As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
He is conveying how our thoughts shapes our lives, that where we are right now and where we will be tomorrow is a product of our thoughts, he encourages us to be the master of our life, be the master of our thoughts, Good thoughts lead to a happy and successful life, Poor thoughts lead to an unhappy and unsuccessful life.
Our world is shapes by our thoughts and visions, if we think we are sick we definitely will be sick, if we allow good, happy and beautiful thoughts to fill our lives then we will find we can truly be and have that life that we truly 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.
i. “Thought and character are one, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state!”
We are the master of our thoughts and actions, and these actions shape into patterns, which will eventually make up our character. If we could change and control the pattern of our thoughts, we can change a lot of things in our lives because our attitude and our actions are directly linked to one another and they are direct products of our thoughts. If we don’t start out with confidence and expect very little of ourselves, that’s exactly what we’ll deliver. There was a time in my life when my family made me belief, I was stupid and I did not know anything, that I was a dummy. I believed this, and I did poorly in school, failed all my exams and nothing good came out of me. But when I started reading books and the bible, I discovered I was not stupid at all, I was the most intelligent being you could ever come across, I went from being tagged a dummy to being the best graduating student in my set. Nothing changed but my thoughts. So truly we have the ability to change our thoughts and change our lives.
ii. “As beings of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own thoughts, humans hold the key to every situation, and contains within themselves that transforming and regenerative agency by which they may make themselves what they will.”
This phrase makes me understand we are alpha beings that has the ability to control outcomes, we have it in us, to be who and transform our situation into a more desirable result, this is just like think it and become it. See it and do it. It’s in us. Recently I start nurturing thoughts of going into public speaking, giving speeches, so I went ahead to start creating some speeches, today I have minimum of 2 speaking engagement in a week.
iii. “As a progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives place to other circumstances.”
Since we can change our circumstances and our lives, this just makes the point that blaming and complaining about our circumstances are useless. More than useless actually, they poison our thoughts. And he makes the point we all take and accept more responsibility in life. We are exactly where we need to be to grow and evolve, then each circumstances comes with a lesson and as we learn these lessons we grow, giving way to other circumstances, this also bring to mind the fact that if we refuse to learn what we need to learn about a certain situation we may be there longer than we should have.
iv. “A man does not come to the almshouse or the jail by the tyranny of fate or circumstance, but by the pathway of groveling thoughts and base desires.”
The place we are and where we find ourselves are a product of our thoughts which produced actions. If we are thinking negative and taking bad actions, we won’t end up where the good things are. Our desires come out to play by the results we see around ourselves.
v. “Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.”
This part was really surprising to me, I have actually heard that if our prayers align with our confession and thoughts that we would see the manifestation and answers to our prayers. This really confirmed this fact, because I did not hundred percent believe it. So therefore I must always align my thoughts, which comes out as words and action to my prayer.
vi. “As he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.”
What this means to me is that as we develop our thoughts and mind, and change our views of our circumstances blaming others no longer exist for us, or blaming the system or the environment we find ourselves. We begin to see it as a path to development, finding the inner ability in us to bring to play and grow. We discover we can be more and grow more rapidly than if we were focus on the blaming others, blaming others keep us from thinking the positive thoughts that will bring the changes we need. I have served my currently company for over 8 years, I have gotten a promotion, or double or triple increment, I got higher qualification and certification which was acknowledged but nothing was done to either increase my pay or placed me at the level my qualification deserves. I was so lost on blaming the system, my boss and all mangers who could do something but didn’t, that hindered my performance, I was so angry and bitter. When I started developing my other skills, shifting from blaming them for current position. Things has started changing. My speaking engagement has grown tremendously, I no longer care about promotion or what I am not getting, my life is now happy, productive and fulfilling.
vii. “Nature helps every man to the gratification of the thoughts, which he most encourages, and opportunities are presented which will most speedily bring to the surface both the good and evil thoughts.”
Whatever thoughts are dominate in a man’s heart or mind is what nature will reveal.
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 to constantly watch my thoughts, like the bible will say guard your heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life, now that I know my thoughts have the power to draw negativity into my life, I will guard it with all diligence, ensuring happy, good, beautiful and praise worthy thoughts are what goes through my head. I will also propagate this fact to as many people that I meet and encounter that they should what their thoughts. I believe that if every one of us begin to have happy and good thoughts will could make the world a better place not only for ourselves but others also.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“A person is literally what she thinks, her character being the complete sum of all her thoughts.”
The way I act, the things I do, how I behave are my thoughts in display. Nothing more nothing less.
“Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there.”
Where I am are in life and what I will attain or achieve will be what I have been thinking of or planning to attain.
“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its unchasten desires and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.”
What goes on in my inner person and inner recess is what I will receive, now if my soul perceives everyone is lying to me then truly that is exactly what I will receive. This is very practical and lawful.
“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results,”
There is no way good can be in me and bad things manifest, Therefore I most constantly work on building good within, good thoughts, good a mind and a good soul.
“The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it.”
The same way we attract the things we love. That is how we attract our fears, I remember when we were in high school my elder sister used to fear getting toilet infection so much that she was afraid of public rest rooms and take maximum hygiene when using one, unfortunately she was the one that suffers from toilet and skin disease most. This just goes to show how strong the power of the mind is.
“Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.”
This reminds me I should get a purpose; purpose pushes my thoughts into actions which can culminate into great achievements.
“The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge.”
Nothing can stop anyone that has the knowledge that he can do something, this reminds me I should get knowledge my quest for that knowledge is what brought me to this school. I taste to know about leadership, right ways to lead. To have this knowledge I must put away all fears and doubt.
“All that a person achieves and all that person fails to achieve is the direct result thinking.”
What I will ever achieve in life or fail to achieve is a product of my thoughts. I know how many times I have planned to do something and my mind talks me out of it. Sometime I actually criticize and condemn myself before others do.
“Those who have conquered weakness, and have put away all selfish thoughts, belong neither to oppressor nor oppressed. They are free.”
If I truly wants to be free, I should weed out all selfishness, thoughts that are limiting, so I can find that freedom.
“A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts. He can only remain weak, and abject, and miserable by refusing to lift up his thoughts.”
This spoke to me because I have actually lift myself through lifting my thoughts. January 2019 I was diagnosed of Optic neuritis, this came with a lot of depressing thoughts, suicide dominated my mind. But when I started lifting my thoughts that I can fight back, its only one eye that is affected, I still have my other eye. My condition started improving. Today I can see clearly with both eyes. It all started with lifting my thoughts. Changing from self-pity and self-blaming.
“Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure.”
Even after achieving my dreams, I should be watchful and careful about the thoughts in my head. This bring to my mind the story of Job in the bible, he was a successful man, when calamity came, he said his fears came to pass. Meaning despite the fact that all was going well he secretly harbored the thoughts of calamity. We should always watch our thoughts.
“He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.”
Our result is a direct product of our actions, if I need good results or make an A in school then I have to put in the required time and effort to learn, not neglecting reading.
“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”
We will receive our dreams, what I see is what I will become. This is very certain. Then I should actively work on what I see.
“Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no more, no less.”
In these days of internet of things, if my thoughts could be directly printed out what would it be. In actuality I will become my thoughts, since I now know that what I think is what I will be and what I am. Then I will actively think good thoughts.
“The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart; this you will build your life by, this you will become.”
This quote places a finality to everything. Let me speak directly to myself. UDEME what Vision you let fester in your mind, your will work to build your life around and that is who your will become, therefore watch 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?
No, I did disagree with anything, this has been a good read, where I read and stop to soliloquize. Its enlightening. No book has brought to the surface so effectively the power of thoughts, as this book has. Thank you for having me read it.
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?
No Exercises included.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No comment please
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 Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The writer is conveying the idea that is possible for us to find our passion, discover ourselves, step out of our comfort zone, do something beyond what is normal, reach for higher heights, learn to achieve the impossible, be different, Find your true personality. Find Perfection you can see this in how Jonathan achieves perfection in his flying and is transported to a new world, where he learns to move on to the next level of consciousness. Perfection is depicted as the ability to move between time and space in ways that the average gull cannot. It allows Jonathan to bring Fletcher back to life and to communicate through thought instead of spoken words. He also tried to propel us to find our individuality, we should not be afraid if we don’t fit in, want the normal things that other wants, or live normal lives, this idea played out in how Jonathan wants to be who he truly is. No matter how hard he tries to be a regular seagull, he recognizes that he is not and he should not settle for anything less. Fortunately, he does not succumb to the pressure from the group and from his mother or he would never have been able to transcend. He is so in touch with himself that he recognizes when it is time to let go and allow another seagull to become the teacher.
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 can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!”
This phrase means a lot to as it makes me understand that staying ignorant is a matter of choice, that I have the inherent ability to grow, to learn and to develop my skill to the place where I can be a person with notable skill, a person of excellence, a knowledgeable being. I have the power to train my mind, train my body and train my soul, to seek knowledge and learn anything, that I chose to, that I can become a master and I can experience true freedom. An example is when I taught myself Calculus and made an A in it.
ii. “Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.”
This phrase makes me understand if I stay angry at and bitter, I will limit myself from living truly free, cutting my life short. Also, that boredom result in the same thing, all these are worth noting. An example is my organization is a toxic place, if I stay angry and live in fear of the system I will never truly live neither will achieve my dreams.
iii. “For each of them, the most important thing in living was to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most love to do, and that was to fly.”
If I truly want live life to the fullest, I should find perfection in what I love to do, finding perfection is learning all I need to be perfect. Public speaking is what I love to do, and teaching people about leadership is my passion, hence I keep searching and reaching out to learn, that is what pushed me into joining this school.
iv. “You didn’t need faith to fly, you needed to understand flying.”
I don’t need faith to be the kind of leader that influences my society, I just need to learn about leading, what in requires and how to change lives.
v. “Till you can fly the past and the future. And then you will be ready to begin the most difficult, the most powerful. You will be ready to begin to fly up and know the meaning of kindness and of love.”
If I can grow beyond my past experiences, failures, defeat and setbacks, I can break into growing towards the future and then I can begin the walk to the top of my career and life.
vi. Freedom is the very nature of his being, that whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual or superstition or limitation in any form.”
What this phrase really convey to me is finding freedom. I should not let anyone or anything dictate what you should do next. I am a person, an individual. have your own life and it is up to you how to live it. I should let myself be limited by society, environment, religion and my work place, even if its friends and family anything at all that will deny me finding that freedom should be dropped, I can be and achieve whatever I want to. freedom is in man’s nature, freedom is in me, so I, of all people, should know that and not let anything against my desire to succeed.
vii. “The trick was to know that his true nature lived, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time.”
I have a true nature, my real self, it exists. This comes that a deep self-understanding, a deep realization and an eye-opening knowledge, and above all an acceptance. This bring me the realization that I can be me, unique and different in my own way.
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 to constantly remember that I can learn new things, I should always try to be my true self, find my individuality, I have always struggled to fit, to be a normal average human, my lecturers made life difficult because I was brilliant, so I began to hide and not study so I won’t stand out from among other students, I think its time to stop that, I will always remember to I am free, the find my path, to be who and where ever I want, that knowledge is quite liberating, I am free. Daily, even as at this morning when I felt like shrinking the word just pop in my head “I am Free.” I will also train others to be, I have also recommended this book to a women’s group I belong to, it’s our book for this month, we will read and review.
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 day Jonathan Livingston Seagull, you shall learn that irresponsibility does not pay. Life is the unknown and the unknowable, except that we are put into this world to eat, to stay alive as long as we possibly can.”
People will always see your attempt to be different as an act of being wayward or stubborn, they will try to compel you to be normal, be like everyone else, do what everyone else is doing, but to me that place is crowded. This sound like the song I here from everyone, you are a woman, women don’t do that, women don’t work there, you can’t go there, stop going to school, get married, have children, that is all a woman is good for. And this is painful if you don’t learn how to silent these negative voices.
“It always works when you know what you are doing.”
If we take time to master our work or whatever we are passionate about, we will always know what and how to solve issues when they arise.
“We are free to go where we wish and to be what we are.”
The person I am and will be, where I live and work are all my choice, I have the freedom to choose it and no one else but me.
“Heaven is not a place and it’s not a time, Heaven is Being perfect.”
When you are perfect in any craft you become a master, to me that is heaven and that is peace.
“The only true law is that which leads to freedom, there is no other.”
Whatever law or rule that does not encourage our ability to be ourselves is not a law to follow. When we are making laws, we should ensure it does not enslave others from finding themselves and being free.
“For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.”
This is one of the simplest and truest statement I have ever come across, this is true for most people they just want to eat, live and die, but for some us like me, I want more, I want to raise leaders, who will raise other leaders, I want to change the way people lead in my country and the world, I want to change things in the world. So, eating and living and dying is never for me.
“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you’ll see the way to fly.”
When I look with my natural eyes at all the circumstances surrounding my life, I will see all the challenges, setbacks, failures and defeats. But if I take my eyes off, I could see the leader I am becoming, the lives I am changing, the little impact I am making and I could see I am really that leader I am trying to find.
“You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.”
I used to be afraid of what people think or will say or will do to me, so I was afraid to say my mind, to be myself or speak up. This quote resounded in my heart, I am a free person, I can be whatever and who ever I want, I don’t have to fit in, they don’t need to like me, I know I like myself enough to cover for the rest. I will be me and let my light shine.
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, I didn’t disagree with anything, this has been the best self-motivation book ever.
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?
No Exercises included.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No comment please
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
PsychoCybernetics
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This book encourages that thinking of the human mind as a machine can help improve your self-image, which will dramatically increase your success and happiness. Changing a person self-image can bring dramatic changes to the life of a person.
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. “Accept yourself.”
“Be yourself. You cannot realize the potentialities and possibilities inherent in that unique and special something which is YOU if you keep turning’ your back upon it, feeling ashamed of it, refusing to recognize it” This part really spoke to me because this is one of the most difficult things for us humans to do, accepting ourselves and being ourselves, Acceptance is the ability to unconditionally value all parts of we are. That means i acknowledge all of myself–the good and the things that need improvement. For most of us, self-acceptance can be hard. We tend to be critical of ourselves, we are the first to say the bad things about ourselves, we point out failures even before others notice them. Sometimes even when I have worked hard to achieve a thing, I still see it as alien to me because I don’t accept the fact that I could achieve those things. I am encouraged here to accept who I am, be happy with who I am, accept all of me, there is nothing to be ashamed of and It all begins with my state of mind.
ii. “To really live, that is to find life reasonably satisfying, you must have an adequate and realistic self-image that you can live with. You must find yourself acceptable to you.”
This spoke to me that for me to accept myself I need to developed a good self-image, not only self-image goal image and mental image. If I could successfully change the image of myself in my head, I can change my life. He talked about those he did surgery on whom change of face did not change their lives. If the self-image that I have of myself is that of failure that is who I will become. This has really played out in my life as I consistent have a self-image of being fat, that is what I feel and think of all the time, so over the years I consistently see myself adding weight gradually no matter what I did. Now as I read this book I, I realize that seeing myself that way is empowering my servo mechanism to constantly work towards achieving that goal, yesterday 06/7/2020, I decided to changed my self/ mental image, 1 lost 1kg without doing any exercise or changing my meal.
iii. “Within you right now is the power to do things you never dreamed possible. This power becomes available to you just as soon as you can change your beliefs.”
I realize from this that within me lie the ability to achieve anything, like anything in this world all I need is to change what I believe in my mind, the mind is a powerful force. It can enslave us or empower us. It can plunge us into the depths of misery or take us to the heights of ecstasy. We need to Learn to use the power wisely, the mind is everything. What you think you become. This also corresponded with “As a man Thinketh.” That what we think we are is whom we become; what we believe we are is whom we become. This means I need to change my believe, I need to change my mental image, I need to change what is in my mind. I have it in mean I know I sure do have it in me, the power to achieve my dreams.
iv. “Having a goal and understanding the situation are not enough. You must have the courage to act, for only by actions can goals, desires and beliefs be translated into realities.”
This bring spoke to me that I need to get up and do something, saying I have a goal or have a dream is never enough, I need to draft up a plan, set up step by step guides lines on how I intend to achieve it. Like he said I need to give my servo mechanism a goal to work with. This brings me back to my school days, I made up my mind that I won’t fail any of my courses, that was my goal, then I set out a plan that every day though out my academic days, at the end of every lecture day, I will study all my lectures for that day, take nap, wake up after mid night to study all the courses I will be having the next day. I was consistent in this, I was never unprepared for an impromptu test, at the end I achieved not only my goal of not failing any course but also finishing as the best student. Therefore, every goal needs to have a plan and actions must be taken to see the actualization of the goal.
v. “We must learn to do our work, act upon the best assumptions available, and leave results to take care of themselves.”
Why I love this particular phrase is because it’s what I have constantly been advocating, we doing the best with what we have, also learn how best to be more efficient and effective on our jobs or whatever we are doing. If we constantly give our best with time the results will show. We should never bother about what the results will be, this also correspond with what the bible say that who so ever watches the weather will not plant.
vi. “Every human being has been literally engineered for success” by his Creator. Every human being has access to a power greater than himself.”
The ability is in us to create who we are, Whether I like it or not I’ve created my own self-image or a blueprint of who I am. Every success, failure, and experience I’ve had has played a role in the creation of this mental illustration. Life events, whether they were traumatic or wonderful, has led me to create the mental blueprint of myself. This principle is important to know because who we believe ourselves to be determines how you act every day, like the example that he gave about the boy who was told he not good in math, he consistently created the failures to proof he did not know math’s. He mentioned several other cases which his patients created the failures they imagined in their minds. This phrase means to me that who I see today and who will see myself to be tomorrow is the person I created, whether consciously or unconsciously.
vii. “Set aside a period of 30 minutes each day where you can be alone and undisturbed. Relax and make yourself as comfortable as possible.”
This means to me that although having a proactive lifestyle is important, taking out time to relax will yield tremendous benefits in that truly we rarely have time to just relax and free ourselves from wrong thoughts and ideas. All it takes its just 30 minutes, to relax our muscles, free our minds and positively influence ourselves. Actually 30 minutes seems like a lot to me, but I will try as much possible to utilize it,
even if it’s not every day.
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 principles in this book are timeless, it has help me recast my focus on reinventing myself. It has help me understand why I have not been able to achieve some things, therefore going forward I will constantly remind myself to take a break, relax and hypnotize myself positively. I will apply it in getting Sense of direction in maintaining my personal focus and goals, also by not trying to go where other people think I should and always having a goal I am working for. I will build my self Esteem by having a healthy, good mental picture of myself and treating the people around me with appreciation.
Through the knowledge I have gained on this book I will develop my self confidence by always remembering my “past successes, and forgetting failures. This will be hard to do, but I will do my best to focus on successful outcomes instead of my failures. Finally, have learnt to practice Self-acceptance, accepting myself for who I am, who I am becoming and the knowledge I am gaining, not forgetting to, “always have better self-image.”
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.
“When this self-image is intact and secure, you feel good. When it is threatened, you feel anxious and insecure.”
Anytime I feel insecure and scared I need to check my self-image, because most time it’s the picture in our head that causes us misery not an actual event.
“You must know yourself; both your strengths and your weaknesses and be honest with yourself concerning both.”
I must constantly find myself my strength and my weakness, this is self-analysis, like root cause of failure and creating solutions. Also, this is like confessing myself to myself.
“Your self-image must be a reasonable approximation of “you,” being neither more than you are, nor less than you are.”
At all time I need to get a healthy self-image of myself, I need to constantly remind myself of this until my servo mechanism takes over.
“If you can remember, worry, or tie your shoe, you can succeed.”
Nobody ties my boot lace, if I could always do that, then there is absolutely nothing I can’t achieve. Yes, may not be exactly where I want but I am on the path to it, I am becoming.
“Thus, man of all creatures is more than a creature, he is also a creator.”
This reminds me that God has given me the power to dominate and create the world I want. I will always keep this in my that if I fail somehow, I created the failure, either through my thoughts or my failure to act when should.
“When YOU select the goal and trigger it into action, an automatic mechanism takes over.”
This I will always remember that I need to give me a goal to work on, I should always try to give myself a goal, because having a goal and achieving it comes with greater fulfillment than anything else, we could do.
“It remembers its successes, forgets its failures, and repeats the successful action without any further conscious thought or as a habit.”
This is important to me because we make a habit of focusing on our failures, reliving the failures and amplifying the fears that comes with it. I will remember this quotes that as our mechanism work with successful outcomes I too should always focus on that more than my failures.
“We act, or fail to act, not because of will, as is so commonly believed, but because of imagination.”
