Francis Maundu – Assessments – International Institute for Global Leadership

A s a M a n T h i n k e t h
A s s e s s m e n t b y F r a n c i s M a u n d u ( K e n y a )

1 . W h a t i s t h e m a i n i d e a t h e a u t h o r i s t r y i n g t o c o n v e y i n t h e b o o k ?

The author states that mind is the master power that moulds and makes . And a man is mind , and ever more he takes the tool of thoughts and shaping what he wills, brings forth a thousand joys and a thousand ills, he thinks in secret, and it comes to pass environment is but his looking glass. We are the creator of circumstances all of our previous pattern of thinking have created the conditions of our own life today. Concentrated thinking is the greatest secret that separates the winners from the whiners. We need to control our patterns of thinking to get positive results, our positive thinking travel from the head and into the heart, giving a positive outcome.When the information reaches our flesh and become a knowing allows us to set bigger goals, dreams bigger dreams and feel good about ourselves when that goal is attained.

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. We are the makers of ourselves

By the virtue of the thoughts, which they choose and encourage that mind is the master weaver, both of the inner garment of circumstance and that as they may have hitherto woven in ignorance and pain they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness.

ii. A person is literally what she thinks, her character being the complete sum of all her thoughts.

As the plant springs from and could not be without, the seed, so every act of human springs from the hidden seeds of thoughts and could not have appeared without them.

iii. A noble and a God like character is not a thing favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in the right thinking the effect of long cherished association with God like thoughts.

The human is made or unmade by him or herself in the armory of thoughts he forges the weapon by which he destroys himself he also fashion the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansion of joy and strength and peace.
We make ourselves what we are today, this takes me back during child hood, we feed our kids with the power of thinking and imitating, when you teach your children good behavior they will understand that its valuable to have respect to people, and take with respect use good language not abusive, when you sue abusive language the mind digest it and it becomes a norm, there are people speaking dirty in public is not a big deal, they have no manners because that is what fills in their mind, so we have to be careful with our mind, it’s a strong tool that can destroy our mind thinks on making nuclear bomb and it works, making guns and they are in place, if we think making peace then we will be a peaceful nation and world at large.

iv. Humans hold the key to every situation

Humans contain within themselves that transforming and regenerative agency by which they may make themselves what they will, we have the power to create ourselves in any thing we want to be, if we wake up and push our thinking in a positive way we will achieve a lot nothing comes to being before being imagined and then put down for action, first we think and act positive thinking gives out positive result, negative thinking gives out negative result, we have the power to be what we want to be.

v. Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds, obtained and man can find every truth connected with his being, if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul, and that he is the maker of his and the builder of his destiny.

We have the power to exploit our thinking without fear, it’s a powerful took that is hidden in our soul the outcome is greater when articulated well.

vi. Man’s mind may be likened to a garden which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild, but whether cultivated or neglected, it must and will bring forth, if no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein and will continue to produce their kind.

If we teach our mind positive thoughts we will be in a better world, people who think about criminology ends up, committing a crime because that is what their minds occupy, the results we see its out of our inner thinking, they don’t just happen it’s something someone thought about and decides to do it, it starts from out thinking then action follows.

vii. Every man is where he is by the law of his being the thought which he has built into his character have brought him there and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance but all is the result of a law which cannot err.

We are what we are by our choice for example one chooses to be a bad person or good, we make a deliberate choices and the outcome is all about our thinking and choices we made, nothing is impossible if we think positively and work to it.

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 author states that in our thinking we make ourselves better people or destroy our soul, through understanding and taming my thinking I now know its effect the outcome of my life and thoughts is the engine that produce positive or negative results, it s a learning lesson that my mind is a powerful tools and my thinking should be pure and on check, the way I respond to people tells it all I will be very careful on what my thoughts are my colleagues and my reasoning should be of high class, speaking carelessly can be dangerous so, I will also be a mouth piece to other students to tame their thinking because the outcome reflect who they are and it s better to have good thoughts for a better generation.

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.

“Circumstances grows out of thoughts, everyman knows who has for any length of time practiced self-control and self-purification.”

“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves and also that which it fears, our fears and what we love goes hand in hand so we have to be very much alert in our thinking, it can build us or destroy us.”

“The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thoughts and both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are factors which makes for the ultimate good of the individual.”

“Circumstances does not make the man it reveals him to himself, some people commit crime and they say it was Satan, but thought of the matter it was planned in their thinking what we are seeing it’s the outcome of their thoughts, we usually know people through their actions that is when we understand them well, when someone speak we see the real person from how he thinks how he bases arguments, his temperamental it tells it all who exactly we are, when we plant beans we will reap beans, so if our thought are pure we will have pure outcomes evil thought begets evil results.”

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

The books is very clear and easy to understand.

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

Our mind is very powerful tool, nothing happens before its being imagined and thought about anything we see currently it was though thinking that made it to be what it is today, so we have a very strong tool in our mind that is a learning process we start thinking positively and wisely, we need to errs negative thought to have a better life, all crimes we see or good things we see today development careers, they were a just a thought that came in to being what it is today.

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 well covered and understood and very inspirational.

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

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

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The main idea the author is trying to convey is about determination in anything you do, seagull as you know never falter, never stall, to stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor. It is also a motivation that in whatever we do we do it fully without fear or intimidation or discouragement from others. Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again, for most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating, but for this gull, though it was not eating that mattered, but flight, it all tells us that we have our own unique way of doing things unlike following what others are doing, you tap your own skills and talents to be yourself but not copy paste of others, do it from your utmost sincere heart and don’t listen to people who are discouraging you, your inner power will make you achieve whatever you want no matter the challenges.

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. “Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the allhatross?

Many times we are discouraged to do what we want to do with people we know, our relatives and friends, they see impossible in us, we have to give them deaf hears so that we can prosper, in my life challenge most of people used to tell me why go to school and study and yet your mother will never get money to take you to high school, just be like other children whose family background is poor, get few coins and start selling ground nuts or boiled eggs to make a living, to assist your mother get house rent, but I never gave up until today I am about to finish my studies and a bright future awaits me, same people who discouraged me today they are congratulating me, it’s just turn of event.

ii. If you must study, then study food, and how to get it.

This flying business is all very well, but you can’t eat a glide, you know. Don’t you forget that the reason you fly is to eat. Same statements we get on daily basis why do we study, most people perceive that study goes hand in hand to get a better job and live a happy life, some justify ignorance with education, why study and you want get a job?, just start business or earlier employment and make a living, in my take that is not the way we study to be responsible citizens not to get a good job or have big investment, but be civilized human beings, it’s not all about making a life but know how to live with people in a good manner, and understand the human thinking a fool parts with his money or her money in that matter.

iii. Jonathan had set a world speed record for seagulls.

In whatever you do, do it at your level best, get the best out of it, after being discouraged not to continue with my studies I kept my faith and worked hard to achieve my dreams and aspiration, I am setting example that no matter what situation you are undergoing through faith and determination God will send a helper when time is ripe.

iv. I am a seagull, I am limited by my nature, if I were meant to learn so much about flying I could have charts for my brain, if I were meant to fly at speed I could have falcons short wings and live on mice instead of fish.

Our negative attitude pulls as far from our dreams, we have more reasons to quit than conquer our fear, so many impossibilities that makes us not go for what we want and justify the situation, when we look at what we cannot do we end up doing nothing better try doing than do nothing at all, those who have succeeded, tried severally before they became victors, persistence is the key to success no matter what people say you cannot do, you will do it if your are determined it comes from your heart go for it and do not look back what people are saying or what they will say it is your life do it and be happy.

v. There would be no ties now to the force that had driven him, to learn, there would be no more challenge and no more failure.

Once we focus on our goals the challenges become easier and a learning process we become acquainted with and we make the best out of our challenges.

vi. He spared no time that day for talk with other gulls, but flew past sunset, he discovered the loop, the slow roll, the point roll, the inverted spin, the gull bunt, the pinwheel.

Learning is fun when you love what you are doing. Nobody forces you but do it willingly. You feel good and determined to know more and more and learn new skills without listening to negative vibes.

vii. There is a reason to life; we can lift ourselves as creation of excellence and intelligence and skills and lift ourselves out of ignorance because we are capable of achieving anything we want in life, our life is like a book we are the author and we will write whatever we want to write to the book we have our own contents.

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?

This is a motivational ideas and encouragement not only to me but to my community which perceive that education is only for the rich who can afford paying schools fees, purchase books for their children I am a practical example that no matter challenges we focus on our goals, it might take long but for sure you will achieve it, nobody has it all, we have our own down fall, I am associating myself to positive people who encourage me that indeed I will make it, I am also mentoring you desperate students who cannot afford a meal to keep fight on because one day they will look back and appreciate their efforts.

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 can lift ourselves out of ignorance.”

Ignorance is a choice that we can do away from our lives, ignorance costs a lot, and it makes one not to achieve what he wants through ignorance, our human brain can be trained to adapt and achieve anything if put in constant practice and give out good results.

“Other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them, they refused to open their eyes and see, when we conquer our fears we open a new beginning in our lives we see the impossibility and achieve our potential in all aspects of life.”

Learning is a continuous process the more we learn the more we become better people and get new skills that will impact our lives positively.

“Boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that gulls life is so short and with these gone from his thoughts, he lived a long fine life indeed.”

Our life are short when we do not struggle to achieve what we want in life, we need to get something that makes us active not just sit and get bored, those who exercise regularly have less to worry about different diseases, we need to wake up and do what we love most.

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 well stated and clear its well understood too.

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

The book contains a lot of life exercise which is a learning process and applicable in daily life, the book gives me more encouragement to do what I am capable of doing in a positive way.

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 well covered and understood.

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

PsychoCybernetics
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The author of PsychoCybernetics offers a lot of personal and proven in action strategies that shows us how to develop a personal action plan for improving our personal and professional life, be more assertive with friends, family members and difficult co – workers. The author also explains oh how to successfully cope with severe emotional blows, and also anticipate and prepare for career changes. The author enlighten us on how to take new responsibilities without feeling overwhelmed and eliminate stress and anxiety and replace it with positive action.

i. Destructive instincts

Instead of telling ourselves “I failed to get the job I wanted” we conclude I am a failure instead of thinking, every one of us is familiar with the inner voice that tells us, I am not good enough.” As a result of such negative self–reinforcement we become trapped behind walls of fear, anxiety, guilt, self-condemnation and self – hate. It is our self – image that prescribes our limits and achieving a positive self–image the life instinct rather than the destructive instinct. Anyone could start a new and self–fulfilling life by changing his self–image.

ii. Program yourself for success

Human brain is an automatic guidance system, our brain can be either a success mechanism or a failure mechanism. It all depends on the targets our thinking mind establishes for it and on the way it responds to its own errors.

iii. How to create your new program

To understand how you can unlearn the old data and replace it with new positive data.
The two principles of the conscious mind: The selection principle; the conscious mind looks at options and makes purposeful choices among them. The elimination principle: once the conscious mind has made its selection all other possible options are eliminated for that given moment. When you look over a menu in a restaurant you make conscious choices, fish over meat, baked potato over fries, once you choose you effectively eliminate the rest of the menu from your diner plans. When the conscious mind sets a goal it eliminates all alternatives.

iv. Fake it till you make it
Imagining your way to success and realizing that our actions, feelings and behavior arte the result of our own images and beliefs give us the lever that psychology has always needed for changing. You are responsible for the thoughts you have in your head at any given time. You have the capacity to think whatever you choose and virtually all your self – defeating attitude and behavior originate in the way you choose to think.

v. Believing is seeing.

How your imagination can guide you towards success. The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a real experience and one that is vividly imagined. It agrees with every suggestion the conscious mind gives it. It accepts all your mental images are creative or destructive.

vi. Turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

With an understanding of how the two halves of your brain operates together you can see how reflective relearning works. When you engage your imagination you allow your subconscious right brain thoughts (image) to enter your left brain conscious awareness, by creating a mental picture of the way you wish to be, you eliminate the stumbling blocks placed in your consciousness by your old, destructive self–image.

vii. Use relaxation to oil your success mechanism.

Your only obstacle in getting your rider to retain your horse may be an inability to relax, only when you relax the forcing, demanding aspects of your thought can your insightful intuitive self-emerge. Only when your conscious mind frees itself from worrying, fretting stewing and “awfulizing” situation is your subconscious mid susceptible to re-programming.

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 author of PsychoCybernetics helps us to understand ourselves, how we think and a waken our subconscious mind into conscious mind, this is a wakening call to me to challenge my way of thinking how I see things in a positive way we achieve what we want in life, our success comes from inside we have to think positively to achieve positive result. We have the power to speak on what we want and act on it. Affirmation is very strong tool, this idea will help me in a daily life when interacting with other students and teachers also in our society I have to be more alert on what I say and do.

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 may try to change our behavior though will power.”

Positive thinking or affirmations “I will do that examination with self–confidence” I will get a better job; ” i.e. I am a nonsmoker.

“Language loop: it’s a double reinforcement, your ears hear your voice giving the order. It makes your focus clearer.”

“You act and feel.”

