Paa Kwesi Inkumsah – Assessments – International Institute for Global Leadership

Assessment of as a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

I couldn’t agree with James Allen more after reading the introductory paragraph of his elucidation about thought and character. It’s true that man is an embodiment of the vibes that he feeds himself that our perception completely reflects who we are and what we stand for. Will, is one thing that makes us so powerful that even God most high respects. A man can choose to change his way of thinking, he can choose to stop quaffing beer and stop smoking cigar when he has overcome it in his mind and decided to make it manifest in the physical. I have learnt that act is a blossom of thought, joy and suffering are its fruit; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry. That we create our own circumstances.

I would like to share my own personal experience where I decided not to have sex with any woman until I was sure I was going to marry her. With this thought in mind, I was able to go through college, got into a relationship when I had one year to graduate, but quit the relationship because I wasn’t convinced she was the one. Then I got into another one, and had the conviction she was bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Now with this second lady I had my way with her although I didn’t believe in pre marital sex, it was something I had purposed to do and not even the angels in heaven could stop me at the time. Am just creating this scenario to attest to the fact that we truly are what we think.

I decided to be an entrepreneur, always talked about it and really acted as one although I didn’t have the financial capabilities to make it manifest in the physical, I kept on believing till gradually began to unfold one day.

I like to agree with the statement that mend do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. That circumstance doesn’t make us, but reveals us to ourselves.

Quite right that every thought seed which falls into the mind, with time would manifest its own. A good thought will yield good results, where as a bad one, only that which is destructive.

The subject of self development: that a man wishes for his circumstances to get better but is unwilling to improve himself. This is the sacrifice we must make if we want to get anywhere, especially change the way things are. If things must change, then we must first change.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Explain.

I am someone who really can’t deal with the least pressure, and the slightest thing gets me confused and so out of place. I think I came to this realization because I allowed the effect of my thought to dictate my present circumstance and get me to this present state. I am learning to take things easy and take control over my thoughts.

Understanding that I am where I am now because of the law of my being; the thoughts which I have built into my character and the arrangement of my life; that there is no element of chance, but all my actions is as a result of a law which can not falter. This statement makes me recall a depressive situation I put my self through while in college, where I put all my frustrations on the fact that I could not pull through with a particular course no matter how hard I tried. It was a fallacy very difficult to be eroded at the time. Then one day, I realised a thin voice saying, if you kept fighting all through your high school days and have been able to achieve so much academic laurels, how then do you condemn your self now? Right then, I decided to take control over my thoughts. I was able to clean up what I messed up and started all over again.

I share this philosophy that attitudes in life are not formed by influences around us but by our own thoughts. I will like to explain this; like most people in urban Africa, I didn’t grow up from the best surroundings. You could call my neighbourhood a shanty town with all of its problems. Although I lived there and saw what went on each day, I distinguished my self from my environment and decided to develop my self, learn good habits and consciously lived in a world of my own that made people see me as conceited. At the end of the journey, I developed my self by finding great minds outside of my surroundings that thought me good ways and encouraged me to be who I am today.

I like to buttress my point with the first stanza of a poetry recital in page nine of this book:

You will be what you will to be;
Let failure find its false content
In that poor word, “environment,”
But spirit scorns it, and is free.

I have stated my own personal experience to prove that we are the causers of our own circumstances and that we can always change our destiny if we fight it in our thoughts.

This not withstanding, circumstances are so complicated that a man’s entire soul condition (although it may be known to himself) cannot be judged by another from the external aspect of his life alone.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

I realise the effect of thought and the role it plays in my body and my health in general. Stress related problems have always gives me severe migraine and in severe cases causes weight loss. Some times when I lost weight and decide to go on a diet, most often than not it don’t get better. I now notice that a pure mind set actually solves this problem. That as much as possible I learn to deal with problems as they come and not let them stress or get the better part of me. It really isn’t the end of the world when one gets into one form of situation or the other but the handling of the situation determines its effect on the individual.

We all have created our own situations and must learn to take charge over each one and not let them rule and ruin our lives. I have adopted the strategy of pure consciousness, to be the man that won’t let any thing and everything upset me and gets me into a disastrous state of the mind where I am enslaved to my own circumstances and the causer of my predicaments. This book has thought me that for lack of knowledge we perish.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

This book has acted as a reference point where I begin to critically assess my life and analysed all the things that I could have done if I was knowledgeable in my thinking. Although I had some idea about how to do stuff, making informative decisions could have come handy if I earlier encountered the wisdom this book disseminates.

I am aware that doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.

I am thought that if I can conquer doubt and fear, then it’s obvious that I have eliminated failure. That if am able to do this, then my thought will be allied with power, and all difficulties are bravely met and overcome. My purposes are seasonably planted, and they bloom and bring forth fruit that does not fall prematurely to the ground.

What powerful knowledge to be aware of the fact that thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force. He who knows this is ready to become something higher and stronger than a bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations. He who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.

5. What are the ideas in the book that you totally disagree with?

I beg to differ that a mans wishes are only answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions. When a man prays with a clean and pure heart and a forgiving spirit his request may find favour with God irrespective of what he thinks or doesn’t think. I believe that God like fathers give to their children what they need and it don’t matter if the kid thinks negative about it or not, if it’s a need, his father will surely get it for him. For instance, if my son came back from school and told me that his school bag or lunch kit was stolen, regardless of his thoughts, if there is no alternative and I have to get him another, I sure will. This necessarily doesn’t mean that he got what he needed because his thoughts and actions harmonized with what he wished for. Let’s not forget that, there is a supreme being that makes or unmakes irrespective of what we say or think.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful

Before I can achieve anything, even in worldly things, I must lift my thoughts above slavish animal indulgence. That if my first thought is bestial indulgence prevents me from thinking clearly as well as planning methodically.

There can be no progress nor achievement without sacrifice, and a man’s worldly success will be by the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance. The higher he lifts his thoughts, the greater will be his success, the more blessed and enduring will be his achievements.

It’s evident that achievement of any kind is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought. That by the aid of self control, resolution, righteousness, purity and a well directed thought, a man ascends.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book in a nutshell explains the effects of thought as it relates to our everyday lives be it socially or privately. It explains our thoughts as it relates to our purpose, the effect it has on our ideals and visions, its direct implications on our health and acting as a factor towards our achievements.

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? 9

I like to say that this book just speaks nothing but wisdom and says something completely different and philosophical as you flip through the pages. Am just trying to imagine what earthly experiences the writer had and where he drew his inspirations and wisdom from. Of course all knowledge comes from the inspiration and knowledge of God, but to clear my curiosity, did the writer belong to any religious affiliation?

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

The main concept of achieving perfection really challenges me and makes me realize that not only can I make things possible, but I can also go an extra mile in ensuring that I constantly perfect and discover new and wonderful things. In doing this, it is very important that I maintain a culture of discipline. To consistently and persistently believe in my ideals, to stay focus and not to waiver.

My believes are affirmed that if I seek, I shall find that the doors will be opened unto me. It is through patience, practice and ceaseless opportunity that I will enter the door of the temple of knowledge.

That in my attempt to aim at perfection, I need to understand the simple rudiments of those principles which are the basis of true prosperity (the control of thought and desire). That dwelling on deception and unmanly thoughts only helps to go me down the ladder of success. To get what we want, we have to let go of our own personal desires and subject ourselves to discipline.

Its obvious that feeding my system with the right vibes will only manifest goodness. Like the saying goes, like begat like. I am a captain of my ship, the monarch of all that I survey. Am the master of my universe, the decider of my faith. That if am conscious of this fact and work at what I feed my thoughts with, then I will finally arrive at the place of bliss and achievement.

Creative thinking, healthy thoughts and an optimistic attitude were identified while I flipped through the pages of this book. These thoughts have only come to improve my self and boost also my self moral. It serves as a lot of encouragement to the areas where I find myself to have fallen short and keep me constantly mindful that all is well that thinks well.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Explain.

I like to state that this story speaks to my life, Jonathan’s experiences with his folks and the flock in general is no different from my own personal life, where close to my completion in the university I constantly said I was going to be an entrepreneur with creative abilities. I was ridiculed by most of my peers. My family thought I was a joke, and my father will constantly say to me about how I needed to gain experience from the civil service for some years before achieving my dreams and how my cousins thought I was over ambitious when I said all those things that I wanted to do. The road was really not easy; I lost all my friends because they thought I was messing up by making the greatest mistake of not taking on a job after college. They saw me as a loser and a good for nothing, even at a point, close members of my family thought so too, but I never relented on my efforts. I have not arrived yet, but they look at me now and call me brave and courageous. I have shared the common goal of impacting on my generation and this book encourages me to keep on keeping on. It redefines who we are in this world and what we have come here to accomplish. To know that we have a mission to fulfill and a vision to keep us focused.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

This book has further explained the true meaning of selflessness by encapsulating it categorically by elucidating love and kindness. Sometimes, I felt sad when all I did was give and not receive in return. The fact is that I wasn’t sensitive to notice that each time I gave something, I met somebody who would give me one link or share something that helped transformed my life. It has thought me to by hungry for knowledge, happy about the experiences am going through and thought me to be delightful about my learning experience. We need to realize that, even when we think we have identified the circle of good influence, we shouldn’t also loose the fact that our focus could be diverted if we deviate from the course. Remember that Jonathan when he discovered the skill of diving and moving at such incredible speed, faltered each time he lost his focus. Up until now, I liked to embrace any good idea and most often than not was divided in thought because there were so much business ideas I want to implement and at a point I became very confused and scattered. I have learnt to stay focused on my core business and identify new ways of making it better than my competitors. Not to look into the same binoculars like the others but to be innovative, creative and explore something entirely different and daring, to attain the speed of Jonathan Seagull. Most importantly, I have learnt to “to walk my talk” to the end.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

This book has re-organized my thoughts and brought into focus some of the very little things I took for granted, procrastination. Let’s remember that episode where Jonathan got into the heavens and met Sullivan; he was prepared to learn there and then. I have been challenged not to give the adaptation of new things a chance but to embrace it wholeheartedly.

Transformational thinking to me has its strong basis from the wisdom derived in this book. It quickly sets your mind in motion and prompts you to be aware of your self, look deep inside and try to discover yourself even more. To expose you to the power that lies with in that is yet to be tapped and its potential made manifest.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

I beg to differ with the writer when he explains his analogy that Heaven is not a place but “perfection”. From my religious perspective, I like to agree with the fact that heaven is described as a state of perfection. I also like to state that it is an abode prepared for Gods faithful to rest after their time on earth.

I identified some aspect of soul processing and spiritual transformation from the encounter Jon had with Chiang although it made void of having any religious denomination. Now, because we need to visualize in our quest to attain greatness and conquer our fears and limitations, I really do not see ruling out the position of faith as been unnecessary. If faith to some extent spells out what visualization means, then its importance shouldn’t be cut off. Faith if I should define it, I s the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

This book is an embodiment of all that is good and true. I find all the personifications very useful.

The fact that Jonathan did not allow his present predicament to deter him from his focus is a point worth noting. To know that there are no limitations, that I can be anything is revealing and encouraging.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

My analysis of this book can simply be summarized into characters that portrayed an overcoming nature, a persistent attitude and a drive to achieve. A strong desire and courage to stand the turbulence that comes with our quest to improve our lives. This book teaches about how we can arrive at that point where there would be no time for mediocre thinking, where ones mind would be occupied by things greater than our surroundings can perceive. James Weaver constantly explained the power of thought and clear thinking and in his illustrations inspires us to discover ourselves even better.

It continues to talk about selflessness, developing an over comer’s attitude and enjoying the content and the joy in achieving.

Please Rate each of 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? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

The introductory pages bring to mind our ability not to dance to the tune of the time, refute the conditions that allows us not to improve and see the positive. It spells it out clearly how we should see ourselves different from any other and strive to achieve when all seems to be bleak.

The focus of chapter one, WHERE THE ROAD TO SUCCESS BEGINS serves as a motivational guide to launch us to greatness and learn from the wealth of experience and a positive mental attitude cultivated by Henry Ford, Tom Dempsey and a few other characters in this book that exercised their PMA to achieve and make the impossible a reality.

In our desire to achieve greatness and be realized we need to first be servants. Learning to serve teaches us how to work our ego and expresses the meaning of humility.

Sometimes when we have tried all things and it doesn’t seem to work, we want to give up the idea. Cultivating the habit of inspirational dissatisfaction like Al Allen. Allen after failing miserably chose to pick up his defeat and turned them into positive vibes. This propelled him to forge on and gave him the motivation and desire to launch out the next day to do the kill, same with Henry Ford. After his team had given up the idea of molding an eight cylinder block, he urged them to keep trying until success came.

It’s very important that we see failure as an avenue for us to develop and come up with an outcome that would be enviable. Failure actually is the beginning to a perfect work, in failure, we become more experienced and we learn new ways of doing things right. If we begin to see failure as a positive mental attitude, we are bound to achieve the very best of what ever we experiment.

I liked the emphasis the author attributed to the Bible. He recognized it as the source of all wisdom and knowledge. It the genesis of all of our inspiration.

Identifying and attesting to the fact that prayer is mans greatest power brings to bear that we need to consult a higher power in all of our endeavors to seek guidance and intelligence.

If each of us will learn to use the 17 success principles as a yardstick in evaluating our lives, it will go a long way to sharpen and improve our sense of achievement.

I like to see all the struggles that men go through not greater than that that went on when we all had to compete with millions of sperms for survival to gain the status of a fetus. Let’s look at it this way as the conquering stages of life. Our lives as sperms and our ability to fight all the other capable sperms that swam close to the ovary to be fertilized already make us victors even before we became fetus. The struggle is even more competitive and very rapid than what we see in our usual lives now. People like to say, “Life is unfair” life is fair to them that see the positive and for those that refuse to see by virtue of their mediocre thinking, are those that will forever murmur and grumble about the uncertainties of life. If you could whip it in the belly, then you can survive it any way. You can make anything and everything possible by training and disciplining your mind to only accept what is positive.

It’s easy, confess to your self that it is possible and that you can make it constantly for at least a week and it becomes your habit. Your habits will culminate to your nature and eventually become your character.

Directing our thoughts, controlling our emotions and ordaining our destiny is a sure way of exercising PMA. Also memorizing the self motivational codes from the bible in page 45 is very important in our self development and upliftment.

I like to quote one of my favorite texts in this book “A positive mental attitude and definiteness of purpose is the starting point toward all worthwhile achievement”

This is very true because it’s evident in the life of Milo C Jones. Milo realized that he could make up for intelligence where he could not make up for strengths. Each of us can harness our efficiencies to make up for our short comings and even with time learn to clean up our own cobwebs. The beginning of everything big is first conceptualized in the mind. This book challenges us to use our mental faculties in a positive sense to project our inbuilt abilities.

In our desire to obtain PMA we need to clean up our cobwebs, the most important factor I like to consider in this contest is first starting to deal with your own self when you are faced with a problem with others. Find out what it is that caused the problem from your own angle. If we learn to deal with our own selves, we become more tolerant as we develop a sense of discipline to help us tolerate others.

I grew up not from a rich neighborhood; I had to make due with what my mother could afford as a single parent. In spite of her inability to afford all the pleasantries this life could give, she thought me one thing as a teacher. She said, “Paa, you can reach any height if you believe but please have a cycle of friends that would influence this thought”. I never liked my neighborhood anyway and the kind of people that I saw. Mediocre life style with no vision or purpose. It saddened my heart and angered me more each day when I thought of my environment. I decided to do something about it; I began to read about good neighborhoods, built my confidence and made friends with some of the affluent people on the other side of town. I spent less time at home after I had completed my chores and would dash off to see my new friends who took for granted the wealth of knowledge they had learnt from their parents. Each day, I learnt from each of them good manners, learnt how to use some sophisticated gadgets and refused to belong to my part of town. I had problems at home when my mum would complain about how I associated with the rich knowing that I came from a poor background. She said to me, “ son, you need to move with your own setting, you know I cant get you out of trouble if you messed something up from any of your rich folks houses” I smiled and said the contrary. Everybody from my neighborhood decided to hate me because they thought I was self conceited and sometimes would say’ “who does he think he is?” after all he isn’t better than any of us, but yet he wont associate with us” Soon, I was able to erase from my mind that I belonged to that part of the world and thought my mum to think such too. As my friendship with my rich friends grew stronger, I had the opportunity to go with their family to most of the nice places they went on weekends and begged that my mum was invited on one of those days. “Certainly Paa, I would love to see your mother sometime, she really has a smart kid for a son and I really would love to make conversations with her” my friends mum said with a smile. With glee and a big smile all over my face, I went home that evening with much excitement and told my mum about the good news. Eventually she became friends and spent less of her time also in our poor neighborhood. I chose to exercise PMA at the time and imagined my life being that of an achiever even though the odds were turned against me, I refused to live a mediocre life.

Not satisfied with my achievements so far, I decided to go a little further and dared my self to set higher standards even amongst my rich friends. I decided to make friends with older people who had excelled in their fields of endeavor and learn from their wealth of experience. At church one day when I was going through the last lesson of my discipleship class, our teacher said “ after this lesson, I know you wont have this opportunity to meet me in a classroom premise again, but hey, you can come to me for any type of assistance when the need arises”. There in the room, I met my first older friend, twice my age. A trained building consultant, he thought me most of the things I know now, built my confidence and thought me lessons putting me through the situations.
2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Explain.

To be at peace with the world, it first has to begin with the individual. Charity they say begins at home. I have had issues in the past with people and in most cases my temper betrays me. It’s quite strange but I couldn’t control my temper any longer, got angry at the least provocation and grew very impatient. I tried on several occasions to figure out what the cause of this was. The desire to change was very strong as I hated my present condition and would do any thing to get out of it. This book teaches me to do that, it tells me to love my self. I have learnt to realize that a critical assessment of my own self and my egocentric behavior contributed to a large extent to what I was experiencing. My family suffered a little from my temper and would have been very devastating if I didn’t put up measures to change. I did a simple exercise like illustrated in this book and added what I spoke repeatedly. “I am patient, I don’t get angry at the least provocation; I will not take my frustrations on others” constantly repeating these words to my self and using PMA has helped curbed the problem to a large extent. Truly, we are our own enemies. I justify this by using the human mind as a case study. The conceptualization of every thought I first conceived in the mind and its actions is made evident in our day to day activity.
When we speak positive and feel our selves with good vibes, all around us shall bear the fruit of goodness and thus the vice versa.

It’s good to have a dream, but in identifying the dream, it’s also important to set a target as well. That is, how much time and effort are we prepared to sacrifice in making our dreams a reality? Setting time log keeps us in check and gets us to finish a particular objective on time. Giving ourselves time phrase causes us to work hard to meet specific deadline. My whole persona has learnt to be even more disciplined. I think I have to work much more on achieving set goals at a specific time frame.

My enthusiasm built up as I flipped through the pages of this book. I had ideas rush through my heard so fast like lightening that I had to pause to type them before I completely lost focus of them. Every body that has read this book will be a changed individual and like me would see things with a rather different perspective.
3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

Self Motivation. Every thing I am and what I have become is made possible because of a supernatural force that I communicated to, in whom I have my strength and motivation. Sometimes when I am so down and feel like I can’t go on again, when fear grips me and I quiver. I inspire my self by quoting the scripture in Isaiah 41:10 that says “Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness”.

This book adds to my store of knowledge by further elucidating vividly how to motivate ones self. I like to always use the part of the world where I come from where the youth very rarely have any encouragement to believe in the potentials that lies with in. Where everything is presented so hopelessly to the youth that they feel its useless belonging to the continent. A constant reminder, that all men were created equal and have equal abilities to develop the God given talents and skills in us is enough motivation to make us believe in the power of will. To motivate one self, one magic ingredient that comes to mind is HOPE. Having the hope that all ends well to them that believe, is a good enthusiastic factor to sore high. To have the expectation of what is desired and to believe that it is attainable is the embodiment of hope. A simple experiment conducted on two species of mice placed in water and covered with a container to survive proved that specimen A spent three hours keeping its head above the water because it saw a glimmer of light in the container and it believed that if it could hold on a little longer, It could perhaps survive dead role. The other specimen B, died after ten minutes because its surrounding was so dark, it couldn’t see a thing and lost hope. Hope carried the first specimen for a very long time. Each of us can master this self motivational trait, if we would change our mindset and convert NMA to PMA.
4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

The experience I have had with this book has not only changed my thought but has also made me aware that I could actually use my brain a lot more than I am doing now. I thought I was doing much with regards to brainstorming, but realize that I have actually done very little after I learnt from the testimonies and personal experiences shared in this book. There is nothing under the sun that is not attainable.

I realize how I can channel my energies towards problem solving and making a more positive impact on my surroundings. If I was using 5% of brain power, I think I will now operating 20% and gradually work my way up until I have fully used up my brain to achieve what is attainable as I have perceived it.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

I completely have no qualms with any illustrations in this book.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

The success quotient analysis is a very useful tool to self evaluation and assessment. An honest evaluation of this analysis reveals to us our strengths and weaknesses. Once we have identified what it is we are lacking, we can quickly identify what it is we must do to correct our weaknesses.

Chapter eleven of this book illustrates the 17 success principles. These principles have been identified as one of the useful tools that would aid me in my journey of personal development. To maintain PMA, exercise enthusiasm coupled by definiteness of purpose and going the extra mile, would help build a culture of self discipline, a pleasing personality, creative vision, a personal initiative, a team spirit amongst others will ensure an improved, confident and poised me.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book describes vividly the importance of exercising goodness over bad. It forecasts the advantages of having a positive mental attitude and shunning a negative mental attitude. It describes how PMA affects our health positively and why we least have to develop an NMA attitude.

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

The New Dynamics Of Winning
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

We realize in this book how important it is for an individual who wants to achieve a goal or an ambition, sacrifices to burn the mid night candle to develop his skill in order to get the expected output. “No Pain, no gain” is a typical saying that expresses ones desire to sacrifice and risk all in order to achieve greatness. Eliminating that factor, fear and converting it into a positive energy that propels us to want to excel. Knowing that fear is but false evidence appearing real.

This book employs us to use to train our psyche and have a positive mental approach. Personally, the stories spoken of all these great athletes who exercised a lot of focus and never gave up even in situations where everybody had given up on them and thought they could not do it. Self believe and constant confession of positive spirited chants transforms from the inside and manifests on the outside. Like the popular saying “we are what we eat” truly, we are what we speak. Let’s not forget that what we speak is a reflection of our thoughts and who we are. The good old book says that, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

The new dynamics of winning presents to us scenarios and secrets to employ in order to have a winning attitude. Let’s remember as a motivational factor that, “there are no mistakes or failures only lessons”.

Growth however, is the process of gaining knowledge, of trial and error and of a courageous experimentation. Let’s not cease to forget that the failed attempts can be as much a part of the success process as the attempt that finally succeeds.

It’s very important that to achieve set objectives and accomplish targeted aims that we visualize the end from the beginning. Having the attitude of the golfer that would figure out where his ball would be located even before he pitches and the corrections that must be made to achieve the desired input should be our attitude.

“Winners see the act of winning in advance-vivid, multidimensional, textured, clear. Champions know that what you see is who you’ll be” This statement in pg 84 adds to the winning attitude of a champion. It clearly spells out to me how I need to psychologically prepare myself to believe in making my set out objectives a reality.

I realised that listening gives you another dimension to problem solving and knowledge acquisition.

I like to share a few things that I personally have learnt from the study of this book.

I summarize it as follows:

In order to improve our work here on this earth, we need to attempt the impossible. Am sure Bette Davis had some traits of the writer when he made this statement.

Remembering also that, there is no security on this earth but only opportunity.

Let’s not spoil what we have, by desiring what we have not, remembering that what we have now, was once the things we only hoped for.

The universe never says no to the thoughts about us, it only grows.

If we only knew that we could have anything we wanted, we would set more goals.

When a thing is done, it’s done, let’s not look back, but rather look forward to our next objective.

All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.

I would like to conclude by quoting the famous Sir Winston Churchill “It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time”.
2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Explain.

As a young lad, I had a natural flair for painting and enjoyed poetry even at the age of ten. At school, I was thought the fundamentals of commerce while in grade school and liked to practice what I learnt. I set for my self goals, to enroll in the national library so I can visit the extension library and pick up some good poetry books as well as nature pictures to develop my skill. It brought me enormous joy when I knew that I was able to accomplish something. In my older life, I slackened and wore a procrastinator’s coat. With zeal and enthusiasm, I would map up my weekly schedules and would dilly dally on most of the things that I had to do. It got better as I read books and cautiously made a point to change my perception completely especially in managing my time even more effectively.

Transforming the thoughts and concepts of this book has not only worked on my discipline, but has given me a certain sense of responsibility I owe to myself and the world to give out my very best and not let pitfalls get the best bit of me.

To see the solution from the beginning even though all odds are turned against me and nothing seems to be going right. A firm believe of optimism and accomplishing a goal no matter what.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

The thoughts that I have gathered from this book is what I have captioned the mentoring weapon. In this section I am made to psyche my self with the feeling that I control my thought, emotions, and actions and direct them to improve the quality of health, my work, relationships and life as a whole. To convince my self that I am a good, worth and valuable person gives me the firm believe that I am fully capable of achieving my goals, trusting that my abilities and judgement in taking risks tests my limits.

I have learnt that my spirit, mind and body are a powerful tem which I set free to excel.

To know that self improvement and growth comes from learning from problems and setbacks.

This experience teaches me to become more knowledgeable, ever thirsty for new knowledge, getting more curious, caring, more adaptable, more successful and more in control over everything.

Most importantly, the most important thought that sets my soul free and gives me that inner satisfaction is completely eliminating negative happenings in my life to affect my psyche. To decide to be happy no matter how the events turn out to be in my life.

The experience of the World War II and the intent to showcase art works of this world episode brings to me a very important concept. I love the caption, “for love not for money” I realise that employing this attitude in my business would go a long way to make a positive and progressive contribution towards the success of my business. Profit in any business is what every business owner desires, but I believe that delivering with passion a service to meet a customers specific need would get one the added value that we so desire. In my own words, I like to say “seek ye first the needs of your customer and all other things as in monetary returns shall be added onto you.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

I begin to now confront problems calmly and cautiously and realised that my way of addressing issues have changed. In the past, I handled problem solving quiet differently, this encounter has caused me to see what is beyond the problem and the approach that I would use to combat it.

It has brought me to that place of deep thinking, made me more philosophical with out realising that I am. I noticed this quite recently when a friend of mind confronted me with a problem that he had and how he painted the picture so gloomy. I smiled and answered, “It is well with you my brother, just believe” this was my introductory approach to the problem and trust me it worked a magic in this friends life. My image is boosted; my confidence level has risen and am burning with passion to be more successful.

I have learnt from the experience that Disney went through that people begin support you when they see how lucrative an idea materializes. Sometimes, it’s the visionary that sees where his idea is going and how far it will get to. The ordinary person needs to put on that same mentality if he wants to see what the visionary sees. Bottom line is that champions know where they are and they see where they are going.

The subject of fear brings to bare a new philosophy that I just propounded. Making fun of our problems. Do you have a problem, a fear, something that is tying you down? Make fun of it! Making fun of our present situation eases the tension and makes us see how very little it is after all to find a solution to it.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

The story of the old rich woman from Pasadena and her encounter with the young lad that parked at her spot wasn’t a good example of how wealth must be used. Its good to have money and lots of it, but misuse of it isn’t good. I think it would have been more proper if the lady in reaction to the young mans sarcasm, smiled and said “I understand you are young and full of energy, but remember that we all at a point in our lives will grow old when we cant do the things that our youthful exuberance would have permitted us” Am sure the thought of this would have made the young man think and behaved rationally either than the approach she took. Counter reactions don’t achieve much. It only makes situation degenerate.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

Coaching on my part was identified as a very important tool that was employed in this learning experience. Acting leadership rather than speaking it was found to be a very important proponent of entrepreneurial development which I really admire.

The subject of what makes a winner is very dear to my heart because here, we are thought how to identify the traits of a winner.

7. In 50 words or less please describes the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This experience from this book outlines what it takes to become a winner and the guidelines that we need to follow to be true champions. It exposes to the reader the secrets of winning and ushers us into the dynamics of winning

Psycho-Cybernetics 2000
Assessed By Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

The main ideas shared in this book bring to bear the effects of visualization on conceptualization towards THE REALIZATION OF A SAID goal. This whole concept of conscious over the sub conscious mind works in harmony to obtain a set objective. It is realized in this book, given the analysis been the horse and its rider, our sub conscious mind kowtow’s to instructions of the conscious. Now seeing a thing from the beginning boosts up our confidence that what the conscious has envisioned is attainable.

This book helps us how to change from the I can’t do habits to I can do realities by adapting THE CRAFT approach, cancel all negative data and replacing it positive, affirming our beliefs and focusing on the said objectives. With persistent training, the perception of negativity is eroded.

If you say to yourself it can’t be done then of course this negativity will manifest. Because, you have already condemned yourself from the onset. On the other hand, placing our persona in the winning arena and positioning our sub conscious to the effect will bring unlimited success.

A personal encounter I had with a lady on the subject of acquiring knowledge brought to mind that the ‘rider” in her had caused her horse to accept lethargy with regards to reading. Addressing this peculiar scenario, we practiced together the CRAFT process of canceling the thought of not being able to read to a “can do” attitude.

We continue to battle with our conscious mind till we are able to train the sub conscious into the “can do” mentality, then we shall have achieved our aim of the “horse and rider” becoming one.

We are free spirits when we begin to think, sing and dance to the tune of positivism.

We are what we are because of the information that we feed to our system. Accepting the facts thereof and believing in them constitutes our present lifestyles. A man chooses to drink because he had decided that that is what he wants to do, his control over his will power, is what sets him on to take a decision and live by it. We create our own karma each day by what we think and believe.

Nevertheless picturing an end result only broadens and deepens the range of talent your automatic creative mechanism your talent can shoot for. It’s still up to you to do the work.
Visualizing positive results can point your sub conscious mind to achieve such results. We have learnt that automatic mechanism, a destructive image can be as equally valued as a creative goal. We don’t automatically think that negative images are goals but they are. They can reinforce a poor self image and keep it stuck in self destructive patterns.

The vice versa would translate into a synergy of growth, bliss, and an achievable spirit.

If you “fake” it till you make it,” your subconscious mind will eventually get the picture. You will find yourself with a brand-new custom-designed self- image.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Please use personal examples in your explanation.

We all need to remind ourselves of how to get rid of old habits that impact negatively on our lives and to make a conscious effort to remind ourselves of revising the things that easily brings our spirits down and make our gets us to wear clothes of timidity and defeat. I have taken a lot of cue from how to identify false beliefs. Amongst the factors enumerated, one really answered a need. The question that was posed in this context was “do you become anxious or fearful in situations that pose no actual threat?” Am learning to find answers to this observation and constantly have to remind my self using C.R.A.F.T each day to cancel out all factors that make me have these false beliefs.