What I will ever achieve in life or fail to achieve is a product of my imagination. I know how many times I have planned to do something and I consciously created the failures before it happens. Our minds create the fears that hinders us from acting, or it triggers us to act in a way that we should not.
“The greatest mistake a man can make is to be afraid of making one.”
We humans are afraid of a million things. One of my greatest fears recently have been that if I hold a summit people won’t attend, for a long time I refused to organize the summit. Why because I am afraid of making a big mistake of organizing a big summit and no one shows. I will take a step of faith and act. I remember Les Brown Speech what is the worst thing that could happen, most times nothing we will go ahead and succeed. I should not let fear stop me. Fear should even be part of me.
“If only we fearlessly accept the challenge and confidently expend our strength, every danger or difficulty brings its own strength as thy days so shall thy strength be.”
This ringed very true to me, because as I made effort to act on despite my fears on the summit, I had a lot of support and positive feedbacks on those coming for it. The truth is it has built in me the kind of boldness and confidence that if I didn’t conquer my fears, I would not have achieved it. Every storm we weather through builds in us unimaginable strength.
“Doing nothing is the Proper Response to an Unreal Problem.”
Sometimes our immediate response to perception of threat is flight, this quote will always remind when the “what ifs” come, I should let it go and not think/act on them.
“The way to make a good impression on other people is: Never consciously “try” to make a good impression on them.”
What always comes to our minds when we meet people is to make a good impression, I will learn to relax more, reduce my conscious efforts to do impress people and be myself.
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 nothing.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
None.
7. Was there anything you need in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in their previous questions if so, please comment.
No.
Please note the following question on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 6
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 7
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9
How to Win Friends and Influence People Assessment
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This book centered on human behavior and relationships, how to connect with people, be more likeable, improve relationships, win others over, and help them change their behavior without being intrusive. In essence he conveyed the fact that we need to be the change we want to see in the world.
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. “A person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
This phrase made me understand the value of a name that to every human the sound of our names catches our attention, A person’s name is the greatest connection to their own identity and individuality. Like the book said it is the most important word in the world to a person. It is the only way we can easily get someone’s attention, also for someone to catch our interest. It is a sign of courtesy and a way of recognizing them. When someone remembers our name after meeting us, we feel respected and more important. Assuming we were walking down a street and someone ran after us requesting to have our audience, there’s a hundred percent possibility that we will stop to listen to the person if they had used our names than if they had used any other sound. Conclusively a name a very important sound.
ii. “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
This phrase brought to light the fact when we show other people that we care about them friendship is formed, all of us become close and open to anyone that is interested in us. So, I have learnt that I should be more interested in other people, show care, be understanding, and show empathy. We naturally try to impress people by trying to get them interested in our lives, we try to draw attention to ourselves, this will not gain us friends, it will only make people either intimidated or jealous of our success. The best way we can win friends is if we forget about us and be genuinely interested in people’s lives, getting to know them personally by asking them questions about them and being friendly. Having and cultivating this habit can earn us good friends and more friends.
iii. “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.”
This phrase let me understand that people are composite of several other things, like prejudice, knowing this will help us know how to relate with them in a way that will foster relationship, taking care not to act in a way that will hurt their pride. I also realized that I myself at one point was this type of creature until I took a decisive step to acquire knowledge and be a different type of person. Therefore, I should be understanding, liberal and friendly.
iv. “Any fool can criticize, complain and condemn and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”
Yes, this phrase meant to me that really it is very easy to criticize other people, to find fault and complain, yes! We are very good in complaining about just anything, condemn people and condemn every other thing under the sun, from too much rain to no rain to too much sun to no sun, we can go on and on. This is all negative energy and a negative mental attitude. Yet we can chose to be understanding and forgiving, I have made this my habit, to try as much as possible not to complain or criticize other people, even though this is not always that easy because there are times you will feel like giving someone a piece of your mind, but this phrase brought out that even in those times, I should be forgiving and understanding, I should try not to condemn or complain or criticize.
v. “Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person’s precious pride, hurt his sense of importance and arouse resentment.”
The phrase is very true, most people done take criticism well, its wound and hurts their pride, few weeks back I read a story online of a young lady that committed suicide over internet bully. Criticism like he said is dangerous and does not lead people to change behavior. Instead it creates anger and defensiveness on the part of the person criticized. Communication between the parties is shackled, and positive relationships impeded not forgetting it hurts, you will keep reliving the moments and wondering what one would have done differently. I remember a time when my pastor criticized me publicly, totally condemn me and the most annoying of this act was that he was wrong in the things he condemned me for, I was not guilty of anything. This made me very angry and resentful towards him, which till date I avoid having close association or interactions with him because I believe he would have gone about it another way, he would have spoken to me directly about it not in the presence of the church members. This phrase has taught me not to criticize another human. There’s always a better way to talk to someone when they are wrong. Or we could start by criticizing ourselves first.
vi. “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”
This phrase means to me that with all pathways of success comes discouragement and failures. These are inevitable byproducts. The human brain is wired to stay in a safe and secure environment. It reinforces and tries to control us from going out of our comfort zone with anxiety and fear. But it is the ability to see past the fear and look to success that makes our desired paths possible. To turn the failures and fear into tools to help drive us to success is essential. Learning to use discouragement and failure is a skill that every success desiring person should learn.
vii. “It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.”
From this phrase I learnt that thoughts can makes us unhappy, that’s if we focus on the negative things. Happiness is synthetic according to Forbes, we either create it or we don’t. dwelling on all the negative things, negative energy, negative thoughts and negative habits all results in sadness. When we keep thinking of the things we don’t have and the things that did not happen as they should have, is a sure way to be unhappy. I have learnt to guard my thought, focus on the bright side of life, be the best I could be, live life to the fullest. Always find a reason to have happy 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?
I had read this book a few years back, this book helped me become a better person in my interpersonal relationships, I became more friendly, I started to care more about people, and became interested in other people. It helped me to show people that they are important to me, I try to remember names and important things about them, I try to be agreeable with everyone, finding something to honestly like about them, I learnt to talk less about myself and help people to express themselves. Through reading this book I have been able to always have a smile, a laugh and reason to make people feel welcomed and happy around me. I understand that people are hurting even as I most times am, so I have been more open and understanding, learned to listen, with hold the zeal to offer advice and I know with all these changes I made on myself, I’ve been able to help people feel better, become better and together we can make world a better place.
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.
“Most of the important things in the have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
This let me understand that no matter what happens, I should keep on trying, I remember the slogan for first High school, which says winners never and quitters never win, also a message by Rev. T.D.Jakes “until you have a taste of finishing you will never respect yourself.” Even when the last hope on the horizon is gone, I will keep on trying, I keep fighting to stay on the positive side, I will keep on working on my dreams.
“When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us: power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health and your happiness.”
This spoke to me that hating someone hurts us more than the person, it gives them total control over our lives and truly no living being or thing should have that type of power over us. Hatred is a very deadly virus that destroy us from within, it chips away on our mental and physical health more than we know. I have trained myself to hate no one, forgive and move on. To let things go, not because they deserve it but because I deserve peace. It is not worth it hating people, for me I value my sleep, my peace of mind and my general wellbeing therefore I won’t go on to hate on any human.
“Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so.”
Yes this really resounded in my mind, people become your enemies when you show them you are wiser than them, I learned this some years back, if you let them know you know, they will try to sabotage your effort and automatically try to prove you wrong. Its best to keep things to yourself, don’t quickly offer out advices and words, try to learn from them first. When winning friends, it’s best not let them know you are wise. This happen to me during my college days, immediately my course mates knew I was more brilliant than most of them, they started competing with me, instigating lecturers against me and withheld information’s from me. It is good to be wiser than most people but never let them know.
“Don’t be afraid of enemies who attack you be afraid of friends who flatter you.”
Even the bible says that a mans worst enemy are members of his household, then I learnt from 48 laws of power to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, because friends are most the people that will do the worst things to you. Even though I knew about this recently. I’ve to be extra careful around my friends.
“If you are not in the process of becoming the person you want to be, you are automatically engaged in becoming the person you don’t want to be.”
This meant to me that I need to positively take actions towards becoming who I want to be, I should not leave anything to chance, because if I am not doing that, I am automatically on way to who I don’t want. Since I have a goal, I am constantly focused on that, taking steps and working towards that goal, if I am not doing that, it means that goal will not be achieved.
“Happiness doesn’t depend on external conditions. It is governed by our mental attitude.”
Sometime we often think and feel our lives will be better, much happier and more successful if we could get or achieve so and so things or maybe when we are done with college or when we get a new job, or maybe when we get married or have children. Unfortunately, being happy and having happiness in our lives are not tied to all these things, we will find that these things come with their own set of challenges and we can never be happy if we fix being happy on these things. So, we should work on deriving happiness from within not from external things, happiness that comes from within makes us stronger and no external thing can shift that. We honestly need to learn this truth. I was once this type of person I used to think that when I am admitted to college I will happy, that came with the stress of school, I shifted it to when I am done with school, then shifted it again to when I get a job, the job came with a lot of challenges which made me think that getting a new job will make me happy, now that I know differently, that being happy is not linked to any of these, that it’s something I need to build and develop in me, that! brought a change in my life, yes, life may not always be perfect and we may not always get what we want or deserve, but I will always be happy.
“Remember today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”
This quote is very practically because we always worried about tomorrow, when the tomorrow comes, we worried about the next tomorrow and sequence continues. The question I always ask was it worth being worried about? Nope it wasn’t because today will always take care of itself if we did the right things yesterday.
“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”
This quote is true because if we don’t love what we are doing we won’t have fun and if we are not having fun, every little challenge that shows will make us want to quit, success will not be visible. But if we love what we are doing and have a thousand reasons to quit we will always find the one reason we should keep doing it, and that one reason will supersede the thousand reasons. We will have fun if we are doing what we love and success will be achievable.
“Remember a name and call it easily and you have paid a subtle and very effective compliment.”
This quote was just a reminder that I should remember names, I am one of those people whom faces stick longer in my head than a name, I remember faces and voice but not names, reading this quote made me consciously take practical steps towards remembering names.
“There is only one way to get the best of an argumentand that is to avoid it.”
Yes this is absolutely true, since I read this quote I avoid arguing with anyone, I have one person that always direct message me on thing I put on my status, that he has a different opinion, that will lead to us having series of argument on the post, since I read this quote anytime he does that, I will tell him “you are right”, no matter what he says my response will always be , “true, you are right, absolutely, and you are correct”. These responses have saved me hours of trying to justify my posts and arguing endlessly.
“Three-fourths of the people you will meet are hungering for sympathy. Give it to them and they will love you.”
This quote taught me a great lesson and changed my attitude towards people, I have been more sympathetic towards people and more understanding, sometimes I just offer to listen to their problems, I don’t offer advice or anything, I just listen, I find they feel better once they are able to share their troubles with someone who would not judge or criticize or offer advice. Yes, truly a lot of people need sympathy.
“People are more likely to accept an order if they had a part in the decision that caused the order to be issued.”
This quote reminded that instead of issue orders I should guide, orders are for military not every day human interactions, even within the organization people should be given room to be a part of the decision making., never force any decision down anyone’s throat involve them in the process, there will be a better chance of them obeying or doing it if they were a part of it.
“Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed on the worst.”
I learned this from Les Brown, if we know the worst that could happen, we will be prepared and stand a better chance of dealing with it, that is if it happens, but there is a greater chance that the worst we expected will never happen, so, we should not let anything stop us from doing what we wanted to do.
“One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses.”
This quote is true because we try to impress others and fail woefully this keep us sad. Like bible said “for we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” It is great wisdom not to try to impress others, the best way like I learnt from 17 keys to get people interested in us is not to try to impress them.
“All men have fears, but brave men put down their fears and go forward.”
This quote is true I learnt this when I started studying about public speaking, there’s absolutely no one that has never had fears but they all learnt to conquer them and achieve great things. So, I learned to but my fears down I do what I want to do.
“Talk to someone about themselves and they’ll listen for hours.”
We all love this, I have developed the habit of not wanting to hear about me so much, I let talk to other people about them letting them feel important and strong. We win more friends if we both talk about them positively and listen while they talk about themselves.
“You cannot teach a man anything; you can help him to find it within himself.”
This quote reminded me of a time when my mom tried to teach me healthy living, she did her best but it never worked on me nor did I learn or practice it, until when I found in me the need to change my eating habits that is when the change started, so, we can only guide or help the person to discover what s/he needs from within , only then will the set out to learn.
“The average person is more interested in her own name than in all the other names on earth put together.”
Truly this quote true, we all want our names to be mentioned, I have a mentor who always forward social media posts to me that mentioned his name, this is a perfect example of us being interested in our names.
“Every successful person loves the game. The chance to prove his worth, to excel, to win.”
I have never met any successful person who never loved what brought him success, the ability to set a goal and achieve it, the ability to prove their worth and win. Life its self is a game they that succeed in it are they that love it, anyone that does not love a thing will not put in the extra effort required to achieve it.
“The rare individual who unselfishly tries to serve others has an enormous advantage.”
When we try to serve others without any selfish reasons or ill intentions, we have great advantages and greater reward. We should genuinely try to help and serve other people it comes with great benefits.
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 nothing.
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?
No, it 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.
No there wasn’t.
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
Keys to Success
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author brought to light the principles through which personal success can achieved, he laid out steps and processes that if duly followed success will be attained. These principles are timeless and can be used or practiced by anyone who desires to be successful.
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. “If you can see an opportunity as quickly as you can see fault of others, you will soon succeed.”
We all as humans are apt in finding fault with others, we see the thing that are wrong with them. If we could train our minds the same way to find and recognize opportunities and chances, we will have a better chance at attending the success we all desire. We should keep our minds open; we should keep our hearts open and be on the outlook for possibilities rather than faults. There was a time when I was preparing for my leadership summit and I needed to meet the regional pastor of my church in respect of using the church events hall, which proved possible in spite of all efforts made, I could not meet the man, but as providence will have it, one day as I was returning from school, I was picked by the youth leader in my former local assembly returning from a conference, in his car was the next in command to the regional pastor and the person in charge of administrations, though that fact was unknown to me because I did not know the man. But I recognized and knew that the youth leader could be of help therefore, I talked to him about the summit, my desire to use the hall and my inability to meet the regional pastor, he then told me this is the man that could help me. That led to me meeting the regional pastor the next day and have a free use of the hall which usually go for a hundred and thirty thousand naira. This is one of the chances I had recognized an opportunity very fast. If I hadn’t, I would have still been walloping in my inability to meet the regional pastor. This has taught me to always look for opportunities instead of faults.
ii. “Knowing what you want will help in decision making, of course you can always judge whether or not it will contribute to your goals.”
Each day we are faced with life situations that require us to make choices. Right from waking to sleeping are full of little or major decision that can be easily influenced by others. Knowing exactly what you want and how it will help in the advancement of your goal will help in making the right decisions. Most times we know exactly what we don’t want but when it comes to what we want we are mostly lost. Like the goal to be the most sort after voice on leadership, I consistently make choices and take action based on this, I choose what I learn based on this goal, and I can make a faster decision on anything knowing that will push me a step or two closer to making that goal visible. Therefore, this phrase let me know that knowing what I want will facilitate decision making.
iii. “You will not be successful overnight; in fact, you will not be successful until you have returned to everyone who has aided you everything, he or she is due.”
This quote merged two powerful thoughts together, the first part is that you will not be successful overnight, this brought to my understanding that success is a journey not an automatic thing or a destination, it is a process for which one must grow through and find the path to walk through, like that particular chapter said most people who went to bed and woke up a millionaire lost the money faster than they got it. I should always remember to keep working. The second part said one won’t be successful until everything owed is paid back, I have seen people who got rich on people’s money become poor again, I have seen people who specialize in borrowing money and never paying back remain poor and unsuccessful. This second part reminded me that anything anybody gave me to pay back I should ensure I do pay back, without which I won’t be truly successful. If I can’t pay back immediately, at the least I should have a drafted payment plan with them to which I could payment back over a certain period. Naturally I hate borrowing and owing people anything, due to this fact I avoid as much as humanly possible not being indebted to anyone.
iv. “Success attracts more success while failure attracts more failure; striving for success makes you better able to attain it, doing nothing and accepting failure only brings more failure your way.”
When I read this my reaction was like wow this is absolutely true, succeeding at something gives you confidence that you can do it again, thereby attracting more of the same or much better successes, because if you analyze the path you took, you may see different ways of doing something better, improving on it and on yourself by extension. So, when you are successful you will know success is possible, know its achievable and know you can achieve it. The Knowledge of success builds strength and character in an individual which will help in attracting more of the same success. This same principle follows failure, the more you fail the more you will attract failure because of the state of your mind. Therefore, like the author said striving for success makes us better able to attain it, if we eventually fail, we should try to rise up and try again.
v. “The value of wealth that comes with success is that it carries with it the lessons you have learned in acquiring it.”
The phrase is very true, why did I say that? because any success or wealth you acquired comes with lessons, paths and precautions you took to achieve them, I remember a quote “ if I lost all my wealth I can make them back because I know how I did it” that is why success is journey which you can retrace your step and get it again. When we are acquiring wealth, we should not look for get rich quick scheme, we should not look for easy way out or pay our way to achieve it. Hard work pays and it gives one a sense of fulfillment that they achieve it. If we acquire wealth through success the lessons learn will stay with us and passed to many generations.
vi. “No one mind is complete by itself, all truly great minds have been reinforced through contact with others that allowed them to grow and expand.”
This phrase means that no man is an island of knowledge, all the great minds we know where reinforced directly or indirectly by another great mind, we should therefore not isolate ourselves or seclude ourselves from learning from others, there is no one that knows it all, therefore we should always keep an open mind to learn from others, seek out knowledge, learn to listen to other great minds. We humans sometimes tern to be intimated by others who are more brilliant than us. I have learnt to be intrigued by great minds, I love meeting people who have great wisdom so I could learn from them, the more we share our knowledge and learn from others the greater and wiser we will be. Learning should be a continuous process for anyone who wants to be a leader.
vii. “Personal ambition must be subordinate to the fulfillment and successful achievement of the definite purpose of the alliance.”
I learned this principle when I tried to form alliance for the summit, I and all the team members had to put our personal ambitions on hold to see to the success of the event. For the purpose of achieving a definite purpose I will learn to let go of personal gains and ambition. If we all learn this, we stand a better chance of achieving success.
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 book reinforces the lessons learnt in success through PMA, it has helped me to understand better the 17 principles of success and with steps guide on implementing them. The part that will help me the most in making the world better is forming mastermind alliance, learning to work with other great minds in harmony for the achievement of a common objective. The book has help me to refocus on having a pleasant personality and realizing my personality can be my greatest asset or a liability, also helping me to build a personality that is an asset. Each chapter of the book has a been a great lesson for working towards success, it will serve as my weekly reflection and pocket guide. I have decided to take each principle on my self care day and meditate on it. Using it for self-analysis and changing what needs to be changed to become a better me. By becoming a much better person I will be able to affect my society and immediate environment in a more positive way and in extension the world at large.
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.
“Know what you wish to say, say it with all the feelings you command, and then sit down.”
Sometimes we suppress what we want to say because we feel we may not make sense, but the truth is I should know what I want to say, while remembering that what I say is as important as how I say it and my expression when saying it.
“If you understand yourself, you will be better able to understand others, and they will appreciate you for it.”
This spoke to me that self-knowledge is very important, because we tend to judge others based on our image of ourselves, or through the filters of how we see ourselves. If I understand myself, in sync with myself and know what I constitute I will increase the possibilities of listening and understanding other people, this will create a better relationship.
“Your best recommendation is the one you give yourself by rendering superior services in the right mental attitude.”
I learned from this quote that every time I render a service to someone, I am being given the privileged to tell the kind of person I am. Nobody will ever forget how you treated them or handle a particular thing for them. If I render superior service to others and with the right attitude, they will surely recommend my services to others. I remember one hairdresser I met some time ago; she was a grumpy woman and complained about everything, despite the fact that she was good, I stopped going there and I won’t recommend anyone to go there because of her attitude. So, when we are rendering services, we should not forget to do it with a pleasing attitude.
“Trust yourself and you will always have someone to rely on.”
This is very important because if we don’t trust ourselves who else can we trust. This meant to me that I should build myself to point where I can depend on me, I learned this quite early in life that I am the only person that can fight for me, help me, change my life and achieve success, I have picked myself up so many times that I have lost count of it. So, I may not have anyone around but I know I will always have me.
“Go the extra mile.”
