Jean Jacques Etouke Mbebi – Assessments

As a Man Thinketh

Assessment by Jean Jacques Etouke Mbebi (South Africa)

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

The main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book is the power of thought and mind are the light of our body (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. Thought of character

My character either good or bad is the reflection of my thought.

ii. Thought on circumstances

As my soul been the director of my life, I have to make sure no matter the circumstances that I find myself in, I must guide my soul, self control from negative thoughts, so that I create power, and bear good fruits, growing and get to the supreme perfection ,because good thoughts and actions can produce good results. Remove impure thoughts in my mind.

iii. Thought of suffering

Suffering been the accumulation of wrong thought, when not re-buck on time he became a disease.

iv. Thought on health and body

The body Been the servant of the mind if not well guide he sinks rapidly and became unhealthy creating disease, fear and shot down the nervous system.

v. Thought of purpose and achievement

In order to achieve I need to have a purpose. I have to conceive that purpose in my heart, visually and project it with a time frame when the project must be achieved

vi. Visions and ideas

A man without visions is an empty vessel a man must dream. Because dreams are projects .because when cherishes those dreams will one day realize them. A man received what he wish to earn .when ever I go back to my community my friends think that I pick the money or getting for free I am telling that what ever situation the are in now is because the want to. The are ignorant, the don’t see opportunities around them the spend their days playing draft when i spend mine standing for work in my barber shop.

vii. Serenity

Serenity is the wisdom that a man acquired true a self-control of mind and discipline in any situation a man find himself.

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?

Those ideas have been helping and will continue helping me in my daily life and I believe will help more people around me and the world to as. For example, I’ve been a master of my life I have to keep my character in a good state of mind so that o can get to the divine perfection ,produce good fruits, good environment and that every door i knock the shall be open to me.

No matter the circumstances I find myself I must control my mind, soul, and my character, empower people what ever I say or do must be a blessing for other people.

For me not suffer I need to have a dream ,vision .for that vision to come to reality I must set up a plan of action how do I want it to be in a few years to come; involve people family or friends talk to people who have what I am looking for.

To have a healthy body. I need to do the right things, I must have discipline, eat good food; do physical exercise, take out negative thoughts in my heart.

For a me to achieve any vision I need a self-control, need to sacrifice, need wisdom; need to understand nature; need to be happy within me and people involved in the project.

Serenity is a peace of mind that I have acquired after a successful lifestyle, is the accumulation of good living or a balance life :financial freedom ,family and in harmony with nature.

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.

Yes the statements in the last paragraph of the book where he said, “keep your hands firmly upon the helm of thought. Self-control is strength.”

Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.

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

No.

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

Yes, when he said, “the ignorant and the indolent seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves.” The are seeing my shop busy with clients the are saying I am lucky but the don’t see my sacrifices I stand eight to ten hours daily working the don’t see that when I ask someone to come work in my shop after two days the run away and said the can’t support the work.

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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

 

 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Assessment by Jean Jacques Etouke Mbebi (South Africa)

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

The main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book is that a passion for

success leads to perfection and increased consciousness.

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. Morning Breakfast

Starting a new day with a good breakfast is very important because it provides energy to complete the tasks of the day. With an empty stomach you can’t do anything and the rest of the day may be fruitless.

ii. Reason to life

A man should know what he is it living for, his purpose on earth. A man should have a vision, he should always be ahead with time, always remember where his is coming from and where he is going to. A man should have a passion to succeed in everything he does.

My reason to life is to achieve success, to give to my family and to my community what they don’t have, to see all my visions and projects coming to reality.

iii. Sharing knowledge

I like to talk with and share my visions with people that I meet on my way and especially customers that come to my shop and to ensure that they are happy. I believe that one must always give back to the givers. I must share what I have learned with the people or the community that gave birth to me or the people that I grew up with. Of course, we both need each other because if what I have learned is not transmitted to others, the knowledge will be lost and all my efforts will have been useless.

iv. Passion

My passion is expressed in the love that I have for things and in the work that keeps me going ahead in life. I am passionate, ambitious, and I like to be energetic and motivated. I love what I do. Those words keep me going in everyday life, and I am prepared to realise my goals work come rain come sunshine. In order to make it work I need inner control. I need to talk to people, because a tree doesn’t make a forest; to realise any project. I must work with people directly or indirectly. A man without passion and vision is like dead wood, a mere consumer, a burden to the family and to the community as a whole.