In finding solutions to this situation, it’s very important that we understand that we are human beings who deserve better than to be constrained by unreasonable fears, expectations of failure and feelings of unworthiness. Knowing that pseudo-beliefs are habits that have been cultivated by the self. This belief however can be changed by using the conscious mind to cause an effect in the subconscious hence causing it to belief. For most of you that face the same problem, I figured out a way that works, to make fun of the situation and then laugh it off. The same strategy might not work for most of you, but bottom line is that we all need to use our mental faculties to find which way works. The key factor to release tension in any situation is to find a way of making it seem solvable even when all the odds are turned against you. If you ask me again, coming from the spiritual point of view, I will suggest we all talk to our heavenly father who knows all and answers all.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

Visualization and self realization are two most important ideas learnt from the entire book. The mental exercises and stress relieving exercises outlined has been very useful towards my personal and human development skills. I envision how I want my relationship with my spouse in my mind and try to act what I see in my minds eye. It’s quite exciting when you know you can actually practice what you have conceptualized. Leaving your dream is possible, but it’s only possible when we learn to love our selves and believe for a fact that all will be well if we work on our belief mechanism.

As I continue to read this book, my faith is challenged, my vision is made clear and my thoughts are well refined. It’s all coming back to me so quickly. I have started practicing the concepts outlined in this book, it works. I will suggest to all that read this book, not to read it as a story book, but to find how the scenarios created in this book affects their individual lives positively.

Practicing the fifteen minutes of deep meditation, does not only reduce our stress levels, but it makes clear to us the ideas that we have thought of and gives us an in-dept understanding about how to make it all happen.

During my years in college, I made time each day to visit the botanical gardens, where I spent quite some time meditating and focused on how to cancel out my weaknesses. For anything that I identified as a flaw, in my minds eye, I brought it forth and battled with it until I could conquer it. Each day, I thought about ways of making people happy. I had always loved to help and as I continued with this practice, I found so much satisfaction and walked about with a broad smile.

Very importantly, I would like to say that it made sense to me when I read the meaning of relaxation. The key to activating our creative imagination. As I explained in earlier, basing my emphasis on meditation as a relaxation mechanism.

Anything that has been learnt can be re evaluated and challenged.

For most of the corporate agencies in my country, I would want to share this wealth of information presenting seminars on stress management. The other things learnt from this book could also be used as a team building model

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

I, like most of my readers, had acceded to the statements that life is unfair, life is tough, you can’t eat your cake and have it. These statements, although are false registered in my mind as the truth as everybody kept resounding it, my friends, family and community folks. It’s quite ironical, but I advised most of my colleagues that life wasn’t fair, but we owed it onto ourselves whether to dance to the tune of the masses or behave differently. A man, I identify as my mentor passed a very important comment that kept me thinking. Each time there was hardship and everybody complained about how difficult the system was becoming, he does new things, like change his car and get a bigger engine capacity when fuel prices increases. I asked him one day, “Sir, why do you do stuff like this, don’t you feel the pressure going on all around” he smiles and tells me, “ son, I am in the world, but not of the world, I do not conform by the standards of this world”

His statement has come to affirm my believe system and caused me to use CRAFT to reverse all these false statements that I have believed over the years. I like to use Africa most of the time as my example, because this is where I am from. A continent where because of war and strive, most people lack good role-modeling, especially when it comes to setting goals. We turn to believe what our folks told us as the truth. Of course they told us the information that was passed on to them by their ancestors which they have believed for a long time. Really, I have come to the understanding that the mind can be tuned to believe a thing or conform to a certain standard or not. In a nutshell, I would like to say that Psycho-Cybernetics 2000 has opened my understanding about not dancing to the tune of everybody, but to search with in my self and visualize only on how I want my world to be. A lot of word has gone round the world especially with regards to Africa. I still believe that Africa will unite and be a strong super power one day. The problem most people are facing is to have a change of mind and a believe system that would motivate each other towards national development.

I know that I can be that ambassador that would give a lot of mentorship to the youth especially from the pre-school level so that they would at that tender age be equipped with the right positive mental attitude to improve them and contribute their quota towards nation building. I use this platform to join my crusade of the NEW MIND REVOLUTION.

Our crusade will be to use what we learn here at IIGL to advance not only our lives but to pass on the wealth of information to our prospective countries. Let’s use our cycle of influence to change the perceptions around us. It’s a time to heal the mind and set ourselves free from mental slavery.

In conclusion, I would like to quote the text on paragraph one of page 274 “ I am not judged by the number of times I fail but by the number of times I succeed,” knowing that, “ the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying”.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

To know that a positive self image equals longevity

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

Psycho- Cybernetics 2000 offers to the individual a step wise approach to develop a personal action plan for improving our personal as well as professional lives that can also impact on the lives on others.

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

Real Magic
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1.What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

We all ask ourselves very pertinent questions as we journey this life. We look back at our lives and we try to figure out if we have been in too many coincidences or if its by divine plan that we find ourselves in our present situation. That the experiences we go through are stepping stones to groom us and perfect us to a well defined spelling of ourselves.

We need to see our experiences not as tragic, but like Wayne said, casting our minds years back and reminiscing right from childbirth up until now. I have made some very serious thinking and can only be grateful to God for all the learning processes I have gone through. I now understand more vividly, not to look at experiences as coincidences but as a means to attaining greatness.

This whole scenario of misfortunes, ill-treatments, unfairness etc looking it with an eagles eye is part of the mastermind of God to fine tune us, just like clay in the hands of the potter. Mistakes, only helps us to understand this world much better and presents us with the opportunity to be good at a thing.

To me, the most important thought gathered from this book is one’s ability to stop an addiction. How simply the answer comes to us, of course, but it is simple. Ask your self today this question can I give up my addiction today? Answer: just don’t do what you are addicted to today and ask your self the same question tomorrow.

Having a private magic zone reserved to ask questions like this guides us in what direction our lives should take. If we begin to acknowledge the fact that we are spiritual beings with a human experience, we would begin to appreciate and realize that we have no limitations in this spiritual realms. Having this perception at the back of our minds would be a driving force that propels us to go all out and conquer failure, pessimism and a non achieving attitude.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Explain.

The concepts in this book only comes to affirm that I am constantly treading the part of perfection and greatness. Knowing that the result of love is compassion and loving with out any religious attachment. Seeing or realizing God in anything we do and with any human being makes it easier to show compassion and love unconditionally. If you know that there is an element of God in everything around you, then you would be compelled to love because, in Him we live and have our being and in God is love.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

In the advent of time, man has allowed economic circumstances to dictate his course of happiness and total bliss. Go to school, get a good job, make a lot of money then you would be happy and have a fulfilling life. This is quite the contrary because people still go all out to achieve all of these and still have a void in their hearts and minds.

Although I have my own reservations about metaphysical meditation, I seem to appreciate this piece of words which touches my heart so dearly, and I quote:

“Do not search for happiness only in beautiful clothes, clean houses, delicious dinners, soft cushions and luxuries. These will imprison your happiness behind the bars of externality, of out-ward ness. Rather, in the airplane of your visualization, glide over the limitless empire of thoughts. There, behold the mountain ranges of unbroken, lofty, spiritual aspirations for improving yourself and others”

In summary, happiness isn’t gained from the physical presence things that we see around us, but it is developed from an inner consciousness of heart and mind.

Redefining our being as first being spiritual elements without limits, goes a long way to affect the way we think and behave. Of course if we realize that we are first made of a spiritual element living in a body, a lot of things would be made clear to us and we would know how to comfortably coexist with our fellow spiritual beings. Defining this again, I like to give my own definition as the body being that emptiness that our soul dwells. In other words, our spirit man is clothed by the body which is a physical presence.

Learning to see all people not in the terms of their form but in the terms of the soul that is in the back of the form; this knowledge helps us to express love in a different kind of sensitivity. Love that is pure, free from any form of ties, a general willingness without expecting nothing.

This book touches my heart in a lot of ways and I have expressed that in writing. I would like to emphasize the most important thing I have learnt. I like to define as the key to living life it self. If we stay on purpose knowing that we are in this world to serve, it would be very easy to remove our ego from any encounter and send out love. What do we do when we vie off course? Simply ask the I-factor that dwells inside you, “How may I serve in this situation?” and patiently wait for the answer.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

The bells keeps sounding in my ears about how everything and anything is possible if one believes. This believe is even made more real by the numerous practical examples that Wayne has sited in his book. I like the concept of meditation as the channel to discovering the self and an avenue to visualize how we want our lives to be. I like to let you all know that meditation works any day, it will take you to the self and will help you discover true happiness within. You will begin to understand beyond the ordinary that you can create your own world when you go with in and physically manifest what you see in your moment of silence.

I have felt some sort of unusual power, each time I meditated on a verse in Phillipines 3:16 which happens to be my success quote. Meditation also on Psalm 23 gives me some peace and relief that is best explained to an individual when he seeks within.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

I beg to differ when the writer says in the later paragraphs about how dreams are related to our thoughts and that we create these dreams. To some extent, we dream because of the thoughts that we feed ourselves. On the other hand, I like to interpret dreams as a revelation of things yet to come. Although we envision this in our minds, its not created out of our thoughts

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

This book emphasizes our unique capacity to create miracles in our lives. The central premise is that we become what we think about all day and those days become our lifetime.

To know that I have the spirit of God flowing through me all the time makes me recognize how powerful I am and that anything I desire to do I can do.

Most of us, have been fed with wrong conceptions and we have all being made to believe in some sort of a lie. Real Magic teaches us how to erode this lie and build a new life of possibilities focusing our energies on the spiritual being that we possess to make anything we dream come through

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This books helps us to identify ourselves as spiritual beings before seeing ourselves as physical, as this exposes us to our limitless nature and affirms the believe that if we believe it, we can achieve it.

Please rate each of the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is high and one is low.

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

Assessment of What to Say When You Talk To Your Self
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

Each of us at a point in time engages in self talk. We speak to ourselves when things go tough, when nothing seems to be working for us according to our thinking pattern. We encourage ourselves and convince ourselves that all will be well. The question here is, what do we say when we self talk?

Professor Shad breaks it down and identifies five different categories of self talk.
The first level has been identified as the most destructive and least beneficial. In this category, the individual says something bad about him/herself and believes in the pronouncements that they make. This level of thought creates very depressive circumstances where the individual blames himself for his circumstances.

The second level of self talk appears as the solution, but realized later that it is an illusion. It identifies the reason we are not achieving much, but instead of taking us there, it leaves us helpless by just identifying the situation. This level creates guilt, disappointment and an acceptance of our own self imaged inadequacies.

Level three self talk, helps us to identify the need to change, but instead of leaving it like that, like we realized in level two; it does something about the situation by wanting to do something about the need to change. So if you were somebody that got angry at the least provocation, you would now say to yourself “I never get angry at the least provocation” this thought now registers in your sub conscious and you are always reminded when you want to get mad at something. This level of thinking would be a new programming system that you install in your memory chip “the mind” Just as the computer processes any information fed to it, so will your mind behave in like manner.

The final level of self talk has been discovered to be the most effective level of self talk. This is the self talk which is the direct opposite of level one. This is the level of optimism. It replaces helpless can nots with enthusiastic yes! It tugs at our hearts, touches our hopes, and paints in the pictures that color our dreams. This level excites demands, and surges us forward towards higher heights.

This level of positive mental attitude strengthens the armor of our spirit and hardens the steel of our determination. We are challenged to do battle with our fears and end up the victor. We are stirred up to action and are filled with self belief. The result is that, our feet are planted in the solid bedrock of success.

The final level has rather been defined as an ancient method of self talk. This is the level of universal affirmation. This level of self talk speaks of a unity of spirit, a divine and timeless cosmic affinity which transcends all worldly things and gives meaning to our being.

Level five is characterized by the words, “it is…” and sounds like being one with the universe. If you ask me, this level is more of a spiritual awareness that no book can describe. It’s an encounter that one must experience when he is one with the universe. It’s a spiritual awakening that makes you live in that high level of perfect ness.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Explain.

Positive self talk has helped me develop a skill that makes it possible to address any situation in my relationships with others. I employed a different practice, where I got my positive self talk written down and recorded on my cellular phone using my wife’s voice. I decided to use her voice because she is sort of an angel that guides me in my daily decision and I felt it would be more convincing hearing this self talk from her. Hearing these words ignites some sort of fire in me and brings me to believe in that talk, becoming one with it and actually acting and living it unconsciously with out realizing it. Amazing! Isn’t it? Just quite recently, I was faced with a challenge, and I felt this was the end of the world. Note that this pronouncement is a negative mental attitude, but I was able to turn it around and saw the situation differently. I said to my self, no situation can have the best of me; I shall rise above this storm and get the raging sea to be calm. I resides a few of my favorite bible quotations that addressed the situation. I repeated these words until I started realizing this sudden lightness within me. It was a feeling of a burden been lifted off my shoulders and a surge of a sudden confidence and boldness to face the situation candidly and be declared the victor at the end of the day.

Not too long ago, I heard some complaints about a sibling of mine, it made me so angry. I lost my cool immediately and my heart decided to beat rather fast. Then I remembered something very important while I read this book. A question popped into my mind, why are you getting all worked up? Say to yourself, I am calm, I understand the situation that has been brought before me and I will solve it with out getting into any confrontation with anyone. With these words, I took a deep breathe, felt more composed and carefully analyzed each complaint and addressed it with out getting any one offended.

I used to be a good listener, then suddenly everything changed and I would always want to be on the defensive side and try each time to counter react to prove my point even when the other person spoke. Again, that still small voice says, smile, take a deep breathe and enjoy this conversation with out interrupting, you might be in a better position of understanding the issues brought before. You will be able to give a better solution and understand the other person if you adopt this approach. I speak out rather silently saying to my self, I am a good listener, I don’t interrupt when other people speak to me. All these approaches have worked very effectively. Again, I like to add that positive self talk is a discipline that each of us must learn to nurture.

I like to share something I experimented with which would be beneficial to most of my readers. Feel excited each time you self talk, enjoy the experience, relax with the process and you would realize that it will come rather easily to you. Getting serious about your self talk won’t help much, remember always that, things work well when they are simply than.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

This book teaches some very great lessons, I like to enumerate a few pointers:

Let’s all remember that, a few minutes of anger, anxiety, negative stress and frustrations can literally toxify our physical system for hours.

The below positive self talk statements are ideas I find so practical. These statements, I have recorded and play them on a daily basis until I can unconscious live each thought.

1. I know that greatness begins in the minds of the great. I know that what I believe about myself is what I will become- so I believe in the best for myself.
2. I am practical and realistic, and I keep my feet on solid ground. But I also give myself the freedom to live up to my fullest expectations.
3. I never limit myself by the short-sighted beliefs of others- instead I open myself up to the broad horizons of unlimited possibility.
4. When someone says I “cannot”, I answer “why not?” When someone says “it’s impossible,” I answer that nothing is any more impossible than I believe it to be. And I truly believe that with my individual fortress of faith, with me, anything is possible.
5. I have drive, spirit, stamina, and endurance. I have a good strong winning attitude about myself and about everything I do.
6. I am practical and realistic, but I also believe in the best possible outcome of any situation.
7. If I have ever had any doubts about myself in the past, today is a good day to put them aside. It’s a good day to throw out any disbelief that ever held me back.
8. I know that I am headed in the right winning direction, and I look forward and never look back.
9. I have the ability to concentrate on one thing at a time, so I can focus my attention on the job at hand and I get it done!
10. Today is one of those days when nothing can stand in my way. When I need extra determination, I have got it! When I need more energy and drive, I have got it! I have got the power to get it done and the patience to see it through, no matter what the job or challenge may be.
11. Right now, even while I am telling myself these truths about me, I know that I can succeed and I am succeeding. At this moment, if I think of any challenge in front of me, I know that I will become even more a winner because of it.
12. I keep my chin up, my head held high. I look, act, sound, think, and feel like the winner I am! Anytime a problem starts to get me down, I get myself right back up! I tackle problems and I solve them. When frustration or defeat threatens me, I just become that much stronger, more positive, better organized, and more determined than ever!
13. Right now, today, this very moment, I am capable of giving myself the gift of absolute self-assurance, self-belief, and powerful non-stop confidence in myself.
14. No matter what it is that requires the very best of me, I can it and I know I can.
15. Today is a great day. And I have got what it takes. So I choose to do it right, do it well! I choose to live today with joy and love.
16. I know it is all up to me. One hundred percent! Every bit of it. All of it is in how I look at it and what I do about it! That’s what winning. That is why I am a winner.
17. I set my sights. I keep me balance. I don’t hesitate. I don’t hold back! I know that the world is full of opportunities. Look at what I can do; look at where I can go! Look at what I can do just by saying “Yes” to myself!
18. Just look at what I can do today! I am incredible and today is a great day to show it!

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

The idea of self talk is a practical approach towards achieving good results. Speaking a thing makes it real to me and manifests in the self as I continue to practice and constantly increase my faith levels.

The different levels of self talk actually got me pausing for a minute to evaluate my self and find out which of the levels I belonged to. Once I realized where I belonged, I practiced each tool to improve upon my level and get to the final level.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

Every idea and argument discussed in this book addresses a need and the reader progresses in reading.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

Learning to manage, control, and direct the resources of our minds is the greatest challenge that we can face as individuals on planet earth.

The key to all management, the management of others, and the management of our own resources as well as our future is self management. This is the difference that exists between living a life of fulfillment and purpose, and living out our years frustrated and incomplete, contained by the short sighted limitations of our own disbelief.

Self management however is the final conquest and its solution is with in our reach.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book teaches us that we are everything that is, our thoughts, our lives, our dreams come true. We are everything we choose to be, unlimited as the endless universe. We can harness it using positive self talk.

Giant Steps
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

In our quest to find solutions in this life, especially on how we can self motivate ourselves and transform our thinking patterns and understand life better; we go through certain daily routines that helps us to find that rhythm that perfectly blends and fall in harmony with our selves. Anthony Robbins makes this search easier by presenting to us a couple of fact proven steps that are reliable in ascertaining what the fact is.

This book emphasizes on the very small changes we can make in our lives that will bring that great impact and effect such enormous difference. Always keeping the main objective in perspective, knowing that this book seeks to inspire us and to fuel our energies into measurable results by getting us to consistently take simple actions. These daily inspirations and small actions will lead to giant steps in the quality of our lives.

I like to enumerate a few of the things I felt important below:

* Nothing Happens unless we first dream
* Its not what we do once that counts, but our consistent actions
* We are endowed with innate resources that enable us to achieve all we’ve ever dreamed of and more, the gate of realization can be opened by our decision to change
* Our lives can be turned into legendary inspirations if we have the courage and the awareness that we can control whatever happens in our lives
* The secret of unleashing our true power is setting goals that are exciting enough that they truly inspire our creativity and ignite our passion
* Persistence overshadows even talent as the most valuable resource in shaping the quality of life.
* The real purpose of a goal is what it makes of you as a human being while you pursue it.
* Obstacles are merely a call to strengthen your resolve to achieve your worthwhile goals.
* Pain can be any ones friend if used effectively
* Mixed emotions are behind most patterns of self- sabotage, and they certainly limit the level of enjoyment and success one can experience in life.
* The truth is, what you get will not make you feel good, but learning how to change your state of mind in an instant will.
* We can use our imaginations to create references for and certainty about things we have yet to even attempt
* People are not their behaviors. Understand what drives them, and you will really know them.

Anthony Robbins advised that we take a few minutes to reflect on the ideas that we have read in his book. Really, adhering to what he said will make a great impact and change the way we do things. For instance a daily evaluation of each of the guides helps me do the things that I planned to do.

For instance, just not too long ago, I was confronted with an issue I was trying to avoid although I knew the consequences; I always procrastinated on taking that decision that will help me find a solution easier. I took a firm step and made that move that changed everything.

A lot of business could be generated with my ICT consultancy; I had always procrastinated on picking up the phone directory to make those calls. I took a decision one day to make the calls and sent emails to prospective clients. Isn’t it amazing that I have had some positive responses, and soon will be generating some good business.
3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

The ultimate success formula is one of the concepts I truly appreciate in this whole intellectual exposé.

This formula teaches us to decide what we want with precision and clarity of power. We need to take action after we have made this all important decision because desire isn’t enough.

We need to notice what is working or not, because we practically don’t want to expend energies on an approach that is worthless.

The final step is to change our approach until we achieve what we want. Remembering that flexibility gives us the power to create a new approach and a new result.

The second most important idea I gathered from this discus is what I will discuss below:

The Success Formula For Every Entrepreneur
Every year, hundreds of thousands of businesses are started. Most will fail, some will muddle along, and a few will thrive. Which ones thrive, and why? The reason some businesses experience spectacular sales and profit growth from the start isn’t because they had a lot of money at the beginning. Their fast growth can be attributed to the fact that they were put together the right way.

In every instance, the founders either had or acquired the experience and knowledge they needed to startup and run the business. They recognized what their weak points were, subsequently nurtured alliances, and acquired the skills they needed to start their company off right. They also understood how the various parts of the business fit together to form a total structure and knew that if one part was missing, the total structure would break. For example, they knew that a successful sales plan is directly dependent upon support from the marketing and promotional plans, and that the strategic business plan acts as the glue that holds all the sub plans together so that they work in concert.

Developing Ideas
Everybody has one, and most of them never get implemented. The successful entrepreneur starts with a basic idea. This idea is first tested to staying power. Can it be used to grow a customer base, and will it be profitable? The pseudo-entrepreneurial itch often ends before the basic idea gets tested. Studies show that a high percentage of people who open new businesses do so because they are frustrated with their current job. They’ll jump into any business venture that comes along without first checking it out. Ninety percent of this group will go out of business in their first year.

Those that make it are smart enough to recognize the symptoms of their emotional state. They are acutely aware that they may be in a vulnerable position. As a result, they may hang on to the security of their current job and start a business on the side. They’ll make the move to become a full-time entrepreneur when the time is right for them and after they have thoroughly checked out their business venture ideas. There are three basic concepts to keep in mind as you develop and refine your business start-up ideas.

Be Creative
The opposite of creativity is rigidity. Entrepreneurs are not rigid in their thinking. If you cling to the old ways of doing things because “that’s the way we have always done it,” you’ll never come up with the new solutions that are demanded by today’s small businesses. To test your creative ability, practice finding ways to tie together seemingly unrelated ideas.
Understand Every Problem
You must have a clear understanding of what it is you are trying to achieve and be able to identify the obstacles that stand in your way. Break each problem down so that you understand it and know what you need to do to eliminate it. For example, the problem may be that you need more space. Why do you need more space, and what are the alternatives? An alternative may pose a new set of problems, but if they reduce the magnitude of the original problem, the alternative may be a more viable option.
Brainstorming
When you come up with a solution to a problem, brainstorm the solution with as many qualified people as you can find to avoid judging your own answer. Accept modifications that make sense, and be prepared to replace the solution with a totally new and better alternative. The key to the brainstorming process is to be objective. Brainstorming is an excellent way to come up with a new set of ideas for new products, services, or improvements that could accelerate the growth of your business.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

The day to day devotional guide set by this book, makes one critically analyze and evaluate each step that one reads. For me it has been a great challenge to practice most of the virtues of this book. Any thing I read, I tried exercising it and evaluated myself at the end of the day to assess my self and find out if I was making progress at all.

The ideas gathered from this book is a reflection, a constant evaluation of an individual to be conscious of the choices and decisions that we take that has significant impact in our personal development.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

The bit on relationship has been the most helpful ingredient to me.

Anthony’s vivid tips on working your relationship have been very useful to me and I have taken some good clues from it. I must confess that my wife tells me, I am a very good business man, but lately been quite a lousy husband.

Well, the first time I thought and pondered why she said that, then I realized that my attitude towards appreciating those little things were gradually dissipating because my concentration was more on business and traveling, I barely had time for the very important things, my family.

Anthony says, dream on, think of new romantic things that would lighten up the fire. Communicate more, and each day, think about how blessed you are to have your spouse. Never take your spouse for granted and never use threats as your strong hold because you know your spouse loves you very much.

For those of us that think that having lots of money will bring that happiness and excitement in your relationship, I beg to differ on that opinion. Having more money brings more challenges. Happiness lies within ourselves, it is a state of the mind and if we search it, we will find it.

The next most important idea in my reflection is the five keys to financial mastery.

The first key says that if we can find a way to increase the value of what we do by at least ten to fifteen times, then we can easily increase our income. This key is the key of the ability to create wealth. In coming to this realization, it’s important that we ask ourselves the question: how can I be worth more to my establishment? While we ask ourselves this question, we begin to ponder on cost saving strategies and innovative means to improve the quality of service of your company hence giving it a competitive edge.

1. Wealth Maintenance: This can be achieved if we cut down on our expenses and invest our income. Learning to build assets rather than liabilities. We need to instill the culture of discipline in investing rather than spending.

2. Wealth Increase: Wealth increase can be achieved if we re-invest in our business rather than spend the proceeds.

3. Wealth Protection: As we accrue more wealth, eyes are set on us and we need to be security conscious. At this point, getting a legal brain to advise one on asset protection is very important.

4. Create Your Own Personal Code of conduct: For luck of knowledge my people perish. It’s important to keep reading and getting financial wisdom to make the right decision and be financially enlightened.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

Giant steps seek to dare us to awaken the hidden potential that sits inside of us. The first important thing is to inspire us and secondly, to funnel our energies into measurable results by getting us to constantly take simple actions.

Please rate each of the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is high and one is low.

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

This book works miracles if the reader would not only read it as a story book, but implement the steps inside of it.

Keys To Success
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

“No single mind is complete; no one person can answer every question. But two or more minds, united behind a definite major purpose and working in harmony to achieve it, will accomplish great things.

Each of us in identifying the person that could pass for a team player should be someone that understands our vision, and has that same driving passion with a zealous attitude to see the objectives in perspective.

This journey to identify who the right person is is what has been carefully described in this book as forming strategic alliances. In forming these alliances, we need to identify the characteristics that come along with it. We need to be principled and focused. We first have to select people not because of our relationships with them, but for the fact that they exhibit abilities to execute the job. The second most important factor to consider is if the persons concerned are able to work together in a spirit of harmony together with other members of the team.

Our alliances with people can only be preserved by diligent work, having in mind that it’s built upon the mutual agreement of our definite purpose.

In maintaining our alliances, our attention must be on the C.U.F.C guide. Breaking this acronym down would mean Confidence, Understanding, Fairness and Justice and Courage.

Confidence: knowing that the members of your team would adhere to non disclosures of the association.

Understanding: That each member of your alliance completely understands and possess to a large extent situations that the group encounters.

Fairness and Justice: Where every one deals with each other completely on ethical terms, observing the code of conduct.

Courage: When your alliance encounters crisis, it should be able to meet it with firmness.

Our minds are constantly refreshed reminding us of the book, success through a positive mental attitude. Napoleon Hill continues to hammer on the fact that we have to see possibilities all the time and not in the least, have any mind for negative exposure, and even when that happens, lets learn the lessons that this negative experiences presents to us as we embark on the journey of success.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Explain.

This book transforms a thinking pattern, instills some form of discipline that you are not forced to pursue, but you learn through the experiences to take a cross sectional evaluation of your thoughts, your attitudes, perceptions about work, family and relations and cause you to vie towards those principles that you set for your self which are not working.

Napoleon Hill continues to inspire me especially on how to re-mould my belief system, critically making an analysis of people’s success and failures and how they picked up the pieces and forged on to attain such exceptional levels of excellence.

We all try a lot of things, get into one form of business or the other with little or no success and decide to abandon everything and not keep trying. We want to settle on the believe that, its not our destiny to excel in that form of business, but really, our failures presented us the opportunities all this while to excel, but our resistance to break higher grounds was partly due to the fact that we had given up on our belief system and stopped exercising our faith levels.

The seventeen principles of success if carefully studied and practiced will put each of us back on track and help us achieve our set goals and objectives having no resentment of failure.

I like to say that going an extra mile in all that we do, expecting nothing in return is a very important virtue we all need to cultivate. We build on our selfless nature and also work on our ego.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

Fear has always being defined as an illusion which almost always becomes real force. How? This false evidence appearing real gradually finds a place to dwell in our belief system and eventually is able to settle in our subconscious becoming an end.

Each of us fear one thing or the other, it could be a fear of heights, water, people etc.

But the question is, why do we fear when there is certainly no reason to fear?

I spend most of my midnights, taking long strolls and engaging in spiritual walks. Concerned folks caution me to be careful about this habit. I mostly smile and tell them there is no cause of alarm. I tell them, “the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not fear” I have kept up this believe system for a very long time and have not been attacked by robbers or lynched, because I always believed that there was a force that protected me at all times and for which reason I need not be afraid.

Conquering fear plays a very important role in our success patterns, and if we would be very good business individuals and professionals, we would have to learn how to eliminate fear entirely and embrace risk taking.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

There is something different each time I read any book from Napoleon Hill, I don’t know if perhaps it’s the numerous success stories that challenge me so much so that I feel like I can eat the moon itself. This is only figurative, but in perspective, this book has spirited me up in a lot of ways, especially in my interpersonal relations. Forming great alliances, identifying who should be in our alliance and fostering healthy relationships amongst other things has added to my wealth of knowledge and changed my thinking pattern always knowing that there is hope to them that continue to believe and strive for greater heights.

One phrase sparks up the fire in me to excel. “To be enthusiastic…Act enthusiastically!” You see, real enthusiasm comes from with in; I like to describe it as it happens to me, as a sudden deep heat that stems from the heart that causes excitement in the belly and a quaver in the entire body system. It’s an awakening that speaks to our being to rise up and achieve!