I learned through this like in PMA to always do a little more than expected, give a little more of my time. Work a little harder, care a little more. Most of us stop at doing exactly what we are paid for, but I have learnt to work a little longer, study a little more and pray a little more. These little more can be make a major difference and can bring in the success I need in life.
“Remember no one can win all of the time, no matter how much he deserves it.”
Yes, this really spoke to me, you can do all that is necessary, work hard and put in more than what is required or do your best for a particular thing or to achieve a better result still, it just won’t give you the result needed. Having this understanding will help us keep on, keep fight and keep on doing the good things we are doing. This took my mind back to the time I was bent on weight loss, I was eating right, exercising and drinking the right amount water, but the weight was just not coming off, I didn’t just up and give up I kept at it. Soon I got the result I needed but it wasn’t an easy thing to do. I know that there will be times where the input does not equal output, I have learnt to keep working and not give up, a win is always around the bend.
“Positive mental attitude attracts success you need that attraction when coping with defeat.”
This saved as a remind that if I have a positive mental attitude, I will have a better chance to cope with defeat whenever I face them. Yes, this is true, I have learnt to do this every day and every year when appraisal at work comes, I won’t get any promotion or any additional increment in spite of all the efforts I have put in for the organization. This is always a major defeat and set back. But I have learnt to have a positive attitude about it, I will get a new job which will pay me better for the services I am rendering. PMA has helped me survive and its helping be look forward a better offer while still giving my best to the organization.
“Nothing will happen in your life that you do not inspire by your own initiative.”
Since we are creators and have the power to create our world, anything that happens came as a result of that creative power. We inspire the things we see in our lives, if we don’t like things we are seeing in our lives we should change our thoughts and what we fix our minds on.
“Creative vision is the power which inspires development of personal initiative.”
Having a creative vision will inspire one to take necessary steps and actions towards achieve them or making it a reality. To develop my personal initiative, I need to work on creating a worthwhile vision. Having a creative vision will develop my imagination and will help me in taking steps daily to create that vision.
“Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better!”
This a good self-motivator or self-start I use to build my excitement level and keep myself focused on my goals, yes I am really getting better in several ways, if I don’t remind myself of this fact I may shift my focus to counting the things that are not moving as expected.
“Cosmic habit force is the law which makes every living creature, every particle of matter subject to the influence of its environment. It can work for or against you”
We have this cosmic power round us and how we use it matters a lot, the choice is mine on how I channel it, either for it to work for me or for it to work against me, but I will rather it works for me. And intend to fully channel it in that direction.
“Don’t waste your time or your money. Ten percent of all you earn is yours to keep and invest.”
This quote reminded me that Both my time and money are important none should be wasted. I have learnt to effectively schedule my time against important tasks, responsibilities and time for myself. I have never been a spending freak, I learnt budgeting and financial planning early in life and I practice it. I am a big saver, but I need to go a step further in investing.
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 nothing.
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 completed it
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No there wasn’t.
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
Success through a Positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This book brought out the fact that a positive mental attitude, coupled with the right habits and right approach to our goals will help us achieve anything we set out to achieve and by doing so that we can be truly successful.
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. “You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by trying. Success is achieved and maintained by those who keep trying with PMA.”
By applying the principles of always seeing the best side of everything we have absolutely nothing to lose, this bring to my mind one of Les self-help speech, what is the worst thing that could happen, which is it not working. But in actual truth there is a lot to benefit from in having and developing a positive mental attitude. In the periods I’ve been on this I found myself happier, more excited about life, more positive and more focused. I self-motivated with some of the self-start phrases. How much I accomplish in life and how well I do directly correlated with how well I nurture my PMA and principles learnt in this book. Like a magnet drawing metallic objects to it, developing this skill of positivity will inevitably draw prosperity to me. There is so much I could do and I know I can achieve successes. Yes, one the success I achieved during the period I read this book was hosting my first every virtual summit. I had a lot of thoughts on how/why it would not work, but I applied the principle of having a positive mindset and wow it was indeed a big success.
ii. “But when our attitude towards ourselves is big, and our attitude towards others is generous and merciful, we attract big and generous portions of success.”
This brought to my mind the bible principle that says love your neighbor as yourself, that is loving our neighbors to degree of how I love myself. Therefore, if I don’t love myself there is no way I can love my neighbor. A big part of success is our attitude to ourselves when we fail because no matter how successful we are you will have had some failures to get to where we are. Having a generous attitude towards our self-whilst failing is vitally important because it’s at the point of failure that blame, self-doubt, guilt and negativity can consume us, this can change our attitude towards others. I have read many books on leadership that lays emphasis on the fact that how we treat others is a direct reflection on who we are. True success come from the impact we make on other people’s lives. This knowledge has helped changed my attitude towards people, I am now more friendly, social, nice and kind. His perspective has kept me fulfilled, happy and satisfied which is to me a great success.
iii. “A person with positive mental attitude aims for high goals and constantly strives to achieve them.”
When we have a positive mental attitude, when can achieve all that we want to achieve, because we have this inner belief that we can and we will. With PMA we can set higher goals, aim higher and see it become a reality. I am was never really a person that set goals or aim high, I’ve never really set a target to achieve, what I do I give my best, work hard, work smart, put in the required efforts and wait for the results. Now I set a target for a goal to which I want to achieve work towards it, celebrate the little wins, when I have achieved the goal, I can really look back a see the steps I took to achieve them with it comes to confidence that I can do anything. I am no longer satisfied setting an average goal, there is a burning desire in me to aim for higher and higher goals, and I know I can achieve them all.
iv. “Sow an action and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
This bring spoke to me that all my little actions can grow progressively into something major, the things I know I should be doing and don’t do coupled with the things that I am doing that I should not are actively influencing my immediate surroundings, my attitude and my treatment of people. My habits reflects my action, now this also has a trail, if my character is not right, then we should take a look at what my habits are that gave birth to that character, if the habits is found to be faulty then we should go back to analyze my actions, this is like a root cause analysis trying to troubleshoot and fix the faulty parts, if my actions are correct, my habits will be, my character also should and my destiny most assuredly will be a successful one. A whole lot lies on my little actions, the for I should watch them closely, very closely because my destiny is birth from them.
v. “My mistake was being with the wrong companions. My major sin was associating with people who were bad.”
When we associate ourselves with the wrong company they may negatively influence us, this reminded me to always look at my friends attitude, their outlook in life, and their focus, if they have negative mental attitude I need to change them, so their NMA does not rub off on me. There is a phrase that says if 5 of your friends are broke the 6th will be you, if 5 of your friends are wealthy the 6th will also be you. Great caution should be observed with all those we let into our lives. A popular preacher once said where a bad friend is, a thousand good friends are not enough. Therefore, our association is of utmost importance.
vi. “With each victory you grow in wisdom, stature, and experience. You become a better, bigger, more successful person each time you meet a problem and tackle and conquer it with PMA.”
With every success that comes our way, comes with the knowledge and confidence that we can do it, and that we can win. We grow in wisdom as we face challenges and overcome them. There is a popular saying that experience is the best teacher. When we overcome problems or find a solution to issues we grow in confidence, we grow in knowledge and we can also guide others through it. My journey in life has not been an easy one, but with all the setbacks and obstacles I have a big attitude and positive outlook that I can only get better, life at this point for me can only get better and better. As I look back through the years, I am much better, I have more influence, I am making more impact. I have gone a very long way from that timid, shy and fearful little girl. I know there is nothing I can’t win. Therefore, anything that comes I will just say “Bring it on” I will win. And if by chance I don’t, I will rise up and try again.
vii. “He experienced happiness in making them happy without teaching them to be happy by making others happy. Therefore, they made him unhappy.”
This phrase reminded me that most times we know all the right things and right attitude and we behave well, but forget to pass the same to our children, friends and family, I have tried to educate my family especially my younger sister on having a PMA, even my friends, I don’t want to get to a place where I am doing well and they are not, I try as much as possible to share my books with them, this is my way of experiencing happiness with them.
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 book has helped me in keeping a “PMA – the talisman.” Every time I repeat the words, I am Happy. I am Healthy, I am Terrific. There is natural excitement and thrill that fills my heart. It has helped me remember that I am unique and the most important person, I have also learned the power of attracting happiness, also it has helped me in changing my attitude towards people, I’ve been kinder, nicer and much more friendly.
“Learning to see” and “Getting things done” are just a few examples of changes that I have easily applied to my everyday life and it will help me become more successful in my job and personal life.
I have been able to organize trainings that will help people become better. I’ve been more focused and organized. Going forward I will endeavor to do more than expected, work harder, apply positive mental attitude to every phase of my life. I will set higher goals and work towards achieving them. I will achieve success as I have a positive outlook towards life, even when trouble comes that is good because I will find solutions to them.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“Keep your mind on the things you should and do want and off the things you shouldn’t and don’t want.”
When I read this phrase, what can to my mind was that we are always very sure of what we don’t want but when we are asked what we want, we all seem to be at a lost. So, I told myself if I could think of the things I don’t want and attract them, its now time to actually think of those things I really want. I really have nothing to lose in having this mind set.
“A mind composed of two parts: the conscious and the subconscious.”
This take my mind back to Psycho-cybernetics that our mind has to parts, that we should develop it to the point where the subconscious mind takes over. This was just a great reminder.
“Failure is experienced by those who, when they experience defeat, stop trying to find the something more.”
When we fail it’s not a failure but if we stop trying that is when we have really failed. I have not really experienced major failures in life because I always work towards success. The phrase makes me to understand that if ever I encounter failure, I should find ways to try again. Truly I have never ventured into anything with the mind that I will fail and I always achieve my goals irrespective of the obstacles I meet on my way.
“Don’t make your mental attitude make you a has-been.”
This is very important because our mental attitude can make us become forgotten, this reminded me of a time I was diagnosed of optic neuritis, I felt so bad and wanted so much to die, hated my life and willed myself to dead. But the moment I changed my attitude that only one eye is affected that my other eye is still functional, I started recovering. So, our mental attitude can make our lives worse than it actually is and it can make our lives so much better than it is.
“Go the extra mile.”
I learned through this to always do a little more, give a little more of my time. Work a little harder, care a little more. That little more can be make a major difference and can bring in the success I need in life.
“If you have a worthwhile objective, find the one reason why you can achieve it rather than hundreds of reasons why you can’t.”
It is always the human nature to find the thousand reasons why a thing or relationship or project will not work. I have determined now that in everything I will always look for reasons why it will work even if it just one reason I will hold onto that.
“Try as you will to avoid payment for your good deed blessings and rewards will be showered upon you.”
Most times we human always try to get payment for all the things we do and have done for people, I particularly hate this act as it’s so predominant in Nigeria, to change this I organize free trainings, summits, seminar and webinars with my money and no sponsors. I have been guest speakers in several events for which I spoke for free, I have this mind that if it will change a life, I will do it. Payment has never and will never be a motivation for me to do good to others.
“Share that which is good and desirable and withhold that which is bad and undesirable.”
I’ve always had this mind that I should not be the doom bringer, I should not be the reason someone is sad. This quote spoke to me that I should always strife to do good to others. The bible says give and it will come back to you good measures pressed down and shaken together, therefore if I do good, share good things and good attitude they will all definitely come back to me.
“Character is the cornerstone in building and maintaining success.”
This let me know that if I want to succeed and maintain the success, I need to have the right character, because character births a destiny, Myles Monroe said those who failed in leadership were those who failed in dealing with their character. Therefore, our character is very important and essential in being successful.
“That which you share with others will multiply and that which you withhold will diminish!”
This reminded me that if I want happiness I should there share it. What I share will multiply, this reminds me of the bible verse that says, he that scattered shall greatly multiply, he that will hold even the little has shall be taken away. As much as I can and have, I should try to share it with others.
“A failure uses up as much energy in his work at failing as a successful person uses in winning success.”
When I read this, I was amazed because this is very true, we all have the same amount of time, the difference between that person failing and the person winning is just their mental attitude,
“To learn one must pay the price. And I was willing to pay it for I was not taught.”
Nothing good comes easy, I should be willing to make sacrifices necessary to learn what I have not been taught, leadership is something I was never taught, I am willing to pay the price the learn and also teach others about it. But before I can be able to teach effectively, I must pay the necessary price to learn about 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?
No nothing.
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 was, I completed it and it help know my level in having the right mental attitude.
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 there wasn’t.
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
Awaken the Giant Within
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author gave us a guideline on how we could transform ourselves into our ideal image. He showed us how to master our body, emotions, relationships, money and our life, how we can change ourselves into the man or woman that we’ve always dreamed we could be, he provides an overall practical steps which anyone can follow to identify his/her purpose in life, take control and steer the ship of our destiny.
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. “Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that dis-empowers them or one that can save their lives.”
This phrase made me understand that we all have the ability to use our experiences to create something positive or to make it stop us from achieving what is possible, an example is a child that was a victim of sexual abuse, this child can grow up thinking all men/women wants their body, they can go ahead either to rape other children or sell themselves out to anyone, some can grow to hate the other sex the abused them. But they also have the ability to rise above all these, and use their experience to fight against abuse, heal and still live life to the fullest. Knowing this fact that we can take any experience and build on it in ways that will save our lives, we should focus on making positive things that can save our lives not ones that will dis-empower us.
ii. “What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true ability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.”
This phrase spoke to me that everything lies in our belief of our self. What we tell ourselves we can do, that is exactly what we will do, what we belief we can’t do, that is exactly what we will not be able to do. I remember when I started jogging, I will give myself a target that I will go four miles and back, but after two miles, it will be as if I can’t make it to the third mile talk less of the fourth mile, I will tell myself just one more step you can and you will, I can and will, and I made the fourth mile and back. If I had listened to the way my body was screaming stop! I would have given up long before the third mile. This goes to show that whom we belief we are is who we will become, and what we belief we can do is what we will do.
iii. “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t life controls you.”
This phrase let me understand that pains control and consume us that is if we let it and making us unable to achieve great things because of pains, not only pains, pleasure too can make us do things we aren’t supposed to do. Like someone who is on drugs, the pleasure that they feel when they use these drugs can control their ability to limit or know that these drugs are harmful to their health. If we don’t know how to use our pains and pleasure to build ourselves for success, it has the power to limit and control us. Truly life can’t be without pains and pleasure, they are essential component of life. life won’t always come with pleasure, at some point we will experience pains, ability to rise above all pains and pleasure and allowing none of these two things to be a determining factor of actions is a sure path towards success, giving us true control over our lives.
iv. “Every day stand guard at the door of your mind, and you alone decide what thoughts and beliefs you let into your life. For they will shape whether you feel rich or poor, cursed or blessed.”
This phrase reechoed the bible verse that says guard your heart with all diligence, watching what we feed our minds is very important, because it will determine if we are happy or sad. Why it is important that, one negative word or negative energy or negative thoughts can crash our carefully planned out day. We should always learn to watch what thought we allow dominate our minds daily. Nights I don’t sleep happens because of the things I allow my mind to dwell on. Therefore, I guard my mind.
v. “Create a vision and never let the environment, other people’s beliefs, or the limits of what has been done in the past shape your decisions.”
Crafting our life vision is mapping a path to our personal freedom. The harsh reality is that if we don’t develop our own vision, we’ll allow other people and circumstances to direct the vision that we choose. We should never let anything or anyone stop us from drafting and creating a good vision for ourselves, visions of the life we want, the home we want to live in , the car we want to drive, the career path we want to follow and also the impact we want to have in our generation. If we allow our environment or our past or peoples beliefs to shape our decisions we will never discover what is really possible, I always love to say if I had listened to all the things people told me is not possible or had listened to those who said I am just a woman I would not have finished school neither would I have done anything worthwhile.
vi. “If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in life, you’ll find it’s easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that’s far below what you deserve.”
I have heard this phrase in many different ways, like Lisa Nichols said we have to teach them how to treat us by the way we handle and treat ourselves. If we don’t set the standard for ourselves, we will find that we will be willing to accept whatever comes our way or settle for far less than what we actually deserve. We all should have our own little rules that determine what does and doesn’t make us happy, and what we will or will not accept. However, all too often we make up rules where we give away control. For example, “I’ll be so happy if my boss tells me I did a great job with this presentation.” is not a good rule to have, because I hand over my happiness to my boss, whom I can’t control, if my boss criticizes the presentation he will shatter my confidence and my peace of mind. So first if I want a better life, I should make up better rules. We should create standards on that things we can accept and not accept, because if we don’t clearly define these standards someone will come along and change them for us.
vii. “You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.”
From this phrase I learnt what all the past books I’ve read since joining this program tried to put forward, that knowledge is productive when actions are taken on the gained knowledge. So many people know what they should do, but they are not doing it, it is very easy to stay down, but to rise to the top we must take action. Success is achievable if we decide we want to succeed, deciding is not the only thing needed it just the foundation, then we should start doing something towards succeeding. If we do nothing then nothing happens, if we do something then we expect a lot to happen. My quest to be the most sort after voice on leadership was a decision, I made one day to myself. After deciding that, I took action by learning from different leaders like John. C. Maxwell, Miles Monroe and Simon Sinek, and the quest also landed me here in IIGL. I am not only learning; I have taken a step to share my knowledge with others. These are actions I have consistently taken since I made the decision and like I said a lot has happened in the last Eight months. Knowing is not enough we should act.
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 book has helped me focus on making better decisions in my life, not only that, I have been able to change some decisions and follow through with actions.
I’ve been able to create rules that make me feel amazing and that do not rely on events that are beyond my control. An example of one of my rules is “if I can complete this work today, I will give myself a cup of wine and relax with my favorite book.” This rule is totally dependent on me, and my ability to discipline myself to complete the work. With these rules have been able to avoid disappointment since the rules depend on internal events and on me.
Daily I carry out self-analysis by asking myself questions and providing answers, then I will focus on areas that I need to create changes, then make decisions on what I should do to move forward. Also have been able to constantly check my mind and ensure I have the right thoughts. This book wasn’t a book to just read through, at some points during the reading process I’ll stop and meditate on a particular thing that I read. Even though most of the principles have been talked about in others books and though I may not apply or use all that have been made available in this book, I will ensure that I consistently keep taking actions on my visions and work towards creating tomorrow that I desire.
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.
“No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.”
This made me realize that I may think my progress is slow, the things I want are not happening, It may look as if nothing is working, I should just know for trying, acquiring the knowledge, and seeking ways of developing myself I am far ahead of those who are not doing anything.
“A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”
Like I mention in the last phrase in question 1 this was just a reminder that if I make I decision I should ensure to follow through with an equivalent action that will validate the decision taken. Because if I did not follow through with an action there was no point making the decision.
“Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life.”
This quote has been reechoed in so many different forms, but they still mean the same thing that whatever I can conceive in my mind hold it there and hand it over to my subconscious or meditate on I will achieve it and experience it.
“If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.”
This quote means to me that whatever I want to achieve has already been achieved by someone, I should find them, study their path and things they did and apply their principles, surely I will achieve the same result or much better if I am able to recognize their pitfalls and overcome them.
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”
This meant to me that I can’t keep doing the same old things, the same old way and expect a different result, that won’t just happen. If I want a different result from what I am getting I should change my methods, change my process and change my actions then the result I am seeking can be achieved.
“Whatever you consistently think about and focus upon you move toward.”
This quote spoke to me that whatever I consistent focus my mind and attention on that is what I will become and achieve, this also meant to me that I should be very careful of what I allow my mind to dwell on, because if I let negative things dwell on my mind they are hundred percent bound to happen.
“It’s your unlimited power to create and to love that can make the biggest difference in the quality of your life.”
This quote is very practical and I simple, I want a certain life them I should create it, because I have the infinite power to do that, I can change my life, I can have everything I ever desired, how? Be using the infinite power of my mind to create it.
“Out of your deepest pain will come your greatest gifts, but this can only happen when you take control of the meaning.”
This quote meant that we sometimes find our purpose through our pains, I have been a victim of bad leaders and toxic environment, instead of me playing a victim to my pains, I rose above it by studying about the right kind of leadership and moving forward to train others on it. If was never a victim I would not of found my greats gift or passion.
“Never the site of setting a goal without first taking some form of positive action towards its attainment.”
This quote was just a reminder that I should remember if I sit down to set a goal. I should take steps towards achieving them.
“Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.”
This quote meant that if I could use the power of decision, I can change any part of my life, without giving in to excuses. Actually, excuses are just little reasons we give not to act on our decisions. If I can decide on an area, I need change, I can create that change in an instant.
