stomach would hinder the fruit from going straight to the intestine, it would be trapped in the stomach and begins to ferment.

iii. Limitation Disengaged – What do you Want

The author made a statement which caught my attention; that the unconscious mind is constantly processing information in such a way as to move us in a particular direction and that even at the unconscious level, the mind is distorting, deleting, and generalizing. So before the mind can work efficiently, we must develop our perception of the outcome we expect to reach. When the mind has a defined target, it can focus and direct and refocus and redirect until it reaches its intended goal. The difference in people’s abilities to fully tap their personal resources is directly affected by their goals. The author mentioned that in other to disengage limitation; one has to take these five steps and they are as follows; stating your outcome in positive terms, being as specific as possible, having an evidence procedure, being in control and verify that your outcome is ecologically sound and desirable. The author went further to give a unique 12 step approach to goal setting. This method is unique to me because of the way he suggests the use of the five rules for formulating outcomes.

iv. Distinctions of Excellence: Meta Programs

To be a master communicator in both business and personal life, you have to know how to find the right key. And Meta programs are the keys to the way we process information. Meta programs are the internal programs we use in deciding what to pay attention to. People have patterns of behavior and they have patterns by which they organize their experience to create those behaviors. Only through understanding those mental patterns can you expect to get your message across. The author mentioned a couple of meta programs common to individuals but two meta programs caught my attention the most and they are; moving towards something or moving away and the sorting by self or sorting by others. And these caught my attention because I easily related to them. I could recall when I acted based on any one of them in the past. And it was exciting for me to be able to identify the Meta program that influences me. Other Meta program which the author mentioned that I sometime act with are; the external and internal frame of reference, matchers and mismatches, and possibility versus necessity Meta program.

v. Anchoring Yourself to Success

According to the author, anchoring is the most effective technique for constructively channeling our powerful unconscious reactions so that they are always at our disposal. Anchoring is a way to ensure that we always have access to our greatest resources. The author noted that we all anchor regularly in fact, it is impossible not to. All anchoring is a created association of thoughts, ideas, feelings or states with a specific stimulus. We live in a stimulus/response world; where much of human behavior consists of unconscious programmed responses. Anchors are created whenever a person is in an intense state where the mind and body are strongly involved together and a specific stimulus is consistently and simultaneously provided at the peak of the states, the stimulus and the state become neurologically linked. One of the things that affects the power of an anchor is the intensity of the original state. Most of us are anchored utterly haphazardly. We are bombarded with messages from television, radio, and everyday life-some become anchored others don’t. If we are in a powerful state – either good or bad when we come in contact with a particular stimulus, chances are that it will become anchored. Consistency of a stimulus is a powerful linkage or anchoring tool. There are four keys to effective anchor and they are; the intensity of the state the person is in, the timing for the introduction of stimulus has to be at the peak of that experience, the stimulus has to be unique and finally replication of stimulus until it is firmly anchored.

vi. Reframing the Power of Perspective

The meaning of any experience in life depends upon the frame we put around it. And this is important to me because I have observed that thing that got me upset at a particular time didn’t get me upset at other times and I noticed that the difference was in how I perceived the situation. So changing the frame, the context, the meaning also changes instantly. And reframing entails putting the best frame on any experience, this is effective for personal changes. There are ways to see our biggest problems as our greatest opportunity, if only we can step out of our trained patterns of perception. Our past experiences regularly filter our ability to see what is really happening in the world. The key to success in life is to consistently represent your experience in ways that supports you in producing even greater results for yourself and others. Reframing is crucial to learning how to communicate with ourselves and with others. Most reframing is done for us and we react to it. Leaders and all other great communicators are masters of the art of reframing. They know how to motivate and empower people by taking anything that happens and making it a model for possibility which is something I would love to do as well.

vii. Value Hierarchies: The Ultimate Judgment of Success

The author defined value as our own private, personal, and individual beliefs about what is most important to us. Our values are things we fundamentally need to move towards. That feeling of congruity, or personal wholeness ad unity, come from the sense that we are fulfilling our values by our present behavior. Most of our values have been programmed through this punishment-reward technique. Our values changes when we change goals or self-image. There is no real success except in keeping with your basic values. Values are the overriding factor that causes congruence or incongruence, cause people to be motivated or not. Changing someone’s values hierarchy can have huge implication that may not be immediately apparent. It is usually best to start by discovering a person’s evidence procedure and changing his perception of whether he is achieving his values before actually changing the ladder of importance.

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 Seven Lies of Success: Since I read about the fact that successful people don’t communicate failure to their brain but rather view product of their actions as being results; I stopped thinking thought of failure and now I view product of my actions as results and this helped me to continually try until I get the desired outcome. This means that I would have to make changes to my approach to an activity such as making changes to how I spend my time(time management), to my thought, plans etc. I have heard just like the author stated that there is no great success without great commitment and this is one belief need to work on; that if I am committed enough towards a goal I might achieve my desired outcome. I need to be more committed and view outcomes as results not failure or success.

Energy: The Fuel of Excellence. I never knew that how I breathe affected my well being (health). Whenever I hear someone say they want to perform a breathing exercise, I think to myself; what a waste of time. And as I became convinced by its importance and health benefit, I have been practicing deep breathing 3 times in a day and 2 days in the week. Just as the author described it and have noticed that this has helped improve my exercising. It was magical to me when I first tried the idea of fresh fruit on an empty stomach because within a short while after eating the fruit I felt energized, the urge for food disappeared. And for this reason I would always eat fresh fruit on an empty stomach when I need energy quickly.

Limitation Disengaged: What do you Want? I have always been interested in different and more efficient ways to goal achievement. And wherever I see goal setting, I always take a look at it because I believe it would always contain something new for me. And in this case I have learnt a lot of new ideas and old ideas are refreshed about goal setting which I hope to include in my goal setting technique. The five rules for formulating outcomes is one of such new ideas I would include in my next goal setting. Most especially the part of being specific, how I would relate with the goal through my senses and the evidence procedure; how I would know I have achieved my goal. Another idea I would want to include in my goal setting approach is that of writing down in a few paragraph what is preventing me from having the things I desire right now. Most importantly, including the first draft of a step-by-step plan on how to achieve my goal which is something I would love to do because this has always been very challenging for me to do.

Distinctions of Excellence: Meta Programs. Because I tend to use one or more of these Meta program in my decisions and actions, with this information about myself I would be able to communicate to myself in a way that would motivate me to act. Such as taking decision that I use to view as being difficult. This would also help me in handling others such that once I identify their Meta program, I could explore this to get the person to act in ways that are not harmful themselves but in a way that would be beneficial to both of us. Hopefully, I would identify the Meta programs I use the most and observe and examine if they serve me in achieving my desired outcomes and if they would be of use to me in the future. Whenever I am not satisfied with any Meta program, I would take the necessary action to change them.

Anchoring Yourself to Success: The fact that anchoring can take place without me being conscious of it; is scary. Because I watch TV a lot as well as use the social media; and these are potential medium where anchoring could be initiated. There are empowering states, I would love to experience always and be able to change to whenever I want to. And in order to do that, I would have to deliberately anchor them. I am looking at trying the processes the author described for anchoring, that is; I would have to clarify the specific outcome I desire to use an anchor for and the specific state that will have the greatest effect in supporting the achievement of that outcome. Calibrate baseline experience, get into desired state, use sensory acuity to determine when the state is at peak and then provide the anchor; finally we test the anchor. I would try this and make necessary adjustment until I successfully anchor some states that are empowering to me.

Reframing: The Power of Perspective: The frames which I have used over the years to view situations and opportunities would have to change, this is because most of the frames did not serve me. I have to start using new frame that would serve me. Since I have I learnt from this book how to change frame, I would start using this technique in reframing in simple situation. This is because this new to me and I have to get used to doing it easily. And the first frame I would be changing would be, the frame of what outcomes means; most especially that failures are results and nothing else. This should help me learn from the situation and change certain things so that I can come up with the desired outcome.

Value Hierarchies: The Ultimate Judgment of Success. I have not given my values attention, that is I am not very clear on what my values are and when I was reading this chapter of the book, I could see why I have been getting haphazard results. And this could be as a result of conflict in my values which has prevented me from taking certain actions that could lead to more success for me. And this is obvious with the case of me leaving my blind dad at home without someone to care for him so that I can go off in search for a better paying job and this feels terrible to me. I hope to use this idea to get clarity on my values and arrange them in terms of their importance to me. This should help me in taking decisions that would empower me as well as help me set goals that I would work toward their accomplishment congruently.

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.

“Nothing has any meaning except the meaning we give it.”

This emphasized the point further that how I react to situation is from the inside; how I have interpreted the situation to be rather than how it is, means that I could always be in control if I choose to give positive meaning to things in such a way that would serve me.

“What a person believes, what he thinks is possible or impossible, to a great extent determine what he can or cannot do.”

This has been true for me in so many situation, whenever I thought of something as being impossible, I immediately notice that my thought become flat, it become normal for me not to try, possibility thought just seem to be lacking.

“Almost everything people want is some possible state.”

When I first saw this I immediately disagreed but when I gave it a little thought I couldn’t help but agree. With example the author gave of money, helped me put all doubt to rest. I, just like some others have associated physical things to some state we desire and in achieving these things we also experience these states.

“People who fear failure make internal representation of what might not work in advance.”

This correctly describe what goes on inside me, I tend to focus too much on what might not work and this sometimes prevents me from acting. With what I have learnt in this book I should start changing this.

“One of the constant in life is that results are always being produced. If you don’t consciously decide what results you want to produce and represent things accordingly, then some external trigger- a conversation, a TV show, whatever-may create states that create behaviors that do not support you.”

This is obvious to me now, back then when I didn’t have goals, just about anything could move me in any direction and because I was not deliberately choosing the kind of state I wanted to experience.

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?

There is nothing in the book to which I need clarification about, I understood the message and I do not have any doubt but hope to try these ideas out and experience it first hand.