Not according to what things are really like but according to the image your mind holds what they are like, you have a certain mental images of yourself, your world, and the people around you, and you behave as though the images were the truth, the reality than the things they represent.

“Day dreaming day dreams are not an idle waste of time. They provide a window on your interests, an indication of what you would be dong if only you could.” Day dreaming may be the golden key to eliminating stress from your life.

“Believing is seeing subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a real experience and one that is vividly imagined.”

“Delaying the response. Delaying the response breaks up and interferes with the automatic working of conditioning; breaking up your patterns makes it easier for you to de-condition yourself from stressful responses on a long term basis.

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 very clear and easy to understand, it is simplified for easy understanding and giving out lots of examples which are motivational and inspirational.

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

This book is an eye opener that helps us in the society to unleash our potential wakens our mind to be critical thinkers and be conscious with what we think and also our utterance should be on check, this is a life exercise that the book offers we will be encountering challenges but we need to train our mind to be in a position to sieve what hear what we speak and what we profess. There is power in our words, the moment we say it is impossible to achieve what we went then our mind closes up to the task nothing we can do about it because we are convinced that we cannot deliver.

In my case in school most of us students hate mathematics and sciences they say they are difficult to do them, we block our mind of reasoning because already we have that picture that those subjects are hard, and then we even go a step ahead to hate the teachers handling those subjects, because they are tough and pushing us to the limit, at the end we fail to appreciate the effort of hard work and we see things on failure point of view but though determination, hard work we can achieve the impossible it is not automatic but we learn and eventually we become familiar with what we are doing, no pain no gain, anything good is worth fighting for it, winner are not quitters and quitters will never be inners.

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 well covered and understood it is very clear and it really helps people to restructure their thinking and be better citizens in the world it is a book you can read and read for a better mental development.

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? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

How to Win Friends and Influence People
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The author is educating us on how to win friends and influence people in our way of thinking, and change them without arousing resentment also the other gives us tips on how to make people like us. When you want to win a friend if, you criticize, is futile because it puts a person on the defensive and usually makes him strive to justify himself. Criticism is dangerous because it wounds a person precious pride hurts his sense of importance and arouse resentment, an animal rewarded for good behavior will learn much more rapidly and retain what it learns far more effectively, than an animal punished for bad behavior same applies to humans, by criticizing we do not make lasting changes and often incur resentment.

i. Change starts by ourselves.

Do you know someone you would like to change and regulate and improve? Good that is fine I am all in favor of it. But why not begin on yourself? From purely selfish standpoint that is a lot more profitable than trying to improve others? Yes and a lot less dangerous. Don’t complain about the snow on your neighbor’s roof, said Confucius when your own doorstep is unclean.

ii. When dealing with people let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic.

We are dealing with creatures of emotions, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity. Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving
A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men

iii. The big secret of dealing with people

The only way is making the person want to do it. You can make someone want to give his watch by striking a revolver in his ribs. You can make your employees give you cooperation until your back is turned. By threatening to fire them, you can make a child do what you want it to do by a whip or a threat but these crude methods have sharply undesirable repercussions. The only way I can get you to do anything is by giving you what you want.

iv. The desire to be great the desire to be important

The deepest principle in human nature is craving to be appreciated
The desire for a feeling of importance is one of the chief distinguishing differences between mankind and the animals. The desire makes you want to wear the latest styles, drive the latest car and talk about your brilliant children.
It is this desire that lures many boys and girls into joining gangs and engaging in criminal activities. George Washington wanted to be called “His mightiness” the president of the United States. Catherine the great refused to open letters that were not addressed to “Her Imperial majesty” Mrs. Grant like a tigress and shouted “how dare you be seated in my presence until I invite you”

v. Lack of appreciation

We often take our spouses so much for granted that we never let them know we appreciate them. Wives run away because of lack of appreciation, same to men,
We nourish the bodies of our children and friends and employees, but seldom do we nourish their self–esteem. We provide them with roast beef and potatoes to build energy but we neglect to give them kind words of appreciation that would sing in their memories for years like the music of the morning stars.

vi. Getting People to Talk

The only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it to catch a fish we use worm, that is what exactly the fish loves but not strawberries or cream that you may love.

vii. If there is any one secret of success it lies in the ability to get the other person’s angle as well as from your own.

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

These ideas will help me in my study to know how to deal with people influence them in a positive manner. Through the book it enlightens me that we have not to be selfish in our dealing with people, let us know what they want and help them to achieve it, when we do something let it be inclusive if we want maximum outcome, people will cherish anything when they know they are part and parcel of the process it will be done perfectly without pushing them to do it.

Being in my high school level I have a lot to learn, I will encounter with different people and my thinking and the way to influence them should be on a higher level being enlightened with this book, it is clear that when you want anything done never use force or demands but there is a language you can use to do anything happily, sometime we are given group work to do with my fellow students everyone want to prove that he is the best and instead of working as a team we end up getting it all wrong because we are not giving each other an opportunity to try and reason together without intimidation, henceforth I will be a good ambassador, to bring amicable solution by giving each and everyone a chance to express their feelings, ideas and solution to be good friend and work together in anything we are assigned.

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.

“Chinese proverb pregnant with the age–old wisdom of the orient, he who treads softly goes far.”

In any dealings we have to tread carefully when dealing with people we need to be careful about their emotions and temperamental to easily blend.

“Be above the fools.”

Turn hostility into friendship. When you argue with a fool you will make no difference sometimes people want to prove a point of which it is clear that there is no point. I remember a story of a donkey and lizard the lizard said the grass is blue and the donkey said the grass is green, there was a strong confrontation until they had to go to the lion to solve the conflict, the lion blamed the donkey, because the donkey knew the grass is green and yet he had to argue with the lizard, so lets be above the fools without proving the point.

“Judge not that ye be not judged. God himself do not propose to judge man until the end of his day. Don’t criticize people, they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.”

“Your bad manners are exceeded only by your bad manners true I had blundered and perhaps I deserved the rebuke.”

“Flattery is counterfeit. Flattery will do you more harm than good like counterfeit money, it will eventually get you into trouble, if you pass it to someone else. The difference between appreciation and flattery that is simple one is sincere and the other one insincere one comes from the heart out the other from the teeth out.”

“Action springs out of what we fundamentally desire.”

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book contains a lot of life exercise which is a learning process and applicable in daily life, the book gives me more knowledge on how to influence people and win them in my way of thinking being that in everyday life we deal with people I will practice more on how to appreciate people and accept them the way they are also I should look at their views without condemnation and criticizing them.

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 well covered and understood.

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

Success through a Positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The author is trying to convey that our mind has a secret invisible talisman, a positive mental attitude will naturally attract the good and beautiful. The negative attitude will rob you of all that makes life worth living. Our success, health, happiness and wealth depend on how you make up your mind. With the right attitude, anyone can achieve his or her dreams. The book shows us how to use PMA to rid our mind of cobwebs how to set our sight on a goal and attain it through persistent, thinking and positive action.
The author presents five self–motivators that provide a springboard to success, six steps to cheerfulness a vital factor in human relationships and three ways to ride yourself of guilt, a common barrier to success.

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

i. The invisible talisman

It has two amazing power, it has the power to attract wealth, success, happiness and health and it has the power to repel these things to rob you of all that makes life worth living, it is the first of these powers, PMA that enables, some men to climb to the top and stay there, it is the second that keeps other men at the bottom all their lives, it is NMA that pulls other men down from the top when they have reached it.

ii. We are not poor because of God

We are poor not because of God we are poor because father has never developed a desire to become rich, no one in our family has ever developed a desire to be wealthy.

iii. If you know what you want, you are more apt to recognize it when you see it.

When you read a book for example, you will recognize opportunities to help you get what you want. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by trying. Success is achievable and maintained by those who keep trying with PMA.

iv. Greatness comes to those who develop a burning desire to achieve high goals
Success is achieved and maintained by those who try and keep on trying with PMA.

To become an export achiever in any human activity, it takes practice, practice, practice
Effort and work can become fun when you establish specific desirable goals.
With every adversity there is a seed of an equivalent or greater benefit for those who are motivated with PMA to become achievers
Man’s greatest power lies in the power of prayers.
v. The greatest value in life.

It was my mother who first taught me some of the greatest value in life, among these was the love of people and the importance of serving others. Loving people and serving them, she used to say, is the greatest value in life.

vi. You were born a champion in all the history of the world there was never anyone else infinity of time to come, there will another, you are a very special person and many struggles took place that had to be successfully concludes in order to produce you.

vii. Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.

Definiteness of purpose, combined with PMA is the starting point of all worthwhile achievements, remember your world will change whether or not you choose to change it, but you have the power to choose its direction.
When you determine your definite major aim with PMA, there is a natural tendency for you to use seven of the success principles:
a. Personal initiative
b. Self – discipline
c. creative vision
d. organized thinking
e. Controlled attention (concentration effort)

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?

Positive mental attitude is the key to achieve anything you need in life, everything good and bad we see currently it started through positive thinking or negative thinking, the result is all about what we have been thinking and putting it in to practical, as a student it is very important for me to be focused and be positive with my studies, nothing is impossible when there is a will power, we need to be very keen on what we think and how we apply it in real life. Nobody who is born poor it is in our mind, nobody cannot study only we see the challenges of not doing something rather than using the challenges as a stepping ground to a better future or to unleash our potential

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.

“You have success born in you.”

Success will never be handed to you on a silver platter. You have to work for it, and keep in mind the principles of success, by doing so you will achieve whatever you want and disciple in anything you do will go a long way, it will make you achieve your goals, being successful and maintaining it on top matters a lot, there are so many people who have been successful but all of a sudden they fail, success needs constant review on what you want and what you are doing and be focused on it.

“Everyone has many talents for surmounting his special problems.”

It is interesting to note that life never leaves us stranded. If life hands us a problem, it hands us also the abilities with which to meet the problem, our abilities vary.

“PMA attracts wealth.”

When you are optimistic, happy and you convert creative thinking into reality by starting right, from where you are, you will attract anything you want. You can turn your disadvantage into advantage. The disadvantages are opportunities to open a new chapter in life, when you see a problem that is an opportunity to create something to solve that problem, like right away we have drought in Kenya but young people are using carts to supply water do to do, they go far where the is water buy it and resell it at a price, this is one way of taking advantage of the situation by creating a solution.

“A formula to help you change your world.”

Fortunately not every life is faced with such great difficulties, yet everyone has problems and everyone reacts to motivating symbols through suggestion or self–suggestion. A most effective form is a self–motivator deliberately memorized for the purpose of flashing from the subconscious to the conscious in time of need.

“Clear the cobwebs from our thinking.”

You are what you think, but what do you think, how orderly are your thoughts processes?, how straight is your thinking? And how clean are your thoughts?
There are certain mental cobwebs everyone, even the most brilliant minds, negative feelings, emotions, passions habits and prejudices our thoughts becomes entangled in these web, sometimes we have undesirable habits and we want to correct them and there are times when we are strongly tempted to do wrong. Then like an insect caught in a spider’s web, we struggle to get free, our conscious will is in conflict with our subconscious mind. The more we struggle, the more we become entrapped.

“It takes only one idea, followed by action, to succeed when others fail.”

The ideas you we have if we cannot put them in to action then nothing will materialize, once you have an idea the action is the determinant of your result, great ideas are in our mind and they have no opportunity to see the light of the day because we do not put them in action, they remain to be a dream deferred, otherwise if they had been practiced and put in action we could have a better life and outcome.

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 very clear and well understood

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

None.

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

The book contains life time exercise which it’s a continuous process mental attitude is a continuous practice that with time results are achieved.

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

A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

Keys to Success
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The author reveals his seventeen essential principles of personal achievement, with concrete descriptions of their implementation, The author gives out the secrets of:
Developing definiteness of purpose
Creating a positive attitude
Organizing your time and energy
Building your self–discipline
Cultivating creative vision
Budgeting your money
Perfecting your personality
Making good health a habit
All this are key to success in any field we want to unlock our potential the author explain each and every point on how to effect it.