“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”
This quote taught me that the only way I can give back to life for all the privileges, opportunities and responsibilities I have received is by becoming more, better and achieving more than the normal. Normal is easy, just live, just exist, but to give back I need to put in the effort needed to become more.
“Create a vision and never let the environment, other people’s beliefs, or the limits of what has been done in the past shape your decisions.”
This quote reminded that I should let nothing on earth stop me from creating a vision and working to achieve it.
“We will act consistently with our view of who we truly are, whether that view is accurate or not.”
I learned from this that the picture in our minds about ourselves determines how we act, this also corresponded with psycho cybernetics that if we hold a wrong mental image of ourselves, we will constantly work to validate that, the same happens when we hold a correct picture of ourselves.
“For changes to be of any true value, they’ve got to be lasting and consistent.”
This quote taught me that if I make changes only for a week, a month or year is not of worthy value, a change should be a lifetime journey not a destination, any changes I want to effect I should consistently work on it.
“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.”
This quote is true when I decided to focus on my speaking career, things changed dramatically. We mostly don’t know how to focus, we tend to drift from here to there, but if we can focus on what we want or the changes we envisioned then we can achieve it.
“How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I’m committed to?”
This question quote made me look into my daily life and ask myself, what am I doing today, what am I studying today and what are the changes I need to achieve today so I can create the tomorrow I dream of. By asking and answering these questions I can see areas that needs shifting and changes to create what I want tomorrow.
“Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.”
This quote reminded me that whatever contribution I want to make in life I should ensure to do it selflessly and with sincerity, that only then will I receive true fulfillment, this is absolutely true, all the trainings I’ve organized so far have been free because I want to help others achieve success in life, people always ask me what is my gain and I laugh, my greatest gain is being fulfilled that someone found his/her path because of the little I gave out.
“It’s not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute, that gives meaning to our lives.”
Truly this quote true, what gave meaning to my life is going out there to train, encourage and motivate others; It’s not in the certificates I have gathered, it’s not in the money I get, it being able to become a better person and contribute positively to life that brought meaning to my life.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
No nothing.
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?
No, it did not have any.
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 there wasn’t.
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
Creating your Path through Leadership
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This book is a compilation of directors and students’ transformation journey through their being tutored at IIGL. Their achievements, how the vision of the institute was birth, the graduate’s experiences and thoughts on the life they have lived and their successes.
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. “If we want to feel we are victims, we have that freedom and people will constantly abuse us. We also have the freedom to reframe each of our experiences and see how they have helped us to stretch and grow in wisdom and maturity. We can choose to see each situation happening to us or for us. It’s our choice.”
This phrase made me understand that we have the will and power to determine what we feel, that what we feel as individuals also detect how others will treat us, this is the law of attraction. This fact is totally dependent on us. We also have the ability to reshape our experiences, life is filled with diverse kinds of experiences, how we use it and what we make of it will determine whether we will be successful or not. We also have the ability to choose what happens around us, not only that we have ability to shape our situations and make it a positive one instead of negative. I have learnt to look for lessons in my experiences, see how I can grow and stretch to become better than I was. Life hasn’t always brought good experiences my way, but in spite of all these I have learnt to use my experience to become more focused, more dedicated and more knowledgeable in those things that seek to cripple me. Yes, what we feel and how we shape our lives is our choice, we have to make this choice diligently every day. For every experience we need to ask ourselves; what is this teaching me, what can. I pick from this and how do change myself so this doesn’t happen again.
ii. “Discovering your leadership potential is a journey, not a onetime discovery. It is something you keep working on and unveiling with time.”
Most people go through life thinking that leadership is about title or it just happen one day when you get appointed as something, or its about being the head of a thing. Actually, being a leader requires more than just having a position, neither does it have a final destination. It is a daily journey, journey of self-discovery, journey of self-development and journey of self-empowerment. No one has ever slept and woke up a leader, it a process one has to keep working on, keep discovering and keep readjusting oneself self to suit it. I have been studying about leadership since 2012, till date, I have not stopped learning and I am not a master, because I keep on discovering different aspect of leadership that I never knew. Leadership is a school where no one ever graduates because the more you learn, the more you realize you know nothing, that keeps us working on it. Some people will just read a book or attend one seminar and think they have arrived, that they are now a leader. No leadership is much more than one lecture, one book or one seminar, my mentor always say Leadership is a language, they earlier you learn to speak it the more successful and fluent you will be at it.
iii. “You must be intentional about the kind of impact you want to create in the world. Influence does not happen by chance but, rather, the intention to be part of the solution rather than the problem.”
This phrase let me understand that to impact the world I will to be intension, I always love to say “no one will give you a stage to dance, create your own stage and invite others to dance with you.” Being a leader means we can’t just drift through life with no purpose. Impact or influence. Having influence doesn’t just happen, we have to work hard to distinguish ourselves by making positive impact in the world. Lets always look for ways to meet needs, solve a problem and be a solution finder. if we truly want to have a positive influence, we should be intentional in our development, because we definitely can’t give out what we don’t have, because it will be out of what we have in the inside of us that we can give to others. Making positive impact should be our goals in life.
iv. “The people you surround yourself with have a huge impact on your vision and manifestation of your potential, as you will be continually challenged to aim higher, thereby expanding your capacities.”
This phrase brought to my mind a popular quote, Jim Rohn said ”that you are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with,” if you have 4 friends and all of them are broke, the fifth broke person will be you, if you have four friends and all of them are rich, the fifth rich person will be you. This also brought out that if you spend time with wise people you will end up being wise. If you look at your circle and don’t get inspired to grow beyond yourself, then you don’t have a circle, you have a cage. The people we surround ourselves with daily have a considerable influence over our mindset and in turn our visions. Joe Larson said “my friends didn’t believe I could become a successful speaker, so I did something about it. I went out and found some new friends”. Therefore, it is essential to surround ourselves with people who push us to be better than we were yesterday, who believe in our vision and who help us become a better version of our self.
v. “A mentor can teach you in a single moment what would have taken a lifetime to learn.”
This phrase is actually very true mentors help us to maximize our potential, develop our skills, improve our performance and become a better person than we would have been on our own. Since most of the people we choose as our mentors are people who have achieve the things we want to achieve, they are better able to guide us through the right path, they can help us to avoid pitfalls that they scaled through. So truly a mentor can teach us in just a moment what we can spend our entire life to learn. I remember an incident with one of my mentors, I was at a cross between two paths I should have taken, I want to do a training which would have taken me 9 months to save up for it, since my mentor is someone very vast in the area I ask him which path I should take, he didn’t come out straight to tell me don’t do the training now, he just told me a very simple parable, letting me understand in not so many words that it was not a good idea to go for the training. Everyone needs and should have at least a mentor.
vi. “Leaders are readers and influence others only to the level of their own competence. You cannot lead people where you have not been.”
This phrase is very true, reading as been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Since leadership is about learning and growing, I don’t see how this can be achieved without taking out time to read, I told myself one if John Maxwell at his and all his achievements can still read who am I not pick up a book and read. Truly anyone who wants to lead most learn to read, because if you are not reading you are not growing, and if you are not growing you are actually dying. Leaders who don’t read are diminish their circle of influence, like I said earlier leadership is a daily in which no one ever graduates, how can we expect to excel in a school if we are not reading and studying. Tony Robbins said he has read over seven hundred books, look out where he is now and the things he has achieved, can we say he is a leader? Sure! Because out of the abundance of books read birth the man he is today. Even if you are not a reader naturally, it can be learned, don’t think of reading a whole book a day, start with just a page and build up from there. This book I finish it in just 2 hours. I re-read it again to pick phrases that spoke to me. I essence I read this book twice in 3 hours, it did happen overnight I have been reading since I was 10 years old.
vii. “If you must live ahead of your peers, you should learn to put to full use your imaginative mind; it is a tool that will give you the ticket to welcome your peers to tomorrow and to the future.”
From this phrase I learned if one wants to be what no one has been before, then one has to do what no one has done. We all have our peer groups, consciously or unconsciously we compete among ourselves, but for us to get ahead and be ahead of the pack we must learn how to be innovative and creative. We need to smart work and creatively seek ways of advancing. Those who moved ahead of their peers are those who discovered their passion are stayed faithful to it.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
After reading the individual journey stories, it has motivated me to keep on working, I am now more committed to work towards my graduating from the institute, because if they could achieve it, then I too can and will. Looking at reading 35 books is very scaring even to an addicted ready like me, because I will submit summary. I love reading with no time frame on it, now I have to be more consistent. This book has vamp up my determination to push through on the program, and also in bringing in other people to also study, true leaders find the way, go the way and show others how to go the way, the books I have read so far in the institute has help me to improve the quality of my daily life. Therefore, as much as I can I will encourage others to join the Institute, I believe if they do, they will experience the same transformation.
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.
“God hears every prayer, even the upspoken dreams, in the depth of silent nights.”
This quote is absolutely true that God answers all prayers, this I have seen in my life several times, no matter how silently one whispers it, he surely hears and will answer. I remember a time 10 years I needed a laptop, I prayed for it, but it looked as if it was going to be impossible to get it. Anytime I save up money for it, one crisis will come up and the money will be gone. But I prayed to God that he has the power to give me a laptop I did not buy with my money. Just when I had given up hope on getting it, God surprised me with it and I didn’t pay a dime for it. the most amazing part of this story is that I asked him for a type of laptop none of my colleagues had, and he did it. Truly and most assuredly God Answers Prayers.
“Conviction is that compelling force or drive that makes a leader stick to his decision at all times and yet still be adaptable to ensuing challenges.”
Conviction comprise of our value and beliefs, our convictions empowers us to pull through with our decisions, even when we face very tough situations that make us want to pull back. But we should as leaders be open and ready to accept changes that brings progress. We should not be rigid in our convictions or beliefs; we should learn to give room for improvements.
“Creative leaders foresee change and prepare themselves and other team members in advance.”
From this quote I realize that it is necessary and essential for leaders to stay ahead of the pack, but not too far out so that the pack lose sight of the leader. John Maxwell said a leader knows the way, goes the way and show others how to go the way. Being a leader means you have to develop the ability to see an overall picture of events and then prepare your team for it.
“One very important and invaluable trait in creative leaders is the ability to accept failure, as this quality reflects humility and, consequently, humanity.”
This quote really spoke to me leaders are not always right, as long as we are humans, we are bound to make mistakes and we will sometimes fail, therefore we should learn to accept failures, learn from them and move on. As leaders we should not let failure cripple us and stop us from achieving anything we want to achieve.
“Volunteering is a way of giving back to the community while developing leadership skills and gaining valuable work experience, all at the same time.”
This is very true the first speaking engagement I ever had was as a volunteer, I have come to value and look for opportunities to offer my services as a volunteer. To get to do things well we need to put ourselves out there to do it, sometimes, people won’t give us the chance we need to show case our skills, but through volunteering we can learn and at the same time develop our skills to be effective leaders. Next time I see a volunteer work, I will volunteer and do it like a professional.
“Leaders who make great impacts in the world, build the leading businesses, and enjoy deeply fulfilling and successful lives all take responsibility for achieving their dreams.”
This quote is true, if we don’t take responsibility for making our dreams come to pass, then it will remain what it is: a dream. Every person we see successful today, every business we see and every thing we see anyone achieve today was once a dream to them, but when they owned their dreams and took responsibility for working it into reality, we can see what they have been able to achieve. For example, John Maxwell, Max Lucado, Myles Monroe, Les Brown, Lisa Nichols and a lot of others. Therefore, as leaders we should all take responsibility for achieving our dreams.
“To raise leaders for society, citizens should be encouraged to cultivate the habit of volunteering.”
This quote is true, we should encourage our team members, friends and associates to volunteer, as this could be the only way we can gain the experiences that we need, Lisa Nichols said when she wanted to change her life, she could not afford to attend some seminars and training, she decided to volunteer in all of them. She was able to attend those seminars free and learn what she needed; therefore, we should encourage all those we are grooming to be leaders to learn to volunteer.
“I may not have control over what happens outside but I do have the control over what happens within.”
This is true, like Tony Robbins said in Awaken the Giant within, we have the power to determine what things mean to us. We can’t stop the rain from falling but we have the power and ability to choose how we feel about the rain. The more control we have over what happens on our inside, the more the outside situation lose their control over us. This quote is an acceptance based on knowledge and understanding.
“But, as we know, being an optimistic visionary isn’t enough; evolution requires us to be manifesters of our visions.”
This quote meant to me that we need to make our vision real. That is we need to model our visions for others to see, if we don’t model our vision it will not be real to other people and they may lack understanding of what it means or what it intends to accomplish, we should always try to make the vision simple and clear, ensuring to manifest the vision.
“Leaders have to be able to instill confidence in a group and do it in such a way that the group strongly wants to meet the goal.”
This quote re-emphasizes what I already know, that the aim of every leader is to inspire confidence in the team, how do one do this, show you trust and believe in them, show you care, show empathy and give them a listening ear. If we can do these few things, we will go a long way towards inspiring confidence in our team. But most important of all, encourage self-development, train them and push them to become better people, they will be highly motivated to work on the goals.
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 nothing.
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?
No, it did not have.
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 there wasn’t.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8
Goal Setting 101
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author addressed the fundamentals of a goal. He centered the book on setting and achieving our goals, even when one has never done that before. He also offered in the book goal setting methods, insights and suggestions for everyone seeking their signature path to success. He brought out the idea to achieve success we must learn to set goals.
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. “Achievements and accomplishments do not happen accidentally. They are the result of clearly defined goals acted upon until completion. Goals determine what you will or will not become or accomplish.”
This truly spoke to me that nothing happens accidentally, I read somewhere that success comes to those who prepared for it. Anyone who had achieve any great thing had planned and prepared for it. Even the bible said who has ever built a house and has not sat down to count the cost. Therefore, if we want to achieve or accomplish anything we should sit down and clearly defined it. Our goals have the power to determine what we will accomplish and what we will not accomplish. Then we should look at setting accomplishable goals, measurable and clear. First, we should determine what we want to achieve then set a goal, and define the steps and procedures to be taken to accomplish it.
ii. “It is essential to understand that reality isn’t necessarily going to be the way you wish things to be or the way they seem to be; reality is the way things actually are.”
This made me understand that often times what we get as our reality may not always be what we wished for, we should learn to accept the reality as the way things are, not necessarily because we have not done our best or that we have not set everything in place but the reality is just what it is “reality.” This made me also realize that there are some things in our reality that for sometime will remain the same despite all our efforts to change things. This made me think of my reality now, 2011 I was among the best student in my school, my present company came to school to pick the best, fortunately as I thought then, out of all the students that were picked from my department, I was the only one that made it to the company Academy, even till date after several batches of trainees from that school. After a year training, I was among the 30 out 54 academy graduates employed by the company, the company employed me as a junior technician in 2012, over the last 6 years I’ve proceeded on my education gotten a degree, approved by the company and I’ve done several developmental trainings preparing me for the position of an engineer. But my reality right now is, for the years I’ve worked for the company, there’s never been a promotion, any increment nor have I been regularized to an engineer position, but my job responsibility was upgraded to the level of engineer. Does this mean I’ve not done my best? No. does it mean I am not good at my job? No. I’ve had my boss assign me the job of a manager and I executed it excellently. The reality is a toxic system does not value excellence and dose not reward diligence and hard work, the best is quit, which I look forward to when I’ve fully gotten my NGO rolling. Reality therefore are just the way things are, which can always change positively.
iii. “You must be able to identify success or you won’t have any way of monitoring your progress or knowing if you have achieved your goals.”
I learned from this phrase that I need to clearly define what success is to me, what does it entails, at what point can I clearly say I am successful. What and what are the embodiment of success, at what stage of my journey can I say I’ve achieved success. When I’ve been able to establish this land mark, I can go ahead to set goals, monitor my progress and know if I’ve been able to achieve my goals. Like I read in Maximum Achievement one need to clearly see the end of the goal already accomplished, what it will look like, experiencing the emotions that come with the achieving the goal, then go backward and start the goal.
iv. “Everything Counts!” is a philosophy for living. Its meaning is simple, yet powerful: Every thought, decision, and action moves you closer to or further from your goals.”
This phrase made me understand that every thought count, So I try to make it an empowering thought, there is a constant stream of thoughts going through our heads at all times and it is having immense impact on the decisions we make and the actions we take. We should also remember that every choice counts. There are no insignificant choices, no neutral actions. Even the smallest decision has a bottom-line consequence, leading us toward or away from our goals. Choices are the meat of our daily diet. Our quality of life is a direct reflection of the quality of the decisions we’ve made up to this moment. Good choices move us to desirable actions. Our life immediately points “true north” when we begin making choices that lead us toward what we want to achieve. Everything is important, every little and major thing. Knowing this, I’ve learned to watch my actions or inactions, put conscious thoughts in my head that pushes me closer to my goals.
v. “The effective goal setter is not content to make the most of what happens to come his way. They devise, invent, and create situations tailored to their strengths.”
This phrase made me understand myself more, I have never been content accepting things that comes my way, I try to create things tailored towards my goals and see how I can work on my strength. I focus on my positives, I love teaching and motivating people, therefore I create events, I collaborate with others to create an avenue where developmental trainings can go on. I set goals towards bringing my strength to light, enhancing it to complete utilization of my skills. Currently working on creating a leadership training programs for children between the ages of 6 to 13, reaching them while they are still very young and teaching them to have a success mind set, I am not comfortable with the way things are, I wish I had the privileged to learn or that I was taught some things I‘ve learned now much earlier in life, it would have guided me towards a different direction. This program is centered around my strength.
vi. “It is essential to know what your working platform is in order to develop purposeful goals. If you work for someone other than yourself, you must know what you want before you can know if your job can give it to you.”
This phrase is very true, and it’s also my greatest career mistake which I am hoping to correct. I join my currently company not knowing exactly what I wanted or where I wanted to be, I was just a young undergraduate with moons in my eyes, but I knew one thing for certain, that any organization I worked for I will get to the top, after I started working with this my organization everything was rosy or so I thought, but because I had no idea of what I wanted, I was comfortable with all that was going on. After I left the system to further my studies, I realized a lot of things about the system were wrong, but I had an agreement with the company to come back to them, it was now when I came back, knowing exactly what I wanted, did I realized I signed up with an organization the can not help me meet my developmental goals. This has made me seek for knowledge outside the system, I am more than where my organization has placed me, I am brilliant, intelligent, team worker and smart worker. Having this knowledge now has empowered me to look critical at offers from other organizations, I need a place where I can grow in my career, working in an organization that keeps people for 10 to 12 years on the same position and salary has taught me a lot about work-culture, and I am not willing to ex-change one toxic system for another. If I had known exactly what I wanted I would have recognized early that this is not where I should be, but I stayed to long before I figured that out, and now I can’t just up and quit.
vii. “Nothing of any lasting value was ever created by someone who was reasonable. It is the unreasonable people, those discontented with the status quo, the dreamers and visionaries who nevertheless have their feet planted firmly on solid ground who improve people’s lives and advance society.”
This phrase spoke to me that being reasonable should not be the goal of any dreamer who is working towards accomplishing a great feat. Those who achieved great things, questioned what was accepted as normal, they were viewed as unreasonable and they were discontent with the way things were. Dreamers and visionaries see what is possible out of the mountain of impossibilities before them; they have their feet mounted on the solid ground of improving peoples lives. This phrase brought to my mind great leaders like the Patriarch Nelson Mandela he saw that the South African can live as free people, own their lands and lives, He questioned the status quo, he was discontent with what was generally accepted, he knew from the law that all are equal and he took a stand against it. Sure he was really unreasonable and strong headed but he was a dreamer and a visionary who changed not only his life but freed millions of South Africans.
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 book has made me to write down my goals for the first time in my life, I am not a big fan of writing or putting things down on paper, my goals are usually in my head, but through reading this book I’ve been able to draft out where I want to be, the type of job I want and my financial goal for the next six months. I know these goals may not be perfectly drafted out, but its flexible enough to be improved and modified as time goes by. Setting goals is a new step for me and I am learning to grow on it. I’ve worked on setting daily goals, I set goals on what I want to achieve on my job daily and at the end of the day I check my progress. Over last weekend I set a goal of the work I need to accomplished at home, even though I threw in some unplanned work along the line but at the end of the day, I was able to look back and saw that I had accomplished all my goals for the week end and more. This book has immensely been of great benefit to me and my development on setting goals and achieving them.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“If you are serious about achieving your goals, respect your rights and responsibilities.”