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?

The book contained a lot of lovely exercises that would help in the understanding and working of the idea contained in the book. I didn’t really going into details with each of the exercise but I did a quick mental exercise of each. And I enjoyed these exercises and I decided that after I submit the assessment of this book, I would go back to each exercise; most especially those I would be using now and do these exercises in details so that I get a hold on it.

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.

There is nothing else I read that I would want to comment about.

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

The Monk who Sold his Ferrari
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The main idea I think the author conveyed in this book to me is the enormous potentials we have inside of us that if put to use would change our lives almost instantly. And that anyone can change at any time to start living their lives on purpose by attaining self-mastery in the working of the mind, body and soul and living according to the 7 virtues which he explained in the book. The method he used in conveying this ideas helped me to visualize the whole thing which makes it easy for me to remember those points, the garden representing the mind and that if we cultivate and nurture our mind it will blossom beyond our expectations. And the lighthouse reminds me to live a life of purpose and that clearly defined priorities and goals can serve similar role as a lighthouse in tough times. The sumo wrestler represents to me continuous self-improvement and personal expansion and this has to involve the body, mind, and soul. While the pink wire cable reminds me of the power of self-control and discipline in one’s life, it generally reminds me of the importance to exercise restraint in my daily life. And time is so important that nothing else matters if we don’t have time. A well-managed would lead to a well-managed life and this is represented by the stop watch. And the life of service to others is what the fresh yellow rose reminds me of, that when we serve others we also enrich ourselves. While the path of diamonds reminds me to live and enjoy the present moment because I cannot change the past and the future is yet to come. And the way the author links the elements kind of show a path to achieving success in one’s life, if carefully followed. The author did a nice job with this book; laying out the path to success using simple terms which made the book easy to understand and follow.

i. A Most Extraordinary Garden

One of the idea in this book which is important to me is this idea about the power of the mind. In which the author stated that, the mind if properly care for and nurtured would blossom far beyond our expectation. And if not properly cared for, lasting peace of mind and deep inner harmony will always elude me. He also mentioned that to live life to the fullest; I must stand guard at the gate of my garden and let only the very best information get in. As well as, that a properly managed life is as a result of a managed mind. Through conditioning will, can one attain mental mastery and when we dedicate ourselves to transforming our inner world our life quickly changes from the ordinary into the realm of the extraordinary. And the way we view and interpret the happenings of the world, if consistently positive would move our lives into the highest dimension. Even though I have made a lot of progress as a result of my IIGL studies in guarding against holding negative thoughts in my mind, there are still a lot I need to learn and the ideas the author shared in this book are simple and easy to implement.

ii. Kindling your Inner Fire

This made an impression on me when the author stated that the purpose of life is a life of purpose; saying that those who are truly enlightened know what they want out of life, emotionally, materially, physically and spiritually. Clearly defined priorities and goals for every aspect of life will serve a role similar to that played by the lighthouse, offering guidance and refuge when the sea becomes rough. And that I would need to set goals and priorities in all areas of my life as against my current approach of setting goals only in areas of my life in which I have challenges that are causing me to worry frequently. The author also noted that lasting happiness comes from steadily working to accomplish our goals and advancing confidently in the direction of our life’s purpose and not sacrificing those things which are most important for those things which are least important. The author also emphasized the importance of writing down our goals and visualizing them when he stated that you will never be able to hit a target that you cannot see. This is an area I need to put in more effort; writing down my goals and visualizing them being accomplished.

iii. The Ancient Art of Self-Leadership

The ancient art of self-leadership is also important to me and the author called this ancient philosophy of constant and never-ending improvement; Kaizen. And that it is a personal trademark of every man and woman who is living a soaring, fully awakened existence. The author also stated that success on the outside begins with success on the inside. When one invest time into building a strong character full of discipline, energy, power and optimism, one can have anything and do anything one wants in his outer world. And when one has cultivated a deep sense of faith in their abilities and an indomitable spirit nothing can stop him from succeeding in all their pursuits and living with great reward. Taking the time to master one’s mind, to care for the body and to nourish ones soul will put him in a position to develop more richness and vitality in life. I love this concept of never-ending and constant improvement but I have not been able to do that on a consistent bases. I usually start working on improving myself and my situation only when I notice that I have reached the ceiling at a particular point in my personal growth. I would really love to put this into practice and see how it works out. The author also made a case for the importance of building strength of character, developing mental toughness and living with courage. That living with courage allows one to do whatever they want because they know it is right and courage also gives one self-control to persist where others have failed. The degree of courage one has ultimately determine the amount of fulfillment one would receive.

iv. The Power of Discipline

I have always wanted to develop a strong will and I have hardly been disciplined enough to put in the work required to develop such a will. And in this book I have good information as well as motivation on why I need to be disciplined and develop a strong will. The author simply stated that to build a will of iron it is essential to take small, tiny acts in tribute to the virtue of personal discipline. This is something I really need to start doing. The author also stated that routinely performed, little acts; pile one on top of another, eventually produce an abundance of inner strength. When you liberate your will power, you become the master of your personal world. And when you continually practice the ancient art of self-government, there will be no hurdle too high for you to overcome, no challenge too tough for you to surmount and no crisis too hot for you to cool down. These motivate me to want to strengthen my will power and become more disciplined. And it starts with controlling my thought, when we control our thoughts; we control our mind and when we control our mind, we control our life. Once we get to the stage of being in total control or our life we become the master of our destiny

v. Your Most Precious Commodity

This is important to me because as the author puts it; time is our most important resource and he went ahead to describe some strategies that would help one in managing their time properly which is something I really need right now because I always feel like I don’t have enough time to do all the things I want to do. The author stated that those who use their time wisely from an early age are rewarded with rich, productive and satisfying lives, those who have never been exposed to the principle that time mastery is life mastery will never realize their enormous human potentials. And that what separates those who build exceptional lives from the “also ran” is the way they use time. I really would love to learn and implement these strategies so that I too can start to live an exceptional and priority driven life.

vi. The Ultimate Purpose of Life

In the course of my IIGL study I have come to know and accept that the ultimate life purpose is to serve others and the way the author did put it in this book reinforces this idea to me, when he stated that when all is said and done, no matter what you have achieved, the quality of your life will come down to the quality of your contribution. When you work to improve the lives of others, you indirectly elevate your own life in the process. To cultivate the sacredness and sanctity of each day, serve others in some way. The author stated that when you take care to practice random acts of kindness daily, your life becomes far richer and more meaningful. The author statement that had the most impact on me, is this, in which the author stated that; you must realize that just as you entered the world with nothing, you are destined to leave with nothing. And this simply means to me that there is no need amassing and piling wealth that I can share with those around me that are in need.

vii. The Timeless Secret of Lifelong Happiness

Living in the now has been challenging for me, because when I decide to live in my present moment, I soon discover that I am lost, wondering in my thoughts except only when I am working on an activity and the deadline for that activity is fast approaching, then and only then, do I maintain focus for an extended period of time.
When the author pointed out the benefits that could be derived from living in the now it caught my attention, like when he stated that being engaged in a pursuit that truly challenge you is the surest route to personal satisfaction and that happiness is a journey and not a destination to be reached. The author also stated that in order to experience lasting happiness, we have to stop spending so much time chasing life’s big pleasure while neglecting the little ones; and that we are to slow things down and enjoy the beauty and sacredness of all that is around. Today is the day to live fully, never putting off the things that are important for your well being and satisfaction to a later time. Never put off living. I would want to put in the necessary effort to start living in the now, so that I can make this principle a part of me.

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?

A Most Extraordinary Garden: The author stated in the book that concentration is at the root of mental mastery and in order to achieve this kind of concentration I have to train my mind daily. And that the moment I am able to focus my mind on a singular purpose, extraordinary gifts will appear within my life. And one of the technique the author suggested for training the mind to concentrate on my purpose is the technique called Heart Of The Rose. This technique involves using a fresh rose, and staring at the centre of the rose, its heart. The author likened the rose to life when he stated that in staring at the heart of the rose one would meet thorns along the way but if you have faith and believe in your dreams you will eventually move beyond the thorns into the glory of the flower. And because I do not have access to a fresh rose, I would be using a mandala art to help train my mind to concentrate and focus on a single item. I hope to include this exercise in my daily routine so that I can attain higher level of concentration within a short time. As well as daily contemplating on my purpose and how I was living my life daily and areas where I also needed to make incremental changes.

Kindling your Inner Fire: The author in the book stated the importance of having priorities and goals in place which will help me live my life with a purpose. Though, I have goals for most areas of my life but I don’t visualize their outcome nor do I apply a positive pressure on myself to inspire me to act towards accomplishing these goals. I have also lacked consistency working on my goal on a daily bases and perhaps I tend to take the business of attaining my goals too seriously that I don’t have fun doing it, which then leads me to give up on the goal or just abandon it half way. One of the key thing I have learnt from this idea and which I plan to incorporate into my goal setting is the 21 days consistent action towards achieving my goal and having fun doing so. This is because in the past I used to view it as work and this used to ware me down mentally and I then feel exhausted thereby giving up. So I hope to change my approach towards attaining my goal in such a way that it allows me to enjoy myself while striving to attain my goal. I am believing that the heart of the rose exercise would help me to keep my concentration so that I can also incorporate visualization into my goal attainment process.

The Ancient Art of Self- Leadership: Kaizen is practiced by pushing yourself daily, working hard to improve the mind, body and nourishing the spirit. Doing the things which we fear, things we really wanted to do but tricked ourselves into believing that we can’t. Identify the things that are holding you back, make an inventory of all your weakness and face them head on by doing that which you fear. Since fear is nothing more than a negative stream of consciousness which need to be subdued and overcome. The author suggested some principles that should one live their life according to these principles, one would have a rich and full life. I usually find it difficult getting out of the in the morning and in order to overcome the challenge of not getting out of bed, I would have to train my body to be able to get out of bed by 5:30 am and this would enable me to start my day early. I have struggle with the other ideas as well; consistency has always been the issue, I tend to carry out one form of physical activity once in a while but somehow I fail keep to the routine. With the knowledge of kaizen, I would identify those things that are causing me to skip exercising so that I can face them by ignoring their distractive thoughts and engaging in my physical activity until I get used to the routine.

