As A Man Thinketh
Assessment by Rotimi Isaac Kolade (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea the author is trying to convey in the book is that, “We become what we think about.”
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.
There was a time I had a friend who I really like so much that there was no day that I don’t think of her, and she likes me in return. We used to have good times together with all our friends, we will hang out and listen to music, dance together and sings and share laughter. But it gets to a time when she really had to stay away from me, because; she had to prepare for school examination. During this period a lot of negative thought begin to crop my mind and before I knew it I started behaving badly towards her and I started reacting to things I would normally have laughed over, and this started affecting my relationship with her. It was not long enough when she said to me, “Rotimi, I think me and you need a break, we should just be an ordinary friend because you have totally changed and I don’t think we should continue. Bye.” At first, it was difficult for me to accept the true that it was my fault, but later I really had to look back at what led to our break up. And I found out that it started the moment I allow the thought of loosing her crept to my mind. So it wasn’t long when truly as my mind shaped the thought so it happened.
The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors
Our mind is like a magnet and it pulls towards itself that which it constantly thinks of. Everyday it gets closer to its dominant thought. We are what we think. I am filled with the desire of having my personal website on the internet so I think a lot on it, that it became my dominant thought for sometimes. It wasn’t long enough when a friend approached me and he offer do it for free but that I am to pay for domain registration and hosting. This makes me understand that truly the soul attracts that which it secretly harbors. It’s attracted to me the solutions to my heart desire.
Good thought bears its own good fruit and bad thought bears its own bad fruit:
If I think I am successful, I am and if I think I am a failure, I am. For every thought I allow my mind to conceive is what I will achieve. That reminds me of time when I will keep the money that I earn and refused to share it with anyone in need no matter how big or small, even though it does not disturb me from having save some part in my account but I will keep it all to myself and begin to spend it little by little and before I know it its gone. So I often wonder why? But later I discover that I have this mindset of lacks and that my mind will tell me to not give because I do not have enough to share. So, I will not think I need to work hard to earn more because, I believe I still have something to survive me. And this makes it difficult for me to have in abundance. After realizing the damage this line of thought had done to me I decided to change the way I think to that of having abundance and I will often say that I am connected to the greatest source of wealth and that because of this I can never lack no matter how much I give out in assistance to humanity. And now I can say am living a whole new world of possibilities and abundance.
Circumstances does not make the man, it reveals him to himself:
I am beginning to understand that everything that I am, everywhere that I am and every action that I take reveals me to myself on the inside out. So when I am happy I says my happiness are my chain of thoughts and actions that they occur because I conceive them in my mind and later acted upon them and this produce the result of happiness. Every step that I take, every place it leads to me and every accomplishment it brings are as a result of what I desire to be. They are the revelations of me.
Man does not get that which he wishes and pray for but that which he earns:
It reminds me of the proverb; “if wishes were horses baggers will ride.” Most times I will stare up at the stars and make wishes and say like I often see in movies. I will say “I wish to have that car.” But in months and years nothing will happen little did I no that I need to back up my wishes with action. I now begin to realize that for me to have what I want in life, I have to earn them, I have to put up a good fight not fighting with people no, but fighting myself. That for me to be the best of me, I have to fight me. Starting from my mind, fighting my laziness, my desires and my wishes. Knowing that I have to work hard to earn them and not just wish that I have them.
All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thought:
This makes me understand why I find it so easy to start an offline-business and often difficult to start an online-business and the reason was simply because I see a lot of reason why it will be hard for me to earn money online. So whenever I tried to earn some money online I will come across one thing or the other that will stop me from going further and therefore, I stop trying yet I received the news from people that’s earns money online almost everyday, yet me and these people are from the same environment but I think they have their mind made up on the possibilities rather than the impossibilities. And that rightful thinking pays off. But I think of possibilities when I was about to start my offline business that I never allow any negative thought. So whenever I come across any challenges I stood up to it and I never give up till I won or see how better to tackle the problem next time. I see victory rather than failure. So I went ahead and I give things my best shot. But now I think I know better, I will see possibilities in al my field of endeavors and I will go into every goals with right mind-set and total determination with nothing but success.
Our body and health are the reflection of our mind.