This taught me that I should respect my right, privilege, responsibility, and honor to set and achieve a goal. the right to be successful, happy, and prosperous. The right to pursue my own individual path in life. the responsibility to follow through on all my commitments. the responsibility to teach and share what I have learned in life to others. the responsibility to become all that I am capable of becoming. This is my right and I should learn to respect and honor them. I have the right to be my best, function at my best, live life to the fullest, be and become anything I set my mind to become.
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can keep your goals in your head. For goal setting to have any value, goals must be written down. Only by writing each step can you see where you are going. Similarly, writing down your goals also enables you to look back to determine if you have done what you planned to do.”
As much as I love putting important quotes, I’ve not really adopted the idea of writing down my goals, but with this quote I realized that I can’t keep thinking about my goals, having it on my mind does not make it real, that I should learn to write down my goals. Writing my goals can serve as an evaluation guide, grading how far I’ve come on the goal, what is remaining, the necessary change I need to make to achieve the goal. It can also serve as a landmark for goals achieved
“You can’t possibly plan for every contingency. However, in critical areas of your plan it is in your best interest to build three levels of projections.”
I learned planning in levels, I practiced this level planning in my budget, I have the first one for which every possible needs or items are included, the second level of which some item that are needed but not essential are removed and the last for which those item that are absolutely needed and essential are. This enable to look at each level and decide which I should go for. This same method should be applied to every area of my life and relationships.
“What does a leader do? A leader leads! You have no choice but to lead yourself in the direction of your goals, no one else will do the job for you.”
This is true, if we can’t lead ourselves to achieve success, we can’t lead others. I’ve been able to lead myself, discipline myself and push myself to achieve a lot of things, I am have now gone beyond leading myself to leading others, I have always known this fact that if I don’t lead myself to achieve what I want no one else will. It’s my job and my responsibility to push myself to become the influential woman I’ve always wanted to be.
“Everyone involved in achieving the goal should have a part in establishing it. Participation in the goal-setting process helps ensure that the goal will be successfully accomplished.”
I learned that our goals should be clearly communicated to all involved, everyone who should be a part of establishing a goal should understand and have active participation in all the processes of setting the goal, making them a part of the goal-setting process gives them ownership of the goal and this ensures in the long run that the goal is successfully accomplished.
“The primary criterion of any leader is the ability to achieve the goal, whatever it may be. Build your life on a permanent record of accomplishment.”
This is true, our track records of goals achievements will grant us the place of leadership and also success. Where ever we find ourselves we should always work on accomplishing things, even if its something as little making everyone feel welcomed.
“The truth is that some leaders are made, but most leaders make themselves. How? They believe in themselves and act like leaders!”
This spoke to me in a deep way, I can’t say I was born a leader, but through personal development, believe in myself and my abilities, I’ve been able to make myself a leader, I’ve been a voice people listened to, and I’ve been able to lead others, even those older than I am.
I believe in me and I believe I am a woman of excellence, I act and think excellence, I know this has become my life style.
“Act in a way that recognizes that any action has potentially momentous consequences, the full import of which will not be immediately apparent.”
This is true, every act, words and thoughts have their consequences, therefore I am always watchful of my actions, the way I behave and the way I treat others. if we fail to take cognizant of our actions, we may incur consequences that we may not have wanted. We should always remember our actions and failure to act has a repercussion.
“Do more than is required! What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile. Advancement only comes with habitually doing more than you are asked.”
This reminded me of 17 Leys to Success, and Success through PMA, go the extra mile, it taught us to always do more than its required of us, put a little more effort, to complete this book this month I had to work a little harder than I’ve done on other books, stay up a little late and put in more effort. Every successful person does this, if we make this a habit we too can succeed.
“If you are unable or unwilling to establish a deadline for your goal, you probably need to examine your commitment.”
This talked to me about setting deadlines on my goal. I’ve set certain dates to achieve a certain goal, this keep me focused on it and keep me committed, e.g. like I set a goal to turn in a level two book before the end of this month September. I gave myself a deadline 30th, I started reading, by 28 I was able the copy all my favorite phrases and quotes to word, by 29th had completed the summary, proof read same and turn it in. if don’t set a deadline we may tend to lose focus on our goal.
“You cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions. Goal setting is often a matter of balancing timing against available resources. Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions.”
This is absolutely true, he who watches the sky will never plant, if we keep waiting the best conditions, we will never achieve anything, we should all learn to make use of available resources to start out, then keep on balancing as we go along
“Successful people do what unsuccessful people simply won’t or can’t do. And in so doing, they frequently achieve the impossible.”
I’ve, read this over time, if we want to achieve what no has, we should learn to do what no has, we should learn to take up responsibility, volunteer for jobs no one wants to take, do what others are afraid to do, through these we can find success.
“There’s something about putting something down on paper that forces you to get down to specifics. It’s harder to deceive yourself or anyone else when your idea is exposed on paper.”
Yes, this quote spoke to me that, writing it down makes it real, harder to deny and forcing us to be specifics on what we want to achieve. I am not a big fan of writing but I am learning every day.
“Examine your speech! You can and will inspire confidence with your words and vocal tone.”
I learned from this quote to positively affirm myself, I always examine my words as well as my thought, a lot have changed about my speech, I inspire myself with my words daily.
“Goals aren’t usually attained “overnight,” so managing the journey to success is a critical aspect of achievement.”
I learned from this quote to work patiently on my goals. No one has ever achieved success or goals overnight. Those who achieved tangible success did it over time, I should keep on working building and developing myself, success is assured. Those who won lottery became poor again a few years after, why? Because their success never had a path they grow through. Therefore, we all should learn how to manage and stay focus on our journey to success.
“Only by stretching do we grow. If you push the limits, you define new limits. And then you should push those. You are capable of producing and achieving much more than you believe possible.”
I learned to always push myself to do better, there is so much more about me that is yet to be discovered, there is no height to which I cannot attend, I will always ensure to push my limits, like tuning in this book. We all know that in us is the ability to break new grounds and limits.
“Expect reverses, expect losses, and expect rejection. They are inevitable. But why give them the last word? Take them as bumps in the road to success.”
This is very true the road to success is never a smooth one, we should expect failures and rejections, I remember when I was planning my first summit, most speakers rejected my request and others accepted but didn’t show up, most of my team members failed to show up, but all the same, it turned out a great success. We should always learn to know that there is equal percentage of failure and success. Probability of success and failure is equal one, if we probably fail, we should accept failure as an event and move on.
“The person who cannot face a fear will always be running from it. Better to run toward a goal than away from a fear.”
I learned to face my fears, I’ve always trained myself work on my goal in spite of my fears, I also have this confidence that my fears will not happen, so I go ahead and act.
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 nothing.
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, they were. I worked on it.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No there wasn’t.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10
Maximum Achievement
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author gave us a guideline on how we could transform ourselves into our ideal image. He showed us how to master our body, emotions, relationships, money and our life, how we can change ourselves into the man or woman that we’ve always dreamed we could be, he provides an overall practical steps which anyone can follow to identify his/her purpose in life, take control and steer the ship of our destiny.
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. “Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that dis-empowers them or one that can save their lives.”
This phrase made me understand that we all have the ability to use our experiences to create something positive or to make it stop us from achieving what is possible, an example is a child that was a victim of sexual abuse, this child can grow up thinking all men/women wants their body, they can go ahead either to rape other children or sell themselves out to anyone, some can grow to hate the other sex the abused them. But they also have the ability to rise above all these, and use their experience to fight against abuse, heal and still live life to the fullest. Knowing this fact that we can take any experience and build on it in ways that will save our lives, we should focus on making positive things that can save our lives not ones that will dis-empower us.
ii. “What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true ability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.”
This phrase spoke to me that everything lies in our belief of our self. What we tell ourselves we can do, that is exactly what we will do, what we belief we can’t do, that is exactly what we will not be able to do. I remember when I started jogging, I will give myself a target that I will go four miles and back, but after two miles, it will be as if I can’t make it to the third mile talk less of the fourth mile, I will tell myself just one more step you can and you will, I can and will, and I made the fourth mile and back. If I had listened to the way my body was screaming stop! I would have given up long before the third mile. This goes to show that whom we belief we are who we will become, and what we belief we can do is what we will do.
iii. “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t life controls you.”
This phrase let me understand that pains control and consume us that is if we let it and making us unable to achieve great things because of pains, not only pains, pleasure too can make us do things we aren’t supposed to do. Like someone who is on drugs, the pleasure that they feel when they use these drugs can control their ability to limit or know that these drugs are harmful to their health. If we don’t know how to use our pains and pleasure to build ourselves for success, it has the power to limit and control us. Truly life can’t be without pains and pleasure, they are essential component of life. Life won’t always come with pleasure, at some point we will experience pains, ability to rise above all pains and pleasure and allowing none of these two things to be a determining factor of actions is a sure path towards success, giving us true control over our lives.
iv. “Every day stand guard at the door of your mind, and you alone decide what thoughts and beliefs you let into your life. For they will shape whether you feel rich or poor, cursed or blessed.”
This phrase reechoed the bible verse that says guard your heart with all diligence, watching what we feed our minds is very important, because it will determine if we are happy or sad. Why it is important that, one negative word or negative energy or negative thoughts can crash our carefully planned out day. We should always learn to watch what thought we allow dominate our minds daily. Nights I don’t sleep happens because of the things I allow my mind to dwell on. Therefore, I guard my mind.
v. “Create a vision and never let the environment, other people’s beliefs, or the limits of what has been done in the past shape your decisions.”
Crafting our life vision is mapping a path to our personal freedom. The harsh reality is that if we don’t develop our own vision, we’ll allow other people and circumstances to direct the vision that we choose. We should never let anything or anyone stop us from drafting and creating a good vision for ourselves, visions of the life we want, the home we want to live in , the car we want to drive, the career path we want to follow and also the impact we want to have in our generation. If we allow our environment or our past or peoples beliefs to shape our decisions we will never discover what is really possible, I always love to say if I had listened to all the things people told me is not possible or had listened to those who said I am just a woman I would not have finished school neither would I have done anything worthwhile.
vi. “If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in life, you’ll find it’s easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that’s far below what you deserve.”
I have heard this phrase in many different ways, like Lisa Nichols said we have to teach them how to treat us by the way we handle and treat ourselves. If we don’t set the standard for ourselves, we will find that we will be willing to accept whatever comes our way or settle for far less than what we actually deserve. We all should have our own little rules that determine what does and doesn’t make us happy, and what we will or will not accept. However, all too often we make up rules where we give away control. For example, “I’ll be so happy if my boss tells me I did a great job with this presentation.” is not a good rule to have, because I hand over my happiness to my boss, whom I can’t control, if my boss criticizes the presentation he will shatter my confidence and my peace of mind. So first if I want a better life, I should make up better rules. We should create standards on that things we can accept and not accept, because if we don’t clearly define these standards someone will come along and change them for us.
vii. “You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.”
From this phrase I learnt what all the past books I’ve read since joining this program tried to put forward, that knowledge is productive when actions are taken on the gained knowledge. So many people know what they should do, but they are not doing it, it is very easy to stay down, but to rise to the top we must take action. Success is achievable if we decide we want to succeed, deciding is not the only thing needed it just the foundation, then we should start doing something towards succeeding. If we do nothing then nothing happens, if we do something then we expect a lot to happen. My quest to be the most sort after voice on leadership was a decision, I made one day to myself. After deciding that, I took action by learning from different leaders like John. C. Maxwell, Miles Monroe and Simon Sinek, and the quest also landed me here in IIGL. I am not only learning; I have taken a step to share my knowledge with others. These are actions I have consistently taken since I made the decision and like I said a lot has happened in the last Eight months. Knowing is not enough we should act.
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 book has helped me focus on making better decisions in my life, not only that, I have been able to change some decisions and follow through with actions. I’ve been able to create rules that make me feel amazing and that do not rely on events that are beyond my control. An example of one of my rules is “if I can complete this work today, I will give myself a cup of wine and relax with my favorite book.” This rule is totally dependent on me, and my ability to discipline myself to complete the work. With these rules have been able to avoid disappointment since the rules depend on internal events and on me. Daily I carry out self-analysis by asking myself questions and providing answers, then I will focus on areas that I need to create changes, then make decisions on what I should do to move forward. Also have been able to constantly check my mind and ensure I have the right thoughts.
This book wasn’t a book to just read through, at some points during the reading process I will stop and meditate on a particular thing that I read. Even though most of the principles have been talked about in others books and though I may not apply or use all that have been made available in this book, I will ensure that I consistently keep taking actions on my visions and work towards creating tomorrow that I desire.
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.
“No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.”
This made me realize that I may think my progress is slow, the things I want are not happening, It may look as if nothing is working, I should just know for trying, acquiring the knowledge, and seeking ways of developing myself I am far ahead of those who are not doing anything.
“A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”
Like I mention in the last phrase in question 1 this was just a reminder that if I make I decision I should ensure to follow through with an equivalent action that will validate the decision taken. Because if I did not follow through with an action there was no point making the decision.
“Whatever you hold in your mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life.”
This quote has been re-echoed in so many different forms, but they still mean the same thing that whatever I can conceive in my mind hold it there and hand it over to my subconscious or meditate on I will achieve it and experience it.
“If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.”
This quote means to me that whatever I want to achieve has already been achieved by someone, I should find them, study their path and things they did and apply their principles, surely I will achieve the same result or much better if I am able to recognize their pitfalls and overcome them.
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”
This meant to me that I can’t keep doing the same old things, the same old way and expect a different result, that won’t just happen. If I want a different result from what I am getting I should change my methods, change my process and change my actions then the result I am seeking can be achieved.
“Whatever you consistently think about and focus upon you move toward.”
This quote spoke to me that whatever I consistent focus my mind and attention on that is what I will become and achieve, this also meant to me that I should be very careful of what I allow my mind to dwell on, because if I let negative things dwell on my mind they are hundred percent bound to happen.
“It’s your unlimited power to create and to love that can make the biggest difference in the quality of your life.”
This quote is very practical and simple, I want a certain life them I should create it, because I have the infinite power to do that, I can change my life, I can have everything I ever desired, how? Be using the infinite power of my mind to create it.
“Out of your deepest pain will come your greatest gifts, but this can only happen when you take control of the meaning.”
This quote meant that we sometimes find our purpose through our pains, I have been a victim of bad leaders and toxic environment, instead of me playing a victim to my pains, I rose above it by studying about the right kind of leadership and moving forward to train others on it. If was never a victim I would not of found my greats gift or passion.
“Never the site of setting a goal without first taking some form of positive action towards its attainment.”
This quote was just a reminder that I should remember if I sit down to set a goal. I should take steps towards achieving them.
“Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.”
This quote meant that if I could use the power of decision, I can change any part of my life, without giving in to excuses. Actually, excuses are just little reasons we give not to act on our decisions. If I can decide on an area, I need change, I can create that change in an instant.
“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”
This taught me that the only way I can give back to life for all the privileges, opportunities and responsibilities I have received is by becoming more, better and achieving more than the normal. Normal is easy, just live, just exist, but to give back I need to put in the effort needed to become more.
“Create a vision and never let the environment, other people’s beliefs, or the limits of what has been done in the past shape your decisions.”
This quote reminded that I should let nothing on earth stop me from creating a vision and working to achieve it.
“We will act consistently with our view of who we truly are, whether that view is accurate or not.”
I learned that the picture in our minds about ourselves determines how we act, this also corresponded with psycho cybernetics that if we hold a wrong mental image of ourselves, we will constantly work to validate that, the same happens when we hold a correct picture of ourselves.
“For changes to be of any true value, they’ve got to be lasting and consistent.”
This taught me that if I make changes only for a week, a month or year is not of worthy value, a change should be a lifetime journey not a destination, any changes I want to effect I should consistently work on it.
“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.”
This quote is true when I decided to focus on my speaking career, things changed dramatically. We mostly don’t know how to focus, we tend to drift from here to there, but if we can focus on what we want or the changes we envisioned then we can achieve it.
“How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I’m committed to?”
This quote made me look into my daily life and ask myself, what am I doing today, what am I studying today and what are the changes I need to achieve today so I can create the tomorrow I dream of. By asking and answering these questions I can see areas that needs shifting and changes to create what I want tomorrow.
“Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.”
This quote reminded me that whatever contribution I want to make in life I should ensure to do it selflessly and with sincerity, that only then will I receive true fulfillment, this is absolutely true, all the trainings I’ve organized so far have been free because I want to help others achieve success in life, people always ask me what is my gain and I laugh, my greatest gain is being fulfilled that someone found his/her path because of the little I gave out.
“It’s not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute, that gives meaning to our lives.”
Truly this quote true, what gave meaning to my life is going out there to train, encourage and motivate others; It’s not in the certificates I have gathered, it’s not in the money I get, it being able to become a better person and contribute positively to life that brought meaning to my life.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
No nothing.
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?
No, it did not have any.
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 there wasn’t.
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
The Power of Intention
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author centered on ways to co-create our world our own way, becoming happy and radically changing our lives by connecting ourselves to this pure and unlimited energy called intention. When we connect to this intention we can as individuals do and achieve amazing things.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.
i. “The secret to manifesting anything that you desire is your willingness and ability to realign yourself so that your inner world is in harmony with the power of intention.”
This truly spoke to me I should constantly strive and aim for balance in thoughts words and deeds with my intentions. When we are in harmony with our intent, we are working in concert with other inner activities to create our desires. Looking inward to analyze our thoughts, to see if they are working for or against what we intend to achieve, if my intention is to be happy, I need to align my inner being, which are my ideas, my self-conversations, thoughts and words to drive me towards being in equilibrium with being happy, then I will find it easy to achieve my intent of being happy.
ii. “Until you transcend the ego, you can do nothing but add to the insanity of the world.”
This phrase brought to my mind a book I glance through once, Ego is the Enemy, this book said something about the fact that the first time we got offended was because of our ego, the first time we acted out of place was because our ego was stepped on, when we insult someone or put someone down was because we felt our ego was
threatened, therefore if we don’t learnt how to live above it, we will \find ourselves victims of our ego. We most times tend to struggle with it because transcending our ego is very easy on theory but can be very difficult to do in real life, ego in actual sense keeps us small, in fear and feeling not good enough, or feel people are judging us
even when they aren’t, which contributes to negative influence and impact on the world, but if we can muster the knowledge and ability to rise above our ego we can instead of adding to the insanity of this world create a world where the 7 faces of intention abound.
iii. “When you shift to an abundance mind-set, you repeat to yourself over and over again that you’re unlimited because you emanated from the inexhaustible supply of intention.”
This phrase worked for me, as I read it, I started proclaiming over my life that I have abundance of everything, abundance of money, friends and every other thing I needed. Today I am celebrating this knowledge because a lot of changes have occurred, this month my company paid some bonuses that they have not paid for a long time, and
other financial gifts from sources unexpected. For the first time in a long time my finances are not in a red zone. I know I am connected to a source that has unlimited supply of everything I need, and this mind-set have created abundance and I am looking forward to enjoying an overflow of this abundance.
iv. “If you want to attract violence, then listen to the lyrics of violence and make violent music a part of your life. If you want to attract peace and love, then listen to the higher musical Vibrations and lyrics that reflect your desires.”
This phrase made me realize music has a great part to play in the human life, we humans have always found solace in music, a popular quote says that when we are happy enjoy the music and when we are sad we understand the lyrics, this truly brought out that, music the type of music we listen to has a way of influencing our response to the world. I remember a few years ago the experience I had with music and people, I was engaged
and I loved my fiancé, but anytime I thought of fiancé a song by Roxette “it must have been love, but it’s over now” will keep pop up in my head several time or more like all the time, I kept wondering why the song is linked to this guy, a month after this, the relationship ended. Its now I realize that either I willed the relationship to an
end or that the universe knew it had ended hence the song. Therefore, since music is a part of our life, we should listen to ones that align with the result we want. Because in truth once we listen to a song, we will still be hearing the music long after the song has ended.
v. “If your expectations for yourself center on being normal, just you’ll getting along, fitting in, and being an ordinary person, resonate to ordinary frequencies, and you’ll attract more of normal and ordinary into your life.”
This reechoed what we’ve been learning all along, that the expectations we have of ourselves becomes our reality and the universe will help us achieve it. If our aim is to normal, just fit in, just exist or just getting along, we will send out this frequency, and resonating this frequency will attract to our lives all the things that are on that
frequency. This brought my mine to a radio broadcast stations, they will broadcast into the atmosphere without knowing those who would tune in, each of these stations have their different frequency modulated broadcast wave and spectrum, anyone who tunes into their frequencies can have access to their broadcast. When we relate this
with our expectations of ourselves, we resonate the frequency of what we are expecting and we will attract these things that exist in universe into our world and lives.
vi. “Be an appreciator of life, and refuse to have thoughts of hatred, anxiety; anger and judgment. Trust yourself as a piece of God and your genius will flourish.”