The Power of Discipline: In the course of my IIGL studies, I have come across the use of affirmation, I tried them but I didn’t get the desired result to the extent that at some point I stop trying them. I am reluctant trying this as well but because this is about strengthening my will power and developing personal discipline, I would be trying this mantras even though I am skeptical about it. I would try it out consistently for a month and see the kind of result I get from this. To build willpower and inner strength you must first use it, the more you exert and nurture the embryo of self-discipline, the more quickly it will mature and give you the desired result. I hope to adapt the vow of silence in curbing my craving to relax most times, which leads to procrastination on most things that are important to me. By working on the things that are important to me even when I feel the impulse to relax when I am not exhausted would help strengthen my will until the magical quality of the momentum is released which will motivate me to keep exploring my infinite potentials.

Your Most Precious Commodity: To be able to manage my time properly and have more time on my hand to do the things I love; I intend to start planning my week in advance most probably on a Sunday as I usually have less to do on this day. Mapping out my activities for the week into each day of the week and time could help sanitize my day and help me to be a little more productive as this will help me focus on just the activities that are important to me for that day. In planning I would prioritize the activities that have impact and would help attain my daily goals by giving them more attention. Most importantly is to focus and live each day like it is my last day on this earth, this will help me to be kind and help me keep focus on only those things that are important and help towards achieving my set goals.

The Ultimate Purpose of Life: I have had plans in the past to serve the children in my community by teaching them how to read and the basics in mathematics but unfortunately I failed to do that previously and this is largely due to my poor time management, which I hope to improve by using the strategies in this book. This should allow me to have some time on my hand to spare. As well as in order to serving others I would have to be kind to everyone I come across in the course of my day’s activities. Every day no matter how difficult it would be for me, I would have to act kindly even if it is just one soul in a particular day. Act of kindness are common occurrence in my day but once in a while tend to be selfish. I would consciously choice to act kindly on a daily basis for 21 days and see if it helps makes a habit for me.

The Timeless Secret of Lifelong Happiness: Much of what I have learned in the course of my IIGL studies is helping me discover and live my life on purpose and the author stated that the instant you discover your higher purpose and then direct all your energies towards it then your genius will shine through and happiness would fill your life. And so I would keep setting goals and working towards their attainment while living in the moment and not focusing too much into the future. Also because life doesn’t always give you what you ask for, but it always gives you what you need, whatever comes into my life, I would cherish it and be grateful that I actually have it present in my life at the time. I am encouraged to reflect daily on the things that I was grateful for before going to bed by the statement the author made when he stated that when you start spending even five minutes a day practicing the art of gratitude, you will cultivate the richness of living that you are looking for.

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.

“Every event has a purpose and every setback its lessons.”

In the past; about 4 years ago I used to feel a lot of pain whenever I experience setback or I fail at a task. In the course of my IIGL studies I soon understood that every event has a purpose, setback have lessons to teach me and ever since I adopted this mentality; I have been much happier.

“Until you first empty your cup.”

My many years of growing up I have come across so many ideas, I adopted some and abandoned others and this has made it difficult to learn new things. I take a lot of time examining every new idea thoroughly before accepting them. In order for me to change old behaviors and learn new ones, I would have to throw out the old ideas and make room for new ideas. Now I know why it takes me a long time to learn and accept new principles.

“If you care for your mind, if you nurture it and if you cultivate it; just like a fertile, rich garden, it will blossom far beyond your expectations.”

As a young man my dad would tell me to keep the heart of my thought pure and I saw this here saying I should care for my mind guard it from negative thoughts that it might flourish and blossom. So that out of it shall come beautiful creations.

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”

As a child, I knew that I was born to carry out a certain task here on earth, I struggled to find out what my purpose was. So when I saw this I knew that I had to come up with a purpose to which I would be working towards on a daily basis. And with a purpose to work towards on a daily basis, my life will have a definite direction to move towards and I would be more focused and guarded.

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?

There is nothing in the book that I do not understand; the content and the principle in the book are clear to me. The ideas and principle seem easy to implement.

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 were no exercises for the reader to complete in this book.

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.

There is nothing I read in the book and that I would like to comment about that has not already been dealt with in the previous questions.

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

The 5 Second Rule
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The main idea I think the author is trying to convey in this book is that despite the fact that our feelings prevents or hinder us from acting when we are supposed to, we can use this 5 seconds count down idea which the author suggested in the book to take control and act as desired at the appropriate time and this would lead to developing courage and acting more consistently as desired. The book points out how our feelings affect every aspect of our lives and every single decision. That our feelings could be the obstacle preventing us from taking the necessary decision that would lead to our goals being achieved. The author also stated in the book a way to overcome this obstacle that our feelings put before us; which is simply to distract our thoughts of how we are feeling by counting down for 5 second or whatever works for us.

i. Everyday Courage

This idea of everyday courage is important to me because examining my past decisions, I have noticed that because I have not been courageous enough to act immediately on a decision, I have not attained my goals as at the time I hope to achieve them. And as such I need to learn and implement everyday courage by using the five second rule always. The author helped me to see that the lack of courage to act is not unique to me, when she stated that everyday life is full of moments that are scar, uncertain and difficult. Facing these moments and unlocking the opportunity, magic and joy in my life requires tremendous courage.

ii. Increase Productivity

I have struggled with getting up early most morning and the days I do get out of bed early, I observe that I tend to be in control of my day; I get a lot done before midday. And things easily go my way but then getting out of bed when the alarm ring is very challenging for me. Being productive is something that has been important to me but the know how to achieving consistent productivity has been lacking. And so when the author stated that productivity can be boiled down to focus, which could be in two forms, firstly; the ability to manage distraction while focusing on the moment-to-moment task at hand and secondly; the skill of focusing on what’s truly important in the big picture, it caught my attention and hopefully I would learn and apply these ideas so that I can experience consistent productivity.

iii. End Procrastination
According to the author, procrastination is a subconscious desire to feel good right now and that it is not lack of will power or lack of self-discipline neither is it poor time management. It is a coping mechanism for stress. And that procrastination could be beneficial when it involves creative or innovative endeavours. And my lack of knowledge about this make it frustrating when I can’t get to think straight or when I run out of ideas on how to get a task done. And so when I read this I realized that I don’t have to kill myself to force creative act to happen. But on the other hand activities that seem difficult or activities that for no good reason I am avoiding to carry out, would lead to even more stress and if I want to avoid more stress then I would have to have a starting ritual in place to implement every time.

iv. Pursuing Passion

The author caught my attention on this when she stated that envy can be positive by using it to identify ones’ passion, which is contrary to what I know or how I perceive envy and jealousy. For the fact that envy and jealousy are associated to negative energies, I never used to give it thought nor allow it to occupy my mind. But the author suggested that I should be curious about what I am jealous about, that there is a possibility that if I explore this feeling I could discover my passion. If I do discover my passion, then I should assess myself to know whether I am willing to commit to this passion by asking the heart question; “Am I ready to commit to this?”

v. Stop Worrying

The author stated that; worrying is an enormous waste of your precious and limited lifetime and I strongly agree with the author on this because I struggle with worrying most times and when it starts it seems to paralyze everything, I just can’t act or do anything but just focus on what I am worried about, most especially when it is out of my control. For me worrying is a major time waster and I hope the idea which the author stated in this book would help me. If that happens, then it would go a long way to enrich my life and allow me to enjoy every passing moment in my life.

vi. Improve Your Health

I do exercise a lot just to keep fit. When I am on the roll, I could exercise every day for 4 months without break in between but when somehow I start feeling less energetic and worn out, feeling that way, I start missing sessions until eventually stop working out and take a long break, sometimes 2 months’ other times 3 months. This idea about improving the health is important because the author talked about how to deal with the feelings that hinders me from my exercise routine. The author stated that we never feel like working out and we then let these feelings get in the way of our desires to become healthier. The feeling is key obstacle to becoming healthier.

vii. You’ll Never Feel Live It

When the author stated that our feelings are the reason why It is difficult for us to improve our lives, I had doubts but when I gave it some thought and recalled my struggle with getting out of bed in the morning, I realized that Mel was right; that we make almost every single decision not with logic, not with our hearts, not based on our goals or dreams but with our feelings. And that our feelings at the moment are almost never aligned with what’s best for us. Knowing that we feel before we think, we feel before we act and that our ultimate decisions are made based on our feelings, there is a possibility of taking advantage of this and making it work for me.

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?

There are a lot of wonderful ideas contained in this book, 7 are to be chosen for this assessment, notwithstanding I would go on to implement the other ideas in my life as well.

Everyday Courage: From what I have read in the book as well as the testimonies of others I can see that everyday courage is very important and if I act courageously every 5 second window I have without thinking too much about it; I would achieve more than I have achieved before. Knowing that I am responsible for everything that happens in my life and when I am reluctant to act, I would take advantage of the 5 second I have by counting down 5-4-3-2-1 acting irrespective of how I am feeling at the moment. The author describes courage as a push and I would take advantage of this push to get the things I desire done. Inside every one of us including myself, there is courage and it is not unique to our heroes and heroine nor does it have anything to do with confidence or personality. And I am encouraged to just act.

Increase Productivity: Since early rising is important to a productive day and as the author stated in the book that the first 2-3 hours of the day are the best hours for your brain and this is the peak thinking productivity period. So I would be adopting most part of the authors morning routine, most especially getting up when the alarm rings without hitting the snooze button and I would do this by simply keeping my phone far away from my bed, so that I must get out of bed to turn the alarm off. This will enable me start my day early giving me more time to prepare for each activity rather rushing towards one activity and then dashing off to the other without any form of mental preparation. This would go a long way improve my productivity on a daily basis. Another aspect of the authors’ routine I hope to implement, is that of planning my quitting time. I have never thought about this before but just reading about it, I can see the impact it would have on my life and my productivity since this would allow me engage in some social activity as well which is something that is currently lacking for me.