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

i. Develop definiteness of purpose

Your progress towards success begins with a fundamental question. Where are you going? Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement, and its lack is the stumbling block for ninety eight out of every hundred people simply because they never really define their goals and start toward them.

ii. A valuable secret
The most important part of this book is not written on its page but already in your own mind, once you learn how to harness the tremendous potential of your mind and how to organize the knowledge you already have, you can turn them into the power necessary for attaining your definite major purpose.

iii. Budgeting time and money

Time budgeting always pays dividends because each moment is made to progress towards your goal, money is also used to its best advantage ensuring that you pass the mileposts along the road to success
Here in school our time is budgeted, in different aspect, there is time for break, time for lunch and time for studies also time to go home, usually in our studies, we have different subjects in different times to attend them, so we budget our time in a proper manner, same applies in daily life, there is time to get to work and also time to accomplish a certain task, if your waste time, then time will waste you, time waits for no man, and as the saying goes, time is money, time and money goes hand in hand time wasted will never be recovered.
iv. Decision making capability

Successful people make decision quickly (as soon as all the facts are available), and firmly unsuccessful people make decision slowly and they change them often
Any decision making is better than none, if you make some mistakes at first, take courage your batting average will improve. Knowing what you want will help in decision making of course because you can always judge whether or not it will contribute to your goal.
The more you battle with making a decision, the more the opportunity pass by, one guy had a chance to start a business in a prime place, I had this idea for a long time and he could not make a decision he wanted to open a transport sacco, and people could register with him to get a transport permit of that route, as time goes by and he wasn’t in hurry to go for the idea another fellow did that and at the moment he is a millionaire and talk of the town.

v. Creating a plan

No one gets something for nothing, people who have money to give will expect to receive something in return, a product, a service an increase in their own capital, you will not be successful overnight, in fact you will not be successful until you have returned to everyone who has aided you everything that he or she is due
Writing out your definite major purpose forces you to be specific about it. It reminds you of its strength and will expose its weakness.
If you cannot put what it is you are going to do into words, it’s probably because you are not as sure about it as you think
Creating a plan gives you an outline on what you want to do, how to do it and how to go about it, it helps you to stick on the purpose it is a driving force towards your success, you can plan to fail or to succeed the choice is yours, but in life we should have a plan on what we want to achieve, who we want to be, what legacy we want to leave behind what life we want to live, it’s all about your desire.

vi. Success is a worthy goal

Striving for success has its detractors, some people will argue that those who acquire wealth do so at the expense of the people who work for them. But if you are going to achieve success you will do so only by extraordinary, effort, effort that most people are not willing to make. People seldom profit by having money unless they earn it. How many times have you read about lottery winners who find themselves bankrupt only a few years after their windfall? Or about heirs to great fortune reared in atmosphere of indulgence who fall prey to addictions like alcohol or gambling? The value of the wealth that comes with success is that it carries with it the lessons you have learned in acquiring it.

vii. Mental habit

Doers take possession of their minds through self – disciple they make plans and they carry them out. They direct their minds towards the objects of their desire and they keep their minds occupied with those things. They don’t spend time thinking about what they don’t want. Doers recharge their positive mental attitude often their productivity gives them concrete signs of their progress toward their goals. They take these signs as indication of the great things just over the horizon.

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?

This ideas will help me to keep my focus on the keys to success towards a better life, focus in whatever we do is very important, also in time management I will keep my time to be precious, especially during the holidays when we are not in school I will have my own time management and budget my time on what to do in order to keep track with what I want to achieve being my last year in high school I am sure in the reaming months all so, I will achieve my goals of excelling in my education, this book is handy since it gives me guidelines on what to do to achieve my heart desires not only in academic, but how in future I can make a better life and acquire wealth and give back to the community which has been helpful to my journey of education.

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 you would plant for a day plant a flower if you would plant for years, plant trees
if you would plant for eternity, plant ideas.”

“One single idea may have greater weight than the labor of all the men, animals and engine for century.”

Put ideas and your definiteness of purpose to work.

“There is no scarcity of opportunity; There is only a shortage of imagination
Countless people gain new wealth every year, whether the economy is prospering or ailing.”

“No one mind is complete by itself; no one has ever attained outstanding success in anything without applying the mastermind principles.

“Who would board a train without knowing where it went or where it’s going
Obviously you cannot do this if you have not yet selected your own definite major purpose.”

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

The well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book contains a lot of life exercise which is a learning process and applicable in daily life, the book gives me more knowledge on how to be successful in all aspect of life, giving out seventeen principles of success which is very helpful, success is a wider term of which at the moment I do focus success in my studies however the books is a life time help towards anything I want to achieve only following the doctrine of success.

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 well covered and understood.

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

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

Giant Steps
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

What the author is conveying s that giant steps is the ultimate game plan for life, its an emotionally interactive primer for personal and professional success,.
Giant steps state how small changes make a big difference in our daily lessons in self-mastery. The author designed the book to fit easily into our busy lifestyle by helping us turn the philosophies, strategies and techniques into bite – sized chunks that you can digest in just minutes each day. It leads to the simple power of decision a fundamental step in making any change in your life, to the more specific, precise tools that can define the quality of our relationships, our finances, our health and our emotions.

i. Dream of destiny

Nothing happens unless first have a dream. Whatever we want for life we have to dream about it.What ultimately determines who we become and where we go in life is our decisions. Its in these moments that our destiny is shaped, more than anything else, I believe our decision not the condition of our lives determine our destiny. The more decisions you make the better you will become at making them, muscles get stronger with use and so it is with your decision making muscles.

ii. Personal development goals.

Your sense of personal well-being and achievement lays the foundation for every other achievement in your life.What can you do today to move yourself forward, matters a lot. Whatever you consistently think about and focus upon, you move towards it.

iii. We all need a continued sense of emotional and spiritual growth, it is the food on which our souls thrive.

As you approach the attainment of the goals you’ve pursued, be sure to immediately design for yourself a new compelling future

iv. How to get what you really want

To get what you want you must discover what’s preventing you from taking action.
Often when we see greatness in others we assume they are just more fortunate blessed with special gifts, in reality they have utilized a greater depth of their human resources simply because failing to be, do, and share their all would be the ultimate pain for them.

v. Some of the simplest things can make the biggest difference

When the author writes about giant steps it is a accumulation of small things, that matters, even in real life, we were born being helpless very small and tinny, it is through the effort of our parents that today we are where we are, we started by not even eating hard food, just breast milk, we didn’t know how to talk, we didn’t know how to work, from crawling to walking and becoming intellectuals, every good thing starts small and grows gradually, even in business, family, it grows slowly until its complete.

vi. The power of create or destroy

It is the mind that maketh good or ill that maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor
What really shapes our lives is the meaning we attach to events.

vii. Whichever belief you construct is the one that will be true for you.

For instance in school most of our fellow students, say that mathematics and sciences are very hard, even if it is something that needs common sense, we don’t struggle to reason because already our mind is determined and blocked that it is impossible to solve that mathematics, then we create a negative image even for the teacher who is teaching the same subject, the moment he enters the class room your mind switch off, and nothing comes in your mind. Everything starts with passion no matter how difficult or hard it is once you have passion with time you will catch up, and we should go extra mile to do whatever we want to achieve more practice and practice until we gain what we need, no gain without pain, when we listen to those who are successful, it wasn’t just a cup of tea or a walk in the park, they struggled, failed but they kept on moving without quitting and at the end they achieved their life time dream.

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

These ideas will help me in my daily life to understand that anything worthy doing should be done no matter how little you do it. It is a eye opener that to achieve something big we start little by little, at the end we will achieve it, practically in our school we learn every day and little by little in order to cover the syllables, through learning every day we learn new things that makes us who we are, even making giant steps we have to accept baby steps which makes us achieve giant step in our lives.

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 floodgate can be opened.”

By one decision, bringing us joy or sorrow, prosperity or poverty, companionship or solitude, long life or early death. Just a simple and quick decision can change our lives positively or negatively. People have ruined their lives by making quick decision when they are in anger, some people are in jail because of making wrong decision, be provoked and fight back, at the end you are behind bars and your dreams are shuttered

“Success and failure are not usually the result of a single event; failure is the result of neglecting to make the call, to go the extra mile.

The extra mile people make is what makes them outsmart others, the extra mile you do in your research makes it more advanced than others, we have to go extra mile to be on top of the game.

“Who you become as a person is the ultimate reward.”

“There’s a huge difference between achieving to be happy and happily achieving.
Strive to live each day to its fullest.”

“The human spirit is truly unconquerable.”

The will to win, the will to succeed to shape one’s life to take control can be harnessed only when you decide what you want and believe that no challenge, no problem, no obstacles can keep you from it. Obstacles are merely a call to strengthen your resolve to achieve your worthwhile goal.

“Pain can be your friend if you use it effectively.”

“Enjoy life’s puddles.”

Live with a spring in your step, a smile on your face, make cheerfulness, outrageousness and playfulness new priorities for your life.

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book contains a lot of life exercise in every chapter there is an exercise, so the books take you in a journey of making giant steps, this exercise is a lifetime, making giant steps, sometimes we can fail back but be determined to raise again, like a child making the first step he will fail time and again but with time he will learn without giving up to know how to fully walk and even run, so in everything we do determination matters, it won’t be a straight line, but those challenges are the once makes us strong and pay the ultimate goal. In school right away we wake up very early for morning preps we also sleep later we push ourselves beyond the limit so that we can achieve our lifetime dream, if you love something you have to fight for it, go extra miles, we ask questions in order to understand more we do revision with different books and authors to gain more knowledge at the end we will celebrate for good result, none will understand our struggles behind the scene, but our result will speak by themselves that indeed we did a wonderful job.

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 well covered and understood.

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

Maximum Achievement
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The author is gives out outlines, concepts and ideas, methods that can be used in every field, everywhere in a daily life. The author gives tips on how to unlock individuals, potential for personal greatness, become more positive and persuasive and powerfully focused in everything we do, it helps you understand and know how to increase and improve your income. Also the author outlines proven principals drawn from psychology, religion, philosophy business, economics, politics, history and metaphysics.
The book helps us to raise self–esteem, improve personal performance and give us complete control over aspects of your personal and professional life.

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. How to improve our lives
Today’s era today’s age is the age of achievement. In the past never have more people accomplished more things in more different fields that they are accomplishing today, more opportunities which help them to turn their dreams into realities compared to earlier ages.
In this modern life the world has become a global village whereby achieving whatever you want it is possible, it is more evidently from the experience in IIGL, people could travel far and wide to seek for knowledge and education, but today I do study an international course in the comfort of my country, if we had no internet no computers, probably it could be very difficult for students in the developing world to join IIGL, it could require traveling abroad and the expenses could be huge, get an hostel or a place to stay.
Today there is teleconference whereby businesses are done online and they are successful, products are being advertised online and shipped to your comfort zone, the opportunities are endless, and in that regard being successful or failure it is a choice. Young people are using social media positively to advertise their talents and in return they are becoming self – reliant, there is a direct link to your client unlike the old time business was killed by middle man who could make hard to do business. Today if you want to apply a job, internationally you just log in to the account of that website and you do it without using cartels, indeed we have opportunities all over the world; it is upon us to unlock the key of our success.
ii. Reasons for so much under achievement.
In the world today people do not know how to get the most out of themselves; they don’t know how to apply themselves for maximum performance and happiness, we do waste a lot of time below our potential, it is important to know what exactly you are capable of doing and do it, by doing that you will not waste time doing unnecessary things. Our government here in Kenya had a very good program of which we hope it will be embraced with everyone CBC curriculum base competency tapping the talents of our young children from primary level in order to be productive at the earlier age this will help more job creation rather than every person going for a white collar job.
iii.The law of control
Once we understand the law of control, we feel positive about ourselves to the degree to which you feel you are in control of our own life, sometime parents control us students, they want you to do what they prefer for you, and you have no choice but to adhere with, there is a time accounting used to be everything once you do it, it is automatic that you will get a job and make it in life, so people had to mushroom doing it, even if it wasn’t of your choice, again the computer era came up, everyone had to rush to do it, we lack self-control that guides us on what we want and stick on it. Most people are in careers that they don’t love either they were pushed to do or they did it because of money, you will find somebody being a doctor or a nurse but since it wasn’t her career he doesn’t have that passion to do it. Students and pupils have fallen in the hands of teachers, who were supposed to be police officers, and at the end we even have teachers who have killed students because of being in a wrong career, they see students as terrorist and instead of disciplining them they kill them.
iv. Examining ourselves
We need to examine our life with mental checklist and to decide where you feel positive and in control and also check our negative checklist to work on them. It will be easy to know where to adjust when you examine yourself fully, nobody understand us like oneself, your weakness can be turned into strength if we examine ourselves in an honest manner, because we cannot deceive ourselves we fully understand our potential and strength.
v. Iron law of the universe.
This law states that everything happens for a reason, whether or not you know what it is, the author says that the law cause and effect that there are specific causes for success and specific cause of failure, there specific cause of health and for illness. Indeed even joining international institute for global leadership there was a reason in my life, this books is wonderful and on point, the people I have met in life, one being Erick made it possible for me to connect to this forum, I have a lot to thank God for this far, many good people that I cannot name them in this script that have made me be where I am today, it is marvelous indeed good or bad things that happens in our lives have reasons, we are the people to know as to why such things do happen, either we learn from them or appreciate the result, living in a slum is not a curse but it happens with a reason you work hard and make it in life, be a living testimony.
vi. The law of belief
The more intensely you believe for something the more likely it will become true for you. This is very true to me, I believed that I will study and go through my high school level, I didn’t have money to study but I knew God will send a helper today I am about to step out of my High school, if I didn’t believe it, I could not be where I am today, there was and there are a thousand reason that could have made me drop out of school but again there were a thousand reason for me to pull along, nothing in this world doesn’t have challenges but the way we handle them matters a lot.
vii. Our mental equivalency
Thoughts, objectify themselves, your thoughts which are vividly imagined and repeated charged with emotions become your reality, everything you become and accomplish is determined by the way you think and by the way you use your mind.

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?

This is a wonderful book with wonderful experience the lesson I have learnt here are actually enlightening and will help me especially in my education life, I have a whole life to do good and achieve my maximum desire of my life, not only for the benefit of myself but also in my community and my fellow students.