Although enthusiasm can be generated from a lot of ways, including our thoughts, feelings and emotions, I believe that it’s very strong in our emotions; it’s a revival that goes on in our system that transforms our entire persona.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

Every idea discussed and shared in this book is agreeable in most of the instances through which it was disseminated.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

I like to enumerate some of the pointers I found most helpful in my assessment of this book as personal quotes for individual mentorship:

a. If you know what you want form life, if you are determined to get it to the point that it becomes an obsession, and you back that obsession with continuous effort and sound planning, then you have awakened and developed definiteness of purpose.
b. No single mind is complete; no one person can answer every question. But two or more minds, united behind a definite major purpose and working in harmony to achieve it, will accomplish great things.
c. If you make your prayers an expression of gratitude and thanksgiving for the blessings you already have, instead of requests for things you do not have, you will obtain results much faster
d. If you do not use a muscle, it will wither and become useless. If you do not use the powers of your mind, they will do the same thing.
e. Learn to close the door of your mind on all failures from your past. Clear your mind of any influence which does not support a positive mental attitude.
f. Close your mind to any one who wants to exert a destructive influence
g. Perceive that self-pity is an insidious destroyer of self reliance.
h. Learn to like people just as they are, instead of demanding that they be just what you want them to be.
i. Welcome friendly criticism instead of reacting to it negatively
j. Lead your “black sheep” to admit their mistakes on their own.
k. The more enthusiasm you direct into the world, the better you are preparing yourself to attain exactly what you want.
l. Sex is behind all the creative forces that advance human destiny.
m. Your attitude toward life determines your attitude towards time
n. Define your major goal in life, write out a plan for achieving it and read that plan aloud to your self everyday.
o. Take pride in what you have actually accomplished, and remember that there will soon come a time when your real achievements will stand for themselves.
p. Death is either one long, eternal sleep or an experience on some plane far better than we have here on earth.
q. Never run from disagreeable circumstances. Fight them with all your resources, right where you stand and without a moment’s delay
r. Close the door of fear behind you, and you will quickly see the door of faith open before you.
s. If you offer extra service unwillingly or resentfully, you will probably get nothing back.
t. When you have made yourself indispensable, you will gain not only security in the job you have but the ability to select the work that you do.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book explains how to build a master mind alliance with ones self as well as the people around him that he identifies as team players. It continues to help us understand how this alliance can be sustained by identifying personal development pointers.

Rating
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 Power of Intention
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

Intention (or intent) is a pure decision or choice to act on a creative impulse from the core for future execution or manifestation. It is bringing an idea into the physical world. “The mere word intention connotes that the self is in charge; makes a deliberate choice, intends to do, act, be….”

Intention can be positive or negative; it can also be effortless.
“Negative intent is the intention to hold on to the state of negating life and the self, of choosing separation. Negative intent will manifest in those choices motivated by pride, self-will, and fear; it is the choice to stay separated, isolated, and alone”.

“Positive intention is the ability to make a choice for the unitized (harmonious) state… and will manifest in those choices motivated by love, truth, integrity, courage, harmony, and joy. It is the intention to be unified within your own being and to hold that unitized consciousness in your interactions with others. Positive intention is the intention for the flow of life to occur”.

Effortless intention is pure intentionality, simply allowing things to unfold to manifest what is desired. It means no pushing and letting go of a rigid time frame and the expectations that go along with that. Effortless intention can be achieved through patience, surrender and faith.

Carol, a recent graduate of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, had been undecided as to how, where and when to establish her practice. About a year after graduation, she woke up one morning and decided it was time. She set her intention to make it happen and trusted that the Universe would provide. Amazingly and without effort, a beautiful space became available in an ideal location at low rent. When it came time to buy furniture, much of what she needed and liked was on sale. Her practice is now well established. This is a good example of how effortless intention manifested in her life.
Everything we do originate from our divine core. The pure divine creative impulse from the core filters down through the various dimensions to manifest itself in the physical world.

Using a birdhouse as an example, one gets a creative impulse to build a birdhouse and sets the intention to do so. Thoughts and ideas emerge on how this birdhouse will look and finally, all the materials are gathered to put it together. The birdhouse is physically built or “manifested” and then placed in an accessible location for the birds to use.
There has been significant development in our scientific view of the human body in the last century. Newton, Einstein and Atomic Physics have shown us that the human body is made up of atoms that are really crystallized energy. The size and relative distance between the nucleus and the electrons in atoms is such that it is mostly empty space. Our body is an energy field, but mostly empty space!

In identifying with the power of intention, we need to let go of total ego identification. Most often than not, we have been disconnected from our intention because of the construction of an idea about who and what we are. This condition can best be described as our ego. Ego is made easy to understand by identifying with the following six categories:

a. Definition by possession,
b. Achievements, Reputation,
c. Distinction
d. Disconnection and finally by worthiness.

To completely have access to the power of intention, we need to rid ourselves of these characteristics of ego which stand as obstacles between self and intent.

For us to connect to intention we must possess the seven principles that act as conduits. They include exercising creativity, kindness, love, beauty, being ever expansive, (i.e. to embrace the all emerging universal force that intended us to being and commences all life), abundance and finally, receptiveness.

Our ego as humans always stands in our way each time we need to accomplish a task, most often than not, each of us identify with either of the categories of ego and this retards our progress. I allow my ego to dictate the pace and find it very difficult to listen to my spouse, let alone imbibe the knowledge she wants to impact. Most of the time, she had a point and really made sense, but ego had a seat in my being and dictated the turn of events. In the quite of my moments, I quietly meditate on how well a listener I was when I was in college and how excited I could be I creating my own world. Amongst my colleagues, although we all were on the same campus, I was a spirited being, always excited, happy and willing to help anybody. Why did all this change, I asked my self. Could it be that I allowed the pressures all around me to dictate and have the best of me or perhaps that I created this new state? Hmm, perhaps both scenarios apply.

The ideas of this book are God sent as one statement addresses all of the problems I seem to be encountering with ego. “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change” So now applying a simple match technique learnt in this book, I choose henceforth to say, “calm down Paa, stop taking yourself too seriously and add to your store house of knowledge by listening to your spouse” am sure most of us, especially, the men find ourselves cut up in this scenario. We need to liberate our selves and set our minds free. What is it worth taking one’s self so seriously? Nothing! If you ask me and this situation is as a result of misery, anxiety and energy channeled in the wrong path.

For some time now, I have been trying to get an appointment with a very important man in my home country. Each time I tried his cell phone, it rang but no pick up. I decided to forget about the idea and let the “tulip fall”, like Dyer described in his book Real Magic. Sometimes when we so desire for some thing to happen and it doesn’t happen, we need to leave it to the divine force that harmonize everything in the universe to be one. I picked up the phone one day and called, this time he picked up the call and explained to me that he had been on the road and was even scheduled to travel again the coming week. He asked that I called again same time the coming week. I am going to form the picture seeing the end from the beginning, by creating a picture of both of us in African apparel, meeting some place serene discussing my business. As I type this assessment, my eyes are closed and am seeing myself offering a hand shake to this great personality and telling him what a pleasure it has been to meet him.

“Paa don’t take yourself too seriously” the thought came to mind again and this time, am thinking about taking the family out to the park and buying ice cream for everybody and feel young again. Yes, it is true that problems seems to be smiling at us every day, but we only have today to be happy.

Quite right if you ask, if one isn’t careful, he will never be happy because problems wont cease to exist and we don’t have to solve all of them to be happy. We might spend the rest of our entire lives looking for that day when everything will be in perfect harmony.

Truly, we can make today harmonious and repeat the same process tomorrow, this could be the only way we can smile in the mist of all the storms in the world. I had a tourist once come to Ghana and said something for which I would always be grateful. He said, “I haven’t heard not too pleasant news about Africa, in fact I was skeptical on making this trip, but I looked on the map and I heard Ghana was stable so I decided to come. I could see a lot of development going on, I traveled to the hinterland where the poorest of the poor lived, but truly I learnt something so divine. In spite of all the hardships they were going through, they had ceased to see that as a problem. Everybody smiled and showed a lot of gratitude towards each other, this is the gift am taking back home” He smiled and concluded by saying, “The Ghanaian smile is very genuine and from the heart”

I like to share this true story with all that might fight the opportunity to read this assessment; that true happiness lies with in. Two years ago, I lived in one of the best settlements in my country; just across the street was a young lady with two kids who were squatters in a kiosk not too far from my house. Each morning when I passed by on my way to work, I see her sing and exceedingly happy and always with a smile. In the evening when I got home, I discussed this with my wife. This woman had nothing but she was very happy and content.

I am taking my destiny into my own hands and won’t allow anything from today to make me unhappy. I will harness the power of intention to improve my being

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

I gathered many useful ideas and tried some of the concepts described by Dr. Dyer, but my adrenaline pumped real fast while I approached the 209 page of this book. My eyes read on with excitement and my hands couldn’t help but flip the pages real fast as I read on. This part of this experience teaches about the ten -step program for implementing intention. I trust that any body that reads this book finds this information very useful as I go through the steps.

a) In implementing intention, Dyer tells us to move away from hoping, wishing, praying, and begging for the right person to show up in your life. Remember the old Sanskrit saying that “when the servant is ready, the master shall appear”. In the same way, when preparation meets preparedness success is inevitable

b) Conceptualize your invisible connection to the people you would like to attract to your life.

c) Form a picture in your mind of meeting the person(s) you would like assist you or be in partnership with you.

d) Act upon this inner picture

e) Assume the part of least resistance

f) Practice being the kind of person you wish to attract

g) Detach from the outcome, and practice infinite patience

h) Practice meditation regularly to attract ideal people and divine relationships

i) Look upon any one that has ever played any role in your life as having been sent to you for your benefit.

j) As always, remain in a state of eternal gratitude

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

This book has challenged me to see the power that I possess inside. It had exposed me to my own creative and healing abilities. To know that I can call to being anything I wish for if I bring it in harmony to the universe. I feel powerful, ready to conquer the world. I am beginning to appreciate the fact that I am a spirit living in this body and that I am the power I was always intending.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

Every idea in this book seems to address a certain level of consciousness and basis much impetus on spirituality. I get a little disturbed when I read about how the writer links spirituality to science. I feel that spirituality transcends science and can’t be compared in any way.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

God is able to provide me with every blessing in abundance.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

Discovering ourselves using the power of intention; by helping us to identify the roadblocks that militates us from reaching bliss and teaching us to know the power that lies within.

Rating

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

Goal Mapping
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples

Anybody that ever has the opportunity of reading this book must have first gather some fundamental knowledge about goal setting by Gary Ryan Blair. Gaining knowledge in the rudiments of setting goals will make it easier understanding the concept in goal mapping.

The first question that I am sure you are asking is “what on earth is Goal Mapping?” Those of us who have been associated with Personal Development in any way shape or form will no doubt have encountered Goal Setting. It is highly likely that if you have encountered any aspect of Accelerated Learning, you will have heard about, or may even have used Mind Mapping. So what is Goal Mapping? Probably the simplest explanation is that Goal Mapping is a combination of Goal Setting and Mind Mapping. However it is more than just the combination of these two skills. Goal Mapping is the principle tool of the L.I.F.T. (Life, Information, For Transcendence) System for Success developed by Brian Mayne.

The graduating class of a prominent university was asked whether or not they had written goals for the future. Only 3% had actually written down what they wanted to do with their lives. Another 7% had an idea but had not written them out and the remaining 90% had no goals at all. Interestingly enough, when the same class was followed up 20-30 years later, the 3% who had written goals when they graduated were worth more financially than the other 97% put together.

Now wealth isn’t the only measure of success and so it was interesting to note that these same 3% were also happier, more fulfilled and generally more than satisfied with their lives. Clearly setting goals can have a significant impact on someone’s success. Now traditional goal setting has simply consisted of writing down a list of wishes or dreams, identifying a date for them and then writing out a plan of how to achieve those outcomes.

Now let us think about Accelerated Learning. Ground breaking research in the late 1970s and early 1980s identified the Left and Right Brain split. Essentially this research recognized that the left side of the brain predominantly processed logical type activities such as the use of words, lists, logic, analysis and numbers. The right side of the brain predominantly processed more artistic type activities such as the use of colour, rhythm, spatial awareness, pictures, daydreaming and imagination. This research substantiated the assumptions that had led to the development of graphical note taking techniques and especially that of Mind Mapping that specifically encouraged the use of colour and pictures. These methods utilized both sides of the brain including for the first time the right brain, something that traditional educational methods had failed to do, and resulted in much improved thinking, learning and creative performance.

If you read Brian Mayne’s incredible set that form part of the Goal Mapping Home Study Pack, you will discover how Brian brought together the concept of Goal Setting and Mind Mapping together. He realized that although powerful, traditional Goal Setting had been a predominantly left brain activity as goals were written in the form of lists of words. He recognized that for the brain to fully engage in the goal setting process, it needed to have the goals firmly imprinted on the subconscious and the most effective way of doing that was through emotionally charged pictures and images that stimulated the right side of the brain.

“If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there”. An athlete trains hard and has a target to win a medal. He is time bound is specific and pretty much knows what he is expecting at the end of the raise, victory!!! With this focus and persistent determination, he gets to his destination.

If you do not have set goals, we tend to procrastinate a lot and are not responsible for a lot of actions.

A young man, for the purpose of this assessment we will call Denzel enrolled in a leadership institute his colleague introduced him to. When he realized the personal development curricula the institute had, he became very excited and enthusiastic about the studies and decided to pursue it rather diligently with so much energy he went through the first level of his studies rather rapidly. He decided to set himself even more challenging goals and was determined to read at least two books each week. Quite a challenge I must say because he had to combine all this with his busy schedule of running a thriving business. He wrote his goals down, on the sheet it read, in six months from this said date, I should be getting to the completion of this studies and getting ready to graduate on my final level. Soon, this young man will meet the goals he set for himself because he is diligently getting at working each task a day at a time. He has been able to read and completed assessment for four books. Soon, he should be done with the two books he is working on for his present level.
3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

Brian’s own research led him to develop his own success system. I think it is important to stress at this point that this system, together with Goal Mapping, is based on the practical application of fundamental principles. One of the things I like most about Brian’s approach to personal development is that he has tried and tested everything he teaches in the real world. To those of us who may be well versed in some of the more sophisticated forms of personal development, Goal Mapping may appear to be a very simple concept. Well it is, but it is a proven concept that does work in the real world and is easy to apply. It certainly follows the adage that the best and most effective ideas are often the simplest. Brian’s Success System is based on the seven principles of L.I.F.T. described in summary below:

A. Raise Awareness – Our effectiveness in life is closely linked to our awareness of it. The more aware we become of our own habits, desires and motivations, the more effective we can be in regularly producing our best. The more aware we are of other people, their habits and desires, the more successful we can be in creating synergy. Even before making a single decision, whether in a group or as an individual, we need to become aware of all of the various influencing factors.

B. Develop Possibility Consciousness – By developing possibility consciousness we open our mind and free ourselves from any preconceived limitations, allowing ourselves to look beyond our old paradigms of possibility, and on to form new visions of opportunity, potential and abundance.

C. Find Balance Through the Lessons of Life – Life is the greatest of all teachers. Learning the lessons of life encourages us to examine our own experience and the experience of others, thereby defining past mistakes and triumphs, which allows us to form new strategies for success in the future.

D. Be on Purpose – Everyone is born with a purpose, something they can excel in. When you are “on purpose” life works with you, when you are not, your power to create is dissipated. To be on purpose, you must first find your purpose, this becomes one of the major lessons of life.

E. Become Fully Response-Able – Responsibility means the ability to choose our response. Becoming fully response-able means having the ability to choose a positive pro-active response even to a negative situation. Response-Ability is the birthplace of inner freedom and the foundations of personal power.

F. Maintain Positive Focus – Whatever we focus on, grows in our awareness of it and moves us closer towards it. By maintaining a positive focus we can stay aware of the possible obstacles, while concentrating fully on the desired potential and move forward with concentrated effort.

G. Involve to Evolve – The sharing of information is an essential part of growth for both the giver and the receiver. Individuals grow by overcoming difficulties. Synergy is created by groups of individuals working in harmony and sharing ideas. Involving individuals in the process of solving group difficulties increases commitment, creates synergy and promotes personal evolution.

Goal Mapping is the tool that Brian developed to Maintain Positive Focus through the power of Goal Setting. By realising that the effectiveness of any goal setting programme lay in its ability to impress upon and stimulate the subconscious Brian combined traditional Goal Setting with Mind Mapping. By doing this he eliminated the left brain limitations of conventional goal setting practice and harnessed the right brain processing necessary to stimulate the subconscious.

Step 1 – Dream – This first step requires you to let go of any self-limiting beliefs and ideas and just dream about life just the way you want it to be. Imagine it is Christmas and you can have anything you want with the wave of a magic wand. Really imagine this new life for yourself and experience how you would feel if you were living that life now. Now quickly write down all of the things that made that dream special.

Step 2 – Order – Now from this ideal life, pick your top five goals. When you have done that, identify your number one goal.

Step 3 – Draw – Step 3 requires you to take a clean sheet of paper and about one third of the way down from the top draw a picture or symbol that represents your number one goal. You don’t have to be an artist to do this because the drawing or sketch will be symbolic of your goal; however, try and use as much colour as possible. Then draw two lines each side of your number one goal and draw pictures or symbols representing each of your four remaining goals.

Step 4 – Why – This step asks you to reflect on the emotional “why” you will achieve these goals. From the top of your image of your number one goal use key words, pictures or symbols for your emotional reasons.

Step 5 – When – Place your start date at the bottom of the goal map and then draw two parallel lines up to your completion date that you should write just under your number one goal.

Step 6 – How – Down the right hand side of the path you have drawn between your start and completion dates, identify what resources you will need, interim objectives you will need to complete or skills you will have to attain before your goals will be realised. This is the HOW of your goal setting.

Step 7 – Who – As Brian says, any goal of any value will require advice, assistance or support from someone else. Place the names of these people down the left hand side of the path you have drawn between your start and completion dates.

Now to make the Goal Mapping process effective, it is crucial that you review your Goal Map every day and take the necessary action to achieve your goals. The more emotionally attached to the process you can get, the more effective it can be.

So who can use Goal Mapping? Well the answer to that is just about anyone. It is an especially useful technique for introducing goal setting to children and young people in general. Not only is it a stimulating process but it is also interesting very effective.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

Am being encouraged each time I learn something new, this time Brian has thought we some more in addition to my store house of knowledge and for this I say thank you to him where ever he is.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

Learning to create my own goal map in a very practical way was very revealing. I’d like to share how this is done in the few paragraphs.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book elucidates the approach and methods we can use to create our own goal maps. It teaches us a step wise approach about how we can use the map to achieve what we want.

Goal Setting 101
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

Directional posts are very important if we need to arrive at a place, a destination, an end. An athlete sets out to run having a focus that his task should get him a medal; he is specific and is time bound with his task. With out which he is aimless and out of focus. This is what goal setting is all about.

Goals therefore establish the direction of our life. If we never set a goal, we won’t know where we are going. Goals identify results, if they cease to exist, there is no way we can measure our progress. We are challenged to grow when we set goals, we learn to step out of our comfort zones when we have set specific goals.

Our self image is improved when we learn to set goals; it improves us today and makes us feel better tomorrow. Our frustrations are immediately lowered when vagueness and doubt are replaced by focus and concentration.

There are certain basic general principles about goal setting that every one should know. I will explain them in a bit in the proceeding paragraph.

It’s very important that we set performance and not outcome goals.
We should take care to set goals over which we have as much control as possible – there is nothing as dispiriting as failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond our control such as bad business environments, poor judging, bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck. Goals based on outcomes are extremely vulnerable to failure because of things beyond our control.

If we base our goals on personal performance or skills or knowledge to be acquired, then we can keep control over the achievement of our goals and draw satisfaction from them. For example, we might achieve a personal best time in a race, but still be disqualified as a result of a poor judging decision. If we had set an outcome goal of being in the top three, then this will be a defeat. If we set a performance goal of achieving a particular time, then we will have achieved the goal and can draw satisfaction and self-confidence from its achievement.

Another flaw is where outcome goals are based on the rewards of achieving something, whether these are financial or are based on the recognition of colleagues. In early stages these will be highly motivating factors, however as they are achieved, the benefits of further achievement at the same level reduce. We become progressively less motivated.

Set Specific Goals
Set specific measurable goals. If we achieve all conditions of a measurable goal, then we can be confident and comfortable in its achievement. If we consistently fail to meet a measurable goal, then we can adjust it or analyze the reason for failure and take appropriate action to improve skills.

Set Realistic Goals
Goals may be set unrealistically high for the following reasons:

* Other people: Other people (parents, media, and society) can set unrealistic goals for you, based on what they want. Often this will be done in ignorance of your goals, desires and ambitions.

* Insufficient information: If you do not have a clear, realistic understanding of what you are trying to achieve and of the skills and knowledge to be mastered, it is difficult to set effective and realistic goals.

* Always expecting your best performance: Many people base their goals on their best performance, however long ago that was. This ignores the inevitable backsliding that can occur for good reasons, and ignores the factors that led to that best performance. It is better to set goals that raise your average performance and make it more consistent.

* Lack of respect for self: If you do not respect your right to rest, relaxation and pleasure in life then you risk burnout.

Setting Goals Too Low
Alternatively goals can be set too low because of:

Fear of failure: If you are frightened of failure you will not take the risks needed for optimum performance. As you apply goal setting and see the achievement of goals, your self- confidence should increase, helping you to take bigger risks. Know that failure is a positive thing: it shows you areas where you can improve your skills and performance.

Taking it too easy: It is easy to take the reasons for not setting goals unrealistically high as an excuse to set them too low. If you’re not prepared to stretch yourself and work hard, then you are extremely unlikely to achieve anything of any real worth.

Setting Goals at the Right Level
Setting goals at the correct level is a skill that is acquired by practice.
You should set goals so that they are slightly out of your immediate grasp, but not so far that there is no hope of achieving them: no-one will put serious effort into achieving a goal that they believe is unrealistic. However, remember that the belief that a goal is unrealistic may be incorrect. Such a belief can be changed by effective use of imagery.
Personal factors such as tiredness, other commitments and the need for rest, etc. should be taken into account when goals are set.

Now review the goals you have set, and then measure them against the points above. Adjust them to meet the recommendations and then review them. You should now be able to see the importance of setting goals effectively.

We grew up in the same environment; he decided to go straight into business while I decided to go read agriculture in the university. You can say that we both had a focus we were determined that at the end we both would be successful in the chosen areas of opportunity. Few years later the college dude got out of school to join his friend in business. Remember that if you do not have a directional post to how to run your life, any road will take you to your destination. We will call my friend Joe for the purpose of this discussion.

Joe never focused on one type of business and he quickly would run to me excited each time he heard about some business. He tried from running a cyber café; to a boutique owner and a lot other stuffs. Joe was never specific in his initiatives, most of his ideas weren’t realistic and never time bound. I wont say I was better than he was, the only difference between Joe and I was that I road my ideas down and carefully asked my self three questions. Is it realistic; is it feasible, can I meet my target in a set duration? This made it easier for me to sift those ideas I thought through and was able to categorize them into short, medium and long term projects. It’s easier working each piece at a time when you have broken them down and know which to tackle. You can bear with me that you look more organized this way and not confused about so many things because you may have a plan, a strategy that works.

Joe met me not too long ago after realizing that he had not set his priorities right, he sort my opinion and I was able to give him some useful tips about my own research done in the past about why we have to set goals.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

Managing ones way to success is considered the most useful tip in this book. Goals believe you me aren’t like baking a piece of cake over night. Takes time to achieve them, but it can be easily realized if we recognize these tips.

In managing our way to success, it’s important that we keep a positive attitude or if you like having a positive mental attitude. We can apply the C.R.A.F.T method in realizing this objective. That is canceling old thoughts, replacing them with new positive vibes, focusing on that vibe and training ourselves to be it.

We also need to work economically. A lot of sacrifices must be made if we know what we want to achieve. Ask yourself if it’s necessary to get that car now when you haven’t invested enough in the business. Would you want to buy yourself a liability and watch yourself matching time and not being able to meet your objectives or you would want to build a business or a goal you can later be proud of?

We must know our limits in all we do and also not compromise on performance standards.

Finding a mentor to guide and imbibe in us useful information is very relevant in this journey. A mentor sees far and shows us which road to threat and where we must go. His guidance goes a long way to bring us to our destination. Also get a mentor who has been successful in the field or goals you want to pursue.

Don’t be defeated; never be intimidated by defeat, because when you fall, you certainly shall rise again.

F.E.A.R is only false evidence appearing real, learning to manage it will go a long way to make this journey a less bumpy one.

Failure and set backs should be seen as good signs to perfecting that which we choose to do. Let’s not see them as a sign of defeat, but let’s see the strengths that lie with in them.

Maintain momentum; celebrate your accomplishment when you have succeeded in sometime. Don’t take yourself too seriously, have some fun!!!

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

In very simple English, it has outlined and summarized all I need to know to get organized and make success my home.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

Not that I know of

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

The demonstrations and exercises made it easier to practice the concept of goal setting

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book in summary teaches how to set and achieve goals. I call it goal setting made easy and attainable.

Please rate each of the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is high and one is low.

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

Law of Attraction
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

Wow, my life is going through a transformation as I work each book, am not only learning the secrets to character transformation, but am also in the process of being uplifted till I reach the state where everything is attainable.

The thoughts and activities shared in this book have been very helpful in redefining certain things in my life. I thank Greg and I have very similar things in common.I am a self employed entrepreneur who is going through some challenges on attracting clients and selling my products. It sometimes get frustrating because most of the products that I sell appeals more to expatriates since locals don’t see much relevance in my line of services. Like Greg, I also have my own personal challenges that really frustrate me, not enough money, not paying bills on time. The question however is, must I allow these to stress me and get me all worked out? No! The ideas of this book have taught me to use the contrast through clarity method to rephrase my thoughts. I have learnt to ask myself “So, what do I want?” of course I want to have money abundantly to be able to work things out. In summary, our words send out a vibe that is either positive or negative. When we continue to use the words don’t, no and not we give more attention and focus to what we are referring to. Contrast can always help us generate clarity.

It is quite rare to see people get married on their first dates. For me, ever since I was in college, I was sure I was going to get married to the first lady I dated. At first we got on pretty well because we had certain energies that attracted us. Both of us were good communicators and happy go lucky fellas, but later on as we grew in our relationship, I realized that we didn’t share too many things in common. Although I did not want to end the relationship, my vibes kept growing lower and lower each day, bottom line we never continued after a year. Then I met my wife, the first time we met she was radiating with light and I knew without a doubt that I would get married to her. How did this feeling come to place? Well, I think we had common energies that brought us together and shared a lot of things, we shared each others interests and could see eye to eye. Doesn’t it feel good to be around the people you like and share the same vibe with? An aura of goodness is built around you if you share the same vibrations (positive) and you can only sour high and wants to eat the moon. (Lol)

Isn’t it true that after you get married, there is the tendency that you start taking some of the things that made you happy for granted? For instance, picking strolls, sharing laughs etc. Well if you ask me to share my own experience, I would say that that changed a bit. Pretty soon I didn’t have much time to sit to have a conversation, pick a stroll often or go to the park, as my week was full of work, work, work. As I took a deep thought and pondered about everything, I asked myself the question “so what do I want?” I want to share jokes with my boo (loved one) stroll in the park during the week end and watch the kids play. Bottom line, I want to have a bliss family to make every body happy. Really, it’s very easy converting negative vibes by asking ourselves this simple question. Believe you me my dear friend, this technique works, I can assure you. Asking this question begins to put into your thought what you can do to do the things you want happen depending on the circumstances you find yourself. You are not getting on well with your colleagues at work, or perhaps you are having a hard time raising your kids or getting them to understand you? Take a deep breath and ask yourself softly, so what do I want? This question immediately creates some level of calmness and sets your mind to that imaginative state where your mind triggers and ponders on what ideas you can attract to change your situation and see the picture differently. The answers to your situation come to you readily if you ask this secret question.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

To make the law of attraction work for us, we need to be clear about what we want. The challenge however is that most of us are not good at knowing what we DO want but are good at identifying what we DON’T want. Quite ironic when we say that knowing what we DON’T want is actually good news, how?

Contrast helps make this question very easy to tackle. Contrast however, is anything we don’t like, doesn’t feel good, or causes us to be in a negative mood. When we identify something in our lives that feels like contrast and we spend time complaining about it, we offer a negative vibration. Contrast however is useful, by focusing on the things we don’t want; it gives us clarity about the things we want.

Is it vital to identify contrast? Certainly, because observing contrast helps us to become clearer about what we do want. To help us observe contrast briefly, say, “so what do I want?” Our goal however, is to limit contrast in all areas of our life be it relationship, career, health and finances. We can attain this by identifying what makes us feel good and doing more of it.

The second step to make the law of attraction work for us is to give our desire attention.
To raise ones vibration simply means to give our desire more positive attention, energy and focus. It is not enough to merely identify our desires; we must also give it a positive attention. Giving it positive attention ensures that we are including the vibration of our desire in our current vibe. This concept of desire is explained using the idea that we have a vibration bubble around us, where all of our current vibration is stored. We must be sure to include the vibration of our desire in our current vibration bubble.

It is important to understand that all our goals, dreams and desires are outside our vibration bubble. If they were inside our bubble we would already have them and be enjoying them.

After we have identified our desire and given it the necessary attention, we would now have to allow it.

Most of us may say that we have had desires in the past that we all got excited about and they never resulted in anything.

Allowing is simply the absence of negative vibration and doubt. We might have heard the expression “just allow it.” Telling ourselves this doesn’t help us to allow. If we doubt we can have something, we are sending a negative vibration. This negative vibration is diluting or canceling the positive vibration of our desire. In other words, having strong desire and having strong doubt, cancel each other out. Hence allowing occurs in the absence of doubt.

When we use statements such as “Now this feels attainable” or “You know, maybe I can have this contract” In all two of the above expressions, what we are actually describing is the feeling of the negative vibration being removed.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

I may have a brilliant business idea about how to sell a product, introduce a concept or perhaps have a solution to a problem. In most instances I would ask myself, would this work? The expression of doubt always acted as a final check item, it put the full stop to an idea and I most often like to think deep into why it won’t work. This book has changed all of this perception and has given me reason to believe that it will work by imbibing positive vibes into my thoughts and actions.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

Every concept in this book came to fix a part of my life.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

I found the exercises in each section very helpful as it instantly makes you start practicing the ideas of this book and also acted as an evaluation of the concepts discussed. I could immediately apply the ideas into my own personal life and really, it was interesting following the step-by-step approach and the scenarios created. It was really practical and educational.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

The power of attraction identifies how we can attract positive vibrations in all facets of our lives.

Please rate each of the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is high and one is low.

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

Non-Violent Communication
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

Most of us are hungry for good, effective communication skills that can improve the quality of our personal relationships with friends, children, siblings, spouse, and coworkers. We want practical tools to help us get “unstuck” in those challenging moments, and to simply help us communicate more effectively.

Healthy Personal Relationships Start with Good Communication Skills
The Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process offers simple, effective communication skills to help us foster healthy, satisfying relationships at work, home and in the community. With our conflict resolution and communication books, I learnt to understand the core of all conflict, violence, and emotional pain. Learn to transform destructive communication habits to create the quality relationships I had always wanted!