End Procrastination: Now that I know that procrastination can be beneficial, it would help reduce the stress of worrying about accomplishing some task that require me to give it more time. And for the task that deadline and to which there are consequences if these deadlines are not met; I would employ the idea the author suggested in the book, that is; creating a starting ritual and the author suggested using the 5-4-3-2-1 second rule to act. So whenever, I find it difficult to start or complete a task that seem hard, I would simply count internally 5-4-3-2-1 and make a move (act) by getting started at it for a short time and then, taking a short break before returning back to continue on with the task until it is accomplished.

Pursuing Passion: I struggled for many years to identify what it is that I was passionate about and I never really came up with anything. Little did I know that in something as simple as exploring my feelings could give me a hint as to what I might be passionate about. Feeling which are associated with negativity to which most people are reluctant to admit that they have are the same feelings: jealousy and envy, that could be explored to discover our passion. I hope to share this idea with those who constantly ask me about making progress in their lives, helping them to see that exploring the feelings of envy could result in them finding out what they are passionate about, and do the necessary research as to how they could be successful at it and then committing to working towards its success. I really love this because it is an idea I can share with a lot of my friends who are still struggling.

Stop Worrying: The rate at which I used to get worried in the past and the way it has affected my life and knowing the benefits that would be derived when I eliminate worrying from my life, I definitely would be exploring this idea to see how it can help me to stop or distract myself from continuous worrying and start achieving more in my life. The author stated that worrying is a default setting that our mind goes to when we aren’t paying attention. With this knowledge, I would have to be observant to becomes aware when I am worried and then count down from 5, according to the author this should help distract me from the worrying thought and give me control again. With being in control of my thoughts again, I would ask myself what I am grateful for in this moment? What do I want to remember? As the author suggested and this would help keep me focused on what is beautiful at the moment.

Improve your Health: Now that I know that my feeling is the major obstacle preventing me from regular exercise, my focus would be distracting myself away from the feeling because I never feel like working out and I let these feelings get in the way of my desire to keep fit. Since exercise is 100% mental and my body won’t go where my mind has not pushed it and that it takes courage to start something, it takes courage to stick, I would have to stop thinking about how I feel because my feelings really don’t matter, the only thing that matter is what I do. So whenever I am feeling reluctant to exercise I would distract myself from that thought of how I am feeling and focus on the benefit I hope to get when I exercise and then use the 5-4-3-2-1 and exercise to get me started with my work out.

You’ll Never Feel Like It: Getting out of bed in the morning has been challenging for me and this is one of the challenges I can easily and quickly apply this idea to. Most times when it is time to get out of bed I get this feeling of lightheaded coupled with the feeling of tiredness, I then tell myself to sleep for another 30 minutes to 1 hour because I have not had enough sleep. And this has not benefited me in any way but I have not been able to find a way around it. And not giving my thought attention so that I can identify the thoughts that flow through my mind when I am about to get out of bed, I didn’t know that it was my feeling that has been keeping me in bed longer than I require. With this new knowledge of how my feeling have been preventing me from rising early; I hope to ignore those feelings and act by getting out of bed when it is time because most of these feelings are not always correct.

4. Quotes: Are there brief quotes from the book which really got your attention? If so, please list and comment on them.

“And our feelings in the moment are almost never aligned with what’s best for us.”

I immediately thought of my struggle of getting out of bed early in the morning. Which I know is best for me, but somehow; analyzing how I feel in my body I most times never get out of the bed in time and when I eventually do, I start off my day rushing at every single activity.

“Courage is a birth right. It is inside each and every one of us. You are born with it and you can tap into it anytime you want.”

I used to be very timid and was amazed at how others display so much courage in dealing with the challenges they were faced with. I never imagined myself to act courageously one day or that I even had courage in me. This statement did help me to reflect on how I have changed and the areas I need to improve on.

“Interruptions of any sort are the kiss of death for your productivity.”

This is so true and for me it is when I decide to check social media to see what is going on around the world is when I lose it, hours would just go by. For this reason, I have decided to check social media mostly when I am done with my most important activities of the day.

“If you find yourself jealous of someone else, explore that feeling. What aspect of their life are you jealous of? This may give you a clue into what you really want for yourself.”

Jealousy is a thought I never wanted to entertain, mostly because it is perceived as negative. I used to get jealous easily and I have been working at suppressing it. But with this knowledge, I guess I can just entertain and explore some of those jealous feelings I have from time to time.

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?

There is nothing in the book that I do not understand; the content and the principle in the book are clear to me. The ideas and principle seem easy to implement.

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 were exercises for the reader to complete in this book and I attempted every one of them. The exercises were indeed very 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.

There is nothing I read in the book and that I would like to comment about that has not already been dealt with in the previous questions.

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

Shamanism for the Age of Science
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

I would say that the main idea the author shared in this book; is that of the energy which we all possess and that we could use the knowledge of our energy body to develop ourselves by aligning to the universal energy which supports each and every one of us and freeing ourselves from the conditional energy that restrict and hinders us will allow growth and development. With the understanding of the energy body and how to use it through learning and imagination, one could easily change the experience of their life. The use of imagination influences learning and with the application of that which has been learnt; comes growth and development. The author also described, how our thoughts affect the energy body and how our perception works, as well as what to do to improve and have a better grasp of our energy body. The author described some tools in the book to use in aiding our experience of the energy body and also assist with our development.

Below are the 7 ideas which were personally important to me and reasons why they are important to me.

i. The Formation of Reality

This section of the book brought to light the ideas on how to expand and increase awareness of the energy body by applying and using the learning and imagination to integrate the first and second fields of the body. Learning is the process of transforming potentials into actualization, which, in a sleight-of-hand manner, also includes the use of imagination and in turn imagination expands perception beyond the known limits of reality and helps to quicken learning. Both learning and imagination complement each other without learning one can become lost in imagination and without imagination one becomes lost in dogma. And this worries me because I stopped using my imagination a long time ago. When I was much younger I used to imagine a lot and learning during this point was a challenge (this is learning in terms of school work) but as I grew-up and was face with a challenge learn and understand mathematics, it was at this point that I can remember using both my imagination and learning to help me understand certain mathematical concepts; as I used to dream at night solving some problem and when I wake-up, I am then able to solve the problem which had previously given me a tough time.

ii. Expanding the Boundaries

The ideas contained in the chapter of the book expanding the boundaries gave me more reason to continuous learning and personal development. And this; the author did by stating that to change the entire baseline state, one needs to experience a number of different cohesions and that this is accomplished by ploughing as many influences as one can into their energy field such as art, literature, music, religion, science, just about any new. Engaging in things one is not fond of as well as those one enjoys; builds connectors within the energy body. Experience leads to learning and learning leads to knowledge, a condition where cohesion has been so well integrated that one’s relationship to the world changes. The author also stated that cohesion organizes your perceptions of the world and in so doing, calls forth interpretations, value, ethics, habits, hopes, dreams and states of health. It is now obvious to me that having not grown in the way I ought to because I have neglected other area that might have helped me to grow.

iii. Closing on Fundamentalism

In this section of the book, the author helped me to understand the importance of closure; that it could serve me positively or could be an obstacle in learning new things. The author did this by stating that when a number of facts are logically woven together, a picture of the world’s energies which might be a concept, theory or entire world view; in order for the picture to be useful, it needs to have a boundary. Which in this case is called closure; which is an aspect of perception that closes off a view point. However, when the picture is not only closed off but also placed inside an unventilated box, difficulties with learning and imagination arise. When applied to groups, excessive closure equates with fundamentalism, no matter the context, the result of this form of closure is that misinformation is held as truth by group consciousness. Fundamentalism if unchecked leads to tyranny and signifies estrangement from the core.

iv. Building a Creative Life

I have struggled with being creative as I grew older, and I don’t know why that is. I believe I was more creative when I was younger, so when I came across this chapter of the book; I had to give it more attention so that I could learn what is required to bring my creativity back to life. And there were some points the author made that caught my attention, such as; creativity or bringing something into being, results from weaving form and potentials. And form being cohesion, a type of energy field, while potential being abstract energy, energy that has possibilities of realization but isn’t there yet. The author stated that how these energies interact determines what one creates. Cohesion also determines how one continue to connect with potential, which influences what one experience as the energy body meets greater and more expansive emanations. Creativity hinges on the interplay of learning and imagination. Plugging into potentials is intelligent, evolving through your energy body is intelligent and discovery requires the rigorous application of intelligence, not just resting with innate ability. Part of creativity is discovery, which can take many forms. It hinges on allowing new insight, on bringing the conscious to the light of day.

v. Living the Unfolding Moment

The author made this important to me when he explained that, being is a point from which you not only access infinity, one becomes infinity and fully lives the unfolding moment and that the moment at hand is the crossroad for potential and actualization. Being may also be regarded as a constant state of heightened consciousness. The author also made a case for the benefit of being but states that, getting there and then staying there requires serious and disciplined effort, as being is the most sophisticated of all human behaviours. It requires the synthesis of learning and imagination, a condition of artful living which leads to heightened awareness which then aid one to being able to handle a variety of assemblage point positions. And with this come a continually expanding world of new options, perceptions and abilities. The author also went ahead to state how one can get to being and living the unfolding moment. One of such approach to experiencing heightened awareness is the path with heart which provide the means to match personality with core and behaving from the core, nurtures our natural energy field which leads to being. I have read over and over about the benefit of being but I struggle with the idea of being as most time I am focused on going after my goals and the future is all I hold in my mind.

vi. Energy Management Skills

In this section of the book the stated that, self-reflection creates a force that influences our energy body and that our internal dialogue continually reinforces group consensus and that it absorbs such a large amount of our attention/awareness energy; that we have little of that energy available for other processes and this seems to explains to a large extent why I rarely could create a better life for myself. This is because I used to enjoy and engage with my internal dialogue and this sometimes takes hours. And this could have had an effect on my intent as the author puts it; that, intent may not be conscious but it changes circumstance and it is the primary means of managing cohesion, and so an intent may be exerting influences and determining my life without my conscious recognition.

vii. The Heartbeat of Learning

There are a lot of ideas in this book to be learned and applied in one’s life and so in this section of the book, the author describes the main components of effective learning which comprises of memory, which the states; that repetition of experience and the internal narrative that cements the meaning of experience stabilizes these pathways producing long-term memory and it conditions perception as to what forms one’s inventor. Mind is therefore structured in the same manner as neural networks; it then follows that the nature of the network indicates the way the mind has been conditioned. And intelligence, the author describes as the ability to store past experiences and to use that acquired knowledge to solve future problems. In order for there to be an effective learning, one needs to be objective, which requires mental and emotional intelligence devoid of reactivity caused by excessive allegiance to a specific cohesion.