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.

“You are a living magnet.”
Invalidly attract people and situation in our lives with our dominant thoughts. Magnet only attracts what it wants and we also have to attract what we want not everything a magnet picks, in life we should attract positive friends, positive ideas and we will be what we want to be, if you attract negative things or behavior you will also have a negative life style.
“As within so without.”
Our outer world is a reflection of our inner world. You can tell what is going on inside of you by looking at what is going on around you, and it is said that you will never get good result if you keep on doing what you do the same way again and again, we have to change our tactics to achieve our goals.
“Change your mind to change your life.”
Our mind is the power house, once we change our mind and guard them positively we will achieve what we want, so we have to change our mind positively.
“Whatever you expect with confidence becomes your self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Whatever you confidently confess and believe you will achieve it, no matter what there is word power what we speak gives life, we are Gods creation remember God said let be there light and indeed we had light, we bless using our tongue and curse, so speak positive about your life, about your children about your spouse and indeed it will be a blessing to you and those who surrounds you.
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t either way, you are right.”
Our mind is set in a way that if you believe you can do something you will do it, but if you think you cannot then it is true you cannot, so we are able to make our lives what we want it to be like.

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book contains a lot of exercise in our entire life, about our life in general and what we are supposed to do, the book is legit and learning lessons that will be like a walking stick to me and to my fellow students, after reading this book my life is not the same again.

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

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

Creating your Path through Leadership
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The main idea the authors are conveying in the creating your path through leadership, is a collective ideas from various individuals who have achieved their goals through one way or the other and also those in the process of achieving their life time dreams
It is an inspiration from 24 testimonial about transformation and discovering of one’s purpose, the authors range from educated young people who left lucrative employment to serve humanity, to others who were already leaders in some area of endeavor but sought a spiritual perspective to their work and finally to those sacrificed though adversity and overwhelming odds to lead others to a better tomorrow.

i. The universe operates in accord with our individual and collective beliefs and attitude.

When the founding father of IIGL, Michael was fired from the work place due to dispute with the board of directors, at the time he was immersed in the idea that he was a martyred victim of a vocal minority, who had swayed the board to take action. This is evident that whatever happens. It happens with a reason after being fired we can see the fruits of selfless effort to bring up IIGL which cover almost every part of the world. In any challenge we should be the good out of it, how many people in the world keep on looking at the closed window without seeing the open door for opportunities, challenges makes us strong they do not break us.

ii. It is better to light a candle, however small, than curse the darkness.

IIGL started in a small way to change the individuals to think positive, that you can make it no matter what, usually in real life we have so many obstacles and we make sure we justify them why we cannot achieve something, the bigger one being capital to start a dream job, creating a job we see huge amount of money which we don’t have not knowing that the bigger things we see today were sometime back just a dream a mere drop in the see but through time they grow to be what we admire today, never give up start even if it is in a small way with time you will be happy of what you have achieved.

iii. Making a difference in the world, each day one book at a time.

We can make a difference in the world though baby steps, do one kind thing to an individual and tell him/her to do it to another person the process continue when you come to do evaluation you will find out that whatever you did it covered a lot of people, and that is how IIGL started, from individual friends, receiving a copy of a book to read and it expanded to the world, IIGL is like a world fire, covering all corners of the world, probably Michael never knew this will happen, probably he was just doing it for a friend who wanted to land to the world of honey and milk (USA), but today through his ideas and wisdom people are enjoying that honey and milk at the comfort of their living room with a laptop or a book, we are the product of IIGL and spreading the word in the world for positive changes.

iv. The ability to appreciate and attract things of value (by Felix Iziomoh).

This is very true that we have the power to attract what we want in life, we are the creator of our future and destiny, nobody knows you better than yourself, if you are determined and follow the guidelines of what you want to achieve trust me you will achieve no matter how long it will take but at the end you will definitely achieve it. We are given equal opportunities in the world we are the once to choose the path to follow.

v. Lifelong learning

Leaders are lifelong learner, there is no two way about it. In life if you want to achieve more either in leadership or in life in general you have to keep on practicing no matter how difficult it is, we learn a new thing every day, and once we put it in practice we become good leaders in different areas of life, even in our home place, school, and working place.

vi. Something good from the dumpsite (by Erick Omari)

This is inspiration especially for those less privileged, it is an encouragement that indeed nobody is useless no matter the condition or situation, nothing is permanent, we make ourselves useful by doing the right thing, people have made it in difficult situations and today are the greatest motivator and icon in the society, our God can uplift you from the gutters and dine with queens and kings in the world.

vii. Embrace your uniqueness.

Our uniqueness makes the world beautiful, we are made unique with a purpose so we need to redefine our purpose of uniqueness, people have lost focus by pretending or copycat of other peoples life, not knowing that being unique is a blessing from God, in life we cannot be all of us doctors, we need engineers, pilots and so on, ben happy with your uniqueness because it make the world complete.

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

4. 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.
“One book can change a mind one mind can change the world.”

Michael started with only one book, Jonathan seagull and then as a man thinketh and then, sharing it with a friend who wanted to visit USA for greener pasture after the fellow going through the book it was self-actualization and indeed he achieved his life time dreams, so a book might be small in volume but a life changer.

“Your ability grows as you maintain focus on the vision you cherish in your heart
Once you do something constantly you will gain its ultimate outcome, everything in life needs practice and patience you will learn more ways of achieving whatever you want.”

“Your present situation is not your final destination, the best is yet to come.”

Never define your situation with the current situation, we have seen people who had nothing in life, raising up and becoming respective people in the world and some have been reduced to nothing from greatness.

“Your rain could be a matter of time, your germination moment could be just around the corner.”

Never give up in life, we are in this world with a purpose today it might not be your day but tomorrow it might shine to you, keep pressing on.

“Don’t ever wrestle with the pigs, you will both get dirty, but the pig will enjoy it.”

When you have a disagreement, don’t push it to physical but just brush it off, because some people will do that intentionally to pull you down.

“Sugar and salt may be mixed together but ants rejects the slat and carry away only sugar.”

Select the right people in life and make your life better and sweeter.

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book contains a lot of exercise in our entire life, about our life in general and what we are supposed to do, the book is a collective ideas of the young professionals who have made it in life, through mentorship we can achieve a lot.

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 well covered and understood.

Please rate the following questions on the scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful was the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to other? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

GOALS
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The main idea the author is conveying he states as to why some people achieve all their goals while others simply dream of having a better life, the path from frustration to fulfillment has already been discovered hundreds of thousands even millions of men and women have started with nothing and achieved great success. The author gives out essential principles you need to know to make your dream come true, he explains how to determine your own strength, what you truly value in life and what you really want to accomplish in the year ahead.

The author shows how to build your self- esteem and self–confidence approach every problem or obstacle effectively overcome difficulties respond to challenge and continue forward towards your goals no matter what happens. The author also states that there are no unrealistic goals, there are merely unrealistic deadlines, a goal is a dream with deadline and if you do not set the goals you cannot magically achieve it.

i. Importance of Goal setting

Thinking on what you want and how you get it, most of the time unsuccessful, unhappy people think and talk about what they don’t want most of the time, they talk about their problems, and worries, and who is to blame for their situation most of the time, but successful people keep their thoughts and conversation focused on their most intensely desired goals, they think and talk about what they want most of the time.

ii. Why people don’t set Goals

They think Goals aren’t important
They don’t know how to set them
They have a fear of failure, failure hurts it is emotionally and often financially painful and distressing.
Years of rejection, people are afraid that if they set a goal and are not successful, others will criticize them.

iii. Goal setting

To unlock and unleash your full potential you should make a habit of daily goal setting and achieving for the rest of your life, the starting point of a goal setting is for you to realize that you have virtually unlimited potential to be, have or do anything you really want in life if you simply want it badly enough and are hard enough to achieve it.

iv. Determine your starting point

If you want to lose weight, the very first thing to do is to weigh yourself to determine your baseline or current weight. When you assess your situation by analyzing your starting point you are forced to be honest with yourself, this enables you to set goals that are believable and achievable rather than setting goals that may be unattainable and self – defeating.

v. Determine why you want it

If you have one or two reasons for attaining a goal, you will have a small amount of motivation but if you have forty or fifty reasons for achieving a particular goal you will be so motivated and determined to succeed that nothing and no one will stand in your way.

vi. Make a plan, put it all together

A plan is a list of activities organized by time, sequence and importance what do you have to do first, and what do you do second, what is more important and what is less important what has to be done before other things that you have to do what are the activities that are more important in achieving your goal than anything else.

vii. Never give up

Do with persistence and determination resolve in advance that you will never give up make the decision long before you face any obstacles or difficulties that no matter what happens you will preserve until you finally reach your goal. It is difficult, if not impossible for you to make progress in your life if you allow yourself to be held back by decisions you made in the past if there is something in your life that you wouldn’t get into again today.

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?

These ideas will help me in my daily life to know how to set goals both long term and short term, it is a process and it will make me be positive in my goals achievement, it is a dream come through at the moment I am about to do my final examination I have set my goals and in due time I will achieve what I have worked for, setting goals is not enough but we have to work towards achieving them, and this is where we go wrong we do set goals and wait for them to be fulfilled with others, we should own our goals in order for them to be a reality. There is usually a price to pay for you to achieve your goals, it doesn’t come automatically you might fail more than once, twice but if you keep focused on your goal finally you will achieve them,

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 greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.”

“Like a computer your goals seeking mechanism is nonjudgmental it works automatically and continuously to bring you what you want regardless of what you program into it.”

“The greatest question you must eventually ask and answer is what I do really want to do in my life.”

“If your goal is big enough break your deadline down into sub deadline.”

“Average and mediocre people always blame their failure to make progress on the people and circumstances around them, always look into themselves and ask what is it in me that is holding me back.”

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book contains a life time exercise whereby setting goals and achieving them it is a process which we have to work hard towards them, I will keep my goals alive and make sure I achieve them.

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

No there is none.

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

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

Nonviolent Communication
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

Nonviolent communication is based on the premise that all human beings have the capacity for empathy and that we all share a common desire to be happy and fulfilled.
When we interact with others using nonviolent communication, we focus on expressing our observations, feelings, needs, and requests in clear, concise, and respectful ways. We also listen deeply to others when they express themselves in this way. Nonviolent communication aims to improve our ability to connect with others and create relationships characterized by mutual understanding and respect. Remember that the Nonviolent Communication process is not a way to get what you want from others. Instead, it is a way to improve our ability to connect with others and create relationships characterized by mutual understanding and respect.

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.

i. Separating observations from judgments is the first step towards reducing needless conflict.

Often, our brains leap to label someone: that student is “lazy,” that husband is “careless,” and so on. Often our mouths rush to speak the judgment, too! But does it really work to go around judging people? How do they tend to respond when you judge them? How do you respond when other people do this to you?

ii. Connecting actions and requests to people’s specific needs points the way towards solutions to any problem.

Why are we so judgmental, if it’s not usually productive? In other words, when a teacher labels a student “lazy” perhaps she’s stressed because she doesn’t know how to motivate him. Or the wife of that “careless” husband values neatness much more than he does, but she doesn’t see a way to resolve their preferences. People’s needs are more alike than different: we have physical needs, as well as needs for autonomy, positive emotional experiences, positive social experiences, spiritual experiences of some kind, and play.

iii. You can use nonviolent communication to improve how you talk with yourself, too!
Since all people have needs and deserve empathy, that includes your past and current selves too!

Perhaps you’re harboring painful, long-standing regrets about something you did a long time ago. Can you find a way to empathize with who you were back then? Which needs was she trying, however mistakenly, to fulfill when she made that regrettable decision?
Or maybe you’re facing a difficult decision right now. By setting aside what you think you “should” do and focusing on the needs of everyone involved, you will enable a comfortable resolution. NVC even provides a better way of giving compliments. After all, even positive judgments are still judgments, and they remind people you’re critiquing them. Instead of giving a conventional compliment, try explaining to someone how something specific they did met one of your needs. This kind of compliment is much clearer and more meaningful than the alternative.

iv. Observing

In this step, you observe what is happening without attaching any judgment or evaluation. This can be difficult, but remember that we are all trying to meet our needs somehow, even if it doesn’t appear that way at first glance.

v. Feelings

In this step, you express your feelings about what is happening. It is essential to be as specific as possible when doing this. For example, rather than saying, “I feel angry,” you might say, “I feel frustrated because I’m not being heard.”

vi. Needs

One of nonviolent communication’s main goals is to understand others’ needs. This does not mean manipulating them to get what you want but instead listening with the intention of empathy. To do this, you need to be aware of your feelings and needs, as well as the feelings and needs of others. In this step, you identify the needs that are causing your feelings. Once again, it is essential to be as specific as possible. For example, rather than saying “I need attention,” you might say, “I need to feel heard and valued.”

vii. Making Requests

After you have observed the situation and identified your own feelings and needs, you can make requests of others that are based on these needs. It is important to remember that requests should be made in a way that is respectful and clear. In this step, you make a specific request of the other person that will help meet your needs. For example, you might say, “I’d like to have a conversation with you about this issue.”