Appreciation is most powerful when we cease to use it occasionally, we should let it become our basic approach to life, when appreciation becomes the lens through which we view living, we can flourish. Appreciating can sometimes be very difficult when we are faced with a lot of challenges, we should avoid allowing negative energy
to emerge from us, we should not lash out, blame or entertain anger, hatred or anxiety but we should strive to appreciate everything. Somethings we get comes to us as lessons or to give us experience, we should learn to appreciate the lessons and the journey. To be appreciative we should value and trust ourselves as a master piece
formed and sculpted by God, giving room for our genius to come to light.
vii. “Genuinely feeling abundant and successful is possible when you detach yourself from the things you desire and allow them to flow to you, and just as important, through you.”
This phrase spoke to me that I should learn to detach myself from the things I want, opening up and freeing myself to let it flow to me on their own accord. This fact is very difficult in actual sense because we tend to brood over the things we want, I know nights I will stay awake fretting over what I want, or may be fretting on how I am going to achieve these things, but having this knowledge of genuine abundance will help us not fret over anything. Over the year’s like I said earlier having financial freedom has been something I’ve been attached to, worried about and thought of all possible ways to change my state, I’ve observed since I started thinking abundance and
forget about money and how to get it, things have naturally started flowing in. it has taught me to detach myself from things and people, they will flow my way.
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 book helped me make some changes in my life, like I increased the number of positive affirmation stickers around my house, I’ve also created my daily positive self-affirmations which I use before stepping out of bed every morning, this simple act has improved the quality of my day. My days have been happier, rewarding,
exciting and fulfilling. Most importantly I’ve been living in a financial abundance this month, I can’t remember the last time wasn’t out of cash before the next pay day, changing my mindset to a place of having abundant of everything thing worked
perfectly, I think this is the best influence this book has made on me. I’ve given out more money and I’ve also received money from some unexpected sources. This is a major shift for me if one knows my life story. As I keep working to retain and practice what I’ve learnt I know I will be able to make the world better for my family, friends, associates and colleagues.
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.
“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.”
This quote brought to my mind the story of a woman who kept complaining to her husband that every time she looked out the window and see her neighbor’s cloths dried outside, that her neighbor does not know how to wash cloths well, if she could not see that the cloths were not clean? This complaint went on for a while until one day
her husband cleaned their windows, only then did she realize that it wasn’t her neighbor’s cloths that were dirty but her windows, this shows that we could be viewing things with the through the wrong lens and if we could change that, everything else could change.
“Until one acknowledges the genius within oneself, one will have great difficulty recognizing it in others.”
This quote brought to my mind the scriptures that says love your neighbor as yourself, now we can only love our neighbor to the same degree that we love ourselves. Then if we don’t love ourselves there is no way we can love others, this is exactly true of this quote, if we can discover, develop and build our genius, recognizing the genius in others becomes a walk through the park.
“Take no credit for your talents, intellectual abilities, aptitudes, or proficiencies. Be in a state of awe and bewilderment.”
This quote came as a shock to me because we all try to take credits for the
things we’ve done, even though most times our insecurities make us feel we could not possibly have achieved that. From this quote now I am learning how not to take credits for my abilities.
“You feel good not because the world is right, but your world is right because you feel good.”
This is true, we all need to feel good, when we feel good our world will feel the same, but if we feel otherwise our world will feel totally wrong and unlivable. We should work constantly on feeling good, about ourselves, our work, our family and the who we are becoming.
“When you adore yourself in the same proportion, you’re matched up with the field of intention and you’ve opted for the path of no resistance.” I learnt from this that adoring myself will enable me to matched up with the field of intention, and the secret to a less resistance path is to value and adore myself. This also meant if I am not adoring myself, I am positioning myself in a place where I am unintentionally resisting the field of intention.
“Therefore, I choose to feel good while I’m in the moment, attracting into my life the manifestations of my desires. I am complete in my incompleteness.”
This quote has become my daily confession and as I affirm myself, I’ve observed a lot of changes in my life, in my associations and the general quality of my life. I am loving the results I am getting.
“You were created from a Source that is peaceful and joyful when you’re in that state of exuberant joy, you’re at peace with everything!”
When we can find that inner peace, we will be at peace with everything. Having this knowledge that The God who created us is a God of peace, because the scriptures
says he gives peace that passes human understanding, and his joy flows like a river and then again, the psalmist said the joy of the lord is our strength, therefore we can’t have this wisdom and not be filled with joy. Knowing God has our back to keep us joyful.
“The ability to heal yourself seems to be available to those who have an intuitive knowing about the power of the Spirit.”
I learned from this quote that is I understand the power I possess in my spirit healing
can be made available to me, I tapped into this power when I had an eye issue last year, it was tough but when I was able to pull out of self-pity and tap into the power of the spirit I got healed.
“You must avoid becoming attached to or hoarding what shows up in your life.”
This was a wow for me, because I value almost everything in my life, I rarely dispose of things, even when they are no longer useful, I store things up with the believe that one day I will have need of them, but after reading this quote, I am now open to share and detaching myself from everything.
“Your Source is abundant and you are your Source; therefore, you must communicate this back.”
This quote made me realize somehow, I’ve been short changing myself in the aspect of having abundance in everything, always having the mindset of not having enough has communicated to my source which is God scarcity. Since my source is abundant therefore, I should learn to communicate the same, expect and live in abundance.
“Whatever it is that you want to do in life, make the primary motivation for your effort something or somebody other than your desire for gratification or reward.”
This quote is absolutely true, desire for gratification or reward has never been my motive for doing anything because if it actually were, God! I would be highly disappointed all the way. The truth still remains that I should constantly make helping
people my primary motivation to doing things in life.
“When you’re unkind, you’re blocking the face of kindness. You’re moving away from the power of intention.”
I learned from this quote when we are not showing kindness to others and to the world, we are blocking our chances of experiencing kindness, and this moves us far away from the force field of the power of intention. I make it my goal to be kind and nice to everyone.
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 nothing.
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?
No there wasn’t.
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 there wasn’t.
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? 5
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 5
D. Would you recommend it to others? 4
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7
GOALS
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This book focused on how to set and achieve our goals, he talked about the key element of setting and steps necessary to achieve any goal no matter the magnitude. He also showed the importance of determining one’s strength, values and true goals. He also brought out the importance of self-confidence, self-esteem, overcoming difficulty, and
continuously taking action as ingredients 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.
i. “Each time that you persist in the face of adversity and disappointment, you build up the habit of persistence. You build pride, power and self-esteem into your character and your personality.”
This is absolutely true, because when we are faced with difficult challenges and overcome them, it gives us boldness, we are empowered, we understand our capability and we build our self-confidence. I remember when I was a student, I was
among the best students in my department, the company I am currently working with came to my school to pick students for their training school, initially I was selected as one of the candidates for the training school. Later when invitations were given to us for screening for the academy, I did not receive any, I went to my Head of department to find out why, as most of the people who got the invitation had much lower grade point than mine, my H.O.D told me the company dropped me. As I had no way of confirming from the company, I let it go. A few weeks after a guy I was teaching Calculus
informed me that the same company was accepting trainees again, that since my GP is good, I should go online and apply. I did apply, went for the written screening and passed, went for the oral interview and passed, was invited to join the academy but with a letter of recommendation from the school. I met this my HOD and he refused to give me the letter of recommendation, I tried for several days, when I couldn’t get the recommendation I decided to report at the academy, with the mind that if I am rejected, I would be consoled I did my best. Amazingly when I reported at the Dangote
Academy, they only checked for my name on their list, they did not ask for the recommendation letter or my certificate. I presented my certificate 14 months after, when I was to resume as a staff after graduating from the academy. This victory
gave great confidence that no matter what challenge comes my way, I know I can win them all. I later discovered when I joined the academy that the company did not drop me initially, that my HOD did because I was not a native of that place.
I’ve faced several disappointments and adversities, it has built in strength, character, strong self-esteem and a strong personality. I am called a strong woman and most call me women leader, because of my personality built out of what I’ve
faced and overcome.
ii. “Your outer world ultimately becomes a reflection of your inner world, and mirrors back to you what you think about. Whatever you think about continuously emerges in your reality.”
This was just a reminder, that our thoughts becomes our reality, since joining IIGL, and I read about this, I’ve actively channeled my thoughts to deal on the things I want to happen, shifting my focus away from things I don’t want and focusing them on things I want to see, and truly the quality of my life has greatly changed. I see my thoughts coming to become a reality. Honestly my life has been blissful these past few months, as I have changed the things I think about and the things I speak about, my thoughts have been good ones and my life have truly changed. Not that my job has changed
or the environment is less toxic than it was, no it did change, I changed. Instead of focusing on how unfavorable my workplace is, I focus on doing a good job, being a better me, being happy to do my work and think on all the good things that my salary has helped me to achieve. Thinking on having abundance has moved me from always struggling to pay my bills and support people around me, to having more than enough. If I had ever doubted that our thoughts become our reality, I am a strong believer now.
iii. “A goal however is something distinctly different from a wish. It is clear, written and specific. It can be quickly and easily described to another person. You can measure it, and you know when you have achieved it, or not.”
I recently learnt that our goals need to clearly written down, what we want to achieve and what we aspire to be. If these goals are not written down there is a possibility that we may never take it seriously or achieve them. I read recent about Harvard Business school graduates that about ten percent of them wrote down their goals about starting their business went on to own businesses, and the others who didn’t, never started or own any business. The power of writing it down makes it very real, it will keep your mind actively looking for ways to bring it to pass, I’ve recently set a lot of goals for my-self, wrote them down and I’ve been working to achieve them, one goals is to submit 3 summaries in a month, I could not achieve that last month, but this its been drumming in my ears that you need to meet your goals. I have met it.
iv. “You should develop a laser-like focus so that you are always thinking and talking about the things you want rather than the things that you don’t want.”
This just reechoed that what we actively or passively think about becomes our reality, I use to wonder how I can control my thoughts, I recently from the book compound effect by Darren Hardy, that how I can track my thoughts should be measured by how I feel, now if I don’t feel good that means my thoughts are on the negative side, if I feel good that means my thoughts are on the positive side. I have been practicing focusing on what I want, what I want to see happen and truly they are becoming my reality. I don’t only think about the things I want; I also speak about them. It’s actually refreshing,
peaceful and satisfying. I am happy about that.
v. “The greatest enemies of success and happiness are negative emotions, of all kinds. It is negative emotions that hold you down, tire you out and take away all your joy in life.”
II know, truly if we let negative thoughts creep in, it will birth a lot negativity and sickness in our lives. Like I’ve said earlier we cant stop a bird flying over our head but we can stop it from perching and building a nest in our hair, the same thing is with negative things that happen, we may not have the power to stop them but we have the
power to choose how we feel and how it affects us. I try as much as I can to avoid all negative thoughts.
vi. “If you read 15 minutes each evening, rather than watching television, you will complete about 15 books per year. If you read in the great classics of English literature for 15 minutes each day, in seven years you will have read the
100 greatest books ever written.”
This really is what I have been practicing over the years, I don’t watch television, I don’t have one, even though I can afford it, because it will be a waste of my money as will not watch it. Almost all my adult life, most of my evenings are spent reading. Reading is my favorite pass time, this month alone aside from the IIGL books, I’ve completed 3 other
books, The Compound Effect, Pushing Forward and Secrets of the Richest Man Who Ever Live, including several other novels. I’ve encouraged people to read books, as books have the power to change our lives. Look at my life, the way it has changed its through reading, and I am happy I joined IIGL, as some of the books I’ve read since joining has transformed my life tremendously.
vii. “No matter how well you organize yourself and your activities, you will experience countless disappointments, setbacks, obstacles and adversity over the course of your life.”
Yes, truly no matter how well our plans have been laid out, there will always be one obstacle or the other on the way, but we should always know that we will win all, keep a positive mind and focus on what we want to happen, disappoint is just
one step away from appointment. We should believe in winning and even when we lose, we should get up and try again. My high school motto was Winners Never Quit and Quitters Never Wins.
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?
God! This book is truly an amazing read, the things talked about in this book have truly shaped and made me more focused on what I want. I have set several goals that I got so dejected as they seemed impossible to achieve This book helped me to streamline my goals to a few simple one’s that I can easily measure. I have even gone ahead to talk to people about writing goals, I’ve made it as simple as setting a daily goal, if we can
achieve our daily goals, we can be confident to walk towards our weekly, monthly and yearly goals. Yes, things may happen within the day that will make us shift from our goals but we should ensure that we work on shifting our focus back to what our goal was.
Implementing ideas in this book have tremendously change my perspective on setting goals, working on focusing on the moment and also helped others achieve this too.
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.
“Your greatest successes almost invariably come one step beyond when everything inside of you says to quit.”
This spoke to me that changes lies just a little beyond when our mind screams stop, fitness trainers will always drum this fact in our ears. I remembered sometime last year when I want to go for my exams, I discussed with boss and he agreed to give me leave of absence weeks before the exams. When I met him to sign my leave of absence form, my boss threw it away, angry that I was taking my leave, despite my explanation he
refused to sign it. I felt so frustrated and sad knowing my exams was two days away, I thought of all possible ways to get around this, just when I was about to give up, my approval for studies was sent to me my from the HR department, this was a day to my exams, with this approval I had officially seven working days to go for my exams
which I needed six and my boss refused to sign. With that approval also, the power to stop me was taken from my boss and that was how I won. Prior to this I had thought of quitting my job or forgetting about the school, but I told myself to try and get approval from the HR Manager and I got it easily. We should keep trying one more
time, it could be that is all it needs.
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
I should keep moving, that success is in doing something. I am the type of person that I love doing something productive all the time, I love engaging my brains, I love when I am doing and learning something. I don’t like having idle time on my hands. I know as I keep taking actions towards achieving my goals I will succeed, quitting has never been one of my options, I keep on trying.
“Your ability to set goals is the master skill of success. Goals unlock your positive mind and release ideas and energy for goal attainment.”
This is absolutely true, when we set goals our brain is activated to finding
ways to achieve them, I’ve set several goals for my self recently, both financial, academic, relationships and social goals, my mind is always thinking of ways I can achievement them, I stay up late to read so I could achieve my academic goals, for my financial goal I set a monthly target savings. Goals truly unlock our positive mind,
engage it with active ideas and we will have the energy needed to achieve them.
“You need self-discipline to delay gratification, to save your money and to organize your finances so that you can achieve financial independence in the course of your working lifetime.”
This is an absolute necessity, in the last one year I have learnt a lot about financial discipline, the power of saving money and investing, I made a lot of financial mistakes in my 10 years of working life, I am never been a big spender, but a big giver, I’ve
saved up money and then gave it to people who never paid back, I have given people money at my expense and this has kept in a place where I was barely able to meet my bills. Now I know the kind of heart that I have and that people will always take advantage of that, therefore I ensure I save Forty percent of my income first, after which I
can then distribute the other sixty. I have learnt to set priorities, stick to my budget, and save fifty percent of any additional income. No, I have not yet attained my true financial freedom but I know I am not where I used to be and I also know in the next 5 years I will achieve my first financial goal or I may even I achieve it before then.
“You need self-discipline to use your time well and to always concentrate on the one thing, the most important thing that you need to do at the moment.”
This made me realize I’ve been focusing on too many things at the same time, therefore decided to streamline my projects to just three, while picking one to invest my
time on at different instant. Truly disciplining myself to do what is important at the moment has yield great result for me.
“The truth is however, is that all of this advice and input would do you no good at all unless you took some specific action on what you had learned.”
I learned to always take action, this is what I have been doing since I joined IIGL, I’ve taken actions towards my development, impacting lives and helping people. Most importantly I have taken steps to see my dreams become a reality.
“Because of your knowledge and experience, you feel completely capable of handling whatever happens. You have no fears.”
This is absolutely true, with experience comes knowledge, confidence and boldness. This
has come true in my life in several aspects, in my job I know about electric motors and their behaviors, if something is wrong, I say it with confidence. In my personal life I know what I expect to happen and if it does not happen immediately, I have no fears as I know they will.
“Your success in life will be in direct proportion to what you do after you do what you are expected to do.”
This brought to mind the principle of going the extra mile, doing more than what you are paid for, or doing more than what is expected, always learning to give that extra wow-experience to someone. I try to do this in all my speaking engagements asking what I could do for them after I’ve done what they expected.
“As soon as you get settled in at your new job and you are on top of your work, go to your boss and tell him or her that you want more responsibility.”
Before now I have always been on top of my job, even though now I may not ask for extra responsibility, but I will once we are able to get an extra hand to handle some of my current job responsibility as I am handling a lot. I have also learnt to accept any additional job from my boss and deliver them on time.
“Successful people are intensely action oriented. They seem to move faster than unsuccessful people. They are busier. They try more things, and they try harder.”
Yes, this is true, I know that I am a successful person because I always engage myself productively, for the last seven years of my life, I have been busy moving from
one learning project to another, once I finish one school program, I am starting another, currently I am running an under graduate degree and also IIGL leadership training. Once I am done with both, I will move on to actively developing my NGO. Productivity is my watch word. This is my learning and developing myself, I intend to
always active move forward in my growth.
“You could be only one skill away from doubling your productivity, performance and income. You may only need to bring up your skill level in one area for you to be able to use all of your other skills at a higher level.”
This is absolutely true; I was so focused on developing my musical talent that I failed to see that the skill I need was actually teaching and speaking. Now since I shifted my focus to developing these two skills, my life has been a wow experience all through. I read from John Maxwell that no matter how hard we work to raise a Level 2 skill we may succeed in bringing it to a level 4 which will still be a poor, but if we invest that same amount of time in working on a skill that is on a Level 7, we can raise to a Level 9 which will be more excellent than working on a 2 skill. This was what I was doing, with the little I have done with my level 7 speaking skills, I am getting closer and closer to a 10. We should learn to discover a skill to develop that will improve all the other skills.
“You are the very happiest when what you are doing on the outside is congruent with your values on the inside.”
I must always watch what I am doing, and weight it with what I feel, if they align and I am happy I should know I am doing the right thing, if they don’t then, I am not doing what I should.
“First, you will always be the best and happiest at something that you love to do. If you could afford it, you would do it without pay. Second, you do it well. You seem to have a natural ability to perform in this area.”
This quote is absolutely true, I love speaking, teaching and impacting knowledge, I love it so much that so far, I have been doing it for free, I always I look for opportunities to share knowledge, and it comes so naturally that I do it effortlessly. We should all find what we love to do, if we have not found it yet we should keep looking.
The more frequently you repeat a clear mental picture of your very best performance or result, the more rapidly it will be accepted by your subconscious mind and the more readily it will appear as part of your reality.
This is true, I do hold pictures of my successful speaking engagements in my mind, and yes, my mind accepts I am good at it. Even my colleagues at work agree that I am good at it. Its part of my reality now, though I am not yet where I want to be, I know in no distance future it will be my reality.
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 nothing.
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 was some, and yes, I tried them.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No there wasn’t.
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
Nonviolent Communication
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The book explains how focusing on people’s underlying needs and making observations instead of judgments can revolutionize the way we interact with anybody, even our worst enemies. The author describes ways of communicating with empathy and focusing on personal needs, and without judgment. Also, that we could have healthy relationships
through open and honest communication whose emphasis is on needs, observations and free from judgments.
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.
a. “We are compassionate with ourselves when we are able to embrace all parts of ourselves and recognize the needs and values expressed by each part.”
True self-acceptance is embracing all parts of yourself, not just our positive traits but our negative traits as well. Self-acceptance is unconditional. Being aware of our limits and weaknesses without allowing them to interfere with accepting yourself and embracing ourself. Self-esteem increases, the more we accept and love ourselves. This calls for true self-understanding and acceptance. Now this show that we are being compassionate to ourselves when we have the ability to embrace the different parts that makes up “US,” this includes our fear, our setbacks, our wins, our strength and all our weaknesses. Having this knowledge that each part is important as the next, and each has an important role to play on being who we are. I’ve always learned to accept and embrace each part of myself, each part has its individual needs that calls to be met, like my fears, yes this has a need to be address and overcome, I don’t belittle or ignore it, but address it and rise above it, so also my strengths which I keep grooming. These are all parts of who I am, the truth is if I don’t learn to accept and embrace me, who will?
ii. “It is helpful to differentiate between words that describe what we think others are doing around us, and words that describe actual feelings.”