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?

This is definitely a book I would be reading over and over again, so that I can get every detail contained in the book and also put those ideas to work in my life.

The Formation of Reality: With the idea in this section reminding me of how imagination and learning helped me to learn difficult mathematical concepts in mathematics during my teen days. And knowing the importance and effect of imagination and learning on the energy body as well as my perception of what is possible. And because I tend not to apply and use my imagination in learning new concept or ideas in the course of my development I usually find it very difficult learning these days. I hope to use imagination more frequently when faced with learning a new concept or idea. I would allow my mind to go wild, allowing thoughts to flow through me freely with the intention to learn something new and expand my awareness on the central topic or concept. With this imagination learning process, I hope to rekindle the fire I experienced inside while I was growing up and thereby grow and develop rapidly again.

Expanding the Boundaries: Now that I have learnt that learning new thing from so many other aspects of life would help with changing cohesion and shifting my assemblage point. I would purposefully and deliberately study and learn new thing always, to point that they become second nature. In the past I stayed focused on just things that were important to my development and I saw other aspect as distraction and that I couldn’t afford to waste time with such. Now I would have to change that perspective and learn wide, most especially in areas that are similar or in line with the goal I hope achieve as this aspect might help me with developing the feelings required to accomplishing the goal.

Closing in on Fundamentalism: Social acceptance which is one of our key motivator could easily hinder us from entertaining new states of consciousness. And because this could easily prevent me from growing beyond what is accepted by others in my society, I decided to take my IIGL studies seriously, learning new things, refusing to be closed to new entrainment and being open just like the sea gull. I would be open and constantly challenge my assumptions since the world is a wide open place with a lot to learn and apply in one’s life, principle and ideas others have used to change their lives and grow, hopefully my thoughts and my world would change as well. At every point I would challenge my thought and be willing to accept new entrainment so that I don’t get closed off. With new information we move from baseline state to altered state, discrete altered state and then to a new baseline and so if I am closed off I would be denying myself of further growth.

Building a Creative Life: In building a creative life according to the author, I need to be properly oriented to my core; and having the right ethic. This is because ethics affects the quality and depth of coherence which is the measure of ones’ orientation to his core. And that the forgiveness of the transgression of self and others offer a release of the assemblage point, a release of cohesion bound by judgement. Which is a relaxation of tension that opens one to growth by ceasing to expand the energy required to maintain a non-forgiving attitude. I have often experienced this but somehow I lose it again in trying to maintain control over things. As the author state that the more control one has over their energy body, the more ability one has to actively mould their world but one could do this even to the point of becoming a dictator. In trying to create or mould the world around me, I would focus on being ethical and not trying to force anything into form but working for a good life, any change that is to come, will come of its own accord by virtue of my ethics. In making decisions, I would be making them, knowing that it could be my last decision I would be making on earth.

Living the Unfolding Moment: At an early age, I started try to be in control of all the happenings around me, actually I was raised that way. But being in the moment became a struggle when I got to my teens, and so I intend to apply this idea and venturing into the unknown, of life experiences by saturating myself in each moment and at the same time, completely letting go of each moment, not struggling to control anything. The author suggests that being and becoming arise from a continuous dance with learning and imagination, with potential and infinity and that in this dance one entertain possibilities and move towards those that resonate with core. Since I started my IIGL journey, I have read over and over again about the importance of relaxation. This author has also emphasised how relaxation would allow me to enter into flow which will help me experience optimal condition of joy, creativity and total involvement with life. The author also states that deliberately entering into flow is not a haphazard farfetched proposition but it challenges one to jettison everything holding one back and then catapulting ones’ awareness into regions that remain unimaginable for most.

Energy Management Skills: In order to take back control, I need to command and establish an unbending intent, this will help me to traverse the stages of awakening as the as the author puts it. In order for me to establish an unbending intent toward attaining a certain goal, I would have to bring together or list out the various characteristics of that goal, imagine and feel myself accomplishing each and every one of the characteristics of the goal and putting together all of these into a distinct focus. As the author puts it, my thoughts, feelings, and behaviours will combine to form a single motion based on the intent to accomplishing this goal. The author also suggest that this could be applied in problem solving and I should imagine various scenarios related to a specific problem that is of interest to me and while doing so I should feel which one has the strongest resonance and strength as a path and this should be done objectively so that I can keenly discern the desires, goals, orientation and the like as I shift through the feelings.

The Heartbeat of Learning: The ideas in this section of the book would help me maximize, put to use the ideas in the book into practice. Picking a project that would force me to continually imagine, that is tapping into potential and bringing that into my first energy field and learning from it. If I should sustain this in the course of the project, this should help me develop an unbending intent, increase my awareness and consciously develop new cohesion. By practically applying imagination, would help me bridge imagination and learning which would give me more grip with my assemblage point, helping me master the various states; baseline state, altered to discrete altered state and to a new baseline. With this skill of shifting my assemblage point, I would deliberate and confidently choose experiences that seem beyond me now, so that I get to learn and grow in new directions.

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.

“In a nutshell, imagination supplies the conditions to move the assemblage point; learning holds the new cohesion in place.”

I learned in this book that with the shift in assemblage point comes new experiences and this statement says that imagination supplies the conditions to move the assemblage point. I have allowed my imagination to be guided by any thought that come across my mind and that could possibly have made me to experience this varying progress. In order to use the knowledge learnt in this book I would have to consciously imagine what I want, the kind of experience I want for myself and this might lead me to the kind of life I want to live.

“To change the entire baseline state, you need to experience a number of different cohesions. This is accomplished by ploughing as many influences as you can into your energy field; art, literature, music, religion, science and economics, whatever.”

This got me thinking and reflecting on past experiences, when I had a different and new experience that got me moving fast and I was generally happy and more optimistic and everything seem to be happening the way I wanted them to be, was me experiencing from a new baseline state. And I think I should be deliberate about this kind of experience because I enjoyed it when it happened at those times.

“There’s a reason for everything.”

I never knew this could lead to closure leading to fundamentalism and thereby preventing me from learning from what might have happened. And this could prevent me from growing. The focus should be learning from the experience not finding the reason why it has happened.

“Forgiveness of the transgressions of self and others offers a release of the assemblage point, a release of a cohesion bound by judgement it’s a relaxation of tension that opens you to growth by ceasing to expend the energy required to maintain a non-forgiving attitude.”

I used to hold tight to some resentment and I wanted to repay back, with everything in me wanting to pay back and I noticed that I really was not making progress and I was angry most of the time, so this explains to me what I was experiencing and how it affected my energy body and the kind of cohesion I had in place which affected my imagination and possibilities around me. When I did let that grudge go, I have been fine ever since and sometimes I wonder what I was doing placing such negativity within my energy field and I wish I had never done that in the first place.

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 would say I understand everything that the author is trying to convey in the book and further reading would allow me to gain even more insights that I might have missed out while reading the book earlier.

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?

The book contained exercises and I tried most of the exercises and I found most of the exercises too difficult for me to complete at this time, this is largely due to the fact that I have not used my imagination in these ways for a long time and so it was difficult for me to imagine some of the things the exercises required of me. One particular exercise was indeed very helpful, it allowed me to use my imagination in a way I have never used it before. I tried this exercise before in some other book but couldn’t, in this book, the author put it in a way that was simple for me to follow and I was able to perform the exercise.

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.

There is nothing I read in the book and that I would like to comment about that has not already been dealt with in the previous questions.

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

Shamanism for the Age of Science
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

Below are the 7 ideas which were personally important to me and reasons why they are important to me.

i. The Formation of Reality

ii. Expanding the Boundaries

iii. Closing on Fundamentalism

iv. Building a Creative Life

v. Living the Unfolding Moment

vi. Energy Management Skills

vii. The Heartbeat of Learning

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?

This is definitely a book I would be reading over and over again, so that I can get every detail contained in the book and also put those ideas to work in 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.

“In a nutshell, imagination supplies the conditions to move the assemblage point; learning holds the new cohesion in place.”

“There’s a reason for everything.”

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?

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?

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.

There is nothing I read in the book and that I would like to comment about that has not already been dealt with in the previous questions.