v. Appreciation

Appreciation is a demonstration of gratitude for the good things or services that someone or a group of people have given in the past. It is a way of saying thank you, and this can be done in many different ways. I show appreciation for the part played by those who have contributed to success in my life and in my business. I especially appreciate my wife who has always been a source of encouragement ,as well as my friends and relatives for their advices. I show appreciation and am thankful to nature for keeping me alive and for all the good things that happen in my life. I am also thankful for and my visions that keeping me moving forward.

vi. Positive freedom

Freedom is a state of mind that a man finds or trains himself to have. A man must liberate his mind with positive thinking and generate good thoughts to keep going toward the right direction. Such an attitude will surely get him to his target and get him to realise his dreams. But to get there here is what a man should do.
A man should not hold himself back from continuing to learn and to discover new things. He must erase thoughts of fear in his mind and eliminate all the negative thoughts. He should not mind what people are thinking or saying about him .He should have the spirit of love although not everyone will be happy about his success.

vii. Heaven

When I was a child , I thought like a child. As a child, I thought that school ended only at primary level. Getting to secondary level, I thought that if a man obtained the advanced level certificate, then he was now a king, and so on. But as time went on, I became exposed to many more things and realised that life was more than just that I now understand that life is spiritual, physical and mental. In the process of growing up, we meet different people with different visions. Some succeed, some do not. But what I have learned so far is that HEAVEN is not a place somewhere in the sky as they have been telling us. I agree with the writer when he is says that heaven is when a man becomes perfect, because when principles of life are respected, a man becomes perfect, and perfection creates happiness, joy and glory. So, that transformation becomes your heaven.

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

In order to achieve or get to heaven, I need to set up a plan on what i will do daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Using my barbershop as an example, when I started it, I said to myself that the first six months was a building process. A year after I must be making profit, increasing personnel and so on. Today my barbershop is a reference point in South Africa. After a successful business was made, then came the need for a family. Before that I was alone and I could do anything that I wished. But now I have two kids and a wife.

I can still afford to pay the bills now. I tell myself that in ten years’ time I will be forty four years old and I will be weak and my children will also be ten years older. Will my same income that I make now sustain my family? No, it will not. So I have to think as a man now, I have to save money and invest as much as I can. I must own a house or property in my name before that time so that when the time comes I will be relaxing and happy.

In order to create heaven within me I need all of those ideas. I must eat good food and I must have a reason to life. I must be passionate; I must have positive thinking and appreciation every good thing that comes my way. I must sharing knowledge with others so that it keeps on coming to me, and must set my mind free as much as I can. With all those principles of life respected, life will definitely open heaven (the heart) for 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.

“You need to keep on finding yourself.”

This is the ability to keep on learning and discovering and trying new things.

“A man knows nothing until he proves it.”

This is true because people are always saying things that do not exist. People like illusions more than realities.

“This more to life than eating.”

If a man only thinks about food he will not discover himself and things and we will not change this world. For example, using thinking, we are travelling faster than before through the aeroplane.

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?

Yes: Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body I didn’t understand how can I can use that idea properly.

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

Yes.

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.

Yes; “Nothing is more than your thought itself.”
I truly believe that whatever I think deeply in my heart it will come to reality.

“You need to keep finding yourself.” For me it just means to keep on learning,

To keep on searching, not to give up until you get what you are looking for.

“Consciousness.” At a point of life, a man needs to ask himself (consciously) questions such as: am I growing in life or not? If not one needs to check for mistakes and correct them.

“Discovering.” A man needs to discover himself, who he truly is, where he is coming from, where he is going to. What his mission here on earth is. You have to do what pleases you because the most important thing in life is about you and not what people think or say about you. Men always complain.

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? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

Psycho-Cybernetics

Assessment by Jean Jacques Etouke Mbebi (South Africa)

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

The road and principles to success (well being, good health, self sufficient and perfection).

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

i. Discovery of the Self-Image.