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?

When we live in this world we expect to differ with people in one way or the other, through this book it will be easy for me to know how to solve violent in amicable way, without causing trouble, this is a wonderful book to solve conflict in the society I will also be an ambassador in my school to teach people on nonviolent communication skills

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.

“At the core of all anger is a need that is not being fulfilled.”

“We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think, and feel.”

“We only feel dehumanized when we get trapped in the derogatory images of other people or thoughts of wrongness about ourselves.”

As author and mythologist Joseph Campbell suggested, “What will they think of me? must be put aside for bliss. We begin to feel this bliss when messages previously experienced as critical or blaming begin to be seen for the gifts they are: opportunities to give to people who are in pain.”

“My theory is that we get depressed because we’re not getting what we want, and we’re not getting what we want because we have never been taught to get what we want. Instead, we’ve been taught to be good little boys and girls and good mothers and fathers. If we’re going to be one of those good things, better get used to being depressed. Depression is the reward we get for being “good.” But, if you want to feel better, I’d like you to clarify what you would like people to do to make life more wonderful for you.”

“As we’ve seen, all criticism, attack, insults, and judgments vanish when we focus attention on hearing the feelings and needs behind a message. The more we practice in this way, the more we realize a simple truth: behind all those messages we’ve allowed ourselves to be intimidated by are just individuals with unmet needs appealing to us to contribute to their well-being. When we receive messages with this awareness, we never feel dehumanized by what others have to say to us. We only feel dehumanized when we get trapped in derogatory images of other people or thoughts of wrongness about ourselves

Two questions help us see why we are unlikely to get what we want by using punishment to change people’s behavior. The first question is: What do I want this person to do that’s different from what he or she is currently doing? If we ask only this first question, punishment may seem effective, because the threat or exercise of punitive force may well influence someone’s behavior. However, with the second question, it becomes evident that punishment isn’t likely to work: What do I want this person’s reasons to be for doing what I’m asking?”

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

None.

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

Nonviolent communication is the key to a better life, we need to learn the language on a daily basis, if we can learn the skills we will solve most of the problems without using violent even the money used for court cases jails will be reduced because we will be in a position to understand one another, this book is very important to human society and we need to embrace it to make a better world.

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

A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful was the content? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the over all rating you would give it? 10

Goal Mapping
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

In Goal Mapping the author convey that goal mapping is a simple technique for success. It has helped individuals achieve success relating to wealth, health, career, education, sport, weight-loss and whatever else your dream may be, while clarifying your purpose, the process and identification of supportive colleagues. If you feel that despite your dedication to success, nothing seems to work, the author helps you to achieve whatever you are working for. If you are frustrated because your planned initiatives are not achieved, this book can give you what you are looking for. If you are a student and you find it difficult studying and achieving good grades, this book is for you.

i. Dream.

Dreams can have a powerful effect on our waking lives. They reflect our hopes and fears about the future and even help us revisit our pasts. Whether you want to learn how to lucid dream (i.e. actively control and be aware of your dreams while sleeping) or you simply want to learn how to have more pleasant dreams, there are a number of things you can do throughout the day and before you go to bed to have the dreams you want.
Whatever form of success you dream of, goal mapping can help you to achieve it.
Wikipedia explains dream as a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. A dream is an inspiring picture of the future that energizes your mind, will and emotions, empowering you to do everything you can to achieve it. Take a look at many of the things that people pursue or try to achieve in their lives:
Day dreams: distractions from current work.
Pie-in-the-Sky Dreams: wild ideas with no strategy or basis in reality.
Bad Dreams: worries that breed fear and paralysis.
Idealistic Dreams: the way the world would be if you were in charge.
Vicarious Dreams: dreams lived through others.
Romantic Dreams: belief that some person will make you happy.
Career Dreams: belief that career success will make you happy.
Destination Dreams: belief that a position, title or award will make you happy.

ii. Order: what is my priority.

We set orders of priority depending on what we value most and what is important to us, so we categorize our priorities depending on our values, goals and mission.
Why you need to figure out your top priorities in life?
Have you ever struggle to figure out what your priorities are? Or do you have a clear idea of your top priorities in life but you can’t seem to manage them all? Our ability to make an impact with our lives and the lives of others often depends on what we decide to prioritize. Once you are clear on your goals, you will be able to make better informed and quicker decisions that will guide your life choices. Our priorities are the areas of our lives that are meaningful and very important to us. These priorities are usually activities, practices, careers, health or relationship that we will like to put real effort and time into. When you are not clear on your priorities, you will have trouble to manage your time and make progress on your goals. More responsibilities will set in and you will find yourself worked out or get exhausted with tasks.

iii. Draw: What does it look like?

When you draw and not write your goals, it will help you to make them happen.
It is time to power-up your goals by turning your written words into pictures. We all have two sides to our brain. The left-brain thinks in words while the right-brain thinks in pictures, and it is important to use both to powerfully command our subconscious mind.
This is a communication between your conscious and subconscious, using imagery to represent your goals. I have heard teenagers and youth exclaim during my teachings on Goal Mapping, when it was time for drawing their goals, some will say they don’t know how to draw. The same applies to me; I find it difficult to draw, as I have the feeling that I am not an artist. Words like I can’t draw, I am not in the fine art class. The truth is that, however your goal mapping is, it doesn’t necessarily have to be fine art. We can achieve what we want using symbols or other forms of image that will best describe what we want.

iv. What do I want?

You really need to decide why you want a particular goal. Every goal we set whether it is career, relationships, health and fitness, finances, personal growth, spiritual life and education are in essence a thought. Identifying and attaching strong emotions to our goal thoughts makes them much more powerful, both consciously and subconsciously.
When you have one or two reasons for accomplishing a goal, you will have a small amount of motivation. But if you have forty or fifty reasons for achieving a particular goal, you will be so motivated and determined to succeed against all odds; that nothing and no one will stand in your way.

v. When do I want

Everything we do it has a time frame, when do I want and when do I achieve it, so you have to set your time frame on whatever you want time to choose a date, to set a deadline when you would like to achieve the goal. All of our goals may need different amounts of time so I urge you to concentrate on your Main Goal and choose a date or timeline to achieve this goal. A deadline is a ‘best guess’ of when you will attain the goal. For a goal to be specific and definite, it should have an achievable timeline or date. Fixing achievable date for your goal signifies that you believe in yourself and it enables you to prioritize actions.

vi. How will I achieve it

It is also the step to focus on how you will achieve your goals. What are the major actions you will need to take that will move you along a path towards the achievement of your Main Goal?
Are there new skills or talents that you will need to develop?
Are there new qualifications or teaching that you will need to gain?
Are there new resources or income that you need to secure?

For a long–term goal, the actions will be repeated actions such as allocating time each week to work on your goal, taking a course online or saving a particular amount of money each month. Once you have thought of some of the actions that you will need to take, put the action that comes first in the bottom box marked How so that they fall on the timeline with other actions moving up towards the achievement of your Main Goal.

vii. Whose help will I require.

This is the time to take a look at your goal map template again and the actions you have decided to take. When writing down those who will help you achieve your goal, it might be your parents, your teacher, spouse your boss, your mentor, colleague or coach, maybe your friend, your family or professionals who are the main people connected with your goals and actions and sometimes it might be yourself. Whose help will you require, and what will you have to do to get them to help you? How can you earn their cooperation by helping them in some way.

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?

These ideas will help me in my daily life to know how to set goal mapping in my life and giving out priorities depending on the needs, and time frame both long term and short term needs.

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

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at.”

“Everyone is assigned personal responsibility for building an extraordinary life and businesses.”

“The blend of teaches, group and individual exercises and open discussions give participants the feel of what it takes to map and achieve a goal. Goal Mapping passes the message down to the grassroots level.

“The why determines the how.”

Get the right information or knowledge so when you get out of the gate, you know what to do. You figure out the most efficient use of your time, and your goals cost less to complete.

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book contains a life time exercise and questionnaires to be filled. Whereby goal mapping and achieving them it is a process which we have to work hard towards them, I will keep my goals alive and make sure I achieve them.

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

No there is none.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from one to ten. Ten is good and 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 Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The author, Covey says that one should balance and renew one’s resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. He primarily emphasizes exercise for physical renewal, good prayer, and good reading for mental renewal. He also mentions service to society for spiritual renewal. In Highly effective People Speak, he shares the basic strategies of powerful communication. He teaches you how to speak with eloquence and persuasion not by simply repeating platitudes, but by diving into what makes them true and how they make communication more effective

i. “Be proactive.”

Proactivity is about taking responsibility for one’s reaction to one’s own experiences, taking the initiative to respond positively and improve the situation. Covey postulates that “between stimulus and response lies your ability to choose” how to react, and that nothing can hurt a person without the person’s consent. Covey discusses recognizing one’s circle of influence and circle of concern. Covey discusses focusing one’s responses and focusing on the center of one’s influence.

ii. “Begin with the end in mind.”

Covey discusses envisioning what one wants in the future (a personal mission statement) so one can work and plan towards it, and understanding how people make important life decisions. To be effective one needs to act based on principles and constantly review one’s mission statements, says Covey. He asks: Are you right now who you want to be? What do you have to say about yourself? How do you want to be remembered? If habit 1 advises changing one’s life to act and be proactive, habit 2 advises that “you are the programmer”. Grow and stay humble, Covey says.that all things are created twice: Before one acts, one should act in one’s mind first. Before creating something, measure twice. Do not just act; think first: Is this how I want it to go, and are these the correct consequences?

iii. “Put first things first.”

Covey talks about what is important versus what is urgent. Priority should be given in the following order:
Quadrant I. Urgent and important (Do) – important deadlines and crises
Quadrant II. Not urgent but important (Plan) – long-term development
Quadrant III. Urgent but not important (Delegate) – distractions with deadlines
Quadrant IV. Not urgent and not important (Eliminate) – frivolous distractions
The order is important, says Covey: after completing items in quadrant I, people should spend the majority of their time on II, but many people spend too much time in III and

The calls to delegate and eliminate are reminders of their relative priority.
If habit 2 advises that “you are the programmer,” habit 3 advises: “write the program, become a leader.” Keep personal integrity by minimizing the difference between what you say versus what you do, says Covey.

iv. “Think win–win.”

Seek mutually beneficial win–win solutions or agreements in your relationships, says Covey. Valuing and respecting people by seeking a “win” for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten their way. Thinking win–win isn’t about being nice, nor is it a quick-fix technique; it is a character-based code for human interaction and collaboration, says Covey.

v. Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Use empathetic listening to genuinely understand a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to be influenced. This creates an atmosphere of caring, and positive problem-solving.
Habit 5 is expressed in the ancient Greek philosophy of three modes of persuasion:
Ethos is one’s personal credibility. It’s the trust that one inspires, one’s “emotional bank account.”
Pathos is the empathetic side, the alignment with the emotional trust of another person’s communication.
Logos is the logic, the reasoning part of the presentation.
The order of the concepts indicates their relative importance, says Covey.

vi. Synergize.

Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals that no one could have done alone, Covey exhorts.

vii. “Sharpen the saw.”

Covey says that one should balance and renew one’s resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. He primarily emphasizes exercise for physical renewal, good prayer, and good reading for mental renewal. He also mentions service to society for spiritual renewal. Covey explains the “upward spiral” model. Through conscience, along with meaningful and consistent progress, an upward spiral will result in growth, change, and constant improvement. In essence, one is always attempting to integrate and master the principles outlined in The 7 Habits at progressively higher levels at each iteration. Subsequent development on any habit will render a different experience and one will learn the principles with a deeper understanding. The upward spiral model consists of three parts: learn, commit, do. According to Covey, one must be increasingly educating the conscience in order to grow and develop on the upward spiral. The idea of renewal by education will propel one along the path of personal freedom, security, wisdom, and power, says Covey.

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?

This ideas will help me in my daily life to know how to be an effective person in the world, know how to prioritize anything in life, which things to be done first and those important, my mind should be alert so that I can be the best example in the society and easy to educate others, out of the results they see from 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.

“But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday, that person cannot say, I choose otherwise.”

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

“To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.”

“We see the world, not as it is, but as we are or, as we are conditioned to see it.”

“When the trust account is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective.”

“Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It’s not logical; it’s psychological.”

“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”

“It’s not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.”

“It is one thing to make a mistake, and quite another thing not to admit it. People will forgive mistakes, because mistakes are usually of the mind, mistakes of judgment. But people will not easily forgive the mistakes of the heart, the ill intention, the bad motives, the prideful justifying cover-up of the first mistake.”

“Where we stand depends on where we sit.”

Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective. But this is not the case. We see the world, not as it is, but as we are or, as we are conditioned to see it. When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms. When other people disagree with us, we immediately think something is wrong with them.

Inevitably, anytime we are too vulnerable we feel the need to protect ourselves from further wounds. So we resort to sarcasm, cutting humor, criticism; anything that will keep from exposing the tenderness within. Each partner tends to wait on the initiative of the other for love, only to be disappointed but also confirmed as to the rightness of the accusations made.