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

The Intention Experiment
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

In the book, The Intention Experiment; the author synthesized all the experimental evidence that exists on intention into a coherent scientific theory of how intention woks, how it can be used in our lives and the conditions that optimize its effect. The author also made it clear that, the human thought and intention are a tangible energy with astonishing power to transform and influence the things we desire to change in our lives.
The author went ahead to explain in details the steps required for a successful intention, the things that have to be done, which of those should come first and how to go about executing these activities so that they are effective, such as meditating, where and what time to set these intentions in order to achieve optimum results or effect. The book also contains exercises that would help power-up the reader and prepare them to experiment with intentions in their own lives.

i. In the mood

From the various studies on prayer, which the author described as super-intention and the effect of intention on manifestation, the author observed varying conclusion. But what caught my attention is the authors’ description of the nature of an intention when; she stated that, a successful intention experiment incorporate a highly specific target into the intention and to be successful an intention may require other parameters beside trained attention, getting out of the way and formulating a simple request to the universe. The well-being of the one sending the intention might affect the result of the intention as well as negative thought and visualization.

ii. The Right Time

I found this very interesting because; I have always thought that, living things are attuned not only to each other, but also to the earth. Although I never knew about its magnetic energies and this makes it the more interesting and I would want to learn more of it. That living things keep in time with many other periodic rhythms: half-weekly, weekly cycles govern virtually every biological functioning is not new but the synchronizer within every living thing is not internal but resides in the planets- particularly the sun is even more interesting because I thought the brain is where these things happen and that every living thing has some sort of brain. The author stated that geomagnetic activity has a strong influence on the brain functioning, and that geomagnetic turbulence also disturbs the balance between certain parts of the brain and profoundly disrupts communication within the nervous system, over activating certain aspect of the autonomic nervous system and lowering others. And this help to provide some light as to how the sun influences the biological activities.

iii. The Right Place

The idea contained in this section emphasizes the importance of carrying out intention at a particular location as shown by the effect of various intention experiment carried out by various scientist on the environment in which the intention experiments were carried out. The author stated that carrying out intention in one particular space appeared to enhance their effect over time. And in the past I wondered why I had to pick a particular day, time and place to meditate and this book generally seem to address all of that.

iv. Mental Blueprints

The power of the mind to affect the physical world around is pointed out in this section. And the way to go about it, such as using mental rehearsal. The author was able to describe the proper way of carry out internal rehearsal, which should engage all the senses, visualizing the image of the future event, experiencing the feeling of having achieved the goal, what sense of smell would be around when the goal has manifested. As much details as possible about the intention should be rehearsed mentally. The author pointed out that those who are able to achieve the state of calm hyper awareness during mental rehearsal are more likely to succeed in reality.

v. The Voodoo Effect

This section of the book was important to me because the author explained the nature and power of our thoughts and why it is important to be in control of our thoughts all the time. The author mentioned that both negative and positive thoughts affects the world and that negative thoughts are more powerful, most especially when the object of ill will is not anywhere in the line of sight, while the reverse is the case for positive thought. The author also mentioned that effective intention requires order and deliberately focused thoughts. The most effective intentions are framed as a request, combined with highly specific visualization of the outcome.

vi. Praying for Yesterday

I love that the author stated that intention is capable of reaching back down the time line to influence past events at the point when they originally occurred. The very act of intention, of making a change in the present, may also affect everything that has led to that moment. The mind first sets the future outcome and applies all the chain of events that will produce it backward in time. This clearly points out the importance of setting goals for what we intend to achieve. The author also pointed out that its not enough to just set goals but there has to be a strong need for it.

vii. The Intention Exercises
The intention exercises contain a summary of things to do in order to have an effective intention. Such as developing and maintaining mindfulness in our daily life, whenever we feel our concentration is flitting away in the course of our daily activity by simply sensing our breath which should help keep us focused. Intention should be stated in present tense as a wish that has already been achieved including the who, what, when, where, why and how to make it more specific. After stating our intention clearly, it is important to let go of the outcome and believe that the universe will make it happen.

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

In the Mood: Before I got to Level Three of my IIGL studies, I didn’t have idea of what an intention was, I don’t remember ever coming across the word; intention. But just after I sent my intentions during the Level Three exercises, I soon saw the importance of intentions. And so I needed to know more, and in this chapter of the book the author made me understand that aside setting my intention and focusing on the intention, I am to avoid negative thoughts and visualization as this would have negative effect on the body and this would in turn affect how well I feel in myself. I am to keep my mind positive at all time, connect emotionally with the intention I hope to manifest and believe that they would manifest.

The right time: With the idea that the power of intention increases when the earths’ energy is agitated and that certain days and certain times of the day influences the success of psycho-kinesis as suggested by the author that the best result occur around 1 pm local sidereal time, I would research to identify what my local time would be in relation to the 1 pm sidereal time so that I can bring that into my intention process as well as identifying the best days within the month to carry out the process of intention setting. So that I get an improvement in intention manifesting.

The right place: With the result reported in this section from the various experiments and how intention affected the experimental environment, I am encouraged to pick a room within my house to be my intention room. A place where I would go to set my intention as well as reviewing my intention on a daily basis. I hope this would help in manifesting my intention faster as the author suggested that, the charge of intention may have a domino effect on its environment, causing greater quantum order in empty space, which would enhance the effectiveness of its aim.

The mental blueprints: Knowing that I can use intention to affect brain wave which in turn would alter my state, I would want to practice doing this, changing my state at will. This will enable me to be able to put myself in more resourceful state, most especially peak intensity state as the author puts it, this should allow me to focus during my mental rehearsal and with manifestation of my intention. My approach to visualization by replicating as much as I possibly can, how the real thing would be at normal speed not in the way I used to do it by slowing things down so that I could put in more details.

The voodoo effect: Now that I know the effect of both negative and positive intentions and that for an intention to be effective, requires order and deliberate focused thought, I would avoid focusing on negative thought when they arise in my mind but deliberately focus my thought in the direction of the goals I intend to achieve and visualizing the manifestation and then allowing the universe bring it to reality rather than trying to force it into manifestation.

Praying for yesterday: That the mind works from the future back to the present moment, encourages me to use my mind to design and create a future I would want to experience. And then allow my mind to work backwards towards my present moment creating that future, I would use this idea in trying to influence the world around me, my immediate environment, the kind of energy I would want to dominate the environment around me. I would focus more on things that I have strong desire to manifest and guard against wishful thinking, since is more likely to help with the manifestation process and in the process motivating me to keep my focus the things I need the most.

The intention exercises: I hope to use it in guiding me with my intention process in the form of a check list. In starting my intention process, I would check if this is the right time for setting intention and if I am in my intention space; the place I have picked for setting intention, I would also check, if I have performed the power up exercise and have attained peak intensity, then I would state my intention in a clear and specific manner such that it is stated, as if I already possess it, visualizing it presence in my life, it impact and the feeling it brings. And finally moving aside, letting go of the outcome, this is the most important to me, because I struggle with this a lot and so I would have to be conscious of letting go.

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

“The brain appeared to revise itself throughout life, depending on the nature of its thought form followed function, consciousness helped to form the brain.”

This helped encouraged me not to stop learning and developing new skills because, my brain can and would always adapt, to support me. My thought should not be limited to just what I know right now, but accommodate and allow new thought to help form my brain to my new line of thought.

“On days when the healer felt really well in themselves, they had a beneficial effect on the bacteria on days when they did not feel so well and they scored lower on the test, they actually had a deleterious effect.”

Perhaps this explain why on days that I am feeling good about myself, I seem to have almost everything going my way, I just to be a kind of flow, everything is easily achieved even obstacles don’t seem to bother me because I tend to find a way around them. As the author suggest such times like these are the best for sending intention.

iii. “Carrying out the intention in one particular space appeared to enhance their effects over time.”

From what I read in the book, my haphazard results in the past could have been as a result of not using a particular place for my intentions. With the evidence in support of using a particular space for sending intention, this is definitely a must have. I would set out a place for sending intention, strictly following the suggestion of the author in choosing and setting this space, hopefully I should start experiencing consistent results.

“To produce any benefit, mental rehearsal must replicate the real thing at normal speed.”

Just as the author stated, in trying to put in more details into my visualization, I slow down the experience and sometimes even give myself a 360O view experience just to put in more detail and this either stops or slows down the visualization. I never knew that slowing down my visualization was detrimental to my 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?

There is nothing in the book that I do not understand; the content and the ideas in the book are clear to me. The ideas were easy to follow and I enjoy every bit of it.

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 were exercises in the book for the reader to carry out and I have not completed them but I have started and I intend to master the first one before moving on to others, so that I get to enjoy the full benefit of these exercises. I started with meditation, which is something I have struggled with for a long time, this time I got it right and it has been very beneficial to me.

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.

There is nothing I read in the book and that I would like to comment about that has not already been dealt with in the previous questions except that I enjoyed the book, it was easy to read and also assess.

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

Conscious Acts of Creation: The Emergence of a New Physics
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

1. What do you think that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main idea this book tries to present is that; the human intention is capable of altering matter, causing changes to happen in our environment as desired. The book went further to prove this using scientific approaches. Some scientific experiments were carried out to demonstrate the impact of human intentions on scientific procedures. The book further states the condition required for our intentions to work most times, such as significant level of self-management, space used, the attitudes of the heart and mind, the number of times the intention is expressed in a particular space.

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 life.

Below are the 7 ideas which were personally important to me and reasons why they are important to me.

i. Choosing and Using a Particular Space

The author in the course of this experiment used the same space repeatedly, and at some point they noticed some anomalous behaviour in this space and they attributed it to the repeated use of this space with IIED which conditioned the space. And once conditioned the space remained conditioned for a long time even when the Intention Imprinted Electronic Device (IIED) were removed except when certain items were introduced into this space did it affect the conditioning.

ii. Inner Self-Management

In this book I saw the importance of having inner self control and management as the author only picked those who had loads of experience in inner self management to focus their intention into the Intention Imprinted Electronic Device (IIED). This they did to eliminate the constant swing or fluctuation in the outwardly directed intentions of an individual. That most individual humans have intentions that swing widely over time, so that the time-averaged effect over weeks to months is usually of small magnitude. The author suggests that techniques such as yoga, Qi gong and Heart-Maths can help in improving one’s inner self management when practiced over time.

iii. Conditioning the Intention Space

From the results of the experiments carried out by the authors; they noticed that over time the space they used for those experiments had changed and now manifested altered physical behaviours. In the words of the author; the environment had become conditioned. This conditioned locale activated a high deltron content that allowed for a strong coupling condition between D-space and R-space to be attained quickly.

iv. Emotional Domain Layer

I have read in several books about the importance of emotion to manifestation and I rarely take them seriously but in this book the way the authors presented the idea of emotions helped me to clearly see the importance of emotion. The description that the intention from the spirit domain is first imprinted on the mind domain which is then transferred to both the magnetic monopole layer and the emotion domain. At the emotion domain layer, an important coupling substance is activated called Deltron, this Deltron allows coupling between the magnetic monopole of the second layer and the electric monopole substance of the first layer.

v. Items that affect Conditioning

This idea is important to me because I usually move a lot of things (items) in and out of my current intention space (room). And this idea made me understand that doing that is detrimental to the conditioning of the space. And that if an item is brought in, the oscillation disappears for many weeks before appearing weakly again. And also the conditioned space should not be entered frequently and more so by those who are not internally self-managed, that this also would affect the conditioning of the space.

vi. Time to Condition a New Place.