Much More than a Communication Technique Central to the effectiveness of the Nonviolent Communication process is the intention we bring to any interaction-first and foremost on compassionate connection, rather than being tied to a specific outcome, being “right”, or on something you’d like the other person to do. With this focus even the most difficult of conflicts can more easily be defused. Tension is relieved, and feelings can be expressed without blame. When communicating in the consciousness of NVC, the potential for mutually satisfying outcomes-even in the most difficult of situations-is much more possible.

Using empathy as a conflict resolution tool or as a means of communicating non violently is the most important idea I gathered as I read this book.

Emptying the mind and listening with our whole being is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. The Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu stated that true empathy requires listening with the whole being. In relating to others, empathy occurs only when we have successfully shed all preconceived ideas and judgments about them.

It is often frustrating for some one needing empathy to have us assume that they want reassurance or “fix-it” advice.

Most of us have been educated from birth to compete, judge, demand and diagnose-to think and communicate in terms of what is “right“and “wrong“with people. We express our feelings in terms of what another person has “done to us,” instead of a feeling independent of another person. We mix up our basic human needs with the strategies we’re using to meet those needs (we say “I want you to spend more time with me;” instead of “I’m really needing companionship”). And, we ask for what we’d like using demands, the threat of punishment, guilt, or even the promise of rewards.

At best, the habitual ways we think and speak hinder communication and create both misunderstanding and frustration. And still worse, they can lead to anger, depression and even violence.

I think I took myself a little bit more serious when it came to handling certain domestic problems. I blamed it on job pressures and high stress levels. I have later realized that it was not this that caused the problem but the problem really was with me. Perhaps I took my self too seriously and expressed a lot of anger with in. When my wife delivered of my daughter Karana, I had a lot of likeness for her and soon, she took over my son’s favorite position. I spent more time with her, liked her more and easily got infuriated at my son for the slightest thing. The little cutie is pretty smart at his age and asked his mum why I picked on him each time he wants to talk. At a point when I worked this book, it all came to me and I found the solution. What is the solution? To stay calm, smile and listen rather than shout, scream and be judgmental. I began to understand his needs and feelings and identify with them rather than resort to the other approach. I changed the style of communication, and as Lao Tsu said: “A journey of a thousand miles, first begins with a step” At least I know that although gradual, am beginning to get the connection back and communicate with him in a non violent way. Am sure some people make see non violent communication as talking without using insulting language. Quite right, but this goes beyond that, talking in a particular tone can be violent. My approach to simple NVC is to take in a deep breath, smile and stay calm and it will all come to you naturally.

3. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

A lot of questions rushed through my mind when I picked up NVC to read. I am not a violent person, so why do I have to go through this in the first place?

This is a common question am sure you would be asking yourself when you read the term “Nonviolent Communication.” Most people refer to violence as physically trying to hurt another. In the NVC process we also consider violence to be any use of power over people, or trying to coerce people into doing things. That would include any use of motivating others by fear of punishment and promise of reward, or any use of guilt, shame, duty or obligation. Violence in this larger sense is defined as any use of force (verbal or physical) to get people to do things, or any system that includes structures that support this “power-over” paradigm.

Most of us are hungry for effective communication skills training that can improve the quality of our professional relationships, advance team and meeting efficiency, strengthen our leadership skills, facilitate effective workplace conflict resolution, and simply help us communicate more effectively.

The Nonviolent or Compassionate Communication (sometimes called Authentic or Productive Communication in the business community) offers simple, effective communication skills training which has had a positive transformation in the way I do things.

NVC has equipped me with effective interpersonal communication skills to improve my workplace morale, enhance meeting efficiency, bolster workplace conflict resolution, and more. Am learning to stay calm and compassionate even in the most difficult circumstances. With our conflict resolution and communication books, you’ll learn how to effectively balance people-centered values with the demands of your bottom line.

4. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

5. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

Transforming Destructive Communication Patterns into Healthy, Effective Communication.

At the root of the NVC process are a few basic assumptions about human nature, and the effect our language can have in determining the quality of our relationships:
* We all share the same basic, universal human needs.
* Feelings or emotions are signals telling us that our needs are or are not being met.
* Compassion is our basic human nature, and contributing to the well-being of others is a basic human desire.
* Enjoying another’s pain is a learned behavior, perpetuated by our habitual communication patterns, our language, and domination paradigms present in many organizations, schools and businesses around the world.

These powerful communication skills has helped me learn to stay calm and compassionate even in the most trying circumstances. I have learnt to understand the core of all forms of violence, conflict and emotional pain-and how to peacefully find satisfying resolutions where I never thought were possible.

The NVC process has helped build my emotional vocabulary, and provided a framework so I can more clearly communicate my feelings, hopes, and what I want in ways that help guarantee I’ll be heard.
This framework creates a clear path to effective conflict resolution by helping us step away from the blame, criticism, and judgment that usually perpetuate conflicts.

And finally, the NVC process has given me steps to transform negative inner dialogue-“it’s all my fault,” -into more empowering dialogue that stimulates acceptance and self-growth.

6. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

NVC encourages the expression of appreciation solely for celebration. It emphasizes on the concrete actions we are observing that are affecting our well-being. It expresses how we feel in relation to what we are observing, the needs, values, desires that are creating our feelings and the concrete actions we request in order to enrich our lives.

7. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

This book has thought me the rudiments of Practical, Effective Communication Skills to:
* Stay calm and compassionate even when am triggered
* Express my feelings and wants in ways that are sure to be heard
* Move beyond power struggles to cooperation and trust
Express frustrations without using blame, shame, or judgment
* Transform internal shame and depression into personal empowerment
* Heal old emotional pain
* Stay connected to my own needs and preferences
* Deepen my emotional connections

Proven Communication and Conflict Resolution Techniques
The Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process offers simple, effective communication skills and conflict resolution techniques to help us foster healthy, satisfying family relationships. Learn to focus first on the quality of your connection, and build the emotional safety and trust needed for outstanding personal relationships.

With this parenting communication and conflict resolution book, I have learnt to understand the core of all conflict, anger, and emotional pain-and how to peacefully find satisfying resolutions where I never thought was possible. It is helping to foster my son’s emotional development by learning these effective communication skills together!

Learnt Practical, Effective Parenting Communication Skills which has helped me to:
* Reduce family conflicts and sibling rivalry
* Hear the needs behind my son’s “no”
* Move beyond power struggles to cooperation and trust
* Boost my son’s emotional growth and self-esteem
* Clearly express my needs and wants in a way my son will hear
* Express frustrations without blame, shame, or moralistic judgment
* Protect and nurture the autonomy of children

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

Leadership For Dummies
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

Most leaders that I have read about in the past proved self sacrifice and exhibited some virtues which I have confirmed in reading this book. I have affirmed with in me that a good leader is the one that first thinks about the people that he serves. To be good leaders we need to identify the needs of the people we are leading and solve them before thinking of our own needs.

Leaders have the ability to inspire people to go beyond what they think they are capable of doing, making it possible for a group to attain a goal hat was previously thought unattainable.

Leaders carry their followers along by:
* Inspiring their trust
* Acting consistently
* Motivating them by words and deeds.
In reality, leadership boils down to a willingness to accept the responsibility and the ability to develop skills that can be acquired through practice.

This background information made me identify three leadership abilities which have been very useful in both my family life and in the organization with which I serve.

I have learnt to elicit the cooperation of others. It’s very important that I get people to buy into my vision of the future and exhibit the right way to get there.

Listening has been a very useful tool in this journey as this is useful in gathering all kinds of information from others in order to lead.

Like I said in my introductory page, placing the needs of others above my needs has been a trait I have imbibed. Leadership requires that we are willing to sacrifice for a greater goal

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Explain.

I had some fore knowledge about the rudiments of leadership but was put to prove it quite recently. I belong to an organization of young entrepreneurs and business professionals who meet to improve upon their leadership and entrepreneurial skills. We had paid up for a conference venue and scheduled the meeting for 10:00gmt. In this organization, I am the vice president. I got to the venue at half past nine to make sure that everything was in order for the commencement of the meeting. When I got there, I realized that the place wasn’t ready and there was one executive who was already at the venue and expected things to be alright. I grew very furious, but for a minute I remembered not to take my self seriously. What did I do? I took off my jacket, rolled up my sleeves and started fixing up the place. Not too long afterwards, I had another member of the board who walked in and decided to give me a hand. It wasn’t long and we had prepared the conference room for our meeting.

The cleaners that were supposed to clean the place came up to be rendering an apology about how they weren’t informed about the meeting. Well, what could I do but smile and caution that not too many people will take it lightly especially when they had paid for stuff. They expect to have their monies worth. To be sure, I had practiced a virtue in leadership for dummies that I consider very important; Placing the needs of others first. Really, I had a choice to sit and wait for the cleaners to come clean the place or perhaps I could supervise them. But looking at the time frame, it was more feasible to do it myself than get any help as our meeting was scheduled at 10am and there was another group that was scheduled to use the venue at half past twelve.

Mahatma Gandhi exhibited such great leadership qualities which should be emulated by all that desire to have good leadership skills. We always have to set the example, take the initiative and if you like do the dirty work that others don’t want to do if we want to lead, be coaches or mentors.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

Developing a vision to me is the most important concept gathered in this book. A vision is a doable dream – a distant goal that is worth pursuing because it involves growth and success and provides the binding energy to bring a group together to accomplish great things. It really doesn’t matter whether you are running an existing enterprise or starting a completely new one; visions are necessary to ones ultimate success as a leader.

Let’s break it down and try to identify what a vision can be;

A vision can be an idea for a product.
When chemist Edwin Land was walking in the desert with his daughter and taking photographs of cactus flowers, she asked him why they had to wait so long to see the Polaroid film and cameras. As fantastic as the idea must have sounded at the time, the vision was a doable dream for land, whose specialty was polarizing light and capturing light in chemical colloids. Land knew that with time, money, and a good team, he could develop instant pictures and he did.

A vision can be an idea for a service.
Carl Weiss worked in New York’s garment district. His job took him on many fabric-buying trips to Italy. While he was there, he spent many hours in cafes, sipping cappuccino and espresso. Back in New York, Carl began to toy with the idea of developing the quintessential Italian café experience in New York. In 1978, he opened Caffe Bianco on New York’s Upper East Side. It has been a success since the day it opened, helped along by Carl’s relentless perfectionism in pursuit of his vision.

A vision can be a way to make the world a better place.
A vision can be a way to improve a neighborhood or to help people live longer. The important thing about vision is that you can be able to visualize the outcome of the work of your team in the form of a world that has been changed in some way.

Putting together a plan.
Neither the grandest vision nor the simplest one materializes by itself. Nearly anything that you want to do and that is worth accomplishing takes time and effort. It also requires careful planning so that you can determine exactly what resources your team needs, when it needs them, where they will get them, and what outcomes are expected at each step along the way. No one goes from an idea directly to a finished product with no intermediate steps, so you have to learn how to develop plans that can translate visions into goals.

Turning a vision into a plan.
Defining your vision through a plan helps you define the scope of your vision. Your chances of success will be that much greater if you invest some initial time, effort, research, and study into building a solid plan.

The size of the plan and the amount of detail depends to a great extent on the size of the project, the complexity of the undertaking, the available resources, and the difficulties you are likely to encounter along the way.

Writing a visionary plan (a plan that sketches out the major goals to accomplishing your vision) may take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, and launching a successful enterprise can take anywhere from weeks to years.

When you are looking to turn your vision into a plan, you have to decide what size enterprise your resources, knowledge, and commitments can support. Consider the following three factors in determining the initial size and scope of your enterprise.

The critical size for a plan to be considered a success
Starting an electronics company in a garage is a lot harder today, even though Hewlett and Packard did it 60 years ago, and the two Steves – Jobs and Wozniak did it 20 years ago. The electronics hardware business today is a commodity business in which unit profits are quite low and high volume is necessary for profitability. That the virtual definition of a large, expensive operation.

On the other hand, you don’t need much more than a computer, an idea, and some skill with programming languages to write a software program and start a software business. Scott Cook wrote the basic program for Quicken at his kitchen table and started Intuit in the early 1980s. Lots of people have followed his example and built successful businesses. So, size your idea to reality and the resources will actually take to bring your vision to reality.

Critical size compared to your competition
Here’s a simple rule: if you are starting a business within an established industry, then, generally, the more competitive the market place for your product is, the larger your start-up has to be. This doesn’t hold true for restaurants, of course. Size won’t matter if you have excellent cuisine, the right market, the right location, and great reviews. But for practically any other enterprise, size matters. If, for example, two bands play music in one small town and both bands are raising money for trips, the band that’s going to the more interesting location- size here translates to audacity is likelier to get the majority of the funds.

Critical size determined by resources
You can start a one person employment agency or any number of small service businesses with a few employees, but starting a semiconductor company takes enormous resources. The key is to know what the critical size for success is going to be so that you can acquire the resources to launch the enterprises and maintain it until it becomes self supporting. Visions lose focus when they are beyond the scope of the people trying to turn them into reality. By starting small, you do not compromise your vision. Instead, you give yourself the chance to learn and grow. Starting small keeps you below the competition’s radar, allows you to gain a foothold in a market, commits you to using available resources, and focuses your thinking on market niches, which may become market leadership positions as you grow.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

I think at this point I can practically eat the moon. lol, really, it feels possible, it really isn’t far fetched because I see my self walking into a realm of great achievement and enormous success in every sphere of my endeavor. Fellas, this experience is like taking a swimming class, am sure you all know that swimming is the best cardio vascular exercise and it seeks to work every part of our bodies? Yeah, this is the same feeling I am having from each experience I have with my IIGL studies. It’s called a complete total transformation of the way I think and react to situations.

My mind has been broadened, my senses sharpened and my decision making skills has been strengthened in a lot of ways. As a leader, it’s required that you first set a goal and then learn to delegate to your team. Delegating is an act that must be learnt. There is one thing setting goals and another seeing to it that you have the right people to assign a particular task to.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

Every idea in this book is very useful for human development

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

Team Delegation
Although many new managers are reluctant to delegate authority, fearing that it may cause them to lose control or that others may perceive them as weak, nothing could be farther from the truth. Delegating authority, when done properly, is one of the most useful tools a leader possesses to build team spirit, motivation, and cohesion.

It’s important that as a good leader I spend a lot of time at the beginning of the planning process, ensuring that every team member has a delegated task. A leader’s job is to make team members feel completely wedded the team’s goals.

Knowing how to delegate
It’s important that as a leader, you ask for an organizational chart so that you know what the chain of reporting is. It’s also important to identify around the establishment who has the real power and revise the chart accordingly to reflect the way decisions and resources flow in your area.

The first step in assuming a new leadership role is to conduct a SWOT, which means identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the most important members of your team. In the beginning as one reviews personnel files, it’s important to forget about job titles, look instead at strengthens and weaknesses.

A few questions to help you with a successful analysis.

What do previous leaders say about your team members? Do they identify particular people as obstacles, or say that your team is easy to work with? Do they identify people with important knowledge, or people who are especially effective?

Do you see any discernible patterns? Have several previous leaders told you the same things about the group? That could mean that there is an institutionalized pattern of behavior. It could make the group more effective and cohesive, or it could be the group’s undoing.

Do any glaring weaknesses stand out? Does the group consistently meet its goals, or are there constant struggles? If so, where are those struggles focused? Is it particular individuals or is it an entire department.

Does the team member have particular strengths? Skills such as written and oral presentation skills, analytical capabilities, decisiveness in action and good judgment may indicate leadership potential, regardless of functional specialty.

Are there team members who are brilliant but don’t fit in? These may be team members to whom you want to delegate a special project in order to give them the encouragement to become a vital member of your team.

A careful analysis of these basic questions, makes it easier to identify who to delegate what to and how.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book carefully explains what leadership is and enumerates the various steps to exercise good and effective leadership. It explains embracing responsibility as an attitude, eliciting cooperation as a way to get followers to trust you as a leader, developing a vision, planning, listening, and developing missions and evaluation based on a SWOT analysis.
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

Unlimited Power
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

Reading this book came quite timely. It came at a time when I was going through personal challenges. I read some portions of it that made me sit straight and hit me like a bomb shell.

I felt inspired reading some of the strategies that some of the world’s famous people used when they were faced with rejection. A typical example is the summary of ace director Steven Spielberg’s story. He was determined to be a success story and didn’t allow rejection to deter him from what he wanted to pursue, he kept changing his strategy and modeled himself to be like one of Broadway’s director. The lesson here is, feel important, look important and act like the success story you want to be.

Sometimes, a lot of us seem to think that success comes on a silver platter, but no, it comes with a lot of hard work and persistent trying. Isn’t it pleasant to know that when you have finally reached the apex of success, people won’t remember the number of times you tried? That really won’t matter or be an issue anymore, would it?

To be successful, we really have to pay that price. When you have tried several times to get your business a kick start and nothing seems to be working, what do you do? Do you give up and say it wasn’t your destiny to succeed?

Anthony Robbins presents us with the keys to wealth and happiness. These keys is helping me go through some experiences with ease and am sure it will help most people that read this assessment.

To create wealth and happiness one must learn how to handle frustration. If we want to become all we can, hear all we can hear, and see all we can see, then we have got to learn how to handle frustration. Frustration can kill dreams, this happens all the time. It can cripple an empowering state into a crippling one and change a positive mental attitude into a negative one. The worse thing a negative attitude does is wipe out self-discipline. And when that discipline is gone, the results we desire go with it. So to ensure long term success, we must learn to discipline our frustration. Also remember that the key to success is massive frustration.

Just take a look at the scenarios I created earlier on and you would see enough frustration in Steven Spielberg’s story.

Federal Express was started by Fred Smith. Fred built this million dollar business out of mounds of frustration. He started the company by financing it with every dime he had and according to his estimation, he hoped to deliver 150 packages the first time, instead he delivered only sixteen, five of which the business sent to the home of one of its employees. Things got worse and problems arouse in the company, as salaries weren’t paid and many times their planes were in the process of being repossessed. This company thrived because Fred was able to handle frustration upon frustration.

The second key is for us to learn how to handle rejection. The biggest challenge for people today is that they can’t handle the word no. What would we do if we knew we could not fail? Would that change our behavior if we knew we couldn’t fail, would that allow us to do what we want to do? So what is keeping us from doing it? It’s that tiny word “no”. To succeed, we must learn how to cope with rejection, learn how to strip that rejection of all its power. Am sure most of us will be astound when we hear the story of Sylvester Stallone, a.k.a Rambo. He became a success story because he was able to over come one rejection after the other. He didn’t just show up at the door of some agent or studio and heard “hey, we like your physique” He went to every agent he could find in New York, and everyone said no. But he kept pushing, kept trying and finally he made a movie called Rockie. He could hear the world “no” a thousand times and then go knock on door 1001. How many no’s can we take?

I like to share my own personal experience about rejection. In Ghana where I come from, when you just get into some ones office with out having an appointment, you are seen as either a beggar or some cheap dude struggling to make ends meet. I met a woman of a cyber café and I asked for a minute to introduce a voice over internet protocol (voip) software, when I started talking after introducing myself she said: “sorry but am not interested in that facility, I already got some one am doing that with” she was quite sarcastic in her approach, but that didn’t deter me from pushing and selling the product. I smiled, thanked her for her time and am still trying to create a market for this cheap means of making phone calls abroad. It’s just a matter of time and it will be a household name in Ghana.

The third key is to learn to handle financial pressure. Remember that the only way not to have financial pressure is not to have any finances. There are many kinds of financial pressure and they’ve destroyed many people. They can create greed, envy, deceit, or paranoia. They can rob us of our sensitivity or of our friends.

This takes us to the fourth key, learn how to handle complacency. Don’t get content with your comfort zone. Staying comfortable in your success level can only bring you down.

Comfort, can be one of the most disastrous emotions a body could have. What happens when a person gets too comfortable? He stops growing, working and creating added value.

The final point is to learn to judge ourselves by our goals instead of by what our peers seem to be doing. Why? Because we can always find people to justify what we do.
2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Please use personal examples in your explanation.

A young man leaves college and decided to follow his heart, his dream, his destiny. He had lots of opposition from family, friends and observers about how he wasn’t going to succeed doing what he wanted to do. They felt it was ridiculous and a waste of time. Really, he didn’t enjoy much support from any one, He had little or no friends who didn’t seem to share his dreams and aspiration. Embarking on this long journey wasn’t an easy road. So many obstacles, so many setbacks, at a point, he felt he was making a mistake. He got a job in a consultancy firm, but realized he was been used to make all the money and was paid peanuts at the end of the month so he decided to end the contract and pursue his dream despite the odds. With nothing, he conceptualized his ideas, got his business name registered and decided to pursue his dream of owning a company that would some day become a household name. Really there is a difference between hearing this story and experiencing each daily frustration. With very limited resources, he had to make all the contacts, meet the right people and kept on pressing, although he is still pressing this book gives him reason to use his frustrations as strengths. Learning the skills in aikido has given him a new perspective of handling weakness.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please Explain.

Anthony Robbins in this book has given us enough reasons to harness the power that lies with in and has given as the essentials to deal with any situation that stands to limit us from climbing the success ladder.

In his book unlimited power, he has taught that there are no limits to what we can do, that our key is the power of modeling, we have learnt in that excellence can be duplicated. If other people can do something, all we need to is to model them with precision and we can do exactly the same thing, whether it’s walking on fire, making a million dollars, or developing a perfect relationship. In modeling, we must realize that all results are produced by some specific set of actions.

I have learnt that success and failure begins with belief. Whether we believe we are capable of doing something or we believe we can’t in each case, we are right. Even though we might have the skills and resources to do something, once we tell ourselves we can’t, we shut down the neurological pathways that can make it possible. Hitherto, if we tell ourselves that we can do stuff, we open up the pathways that can provide us with the resources to achieve.

This book teaches the ultimate success formula. In attaining this, its important we know our outcome, develop the sensory acuity to know what one is getting, develop the flexibility to change our behavior until we find out what works, once we’ve done this, we have reached our outcome.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how?

Sometimes, the solution to our years of struggle and unsuccessful nature could be due to the fact that we might not be privy to the right source of information. For lack of knowledge, people perish. The experiences gathered from this book ranging from the scenarios in this book from Spielberg, Tina Turner, Sylvester Stallone and Fred Smith gives us hope that with persistence and determination everything we desire can be achieved.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why? Everything learnt from this book was very useful

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?
Through NLP analysis, I have learnt to understand how i and others tend to process information. People tend to be visual (sight), auditory (sound), or kinesthetic (feeling). By determining what senses the individual favors, you can communicate ideas more effectively by addressing that system.

Tony explores several different ways to accelerate personal development and change, including conquering phobias and emotional scars. These techniques are largely devoted to controlling our state or emotional response to different situations. Some of the techniques include modeling (finding a role model to emulate), mental exercises to change associations, and anchoring (connecting a state to a physical action or other stimulus, something like Pavlov’s dog salivating when hearing a bell.)

He has used these techniques to help countless people improve their performance, including Olympic athletes, children in youth camps, adults at his seminars and workshops, and for accelerated military marksmanship training.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.
The modeling of human excellence using master minding techniques interspersed with identifying the birth of excellence which is belief. This book gives us more insight on identifying the way to success.

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

The Great Game of Business
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

Jack Stack in his book the great game of selling teaches how every employee can realize their contribution towards the success of a company and most importantly, how each individual depends on each other for 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.’

Thinking and Acting as owners
When a system is set for people to feel comfortable about where they work, where they are made to see the importance in what they do and how it affects the over all success of the company is much rewarding. When an individual in any work environment feels appreciated and knows that he/she plays a very critical role in any enterprise, they always want to go the extra mile and ensure that success is achieved at all times.

Showing People the Game plan.
You would not know how to play a game when you do not know the rules of the game, not to mention how to play it. To play a game and be good at it, you must learn its rules and teaching people how to play this game in any business enterprise is very vital. Quite recently, I started a sales business and first challenged my self with certain targets. Realizing that I could not achieve these targets alone, I hired a few people to do that on commission basis. Showed them the big picture and challenged each individual about the excitement of realizing these goals. It sure felt good when I could read satisfaction and great exuberance showed.

Playing the game and being spontaneous
Like in any sports, the act of perfection is very important and this is only achieved when we constantly practice and learn new tricks in the game. Sales, however comes with lots of practice and experience is built when one thing is done over a continuous amount of time. When my sales agents go prospecting for clients and they secure appointments, we celebrate as a theme knowing that we have jumped or crossed another hurdle for the ultimate reward of closing the sale. The excitement is even more when we nail it and give who ever closed the sale a high five and kudos.

Understanding and taking advantage of competition.
It gets very interesting when you have a lot of other companies doing the same thing that you do. Coming together as a team and mapping out strategies to improve the quality of your performance is very important. Collating ideas at persistent team meetings which I captioned “Whats the latest gossip in Town?” was to help us know our competition better and learn by contributing strategies that would help us be better at all times.

If you want to make things happen, you have to get people to raise their sights, not lower them. The broader the picture you give people, the fewer obstacles they see in their path.
People need big goals, if they have them, they blow right by the little obstacles. These obstacles however accumulate to become mountains when you don’t get people beyond the day to day issues. In short, take charge and make it count.

The moral behind truth and honesty.
To work as a team and to play a winning game, there must be trust shared amongst any member of the working force. Its this that binds any group of individuals in a company.
We establish credibility and you only build this by telling the truth. You most undoubtedly cant operate unless people believe you and believe one another. So this teaches me a very great lesson that lying and dishonesty are very bad for business.

A piece of the cake
When we have put in our best and showed that we have done a good job, we must be rewarded. Jack rewarded his employees by giving them a piece of the cake. Floating stocks and getting his employees to own part of the company. Don’t we all feel proud and confident when we know we own a share of our daily toil? To know that you are not working in vain, that you can count on a company to meet the needs of your family is very rewarding and much encouraging. Although, nothing big, I am trying to device a strategy that would seek to incorporate this very strategy.

Take the bull by the horn.
Be tough and always prepared and to borrow Jack Stacks words, “you gotta wonna”
To play this game of business also means that you must be a good coach who gives proper direction to your team. Really, the notion that you can manage effectively by forcing people to do things they really don’t want to do is share baloney. It is just not true. People only get beyond work when their motivation is coming from inside. If your team doesn’t want to do something, it would never be done. Remember, you can force a camel to the waterfront, but you definitely can’t force it to drink. It’s a choice it has to make by it self.

Frankly, I have picked that personal vibe that management is all about instilling that desire to win. It’s about instilling self esteem and pride. That special glow you get when you know you are a winner. Nobody tells you, you must feel it. In fact you just know 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?

Really these ideas have given me a rather broader perspective to life. Relating the ideas of this book I am made to learn that life really isn’t that serious. What I mean is, don’t stress it, enjoy it.

If you can play a game with your business, then you sure can do it in all the other facets of your life. There again, don’t misunderstand me, play the game in a positive sense, not negatively. Don’t go about playing that game on your spouse by cheating on her, but by encouraging yourself with new ideas and scoring points when you do her a surprise, give her a pat on the back and act as that figure head that motivates.

A lot of ideas have been gathered from this book, learning to work as a team, to listen to what your subordinates have to say and picking up those wonderful and brilliant ideas that could save you a life time in your business empire.

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

“You Gotta Wanna”
I have thought very deeply about this quote. To me it’s the most important inspiration quote I have gathered from this book. Yes, You Gotta Wonna. Simply put, you must have the gut, that nerve that want to see change. Applying the right principles towards the success of your enterprise, you sure must take some tough decisions and in taking these decisions means you must be prepared and always ready.

“Its easy to stop one guy, but its pretty hard to stop 100.”
Like a local proverb says here in Ghana, “its easy to break one broom stick but quite impossible to break a bundle. This explains how we thoroughly are dependent on each other and how strong we are because of it.

Relating this in our business environment, we realize that the best most profitable way to operate a business is to give everybody in the company a voice in saying how the company is run and a stake in the financial outcome, good or bad.

Any one read of the biblical story about the tower of babel? When the people are one and have one vision and focus and channel their energies to achieve a set objective, nothing distracts them and they sure will conquer.

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?

Most of the concepts in this book was self explanatory and conveyed the message. Was very practical, precise and concise.

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?

This book had ideas that must be practiced on a regular basis, it did not have any set questions.

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

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

Comments:
I first and foremost want to thank Jack Stack for writing this book and developing this game called business. Really, it has taken away most of the stress that is usually involved in running a business and brought the fun that comes with the daily running of an enterprise.

The Leadership Pill
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah

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

This book reveals the need for leaders to show integrity, build a culture of partnership and the affirmation of peoples sense of self worth by letting them feel encouraged that what they do is important.

The most important thoughts I gathered in this parable is summarized as the secret blend for effective leadership. In this summary, Integrity, Partnership, Affirmation and Blend perfection came to play.

Integrity
Leading with integrity means being the model you want others to emulate. Leaders that exercise this trait walk their talk. These are individuals that see the need and take the lead rather than complain. Trust is what happens when values and behaviors match up. People are more apt to trust and respect you when what you say and what you do are one and the same.

Partnership.
The key to effective leadership is the relationship you build with your team. Sharing the big picture puts everyone on the same page. It is easier to get up the hill when you climb it together.

Affirmation
Praise is the easiest way to let people know they are appreciated. Each of us has the power to recognize the goodness in others. We tend to go a lot further if we stop to refuel.

Perfecting The Blend
People will think for themselves when you quit doing it for them. Leadership is the process of getting everyone to the place they are supposed to go. The highest achievement as a leader is winning the respect and trust of your team.

Innovation
In stirring the realms of affairs, you sometimes must not be too formal. Be informal in your approach, relate to your subordinates and let them know that you are in this with them. How do you convey the message to a manager who isn’t doing too well in his department? Its important that we are creative even in tackling issues that are very sensitive as effective leaders. Discussing a challenge with a manager must be done in a creative fashion.

Daring to conquer
Quite a caption there but this came up when I read part of this book that talked about the press conference that was held by the LPI (Leadership Pill Industries). Management of the company felt confident and spoke giving a lot of testimonies about how effective and potent their pill was and were ready to test proof it by experimenting with another set of leaders who would not be privy to using the pill. When the other group, lead by the effective leader was asked if he could really beat this pill, he said, he believes in his team and know that at the end of the test his team would come out and stand tall as victors. This is very motivating and that puts a message that involves the rest of the team members offering and ensuring the confidence in each individual to give of the best.

Keeping to focus
The ultimate aim of the effective leader is to direct his team and coordinate so harmoniously that the leadership walk is most enjoyed and much appreciated.

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?

When I saw the leadership pill as one of the books I could select for my level four studies, I did not think twice about if it was the right choice for me, because it is.

I am the 2008 deputy president representing Ghana of a world wide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs. Leading these people as second in command requires a lot of knowledge and skill to be able to lead and not dominate.