Sometimes we just to tend to muddle up our thinking and actual feelings. It will really would be helpful if we could clarify between our thoughts and our feelings. According to research thoughts are ways of dealing with feelings in the primary case, in the standard situation, feelings come first., while thoughts are ways of thinking our way out of feelings, also ways of finding solutions that meets the needs that lie behind the feelings. But fundamentally they can be very different when we express them in the context of words in relating what we think others are doing and words that describe actual feelings. I
experienced this recently with my mentor, I tried reaching him several times in a row, and he was not responding. I sent him chat messages, which he read and did not respond, I thought he was deliberately avoiding me or maybe he has decided to de-mentor me. These was how I perceived his actions, when I was finally able to get across to him instead of saying how I felt which was Ignored, I went instead to lunch words that conveyed my thoughts. This is one reason we should try to differentiate words that convey what we think others are doing and our feelings, also when it is appropriate
to use which.
iii. “NVC heightens our awareness that what others say and do may be the stimulus, but never the cause of our feelings. We see that our feelings result from how we choose to receive what others say and do, as well as our particular needs and expectations in that moment.”
With this phrase I realize that when we practice non violent communication, it will help us become open and aware of what others do or say. What we feel results not from having this awareness but from how we perceive what they say or do as well as what our expectations were at the moment. Like the example I gave above about me and my mentor, it was not his not being reachable that triggered what I felt, he was actually very busy with State issues and couldn’t respond, I could have chosen to think he will get back to me when he is less busy, but because my needs at that moment was to talk to
someone, his being unavailable made me switch immediately to feeling ignored. The feeling was a result of what I choose to receive at that moment, couple with my needs and expectations.
iv. “Emotional liberation involves stating clearly what we need in a way that communicates we are equally concerned that the needs of others be fulfilled.”
I learned from this phrase that we should give consideration to the other persons need when we are communicating. It doesn’t absolve us from taking full responsibility of having our own needs met, but we have it at the back of our minds that it is mutually beneficial that as our needs are being met others involved are also having theirs met. We accept full responsibility for our own intentions and actions, but not for the feelings of others. Being fully aware that we can never meet our own needs at the expense of others.
v. “What is essential is our ability to be present to what’s really going on within—to the unique feelings and needs a person is experiencing in that very moment.”
I learned from the phrase that we need to be actively present when we are having a conversation with other people, so as to be able to identify their feelings and empathize with them. By being able to empathize with a person we can go a long way
to help them heal their pains. Most of us are passive listener, we most times don’t really pay much attention to what the other person is saying, even when we do, we are lost in trying to formulate our response to hear the feelings the person is
communicating. We should learn to be a part of the communication, ask questions and try rephrasing what the person is saying back to them so as to know exactly what they are experiencing.
vi. “While we may choose at times to sympathize with others by feeling their feelings, it’s helpful to be aware that during the moment we are offering sympathy, we are not empathizing.”
Yes, with this quote I understood the difference between sympathy and empathy, empathy is when we are thinking about people’s words, listening to how they connect to our theories, we are looking at people and seeing what they are experiencing while sympathy is feeling what they are feeling with them. With sympathy we are with the people while empathy we are not with them, we are wholly present with the other party and what they are experiencing. This quality of presence distinguishes empathy from either mental understanding or sympathy. Having this knowledge, I realize that we
mostly tend to sympathize rather than empathize with people. I am learning everyday how to connect people to my theories and listening to understand and empathize with them.
vii. “If we find ourselves unable or unwilling to empathize despite our efforts, it is usually a sign that we are too starved for empathy to be able to offer it to others.”
I learned that our inability to offer empathy lies in our being starved of what we intend to offer to the other person. We should be open to receive empathy because we can never give out what we don’t have, we should have a circle of people around us who have the ability to offer empathy so that we won’t be deficient.
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?
Before reading this book I never knew that there is more to communicating with people than what is readily obvious, that it involves a whole lot of simple acts and giving consideration both to ourselves and others involve. This book has helped
me to avoid a lot of conflict with others due to our words. The most practical way it helped me was in avoiding being misunderstood by my boss, which without the knowledge gained in the book I would have had issues with him based on
what I said. It helped me to be clear on what was said and what I meant other than the meaning he perceived. In addition to avoiding possible conflicts and misunderstandings, I was able to resolve some emotional and rational conflicts. With the knowledge I’ve gained, I know it will help me have communication where all parties/ persons involve
can experience mutual satisfaction and have their needs met.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think, and feel.”
I realize that we become a potential hazard when we don’t take active cognizant of our attitudes, behaviors, feelings and thoughts. It is our responsibility to watch our thoughts because they give birth to how we behave and how we perceive things.
“What I want in my life is compassion, a flow between myself and others based on a mutual giving from the heart.”
This made me realize that this is a true desire of every human, a communication that flows mutually from the heart, we all need compassion, we all need people who can show us compassion and be compassionate towards us, knowing this fact that what we give out is what we receive back, therefore we should try to give out exactly what we want others to give back. Since this is based on mutual giving, we should be open to receive as
much back as we are giving.
“We can replace language that implies lack of choice with language that acknowledges choice.”
This spoke a lot to me, because most times we tend to respond in such a way that seem we don’t have a choice over what goes on, and we use similar languages. I’ve come to know that we do that in other absolve our active participation on what is happening around our lives. We should replace this with a language showing and acknowledging we all have a choice.
“When we combine observation with evaluation, others are apt to hear criticism and resist what we are saying.”
Talk can sometimes get so complicated, truly when we or other people combine observation with evaluation or judgment, we build resistance to our communication in the other person. They won’t be able to see our point and they will either tune us out or prepare an equally cryptic answer.
“When people hear anything that sounds like criticism, they tend to invest their energy in self-defense or counterattack.”
This quote really did speak to me, yes there are some words that will just put one on the
defensive, for me a word like “you are just a woman” will trigger all my defense mechanism, and I will be fully ready to defend myself or prepare a counter attack response. Therefore, when communicating we should avoid anything that sounds like criticism.
“To make sure the message we sent is the message that’s received, ask the listener to reflect it back.”
I learned from this quote and from the experience I had with my boss that most time what we say is not what the other person receive, nor what we meant by what we said that was understood, therefore we should ensure to always ask for feedback and make clarifications where our message wasn’t received as we intended.
“The clearer we are about what we want back, the more likely it is that we’ll get it.”
This was just a reminder that when we clearly state what we want and not being ambiguous with our requests we will have a better chance of getting it.
“The way we’ve been trained to evaluate ourselves often promotes more self-hatred than learning.”
When I read this, I actually smiled as this is absolutely true, we always tend to project self-hatred when we evaluate ourselves, we rate ourselves down and try to undermine who we are, very few people can evaluate themselves adequately, I am learning to achieve this.
“Life-alienating communication is also associated with the concept that certain actions merit reward while others merit punishment.”
I learned from this quote that we should not be sentimental on our approach to all
actions, we should be open in our analysis of these actions, we should try not to be rigid in our evaluation, as this might lead to wrong judgment. All actions should be placed on equal scale.
“Fear of corporal punishment obscures children’s awareness of the compassion underlying parental demands.”
Yes, this quote is true as I grew up with a mom that was a disciplinarian, this fact made it very difficult to know if my mom loved us or if she just loved to punish us. I grew to hate my mom for all the beatings I got and I never knew then if it was done out of love. Even though now I know and appreciate how she trained us, that she had loved us, then it would have been very difficult to belief. Therefore, even when we are giving children
corporal punishment we should ensure to let then know and feel the love we have for them.
“Focus on what we want to do rather than what went wrong.”
I learned from this quote to always focus on what I want and want to do, rather than focusing on what could go wrong, because focus on that may prevent me from
doing what I want to do.
“Receive appreciation without feelings of superiority or false humility.”
Truly appreciation can so boast our self-esteem and can push us to feeling superior, I learnt from this quote to be sincere with what I feel when appreciated.
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 nothing.
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 was some, and yes, I tried them.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No there wasn’t.
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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The book is a self-improvement book. It is written based on the author’s belief that the way we see the world is entirely based on our own perceptions. In order to change a given situation, we must change ourselves, and in order to change ourselves, we must be able to change our perceptions. By changing our perceptions which is the mirror through
which we view life, we can have the power to change our world.
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. “No one can persuade another to change. Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside. We cannot open the gate of another, either by argument or by emotional appeal.”
This truly spoke to me as I constantly try to change people around, try to make them behave better, aim for better things, think better about themselves and make better choices. But I realize with this that it’s not easy to change a person unless
they desire that change themselves. I once had friends whom I thought I could change with my good attitude, with my talking, my complaining and my appeals, I later realized that the more effort I put in to make a difference the farer way away and closed up about changing they became, I even tried doing the things I expected from them to them, still it did not yield the desired result I expected. Truly speaking I know how difficult it is to change from some habits and character, now expecting someone to change just because I say so was highly wrong of me, and the truth also remained that if I stay
around them their actions or inactions will keep eliciting an emotional reaction from me. Therefore, I avoided them. Knowing that we can’t argue or emotion appeal anyone to change have help me avoid a lot of unfruitful associations.
ii. “If you want to be trusted, be trustworthy. If you want the secondary greatness of recognized talent, focus first on primary greatness of character.”
Whenever I say to people I want a honest person around me, they will tell me I am asking for the impossible, my response is always that if I am not honest I won’t be asking for it, this phrase actually reemphasized this truth, that the demand I put on people, I should be sure that I have met and exceeded that demand myself. If I ask people to trust me, the first question I ask myself is, do I trust myself? If I don’t trust me, how then will expect others to. This clearly shows we should work on becoming what we want others to. what I mean by “becoming” is, whatever we expect from people, we should become a person worthy of that same thing we are asking from others. we want others to trust us lets be trustworthy, we want others to be honest then let’s make honesty our way of life. There’s a saying in my language that respect is reciprocal, meaning whatever we give out is what we will receive back. If we therefore want our talent to be recognized
we should work on building our character and becoming a person worthy of what we are seeking.
“The more people are into quick fix and focus on the acute problems and pain, the more that very approach contributes to the underlying chronic condition.”
With this phrase I realize that a lot of us love quick fixes, easy way out, a path of no stress and a short cut to where we want. Truly quick fixes never solve anything it will only worsen the condition or bring on a catastrophe. I’ve seen severally when people focused on a quick fix and it made their situation worse than it was before if it. I remember a few years back, a colleague of mine wanted to be better placed in the company, he heard the company was upgrading people with higher certificates which he did not have. Instead of him to enroll in a school to study for a higher certificate, he
contacted some people who falsified a certificate for him. He submitted the certificate directly to the Group Managing Director for upgrading, by passing the Group HR Manager, he thought the GMD will ask that he should be instantly upgraded, Unknown to him that the GMD will request the GHRM to go to the listed institution to verify his credentials, we can guess the result of that verification, at the end he lost his job with the company. He thought taking a short route to get a certificate, that he can receive a reward for what he did not work for and this path failed him. This also clearly shows
that quick fixes compound a problem more than solve it.
iv. “Many people wait for something to happen or someone to take care of them. But people who end up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves, who seize the initiative to do
whatever is necessary, consistent with correct principles, to get the job done.”
Yes, this is very true, we should be proactive people, not reactive people, people who take initiative, out of the box thinkers, positive people and solution finders. I’ve always told people to stop complaining about the problems lets focus on finding solutions. Presently in Nigeria there’s been a lot of shouts about the youths not having jobs, unemployment rates on the increase and a lot of people out of jobs. But I know in the midst of all these people are still getting jobs, people are moving from one job to another, and if we take a close look at these group of people we can see, they are the
group of people that are very proactive in their development, professional skills development and problem solving. They took initiative to grow themselves with focus on adding value to the organization and they got the jobs. If we keep waiting
for things to change to take action we will keep missing out on a lot of things. If we don’t get out there to change the narratives to the way we want no body will, or if someone does it will not be in the way we wanted. Wherever we find ourselves we should try to be a solution finder and a problem solver, be proactive, get the job done, deliver on schedule or before the scheduled date, be effective and remember bible says he who watches the wind will not plant.
v. “It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall. It is possible to be busy; very busy without being very effective.”
This brought out that we could be extremely busy but doing the wrong thing. Yes, I can remember a time when I sang in the choir, God! I spent hours and day including years trying to develop my singing talent, working on improving my tone
and my ability to stick to a note. Despite my best efforts and rehearsals, I will as right as the clock works make a mess of the music. This is one mission that I’ve spent a lot of time training for, and years developing on it. Now I look back and I say to myself sorry for all those times I cracked my voice and all those times I will use hot water to clear my throat. I just don’t know how I could not see it, that I am not cut out for music, That I will never be Cece Winas. Jesus, I really did make a mess of it, sometime those that play the piano will not want to play while I am singing because they will struggle as much as I am struggling with my notes, because I will either go on a very low octave that feels as if I am groaning or a pick a very high one that will be difficult to sustain, or when they have successfully pick my tone I will change to a different one, as I am going back and forth with my octave so will they. I was never effective on it; I sang for almost 20
years with no improvement. Last year I woke up and I told myself why am wasting time backing a thing that I will never be effective on. I stopped and focus on my teaching skills, so far, I’ve been able to make tremendous impact on people
teaching than my singing did or ever would have. I can boldly say I am effective on it. It was really a freeing time for me because anytime I am told I will lead praise, I will start sweating, with sleepless night and I will still make a thousand mistakes, now if I am told that I am teaching tomorrow, oh I will sleep soundly and still impact greatly even with little preparation.
vi. “You’ve spent years learning how to read and write, years learning how to speak. But what about listening? What training or education have you had that enables you to listen so that you really, deeply understand another human being from that individual’s own frame of reference.”
A lot of emphasis is placed now on listening because we just don’t listen, yes like the author brought out, we learn to read, to write and to do any other thing, but I’ve never attended any training on listening. These days I am working earnestly to
develop my listening ability, we always want to talk or listen with the intent to reply or tune you out complete. I’ve also been a person who listens to answer and a selective listener. Now I am working on developing my listening abilities, trying to understand the other person from their own reference point. truly this is not easy as I still deviate sometimes from this goal. We all need to educate ourselves to listen effectively because this is a very important skill that all leaders need.
vii. “As human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.”
This phrase spoke to me that we should take charge, own it and take up responsibility for our lives, behavior, choices and decisions. We should always remember that it’s important to act, move and take initiative. If we don’t move to make things happen, they may never happen. We should move to change the flow of things, if we don’t like what we are getting we should get up and change our actions or inactions that is bringing us those results. One of my brothers recently complained a lot that corona virus disrupted the economy that is why there is high rate of unemployment. The COVID virus
was a condition, what decisions did we make during that time that will change the narratives for us. If we all had decided to sit at home idle mourning about the situation, we will come out much worse than we went in. those who decided to
learned a skill online during that period will come out much better and with a better attitude than those who didn’t. Life is all about our choices and decisions include how far we would go to take ownership of the things that happen around us.
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 has been one of the best books I’ve been bless to read in recent times. 7 habits of highly effective people have made a lot of impact in my life and it has reaffirmed the things I rightly believe and hold dear. It has also empowered me to keep
pursing the right principles, be Proactive, beginning with the end in mind, to put first things first, which was initially a bit difficult as I do tend to postpone things, learning to prioritize, effective self-management to meet up with time, and I learned
to take up responsibility for my action towards others. I’ve made a lot of changes in my life through the knowledge gained in this book, which I intend to use often as my guide
both at work and at home, I’ve learnt to practice a win-win approach, twice I saw job advert which my colleagues were qualified for and I recommended them for it, this book has really opened up my mind to developing myself and helping others too, seeking to understand others was practically very difficult because I liked to listen so I could respond, I’ve learned to withhold my judgment or my comments and just listen because every one sure do need someone who could just listen. In all, this book is a book that keeps growing on a person and I know if keep growing the right principles, forming the
right synergies and sharpening my saw as I groom and raise others, together we can make the world better, one person and one book at a 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.
“What matters most is how we respond to what we experience in life.”
I realize what is important is my reaction, how I let what I am experiencing affect me. Before if things aren’t going my way, I feel sad, depressed and frustrated, now learn to change my responses focus on the positives, find the lesson in the experience, ending with having a better quality of life in all.
“Principles are the territory. Values are maps. When we value correct principles, we have truth or knowledge of things as they are.”
This spoke to me that if I get my principles and value correct then I will have
the ability to see things they are. Now this also made me take a closer look at my principles, define them and clearly state what my values were.
“It is our willing permission, our consent to what happens to us, that hurts us far more than what happens to us in the first place.”
I realized that we that its actually not what happens that effects or hurt
us, it’s our reaction to what happened, or our response to what happened that hurts us. If someone dished out an insult at me and I ignore it, that insult won’t affect or hurt me, but if I react by hurling back the same, I am giving the insult power to make me feel hurt. These days I work on not allowing things that happen around me to determine my reaction.
“If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control myself.”
This is true, definitely if I work on controlling the outside parameters to change my situation, I may end up not succeeding, therefore I shifted my focus to changing myself to improve my situation. I focused on changing my life by changing my mindset, my views and my concepts. My situation may not immediately improve but my quality of
life, the fulfillment I feel and the joy within has create a major paradigm shift for me. I achieved these changes by reading one book at a time.
“The challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves. Satisfaction is a function of expectation as well as realization. And expectation (and satisfaction) lies in our Circle of Influence.”
I learned that its futile attempting to manager time, time is a fixed entity that doesn’t change, therefore learning to adapt ourselves to making good use of time becomes necessary. We need to manage ourselves effectively to achieve our set goals
at a specific time. Then also filling satisfied is a byproduct of what we had expected and both are within our ability to control or control circle. One of my HR managers loves to say when you don’t expect anything then you won’t be disappointed when nothing is given. This was just on the other side of having high expectations, so that
you will be satisfied with what you have achieved.
“Making and keeping promises to ourselves precedes making and keeping promises to others.”
I had this same conversation with someone a few days ago. That life is not about what I do to them, its more about what I do to me, if I am able to treat myself well, I will be able to treat them well also. I remember the scriptures that says love your neighbor as yourself, this shows we can only love our neighbor to the same degree that we love ourselves. This is why keeping promises to ourselves is important, and how true are we to any commitment we make to ourselves. If we can’t commit to keeping the promise, we made to ourselves, we will never be a promise keeper to others.
“Seeking to understand requires consideration; seeking to be understood takes courage. Win-win requires a high degree of both. So, it becomes important in interdependent situations for us to be understood.”
I need to seek to understand others, doing this gives them consideration, looking to
know and see from their perspective, also that this precede people understanding me. That being understood and understanding others are two necessary requirements for a win-win.
“The key to valuing those differences is to realize that all people see the world, not as it is, but as they are.”
I realized that we all see the world not as the world is, but as we are. If am a sad and depressed person, I will a negative and depressing view of the world, think the universe is conspiring against me, but if I am a happy and excited person, I will see the world as excite, everything glowing and the world beautiful. Having this knowledge has help me to me more understanding towards others.
“The more we can see people in terms of their unseen potential, the more we can use our imagination rather than our memory.”
This made me understand that the more I can see in people who they can become the more I can help them become a better person than they are, but if I focus on my memory of what they’ve done it will rob us of the ability to see their hidden potential.
“To try to change outward attitudes and behaviors does very little good in the long run if we fail to examine the basic paradigms from which those attitudes and behaviors flow.”
This is absolutely true as it brought my mind the fact that we need to shine a light and do root cause analysis on real reasons why we exhibit certain behaviors. There was once I reacted badly to a colleague, after while a began to look inward on why I behaved
that way, I realized he had done something to which I had took offence to, so I kept this hurt and the day It happened again I reacted the way I did, this also led to series of bad behaviors on my part. Therefore, we should always look inward to see the root of our attitude to change them.
“Paradigms are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world. The power of a Paradigm Shift is the essential power of quantum change, whether that shift is an instantaneous or a slow and deliberate process.”
I learned from this quote we have different paradigm through which we see life, a shift in
these paradigms is essential to change how we see the world. The shift can be instantaneously or gradually. In recent time, I’ve realized that I am now a positive confessing person, this paradigm shift did not happen instantaneously, it was a deliberate process achieved through one book at a time. As I keep reading and expanding my knowledge of what is truly possible, I see myself changing from a negative person to a positive one. I now see possibilities instead of problems.
“Inside-Out” means to start first with self; even more fundamentally, to start with the most inside part of self with your paradigms, your character, and your motives.”
I learned from this quote that I should always look inward, like all the books we’ve been reading, I need to change from within, anything that happens outside is the result of what is happening inside. If there’s anything that needs to change it should start with me, my
character, my motives and my paradigms.