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book contains a life time exercise and it requires to be practiced on a daily basis, to be effective in life is a life style that we have to practice day in day out until we master the game and it becomes part of us, so I will keep on practicing until I become more effective in life.

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

There was nothing else.

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

Unlimited Power
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

Robbins believes that taking control of your life starts with taking control of your mind.
Many people find themselves wasting enormous amounts of time and energy because their thoughts and beliefs aren’t aligned with their goals; their mental gears grind against each other instead of meshing smoothly. For example, imagine someone wants to lose weight but spends a lot of time thinking about food and believes that he lacks the self-control to eat healthily. He’ll waste a lot of energy fighting against those thoughts and beliefs and berating himself for his perceived lack of willpower.

The first step toward achieving your goals is to eliminate that internal resistance; in other words, to make sure that what you think and what you do are really getting you closer to what you want. Let’s discuss three of Robbins’s tips for how to gain power over your mind by aligning your goals, thoughts, and beliefs.

Robbins says that all people’s nervous systems; meaning both the brain and the body work in more or less the same way. Nervous systems are like computers all using the same operating system. Therefore, whatever one person can do, any person can do; it’s just a matter of running the right mental “programs.” This theory is known as NLP.
Robbins believes that NLP provides a method to accomplish anything you can imagine. Furthermore, because people’s minds all work with the same programming, you can figure out which programs to run by observing and imitating people who have already done what you’re trying to do.

For example, someone who wants to become a better martial artist might study Bruce Lee: how he moves, how and when he strikes, and even how he breathes during a fight. Robbins calls this process modeling. However, there’s more to NLP than just copying the person’s physical actions. Robbins says you have to copy that person’s mental state, intentions, beliefs, and values. If you want to achieve what someone else has achieved, then you must; at least for a short while; think and act exactly like that person.

i. Make a list of all the things you want to do, be, and share in your life. Don’t be afraid to take risks.

This is the right way to program your life by making a list of what you want to do they help to prioritize what is important in your life.

ii. Calculate when you anticipate getting the desired results.
Time frame is very important and having realistic results.
Choose your top four priorities for the coming year.
Planning ahead so that you work on the priorities is crucial in our lives.
To guarantee that these four aims and the five guidelines for outcomes are in sync, compare them.

ii. We should be consistency in our choices it helps good result and it becomes a norm in our daily life.

iii. Make a list of all of the relevant resources you already have.

This will list your assets, talents, resources, and tools.

iv. The resources we have will help us achieve what we want it is a stepping stone to our achievement.

v. Concentrate on moments when you made good use of such resources.

This will prepare your mind to envision yourself accomplishing your objectives.

vi. Our objectives become real when we have what it takes to achieve our goals and visions.

Describe the type of person you’d have to be to achieve your objectives. Will self-discipline be required? Education? Is there anything else?

vii. Discipline in whatever we do is important and this will define who we are and what we want to do in life.

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?

These ideas will help me in my daily life to know that I have unlimited power in my life I can achieve whatever I want without fearing or feeling like a loser.

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.

“Success is doing what you love and loving what you do.”

The quote by unlimited power, encapsulates the essence of true fulfillment and accomplishment. It suggests that true success is not merely the accumulation of wealth or recognition, but rather lies in pursuing our passions and finding joy in the work we engage in. When one is able to align their ambitions with their genuine interests, they derive satisfaction and motivation from their endeavors. By following our hearts and dedicating ourselves to activities that bring us happiness, we can genuinely thrive and experience a sense of achievement that goes beyond external measures of success. Ultimately, this quote serves as a reminder for us to prioritize self-fulfillment and staying true to our passions, as these are the driving forces that lead to a truly rewarding and successful life.

“You are the driver of your own life. Don’t let anyone else take the wheel.”

The quote advocates for individuals to take control and responsibility for their own lives. It emphasizes the importance of being self-reliant and not allowing external influences to dictate our decisions and paths. This quote serves as a reminder that we have the power and ability to steer our lives in the direction we desire, shaping our own destiny. It encourages us to be assertive, to trust our instincts, and to not be swayed by the opinions or expectations of others. By embracing this mindset, we become the architects of our lives, making choices that align with our values and goals, ultimately leading us towards personal fulfillment and success.

“The greatest power you possess is the power to change your own life.”

This quote highlights the immense power and potential within each person to take control of their circumstances and create the life they desire. It emphasizes the fact that the power to effect change lies not in external forces or circumstances, but in one’s own mindset and actions. By recognizing and harnessing this power, individuals can transform their lives and fulfill their dreams. This quote serves as a reminder that one’s destiny is not shaped by others or by luck, but by their own determination and willingness to take charge of their own journey.

“You have the ability to create your own destiny.”

The quote emphasizes the potential within each individual to shape their own future. It suggests that we possess the necessary tools and capacity to take control of our lives and steer them in the direction we desire. Rather than being passive recipients of circumstance, this quote empowers us to actively pursue our goals, dreams, and aspirations. It encourages us to explore our aspirations, make choices aligned with our values, and take responsibility for our actions. By acknowledging our power to create our own.

“Believe in yourself and all that you are.”

The quote by unlimited power, “Believe in yourself and all that you are,” serves as a powerful reminder of the immense potential and capabilities that reside within each individual. It emphasizes the significance of self-belief and self-confidence as driving forces behind personal growth and success. When one truly believes in themselves, they unlock a limitless reservoir of strength, resilience, and determination that propels them forward in the pursuit of their goals and aspirations. This quote encourages individuals to embrace their unique qualities, talents, and abilities, for it is through self-belief that they can fully realize their true potential and manifest their dreams into reality. By placing unwavering trust in oneself, one can overcome any obstacle, conquer any challenge, and ultimately emerge victorious, empowered, and fulfilled.

“The only limits in life are the ones you set for yourself.”

This is a powerful reminder that our potential is not determined by external factors, but rather by the boundaries we impose upon ourselves. It suggests that our limitations are not inherent, but rather self-imposed barriers that prevent us from reaching our full potential. This quote emphasizes the importance of self-belief, perseverance, and the willingness to challenge our own limitations. It encourages us to break free from the shackles of fear, doubt, and societal expectations, and to explore the vast possibilities that lie beyond our self-imposed boundaries. It serves as a motivating call to take control of our own lives, push past our perceived limitations, and unlock the untapped potential that resides within us.

“Don’t wait for opportunity to come knocking, create your own opportunities.”

This quote encapsulates the essence of a proactive and determined mindset. It suggests that one should not passively wait for favorable circumstances to arise, but rather take charge of their own destiny by actively seeking or creating opportunities. By doing so, individuals can transcend the limitation of chance and transform their aspirations into reality. This quote emphasizes the power of a proactive approach, encouraging individuals to reshape their environment and drive their own success. It inspires individuals to step out of their comfort zones, embrace risk-taking, and seize control over their own destiny. Ultimately, it reminds us that we hold the key to our own progress and holds the potential to ignite the fire of ambition within us.

“Persistence is the key that unlocks the door to success.”

The quote by unlimited power emphasizes the significance of persistence as the key to achieving success. It highlights the idea that no matter how skilled or talented an individual may be, it is their unwavering determination and perseverance that ultimately leads them to unlock the doors of success. Persistence is the fuel that keeps individuals going even in the face of challenges, setbacks, or failures. It is what allows them to maintain their focus, learn from their mistakes, and continue striving towards their goals. Without persistence, even the greatest talents can go to waste, while the most ordinary individuals can surpass all expectations through their sheer determination. Therefore, by embracing persistence, one can unravel the potential within themselves and open doors to the boundless possibilities that success holds.

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

6. Did the book contain exercise for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all 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.

None.

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

The Law of Attraction
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

Michael J. Losier’s “The Law of Attraction” is a powerful and insightful book that delves into the universal principle of attracting positive experiences and abundance into our lives. This transformative guide introduces readers to the Law of Attraction, a concept that has gained immense popularity in the realm of self-improvement and personal development.

At its core, the Law of Attraction suggests that like attracts like, meaning that the thoughts and feelings we emit into the universe influence the circumstances and events that manifest in our reality. Through this book, Losier navigates readers through the principles of the Law of Attraction and how to apply them to achieve their dreams and desires.

One of the key strengths of Losier’s book is its accessibility. Written in a clear and engaging manner, the author breaks down complex ideas into simple, actionable steps that anyone can follow. Whether you’re new to the concept or a seasoned practitioner, the book caters to readers of all backgrounds, making it easy to understand and implement the Law of Attraction in their lives.

The book emphasizes the significance of one’s emotions and how they act as a powerful indicator of what they are attracting. Losier introduces the “Emotional Guidance System,” a tool to help readers recognize their emotions and use them as a compass to steer their thoughts towards more positive outcomes. By identifying negative emotions and replacing them with positive ones, individuals can shift their focus towards attracting the experiences they truly desire.

Furthermore, “The Law of Attraction” advocates the use of affirmations and visualization techniques to reinforce positive thinking patterns. Losier provides practical exercises and examples, empowering readers to rewire their thought processes and create a more favorable environment for attracting their goals and aspirations.

The book is not just about wishful thinking; it emphasizes the importance of taking inspired action. While the Law of Attraction helps in attracting opportunities, it is up to individuals to recognize and seize them. Losier encourages readers to cultivate a proactive mindset, helping them align their actions with their desires to accelerate their progress.

Critics of the Law of Attraction argue that it oversimplifies the complexities of life and dismisses the role of external factors. However, Losier addresses this concern by emphasizing that the Law of Attraction is not about disregarding reality but rather about choosing how to respond to it positively.
In conclusion, Michael J. Losier’s “The Law of Attraction” is a compelling guide that equips readers with the tools to manifest their dreams and transform their lives positively.

Through straightforward language, practical exercises, and insightful examples, the book offers valuable insights into the powerful principle of the Law of Attraction. Whether you are a skeptic or a believer, this book serves as an excellent starting point to explore the possibilities of the Law of Attraction and its potential to unlock a world of opportunities and abundance.

i. Magnetism

This sub-law explains that like attracts like. Negative thoughts attract one another, but positive thinking does the same.
If all we do is remain pessimistic, negative experiences will continue to come our way. But if we seek out the positive aspects of life, our perspective will focus more on finding uplifting opportunities and experiences, which results in improving our well-being.

ii. Manifestation

This sub-law advises us to focus our attention and energy on the present to change it.
Fretting over the past or worrying about the future doesn’t ignite change. But if we put in the work now, we’ll create a better future and make our dreams come true.

iii. Right action

Some negative aspects of our lives can be removed or changed. Toxic workplaces, unhealthy relationships, or unsatisfying careers can prevent us from living meaningful lives. By removing these negatives, we can fill the empty space with things that help us be more purposeful with our lives. Having a clear idea of your purpose and personal values will help guide you to the replacements most likely to improve and enrich your life.

iv. Delicate balance

Some days are great but they can’t all be. You might fail or experience a setback every once in a while. Here’s the thing: that’s part of life. It’s good to acknowledge our failures because they’re an opportunity to learn. Just as we celebrate our wins, we need to recognize our losses.

v. Unwavering desires

This sub-law is all about staying focused on the goals and desires that will improve our lives. Clear, purposeful goals help us gain better health, succeed in our careers, and have healthy relationships. Throughout the stages of our lives, we can experience many changes. But we need to know how we feel about our values and desires to stay grounded. And while our values or desires might evolve over our lives, having a clear sense of self will help us remain steadfast in accomplishing our most important goals.

vi. Harmony

The harmony that we have around us can influence our energy. Tapping into the energy surrounding us helps us maintain a positive outlook while working toward our goals.
When we have people around us that share the same mentality toward achieving goals, it only benefits us. They’re a source of encouragement, support, and inspiration.

vii. Universal influence

This is integral to the law of attraction. What we put out into the world we get back. How we treat others has a direct impact on our lives. If you disrespect someone, you fuel them with reasons to do the same. If you’re positive and hard-working, people will want to live and work alongside you and you’ll enjoy better community-building and a more enjoyable, friendly workplace.

Remember: offering a helping hand goes a long way to generating positive returns, even if you don’t think it directly benefits your life. Consider putting into the world what you hope to get out of it by helping others.

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?

This book and ideas will help me be able to attract people in my way of thinking and it will also help me win even my enemies to my side of thinking.

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.

“Remember, the Law of Attraction does not care whether you are remembering, pretending, celebrating, playing, creating, complaining or worrying. It simply responds to what’s in your Vibrational Bubble. So, find proof, rejoice and send out a positive vibration.”

“Notice that when you say No to something, you just gave it attention, energy and focus. In that moment, it also becomes included in your Vibrational Bubble. Giving anything attention of any kind includes it in your current vibration. Two.”

“A positive affirmation can have a negative vibration. Most affirmations don’t work because the Law of Attraction doesn’t respond to words – it responds to how you feel about the words you use. On”

“You may have heard the expression Just allow it. Telling yourself this doesn’t help you to allow. If you doubt you can have something, you are sending a negative vibration. This negative vibration is diluting or cancelling the positive vibration of your desire. In other words, having strong desire (positive vibe), and having strong doubt (negative vibe), cancel each other out. Therefore, Allowing occurs in the absence of doubt. Allowing is the absence of negative vibration (doubt).”