Quite simply and in a more relaxed conversational mode, this book has brought to bear how I can make people feel appreciated for what they do. Although I really made people feel very much appreciated, I have learnt from this book that I don’t always have to accolade people for every little thing they do. I find this as very important because I felt that I must show appreciation for the least input each individual puts in. But there again, I learn that doing that does not make my team learn to appreciate themselves.

As part of my responsibility as deputy president, I am responsible for membership growth and development and so every now and then, I have learnt to involve chapter presidents on brainstorming and together coming out with solutions that would help their chapters build and develop rather than “spoon feeding” them. Now they are able to think within the box, come out of their shell and diagnose the right prescription for a challenge.

Quite recently, I met one chapter president via the chatroom in yahoo whose local chapter was not growing at the rate that I expected. I asked him how his chapter was doing and reminded him of the legacy he would want to leave behind after his one year as chapter president. I liked what he had to say, go on and on about giving a different twist to his chapter and making it the best. I reminded him that he had eight clear months of making that possible and it really depended on him and his entire executive to pull this through.

The message here? The approach I adopted. I was able to get him to express all the good things in him and reminded him of why he had to start acting and walking his talk.

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

“Leading People is the opposite of trying to control them”
Leadership is offering direction, towing a path for others to follow and not compelling them to follow the path when they don’t understand why they must follow.

“leadership is not just what happens when you are there, it is what happens when you are not there.
Very importantly, most people are at their best when a boss or a superior is around and directing the realms of affairs; and turn to feel relaxed when s/he is not around. Leadership is a transference of the ability to imbibe in a group of people with the capability to take initiatives, problem solve and do perhaps what you would do when you are not around. Anything shy of this, will require one to visit the drawing board and restructure his modus operandi.

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 ideas gathered in this book are simple and right on point.

Of all the books that I have read for my assessment, I think this is one of the simplest books, easy to assimilate.

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

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

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

How interesting was it to read? 10
How helpful were the contents? 10
How easy was it to understand? 10
Would you recommend it to others? 10
What is the overall rating you would give it?10

Comments
Well, as my contribution towards growing and developing better leaders in my country, I would want to start a pilot leadership training section on coaching on the leadership pill.
This is leadership made easy. Thank you Ken Blanchard and Marc Muchnick where ever you are for bringing to book to the rest of the world. Its most appreciated.

Principled Profit
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah

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

This book conveys and shows in simple techniques how to be a successful marketer while keeping your actions ethical. Its about the idea that, you don’t have to be crooked or mean spirited to succeed in business.

Shel, in this book has some very vital virtues he captioned, the “Magic Triangle”. Creating value for others in everything we do is a good foundation to helping ones own self.

Quality
Provide the best value you can. I find this as a very important quality in marketing and if you come to think about it, if you do this well, your customers or prospects would not have any challenge when it comes to paying the right price. If people realize what you are worth, they are comfortable with the price that you put on your product and have the satisfaction in paying for it with out asking too much of a reduction.

Integrity
It’s important that we run our business in alignment with the core values of the company. We must not be round pegs in square holes. In simple terms, lets not be what we are not. Most people couldn’t fathom why its very difficult doing business with the Japanese. Really it is not, they are a bunch of principled people who build relationships before entering into businesses with any individual. They would want to establish that whoever they are dealing with has the three core values truth, integrity and honesty. Once this is ascertained, the sky is only a roller skater with them.

Honesty
Value the truth and be eager to share it with your prospects and customers. Even if it means that your solution is not the best for them right that moment. In other words, it may not be appropriate for a particular prospect to become a customer at that particular time.
I would like to borrow Shel’s own statement to buttress this fact. He states: “ I make a big part of my living writing marketing materials for other businesses. Because I try to deliver extremely high quality while keeping my prices affordable, the value of my work to my clients is very high and my customers become my “marketing evangelists” because they are excited and delighted by the impact my work has on their business. Integrity keeps me close to my core values. Those include making the world a better place, having work that I find meaningful, and enjoying a high quality of life.

Out of honesty, I have turned down work projects because another person might be better equipped to do the job; out of integrity, I have refused work assignments that clashed with my values”. The lesson here really is simple, don’t be so greedy that you would want to do anything and everything even if it’s not in your line of work. The other four ideas were captured from the Umass family business center on sales strategies.

Creating a profile of your best current buyers
Having a profile of your best current buyers is the first step to identifying prospects who match that profile. When this is realized, its important that you identify the demand trigger: this is the problem your prospect urgently needs solved. Investigate collaboratively by asking questions and listening. You switch to solution mode if the prospect decides to take action.

Asking Deep Probing Question
The buyer cares about how you can improve three factors: the effect the client desires, the relationship between value and investment, and self-interest/ego needs. Independent of your offer, its important to ask some very important questions what is the biggest problem you face how important is this problem what positive effects would you expect if you fixed it and what benefits that would have on your business.

Listening
Answering questions is an opportunity to be heard and be in control. Its important that we keep quite and listen. From the buyers answers, you will both recognize whether the issue actually needs attention, then let the client conclude that the cost of inaction is too high.
Explore why the problem hasn’t been solved’ ask “ What are the barriers to solve this problem?”

Saying no to sales
Isn’t this interesting? Must we say no to sales? Zig Zigler explains this posture stance in his audio book the secrets of selling. Lets turn for a moment from the idea of selling to the idea of not selling. When ethics are a major consideration in marketing, there will be times when you have to turn down work. One of the challenges, at least at first, is getting comfortable with the idea especially challenging if you are a small entrepreneur just getting started, and you are used to struggling hard for every last dollar. When do we refuse a sale?
When we don’t have the appropriate solution; some one else is better equipped to solve the client’s problem (honesty) There is not enough time to do the job well. (quality)
You could do the job, but it’s an area you are trying to get away from (honesty-to yourself)
The client will obviously be so high maintenance and/or so demanding that the job isn’t worth the price you can charge (quality – of the client) The client asks you to engage in unethical behavior (integrity).

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?

Just recently i got super dealership to sell Internet broadband with a local company called Iburst. As part of my strategy to prospect new clients and also to get clients using other alternative Internet types. Its important that I know the psychology of selling, understand the various stages in marketing and the simple techniques I can employ to make sure I have a smooth sales career.

Its very important the lessons I have learnt about the importance of collaboration and what role it plays in a competitive environment. Here I learn about how to know the other people in my niche. That it is actually good practice to pick up the phone and get acquainted by a new arrival. Becoming active in trade associations like the chamber of commence, participating in Internet discussion groups with others in your own or closely related fields is very helpful.

Personally, its always been my passion to be a fine speaker and quite recently, I am developing my training capabilities, thanks to an organization I belong to called JCI. The skills and techniques I gather from my experience is to enable me to translate to my audience quality information that would help transform their sales career. People most of the time, in any enterprise they belong to, first think about what they seek to benefit from a relationship rather than what they can give and contribute to make that relationship work. Putting people first in a marketing environment and especially when it comes to selling of products and services, goes a long way to gain the trust and confidence of prospect. Tell you what, quite recently, I contacted one of the fashion houses in Ghana to sell to them a website concept. Although the CEO had already contacted two web designers, I was able to reach out to her in a very unusual way when I went out of my way to contact a few friends who were in the internet business to offer her solution because she had a bit of a challenge with her internet access in her apartment.

Well, really it was none of my business when I heard her pass a comment when I showed her a demo on my wireless broadband, but I exercised empathy and realized the best time to actually sell to her was meeting her immediate need by offering her that assistance. Now, I am working on giving her a complete web solution for her fashion house.

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

“By eliminating scarcity, we eliminate poverty and famine”.
Every one has adequate food and water for survival, and, as that frees up time that had been spent on basic survival, people who have never had the luxury of education begin to build new skills and knowledge. A massive but non coercive educational campaign not only raises the literacy rate, but lowers over population world wide – when we are talking about sustainability, that means keeping the world sustainable for future generations, too. And the drastic reduction in population growth will actually find support among the affected populations, because they will realize that nearly all of their children will live’ therefore, they do not have to have so many babies just to make sure there is someone to take care of them in their old age.

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 ideas gathered in this book are simple and right on point.

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

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

None

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

1. How interesting was it to read? 10
2. How helpful were the contents? 10
3. How easy was it to understand? 10
4. Would you recommend it to others? 10
5. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

The Power of Failure
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

In this book, Charles Manz describes how we can see failure as a positive force, a strength, a necessary happenstance required to help us find success. In other words, it explains how we can identify the lessons in failing and why this is necessary for our success.
This book has addressed a variety of life and work challenges. More importantly it has offered practical ways for turning setbacks into success.

Finding the Opportunities of Failure.
Set backs or short-term failures can contribute to future success if we focus on the opportunities they contain rather than the obstacles. In the past, the mere fact of failing gave me the creeps and limited me from being adventurous because I was scared of the tendency of trying and not succeeding. Being an optimist and quite a perfectionist, I never wanted to mention that word fail.

As I look back at past experiences, mistakes and my journey so far, I realize that those experiences were building blocks for where I am today. Failing moulds and refines a man and prepares him for the success ahead. Failure helps a man identify his strengths and more so causes him to use his mind more effectively. How? When you are not successful in a particular venture, you think of strategies to make it work, at least that is what I think.

Using Negative Feedback To Your Advantage
Current negative feedback or vibes can provide positive information for improvement or may even suggest that you are onto something new and different- a sign of a pending breakthrough success.

Do we miss the lessons when we go through negative feedback, perhaps we don’t sit to analyze what is good in all of the misfortunes we encounter. Rather than concentrate on why did it happen and why I didn’t succeed; it helps if this energy is converted to how can I make it better the next time.

Looking Beyond one’s Self
As we learn to focus outward on helping others succeed rather than ourselves, we become less vulnerable to what otherwise might appear to be personal failures.

Persistence
“Persevere in the face of a short term loss…it could be the prelude to an even greater victory in the end”

While in nursery school, I was thought a poem I would forever be grateful. I might not be able to recite it as it was written but am sure I will be able to pass the message across to all that read this:
Try again – It’s a lesson you should win
Try again – If at first you don’t succeed
Try Again – Then your courage should appear
Try again – But if you would persevere
You will conquer, never fear
Try again

Once or twice though you would win…
When I registered my tour company in 2005, I had high aspirations and had my hopes high that by my projections, I should meet my targets. While embarking on this journey of success, I encountered many obstacles, lost money, got into the wrong associations and almost gave up this dream. I shared a lot of bitterness and regret of being so dumb and naïve and regretted and blamed myself when I got into the wrong business dealing. I shared a lot of remorse for the individuals I got into biz with, and by 2006 took a long holiday. Its taken me two years to realize a come back. In these two years, I have learnt proper biz ethics and have learnt to be careful when I am contracting any individual or entity for business. The message? We learn to be better only through mistakes. The act of perfection is only achieved when we have tried several times to make a thing work.

To succeed more, Fail More
I am sure this might sound very absurd and perhaps you are trying to figure out how this fits in? It’s that simple, to succeed more, we must fail more.

This is the only way we will be good at what we do. Failure is a journey, a path that is being created that guides us to perfection. It is not the destination we seek to go, it is the pathway we take to reach this destination. So ideally, if we stop in the middle of the journey we always must remember that we must continue to the end at some time.

Patience
The Shortest route to victory may be a trap that cost us more than we stand to gain. In attaining the mark of victory, its important that we remember the quote above. Short cuts, could solve temporary challenges, but like the word states, its just ephemeral whose repercussions are bitter and not too pleasant.

Helping others win
It’s nice to win. The recognition, adulation, and sense of accomplishment can be almost intoxicating. This feeling can cause us to place a huge emphasis on achieving victory for ourselves in order to keep these good feelings coming.

Sometimes, its even better to enjoy the victories of others, especially those we care about.
“By focusing on helping others get what they want, and not on our own personal gain, we stand to gain a great deal”.

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?

Education is supposed to get you informed, it’s supposed to give you the enlightenment to use the observations and lessons to improve your personality.

I have remained a fighter and a self motivator all my life and some times I feel I push too hard. It gets to the limit and I feel I have lost my elasticity. The ideas of this book, have rekindled and energized me. It has not only fueled my intelligence and given me the hope and faith to keep on keeping on, but it has also added and given me a new meaning to life.

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

“Only he who does nothing, makes no mistakes”. A typical example of this statement is likened to a company that wants the general public to know what services they offer but yet do not advertise or have a marketing team to let the general public know what they do. Similarly, there won’t be any mistakes made if we decide not to try anything at all.

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 ideas gathered in this book are simple and right on point except I beg to differ on a statement. The Olympic creed states: “The most important thing in the Olympic games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

Perhaps, the originators of the Olympic game might be right when they made that statement about the involvement of the games. Of course, it is such great privilege to participate in the Olympics, but I believe that the games was organized and in its competitive nature, awards must be won. An individuals major objective in joining the game is not only to participate but also to win a medal to complete the process of participation. Perhaps, a consolation for not winning will be that one participated in the games, but arguing the fact that winning in any category isn’t the most important, will remain a debate with me.

The most important thing in life to me is leaving footprints, footprints that tells a story and teaches lessons good or bad. The most important thing is to find ones purpose. The struggles of life are not themselves the most important things, but out of these struggles we appreciate life in its entity.

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, it contained mind exercises that set you in tuned with yourself to find answers with in. It pricks your mind to some things that you left salient and didn’t give any regard to or gave least priority to.

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

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

Full Steam Ahead
Assessment Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

In this book, Full Steam Ahead, Ken focuses on helping others understand the power of vision and how to create a vision for their company, their work, and their lives.

The ideas in this book got me thinking again, to remind myself of my core values, my vision for my personal life as well as career.

Purpose
Purpose is an organization’s reason for existence. It answers the question “why?” rather than just explaining what you do. It clarifies – from a customers’ viewpoint what business one is really into. Great organizations have a deep and noble sense of purpose, a significant purpose that inspires excitement and commitment. The words themselves are not as important as their meaning to the people.

Clear Values
Values are deeply held beliefs that certain qualities are desirable. They define what is right or fundamentally important to each of us. They provide guidelines for our choices and actions. If purpose is important because it explains “why”, then values are important because they explain “how”. They answer the question “How will you behave on a day by day basis as you fulfill your purpose?”

In summary, values provide broad guidelines on how you should proceed as you pursue your purpose. They need be clearly described so you know exactly the behaviors that demonstrate that the value is being lived. They need to be consistently acted on, or they are only “good intentions.”

Visualization of the end result
“ A picture of the future is a key element of vision.” A picture of the end result, something you can actually see, not vague. Focus what you want to create, not what you want to get rid of. Focus on the end result, not the process for getting there.

This really made me think twice about my travel network. Some time in 2005, I registered a local company called Tribe Tours to offer travel solutions and plan stress free lifestyles for hard working individuals desiring a holiday. Just like Tiger Woods would visualize where his golf ball will land just after Tee Off, I looked at the now and refused to look at the big picture. i.e. seeing Tribe Tours in different countries all over Africa and beyond. This principle brings it all true and I am restructuring my thoughts and redefining the belief system of the company all over.
Vision is knowing who you are, where you are going, and what will guide your journey.

Creating Shared Vision
In achieving this, its important that we agree upon a significant purpose an clear values for our team, department or organization. To make this easier, indulge in the exercise of describing a picture of the future.

Honest Description of Current Reality
Examine your current realities in relation to your vision. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your organization in relation to your ability to achieve your vision. Holding the vision and being honest about the present.

Plan for Involvement
Develop a plan to involve the rest of your department or organization in shaping the vision. To identify road blocks and to develop specific plans for action: how it’s created and how it’s communicated.

Strategies to Move Forward
Identify greatest opportunities to leap frog forward. Identify supporting structures needed. Develop bridging strategies to guide your movement forward.

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?

For many that read this book, Full Steam Ahead, I am sure it will form the basis for reconstructing your vision and put you in perspective.

I would like to share a story and how this relates directly with the ideas of this book.

Some time this year, I moved apartments and developed relationships with housemates. While we shared ideas and I got to know more of the people I associated with, I was introduced to a security company by one of my housemates who said she realized this company was struggling and having a lot of issues. I was introduced to the CEO and on one good, but sunny Thursday, I hurried in a cab to catch my 4 pm appointment with him. Thick tall Chuck with a lot of experience in the military and his background with Scotland yard gives an impressive description that he knew what he was doing.

Having served quite some time in the militaryand bringing back his wealth of knowledge to the Ghanaian network, his company is one of the pioneers of private security.

I listened attentively, while Chuck went on and on about the challenges of the company.

Our meeting was adjourned and scheduled for another day, it was on this day that I realized that the problem with this company was purely a leadership one. I asked Chuck a question. “ Chuck, what is the mission statement of your company? He thought for a minute and said “ the company with a bite” At this instance, it was obvious to me that the vision of the company was part of the reason it was going through all these major challenges. The mission statement of this company didn’t project the core values of the company, it was not a vision that could be shared by the numerous security personnels that worked for this prestigious company and because employees could not identify with the vision of the company, they were not focused and not lead to champion this course.

In this book, Full Steam Ahead, Ken focuses on helping others understand the power of vision and how to create a vision for their company, their work, and their lives.

Well after I wrote the first contract document to Chuck, I never heard from him again so I decided to follow up with some free advise and sent this email.

“Greetings Chuck, it was nice making conversation with you and after our discussions and the contract I sent you, I was gladly looking forward to receive your email, but nothing has come into my email yet. Well, Chuck, for free advise, I think you need an image maker and in this make over, you need to redefine what the vision for your company is and make it so clear that everybody sees where you are going and the strategies mapped up to take you there”

I haven’t heard from him yet, but am sure he will respond favorably and will not show his desperation by pulling out a base ball bat to remind me of what it’s meant for when I told him some hard truths some time when I visited him.

The ideas in this book got me thinking again, to remind myself of my core values, my vision for my personal life as well as career.

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

A clear vision gives an organization heart. Without it, work will have no meaning.
People are focused to work when they understand clearly what they are doing.

Leadership is about going somewhere. Without a clear vision, your leadership doesn’t matter.

Great things come from a powerful vision-fortunes are made, diseases get cured, and democracies are born.

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 ideas gathered in this book are simple and right on point. Of all the books that I have read for my assessment, I think this is one of the simplest books, easy to assimilate.

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, it contained mind exercises that set you in tuned with yourself to find answers with in.

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

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

Comments:
Ken Blanchard, if you ever get to read this, I want you to know that you have impacted in one individual who has a commitment to share this knowledge in his part of the world. Reading from your short intro, I realized that you are a professor in Cornell University? I took some courses there. Kudos to you and yours for the good work

How To Make Collaboration Work
Assessed by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

This book describes a stepwise approach to make collaboration work. It describes powerful ways to build consensus, solve problems and make decisions.

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.

Just like goal mapping by Brian Mayne, I found the concept of process maps also intriguing. There is no doubt visualizing relationships in two or three dimensional space works. Honestly, solving problems pictorially is way easy.

I like to concentrate on a bubble agenda for a hypothetical meeting. In this regard, the main topic under consideration is the agenda.

I have been elected as a national president of a world wide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs, this means that more problem solving, long meetings and brainstorming sections. Process maps, helps you maximize time to the fullest and ensure that you use time to your advantage.

My local organization has had challenges with leadership, where the leader is autocratic and there seems to be a challenge with communication amongst board members and the entire membership. This challenge affected the administration of that tenure and soon, the membership were hurrying the days for the next election.
This situation was not solved, but in analyzing the situation and making sure this never happens again, I get into the hypothetical meeting scenario and try to fix this situation.

A few questions to ask my self if am diagnosing this challenge and want a possible solution. Its important to consider what information parties would be sharing? How often? Assuming the “group” reaches some alignment on that vision, it might then return to the problem space to explore more about what the communications breakdown actually was and where and why it happened. That might be enough to accomplish in one meeting.

To review, the meeting would start in the perception phase of problem space, jump to vision space and return to the analysis and definition phases of problem space.
If successful, the meeting will allow members of both divisions to listen to and acknowledge each others perceptions and feelings, establish some alignment on a vision of good relations, and begin to understand, what, where, when and why breakdowns in communication occurred. While not specifically addressing solutions, some obvious ones should fall out of the discussions.

Bottom line, process maps has made me realize the benefits enumerated below.

a. Learnt to build support for an effort by demonstrating commitment to thoughtful planning and collaboration.

b. Illustrates for key decision makers and resource providers, in a single graphic, the entire flow of a project from start to finish, including the phases, when and how people will be involved, what meetings will be organized, and so forth.

c. Documents what occurs in a project, thereby serving as a historical record.

d. Schedules critical meetings on a common calendar and provides a focal point for resolving complicated issues of sequence and timing.

e. Serves as a working hypothesis from which a group may consciously choose to deviate.

f. Acts as a scaffold on which to hang and move new and changing ideas

g. Facilitates the management of multiple tracks of concurrent activities.
The ideas in this book got me thinking again, to remind myself of my core values, my vision for my personal life as well as career.

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?

For many that read this book, Full Steam Ahead, I am sure it will form the basis for reconstructing your vision and put you in perspective.

I would like to share a story and how this relates directly with the ideas of this book.

Some time this year, I moved apartments and developed relationships with housemates. While we shared ideas and I got to know more of the people I associated with, I was introduced to a security company by one of my house mates who said she realized this company was struggling and having a lot of issues. I was introduced to the CEO and on one good, but hot scorchy Thursday, I hurried in a cab to catch my 4pm appointment with him. Thick tall chuck with a lot of experience in the military and his background with Scotland yard gives an impressive description that he knew what he was doing. Having served quite some time in the military and bringing back his wealth of knowledge to the Ghanaian network, his company is one of the pioneers of private security.

I listened attentively, while Chuck went on and on about the challenges of the company.

Our meeting was adjourned and scheduled for another day, it was on this day that I realized that the problem with this company was purely a leadership one. I asked old chuck a question. “ Chuck, what is the mission statement of your company? Old chuck, thought for a minute and said “ the company with a bite” At this instance, it was obvious to me that the vision of the company was part of the reason it was going through all these major challenges. The mission statement of this company didn’t project the core values of the company, it was not a vision that could be shared by the numerous security personnel that worked for this prestigious company and because employees could not identify with the vision of the company, they were not focused and not lead to champion this course.

In this book, Full Steam Ahead, Ken focuses on helping others understand the power of vision and how to create a vision for their company, their work, and their lives.

Well after I wrote the first contract document to old chuck, I never heard from him again so I decided to follow up with some free advise and sent this email.

“Greetings Old Chuck, it was nice making conversation with you and after our discussions and the contract I sent you, I was gladly looking forward to receive your email, but nothing has come into my email yet. Well, Old Chuck, for free advise, I think you need an image maker and in this make over, you need to redefine what the vision for your company is and make it so clear that everybody sees where you are going and the strategies mapped up to take you there”

I haven’t heard from old chuck yet, but am sure he will respond favorably and will not show his desperation by pulling out a base ball bat to remind me of what it’s meant for when I told him some hard truths some time when I visited him.

The ideas in this book got me thinking again, to remind myself of my core values, my vision for my personal life as well as career.

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

A clear vision gives an organization heart. Without it, work will have no meaning.

Leadership is about going somewhere. Without a clear vision, your leadership doesn’t matter.

Great things come from a powerful vision-fortunes are made, diseases get cured, and democracies are born.

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 ideas gathered in this book are simple and right on point.

Of all the books that I have read for my assessment, I think this is one of the simplest books, easy to assimilate.

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, it contained mind exercises that set you in tuned with yourself to find answers with in.

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.

Ken Blanchard, if you ever get to read this, I want you to know that you have impacted in one individual who has a commitment to share this knowledge in his part of the world. Reading from your short intro, I realized that you are a professor in Cornell University? I took some courses there. Kudos to you and yours for the good work.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
3. How interesting was it to read? 10
4. How helpful were the contents? 10
5. How easy was it to understand? 10
6. Would you recommend it to others? 10
7. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

Natural Capitalism
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah

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

Natural Capitalism is a handbook of solutions and restoration that will have entrepreneurs and ecologist cheering together. It introduces a visionary concept that regards business, environmental, and social interests as an integrated, harmonious system.

Business types traditionally cry “unrealistic” when confronted with such ideas, but the dozens of documented success stories presented in this book are hard to dismiss. Its not a manual but the elucidation of a new spirit, this book reveals the many opportunities available to those who apply its concepts. Leaders must be exposed to the realism of this book.

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.

Radical resource productivity
Radical resource productivity–that is industrial efficiency. This slows depletion at one end, lowers pollution at the other end and creates more jobs in between. Through the use of industrial technology labor productivity increased 200 fold between 1750 and 1820. Today, the “Factor 10 club” of governments and business foresees a tenfold increase of productivity from resource use promoted by improvements in technology and design.

BioMimicry
Biomimicry, which eliminates the very idea of waste by redesigning industrial systems on biological lines. “Spiders make silk strong as Kevlar but much rougher, from digested crickets and flies, without needing boiling sulfuric acid and higher temperature extruders. The abalone generates an inner shell twice as tough as our best ceramics, and diatoms make glass, both processes employing seawater with no furnaces. Trees turn sunlight and water into cellulose, a sugar stiffer and stronger than nylon and bind it into wood, a natural composite with higher bending strength and stiffness than concrete or steel. We may never grow as skillful as spiders, abalone, diatoms, or trees, but smart designers are apprenticing themselves to nature to learn the benign chemistry of its processes.”

Service and flow economy
A service and flow economy. This involves shifting from a perception of wealth as goods and purchases to a perception of value as desired services and satisfaction of human needs. “Manufacturers cease thinking of themselves as sellers of products and become, instead, deliverers of service, provided by long-lasting upgradeable durables. For example, the Carrier Corporation now sells “coolth” rather than air conditioners–they own and service and upgrade equipment , and “Interface Corporation…leases warmth, beauty and comfort of floor covering services rather than selling carpets.” In Europe, the principle of Intelligent Product Systems makes manufacturers responsible for waste if their product cant be recycled, so products are designed to be reincorporated into “technical nutrient cycles” in which nothing can be thrown away. Such systems use less energy than extraction of new materials and provide more jobs.

Investing in Natural Capital.
Developing markets for activities which enhance and restore the environment, and it needs to be done internationally since degradation of environment-global warming and attendant storms, for example–is an international consequence.

The rest of the book describes “an array of opportunities…that are real, practical, measured and documented” by which the second industrial revolution is going forward and the principles of natural capitalism are taking hold.

Reinventing the Wheels.
This prophesies an impending transformation of the automobile industry, the largest component of the modern economy worldwide. The technical and policy issues addressed by this have direct bearing on the teaching and research carried out in Cal Poly’s Mechanical Engineering and Urban Planning Departments. The authors claim that this industry is “well along the way to a Factor Four or greater breakthrough in resource productivity and is beginning to close its materials loops…”

Modern cars are extremely inefficient, using only 20% of their fuel to turn the wheels and of that 95% moves the car, and only 5% moves the driver.
Lovins’ Rocky Mountain Institute designed a Hypercar (and put it into the public domain making it unpatentable), which reverses those efficiency ratios by being ultralight, low drag, and hybrid in propulsion. Once these cars, now in production, are successfully marketed, “oil will become uncompetitive even at low prices.” Even more radical resource productivity will be created by hydrogen fuel cell technology, which literally can take fuel out of the air and leave only water and oxygen as waste.

To realize this productivity and promote the sale of environmentally clean automobiles, the authors propose a system of “feebates” administered at no public cost by governments. Fees imposed on energy inefficient cars pay for rebates on those which do less harm. This immediately brings to bear an experience shared during the Africa and Middle East Conference that brought leaders from Africa and Middle East and where we brainstormed on solving the challenges of climate change. To buttress this point, leaders suggested a task to be imposed on industries that generate a lot of carbon emissions.

Other solutions to the “excessive automobility” which costs everyone involve reconfiguring transportation systems to make parking and driving bear their true costs–in road construction and maintenance, resource depletion, traffic jams, pollution, and accidents, fostering genuine competition between different modes of transportation. In addition to improving public transportation, sensible land use can be promoted over actual physical mobility.

Waste not
This exposes the scale and consequences of Industrial Capitalism’s failure to follow the natural principle of recycling. This topic represent the concerns of our Environmental Engineering, Facilities Planning and Operations departments.

“The critical difference between industrial and biological processes is that living systems are regulated. In nature there is no such thing as waste. But our present economy consumes and disposes of unthinkable quantities of unrecoverable natural capital:

* “The amount of waste generated to make a semiconductor chip is over 100 000 times its weight. Two quarts of gasoline and a thousand quarts of water are required to produce a quart of Florida orange juice 50

* “America wastes or causes to be wasted nearly 1 million pounds of materials per person per year. This figure includes 3.5 billion pounds of carpet landfilled…28 billion pounds of food discarded at home…3.7 trillion pounds of construction debris.”

* Highway accidents cost us 150 billion a year

* Highway congestion 100 billion a year

* We spend 200 billion a year in wasted energy–just because we don’t employ same efficiency practices as in Japan

* We waste 250 billion on inflated and unnecessary medical overhead

* Our recordkeeping procedures for a ridiculous tax code cost us 250 billion a year.

* We also waste human capital: a billion workers in the world cant find jobs while “the U.S. has quietly become the world’s largest penal colony”–nearly five million men are in jail, awaiting trial or on parole.

I used this statistics from America because its the most powerful nation in the world. A lot of worry and concern and I begin to wonder what the systems in Africa are using to address this issue of waste. Creating awareness and the needed consciousness is the way to go.

Making the World.
Presents antidotes to this grim picture with principles and examples of industrial design that provide a better stream of services from smaller flows of stuff. The kind of innovation described is the concern of Cal Poly’s Department of Industrial technology.

The principle is fully developed in the German concept of extended product responsibility–the manufacturer has to take product back at end of its life. “In short, the whole concept of industry’s dependence on ever faster once-through flow of materials from depletion to pollution is turning from a hallmark of progress into a nagging signal of uncompetitiveness.

* Chemical engineers have cut US chemical firms’ energy intensity in half since 1970.

* The mass of an average European yogurt container dropped by 67 percent during years 1960-1990.

* Refrigerators now save 87 percent of their 1972 energy cost.

* High-temperature processes are replaced with gentler, cheaper ones based on biological models that often involve using actual micro-organizations–like those that Professor Cano at Cal Poly is developing for Bioremediation with Unocal.

* “Distributed intelligence” controls industrial processes with decentralized and sensitive instruments.

* Materials are saved with net shape manufacturing–rather than assembly

* “Disposable” cameras are actually recycled.

* IBM remanufactures computers.

* Xerox makes every part of its machines reusable or recyclable.

Building Blocks
“Building Blocks,” applies the principles of Natural Capitalism to construction and real estate development industries. This is a chapter for our Architecture, Construction Management, and Regional and City Planning departments.