The time to condition a new space according to the authors is approximately 3 months which is workable for me. I tend to lose focus and not complete ongoing task, so 3 months seems to me a fair time to hold an intention until it manifests and/or the space become conditioned which would allow for manifestation to happen faster within this space

vii. Effect of our Intention on Physical Reality is Limited

Here the author states that there is a theory, which says; if our intention were not limited in relation to its effect on physical reality, then, human capacity to harm each other could have been significantly enhanced which tends to justify the thinking that human intention can only produce small, barely perceptible effects on physical reality. They suggested that this is not the case, if one has sufficiently developed inner self-management.

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

There are a lot of wonderful ideas contained in this book, 7 are to be chosen for this assessment, notwithstanding I would go on to implement the other ideas in my life as well.

Choosing and Using a Particular Space: I now know the importance of choosing and using a particular space for my intentions and I would make the effort to decide on and pick a suitable space to be carrying out my intentions, so as to help increase the chances of manifestation. Because of the lack of space, I would partition my room and use one of the partitions as my intention space, this will help me restrict entry and movement of items within this space.

Inner Self-Management: I had started taking courses on meditation to help with keeping me focused. And there have been improvements with my focus and mind control. The author suggested 3 techniques that they think are very effective in helping with inner self-management and psychological coherence and I hope to try one of them out. Out of the 3 suggested techniques, I have not heard about HeartMath and I would start researching about it and probably see if it can work for me because the others seem to involve some physical activities and I am restricted by time these days.

Conditioning the Intention Space: This book points out the importance of using the same place for intention and manifestation process. I usually use several spots for my goal setting and planning process and this is detrimental to the manifestation process. I would have to choose and continually use a particular space, which over time could help activate the deltron content which should allow for the strong coupling condition between D-space and R-space for quicker manifestation.

Emotional Domain Layer: I have never been disciplined enough to apply emotion to the manifestation process and this idea has made me understand that it is an important ingredient in the manifestation process. Emotion activates the Deltron that helps with coupling between the mind layer and the outer layer. I have to be more intentional with my emotions and use them in my manifestation process and probably increase the chance of improving the time it takes for my goals to manifest.

Items that Affect Conditioning: Since I do not know the kind of materials that would affect the conditioning in my intention space, I would ensure that my intention space is simple, so that I would not have to move items in or out of this space most times, thereby helping the space retain it conditioning and remaining optimum for intention manifestation, improving my chances of manifesting my goals.

Time to Condition a New Place: Now that I know it takes approximately 3 months to condition a space so that manifestation could be faster, I would hold onto my intention even longer knowing that when the environment within that space become conditioned, manifestation would happen faster even though while holding that intention there might be no sign to show that there is progress. But because I now know that it might take 3 months or a little more, I would remain focused at my intent while allowing the process to take over and make things happen.

Effect of our Intention on Physical Reality is Limited: In order to overcome the limitation associated with intention producing small, barely perceptible effects on physical reality, one has to put in the effort to sufficiently develop inner self-management. And to achieve inner self-management, I would pick one of the methods they suggested for inner self-management and coherence exercise and practice it until I am sufficiently developed.

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.

“We are all spirits having a physical experience as we ride the river of life together.”

A similar sentence as this started the change in my life that I am currently experiencing, knowing that I was spirit rather than this physical body, changed my approach to how I live my life, how I see others, and how I view the circumstance and events around me.

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

There were a lot of equations contained in the book which made it difficult to follow.

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

There were no exercises in this book for the reader to carry out.

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.

There is nothing I read in the book and that I would like to comment about that has not already been dealt with in the previous questions.

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

A. How interesting was it to read? 5
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 4
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7

The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

The main idea that the author is trying to convey in this book is that in order to be an effective leader, one has to live by the natural principle and be guided by these principles in all that they do. The author put together a collection of 81 of these principles that an effective leader should imbibe in all they do, as they lead others as well as themselves.

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 is important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.

Below are the 7 ideas which were personally important to me and reasons why they are important to me.

i. Owning or Being Owned:
This is one of the principles in the book that spoke directly to me; pointing out to me why it is counterproductive accumulating more and more material possession. Because possessing more than we need at a time, would lead to the fear of losing the others, which is counterproductive and takes us away from our center. At a point in my life, I struggled with this, while I thought I owned, I was being owned and controlled.

ii. The Creative Process
This idea is important to me because it describes the creative process from a point that I have not looked at before. That creative interaction of two polarities results in creativity. In order for one to create; one would have to know about and make use of the two opposites that would have to interact to bring about that which one seeks to create.

iii. The Ripple Effect

This is important to me because it points out what we as individuals can do to affect the world positively. If we want to influence the world, we should first start by getting our own life in order which will lead us to earn the respect of those around us and improve our influence with others. As the author puts it; if your life works, you influence your family, if your family works; your family influences the community etc.

iv. Don’t Stir Things Up

This idea advises against stirring anything up before it is mature and ready to emerge. And that by stirring such an emotion or idea before their time, could result in negative consequences. But if these hidden issues or emotions are allowed to stay, mature and emerge naturally at their time, they resolve themselves naturally and they are not harmful.

v. Nothing to Win

This is important to me because it points out something I accepted as being right and I used to practice but it is now pointed out as not being healthy in a group setting. This idea emphasizes that there is nothing to win or lose in group work, so the attitude of wanting to win or feeling that one has lost is not healthy in a group. That wanting to be right always could be detrimental to the success of the group and resulting in ill feelings within the group. While reading this I could recall instances where I exhibited this attitude and how it affected the activity that we were working on.

vi. The Beginning, the Middle and the End

Personally, this idea shed light on the delicacy of every beginning and that it’s easy to manage events at this stage, potential difficulties can be avoided, slight intervention guide and shape events easily at this stage and using too much force at this stage is most times detrimental; trying to force events to conform to some predetermined model. I have never thought of this before that various stages require varying force to make things work and so this alone could be the reason I don’t complete certain tasks because I force things at the wrong time, and end up being frustrated when things aren’t working.

vii. Three Leadership Qualities

Compassion, frugality and modesty, the three qualities I have always wanted to imbibe but somehow I get lost and live my life in ways contrary to these three qualities. So this idea is pointing to me that these qualities are principles that I should work hard at adopting and making a part of myself. Acting in behalf of everyone’s right to life should be my normal way of life as well as living a material simplistic life.

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?

There are a lot of wonderful ideas contained in this book, 7 are to be chosen for this assessment, notwithstanding I would go on to implement the other ideas in my life as well.

Owning or Being Owned: This principle resonated with me because it brought to light a weakness I struggled with for a long time. And this; struggling to keep the things I have acquired. The effort that I put into this affected my productivity. I have learnt from this principle that I need to give up things and discover my inner security, this way, I would also give up spending my life looking after things and my productivity should also improve.

The Creation Process: I can see that for creation to take place according to this principle, the two opposites have to interact. This in effect means that neither will my thoughts alone nor actions alone give me the result of what I want but they both have to interact for me to manifest that which I desire.
The Ripple Effect: Firstly as this principle states, I would have to live my life in an orderly manner, be grounded in life principles, so that my behavior will be wholesome and effective. Such that, the way I live my life will influence my family and my immediate community. I can start by studying influential personalities around me and identifying the principles which they live by and apply these principles to my life as well.

Don’t Stir Things Up: I would learn to allow hidden issues to remain hidden, mature and emerge in their own time. The reason I would have to learn to allow hidden issues is because; whenever I sense there is an issue, hidden or not; my curiosity doesn’t allow it. I tend to want to explore the issues and probably resolve them before they emerge and become a problem to deal with. I would have to put in enormous energy and focus towards this, so that I would learn to allow hidden issues to remain and emerge naturally.

Nothing to Win: I would have to work on changing my attitude towards group work, from wanting to win at all costs for selfish reasons, forcing my ideas on other group members to accepting other group member’s ideas and working towards the group’s goal. And also learning to accept when things are not going my way while staying focused on the group goal and working towards the team goal.

The Beginning, the Middle and the End: With this idea, I should be able to clearly identify beginnings and only apply the required force and attention. When it is tender and easy to shape, this is the beginning and a lot of care be given to this activity and as soon as it is fully energized and formed I would have to stay back and allow things flow and unfold naturally. I would have to learn to control my emotions, so that I don’t get upset and then get carried away to intervene when I am not supposed to.

Three Leadership Qualities: I would have to look for and apply techniques that would keep me conscious most time, this is because when I am conscious, I tend to live and express these qualities to a certain degree but as soon as I am not conscious I just lose it. So I would work on being conscious at most times which should help improve my ability to live and express these qualities.

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.

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need.”

This statement is important to me because it clarify an experience I had in the year 2020, I had sent out several application in search of a new job but none was forthcoming, and at a point; I had given up on finding another job and I felt it was it was best to walk away from my job at the time because had become toxic and frustrating for me working there. Just before I would leave the job; an opening came and I was called to apply by a friend and to me this happened because I had decided inside that I was leaving.