“Allowing is the absence of negative vibration. Doubt is a negative vibration and doubt is often created from limiting beliefs.”

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book law of attraction contains a life time exercise on how to attract people to our own thinking, it is a tool that will help me and my friends also to understand one another.

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

Nothing I can think of.

Please rate the following questions in a scale of 1 to 10. Ten is good and One is poor.

Leadership for Dummies
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

We find ourselves being asked to lead others but have no idea where to start? Do you lead a team spread across different offices or even continents? In this no-nonsense guide to leadership you will find answers to crucial questions like: what is leadership? And what style of leadership should I be using? You’ll discover how to lead your friends whilst remaining their friend; how to lead change in a way that people accept and understand; when and where to draw the line; and how to reflect on your experiences to become a better and more effective leader.

Only a lucky few of us are natural born leaders. It takes time and effort to develop a range of leadership styles which work for you and those around you as well as discovering how to become comfortable leading others. Leadership can be a lonely occupation; Leadership For Dummies is your ideal companion. The author explores the fine line between managing and leading and the book is full of tips for making the most of your leadership experiences and how to cope with the dilemmas and discomfort all leaders at some point experience.

Great leaders have certain qualities that motivate those around them. But beyond leadership qualities, you have to develop your mission as a leader and then continuously examine your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (shortened to SWOT) to keep yourself and your team at the top of your game.

i. Clear Vision and Direction

Clear vision and direction are fundamental leadership principles that inspire and motivate others to work towards a shared goal. A leader with a clear vision of where they want their team or organization to go can communicate that vision in a way that resonates with team members and create a shared understanding of the goals and priorities. This vision can be significant in times of change or uncertainty. A clear vision can provide a sense of direction and purpose.

A clear vision and direction are also essential for setting standards of excellence and fostering a company culture of continuous improvement. Good leaders are always looking for innovative ways to improve and grow, and a clear vision can help guide their efforts and those of their team members. It can also help align the team’s efforts and check everyone is working towards the same goals.
Good leadership involves more than just having a clear vision, however. It also consists of the ability to communicate that vision effectively and to lead by example. Good leaders provide guidance and support to their team members and are willing to offer sound advice and provide opportunities for growth and development. They also set high standards for themselves and strive to be their best version, personally and professionally.
In summary, clear vision and direction are qualities of a great leader. Of the top 5 leadership principles, Leaders who can communicate a clear and compelling vision for their team or organization are better able to inspire and motivate others to work towards that goal and to drive continuous improvement and growth.

ii. Empowerment

Empowerment is a key leadership principle that involves giving team members the authority and resources to take on responsibility and make decisions. This can foster a sense of ownership and encourage growth as team members feel invested in the organization’s success. Empowerment can lead to increased innovation, as team members are encouraged to bring new ideas to the table.

However, empowerment does not mean leaders should abdicate their responsibilities and leave team members to their own devices. Leaders need to provide guidance and support to ensure that team members have the resources they need to succeed. It is also crucial for leaders to communicate expectations clearly and establish clear boundaries.

One key aspect of empowerment is building trust. Leaders who trust their team members and give them the freedom to make decisions are likelier to foster a culture of empowerment. This requires leaders to be open-minded and willing to listen to the perspectives and ideas of team members. Leaders must be transparent and communicate regularly, openly, and honestly.

Empowerment can be challenging and sometimes arduous, especially outside a company’s culture.
However, it is worth the effort, as it can lead to increased engagement, productivity, and growth. It is also essential to building a positive company culture, as it demonstrates that leaders value their team members and trust them to contribute to the organization’s success. One way to begin empowering team members is to take stock of current leadership practices using a leadership practices inventory. This can help leaders identify areas where they can start to shift power and responsibility to team members. Another essential first step is to give team members the time and resources they need to succeed. This may involve providing additional training or support or giving team members the time and space to think and innovate. This is the most reward of the top 5 leadership principles for the team members.

Ultimately, empowerment is about helping team members become the best versions of themselves in their professional and personal lives. It is about building trust, supporting growth, and fostering a sense of responsibility and ownership. When done right, it can be a powerful force for positive change and a kind of human magic that helps organizations and teams to thrive.

iii. Communication

Effective communication is a crucial aspect of good leadership. It is the foundation for building trust and fostering collaboration within a team or organization. Good leaders understand that the best way to communicate is to be clear, transparent, and respectful. They listen to the perspectives of others and share their ideas and expectations in an understandable way for team members. Effective communication is vital for leaders of diverse teams; to bridge barriers and ensure everyone is on the same page.

One example of effective communication is how some airline employees communicate with their passengers. Despite their work’s often hectic and stressful nature, these employees can communicate clearly and calmly with passengers, even in times of crisis. This is especially important given the high stakes and potential risks involved in the airline industry. Effective communication also involves providing constructive feedback to team members regularly. This can help to improve performance and foster growth.
Effective communication is essential not only for team members but for leaders as well. Outstanding leaders can communicate their vision and goals in a way that inspires and propels others. They can also listen to their team members’ perspectives and use feedback to improve their leadership skills. Of the top 5 leadership principles, communication is the tie that binds us.

iv. Adaptability

Adaptability is a crucial leadership principle that involves responding to change and pivoting when necessary. This can help an organization stay competitive and grow, as leaders can adjust their strategy and approach as needed in response to evolving circumstances. Adaptability is critical in today’s fast-paced business environment, where change is the norm. “The world doesn’t stand still, and neither should we.” Good leaders understand that the key to success is anticipating and responding to change.

One way that leaders can foster adaptability is by creating a culture of open communication and transparency. This allows team members to feel comfortable sharing their ideas and perspectives and helps to make a sense of shared ownership and responsibility. Leaders get a clear picture of what is happening on the front lines, which helps to identify opportunities for improvement.

Adaptability is also about being open to new ideas and approaches and willing to take risks and try new things. This can involve embracing new technologies or business models or simply being open to the ideas and perspectives of team members. Poor leaders, on the other hand, are often resistant to change and unwilling to take risks. The top 5 leadership principles that lead to the most breakthroughs is adaptability.
In summary, adaptability is a key quality of a great leader. It involves responding to change, pivoting when necessary, and staying focused on the larger objectives and goals. It also involves being open to new ideas and approaches and willing to take risks and try new things. By fostering adaptability within their team or organization, leaders can help to create a culture of continuous improvement and growth.

v. Continuous Learning

Encouraging a culture of continuous learning is a critical leadership principle that can contribute to growth. By encouraging team members to stay up-to-date with industry trends and skills, leaders can help their team or organization remain competitive and innovative.

One leadership challenge in continuous learning is striking the right level between short-term and long-term goals. It can be tempting to focus on meeting interim goals and targets, but it is also essential to invest in team members’ long-term development. This may involve setting aside time for training and professional development or encouraging team members to pursue new learning opportunities independently. Of the 5 leadership principles discussed, a shared vision of continuous learning can create a sense of purpose and direction within a team or organization. It helps align the efforts of team members and confirm that everyone is working towards the same goals.

vi. Another important aspect of continuous learning is being open to new ideas and approaches.

Outstanding leaders are willing to challenge the status quo and seek new ways of doing things. They are also ready to learn from their mistakes and failures and use them as opportunities for growth and improvement.

The top leaders of my generation are those who are constantly seeking out new learning opportunities. They are willing to take on new challenges and always look for ways to improve their skills and knowledge. This is important in today’s fast-paced business environment, where change is the norm, and it is essential to stay up-to-date. Overall, continuous learning is at the heart of the business, as it helps to keep teams and organizations innovative and competitive. It is also crucial for human beings on a personal level, as it allows us to grow and develop and to become the best version of ourselves.

vii. Striving for Success, Requiring Caution

Character is an indispensable component of sustainable leadership performance. Ivey research has identified 11 dimensions of leader character: accountability, collaboration, courage, drive, humanity, humility, integrity, judgment, justice, temperance, and transcendence. In this blog, I explore the leader character dimension of drive. If you have drive, you strive for excellence. You have a strong desire to succeed, you tackle problems with a sense of urgency, and you approach challenges with energy and passion. Drive arises from an internal, positive wellspring of energy that can be harnessed and put to good use.

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?

Leadership is a daily life experience both in the society and in our homes, so this book is helpful to me and others to gain more skills in my daily 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.

“What cannot be cured, must be endured.”

As leaders we must accept the situation as it is and work within its boundaries. Play the cards as they are dealt to you.

“Always remember that you work for your Organization and not for your Boss.”

When there is a clash of priorities between what your boss expects you to do and what you feel is better or the organization as a whole. This attitude is essential to develop into an Enterprise Leader. This kind of dilemma becomes more frequent as you raise higher in the Organization in these days of matrix reporting where can be tension between local and global and between functional boss and business boss. Those leaders who get this right, zoom in their careers.

“Are you here with the solution or are you part of the problem?”

This cuts to the very heart of becoming a leader. Develop a solution mindset. People love to work for Leaders who always look to provide solutions rather than looking for whom to blame when problem hits. Bosses, too, love subordinates who come with solutions and not just report problems.

“Sometimes we sacrifice conviction on the altar of convenience.”

This anonymous quote is very powerful guide when one is tempted to take shortcuts in life. Every leader will have many moments when he/she has to choose between what is right and what is easy.

“People forget what you said, People forget what you did, but people never forget how you made them feel.”

The only people leadership quote you need to guide you if you want to be loved and respected by others.

“This too shall pass.”

We all go though ups and downs. Sometimes the situation feels so hopeless and lost. It is in these moments that this gem of wisdom can give you solace. It does not mean that one should do nothing but just accept the situation, but means that one acts with hope recognizing that change is the only permanent thing in life.

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 well stated and clear it’s well understood too.

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

The book Leadership for dummies is a life time exercise on how to lead people in a positive way and get good results out of 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?

None.

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

How to Sell Yourself
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The first and the most important thing the author wants to convey in this book is that you have to sell yourself to yourself. If you do not believe that you are number one, no one else will. This is one of the fundamental rules in the sales world. When selling yourself Just be positive and tell yourself that you are the greatest, create affirmation from yourself, be confident about yourself and assure yourself about it. The simple point to note is to communicate to yourself as being the number one and prioritize yourself. All the people who sell themselves successfully are first sold on themselves.

The book is categorized into three parts according to my observation. The first section talks about selling yourself to yourself. The author says that we should abolish these things out of our life: envy, jealousy, a willingness to choose the second best and the willingness just to give in. The author encourages us to have faith in ourselves, faith in others, faith in our abilities, faith in today & faith in our future. If you don’t have faith in yourself, who else will! The author strongly believes that confidence begets confidence. Believe in yourself and associate with confident people. Turn up your confidence power. Be the master of your ship. Keep busy. Because you are the real product that you are selling. How you look at life is how you look at others. If you manage to sell yourself to yourself there is nothing you cannot sell, it means you understand yourself better than any other person, remember you cannot give what you do not have. The best selling point is by starting with yourself.

i. Always Over-deliver

When someone asks you to walk for 6 kilometers, walk 8 kilometers extra.
The extra effort we make is the one that matters a lot, when you are asked to do something, do extra more than what you are asked, it will earn you respect and opportunities in the competitive world.