The Self-image has been the key to human personality and human behavior ,a man has to discover who he is really is ,where he is coming from and where he is going to ,he has to accept himself the way he is , because he was created that way. A man must know his personality ,capability, tell himself the truth sometime Who is:

You are not inferior; You are not superior; You are just you

And also the self-image when properly understood becomes a golden key to a better life

ii. General Principles of Life Experience

Experience is the best teacher I must try first then I correct my mistakes I can’t conclude that a new shop will not grow if I have never open it.

iii. Discipline

Discipline is positive thinking toward a goal striving situation.

iv. Spiritual

Christianity, clairvoyance, meditation ,for me doesn’t matter how we worship or how we call Him GOD the most important thing is to be connected with the creator and do the right thing like be respectful, help people, be open ,erase negative toughs in our mind.

v. Success

Success for me is an achievement of a goal who is health, financial achievement, family and in harmony with nature. We need to measure ourselves with our success, so a feeling of inferiority nor superiority may be an handicap to our success

vi. The Power of Belief

Whatever a man believe on positive or negative will reflect in his life consciously or unconsciously. GOD creates short people and tall people, large and small people black, yellow. red and white. So to succeed in life am man must stop measuring himself with others

vii. Personal Transformation

Personal transformation for me mean change, a new thing in my life, I must know why I am changing for. I am changing because I am not happy with the life style that I am living currently or what is that new thing in my life that brought change in my life if I don’t know those things I will cherish what I have or I will not recognize that little change I will remain the same person

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

Yes, here is how:

The are helping me and the will continue helping me and the people I share this knowledge with. Because for me to become a better person that I am now ,I need all this powerful words ,I must listen, I must discern ,I must keep calm all the time.

I must have a clear picture in my mind of the kind of person I want to be ,the kind of lifestyle I want for myself and for my family must respect the principal of life I must be open to other people. It is like in the job that I am doing. before starting cutting someone hair I must have a clear picture of the hair style in my mind that will feet to that particular client otherwise that hair cut will never finish.

Since I have started this course and came across this powerful words my life is changing positively with the way I see life, my approach to my clients, my family, and my friends has changed and many clients are happy. I share my experience with them and that keep on motivating me not to stop.

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.

“The spirit of inferiority and superiority.”

When he said no one is inferior or superior to you ,that word rang a bell in head because in my years of experience as a barber I have seeing and meet many people from different background. some used to come in my shop and behaving as if other people were not human being ,the act as if they were superior to other because they are driving latter’s cars in the market or because they are educated more than others. But they are so ignorant at the point that they have forgotten that every human being is unique on heart and that everybody is on a mission, we have made to complete ourselves. One can’t be or do everything at a time so a any human being is important on heart. (And that above all the most important thing on earth is to be happy within ourselves)

“The power of imagination.”

Imagination is a start up point for a success story as: Our life started with an imagination, a successful business, a ship, a plane, car, everything in existence .that is how powerful is the imagination.

“The scanner in our brain.”

Our eyes scan everything and the brand save it and our brain small in size but can save millions of things.

“Every human being has access to a power greater than himself.”

Each time I read this powerful I realize how powerful a human being is and I fully agree that indeed a man is the image of GOD. When I see how fast a missile can travel, the cellular phone, the satellite TV work .all this will never happen if men don’t believe or release how power the are. So the early we realize the power within you us the better for us.

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

No everything was clear.

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

Yes I did complete all of them. I realize that when relaxing in a quiet environment that is the time I find peace within me, that is the times that I meditated and I get a clear picture of my new business venture. Also a nice holiday is very important where you go far from you working environment .meeting new people.

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.

Yes, when he said “that the computer works like our brain. Yes because contrary of what people and myself used to think that mind the computer is a small version of our brain.”

Indeed our brain is more powerful than any computer.

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

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

Keys to Success

Assessment by Jean Jacques Etouke Mbebi (South Africa)

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

The main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book is that no one can have success without respecting the principal of success and which I fully agree.

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

The seven ideas which were personally most important to me are:

i. Definiteness of purpose

I must know where I am going, I must have a detail plan of the goal that I want to achieve. I must have a proper plan for success. But I can’t do that if I am not happy,if I don’t have a self discipline, I must see myself in a possession of that goal already .I must have faith .is what made me to have the biggest and most popular barber in cape town and is not the end of my goal. I still consider that achievement as a stating point toward success

ii. What ever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve it.

