Rose Bochere – Assessments – International Institute for Global Leadership

As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Rose Bochere (Kenya)

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

The author conveys that our mind is powerful, it’s the master power that shapes, makes and molds a man. Our pattern of thinking determines who we are and we should control the way we think. As a Man Thinketh so he will be what he thinks, our mind is everything, it affect our environment, relationship and even the way people sees us, it is through our thinking that we see the outcome of ourselves, so the author reminds us that mind is powerful tool that can build or destroy our lives and those of others, so we need to be more vigilant in what we feed it, positive thinking gives positive results and negative thinking gives out negative result, we should guard our mind, because it is the only thing we can control freely without asking permission about what we need to do or what we are thinking people will know after they see the result or your behavior, either in good way or bad.

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

i. We are the makers of ourselves.

Through thoughts we make ourselves, or destroy ourselves, we are given unique way of thinking so if we think in the right way we make ourselves, negative thinking will not give out positive result, and same positive thinking will not give negative result, it is our choice to choose exactly what we want to be throughout thinking and reasoning, whatever we see in this world it was a due to someone thinking, the vehicles, the trains it was someone’s thinking that made them to be what we use today.

ii. We hold the key to every situation and contains within our thinking.

We are given equal opportunities in this world, the way we use them matters, a lot, I have seen people through positive thinking and making use of their mind achieve what we call the impossible, when we are born no matter rich or poor, we come in this world without clothes, meaning we come in the same way the people we see today to be more advantaged and mighty in the society, but with clear mind and focused we will achieve what we want, it won’t be instant but gradually we will be somewhere, I have seen people move from the slum and make it big in the society I have seen street children make it from the street and live a very comfortable life, though using their talents, which attracts potential sponsors and achieve highly, I have seen students who have gone far by doing well in their studies by getting scholarships and live a life they wanted, nothing is impossible only if we go for what we want and be ready to face the challenges.

iii. Our mind is like a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild.
However whether cultivated or neglected it must and will bring forth.
A garden can be every fertile but if not cultivated even weeds will grow and they will kill the crops you planted, you will not get best result or harvest if, you don’t remove weeds, same to our brain we have cobwebs in our minds that we have to clear so that we think straight and focused, good minds can produce bad result if not well cultivated, we nurture our brain by reading quality books and put them in practice, so we need to guard our mind as much as possible and give it the right materials to process good results.

iv. We are where we are by the law of our being

We usually blame others for mistakes not for them, nobody as a key to our lives, we can be what we want, by thinking and acting correctly, our failure should not be the reason to live a miserable life; we have to pull up our socks and face life to work hard and be what we want to be.

v. Good thoughts and actions never produce bad results but bad thoughts and action can never produce good results.

Our results is the outcome of our thinking as man thinketh so he is, we can tell who you are or what your thoughts are by the result you give us, in the world or community.

vi. The body is the servant of the mind, it obeys the operation of mind whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed

What we utter can either blessed or curse, can build or destroy, can cool temper ore raise it, so we need to watch what we speak, the body suffers a lot through our reckless, utterances which have made people fight and others arrested.

vii. Noble and God- like character is a thing of favor or chance but is the natural result of continued efforts in the right thinking the effect of long.

Cherished association with God – like thoughts.

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

These ideas will guide me to guard my thoughts and be positive like a garden no matter how fertile it is if not well maintained the weeds will grow and we will not get a good harvest, same to our mind if we do not put it in to practice and feed it positive ideas it will be not of good use. Henceforth I will be every much keen on what I think, what I do, who my friends are and what we share in common, is it of any help or I need to change the way of my thinking to achieve my goals.

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

“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours, that which it loves and also that which it fears. We need to be more alert on what we attract and what we fear; our soul is sensitive and should be fed with the right information processed in our mind.”

“Circumstance does not make a man, it reveals him to himself. When we are victims of circumstance it reveals how weak or strong you are in life we will always have challenges but how we stand the challenges matters a lot, how we come out victorious is the way we know we can be what we want.”

“Strong pure and happy thought build up the body in vigor and grace, once your thoughts are strong you feel that self–esteem and self–confidence since you are the master of your brain and you know exactly what you want you command your brain to give out best result which you are happy with and proud.”

“Clean thoughts makes clean habits the so called saint who does not wash his body is not a saint he who has strengthened and purified his thoughts does not need to consider the malevolent microbes.”

“If you would protect your body guard your mind, if you would renew your body beautify your mind.”

“Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.”

“The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it, anxiety quickly demoralize the whole body and lays it open to the entrance of diseases.”

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

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

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

The book contains exercise whereby our mind is the powerhouse of everything we do, thought the book, I am conscious that whatever outcomes I have made in the past was because of my thinking and the once I will make from now it will be more better than before because now I know that I have to guard my mind and be always positive to achieve in anything I want.