When you create that feeling of that extra kilometers of stretch, it boosts your confidence! If you are a sales agent, try making one or two extra calls each day. So if you generally do 12 calls a day, go for 20. If you generally do 15, then go for 30 and so on. Work a little longer at the office or at your workplace than you need to or come in an hour early everyday. You don’t need to do too much, just a little bit extra and it counts a lot it is like when we do savings we do not do it at once just little extra on a monthly basis but when we check at the end we found out we have made a milestone.
Doing more without being asked is called being more than yourself. You are selling yourself as a young person (even when you’re mature). Why? Because we young people have plenty of ambition and energy. Young people are full of new ideas, new ways, new hopes & new dreams. Young people want to set the world on fire but not that real fire to destroy the world and there’s nothing wrong with that. You also need to sell yourself as a mature person. Experience matters and that is an important thing. The last part of the book is about the practical tips on selling. For example, the author asks us to concentrate our sales around the biggest product benefits, rather than just talking on and on about the product for what it is. Try to listen to the customer. Try to understand what he wants. Try to relate your product to the customer’s needs. The more you relate the product to the customer, the chances of a sale increase greatly. Protect your good name, keep the right company, stick to your principles, be aware of compromising, and practice saying no. These are all essentials to good selling habits.

ii. Importance of Smile

A smile doesn’t cost anything but its return is numerous. When you smile at people there is that friendly welcome and it is easy to talk to you and create that peaceful atmosphere.
A smile is the most important thing when it comes to selling. If you smile at someone, it is possible that he or she will smile back at you. But if you frown at someone, he or she will frown back at you. This is simply the Law of Reflection. What you give to people, you will be getting back. A smile never disappoints. So just start smiling and feeling nice throughout your day! Smiling when you don’t feel like it literally gives you positive thoughts. When smiling, smile with your whole face real smile can be detected rather than fake once. It involves your eyes, your nose, your facial expressions and even your hands. Don’t smile alone, smile out loud and others will also smile with you! When you tell someone I like you and through your smile he or she sees it this becomes one of the best positive sentences to say to someone and the person will be very happy.

iii. Power of Promise

When you promise it measures your sincerity. No matter what the cost, keep the promises you have made, keep them. No one can force you to do this but yourself. Think before you make any future promises. Ask yourself- can I really do what I’m promising? If you’re honest at this moment, you’ll find keeping your promises to be a lot easier. Promise what you can deliver, because a promise failed to be delivered it is a lie, so for the sake of your reputation promise what you are sure to give, if not so then don’t promise to make others happy and at the end you don’t deliver. The author has mentioned a simple exercise to do about this. He asks us to keep a piece of paper with us and write down all the promises we make everyday. And then, asks us to look at it every morning to ensure that we’re working on keeping them.

iv. The Power of Truth in Selling

When in doubt and not sure, tell the truth. Truth is the most valuable thing and also telling the truth makes you respected and creates trust. Think twice and calculate your words before speaking, conceive another way of saying anything and cover the truth with kindness. Don’t just shout out loud the rough truth on someone. Be gentle and don’t practice exaggerating. Speak to the point and short. This helps a lot as it enables you to listen more. Don’t cover up for others or don’t ask anyone to cover up for you. This will complicate things and keep you from telling the truth. And most importantly- don’t tell ‘little white lies’. No person is perfect, so if you keep telling little lies as to why you’re late or for any small things, people will not trust you even when you are speaking the truth, slightest lie can spoil your reputation no matter how the situation is just speak the truth and sincerity, people will understand and you will be a truthful person whom people will like to work with.

v. Memory Management

Make your brain have a good memory for any good references, the author compares memory with a bank. Everyday, you are reading some information, you are also deleting some information and you’re keeping track of it. Do not fill your memory with rubbish and unnecessary things. Clean the slate daily. Use word association; relate the words with what you remember. Don’t trust your memory. He goes ahead and says avoid memory traps, put repeatability to work, keep your mind busy! The busier it is, the more efficiently it works. If your muscles are busy, they grow stronger. Similarly it goes for your memory. Also, remember to forget. Forget anything which is troubling you; which is not useful to you like a certain event in your past. You can be taught to have a trained memory just as you can be taught anything else. “There is no such thing as a bad memory. There are only trained and untrained memories. We do not need to store bad memories. It might be an experience we had but we need to walk over it”.

vi. The Art of Listening

We need to learn the art of listening. If we do not listen then we will not understand what someone is speaking, for better communication we should be good listeners and it will make us understand each conversation better and more easily. We have heard issues such as “I know that you believe that you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” meaning that we have to be keen listeners. There is more wisdom in listening than answering, when you listen properly even your client appreciates the fact that you are giving a ear on very important matters.

vii. Practicing Enthusiasm

In the world we are living nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so. You can fill your head with discouragement by thinking negative thoughts or you can change your whole attitude about yourself and others by thinking positive thoughts. Just assure yourself that you are a winner and you will be a winner, think positive and the result will be positive, think negative and the results will be negative. We need to paint mental pictures of ourselves that are successful, attractive, and positive. Then use your thinking power every time you are out to sell others. You are selling the world’s number one product- you and you never want to be without a flavorful ingredient that is enthusiasm.

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

These ideas will help me first to accept myself and be my own priority because I cannot give what I do not have, so I need to know that I am who I am because of how I see myself.

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.

“Selling yourself does not mean boasting about your accomplishments but rather demonstrating security in your goals and your lifestyle so your customers feel success and want to emulate it”

“If you lack the courage to start, you have already finished.”

“You’ll never reach the top (you won’t even get out of the basement) if all you ever do is take on the role of victim. Forget about blaming other people for your failures and shortcomings.”

“Start doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

“When you think of the possessions you now own or the ones you hope to own—or when you’re envying others for what they have; remember that the scriptures also warn that where your treasure is, there your heart is also.”

“If you’re waiting for someone to make the world just right for you so you can succeed, you’re on the road to nowhere.”

“Get your name in front of your prospects whenever you can—and get it into their homes.”

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 books is well covered and good to read

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 author has mentioned a simple exercise to do about this. He asks us to keep a piece of paper with us and write down all the promises we make everyday. And then, asks us to look at it every morning to ensure that we’re working on keeping them.

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 clear and well understood.

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

How to Win Every Argument
Assessment by Francis Maundu (Kenya)

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

The author identifies with devastating examples all the most common fallacies popularly used in argument. We all like to think of ourselves as clear-headed and logical – but all readers will find in this book fallacies of which they themselves are guilty. The author shows you how to simultaneously strengthen your own thinking and identify the weaknesses in other people’s arguments. And, more mischievously, Pirie also shows how to be deliberately illogical – and get away with it. This book will make you smart, and make you more knowledgeable .

i. The Basics of Argumentation

Argumentation is an essential skill in both personal and professional contexts. It is the art of presenting reasons and evidence to support a particular conclusion, aiming to persuade others while engaging in discussions or debates. Madsen Pirie, in his book “How To Win Every Argument,” delves into the intricacies of this art, shedding light on the importance of logical consistency and sound reasoning. Understanding the fundamental principles of argumentation allows one to communicate more effectively, negotiate better, and influence others with precision and clarity.

At the core of effective argumentation lies the concept of logical fallacies. Logical fallacies are errors in reasoning that undermine the validity of an argument. They may stem from either deliberate manipulation or inadvertent mistakes, leading to conclusions that are not logically sound. Recognizing and addressing these fallacies is crucial because they can distort the truth, mislead audiences, and weaken the overall persuasiveness of an argument.

ii. Common Logical Fallacies and How to Spot Them

In “How to Win Every Argument,” one of the most crucial aspects discussed is the identification and understanding of common logical fallacies. This section delves into the heart of numerous prevalent fallacies, offering detailed explorations, real-world examples, and effective techniques for spotting them in everyday discussions and debates.

Understanding fallacies begins with recognizing the Ad Hominem fallacy, where an argument is rebutted by attacking the character of the person making it rather than addressing the substance of the argument itself. For instance, in a political debate, if one politician attacks another’s personal history instead of addressing their policy proposals, they are committing an Ad Hominem fallacy. This technique diverts the discussion from the actual issue and undermines the opponent’s credibility unfairly.

Similarly, the Strawman fallacy involves misrepresenting or oversimplifying an opponent’s argument to make it easier to attack. Imagine a situation where one person advocates for reducing the military budget, and the opponent responds by saying, “You want to leave our country defenseless.” The original argument is twisted and exaggerated, thus creating a straw man that is easier to knock down.

The False Dilemma, or false dichotomy, is another common fallacy where only two options are presented, ignoring other viable alternatives. Phrases like, “You are either with us or against us,” exemplify this fallacy, forcing an unrealistic choice between two extremes while disregarding any middle ground or compromise.

Spotting these fallacies in real-world discussions can be challenging but is essential for sound argumentation. To identify an Ad Hominem fallacy, focus on the relevance of the points being made. Are criticisms directed toward the person rather than their argument? For Strawman fallacies, pay attention to how an argument is being framed. Is the opposition’s stance accurately represented, or has it been distorted? When faced with a False Dilemma, consider whether only two options are genuinely being presented or whether other possibilities are being ignored.

To further illustrate, let’s consider a practical example: in a work meeting, an employee may suggest a new strategy to increase productivity. If a colleague responds, “You’ve never shown any initiative before, why should we listen now?” This is an Ad Hominem attack. If another colleague says, “So, you want us to abandon all our current practices?” they are committing a Strawman fallacy. If the manager concludes, “We can either adopt this new strategy or continue failing,” they are presenting a False Dilemma.

Arming oneself with the knowledge of these tactics not only makes one a better debater but also a more critical thinker. By recognizing and calling out fallacies, discussions can be steered back to substantive issues, fostering more productive and rational debates. In essence, this detailed exploration and the provided techniques for identifying fallacies not only enhance individual argumentative skills but also encourage a more logical and fair discourse in all forms of communication.

iii. The Psychology Behind Fallacious Reasoning

People often resort to fallacies in arguments for various psychological and cognitive reasons. The intricacies of human psychology play a significant role in how and why individuals abandon sound reasoning in favor of fallacious arguments. Understanding these underlying factors can provide valuable insights into both recognizing and counteracting faulty reasoning in oneself and others.

One primary reason people use fallacies is the presence of cognitive biases. These biases are essentially the brain’s shortcuts for processing information quickly, but they often lead to errors in judgment. For instance, the Confirmation Bias, where people favour information that confirms their preexisting beliefs while disregarding contrary evidence, can lead to fallacious thinking. Similarly, the Anchoring Bias, which causes individuals to rely heavily on the first piece of information they encounter (the “anchor”), can skew their reasoning process.

Emotional factors also contribute significantly to fallacious reasoning. Emotions can overshadow logical thinking, leading individuals to argue based on feelings rather than facts. For example, when someone resorts to an Ad Hominem attack, they aren’t addressing the argument itself but are instead attacking the person making it. This often stems from strong emotional responses such as anger, frustration, or defensiveness. Emotional investment in a particular viewpoint can cloud judgement and lead to the use of irrelevant or irrational fallacies to defend that viewpoint.

Another factor is the Dunning-Kruger Effect, a cognitive bias where people with low ability in a particular area overestimate their competence. This leads to overconfident assertions and resistance to more sound reasoning or evidence because individuals believe their understanding to be superior, even when it is not. Such overconfidence can result in the persistent use of fallacies as they are unaware of their own ignorance.
Social influences and group dynamics also play a critical role. The desire for conformity and acceptance within a group can lead to fallacious reasoning. The Bandwagon Fallacy, where one argues that something is true or right simply because it is popular, exemplifies how social pressures can override logical evaluation. Similarly, groupthink can stifle dissenting opinions and critical thinking, leading to collectively embraced fallacies.
To counteract these biases and improve the quality of arguments, several strategies can be employed. First, cultivating self-awareness is crucial. Understanding one’s cognitive and emotional biases allows for self-reflection and adjustment of reasoning processes. Techniques such as mindfulness and metacognition; thinking about one’s thinking can enhance this awareness.

iv. Strategies for Structuring Strong Arguments

Constructing effective arguments is an art that demands mastery over various components of logic, evidence, and presentation. In this book, the emphasis on structuring sound arguments is paramount, as it forms the backbone of meaningful and productive discourse.

v. Advanced Techniques for Persuasion and Influence

Building upon the foundational knowledge of logical fallacies and structuring strong arguments, the book transitions into advanced techniques for persuasion and influence. These methods are not merely about avoiding fallacies but aim at enhancing persuasive power through rhetorical sophistication. The key lies in the effective use of rhetorical devices and the strategic application of ethos, pathos, and logos. Rhetorical devices are tools that can significantly amplify the impact of an argument. A well-chosen metaphor can clarify complex ideas, making them accessible and relatable. Analogies can draw connections between unfamiliar concepts and known experiences, thereby simplifying understanding and fostering agreement.

vi. Dealing with Difficult Opponents

Engaging in debates and discussions can be challenging, especially when faced with opponents who frequently employ logical fallacies. Pirie offers practical advice on dealing with these difficult opponents and outlines tactics to win debates while maintaining your composure and focus. First and foremost, it is essential to recognize when an opponent is using a fallacy. This requires a sharp eye and a deep understanding of different fallacies. Being quick to identify fallacies or False Dilemma can give you the upper hand. Once you’ve spotted a fallacy, calmly and clearly point it out.

vii. Winning with Integrity

In the art and science of argumentation, it is crucial to remain mindful of the ethical implications of how we argue and persuade others. Madsen Pirie emphasizes that while the goal may be to win arguments, it should never come at the cost of one’s integrity or the respect for others. Ethical argumentation is not merely about adhering to logical structures but also about maintaining honesty, fairness, and respect in discourse.

For argumentation to remain ethical, it must be grounded in truth and sincerity. This means presenting information accurately, avoiding distortion or misrepresentation of facts, and not resorting to deceit to gain an advantage. The principle of honesty serves as the bedrock of trust in any discussion. When we argue ethically, we contribute to a culture of discourse where the primary objective is not merely to win but to reach a better understanding or find the truth.

Respecting one’s opponent is another critical aspect of ethical argumentation. This involves actively listening to their points, acknowledging their perspectives, and refraining from personal attacks. Engaging in ad hominem fallacies or using other disrespectful tactics not only undermines the integrity of the argument but also devalues the relationship between the interlocutors. By treating opponents with respect, we foster a more constructive and productive dialogue.

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

These ideas will help me understand that in every argument I have it should be respective and winning an argument is not all about losing friendship in the process of proving a point.

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.

“Reasoning is a skill that can be learned and is based entirely on common sense.”

“One can certainly be good at arguing without necessarily being right.”

“You should be able to win every argument you enter, and should enter every argument with the intention of winning it.”

“It is the soundness of your reasoning that will allow you to prevail over those who merely assert their views.”

“With debate, contrary facts can help to illuminate the truth.”

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 books is well covered and good to read.

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 author gives us a clear way on how to practice our argument skills without hurting others, it is a continuous practice that needs to be learnt in every argument.

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 clear and well understood.