When we are having a great thought in mind its clearly written on the facial expression and when we also have a bad and evil thought in mind its reflection is clearly shown on the outside. Most times when am thinking of beauties and possibilities that surrounds me, I see its reflection in me and people around me does too. They will tell me how happy and good looking I looked and whenever I had a bad feelings they will tell me of how tough I look that they often find it difficult to relate with me, because that looks scares them. Most times when I look at my pictures and analyze my reflections with the mood I was when the picture were taken I often discover that; the cute me were the time I was having a ball. But the gloomy me was the time I was feeling bad. Whenever I have a great accomplishment I will be so attractive but whenever I feel defeated I look highly unattractive.
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?
Firstly, the lesson and ideas in this book will help me if I apply them practically, knowing that I have to continually put a tab on my thinking and watching every action that I put forth and asking myself if am really walking towards every goal I desire in my life with all the right attitude both in thought and action.
Another point is that, I should conceive a legitimate purpose in my heart, and set out to accomplish it. I should make this purpose the centralizing point of my thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to my nature at the time being; but whichever it is, I should steadily focus my thought-forces upon the object, which I have set before me. I should make this purpose my supreme duty, and should devote myself to its attainment, not allowing my thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if I fails again and again to accomplish my purpose (as I necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of my true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.
It will also help me to create a better world by passing unto other what I have learned and understand about the power of the mind. I also will create a better world if I work hard on myself and become a good role-model and that will make me a good mentor.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
Yes, and I quote them below.
“Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace.” This quotes makes me knows that I ma the creator of my world and I will build it in beauties and design it with the strongest equipment as I wishes.
“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.” This quotes makes me reason that all that are attracted to me are my likes which means that they are the reflection of me, likes attracts likes.
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 don’t think there is anything I do disagree with.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
Yes, I have completed all the exercises. Truly, they are useful because, they really made me think and understand how the mind works. Now I can guide and watch over my garden of thoughts.
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
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Rotimi Isaac Kolade (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
Whatever the mind of a man can believe it can achieve.
The author is trying to teach us the beauty and wonder that’s in learning to go beyond ordinary and traditional way of living. He is trying to make us see that if we can only try to work a little extra hard and never give on to failure and discouragement even if we get rejected so long as we hold that dream so dear in our hearts surely we will achieve that pressing desire.
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.
Be unique
Dare to be different in a place where majority have equal perception of life. I discover that most of us in life are usually moving towards a readily laid down way of life just the way everyone are doing things, but the moment we try to move out of that circle, we begin to feel as if we are doing something totally bad. But only if we understood how uniquely we are created we would have known that we are meant to do different greater thing in life. Let me use a case in my life as an example. The very first time I choose to stop marketing for the publishing company I worked, I started feeling so bad and I was like “can I really make it out there?”, and in my mind I started feeling there are lot of people doing the very product am coming out with. But I actually went on; I want to have a start and experience first so I can learn like Jonathan said to his mother, “I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know.” And the moment I started I began to learn more about the market I began to see possibilities what I can actually innovate and what I can actually remove from the very same product. I began to see that that I can actually venture into other product and I can make a different. The first things I noticed was that all the product that were outside were just designed could get penetrated by water and get the product damaged so I said what if we laminate our own product? So we went ahead and did exactly just that. It created a very exciting feeling so much that whenever we introduced the new product to a potential customer they usually fall in love with at the first sight.
Burning Desire
The reason why it’s very important to have a burning desire is that whenever we comes across any obstacles instead of us giving in to these it helps us to keep moving because obstacles often makes us discover “how not and how to”. There was I time I so much desire to have our product approved in a school. So I went ahead and market our product to that school but, on getting there I was asked to prepare a proposal and submit it to the school management. I went ahead and did as I was told so, I was given a date to check back for result. But on getting there the man in charge of the book approval said to me. “Am sorry your proposal was late.” I felt bad but I was told the best time to submit our proposal to the management just in case of next time. So, I had already prepared myself towards that time and when it comes I’ll be the first to submit my proposal to the school.
The law of practice
This comes in place if we actually want to develop our skills in a particular area, we have to start practicing upon that so we may become that which we wants to become. Because the harder we work the more we push the better we get and become. I wanted develop my mind I want to actually have a world-class thinking. So I started reading books that will aid my development and I learn to keep my mind towards positive thinking and whenever negative thoughts came In I just block them away and concentrate on positive thoughts. Now I began to view the world and myself in a whole new dimension of positive outlook of life.