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

The book is well covered and understood.

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

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

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Rose Bochere (Kenya)

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

The author what he is conveying, he states that being encouraged and being focused in our daily life is the key to achieve anything we want. There is nothing impossible if we are determined in whatever we do, from the book you can see how practice makes perfect seagull had to learn in a hard way to achieve the goals and dreams he wanted no matter what others were saying lots of discouragement but he pushed on until he could do more than other. Sometimes we have to move out of the comfort zone in order to accomplish our calling, people will push us and may be think that they do not wish us well, but they are instrument and being used to make us struggle more to reach our goals, if somebody doesn’t give you food it will force you to go a step ahead to improvise methods of getting food, by either going to the farm and start farming or create a job that can make you have your daily bread.

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

i. Limitation in our thoughts and mind.

I am a seagull; I am limited by my nature, once we accept that we are limited we cannot do anything in life, we have to push ourselves to the limit, whatever people speak about us doesn’t matter what matters is what we want and where we want to be, during learning period the seagull could not understand why their friend wanted to learn more and yet they are limited in life, though this didn’t stop him from learning and experience good result.

ii. Be unique and don’t be discouraged.

“Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock why can’t you leave low flying to the pelican. In life we should be unique in order to expose our purpose, once you agree to be like others you won’t make any difference in the community, we are unique and we will never be the same like others, even our figures are not the same but serve same purpose, if we could accept being the same today we could not been having doctors, engineers even sportsman and women, excel where you fit best and do it fully with your mind and thoughts to give an outcome which is unique.

iii. There is reasons why we do what we like.

If you must study then study food, and how to get it, flying business is all very well, but you can’t eat glide, you know. Don’t you forget that the reason you fly is to eat.
In life sometimes people don’t see the process but see the end point, we go to work to get money but not to build the nation, however we need to think differently, doing what we love most gives us a reason to sacrifice more and do it willingly, some people are forced to do what they don’t like simply because of money, in Kenya most of the parents discourage students to do more of extra curriculum activities like sporting, sporting , football, soccer athletics it was seen like those who do it are illiterate and failure in life, so mostly you could be discouraged even if you had a talent, until they realized how good it pays.

iv. Set your standards and your own record.

Jonathan had a world speed record for the seagull. We have to set our standards in whatever we do; this will motivate us to achieve our goals and aspirations.

v. Be focused in whatever you do avoid distractions and let the obstacles not stand your way.

We are so much distracted with the people we listen to especially negative people, they will kill your dream before it is given in to birth.

vi. Understanding what you want and what you have to do.

Forget about faith, you didn’t need faith to fly you need to understand flying.
Once you understand what it takes to do what you want it will be easy for you and you will achieve it since you know exactly what it takes.

vii. Results makes us feel proud and happy.

You can go to any place and to any time that you wish to go. Once the seagull had learnt how to fly high nothing could stop him to go where he wanted, same in life once we master the skills of living nothing will stop us from enjoying 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?

This ideas helps me to know that nothing is impossible in this life, it needs determination, learning without giving up, it doesn’t mean it will be easy but we will face challenges boldly focusing on our definite goals, and also not all people will advocate or take your ideas, some may call them crazy ideas, you are the driver of your ideas, so let no one control you from exactly what you want, if necessary share your ideas with people who will encourage you and push you to the higher limits, people who are ready to support you in all angles to see you excel, people who will correct your mistakes in a kind way but not accuse you or laugh at you.

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.

“Everything that limits us we have to put it aside.”

It doesn’t matter who or what, whatever limits our focused towards our goal we have to put it aside be ready to loose friends in your journey to discovery but on the way you will make more friends that supports you and see the reason as to why you are doing what you are doing. Never allow people to cut short your dreams rather cut them from you system, but be more focused soon or later they will learn and appreciate your effort.

“The only true law is that which leads to freedom.”

The law that gives you freedom is more better than anything since once you are free you can do anything without fear of being judged, that freedom sometimes we have to earn it, it doesn’t come easily because we can see that when Jonathan wanted to learn more about flying he became an outcast but that didn’t stop him to learn flying.

“To believe the glory of flight, that awaited them, they refused to open their eyes and see.”

Sometimes we focus on one thing and do not see the advantage of the other, the glory of high flight that Jonathan seagull achieve was on another level, he could breathe fresh air unlike others, he had achieve more than others by learning new techniques

“One school is finished and time has come for another to begin.”

Once you accomplish a task that was ahead of you, it gives you knew energy to start another level, you learn day by day and at the end when you look at what you have achieved you feel more satisfied. We do not give ourselves sometimes to finish one thing at a time, you will find that we want to multitask indeed doing that you will not concentrate completely to all you are doing, but once you focus on one thing and after accomplishing it start another level, the outcome will be perfect and proud of it.