“Striving to be beautiful, makes a person ugly.”
When we were still teens, if we see a beautiful lady that has applied a lot of makeup, we would angrily tell them that they didn’t need makeup and if they must use makeup, then it should be little, that too much of it was making them look ugly. Little did I know that; this was a principle of life whereby; if one should force something to go a certain way, then the result would be the opposite of one desires.

“The consequences of one’s behavior are inescapable.”

When I was a little boy and full of mischief, my dad tried everything he could to ensure I stopped my mischievous behaviors and took the right path to life but I would not listen or obey him, and a day came when my dad decided not to use force any longer but to let me understand the consequences of my actions; that every good or bad actions always come back with results greater than the initial action. After which I had to reflect on those words and I decided to choose my actions carefully. Seeing it stated like this in this book, tell me how timeless it is.

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?

There is nothing in the book that I do not understand; the content and the ideas in the book are clear to me.

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 were no exercises in this book for the reader to carry out.

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.

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? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 6
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7

A New Earth
Assessment by Ahua Bem Gura (Nigeria)

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

To me I think the main idea this author tried to convey in this book is how to establish connection and bring consciousness into all we do, which would mean also disassociating with the ego. The author was detailed in helping the reader identify the ego; so as not to fall for its tricks easily because the ego usually manifests in several forms which might be confusing but the author was detailed enough to cover its various forms and tactics. After which the author carefully explained steps to take in order to connect and bring consciousness into our lives, and the benefits of being conscious in all our activities.

Below are the 7 ideas which were personally important to me and reasons why they are important to me.

i. The Current State of Humanity

This section is important to me because the author helped me to identify the ego in me. In doing that the author listed ways in which the ego expresses itself in us. Such as identification with things, identification with the body. At some point in my life I was so attached to the things I had, that a loss usually caused me great pain and I would struggle with the pain for a long time. This helped me understand that it was the ego in me at work and how to stay away from the ego mind set and be present at all times.

ii. The Core of Ego
:
This section or idea is important to me because the author helped me to understand the nature of the ego and how the ego strengthens itself. As the author puts it; the ego strengthens itself through separation, seeing the otherness in others, being right and the others wrong or the others being the enemy and the ego does this through complaining, resentment and grievance. Whatever behaviour the ego manifests, the hidden motivating force is always the same, to stand out, be special, need for power to be in control and of course to feel a sense of separateness. The underlying emotion that governs all activity of the ego is fear; fear of death, nonexistence, and the fear of being nobody. All its activities are geared towards eliminating this fear. And as I read I was reflecting on my behaviour in the past that was normal to me, which I am now aware was the ego in me operating and expressing itself.

iii. Finding who you Truly Are

The author made me understand in this section of the book that, my true self is the conscious space, the awareness that is experiencing the drama of the life unfolding around me and every other thing is content. That both inner and outer circumstance of one’s life, their past and future, all belong to the realm of content. And that to know myself, is by going beyond ego, stepping out of content, which could be what I perceive, experience, do, think or feel and being myself by ceasing to identify with content. And also being at peace with whatever happens and resisting what happens; puts one at the mercy of the happening and the world would determine one’s happiness or unhappiness. Before I came across this book, when I used to identify with content and resisted the happenings in my life; I felt stressed and had a lot of struggles in my life.

iv. The Discovery of Inner Space

This is important to me because the author pointed the way to being still, which he stated that being aware of your breath takes attention away from thinking and creates space which forces one into the present moment; which is the key to all inner transformation. Whereby; consciousness is no longer totally absorbed by thinking but some of it remains in its formless, unconditioned, original state-this is inner space. Although inner space has no form, it is intensely alive. That empty space; is life in its fullness, the un-manifested source out which all manifestation flows. I have always wanted to develop the habit of being still always and the author made it simple for me to achieve this.

v. Your Inner Purpose

The author differentiated between primary purpose and secondary and this is important to me because I usually looked at purpose as being something on the external that I was working towards. The author made me understand that what I was doing now is my main or primary purpose. Finding and living in alignment with the inner purpose is the foundation for fulfilling one’s outer purpose. It is the basis for true success. Without that alignment, one would still achieve certain things through effort, struggle, determination and sheer hard work; which has been my experience for most of my life. When one is present in all they are doing, at first there might be no noticeable change in what one does-only the how changes. The primary purpose is to enable consciousness to flow into what one does which would lead to the secondary purpose, which is achieving whatever one wants through the doing.

vi. A New Earth

The author helped me to understand what success is all about. That success is dependent upon and inseparable from the consciousness out of which the actions emanate. All truly successful action comes out of that field of alert attention, rather than from ego and conditioned unconscious thinking. And that; to manifest our external reality, action is a secondary factor, the primary factor in creation is consciousness. Not what one does, but how one does what they do, determines whether they are fulfilling their destiny, which is determined by the state of one’s consciousness. The approach the author suggested for bringing consciousness into what one does is awakened doing; which is an alignment of one’s outer purpose with the inner purpose. Even though one has a goal, what one is doing at the moment needs to remain as the focal point of one’s attention, otherwise one will fall out of alignment with universal purpose.

vii. Breaking Free

This is important to me because the author in this section of the book emphasized the importance of being present even when those around are experiencing pain-body attack. Like in the case of a child, the author suggested that one stay focused at being present, that this is the most one can do. This was so important to me because most times; we I am dealing with a child experiencing a pain-body attack, I notice that I suddenly just get a rush of anger and I completely lose it. The author stated that it requires a high degree of presence to avoid reacting when confronted by someone with such an active pain-body, if one is able to stay present, it sometimes happen that your presence enables the other person to dis-identify from his or her own pain-body and thus experience the miracle of a sudden awakening.

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 Current State of Humanity: This section has taught me that both identification with content and structure are the ego, which prevents one from being present at all times. And if I want to be present at most times then, I have to start by learning to feel my inner body; which is the energy of aliveness in me. So I intend to start paying attention to the energy in my body which should help keep the ego away. With continuous practice, I hope to experience an extended presence and aliveness in me.

The Core of Ego: Now that I know how the ego operates, and working on my awareness, I should be able to identify when the ego is operating and has taken over and as the author puts it “once the ego is identified as ego in us; it weakens it” continuous practice of being present at most times and being aware of the ego in me and others as a dysfunction should make it easy for me to be non-reactive towards it, which would allow for compassion to arise in me and complaining, blaming and accusing or making other wrong would reduce. My focus would be on being present thereby being aware.

Finding who you Truly are: Now that I know that non-resistance is the key to the greatest power in the universe, through which consciousness (spirit) is freed from its imprisonment in form, I would put in some work in my meditation to help me refrain from labelling experiences as good or bad and just letting it be, thereby being in alignment with what is and inner non-resistance. This should help me to be fully present in the now which according to the author should transform what I do allowing quality and power flow into it.

The Discovery of Inner Space: The author did a good job with this, in pointing the way to being. And one of such way to being; is awareness of one’s breath, and also being aware of one’s inner body, to which the author advised that being aware of the inner body as much as possible within the day creates space. There are two exercises which the author introduced in this section which I intend to include in my daily morning routine, this should help me start off my day being still, calm and alert most especially being present.

Your Inner Purpose: Now that I know that my inner or primary purpose is to bring awareness, consciousness into all I am doing, the effect of which would lead to the secondary purpose, which is what I want to see externally. I would leverage on the exercise of feeling my breath; to help me to be present and create inner space for focused attention. Which would allow for consciousness to flow into what I am doing. As the author puts it, what the future holds for me depends on the state of my consciousness now which I believe if I allow conscious flow into all I do, I would notice better results in my life.

A new earth: The author brought to my attention the need to bring my inner purpose in alignment with the universal purpose, such that whatever it is I am doing at the moment should be where my full attention is focused; which the author called awakened doing. I learnt about the 3 modalities to awaken doing which I hope to apply to all I do on a regular basis. I would start with doing all that is necessary in acceptance, keep at it until I can start enjoying doing the activity. I hope to continue doing this, that it then becomes my nature and taking it to the point of bringing enthusiasm into certain activities by introducing the right goals to work towards.

Breaking Free: The author stated that when we recognise your own pain-body as it arises, you will also quickly learn what the most common triggers are; that activates it, whether it be situation or certain things other people do or say and that every time one is present when the pain-body arises, some of the pain-body’s negative emotional energy will burn up, as it were and become transmitted into presence. I would learn at being alert and identify my pain-body as soon as it is activated and then internally accepting and remaining alert and present until it subsides. With time I hope to see progress, me being more present, in the author’s words; me being vast, spacious, just being whole.

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.

“Instead, make sure your goals are dynamic, that is to say, point toward an activity that you are engaged in and through which you are connected to other human being as well as to the whole.”

My goals have generally been about me and those things that I want to achieve, never factoring others in. The author made me understand that stating my goal in the way I used to was enhancing my ego. Which might point to my lack of enthusiasm to go after my goals. And as the author puts it; enthusiasm is the power that transfers the mental blueprint into the physical dimension.

“What the world doesn’t tell you because it doesn’t know is that you cannot become successful. You can only be successful.”

I have always looked at success as something in the future to work towards and I learnt in this statement that; one can only be successful now, in the present moment. Success is not what one towards becoming in the future, success happens now in the present moment only.

“I am never upset for the reason I think.”

When I first saw this statement, I argued with myself that this wasn’t true. But I decided to pay attention to my anger with focus on what was making me angry. To be honest, as soon as I was able to identify what was making me angry, the anger just vanished leaving me in a neutral state.

“If you have young children, give them help, guidance, and protection to the best of your ability, but even more important, give them space; space to be. They come into this world through you, but they are not “yours.”

My dad knocked this into me when I was still young, how were not his children but gifts to the world through him. Seeing it here in this book, goes further to reinforce this in me. This will help me to guide my kids properly, since they are here on their mission not mine.

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?

There is nothing in the book that I do not understand; the content and the ideas in the book are clear to me.

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 were a lot of helpful exercises in the book and I enjoyed and benefited from every one of them. Each one of them helped me to develop a particular skill.

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.

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