Development require Courage
What I mean here is that for one to actually become what we truly want to be in life, we needed courage and it means not being afraid of rejection by family and friends. It means being ready to carry one alone even if the road ahead is so dim and the truth is that we will see clearly what looks dim when we move more closer. When I was about to come out with my own product then I remember that, I was seriously afraid of what the company I was working for before will think of me. But I summon the courage inside me and say to myself “I am the only reason why I will be a failure and a success in life and that other people can never be the reasons why I wouldn’t achieve my goals in life. That I am the master of my destiny and that I control my actions. So I went ahead and did what I have to do. Now am thinking of doing more. And the reason why was simply because of the principle I set for myself not to be so stable on a particular achievement, but rather to explore all possibilities and turn impossibilities around. Another perfect example was when Jonathan was being rejected by the flocks, and he was called a disgraced to the flocks brotherhood but instead of feeling totally dejected he went ahead all alone and he started practicing and developing his flying skills and it wasn’t that long when he found other seagulls who shared the same point of view with him and the most amazing part of it was that this seagull shared a far more desired for higher purpose in life than he does and before he know it he found out that he was not alone in his thinking but other people share the same vision as he does and they also practiced it.
Discipline
That is, doing whatever it takes to achieve our goals in life Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s goal in life if to achieve perfection in flight. And what he does if to discipline himself by making sure that he goes outside there all alone and sometimes without eating to the extent that his mother was telling him that he never eats. I remember when I have to go through a lot of sleepless night in order to come out with a good product. When I have to stay wake just trying to develop my mind by reading some books and knowing that in future my rewards will come. I will have to use the little money I have on me to buy books so I can see through the author’s eyes. Trying to make sales calls even after several rejections sometime I feel so dejected that I feel like giving up on my dreams. But whenever I think of that precious future I just can’t help it but to discipline myself till I get what I actually wanted at that particular moment. I believe if you say no to me there is someone out there who will say “yes!” Only if I could discipline myself to push a little further.
Learn and live:
I wonder what this life will be if human did not have the ability to learn. I will say we will remain at the very same level with the animal and go through the day with what ever it brings. Having no goals and having nothing and no one to inspire us to greater heights in life. I remember my former working place when my boss will have to work till he is totally burned out of energy. I just can’t help but to wish for that kind of strength but I believe I can’t have it, I believe that it is inborn and that I was not born with it. Till later when develop my learning skills, that was when I know that there is no limit to what a man can be in life only if he is willing to learn then he will live his dream and not just exist.
Focus
Focus on the wildly important goal drives us to quick accomplishment. I noticed the only song in Jonathan head is to discover perfection in flight. He keeps his burning desire and focus on it till he achieves it. He got help at the right time he learn endurance, love and understanding learn more about himself when he does nothing but to focus. I focus on a single product and I did it in no less that three months. But when I wanted to develop a business on the internet I found it so hard to have a head start at a particular niche and when I analyze the reason why this is happening, I discover that it was because I have a lot of information to work with and I don’t know which to start with. So I lost direction and up till now am yet to start something real on the internet.
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?
It will help me a lot especially during my daily exercise in self-development, business development, and my relationships.
In self-development: It will go a long way at helping me to stay focus and to not give in to discouragement and failures that I may come across during practicing and acting.
During business development: It will help me at understanding the face that every failure is an opportunity to try better, till perfection is reached.
In relationships: It’s going to help me to develop my human relations skills so I will be able to teach all that I had learned at the end and I believe through this I will be creating a better world. I will give back to the world what the world has given me.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
One of the statement that the author made that got my attention was when he said to Jonathan that, “Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.” The reason why I fancy the word was that it makes me see the reason why those who actually achieve their heart desires felt whenever and you hear the scream, “Wow! Am in heaven.” Perfection truly is like heaven.
Another one was when Jonathan screamed, “IT WORKS!” And Chiang said, “Well, of course, it works, Jon.” “It always works, when you know what you’re doing. This caught me because if you actually have in mind the picture of what you really want, no matter how long it takes surely it will work.
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 don’t think there is anything that I don’t agree with.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
Yes, I have completed all the exercises. Truly, they are useful because, they really made me think.
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? 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? 8