Yes I believe that what ever has come to existence is a result of the mind, even the world, the human being, everything in general. So the state of my life is the level that I am using my mind and the mind having been the only thing which I have control over, I should not let negative thoughts dominate it.

iii. Mastermind alliance

Is one of the most powerful key to success ,where it says when united we can grow fast is what I did four years ago when I said to my employees to invest in my business. When they did that all of them became committed. Now they have put more efforts to work because they have to protect their investments. I like the master alliance because it keeps all the members busy toward achieving the common goal and its rewards which is wealth.

iv. Attractive personality

The characteristics of an attractive personality are how to attract attention of people toward me. It may be business partners, or a lover. I should have a positive mental attitude, sincerity, promptness in decision making, control my tone of voice, smiling face, tolerance attitude, faith in universal power, control of emotion, sense of humor, personal magnetism like people will want to be your friend. Humility. When I gather all this character all the sky will be my limit. And the most important for me is the control of emotion because it includes everything negative like fear, anger, jealousy, revenge, superstition. And positive rewards such as love, sex, hope, faith, sympathy, loyalty, optimism prevail.

v. Faith

Faith has been the awareness of belief and harmony with the universal powers. It also has been a state of mind. I can say imagination without faith and result is useless. Faith is belief in a supreme being, the external world ,with faith we overcome fear, disbelief, poverty, criticism, ill health, the loss of love, the fear of old age, the fear of loss of liberty, and the fear of death. At the end faith is a demonstration of dominating thoughts in the mind 6-the law of compensation. It is gain for good things we have done in the past (help, favor, investment) or we have done so through extra mile, personal initiative and self-confidence.

vi. Personal initiative

This powerful sentence has made me so strong in life, because of the family I came from no body to help I had no choice than to survived, I had to setup a goal, self-discipline, self-reliance, I had to go the extra mile to gain attention of clients since I was selling pure water in the market and it work for me and made strong until today, and that give me visions to see opportunities where people don’t see them, make me to save money, create job, persistence in life, induce others to work in harmony.

vii. Negative mental attitude

I will never allow this attitude to dominate my inner personality if not so I will face chaos, poverty and misery, self limitations, every brand of worry, many enemies and few friends, waste life who had nothing to humanity, victim of every negative influence. I must have a positive mind at all the time, a smiling face, be open and use flexibility with others. Join the two percent club.

viii. Teamwork

Any organization, company, family will never succeed without teamwork. It is a unity where responsibility are share ,where greed and selfiness are eliminated , is an unbreakable chain, where every body is working in attainment of a comon goal.

11-the major causes of personal failure

Negative mental attitude

Lack of emotional control

The desire to get something for nothing

Infavorable childhood influence

Lack of ambition

Inadequate education

Disloyalty

Desire for revenge

Intolerance

Lack of control over tongue

Poor selection of a spouse

Egotism and vanity.

Those are the biggest thing that can drain a person down very fact if is not identify and correted on time.

12-budget time and money

This is the main problem that all African people are facing no budget, lack of knowledge in finance, every day I keep on tell to my friends and colleagues that if I don’t have money in my account I feel sick. I love to see increase in account monthly so I don’t play with my time

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

Yes, by respecting all this principals in my daily life I will not only grow but i create a good environment not only for me, for my community, my country, my continent and the world and if in ten years time i am still in the same position all this study will have been useless.

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.

Yes when he said:

“Your past failures are what make success sweet. This statement go straight in my heart .because when I check my life 20 years ago selling pure water in the local market where people don’t recognize what you do .but today far away from home country I own one of the most successful and biggest barber shop in cape town that make me happy and I say thank to the nature for the opportunities giving to me.

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?

Yes, I disagree with this statement where he said that, “we should keep money aside for charity;” because at present day charity organizations for me are creating division. It is like the said people on top to people down. Every time is to said take and remain where you are don’t come where we are. I will rather change charity into investment instead of given foods, clothing to people and their life doesn’t change. I will choose one or two and invest on them by doing so those people will become important in the society not only their life has changed but their entire generation.

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

Yes I did complete the exercises. They are wonderful and I could feel the change by doing them and the results I obtained are so positive.

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.

Yes, this book in today’s world I will recommend this book to all African people and especially to the youth. They have lost hope. I believe that by reading this book, it will boost their moral.

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

A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9.5