Green buildings, like the high-rise Amsterdam bank described by the authors, use 92% less energy and create greater worker productivity and satisfaction by use of proper placement and orientation, passive heating and cooling principles, and full insulation. Such buildings are designed by a “charette” process of collaboration that crosses traditional professional boundaries.

A major obstacle to true economy is created by the fact that architects and engineers are now paid on a percentage of the cost of buildings rather than on the basis of what they save in cost. The way to overcome such obstacles is to replace disincentives with financial incentives for conservation, for instance,

* overcoming the “split incentive problem in which one party selects the technology while another pays its energy costs,” for example with lease riders for fair sharing of savings between landlords and tenants

* changing the home appraisal process to evaluate a house’s energy efficiency

* requiring “feebates” for new energy hookups–energy efficient buildings get rebates paid by higher fees on energy inefficient ones.

The same kind of incentives–crediting developers for reducing automotive trips and numbers of cars per family–can promote real estate developments that “challenge the American habit of ceding community design to traffic engineering.” Such challenges are have been dubbed the “new urbanism,” and include neo-traditional village-style layouts, with neighborhood grocery stores, mixed-use occupancy, and narrower, tree shaded streets.

I would like to conclude by stating one thing. Its good to make money and lots of it, but in making it, we need to have in mind of the most powerful capital, natural capital whose power is so real that we fail to see and realize its power

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

I read books timely enough and I think the universe has a way of putting things in such perfect harmony. This july, I lead a delegation from my home country to Switzerland where we meet other leaders and discuss the global climate change that is affecting everybody and everything. Perhaps bringing some ideas gathered from this great resource will help others appreciate the need for natural capitalism

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

“In society, waste takes a different form, human life’s” It hit me when I began to ponder on this quote and what scared me most was the fact that according to the International Labor Organization ( ILO) in Geneva, nearly a billion people, about 30 percent f the world’s labor force either cannot work or have such marginal and menial jobs that they cannot support themselves or their families

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

Everything was pretty much elaborative

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete?

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

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

How interesting was it to read? 8
How helpful were the contents? 10
How easy was it to understand? 10
Would you recommend it to others? 10
What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

The Secret, “What Great Leaders Know and Do
Assessed by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

This book disserts the very fundamental lessons and epitomizes the very rudiments of leadership. It defines in a rather thought provoking approach, but yet subtle and inspiring guideline in any leadership walk. It vehemently demystifies certain misconceptions about leadership and clearly states with practical examples on what and how it should be like.

Focus, vision, direction
Engagement and team development
Reinvention
Value, Results and Relationship
Team Recruitment
Embodiment of Values
Team Meeting

Focus, Vision and Direction
If you do not know where you are going, any road will certainly take you there. In this book Ken and Mark tries to define the first purpose and responsibility of a leader. It’s important that the leader has a clearly defined vision and direction of where he wants to take his followers. It’s important however that this vision is clear and not confusing. It’s apparent that the leader must find a way to get his followers to elicit the opinion of his team. Sharing your vision and getting the team to fit into your vision is of paramount importance. Remember that the team waits for the leader to direct and show the way. I find this to be very fundamental because when I was elected president for the Junior Chamber International, Ghana, I had as my main objective to try and make JCI Ghana an organization of choice and got my team to share in that vision.

Engagement and team development
A team wins or becomes successful if the leader learns how to involve rather than devolve. Remembering that any individual would partake or be comfortable to take initiatives when he/she fills they form a part of the big picture and their views matter. You must have the right people, in the right roles and fully engaged. I have been thinking critically about this and how this fits in especially in an organization where the leader has no choice in choosing who he wants to be on the team as most of the top positions are voted for by a general assembly of local presidents. Well, I found a way around it and perhaps this could help any one reading this. If you find yourself in a position just like I have narrated, it helps to use your power to appoint carefully. This is where you get the opportunity to appoint individuals fit for the job. They could be a shadow of your elected officers and try to carefully and gradually persuade elected officers to share their ideals remembering that not having the right people in place is a serious leadership error.

To develop a team requires a pre evaluation of the team and in this regard, the following come handy: defining the purpose of the team, destination of the team in a set time, the ability of team members to clearly define and project the future of the team, the values the leader wants to drive the behavior of the team and communication of the vision of the future of the team.
Tell you what, for a minute; I felt like a jerk because I noticed I could have done a lot better as president of JCI Ghana if these skills came handy. My term is soon coming to an end but am sure that I can make these tips handy to the next crop of leaders and as the immediate past president, I would want to share these tips to correct the errors I never saw. Every good leader must learn the technique of delegation, as this is one way to measure success in this leadership walk. Once upon a time, I had the perception that one is efficient when does the work himself but learnt the contrary.

Reinvention
Identifying ways to enhance ones own knowledge and skill is paramount for success.
In my aspiration to be a great leader, I have found my own approach to learning to gain empowerment.

From a distance, I have observed President Obama and in his book The Audacity of Hope when he was a Senator, I carefully listened to his audio book and admired his presentation style. I would listen to Donald Trump and pick up a few pointers and try to implement certain things that he believed in and are attributes to his success story.

Great leaders exist and some haven’t been discovered yet but who speak volumes and very philosophical. I have a mentor in Nigeria called Moses Kadeer. In his little corner in Kaduna State and at his office desk logged into the Internet, we instant message back to back and he shares with me some very great lessons.

As I shared with him some very useful information I gathered from this book and mentioned the author, he exclaimed with awe and said, “I have met Ken Blanchard, such a wise old fella”
Point am trying to establish is, it don’t matter how you want to do it, but great leaders find their own approach to learn.

Value Results and Relationship
Just recently, we hosted a national convention, which brought together members of JCI Ghana from all over the country to one venue to take stock of the events of the year, share, learn and create fun. I had at the beginning of the year appointed a conference director to see to the planning and organizing of a successful convention. Of course, the convention encountered so many challenges but nonetheless we got it organized despite all the odds against us. Despite all the hurdles we had to cross, appreciating the director and the team and making them feel appreciated brought great fulfillment, as it was obvious from the teams smile. Relationships I realize are a very important part of creating a strong formidable team. One of our board members father passed on and it was really a great joy to her when I organized the other board members and we showed up at her house to offer our support in these trying times. Getting to know your team helps you to work better and address certain pitfalls and sometimes help you address and find out solutions to address poor performance levels. It’s the month of November and I sent some motivational message via phone to my general legal counsel, she wrote back and said “This text message comes very timely, I needed that word, Mr. President”

Being involved with your teams social and family life brings to bear some very important information and gets you to know the individual even better.

Team Recruitment
A new definition has been given to recruiting people to be on your team. One must have an open mind and not look too far. A very good relationship with your team makes it possible to figure out their strengths and channel their energies to where it would be put to effective use.
Some time in July when we launched our national convention, I had a young man attend and during the time with the press, made some very important submissions. Clearly, one could feel his enthusiasm, passion and love towards service and really considered him to take up the position of national coordinator for JCI Ghana. His position was however justified during series of vetting and informal interviews I had with him just to be certain he was the right person.

Embodiment of Values
This is a leadership practice that certainly transcends our company or organization. To guarantee the success of a leader, he or she must embody the values of their organization. Be it leading as PTA chair or in your corporation, you must embody the values of that particular organization. The power is in the trust and credibility one builds and not a specific set of values that represents the right ones.

Team Meeting
Instill in your team virtues, ideals, principles and skills that can boost their confidence level. Regular team meetings are very important, as this can be a forum for encouragement, problem solving, collaboration, creativity and accountability. Used wisely, the team’s time together can multiply our impact.

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?

On October 31st 2009, I was invited to the university of Cape Coast to speak in a leadership conference. In my carefully chosen topic: The Leaders Runway 1, I shared my personal story in this leadership walk of mine and how some ideas gathered from this book has redirected my thoughts and focused my attention to the ideals that makes leadership true and making its journey easy.

The relevance of this book will impact fully as I have been tasked to ensure the success of IIGL’s vision in Africa. Some of the strategies necessary for the careful choosing of a team will come handy and this book will act as that guide guaranteeing my success.

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

Page 51- “ It’s the leaders job to make time today to ensure that there is tomorrow”.
Page 70- “The leaders’ objective is to leverage the strengths of people and make their weaknesses become irrelevant”.

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?

This book is easy to assimilate. This is because the illustrations used are told in a story form hence making it easier to imbibe the lessons and see the practicality of it . Of all the books that I have read for my assessment, I think this is one of the simplest books, easy to assimilate.

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

The book in its conclusion statements asked questions on the five main ideas discussed, to act as a refresher to the reader and do a personal evaluation if the book was understood.i.e. The acronym serve meaning, See the future, Engage and develop others, Reinvent continuously, Value results and relationships and Embody the values.

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

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

Failing Forward
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

This book captures the importance of failure and gets one to appreciate the essence and the need to seeing failure as a tool and a catalyst for success

a. The Thought that failure is avoidable, it sure isn’t
The very favorite statement “To err is human and to forgive divine” comes to mind. We have formed all sorts of perception about failing that it can be avoided but no. It’s important that we accept that we would fail as long as we remain humans. I remember helping my son one of them days do his take home assignment. The young man was very careful to make sure that he put in the right answers, I remember telling him, “Ato, make your mistake, I will correct you when you don’t put in the right answer” I realized that I was doing something right after all, that I was demystifying the thought of failure from his mindset. To know that it’s ok to fail, but of course also not to stay in that failure.

b. Failure is an event, Its Not
I am just playing back my days in college during a biochemistry exam, the tendency that a colleague or me received an F on a test, the tendency was to think that you failed at that moment. Interesting enough your grade is used to stigmatize you and categorize you in a certain way. Failing forward, has made me realize that the F shows that the test taker neglected the process leading up to the test and the result was a poor score. The truth is that you don’t receive F’s for failing a test, but for failing to prepare for a test.

c. Failure is just like success – it’s a day-to-day process, not someplace you arrive one day. Failure is not a one-time event; it’s how you deal with life along the way. Yes, you will make mistakes, but you can’t conclude that you’re a failure until you breathe your last breath. Until then, you’re still in the process, and there is still time to turn things around for the better.

d. That failure is objective, Its Not
When you forget a meeting, miss a deadline, damage a relationship, or make a poor choice concerning your children, what determines whether that action was a failure? Is it the size of the problem it creates, the amount of money your company loses, or how much criticism you have to endure? No. The truth is that only you are the only person who can label what you do a failure. Failure is subjective. Your perception of and response to your mistakes determine whether they are failures. Determine to see your mistakes as merely temporary lapses, and start using them as stepping-stones to success.

e. The thought that failure is the enemy, Its Not
Most people try to avoid failure like the plague. They’re afraid of it. But it takes adversity to create success. Failure however is good; it nourishes our success like fertilizer
If you desire to be a high achiever you can’t see mistakes as the enemy, when we give ourselves permission to fail, we at the same time give ourselves permission to excel. Begin to perceive mistakes as opportunities rather than opponents.

f. The thought that failure is irresistible, Its Not
Washington Irving once noted, “Great minds have purposes; others have wishes. Little minds are subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.” If you tend to focus on the extremes of mistakes and fixate on particular events in your life, make a resolution this year to gain a new perspective on failure. See errors and negative experiences as a regular part of life and determine to learn and grow from them. If you can do that well, you may find that your dreams are much closer than you think. Tom Peters wisely acknowledged, “If silly things were not done, intelligent things would never happen.” When you make a mistake, keep things in perspective. Understand that on the heels of every mistake is a valuable lesson and another opportunity to improve.

g. Making Failure Your Friend
Failure is either your friend or your enemy – and you choose which it is. If you play a dirge every time you fail, then failure will remain your enemy. But if you determine to learn from your failures, you actually benefit from them – and that makes failure your friend.
William Bolitho said, “The most important thing in life is not to capitalize on our gains. Any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your losses. That requires intelligence; and makes the difference between a man of sense and a fool.” Anyone can make failure their friend by maintaining a teachable attitude and using a strategy for learning from their mistakes. To turn your losses into profits, ask the following questions every time you face adversity.

h. Lessons Learnt from failing
Unfortunately many people react to adversity the same way Peanuts character Charlie Brown does in the comic strip. Charlie is at the beach and has just finished building a beautiful sand castle. But as he stands back to admire his work, his masterpiece is pummeled by a huge wave. Staring at the smooth mound that had been his creation, he says, “There must be a lesson here, but I don’t know what it is.”
People that approach adversity like Charlie Brown become so consumed by the events that they miss the whole learning experience. But there is always a way to learn from adversity and mistakes. The key is to always maintain a teachable attitude and embrace the idea that Lord Byron once conveyed: “Adversity is the first path to truth.”

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

I would like to commence by saying that solutions to any challenge are hidden in some book some where in the world. I can confidently say that with open arms, I embrace failure as an opportunity to make me a better person and to guarantee my success. I am deeply motivated by reading the final piece of John C. Maxwell’s, illustration on Dave Anderson, Chairman of Famous Dave’s in America. Dave’s resume as it is now is very impressive but appreciating how he wrote for himself such great resume, came with a lot of failure.
I have started a lot of initiatives in my youthful life and have had a lot of criticism from family and friends. I have learnt one very useful lesson that despite the odds against anything that I am involved in, I continue to press on. Well, I have always had that inner motivation and a fighting spirit to test new things and to keep striving and making my mistake, but now this book affirms it and gives me more leverage to hold this thought.

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

“A man is not defeated by his opponents but by himself.” In your walk towards achievement and success, you are the only person that puts the final full stop and determine to stop trying. People can try to get you to stop trying, but the guts to stop trying.

“The price of success is perseverance. The price of failure comes cheaper.” You keep committing errors and along the way correct the error to guarantee success, however failure to persevere makes it easier to be defeated.

“You always pass failure on the way to success.” Every success story has an element of failure

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?

Not quite.

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, there were exercises in a few pages which helped me to assess my own situation and gave a guide towards dealing with my challenges

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

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

1. How interesting was it to read? 10
2. How helpful were the contents? 10
3. How easy was it to understand? 10
4. Would you recommend it to others? 10

Difficult Conversations
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Ikumsah (Ghana)

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

The main idea that the author conveys in this book is saying the not so easy things in a simplified, understanding and in a way that isn’t offensive.

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

Giving Bad News
Its usually traumatic if I have to give bad news. Its an experience that really catches me off guard and I really battle to figure out a way to make it less painful and stressful. It certainly isn’t an easy thing to do if you have to fire a close friend who you work with, end a long relationship or tell a patient they have a terrible disease which is incurable.

I am sure you also battle with the same things that I struggle with everyday. In many difficult conversations, we usually don’t have the power to impose an outcome uni-laterally. When breaking up a relationship, its reasonable to wonder whether the other person’s story is still relevant.

It helps to know from the knowledge of this book that understanding another person’s story doesn’t mean you have to agree with it, no does it require you to give up your own. And the fact that you are willing to try to understand their view doesn’t diminish the power you have to implement your decisions, and to be clear that your decision is final.

During my college days, I got involved with a young lady and wanted to build a relationship with her which could possibly lead to marriage. After a year been in the relationship, I realized that it wasn’t working but had to be in it out of convenience and fear that she could do something terrible to her self or be broken hearted for a long time. Giving another chance, I sure would know how to go about without causing too much mess if any.

Maintaining a standpoint, the “I really am right syndrome”
Even if we understand another person’s story with genuine insight and empathy, you may still stumble on the next step, thinking that however much their story makes sense to them, you are still “right” and they are still “wrong” For example if you had a child who smokes or perhaps a sibling who is an alcoholic, you certainly know that either of these habits are not good for her, you are right about it. Its really about how you each feel about the situation. It really is about which role each party has to play. Its about what she should do about it and what role you play. Its about the terrible pain and sadness you feel when you imagine your loved one becoming sick and the rage of feeling powerless to make them stop these habits.

Even when it seems the dispute is about what’s true, you may find that being the one who is right doesn’t get you very far. Your friend, spouse or sibling may deny that he is an alcoholic and that his drinking is affecting his marriage. But even if the whole world agrees with this assessment, asserting that you are right and trying to get him to admit it probably won’t help you and him.

What may help is to tell him about the impact his drinking has on you and further, to try to understand his story. What is keeping him in denial? What would it mean to him to admit he has a problem? What gets in the way? Until you understand his story, and share yours with him, you can’t help him find a way to rewrite the next chapter for the better.

My mother would always call me each time she had issues with my kid brother, she always seemed to be complaining about anything and everything he did without understanding why he did that to inform her judgment, directing her thought process especially to take a cursory look at the “I am right syndrome” is really paying off.

Seeing the world differently
As we move away from arguing and toward trying to understand the other person’s story, it helps to know why people have different stories in the first place. Our stories don’t come out of no where. They are not random. Our stories are built in often unconscious but systematic ways.

I asked myself each time I would get into some sort of argument with a very good friend of mine. I decided one day to see things from her own perspective for a change, for a minute I decided to understand her ways, to help me not get into so many arguments often with her. Is it paying off? It is, but with a lot of effort and practice.

Why we argue and why It doesn’t help
For a moment, I am thinking about my own difficult conversations in which there are disagreements over what is really going on or what should be done. I try to find my explanation for what is causing the problem.

In a very charitable mood, I reflect and say, “well, everyone has their opinion’ There are usually two sides of a story although, not too many people agree to this. Deep down, sometimes I feel that the problem is really me.

I just discovered that this could be due to a few reasons, that am selfish, naïve or controlling. Perhaps irrational maybe?

On the flip side, this is what helps, if the other person is naïve, we try to educate them about how life really is, and if they are being selfish or manipulative, we may try to be forthright and call them on it. We persist in the hope that what we say will eventually make a difference. But instead our persistence leads to arguments. And these arguments lead nowhere. Nothing gets settled. We each feel unheard or poorly treated. We are frustrated not only because the other person is being so unreasonable, but also because we feel powerless to do anything about it and the constant arguing isn’t doing the relationship any good. Yet we are not sure what to do instead. We can’t just pretend there is no disagreement, that it doesn’t matter, or that its all the same to us. It does matter, its not all the same to us. That’s why we feel so strongly about it in the first place.

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?

Many people have different ways of processing information and sometimes, we end up confusing the piece of information we give them and when it becomes difficult getting them to the understand, we blame them for not catching a simple explanation, get all offensive, worked out and just don’t want to make that conversation again.

4. 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.

“difficult conversations are almost never about getting the facts right. They are conflicting perceptions, interpretations, and values. They are not about what a contract states, they are about what a contract means” Pg. 10

This bit of the book is particularly important to me because this helps us to shift our purpose from proving we are right to understanding the perceptions, interpretations, and values of both sides. It allows us to move away from delivering messages and toward asking questions, exploring how each person is making sense of the world. And to offer our views as perceptions, interpretations, and values and not as “the truth”

“Instead of asking yourself, how can they think that?! Ask yourself, I wonder what information they have that I don’t”

To understand another person’s opinion about something, I think its necessary to understand the individual and the person’s standpoint. The best way to understand difficult conversation, I have learnt is not to be defensive, but try to understand what information that the other has that you don’t have access to or perhaps try and decipher their thought process.

I have maintained a certain stance sometimes when I made conversation with some people and ask my self “ how can she be so irrational?” instead of thinking for a minute and saying “ how might they see the world such that their view makes sense?” Understanding in this way, made a lot of things much easier for me and the others.

Three things to accept about yourself

Its certainly a matter of fact that there are some aspects of who you are that you will struggle with for a life time. When stand naked in the shower and look inside, you won’t always like what you see, and you will find that accepting those parts of yourself takes serious work. But as you move away from an all or nothing identity and toward a more complex view of who you are, you will notice that it is easier to accept certain parts of yourself that have given you trouble in the past.

The more easily you can admit to your own mistakes, your own mixed intentions and your own contributions to the problem, the more balanced you will feel during the conversation, and the higher the chances it will go well.

a. You will make mistakes: If you can’t admit to yourself that you sometimes make mistakes, you will find it more difficult to understand and accept the legitimate aspects of the other person’s story about what is going on.

One reason people are reluctant to admit to mistakes is that they fear being seen as weak or incompetent. Yet often, generally competent people who take the possibility of mistakes in stride are seen as confident, secure and big enough not to have to be perfect, where as those who resist acknowledging even the possibility of a mistake are seen as insecure and lacking confidence. No one is fooled.

b. Our intentions are complex: Sometimes we get nervous about upcoming conversations because we know that our past behavior was not always motivated by good intentions.

c. You have contributed to the problem: A third crucial step for grounding yourself involves assessing and taking responsibility for what you have contributed to the problem. This certainly, isn’t always easy to do.

Listening from the inside out
Most people think that they are already good listeners. I remember an exercise, I think several times when I had a leadership training for young recruits entering the job market. I first would ask the question, how many thought they were good listeners. Usually, majority of the participants will raise their hands. I smiled most times and knew that after they had taken my little exercise, they would smile at themselves and pay attention to the very little things they took for granted.

Others know they are not good listeners but don’t care much about it. Listening well, however is one of the most powerful skills you can bring to a difficult conversation. It helps you understand the other person. And, importantly, it helps them understand you.

Listening transforms the conversation. Just that you don’t know, listening to other people, helps them to listen to you too.

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, there was much clarity and enough explanations.

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 useful? There were no exercises involved in this book

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

None

Ratings:

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

Laws of Leadership
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

This book details practical approach to walking the right leadership path. Each law is like a tool, ready to picked up and used to help you achieve your dreams and add

2. What are the seven ideas, which were personally most important to you?
And why?

a. The Law of connection

Tell you what, its really true that leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand. How?

For leaders to be effective, it’s imperative that they need to connect with people. You can’t move people to action unless you move them with emotions. I remember how energized I was, sitting by my television and watching Obama make history. His acceptance speech after he was declared president of the United States, fueled a new type of energy me in, the can do spirit further heightened and from Ghana, I was inspired, motivated beyond measure to keep on achieving. His words touched my emotions and got me to act from a local perspective.

Good leaders work at connecting with other all of the time, whether they re communicating to an entire organization or working with a single individual. The stronger the relationship you form with followers, the greater the connection you forge and the more likely those followers will be to want to help you.

You develop credibility with people when you connect with them and show that you genuinely care and want to help them. As a result, they usually care and would want to help you.

b. The Law of Magnetism

“who you are, is who you attract” It certainly is true. Ever heard of the statement, “great minds think alike” or “birds of the same feathers flock together” ? A lady who works in the Canadian high commission in Ghana once told me over a phone conversation.

“ I like people like you, always happy and with a positive sense, I too am like that”

This statement is also true about leadership. Who is on your team is seldom determined by what you want, but more by who you are. Building a strong team requires that one understands this law.

People who view life as a series of opportunities and exciting challenges, don’t want to hear others talk about how bad things are all the time. Not only do people attract others with similar attitudes, but also their attitudes tend to become alike. Attitude is one of the most contagious qualities a human being possesses.

People with good attitudes tend to make those around them feel more positive. Alternatively, people with a terrible attitude tend to bring others down.

It is a good thing that people with similar levels of energy are attracted to one another because when you pair a high energy person with a low energy person and ask them to work closely together, they can drive one another crazy. The high-energy person thinks the low energy one is lazy, and the low energy person thinks the high energy one is insane.

Remember my friend that no one goes out looking for a mediocre leader to follow. People are attracted to talent and excellence, especially in their area of giftedness. They are most likely to respect and follow someone who possesses their kind of talent. Business people want to follow bosses with skill in building an organization and making a profit. Creative people want to follow leaders who are willing to think outside the box. Like begat like.

Finally, the people you attract will have leadership ability similar to your own. People tend to follow leaders stronger than themselves.

c. The Law of Priorities

“Leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment.

Leaders never advance to a point where they no longer need to prioritize. It is something that good leaders keep doing, whether they are leading a billion-dollar corporation, coaching a team, leading a small group or running a small business.

Successive leaders live according to the law of priorities. They recognize that activity is not necessarily accomplishment.

The best leaders seem to be able to get the law of priorities to work for them by satisfying multiple priorities with each activity. This actually enables them to increase their focus while reducing their number of actions.

d. The Law of Sacrifice

A friend of mine who did business development for one of the most efficient and reliable internet service provider in Ghana said to me one day: “ Paa Kwesi, sometimes, I had to forego my salary to make sure that the stuff is well and good, knowing that soon, some day all will be well”

Sacrifice is a constant in leadership. It is an ongoing process, and not a one-time payment. And when leaders look back at their careers, they recognize that there has always been a cost involved in moving forward.

Leaders who want continued success must live by this law.

For every person, the nature of sacrifice may be different. Everyone who leads gives up other opportunities. Many give up aspects of their personal lives. The circumstances however are different from person to person, but the principle remains same.

e. The Law of Momentum

I began to wonder why this is the leaders best friend until I discovered the reason. Passion is good in fulfilling a great vision, however if this passion lacks momentum, a leader can’t accelerate the progress of the organization he leads.

Momentum is a leaders’ best friend because many times, it’s the only thing that makes the difference between losing and winning. When you have no momentum, even the simplest tasks seem impossible. Small problems look like insurmountable obstacles.

Morale becomes low. The future appears dark. An organization with no momentum is like a train at a dead stop. It’s hard to get going, and even small wooden blocks on the track can keep it from going anywhere. On the other hand, when you have momentum on your side, the future looks bright, obstacles appear small, and troubles seem inconsequential.

f. The Law of Empowerment

If leaders want to be successful, they must be willing to empower others. Quoting from President Theodore Roosevelt: “ the best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

The only way to make you indispensable is to make yourself dispensable. By becoming a secure leader who can give power away, you will make your organization more powerful. But if you disregard the law of empowerment, your potential will be limited.

I am each day inspired by the revolutionary American automobile giant Henry Ford.
He founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 with the belief that the future of the automobile lay in putting it within the reach of the average American worker. He said: “ I will build a motorcar for the multitude. It will be large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for.”

g. The Law of The Inner Circle

When we see an incredibly gifted person, it’s always tempting to believe that talent alone made him successful. To think that is to buy in to a lie. Nobody does anything great alone. Leaders do not succeed alone. A leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him. What makes the difference is the leaders inner circle.

Great inner circles do not come together by accident. Effective leaders are continually developing current and future inner circle members by spending extra time with them strategically to mentor them and develop relationships. They give them extra responsibility and place higher responsibility and place higher expectations on them.

Finally, they give them more credit when things go well and hold them accountable when they don’t.

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?

While working this book, a lot of ideas were meaningful to me, apparently, this has been one book I couldn’t just finish because it had a lot of impartation and addressed very important aspects of my leadership walk.

I call it the leadership evaluator. The seven ideas I explained above has had tremendous impact in my leadership walk.

In 2011, I occupy a very sensitive position. In this position, it’s important that I carry people along if I must achieve my set objectives. The laws of leadership with the principles I stated above has directed me to carefully draft my introductory letter to all presidents of the organization for Africa and the Middle East.

Each day, I manifest the ideals in this book regarding my leadership agenda.

4. 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.

“ People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care”

“ You must keep giving up to stay up”

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

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete.

Most chapters had very practical assignments on the respective topics.

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

None

Ratings:

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

Thinking For A Change
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Ikumsah (Ghana)

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

How to become a better thinker.

As a Christian minister, Dr. Maxwell cites the Bible as one source of examples, but people who are of different faiths and people who are not interested in spiritual matters will find the book relevant and valuable.

The book is comprised of two parts and an afterthought. The first part addresses how changing your thinking can change your life. The second looks in detail at 11 thinking skills that should be combined. The afterthought is to improve your effectiveness and that of any organization you are involved with by seeking out those whose thinking skills balance out your lacks of thinking skills. It’s a powerful and important point!

2. What are the seven ideas, which were personally most important to you? And why?

* Big Picture Thinking
* Behavioral Change
* Performance Change
* Attitudinal Change
* Expectation Change
* Belief Change
* Reflective Change

These ideas are useful to me because they really give a broader perspective to my orientation on change,

For instance change is something that is personal, one needs to make a commitment to change, change is possible and change is profitable because we stand the chance to be rewarded.

For me thinking for me has been putting myself in the right place to think. Becoming a good thinker is not difficult. It’s a discipline. If you go to your special place, for example a designated thinking place expecting to generate good thoughts, then eventually you will come up with some and soon you would be implementing some of them once you have established clarity.

One of the best ways to test your thinking is to put your thoughts in writing.

If you want to be a better thinker you must work at it. Once you become a better thinker the ideas just keep coming.

Good thinkers solve problems. They never lack for ideas that can build an organization and they always hope for a better future.

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

A lot of people thought I was so daring, a wishful thinker, always dreaming the impossible and thinking things that really were beyond me. While people concentrated on the limitations around me, I was challenged by my own self-will and incredible mindset to pursue what they thought was impossible. Books have power my friends and the ideas in any book, I believe have been tried and tested so I gave this too a thought.

I belong to a worldwide organization of over 200,000 active citizens from over 100 countries. In my own small country Ghana, I challenged myself since I became a member to rise up to each of the leadership ranks. I aspired to be the president of this organization, oh yes I did and after reading thinking for a change, I decided to aspire for a greater responsibility. That was vying for the positive of International Vice President of the organization for Africa and the Middle East. Faced with so many challenges, but yet not perturbed, I saw what the big picture was and visualized the possibilities there of. You bet there were a lot of obstacles but I had learnt to align my belief to my vision. Remember my friend however, that only thing that stands in a man’s way is the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible. A belief is not just an idea that you possess; it is an idea that possesses you.

Changing your expectations changes your attitude. Negative expectations are a quick route to dead-end thinking.

Positive expectations bring a positive attitude. They bring excitement, conviction, desire, confidence, commitment, and energy. If you would like to possess these qualities in great abundance then its important you do what I did, raise your expectations. Remember my friends that as at the time I decided to run for this position, all the odds were against me, but I looked beyond them and filled my nomination for the position.

This is what is interesting, while in Osaka on the 29th of October, 2010, I felt like I had won. Suddenly my confidence level had heightened, my energy was much greater and my enthusiasm, even much resounding. A lot of processes happened in the quest to run for Vice President of the organization and one of it was the candidate’s interview. I had to align all my thoughts and actions to the big picture and answer all my questions as a winner. There was a candidates caucus presentation and on this day, there were over 4000 members that had gathered in the conference hall to listen to all 19 candidates vying for the position of Vice President. After the introduction of my two minutes presentation received an applause, I knew I was doing something right.

The results of each of the candidates were announced on Election Day and I was happy that I defended my country flag as a Ghanaian and had a B rating.

I didn’t become a Vice President, but in my mind and heart, I had won. A candidate, who won the election said to another colleague “ don’t worry about Paa, he doesn’t deserve sympathy, he looks like he won the contest” I smiled when he made the proclamation and really, I was excited when other leaders all over the world came to offer words of motivation that I had touched most of them.

Well as I sat in my seat on Election Day, I smiled and said to myself, “ I had translated my thoughts to reality and have become a voice. Soon after I had thought this, I heard the secretary general of the organization mention my name on the microphone that I had been appointed the UN Affairs Commissioner for the organization for Africa and the Middle East.

So you see, changing your attitude changes your behavior. That which holds our attention determines our actions. Your behavior follows your attitude.

Changing your behavior changes your performance. Don’t ever be impressed with goal setting. Be impressed with goal getting. changing your performance changes your life. When you change your performance on a consistent basis you have the power to change your life.

My own reaction to the book was to see more clearly my thinking strengths and weaknesses. I had never thought of the benefits of combining all of these characteristics into every thought. I came away with a clear idea of what I need to do differently, and found that I immediately began to change.

The book is summarized as this:

The eleven thinking skills Thinking For A Change offers are as follows:

* Acquire the wisdom of big-picture thinking – does my thinking extend beyond me and my world

* Unleash the potential of focused thinking – concentrate to find clarity on the real issues

* Discover the joy of creative thinking – get out of the box and find break through thinking

* Recognize the importance of realistic thinking – does my thinking have a solid mental foundation

* Release the power of strategic thinking – is my thinking leading to plans for today that help me reach my potential tomorrow

* Feel the energy of possibility thinking – possibility thinking can help you find solutions to even the difficult problems

* Embrace the lessons of reflective thinking – am I revisiting the past to gain understanding and learn from what happened

* Question the acceptance of popular thinking – am I rejecting the limitations of common thinking

* Encourage the participation of shared thinking – am I engaging others to expand and sharpen my thinking

* Experience the satisfaction of unselfish thinking – am I considering others and their needs

* Enjoy the return of bottom-line thinking – am I staying focused on results

4. 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.

“Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches or pounds, or college degrees, or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking” David Schwartz.

“The Right Thought plus the Right People in the Right Environment at the Right Time for the Right Reason equals the Right Result.”

“Sometimes a thought is merely a springboard to a greater idea, but without that springboard, the great idea will never be found.”

“You have to think anyway, so why not think big?” Donald Trump

“ You have to think about ‘big things’ while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” Alvin Toffler

“You will become as small as your controlling desire, as great as your dominant aspiration.” James Allen

“Keep your mind off the things you don’t want by keeping it on the things you do want.” W. Clement Stone

“To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.” Jules Henri Poincare.

“We must stop assuming that a thing which has never been done before probably cannot be done at all.” Donald M. Nelson

“People with humility don’t think less of themselves; they think of themselves less.” Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale

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

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete.

Thinking for a change had questions for the reader to answer.

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

None

Ratings:

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

Leaders: How Top Innovators Can Help your Business Succeed On a Global Basis.

Assessment By Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

Leanne Bucaro in this book leaders, explores ways some of the top successful businesses in Canada used and tries to bring many experiences under one umbrella, her book Leaders is one road map to dine and learn with success masters in Canada and how they were able to achieve great feet.

Exemplary leadership

A good leader leads by example, builds and empowers other leaders, provides direction without micro managing. Over the years as I walked through the hallway of leadership, taking my gentle leap steps as a class captain in grade school and gradually rising up through high school and then later on in the prime of my life, I realized that I got better as I nurtured my self with this ideal, to try always to be the example.

Adapt Strong Ethics and Values

Leading people is a skill that one has to develop each day, but also comes with having a tough skin, as tough as the crocodile but also soft as the lamb. Usually, you need the tough skin as you are faced with critical decisions that are interspersed with stronger emotions and require that you use your toughness and discipline. Its important that you learn acquire stronger ethics and values to help you make sound decisions. Once upon a time I was faced with some very critical decision with my family life. As the head of my external family, sometimes, I have to take tough decisions that go against certain members of the family close to my heart, but really, its important that there isn’t bias in judgement, so this is usually necessary.

Surround yourself with talented people

The smartest and wisest way of winning is to surround ones self with a bunch of talents and sound minds to draw on their expertise. I learnt to use the expertise of others to make up for the weaknesses that I had, I got people that are skilled in certain areas and yours those arm of strength to fill in my gap of weakness. This means that learning also the skill to delegate. A leader isn’t successful if he is found doing everything. He is, if he masters the skill to identify great minds vexed with certain capabilities and delegating them to meet a need area. I admired how a young leader in Accra identified his team, realized each of their strengths and blended it in perfectly with his vision and values.

Establishing and nurturing relationships.

One of the very favorite quotes I like in the good old book, the bible stated that “do onto others as you want done to you” It’s important that as we walk in leadership, we treat people with respect, with love, with dignity as we wished that it would be done to us. I noticed that, people turn to trust you, tell you stuff, confide in you, walk with you if they are made to realize that you do not discriminate, you are not bias and you treat everybody equally and fairly. Just recently, I set up a retailing business and decided to do the selling myself, as I love selling and teach sales. I realized that one of my customers that I traded stuff to was very slow in paying back stuff she had bought on credit. She wasn’t forth coming and each time she said she would pay, didn’t and kept on disappointing all the time. As human as I am, I get frustrated by this situation and sometimes want to go that strong. Well, I took keen interest in her business and asked her how sales were going. Sometimes, even got personal and noticed a few health challenges. I manage to have a good and healthy relationship and also get a few of her friends who pay more for the same stuff I give to her and who became repeat customers. So you see, its important that we are careful with how we manage relationships.

Taking Calculated Risk

I know of a very good woman, successful with her career and always wanting to play it safe and as much as possible avoid taking risk. Another friend told me while on a train ride “ you can’t achieve much if you are not daring enough to take that risk” Its important to take risks, however, its also vital not to take any risk but calculated ones. I have taken some very tough decisions, really daring and bold steps and each time I did that, I would look at the pros and cons and if the positives supersede the negatives, I give it a shot. Be wise taking risks and if you must take some risk, it must be worth your while in the long while.

Go out and achieve; Give life your best shot

Its important to get knowledge and build strategies. What is necessary however is what we do with them once we have acquired them. Each day I read something, observe some one, or visit somewhere, I try to see how to incorporate those ideals that I learn in my life. I try to demonstrate it, test it, proof it and see what success I can achieve.

Learning from failure

I have made many mistakes, taken many wrong decisions in business, family and social life. But I have also learnt from these mistakes as well as my successes to construct a winning approach to life and business. I have realized that as I venture in business, I sure will make many mistakes, but these mistakes would be building my muscles to make better.

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?

Quite amazing that many experiences could be gathered and packaged for me to be better. The many tips and advises shared by these outstanding business minds come in handy. The practical experiences shared are the gem stones am going to use to build my career and business. One thing runs through in all that they did, passion for action, dedication, commitment and going even when everybody says stop. Incredible and quite revealing stories shared by Sam Mercanti, president of Carstar, to Infinity Communication and Manor House Publishing and many other giants in industry has given me such great knowledge and tips that will go to improve the brand called me.

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

“Accept and embrace opportunity. When opportunity knocks, open the door”

Opportunity comes to us in various ways. Sometimes, we don’t see it coming and it takes us by surprise. However, when we can clearly identify what it is, its important that we build the muscles to take all of it.

“Believe in yourself. We are capable of doing whatever we put our mind to. Grow each day in mind, body and spirit”. Not too long ago, I watched a video on you tube by Will Smith, the ace actor who really resounded this quote. Really, nothing can be done if he human mind does not build that positive momentum to make happen. You are what you say you are.

“Set realistic expectations of yourself and others and live up to them. Its counterproductive to expect more than that”

Setting expectations is important, don’t say you want to build a space shuttle when you have barely built a bicycle or developed the mechanism of a car engine.

“ Consider the benefits of strategic alliances for providing you with expertise and resources you might not have”. Over the years, I have learnt to network with great minds all over the world and formed great alliances that come in very handy at little or no cost if I need to consult on some ideas, expertise and skills

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

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

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

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

Investing for Dummies

Assessed by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

Leadership for dummies tries to explore the various ways of investing. Really brings it down to the very core to get people like me and many others to understand in its simplest forms. It presents useful tips, strategies that makes the whole concept of financial management meaningful and easy to assimilate.

i. Myths of being an entrepreneur

I decided to share a few words to this end because there has been some misconceptions about been entrepreneurial and demystifying this thought is important. Many of these myths tend to exist partly because most people who are not entrepreneurs tend to associate with others who aren’t.

ii. Its not right to think that you have to be well connected or know important people to be entrepreneurial.

Having a good attitude, maintain proper ethics could attract people to help In your walk to be entrepreneurial, but more importantly, remember that looking in the mirror shows you your best and most trusted resource.

iii. You need to have an MBA or some other fancy degree.

Seriously, the most successful people Les Brown, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many others didn’t have MBA’S to achieve all those feet. For crying out loud, they didn’t even have college degrees. Forbes magazine’s lists of the most financially successful small companies shows that about 15 percent of the CEOs didn’t earn a college degree and about half don’t have advanced degrees. These statistics are even incredible when you consider that a relatively large number of entrepreneurs with humble backgrounds leave or are forced out of the successful enterprises they started. This is not to say that a good education isn’t worthwhile, but a formal education isn’t necessary In achieving greater heights.

iv. You need to be a genius.

Intelligence is admittedly a difficult thing to measure, but the majority of entrepreneurs have IQs under 120, and a surprising percentage have IQs under the average of 100. When Ghanaian entrepreneur Seth Adjei Baah in the late 70’s started a small soap factory in his home town Nkawkaw a suburb of Ghana, he only took a smart business decision to meet the ever pressing need of producing soap, one that later became very popular in the country called “don’t touch me” because of its sticky nature.

At the time, the government had stopped importation of major commodities because of the uprising and so this business move was timely and strategic in the business sense. To produce what consumers needed locally. It didn’t take a genius to figure this out, it took a man who was also frustrated that he didn’t have access to the basic necessities.

vi. You have to be willing to take a huge risk.

Some people focus on the potential for failure. Consider this for a moment, if your venture doesn’t work out, you can always go back to a job similar to the one you left behind. Also, recognize that risk is a mater of perception, and as with investments, people completely overlook some risks. Have you ever considered the risk to your happiness and career if you stay in a boring, claw-your-way-up-the-corporate-ladder kind of job? You always risk a lay out when you work for a company. An even greater risk is that you will wake up in your 50s and 60s and think that its too late to do something on your own and wish you had tried sooner.

When I got out of tertiary education, one of the people that came out strong to get me into a job was my mother. Get a job, play it safe earn a retirement. This was the life she knew and had not been introduced to any other. For the first time, I defied my mother and followed my guts. I went back and decided to listen to the voice of my grade 6 teacher who constantly kept telling me to pursue a career in communication as he found me to be a good writer and reader. I have since been a social entrepreneur, have had the freedom to travel the world and do what I love to do best and earning a living out of it.

vii. Investing in your career

Let it be told that my friend Samuel at the bank is comfortable climbing the corporate ladder like his father who is also a banker. Some people are happy and content as employees. Companies need and want lots of good employees, so you can find a job if you have skills, a worth ethic, and the ability to get along with others. You can however, improve your income earning ability and invest in your career in a variety of different ways:

* Work: Be willing to work extra hours and take on ore responsibility, but do so within reason. Those who take extra initiative and then deliver really stand out in a company where many people working on a salary have a time clock, 9 to 5 mentality. Be careful however, that the extra effort doesn’t contribute to work holism, a dangerous addiction that causes too many people to neglect important personal relationships and their own health. Don’t bite more than you can chew.

* Read: One of the reasons that you don’t nee a PhD, a master’s degree, or even an undergraduate college degree to succeed in business is that you can find out a lot on your own. You can gain insight by doing, but you can also gain expertise by reading a lot. A good bookstore had no entrance requirements, such as an elevated high school grade point average. A good book isn’t free, but it costs a heck of lot less than taking more college or graduate courses.

* Study: If you haven’t completed your college or graduate degree and the industry you are in values those who have, consider investing the time and money to finish your education. Speak with others who have taken that path and see what they have to say.

* Real Estate

I have always known the investment that lied in real estate. At least reading Robert Kiyosaki’s rich dad, poor dad gave me some tutorials. Experiencing this again in this book, makes it even more potent and remembering a statement from a family friend who said to me once, “ I don’t have a social security, I choose to invest my money in buying property rather than Porsche cars. Some day, the value of these properties will appreciate and I am sure to be able to comfortably take care of my old age with this investment”

Owning and managing real estate is like running a small business. You need to satisfy customers in this case tenants, manage your costs, keep an eye on the competition and many more.

If you decide some day to invest in land, be sure that you can afford it. Tally up the annual carrying costs so that you can see what your cash drain maybe.

Its important also to understand what further improvements the land needs. Running utility lines, building roads, landscaping and so on all cost money.

* Starting your own business

Start a small business for fun, profit and huge tax deductions. Bottom line, you need to operate a real business for the purpose of generating income and profits not tax deductions. The IRS considers an activity a hobby ( and not a business) if it shows a loss for three or more of the preceding five tax years. ( Exception: The IRS considers horse racing and breeding a hobby if it shows a loss for five or more of the preceding seven tax years.)Most people perceive staring their own business as the riskiest of all small business investment options. But if you get into a business that uses your skills and expertise, the risk isn’t nearly as great as you may think.

Many businesses can be started with little money by leveraging your existing skills and expertise. Over the years, I have tried my hands on many things, but all with the focus of dealing directly with people. My interest in tourism got me involved in selling tourism packages and organizing the whole tour experience. Speaking is something that I love most and seeing the crowd each time, gives me an added motivation to deliver. Been able to market myself and project my skills and expertise to this end will make me achieve and successful.

* Investing in someone else’s business.

Sometimes, you may be interested in investing another persons initiative because it resonates your ideals, nothing wrong with that. Its important however to invest for the right reasons. Its important however to consider investing in another’s business if you are sure to meet the following criteria:

You can afford to lose what you invest. Unlike investing in a diversified stock mutual fund, you may lose all of your investment when you invest in a small, privately held company.

You have sufficient assets so that what you invest is mall privately held companies is a small portion of your total financial assets.

You are astute as evaluating financial statements and business strategies.

Be sure to see a copy of the business plan and compare it with the business plan model in investment for dummies. Talk to others who don’t have a stake in the investment and benefit from their comments and concerns. Don’t forget however that many a wise person has rained on the parade of what turned out to be a terrific business idea.

Identifying your business concept

What you want your business to do for you is an important and integral point to consider. Having to consider what products and services you want to offer. Perhaps your business goal is to perform tax preparation services for small business owners. Or perhaps you want to start a consulting firm, open a restaurant that sells healthy fast food, or manufacturing toys.

Your concept doesn’t have to be unique to survive in the business world. The existence of many other people who already do what you want to do validates the potential for your small business ideas. Even if you aspire to build he next billion dollar company, you can put a twist on older concepts. Suppose that you are a hair stylist but you don’t want a traditional office where people must walk in to get their hair done, so you have trained certified stylists that takes the service to these people at home. You can however succeed by doing what other traditional hair stylists are doing and have done over the years with a traditional office.

Delivering your service or product

Suppose that you want to start a business that delivers groceries and runs errands for busy people or older and disabled people who can’t easily perform daily tasks for themselves. Delineate the steps that you will take to provide the service. When potential customers call to inquire about your business, what kind of information do you want to record about the situation? Create a pricing and other marketing literature that you can mail to curious potential customers. The point of this is, you need to map out a system that you can work with before you dive into running your business. Your system may evolve over time but a tentative game plan has great value.

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

I have made many mistakes out of ignorance especially in making certain sound business decisions. The information gathered from this book will go a long way to augment some of these errors in the future and make better.

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

“Don’t believe you need a rich dad to be a successful investor”

Over the years, I have come to realize many common people in society who came from non wealthy backgrounds or families but who have commanded a large chunk of sustainable wealth living within their means and investing in stocks, real estates and small business.

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

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

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

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

D. Would you recommend it to others? 10

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

Your Faith Is Your Fortune

Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

This book explores the various dimensions of faith and gives explicit and vivid elucidation of what faith is and how it works. It expounds the metaphysical interpretation of the bible.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why?

a. Exploring Who We are

Only through one door can that which you seek pass into the world of manifestation. Our consciousness is the door therefore its important that we become conscious of being and having that which we desire to be and to have. Any attempt to realize our desires in ways other than through the door of consciousness makes one a thief and a robber onto the self. Any expression that is not felt is unnatural. Our world is our consciousness objectified. Its important that we try to change the inside or the impressions and the without or expression will take are of itself. When the truth of this statement dawns on us, we will know that we have found the lost word or the key to every door. I AM ( your consciousness) is the lost word which was made flesh in the likeness of that which we are conscious of.

b. Identifying Who We Are In God’s Divine Order

“All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made”. A bit of these statements are difficult to be accepted by most orthodox religion, why? Well, all things, good, bad,and indifferent, were made by God. Well, its either the understanding of God is erroneous or else there is something radically wrong with man’s teaching. Well, I like to concentrate on all things were made by God, good, bad and indifferent. Sometimes, the rigorous process the metal gold goes through before it attains its luster and many would think, the miner doesn’t have good intent for the precious stone, but it really does. We go through the bad experiences in this life to make us better and appreciate the goodness there of in the experiences. We need to learn lessons if we must grow.

c. The Will of God made Manifest At All Times

“Not my will, but thine, be done.” When man wills, he attempts to make something which does not exist appear in time and space. Too often we are not aware of that which we are really doing. We unconsciously state that we do not possess the capacities to express. We predicate our desire upon the hope of acquiring the necessary capacities in future time. “ I AM not, but I will be.” We don’t realize that consciousness is the Father which does the work, so he attempts to express that which he is not conscious of being. Such struggles are doomed to failure; only the present expresses itself. The principles by which all tings are made visible is eternal. “Eyes have not seen nor ears heard, neither hath it entered into the hearts of men, the things which God hath prepared for those who love the law.” In our formless awareness lies buried all that we will ever conceive ourselves to be. Our claim that we are now that which we want to be will remove the veil of the human darkness and reveal our claim perfectly.

d. Building a foundation

The foundation of all expression is consciousness. Try as we will, man can’t find a cause of manifestation other than his consciousness of being. We think we have found the cause of disease I germs and many others. However, all such discoveries of man, catalogued as the essence of wisdom are foolishness in the eyes of God. Regardless of the problem that troubles you, its duration or its magnitude, careful attention to these instructions will in am amazingly short time eliminate even the memory of the problem. Ask yourself this question “How would I feel if I were free?” All things express their nature. As you wear a feeling, it becomes your nature.

e. I’m-Pressions.

Our unconsciousness it the unlimited potential upon which impressions are made. To be impressed is to be I’m-pressed. All expressions are the result of I’m-pressions. Only as we claim ourselves to be that which we desire to be will we express such desires. We are schooled in the belief that our desires are things against which we must struggle. In our ignorance, we deny our savior who is constantly knocking at the door of consciousness to be let in. To let your savior in is the easiest thing in the world. Things must be, to be let in. Our desire, though invisible, must be affirmed by us to be something that is real. Remember, God called those things that be not (are not seen) as though they were. Let the thing desired press itself upon you until you are I’m-pressed with newness of your savior; then you utter the cry of victory, “It is finished”.

f. The Power in Prayer

“When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. ~ Matt. 6:6

Prayer is the most wonderful experience man can have. Unlike the daily murmurings of the vast majority of mankind in all lands who by their vain repetitions hope to gain the ear of God, prayer is the ecstasy of a spiritual wedding taking place in the deep, silent stillness of consciousness. “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. ~ Mark 11:24.

Our receptive attitude of mind while praying or contemplating can be likened to a bride or womb for it is that aspect of mind which receives the impressions. That which we contemplate being is the groom, for it is the name or nature we assume and therefore is that which leaves its impregnation; so one dies to maidenhood or present nature as one assumes the name and nature of the impregnation. When we emerge from the hour of prayer we must do so conscious of being and possessing that which we heretofore desired.

g. Dealing with your lion’s den

Well, it may come as a surprise to many, but those that have known me for a bit, identify me by the name Daniel. The story of Daniel In the Lions den, is the story of every one. For example, if you were imprisoned, no man would need to tell you that what you should desire is freedom. Freedom or rather the desire to be free would be automatic.

The same would be true if you found yourself sick or in debt or in any other predicament. Lions represent seemingly insoluble situations of a threatening nature. Every problem automatically produces its solution in the form of a desire to be free from the problem. Therefore, turn your back upon your problem and focus your attention upon the desired solution by already feeling yourself to be that which you desire. Continue in this belief, and you will find that your prison wall will disappear as you begin to express that which you have become conscious of being. We are able to deal with the issues of a hopeless debt situation within a short time if we apply this principle or situations where doctors have medically declared a condition hopeless and people who applied this principle had their total and complete healing.

Look upon your desires as the spoken words of God and every word of prophecy of that which you are capable of being. Do not question whether you are worth or unworthy to realize these desires. Accept them as they come to you. Give thanks for them as though they were gifts. Feel happy and grateful for having received such wonderful gifts. Then go your way in peace.

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?

Most of the manifestations in my life have been because I always saw the end from the beginning and in my own consciousness, realized the power of make happen. When I heard an old friend tell me, “ you live in a fantasy world, you need to wake up from your dreams” I smiled and replied, “face it my friend, can’t you see the manifestation of my dreams all over?” I am living these dreams each day through faith. If you think about it, faith doesn’t make sense, its not logical to affirm the believe that you will go on a trip, plan your luggage, tell friends about it when you don’t have a plane ticket, or better still, see a family member of yours suffer from a terminal illness and you see a different picture. You are touted as crazy, but that is faith, it really doesn’t make too much sense. This book dares me to operate in another realm of faith that has energized me to test some of its principles in the next couple of days.

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

“Seeing is believing,” to “Believing is seeing”.

Over the years, a lot of people have become doubting Thomas” like the realists that they are, they like to see before they believe anything. Living in this mindset questions a person’s sense of trust. It feels very daring and intimidating to believe what you haven’t seen, but that is what faith is. Many years ago, I believed that I will be a speaker, it didn’t matter the size of my audience, but I knew I would speak and impact into lives. Many people questioned this because of my introvert nature. Well, I believed yet, what I had not seen and it didn’t come as a surprise when years after, I am living in its manifestation.

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

I bet to differ from the statement “ Millions of prayers are daily unanswered because man prays to a God who does not exist” Neville makes sound statement trying to develop the various elements of faith, but to say that there is no God and God is consciousness, I don’t concur with this conclusion.

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

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

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

A. How interesting was it to read? 7

B. How helpful were the contents? 8

C. How easy was it to understand? 8

D. Would you recommend it to others? 8

E.. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Becoming a Person of Influence

Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

This book shares practical techniques, skills and has an enormous inept knowledge of how to become a person of influence

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why?

a. Self Preparation

You can only teach people what you know, if you are shallow, you will teach people the best way you know how, but to be exceptionally good at leading, its important that you prepare your self, acquire the requisite knowledge to be empowered, motivated, nourished and informed to transfer this same level of enthusiasm to other. I realize that I am able to give more to others because I have dedicated time and energy towards self empowerment.

b. Hope

I remember some time past when I would always query my friend for giving people false hope, in response, he said to me “ I am not giving them false hope Paa, I am giving them reason to be alive and excited that the solution to their challenge is already at their door step. Don’t we all feel some kind of sudden energy when are are out on cash and suddenly, we receive a call from a friend or loved one that they are sending us money? What happens, our whole psyche changes from depressing to expectant and we begin to visualize the end from the beginning. Johann Wolfgang emphasizes this point by saying “ Treat a man as he appears to be and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he already were what he potentially could be and you make him what he should be”.

Once upon a time, I helped my five year old daughter to do her home work, while in the process, I was getting all irritated as she was not getting it as quickly as I expected her to, I understood that she needed some moral support, so started telling her how smart she was and how smarter she would be by using her smart power to solve the mathematics assignment. Soon, she giggled, sat with back straightened and solved the piece with very little effort on my part this time. Nurturing hope, can lead to enormous potential. “There are no hopeless situations; there are only men and women who have grown hopeless about them.” ~ Marshal Ferdinand Foch Every person has seeds of greatness within even though they may currently be dormant.

c. Transferring Authority

Most often, people find it difficult transferring their authority to others by virtue of the fact that they will be powerless or reduce in rank. This is however a fallacy. By transferring authority, we only give another the opportunity and to demonstrate to them that we believe in them and that given the opportunity, they also can achieve same feet.

d. Giving with no strings

When I was approached by a young prominent lady to conduct a certain activity, I inquired from a few colleagues to help me fulfill this task. After I had explained to one, what it would take, she said to me “ how much money am I going to make if I commit my time and effort” At that instance, I felt highly disappointed and said to her “sometimes, we have to volunteer our time and efforts without any strings attached”

If you need people, you cannot lead them. And nurturing is an aspect of leadership. Instead of trying to make a transaction out of it, give freely without expecting anything in return. “You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in a spirit of love.” Henry Drummond

e. Enlarging People

Over the past few years, I have taken a keen interest in mentoring one individual. We shared a ride, and had quite a bit of conversation. Concluding, after I had pulled over for his alight, I remember sharing with him a few words that brought up a spark in him. Today, while he prepared for a public speaking championship, I told him how so proud I was of him and how enthusiastic I was that he was going to carry the day. Author Alan Loy McGinnis was right when he observed that “ There is no more noble occupation in the world than to assist another human being to help some one succeed.” Helping others enlarge themselves is one of the most incredible thing you can ever do for them.

f. Integrity With People

When Carter shared with me his experience while living abroad, he emphasized most of the time about been a man of integrity. Its important that we learn to build a strong character. We must take full responsibility of our character. It’s something that we need to do if we need to become men of influence. As I signed the integrity statement which read “I commit myself to being a person of character, truth, reliability, honesty and confidentiality will be my pillars of my life. I will treat others as I expect to be treated. I will live according to the highest standards of integrity amid all of life’s circumstances”. I felt a huge responsibility to make right at all time and regardless of how difficult it is, to be bold and face any situation spot on.

g. Listening to people

A young man goes to see his pastor and tells him an unfortunate situation that had happened. His house had been destroyed by the strong winds and he was devastated. Apparently, he felt God was punishing him for his bad lifestyle. While he narrated the unfortunate incidence, the pastor interrupted and said “ I have been telling you son, that God shall destroy those that don’t walk upright in His will, this is one of many predicaments if you don’t walk true in His word. The young man continued and said, “pastor, it included your house.” Sometimes, I will interrupt and out of excitement say “ can you hold on that thought for a minute, and let me tell you something interesting” Well, this in many instances might be interpreted as rude as it gives the impression that what the other person is trying to communicate to you isn’t interesting, of little importance or perhaps boring. I have learnt to pay particular attention to very little details and hope to be better. Listening right, can help prevent a lot of mistakes. When we listen, we show respect and build relationships. We get increased knowledge about a particular subject. Listening helps us generate ideas, builds loyalty and it’s a great way to help others and your self.

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?

When I thought of the idea of having my name brand, I thought of the influence I could make the world offer with my smile and my positive mental attitude. I had admired a young man in Ghana who out of nothing created a network of inspirational speakers to bring hope and can do attitude to his fellow youth. I particularly feel in love with a statement he made when he invited me as a speaker, he said, “why wait till tomorrow, when you can try today” Another friend of mine said to me, well when I have made all the money, I will motivate and influence people in a certain type of way. Well, my take? There are different ways of influencing people, for me, the ideas in this book affirms that I am doing something right and the many inspiring stories has lifted my aura and is making me soar. I don’t want to tout this as a coincidence, but I think that my steps are ordered each time I work on a book, solely because, I work on the book at the most appropriate time when I need its wisdom. Soon, in the month of May 2012, I will address young entrepreneurs in Ghana and later, speak in the African Heads of States meeting which really is a big opportunity to share a bit of my enthusiasm with many other young individuals. I have gathered some new inspiration in writing a speech that would encourage these individuals to eat the moon. One of the greatest things about becoming a person of influence is that you actually get to see the lives of others change before your eyes.

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

“ You and Jim can make Eric’s problems the center of everything you do, or you can use them as a launching pad for a whole new way of looking at life” John C. Maxwell’s son Eric was physically challenged but saw beyond his challenges and decided to focus on the positives. We all have a choice to either turn a challenge to a great adventure where we learn great lessons, acquire inspiration or see it as a roller skater to achieve great feet.

“The only inheritance that a man will live that has eternal value is his influence” Many years after the dead of my grand mother, I still remember what influence she has on me, that memory will be with me for a life time and if I transfer it to my children and they do to theirs, this influence shall succeed generations and it will be perpetually imprinted in the lives of any that encounter same virtues.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”.I have studied the political history of some countries and notice the attitude of aspiring leaders when they seek the mandate of the people to rule or govern. A few years back, its difficult to make a comparison between before and after as you begin to see the real characteristics of these individuals who sought this power. The character of a leader determines whether his followers will give him another opportunity to serve them or not.

“Don’t ever assume that people know how you feel about them. Tell them. Nobody can be told too often that he or she is loved.” A few days ago, I made a long distance call to my children back home in Africa and while ending our conversation, I said to each of them individually, “ I love you” The enthusiasm and the smile in my mothers voice when I called her and said to her, “ you know how special you are to me mother dearest” and I could feel the warmth and affection. Soon, she had hope, her energy level had risen and she had once more a confirmation that her son still cares and love her. It’s important that we show the people that we love, by constantly reminding them of our love.

“Flatter me, and I may not believe you, Criticize me, and I may not like you, Ignore me, forgive you, Encourage me, and I will not forget you”

When the young man received a phone call from one of his critics who said to him

“Look man, I know that we don’t see eye to eye, but I don’t see any competition with this position because I think you are the best man for the job” The young man was energized, his courage had heightened and he felt like eating the moon. This enthusiasm got him envisioning the whole contest. He travelled and made a good representation of all that put their trust in him. In a very long time, I have mentioned the name of a young man, Samuel Jacobs Abbey in most of my speaking engagements and If I had the opportunity to write, bring his name in the conversation once or twice. A lot of people of asked, why this is so and it’s purely because of his energy that is infectious and so uplifting.

Sometimes, what any body, including you my friend needs is a little encouragement.

“Treat a man as he appears to be and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he already were what he potentially could be and you make him what you should be”. Sometimes, hope is all you need to give others as a result of nurturing.

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

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

The exercises in this book have been so relevant and very practical as I tried to demonstrate and immediately put a few of the principles to use.

I met one young man from Ghana whom I have been trying to mentor for a bit and made a request “ I shall like to explore the possibility of having a mastermind activity with you at least once every month” Well, this was an activity, I was trying to demonstrate by doing. He obliged and we conducted the first exercise for the month of April 2012.

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

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

A. How interesting was it to read? 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

Leading With Soul

Assessment by Paa Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

Leading with soul attempts to discover ones personal path to leadership and offers hope for reconnecting with work and spirit. This books updates a timeless spiritual message in the light of the turmoil of recent years. At the heart of the book is the compelling story of a spirited executive on his quest to find something deeper than rational plans and a focus on the bottom line.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why?

a. Leading from the heart. I have tried to study the different systems and forms of leadership and as much as I appreciate and respect each style, In conclude by saying, “what a big difference would it all make if people lead from the heart” As you father a child, lead a group on a hiking expedition or perhaps champion the vision of an organization, its important to lead from the heart. Our heart is not a machine that pumps blood, its also a spiritual center. It is courage and compassion. If we loose it, life is empty, lonely and we will always be occupied but never filled. Just the other day while watching cable television, I listened to a man who served a four month term in jail for a crime he never committed but had to do time for it because her daughter alleged his father to be the culprit of the crime. It cost him his job and made it difficult to get a new job or rent an apartment. When asked, would you want to start a new relationship with your daughter, he looked at her and said “ I will like to try that” as they hugged, and each shed tears, it only signified what great stride it takes to lead from the center. Taking the first step to reconciliation takes a lot of guts, but its easy if you start from the heart. Learning to lead from the center has a way of looking beyond the self and rather focus on the greater good, that is ensuring harmony and fostering peace and love.

b. Leading with soul. Does this journey of the heart come with a road map? I am sure this is a very valid question that you may want to ask as we explore this new encounter. Well, tell you what my friends, its an inward journey, there is no road map. You find your soul by looking deep within. There, you discover your spiritual center. A journey of the soul is a quest through unchartered territory. You find your way by opening your eyes and your heart. You may choose to believe what I am attempting to tell you, however, if you do take a decision, perhaps one good question would be, where do you begin? A simple and clear answer would be, begin where you are. Usually, where you are at what ever point in your leadership walk is good to commerce this journey. Many people pause and don’t want to pursue this path simply because they are scared to think that what they are looking for, really is on the path they are afraid to take. However, to make progress, we must gather courage and walk the full stretch.

c. Discovering a teacher. A leaf wends its way to wherever the stream takes it. Most people in managerial jobs, may perhaps oppose this statement and bask out to say “ well, my job In my work place is to control things and not just float with the current” Really, its hard to give up even when it’s not working. You can’t start a journey until you let go of habits holding you back. Perhaps, you are also making the popular statement “tell it to my boss, I am paid to be in charge”. Well, if you asked of my opinion, I will tell you that is an illusion. A story was told once about a stream that flowed around many obstacles until it arrived at a desert. The stream tried to cross, but its waters disappeared into the sand. What has this got to do with you? Perhaps, you my friend and the stream have something in common. This is the reality, neither of you want to go anywhere and neither of you want to change. In the past, you always got past obstacles. Now you are trying to cross a desert but you simply don’t know how. I will try to ignore the sarcasm that will be evident as a result of a prejudice that a manager may have and continue by telling you this story.

You see, the stream heard a voice, it said “The wind crosses the desert. So can the stream” The stream protested, “The wind can fly but I can’t. “The voice responded, “Let your self be absorbed by the wind.” The stream replied, “I want to remain the same stream I am today.” “Not possible, “ said the voice. “But your essence, our ultimate character, can be carried away and become a stream again. The stream remembered dimly that she has once been held in the wind. She let her vapor rise into the arms of the wind, which carried it across the desert and then let it fall in the mountains. There it again became a stream. I will cut the story short my friends, but remember, that if you run from yourself, you loose touch with your soul. If this is true, where do we look? Our soul is inside of our core and teachers can teach us to find it. Each of us attend many seminars to build our managerial skills. They are usually taught by celebrated names, I have had people say, “ well, I didn’t learn much” See, lives deepest lessons, are often where we least expect them. Its just like the school of hard knocks. Sometimes, the lessons are very hard. On life’s journey, we pass guideposts every day. Mostly, we don’t notice. Tragedy is the corner of hope

d. Reclaiming your soul. It is by going into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you are looking for. The damned thing in the cave that was so dreaded has become the center. You find the jewel and it draws you off. ~ Joseph Campbell. When we live superficially, pursue no goals to deeper than material success, and ignore our inner voices, we stunt our spiritual development. Todays stressful and turbulent world compounds our risk of shrunken souls and spiritual malaise.

e. Vicissitudes of your journey to find soul. If you don’t know what you believe in you don’t know who you are. Or why you are here. You can’t see where you are going. Most people seem to know where they are going at the beginning of the journey but get lost some how. Prayer is one avenue to faith. A way to have an intimate conversation with your soul is a heart song. A heart song is a message from your heart. Your heart knows things that your mind can’t. Heart songs sustain us through vicissitudes of the journey. Tragedy and loss enter every life. Spirit springs from what you made of them. Wounds provide an eye to see new possibilities. Remember also that humor is a wonderful heart song too.

f. Having Courage of Conviction. A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants. A god scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is. ~ Lao Tzu. The spiritual journey that we as leaders must have to inspire others begin with ourselves but not necessarily by ourselves.

History is full of stories of common people doing extraordinary things. In surmounting anguish and pain, they listen to the souls, kindle their spirit and give strength to others. Only in accepting imperfections, can we develop the conviction to embark on an ill-defined search for a better place. To deny imperfections is to deny our humanity and to become disconnected from our souls. A preacher once asked a group of children: If all the good people in the world were red and all the bad people were green, what color would you be? One girl thought for a long time, looking very serious. Then her face brightened, and she said, “Reverend, I would be streaky.” We are all streaky. Acceptance of fear and imperfection, and willingness to undertake the journey anyway, transport us to live our deepest core, the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive.

g. Gifts of Power. It takes faith in your people to see empowerment as a formula for success, but examples of organizations that have made the lead are multiplying. The gift of power is central to the “open book management” movement, inspired particularly by Jack Stack who tells a persuasive story of turning around a moribund manufacturing by giving employees as much financial information as possible so that they began to think and act like owners. Stack’s ultimate higher law is that you get the highest performance when you appeal to the highest level of thinking.

When I read Brazilian manufacturer Semco, I felt compelled to share with you how Ricardo Semler took over the company from his father in the 1980s and set about transforming its autocratic culture into an unorthodox philosophy of management.

i The key to management is to get rid of all the managers

ii The key to getting work done on time is to stop wearing a watch

iii The best way to invest corporate profits is to give them to the employees.

iv. The purpose of work is not to make money, but to make the employees, whether working stiffs or top executives, feel good about life.

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

Just the other day, I entered into a business partnership with a friend of mine. Its obvious that I have some lead forward in practical business skills, although she also has some first hand theoretical knowledge, I noticed that she has a challenge with listening and got quite impatient. Ideally, I have the tendency of letting any one know spot on what lapse they have and try to correct it there and then, but I have learnt differently and decided to lead from the soul. I asked the simple most fundamental question, would I like it if another interrupted me or perhaps got impatient with me?

Thinking about this question and applying my heart to helping find another way of addressing my concern, got me calmer and empathetic. I now learned to direct the conversation and our discussions in a way that would try to limit sentiments. I guess it helped because a few days back, I had some very positive feedback when she said “thanks for your patience, sometimes, I notice I punch you below the belt” Change can happen, another approach can be used to lead and it is by understanding the language of the heart and that of others and trying to connect it to the core which is the soul to create the needed synergy as you draw the pathway.

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

“ When we live superficially, pursue no goals deeper than material success, and ignore our inner voices, we stunt our spiritual development”

“Hard roads, are better teachers”

Usually when we look back at the tough lessons that we have learned in this life, we notice how enriched and better people we have become

“ You can give power away and wind up with more”

“ The essence of leadership is not giving tangible things or even inspirational visions. It is offering oneself and ones spirit”.

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

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

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment. No

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

A. How interesting was it to read? 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

Change The Worldby Robert E. Quinn

Assessed by: Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

Change the world shows us how to use personal transformation to positively impact our families, organizations, businesses and the world at large.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why?

Negative Emotions as the Engine of Growth

When advanced change theory suggested that we need to change continually, it certainly didn’t mean we need to change for change sake. It means change that allows us to become not only more effective people, but also more in alignment with our true selves.

Real personal change always means experiencing some kind of negative emotion. We know this and we fear this. We therefore try to deny the signals that emergent reality is different from the reality we have always experienced and with which we feel comfortable.

We insist on the validity of our past scripts. We want no cracks in the shell of our acorn. We start to rationalize the need for change.

I remember sharing with a very close friend of mine the need to change ones comfort zone. In the same year, I decided to make some significant change in the way I lived and that included moving homes.

After living in the same address for many years, and felt so used to the neighborhood, it was very difficult deciding a new environment. This shift in change was necessary for me because I needed to experience my own type of bliss in a different way and that included building new relationships and adapting to a new and completely different landscape.

Although dusty, rocky and bumpy, driving up and down the hill became routine quickly. Walking became more of a ritual each morning as I took my morning walk, breathing in some fresh air, thanking God for the many mercies and enjoying the landscape. This change and shift in thinking pattern has affected entirely my general perspective to life.

Daring, bold and quite provocative if you ask me. But the new life I am living reminds me of the biblical quote that said, if you want to be my follower, go sell all you have and come follow me. To experiment on where happiness resided, It started with me, giving out most of my worldly possessions. It felt a bit weird and insane at the beginning but it all began to make sense when I started enjoying a different type of bliss.

B. Reforming From Within

Transformational change begins first when we adopt the teaching of the master Jesus when he said “ And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceives not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye” Luke 6:41-42

In the normalized world, the dominant approach to change is to tell the person to change and if the person fails to respond, find some way to coerce them into changing. Watching others do this over time, we may notice the futility of their efforts. It is at such times that the above quotation from the teachings of Jesus might come to mind, suggesting that we might better understand and influence others if we first gained a deeper understanding of ourselves.

When we watch others tell and coerce, we can sense that they are suffering from two problems. First, their efforts are far less effective than they would like. Second, they are probably imposing some form of injury on the larger relationship in which both persons are involved.

Ghandi tells us that such a change agent is trying to bring change by only external means and in so doing brings violence or injury to the relationship. He suggests that the transformational alternative is to obtain reform by growth from within, which in turn is obtained by self-suffering, and self purification.

We may greatly increase the likelihood of changing the world if we look within, clarifying our own values as we go, and then disciplining ourselves to more fully live those values.

Dr. King advocated the same principle. As thousands waited to march, King received a racist phone call, threatening his life. As he hung up the phone, he was filled with fear and panic. He knew that as long as he was driven by this fear, he could not lead.

People would sense what he was feeling and they would falter. They needed to feel his courage, determination, enthusiasm, and trust. His awareness that his supporters needed this from him drove him to prayer and to the outer situation remained exactly as it was, with a potential assassin still out there. By changing what was happening within him, he gained the power to more effectively change the world.

Over the years, I had been instrumental in forming a group, strong, vibrant and able. As the group grew, there were a few issues that ensued that caused division in the group and the crux of this was because of lack of people been acknowledged by the present leadership.

As a visionary of this group, I had called for several meeting to resolve the un pass but not very great success was made, so I resolved in having a meeting with the leader at the time when these issues started arising and was quite fascinated when he said to me “ well, lets have a deal, bring all those that left the group when you constituted it and I would ensure that I do same” Well, looking back, I realized that people that left the group when I constituted it didn’t leave because they didn’t feel appreciated, but perhaps they found other interests.

I took up the challenge and contacted all that I could find in my list hoping that they would come back, but as fate has it, some things would remain the same. I realized that there was a shift in the target audience that I brought on board.

As I learned from the past, accepted and moving forward, I feel its important that same assessment is done by others. I have taken it upon my self to write back to all members of the group to come together, bury all differences and build a common good of impacting positively to make this world a much better place.

c. Becoming a Creative Force

Clarifying our purpose and committing to pursue the highest in us is transformational. We all want to experience ourselves as a creative force. That is when we are most influential and happy. The problem is that the normalized world will always entice or threaten us into mindless choices.

The normalized world will take us to the routine, unexamined response. When this happens, we focus on the external and forget to examine the internal. We become driven by circumstance and begin to live as a divided self.

Fundamental choices do not shift with circumstance. Once we make such a choice, we stick to it even if we are angry, frustrated, or depressed. Whether we are winning or losing, whether we are surrounded by supporters or detractors, does not matter, our choices remain the same. We pursue it even when it is inconvenient or uncomfortable to do so.

Moving houses wasn’t very comfortable, although it came with so much discomfort, I still had to do it. I guess, I was demonstrating the clarity of my intent then.

d. Accepting Our Hypocrisy

Many of us including me find it difficult accepting our own hypocrisy. We grow to accept an unacceptable fact that we are hypocrites and take this notion seriously, it makes changing ones self much easier.

I couldn’t have agreed with Carl Rogers when he said, “We cannot change, we cannot move away from what we are, until we thoroughly accept what we are. Then change seems to come about almost unnoticed” (Rogers, 1961,p.1).

When I accept that my behavior is hypocritical, I can usually commit to change. I exercise some form of self-mastery and I experience personal growth and increased insight. For a time I am euphoric.

Its important that we ask ourselves when ever we are in a change situation, how we are practicing hypocrisy in any situation. If we are working with another person who is trying to bring change, Its important that we try to help them to embrace their own hypocrisy before they start pointing out the mots in the eyes of those who are the targets of change. This is not easy because in asking the change agent to embrace their hypocrisy, we must also embrace ours.

That we need to embrace our hypocrisy is a bad news- good news proposition. The bad news is that it is very difficult. The good news is that it is a choice that we control. We can not control many of the variables in our external world.

But we can control our own behavior. Closing our integrity gaps is a choice that always remains with us. We do not need permission from anyone to make such a choice. Each time we do make such a choice, we have a sense of victory.

We begin to create a new self and we start to live in a new way. We see things that we could not see and we have options we did not have. We access resources that we did not know existed. We feel empowered and we become empowering.

e. Transcendence

Transcendence is energy shifting from one form to another. The acorn is a seed that contains the script for an oak tree. Through the process of transcendence the acorn becomes much more than an tiny nut. Its shell(envelope) must open to the energy of the soil. This process of interaction includes the death of the acorn as a nut. The acorn transcends its shell to become an oak. Energy that was once held in the form of the acorn gathers new energy from other sources – the soil, the sun, the air and the rains from the sky and begins to take form as a tree.

People can be like acorns. Our consciousness can unfold, gathering energy from new sources, evolving into something much greater and more life giving than we presently enjoy.

Chatterjee(1998,p. 37) tells us that the world development shares the same root as envelope. “Development simple means de-enveloping or opening up the scripts of our lives.”

Here’s how this works: We are conscious of some things and react to them in predictable ways because previous learning and experience organizes and directs our consciousness. We might say that we have developed scripts. These scripts are like the scripts that actors follow. We have lots of scripts in our heads. These scripts tell us how to act in given situations.

When my five year old daughter decides that modeling is more important that studies, she is following a script. When I get upset with her choice and exercise coercion, I am following a script. At that point, neither of us can experience the other in a meaningful way. We have retreated into our shells. We are having a secondary encounter, based on past scripts instead of a primary encounter in which we are enacting productive community.

As integrity increases, power increases. The transformational change agent has an expanding consciousness and a confident connection with emergent reality. This allows the agent to envision the difference between the actual and the infinite possibilities in the target of change. The transformational change agent communicates the potential of the other person to the other person. The other person is then more likely to change.

f. Conformity in Organizations

The dynamics of conformity are found in families and small groups but are particularly obvious in large organizations. Most of the latter are held together by systems of fear.

Too often the result is overly conservative decision making and employees from top to bottom who feel powerless. Insecure authority figures, trying to meet both real and imagine expectations, hand down directives and strategies that have been formulated mostly out of a desire to stay out of trouble.

These often lead to a mixture of positive and negative outcomes- but one dares not discuss the negative ones. There is that invisible shackle again, making it clear that negative feedback is not acceptable. In fact, as fear continues to drive the organization, confrontation of any kind becomes a taboo. In time, positive confrontation is as rare as the negative kind.

Any system that progresses into this level of fear gets cut off, to one degree or another, from emergent reality. Nobody dares make a choice based on what they are experiencing in the present.

Why is this relevant? It helps us be aware of these characteristics in any organization and strategize how to cause positive change to augment these symptoms.

g. Supporting People in the Change Process

When challenged, most of us experience anxiety or even fear and may withdraw in the process. In order to learn, grow, and change, we need to feel capable of meeting the challenges before us, even we need to feel capable of meeting the challenges before us, even though the challenges may require us to stretch our present capabilities. The long and short of it is that we need to feel in control of our destiny. Effective change agents understand and respect this human fact of life.

Change agents see the need to both challenge and support people, recognizing that only when they feel supported and relatively safe will they take risks.

A few days ago, a beloved one approached me, very sad and skeptical about a new challenge. She got a new job with demanding deadlines and targets to meet. The interesting bit is that, her boss has a lot of confidence in her and expects much more from her. She is perplexed, confused and really thinks the world is coming to an end on her, but is it? Its just a normal phenomenon and its time for her to harness her own innate capabilities, braise herself and be up for any challenge.

Looks like I may have the perfect solution for her.

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

I have tried to drive change in so many ways, to teach my children that they can attain any height. Each day, I share with the world my inspiration that anything and everything is possible with self believe and continue to be a motive actor. The experiences gathered from great visionaries like the master Jesus, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Ghandi as perfect examples of transformational change would kind me to impact significantly on humanity.

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

“To be truly creative, we must be willing to accept punishments”

“We must know who we are and begin to create, not in the hope of approval, but because we are in love with an idea”

“When we are doing what we love, negative feedback becomes part to the creation process. At the very least, it keeps us grounded”

“Organizational change can not occur unless we accept the pain of personal change.

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

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

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

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

3. How interesting was it to read? 9

4. How helpful were the contents? 10

5. How easy was it to understand? 9

6. Would you recommend it to others? 10

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

Happiness is a Choice
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

This book talks about how we can breathe life into situations that affect us by noticing the situation, accepting that it exists and is part of our journey and our personal curriculum of growth and offering an opportunity to be transformed from that which limits or challenges us.

a. Acknowledging A Challenge

I remember the year, it was 2013, I was in London and was hit with not pleasant news. The news was conveyed to me at a time when I was preparing for a black tie event. Well, what had happened was already in the past and frankly, there was nothing I could do about it at the moment, howbeit sad. Frankly, I had a choice to either change my mood for the better or the worst, so I decided and did what served me. What served me? I had a dinner to attend, good people to meet and I would have just that. Join the company of amazing people and worry about the unpleasant news later.

Fast forward, this is November 2019, I had shelved this studies for about 6 years now and when I decided to return to it, I had chosen Happiness is a Choice as one of the books to complete my Level Six studies. I think the universe has a reason for getting me to pursue the studies again at this time. Just the other day, again, I received a phone call from someone very close to me who made a request I can’t fulfill right now and while I thought of it and frankly lowered my energy. I took a long drive out in the woods, pulled over somewhere and remembered the title of the book. Well, I have a choice to either be influenced by the news that I hear to make it work in a way that serves me, so I decide to do exactly that. I recall that the introductory pages of this book stated that each of us can, in a simple and easy way, access an amazing attitudinal advantage within ourselves once we come to know that happiness (and love) is a choice and misery is optional (non inevitable) Again, it further indicated that we can see our difficulties as an opportunity to grow, learn and love. While I already knew this, a reminder was necessary under the circumstances.

ii. Sitting with your Predicament (Observation)

It’s easy to want to do anything possible especially when you are challenged not to consider that which challenges you in a way that gets you to be in acceptance. It can be tricky because acceptance to some may sound defeatist. I have realized that sitting with that which challenges us brings us to the awareness of our situation. For instance, would I ignore that I need gas for my car when the fuel runs out and I need to go run and errand? Ignoring that I need gas means that I won’t be able to go to town, getting frustrated that I don’t have gas also affects my energy and changes my own frequency. Sitting with the idea and thought of running out of gas and been in acceptance opens me up now to find ways of fixing the challenge.

iii. Seeing the Power in any given Situation

Back in the day, I would see challenges as a very bad thing, something I must avoid by all means. Today, I see them as part of my live journey, they are part of me, would be part of my process and realizing that these are presented to me to make me a better form of my self would bring me a great measure of happiness.

iv. Recognizing that I am responsible to change my narrative

When I have accepted and can now realize the power in any given situation, it is only then would I take responsibility of writing my narrative. At this point, it would be one that is geared towards bringing me satisfaction. In my satisfaction, I would find happiness.

v. Possibility is not an Impossibility

A story was shared in this book about a family who had a child who was autistic, could not speak and when he did slurred. His parents adopted to his lifestyle and had to learn his ways to understand him, empathize with him and gradually help him speak and do much more. Well, the most motivational part of the story is the fact that many years down the line, it’s difficult to even think that he had these disabilities growing up as a child. Sometimes we just don’t know how a situation can be fixed, it’s incumbent on us never to give hope in trying and believing as the universe conspires one way or the other to bring the miracles we seek.

vi. Diehard Believe in Better

There are many things that medical science can proof and quite a few that common sense makes it clear to us. This is one of them, 20 years ago, I sprained a few of my fingers as a result of my love for basketball, after many years of trying so many things, I decided to visit the hospital again for another opinion. The doctor told me I would have to live with this pain until my time here on earth is done. This clearly is a statement I refuted then. But now, through this book, I have learned to accept the pain as part of my journey. While I am aware that it is here, I will now cultivate a healing relationship and mastermind the intent that my pain would be relieved.

vii. Our Outlook of Life Determines Our Experiences

My life has changed quite considerably and reading this book and especially coming across this topic makes me smile. It speaks directly to me in so many ways, but let me summarize. For those that knew me then involved in diplomacy, international relations etc, my new outlook as a barefoot brother can be confusing. But the topic is true, when I looked at life from the perspective of diplomacy it did present my experiences and directed my path and now that I am more nature inspired and ecologically motivated, it does same too. I guess what I am trying to say is that we can choose to change the status quo and deliberately program the life that we seek that brings fulfillment.

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

I think this book would be part of my pocket manuals, it fits right in my pocket and would be a good reminder on my journey. The principles shared in this book is motivational and with the many incredible stories shared about how people have changed very complex situations into amazing stories and created miracles from, I am challenged and motivated at the same time to do same.

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

“We can scare ourselves or inspire ourselves. We can make the word “love” mean pain or use it as a celebration of caring.”

“We can see people as objects of scorn or as human beings, though perhaps imperfect and capable of unhappy acts.”

“We are the architects of our own attitudes and experiences.”

“We can change, we can be different, we can defy history.”

“Our past is but a memory dragged into the present moment. That moment is no more important or significant than the next. And in the next moment, we can change it all. We do it by changing our point of view by changing our beliefs.”
”We design the world by the way we choose to see it.”

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

This book was easy to read and assimilate.

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?

Not that I know of.

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.

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

The Power of Failure
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

The power of failure offer prescriptions for a more productive, prosperous, and peaceful life.

i. Failure as a concept.

The concept of failure, how it can be viewed as a strength, how it was viewed by many as a deliberation, a negative, a stereotype.

ii. Failure has not been seen as a strength.

Neither has it had any positive connotation. In some instances, it has been treated as a disease instead of a motivation.

iii. It’s ok to fail.

I cast my mind back to any of the world’s inventions and how many times the inventors had used hypothesis until they arrived finally at the solution. That it was ok to fail, that to succeed more, it’s important that we fail more.

iv. That we can be successful learners by learning from our failures.

Recognizing failure as a life blood of success is something that most of us find difficult to do, that patience is a virtue if we must succeed.

v. Risk Taking and failure.

Just the other day, I had visited a rock shelter in the Appalachia, one of the persons I went with had climbed the rock and sat at the very tip. Obviously, the other just couldn’t look at him at the tip because of his fear for heights. Frankly, I was not comfortable too because I felt it was dangerous and he could hurt himself. The thought of it, made me venture on a personal adventure the next day. It was rainy and cold and I rode a few miles up the mountains to the rock shelter. I was gasping for breathe and at some point, I decided to end the trip to continue another day but realized I had come too far to quit.

My adventure to the rock shelter was for two reasons, first to defy the odds that it didn’t matter the weather, that focus was what was necessary to enable us achieve anything we set our minds to. The second was to climb the rock shelter to conquer the fear of the unknown. I failed forward, beat my own anxiety and got to the stone shelter. My first attempt at climbing the rock came with some challenges, however, my second attempt was much easier because I had built on my confidence level, mastered a few techniques and was able to get up there faster.

vi. Failing Forward

The most important lesson in all of this is that failing forward allowed me gain experience, acquire new techniques of going round the same challenge, this time with a different, shorter and better approach.

vii. Setting New Targets

I have begun a new challenge of defiance, when they say no, I say why not, when they say impossible, I say it’s possible. This winter, I have taken a whole new experience of using my body as a tool to challenge the discomfort, shift and get out of my comfort zone to embrace a new me. This required however that I can get acclimatized to prevailing weather so that I can push my self to do the things that I want to do. For several hours, I will sit in an open shelter in my sleeping bag just waiting and sitting still as much as I can and for many hours to defy the weather. While I had a time line when I had to achieve certain things, I have also come to the acceptance that it was ok not to be too hard on my self in achieving the targets I set.

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

The concept of seeing failure as success is one that intrigued me a bit. Society has preached and taught us to be afraid to fail, to be embarrassed about failure and even build a stereotype around it. But the most powerful and amazing experiences in our life time can be achieve through failure. Sometimes, failure itself is the real win. This experience teaches about acceptance, owning the experience, sitting with it and allowing it to do what it was meant to do, i.e. teach us one of the most amazing lessons in this life time.

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.

“Failure is a natural part of everyday life. Failure at its best is a stepping stone to success, a challenge in progress and the life blood of a successful life. Failure offers us the gifts of learning the means to become stronger and grow as persons, the possibility for change and innovation and the chance to see whole new opportunities. Failure can provide us with the foundation for long term success if we learn to redefine it to use it to win through losing, and to cope and collaborate with it.”

“Ultimately, both failure and success are in the eye of the beholder. We can live successfully by looking beyond ourselves and seeing all the opportunities that the world has to offer those who have the courage to take on new worth while challenge and steadily fail toward success.”

We can truly live successful lives when we dare to harness the power of failure.

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?

None.

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

The book did not have exercises.

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

Nothing else.

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

Practical Intuition
Assessment by Paa Kwesi Inkumsah (Ghana)

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

How to harness the power of your instinct and make it work for you.

i. Developing Your Intuitive Reading Style

Like any other, I think that we are all unique in the way we do things, Michael Jordan became an amazing basketball player because he had studied his pattern and knew his style pretty well. I feel that this is the same in the intuitive space. It’s important to find out if we are visual or auditory, well I realize that depending on what comes in, it can be both for me. The question, do you feel your information, or do you receive it by imagining changes in the environment around you is very important. For me, I noticed that I keep saying “ I see what you mean each time anyone said something to me, although I could hear them more than see, but this question has helped me define what is mostly predominant which is my visualization ability. A few things that I will be considering here on are, the symbols or images I receive in a reading.

ii. I don’t need to become a yogi or a zen mock.

I am laughing at this sub title perhaps because in my new life now, I see a lot of people practicing to reach this state of being. I have learned that the popular image of a practicing intuitive doing a reading is an eccentric individual in some altered state of consciousness. Well, intuition is a quite ordinary state of consciousness. Again, intuition requires nothing more than a slight shift in attention. Having said that, intuition is not something vague but a specific physical state in which we are open to intuitive information. By physical state, I am not referring to distinctions between alpha and theta brainwaves, or those between right and left brain thought processes. Nor does being open meaning becoming empty in any mystical sense. We are more aware in both our dream state and an intuitive state because our normal, waking cognitive filters are down. The intuitive state however is a state of waiting, not of expectation, but simply of patient waiting. I think this is the height that most yogis attempt to achieve, however, it is a capability that is assessable to each of us.

iii. Understanding the Intuitive State.

In normal functioning, logic filters feelings, emotions and even intuitions. In the intuitive state, intuition becomes the precursor to all the other senses. This is interesting because what this is saying is that intuition acts like a sixth sense. So check this out, when we say someone is an emotional person, we mean that the basis for al this or her other functions, reason, choice making, reaction, physical sensation is triggered by or based on that person’s emotionality, while the people we call rational are those who base all their responses on analysis and judgment. So clearly, I am an empath, well, while I already knew this, getting more details about it helps me and will serve me better even now.

iv. Learning to recognize intuition

You know, somethings make sense and other things don’t make sense because of how we choose to understand them. I have learned that intuition speaks a different language and it’s symbolic and fragmentary. I understand a lot of things much clearer now, how?, because I now that intuition often does not make sense especially when it involves the future as a result I had always dismissed it but no more because now I have much clarity.

v. Cultivating Awareness

Wow! I guess there are many things I have taken for granted, this phrase got me thinking for a moment. “in fact as you flip the pages of this book, your body is executing unbelievably complex physical actions, simply, sufficiently and unconsciously.” You know, I had also thought a lot about how breathing occurs in the background, an act we don’t have to think of so that we can consciously attend to other matters. Just like I had become more aware as a jungle man, paying close attention to the dew on the leaves, the bee that sucks the nectar, the earth underneath my feet as I walk barefoot, same way is it necessary to cultivate this awareness as an intuitive.

vi. Everything is a sign, nothing is random.

Everything we notice is significant and nothing is coincidental. Sometimes my thoughts mess with me and noticing and realizing that nothing is random, that everything I notice is significant really helps.

vii. Every moment, past, present and future has a meaning.

To know that every sign, act, deed, that everything we notice can be traced to the past is being noticed in the present through the filters were using in the moment and everything we notice has an application and a meaning in the future.

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?

Well, the truth of the matter is that I have been awakened and much aware of my intuitive ability and part of the reason for getting this book is to find familiarity and get some clarity on a few things that I needed certainty on. Clearly, each of us as intuitive have one thing that cuts through which is questioning. Frankly, this book has made me realize that what initially came as doubts each time I had a feeling about something, was actually a question that needed to be written down so I can pay attention to how to manifest the outcome. Prior to attaining this state of being, I had held doubt about the things that I thought about especially as it regarded either my life or related to people around me. The ability to know when to make a move, how to make that move, when to be in a certain environment and when not to be was purely based on a hunch and this hunch must not be doubted. That what seemingly comes as doubts, are questions that need to be redirected for a specific outcome.

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

“You can not control all the things that life presents to you, but you have a lot of options what to do with them.”

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

Everything was fairly understandable.

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, it did contain some exercises and I did my bit to experience the exercises.

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

No.

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

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