“You can buy a person’s hand, but you can’t buy his heart. His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is. You can buy his back, but you can’t buy his brain. That’s where his creativity is, his ingenuity, his resourcefulness.”
This is absolutely true, I can get a person to do something and his or her heart will not be
there neither their enthusiasm. Most people are at this stage where they are do just what they are paid to do but their heart is not there. Having this knowledge will help us to get people around us whose heart is in what we want them to do. Truly money can’t buy a person’s heart or brains. I remember a popular saying that money can buy you a house but it can’t buy you a home. You can buy a person but every other thing about him may not be with you. I remember a story of a young boy who was force to kneel down, the person that punished expect him to cry but he didn’t get that reaction, when he enquired the boy told him yes, I might be kneeling but, in my heart, I am standing.
“I believe that there are parts to human nature that cannot be reached by either legislation or education, but require the power of God to deal with.”
Yes, this is absolutely true, there are parts of ourselves that we will not
discover except through the power of God, this also brought to my mind the fact that there is an element of God in everything and every pursuit, that element of God is what makes a true difference in all what we do and want to achieve. As much as we desire true greatness, we should remember that this can only be possible through the
knowledge and power of God.
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 nothing.
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, yes, I tried them.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No there wasn’t.
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
Leadership for Dummies
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author gave us short theories on practical strategies and surefire techniques on how to lead change in a way people will understand and accept, it arms us with what we need to: Build and flex our leadership muscles. He also explored the fine lines between managing and leading, how to cope with dilemmas and discomfort of leading.
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. “People are looking to you and taking more notice of what you do than what you say!
Demonstrate excellence to promote excellence.”
People read us and our actions much more than we are aware, what we do is more
important than what we say, because the things we do show our true intentions and feelings, actions should bring to life the importance of our words or rather, what someone does should add more value to what someone says, “one wise friend of mine said ones that he prefers not to say it but do it. I feel every leader or intending leaders should act more than speak, I as a person, I watch others actions and pay attention to it more than their words, because to me words don’t matter, I have developed the habit of saying less and doing more.”
ii. “How you and your staff think, feel and act affects, and is affected by, your experiences of each other. Therefore, those you lead aren’t passive in this process.”
I learned that we react to each other according what or how we perceived each other. This also brought out that followers’ impact leaders and the leadership process, as they are not passive. They are actively influencing the leading processes either positively or negatively. I once had a boss who imposed decisions on us as if we didn’t have a mind of our own, due to this we all felt undermined by him and reacted to him the same way towards him, it affected how we acted and responded to him. This made me aware that I should work on creating an environment where we can all have the right experience about each other.
iii. “Authentic leaders have the courage of their convictions and say what they think even if that means standing out from the crowd: they tell the truth. They’re also open or receptive to others’ views and opinion.”
I learned that if I want to be authentic, I must be genuine about my conviction also having the boldness to say it and stand up for it, now this does not mean we should be rigid, while airing our conviction we should be open to accept others views and opinion. As much as we want them to accept us and our believes we should learn to accept others. Most people including, I, are public shy. I actually don’t like being the center of attention, or drawing public eye to my person, so the possibility of standing up to say my mind is slightly slim, but aside from this fact I do try to say what’s on my mind if the occasion arises, or I keep quite and do what I am convinced about. But every leader should learn to be bold enough to stand up for what they believe.
iv. “When you lead people, be aware that you’re also being seen to be a leader: your presence and what you pay attention to creates an effect or has an impact on people.”
This resounded in me, as we lead, our values and our acts create impact on the people we are leading. An example is a boss I worked with once, he usually reports back to work from his leave the evening of the day he should be at work, he did this overtime, all the staff under him tend to do them same, he could not caution them because he was guilty of the same act. Therefore, as we lead, we should watch our attitude, what we allow, what
we pay attention to, how much we value punctuality and discipline because those we are leading are observing, mostly likely will do the same.
v. “Every time that you’re promoted into a more senior leadership position, you’re likely to encounter situations that you haven’t experienced before.”
This made me understand that every leadership position has it challenges which are most times different from the ones we may be currently facing. An example is my current boss, he was transferred from a plant where he had only 3 staffs and an official car to run a plant of only one production line, now as my boss his direct reports are 8, he is also overseeing a 5 cement production lines and no official vehicle. As we can clearly see, his
responsibility increased and his challenges tripled because the space he has to cover now is 5 times his initial, the number of people multiplied, these are situations he hasn’t experienced before but he is performing quite well. This let me know that as we grow into senior leadership position, we should be adaptable and prepared to tackle
problems as they arise.
vi. “Setting the standard doesn’t mean that you have to be able to do every task that every member of your team does. As people do their jobs every day, they become experts.”
I remembered when I was a youth president, I set a stand of doing everything excellently, are required same from every head of subgroups that I headed. I wasn’t a good actress but when we had an event, I would trust the leader of the drama team to give me a good drama and I will communicate same to him, at the end I will achieve my goal
of excellence. I knew quite early that as a leader I can’t do everything and that they are sometimes that no matter how add I try I will not be good at them, due to this I assigned responsibility and let them do their jobs. I have the ability to know each person’s capability assign them responsibility accordingly. It’s also true that what we do
consistently and repeatedly that we become experts in.
vii. “Another good general principle to adopt in leading people is to praise people in public and criticize them (constructively) in private.”
When you criticize people in public, especially in front of their peers, subordinates and friends, they typically feel embarrassed, disrespected and humiliated. all negative reviews of performance should be done without an audience. Criticizing people in public can creates enmity because it undermines their leadership in front of their
peers and could damage their self-confidence.
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 book has really been a great help as the author covered both personal, organizational and societal leadership, the principles highlighted in the book has helped me with deeper understanding of the act of leading and how to achieve success through the challenges that comes with leading others. I feel arm with this knowledge I am equipped to be a better leader and to develop others to be better leaders too.
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.
“Being a leader can be extremely hard! You need to set the standards for others to follow: you have to be the person that you want others to become.”
This quote reminded me that I need to be the person I expect others to be, I can’t expect others to come early when I the leader come late. Therefore, being the leader requires I live it and also lead others to live it. The same standards I require from people should
be the same I set for myself. I’ve always been a believer of leadership by example.
“To be a successful leader, you need to continually develop yourself and your staff: your own and their positive qualities, relevant skills and competences.”
This quote was a reminder of continuous self-development as a leader because according to John Maxwell, a leader that is not learning and growing is actually dying, a leader that is not learning and growing will be uncomfortable and envious of his follower who is, a leader that is not developing himself will not develop his staff or team members,
therefore I’ve always been on the path of self-development, then I encourage as many as I can to do the same, I try to be a step ahead of the team in terms of development so I can be in a better position to develop other people.
“You need to put more emphasis on managing in some situations and more emphasis on leading people in other situations to achieve success.”
This made me realize that there are times you need to be a manager, being definite about decisions concerning a situation and there are also situations that require you be a leader, and in some situations, you will be required to be both at the same time. The
most important factor all leaders need to do is to develop the ability to correcting identity the style required for any time given situation to resolved in order to achieve the desired success.
“Develop your own self-knowledge so that you can be authentic by working through questions such as: What’s important to me? What are my values? What makes me happy and what do I get upset about?”
I learned from this that if I ask the right questions and correctly answer them, I will better understand myself, and the reasons behind why I act in a certain way. Self-knowledge is essential if we want to be an authentic and effective leader. According to John Maxwell we don’t lead outside our core believes and value system, the earlier we discover what those values are the earlier can understand how we lead and if we are leading effectively.
“Most leaders have doubts about their ability to succeed at one time or another, especially when faced with difficult situations!”
Wow, this is absolutely true, every leader most times doubt themselves,
it shows they are humans, doubting ourselves is not such a bad thing, it becomes bad when we allow those doubt limit us from achieving success in any given situation.
“Questioning your approach to leading people or being self-critical is healthy because you can enhance your self-knowledge and leadership ability through questioning your motives, attitudes and reasons for behaving as you do in situations that require leadership.”
It is always healthy to ask yourself questions about how you are leading, this gives us the privilege if clarifying our motives and intentions, also helping in enhancing our self-knowledge and self-awareness. Questions open doors for us to see areas where we need to make changes or areas were, we should have used another method than the
one we used and also identifying the principled we applied that worked in other to reused them in similar situation, while noting that sometimes similar situation may require another set of principles because of the individuals involve in the situation.
“Your values are descriptions of what is important to you or what you value. Some of your values are core values because they’re the most important ones to you.”
This just re-echoed point above, what are important to me are important because they are things I value, an example for me is honesty, it is important because I value honesty and I am honest, discipline is also important because I discipline myself to achieve success. These are examples of my core values and they are very important. If I discover
you are not an honest person my association with ends.
“Being an authentic leader requires you to show a genuine interest in other people, as well as being true to yourself by behaving in accord with your values.”
This quote reminded of what John Maxwell said in 21 irrefutable laws of leadership that a leader touches a heart before he asks for a hand, this shows that as a leader we need to care about people, show interest in their wellbeing, try to understand them and be genuinely interest in their growth, only then can we be an authentic leader.
“Developing your leadership skills can never be risk-free, otherwise you never discover how to handle potentially difficult problems.”
I learned that I should not expect to develop my leadership skill without some level of difficulty, actually difficult situation brings out the leader within us. But we need to learn these leadership skills so we can effectively apply it when the situation arises.
“To really add value to your organization, you need to avoid becoming one of those busy fools who’re less productive than they could be.”
Who we are and the value we add to our organization is a choice we have to make, and work towards achieving it. This is one reason I keep developing myself because as I am adding value to myself, I become more productive and effective in adding value to my organization downside, also improving the upside.
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 nothing.
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, a lot of them, I did most and yes, they were 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 there wasn’t.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7
The Law of Attraction
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author gave us an excellent book to introduce a person to the most important law governing the universe. This book is a brilliant and perfect introduction to how we can use our thoughts to attract what we want or do not want into our lives. Most importantly the authors Esther and Henry Kicks introduces us to the being Abraham who is the teacher of these laws, Abraham also speaks with a common sense upon such topics as the
power of our emotions, whether evil really exists, and why we cannot control other people. The book can serve as a guide for anyone who wishes to have a happier and more enjoyable life.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.
i. “The Law of Attraction is responding to the thoughts that you hold at all times it is accurate to say that you are creating your own reality. Everything that you experience is attracted to you because the Law of Attraction is responding to the thoughts that you are offering.”
This brought to my understanding that our thoughts matter. How you think in any moment determines how you feel and act in any situation and it also determines what we attract into our lives. This has been the lessons we’ve been learning from the first book we read in this institute, that what’s important is our thoughts, wherever or on
whatever we fix it upon is what we will get.
ii. “the more interest you will have in deliberately directing your thoughts — for you get what you think about, whether you want it or not.”
This was a wow for me, most of the time my thoughts are on what I don’t want, what I don’t like and what I hate. Those are the things that keep happening, this made me realize that because my thoughts are focused on those things, they become my reality whether I want it or not. I remember a time I had this thought that something was wrong or something bad was going to happen, I was to attend a friend’s wedding, I insist I wasn’t going but my friend said he would be angry if I did not come, I then went during the ceremony I broke the screen of my phone which made me not to have access to internet for the next 3 months, I was very angry, I should have stayed back. I know this must have happened because I had this thought of something going wrong and I was focused on it.
iii. “When you are giving thought in a direction of something that you want, you will feel positive emotion. When you are giving thought in the direction of what you do not want, you will feel negative emotion.”
This phrase resonated a book a read though I can’t remember the title that how to check if we are in harmony with our desires is to check how we feel. Now this gave me a clear understanding that if I am thinking the things I want or in that direction I will be excited and happy, also showing my emotions are positive, then again if I am having a negative emotion, I should check my thoughts direction. This reminded me of a time my training
manager asked me to demonstrate a paradigm shift by taking my mind back to an instant where someone did something that annoyed me, immediately I took my mind back to that incident the anger returned again as if the person just did it, I felt angry and sad. This shows that our thoughts have great influences over our emotions. Some people say master your emotions, but I feel the most appropriate thing is to master our thoughts.
iv. “Our desire to help you understand that you can get to wherever you want to be from wherever you are, no matter where you are or what your current state of Being.”
I learned from this that no matter where I am currently and my state of being that it is possible to go from here to where I want to be by changing and controlling my thoughts. There is a popular quote in my language that says “your background should not be the reason that your back is on the ground.” When I compare this with Abraham’s desire to make us understand what is truly possible, I realized that no matter where I came from or my tribe or my religion or my skin color or my educational status it is absolutely possible for me to achieve a multidimensional success if I made up my mind to achieve it.
v. “By deliberately directing your thoughts and by creating pleasing mental scenarios in your own mind that induce good-feeling emotions within you, you begin to change your own point of attraction.”
This phrase meant to me that I can deliberately change my thoughts to make me feel good, this took my mind back to Psycho-Cybernetics where we can intentionally hypnotize ourselves. I recently lost a very close friend to plane crash, I find myself thinking about him, all the stress he went through and the painful dead of being burnt, this will make me feel extremely sad, so as not to go into depression I will go into my bath room, I have these stickers I stuck on the wall since reading the power of intention, I will read the stickers out loud and immediately the sadness will go. For example, “I am a success, I attract success into my life because that is who I am”. “I live in
abundance and I have abundant of everything I need”.” I am peaceful and happy, everything around me feels good and I feel great.” I will repeat this over and over till I feel that way. This was creating a different scenario from my reality, shifting to the place where I can attract positivity into my life.
vi. “When joy is really important to you, you do not allow yourself to focus upon things that do not feel good and the result of thinking only thoughts that feel good would cause you to create a wonderful life filled with all things that you desire.”
I remember a chat I had with someone recently, he complained a lot about so many things that I had to tell him, when your focus is all these things you will never find fulfillment in life, he then asked me if I was happy with the way my life is or has been, I answered yes, I was, he asked series of questions, if my happiness is based on hope or how can I be happy without a relationship, his conclusion was I am happy because I have the ability to ignore the things that made me sad. My conclusion was being happy or finding happiness is a choice we make daily, we don’t need a reason to be happy, we just need to be happy that we are happy (smiles). This is the basic truth if being joyful is important we will make a choice not focus on things that don’t align with that goal. I am creating
the best life I want with all the things I desire therefore; I can’t allow thoughts that do not make me feel good.
vii. “It is also of value to recognize that in this combining of thoughts, ideas, and experiences, together you have the potential of creating something even greater than you could create on your own.”
I learned from this phrase that there is a possibility of creating something greater than I ever imagine when it comes from a combination of my thoughts, ideas and experiences. But these experiences should be positive ones not negative. Since I had the experience of having abundance of money, every time thoughts of money comes, I will be at peace because I know money will flow in, now combining these 3 things I’ve been able to be in a place where I have money to meet my needs, clear my debts, pay my tuition fees, give out some and I am no longer dependent on my salary. This is way beyond what I could have imagined, I know it will get progressively better. Therefore, a combination of positive thoughts, positive ideas and positive experiences can help us create something greater than we could have created on our own.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
This book presented ideas that helped me think more positively about what I want to create in my life and the world at large. It shifted my focus to look inward to what I am creating by analyzing my thoughts. It reminded me of all the things I read in psycho-cybernetics and the power of intention. Re-forcing my beliefs and practice of
positive thinking. it has helped me not be focused on the pains of losing a friend who was more like a brother, there were times when my mind will drift to the fact that he was no longer alive and wondering whom I will call for help or advice, but in all it gave me strength to think positively and walked through the pains. Generally, it was a great book to read if one can get pass the fact that an abstract being is the one talking.
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.
“When you put yourself in the position of competition, the one who wins is always the one who is clearest about his wanting, and most expectant of it.”
I learned that if we are in a competition the person that win is the person that went into the game with the mindset that he wants to win. This is exceptionally true, 80% of all games are lost in the mind, when you go in with the mindset that you won’t
succeed miracles can’t make you win. Therefore, we should always be clear about our desired outcome even in life.
“Today, no matter where I am going, no matter what I am doing, it is my dominant intent to see that which I want to see. Nothing is more important than that I feel good.”
This ended up as one of my wall stickers. I profess this every day, I want to see what I wish to see, which are things that made me feel good and happy and excited. Yes, there are some days that things don’t turn out the way we expected like that day I got news of my friend’s passing, but this happens just one day out of several days, therefore my positive professions fuel the results I see daily.
“But know that by your deliberate intending, you will be in control of your life experience; and you will not be swept up by their confusion, or by their intent or influence.”
This meant to me that by being intentional in my desires I will not be swept by the confusion of others, this is like standing in my truth, and knowing my intent. Like the example I gave above about my chat with someone, to him life means “a dance around this meaningless abyss called existence” and “I don’t believe Happiness is real”
this is quoting him directly. To me life means an entirely different thing, exciting, fulfilling, joyful, peaceful and fruitful. His confusion did not shift my believes or how I feel, I am in control because my happiness is me. Like I also told him I can control how I feel therefore I have the ability to control what I experience.
“Confusion comes forth when you are considering too many things at one time, while clarity comes forth while you are more singular in thought.”
This took my mind back to when I carry out spectrum analysis of electric motors, if I merge all the phases, voltages, current and harmonics, I will have a jumble of several waves forms that it will be very difficult to identify if there is anything out of place, but
if I isolate each wave form to study it, I find it easier to quickly spot where the wave forms where not sinusoidal. Coming back to this quote when we focus on too many things at the same time, we will bring confusions to our mind but if we made a conscious choice to focus on a singular thought at a time, we gain clarity.
“When you say I want, and I allow, therefore it is, you will be very fast in your creation of whatever it is that you want. You are literally allowing yourself to have it by not resisting it, by not pushing it away with other thoughts.”
This quote reminded of a time I said I needed some new clothes, I keep saying it, suddenly clothes started coming in, either someone bought a cloth which was not their size and when they gave it to me or some cloths dealers auction their stock and I got some cloths. This means that when we say what we want we are allowing it to flow to us.
“When you come to understand that this Universe; indeed, this physical experience in which you are participating, is abundant and that there is not an ending to that abundance then you do not worry.”
This quote teleported me back to the power of Intention. That was when my abundant
experience began, I communicated abundance to the universe and since then, for the first time in my life time, food wasn’t an issue to the extent that I was able to give some out to others, Financially I have sufficient, because I know that there is abundance in the universe of everything I need. When we operate from this understanding there is no need to worry. I am so peaceful now because I know everything, I desire is abundantly available and I will get them.
“Rather than trying so hard to erase the past, focus on the present. Give thought to what you now want.”
I learned to always leave the sleeping dogs alone, leaving the past where it belongs, I love
to tell people that I don’t live in the past, therefore I can’t tell them about my past life or what happened in the past, we should let the past be the past, anyways that is why they call it past, because it should be gone and forgot, today is what really matters and what I can change today to get the results I want tomorrow. I concentrate my energy and focus on the moment.
“You are all, as magnets, attracting unto you the subject of your thought.”
This reminded me of the power of intention, that we are constantly attracting from the universe. When our thoughts are negative, we attract the same. I remember when I read the Secret, I decided to imagine a certain type of man, I just created him in my mind less than a week someone contacted me on Facebook and the guy looked exactly
like the person I imagined, this shows that whatever our mind focuses on will become our reality.
“When the action you offer does not produce the results you are seeking, it is always because you are offering thoughts in opposition to your desire.”
I learned that for everything I want to do or I am currently doing that if my thoughts are not in line with the desired result, I won’t get what I want.
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?
As much as the teaching were good, but being possessed by an abstract
being is something I cannot deeply subscribe to.
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. They were very 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 there wasn’t.
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? 5
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8
The Leader who had No Title
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea of the book is that we can all be leaders, it doesn’t matter whether we are at the top or at the middle or at the bottom of the ladder, he brought to bear that, titles have no meanings, all what matters to us should be doing the best work we can each time. He also portrayed that we are carrying the leadership genes within us, and it is in the interest of both ourselves and everyone in our lives for us to grow and develop these
same genes to stay ahead of the competitions. Learning to take total control and full responsibility for our actions and their consequences is one of ways to be a leader. He also emphasized that anyone can be a leader. We also don’t need to be the CEO of the company to be a leader, the way we do our job shows if we are a leader or not.
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. It’s about knowing who you are, what you stand for, and then having the courage to be yourself in every situation rather than only when it’s convenient. It’s about being real, consistent, and congruent so who you are on the inside is reflected by the way you perform on the outside.
Living life and becoming the leader we are meant to be means finding the courage to always be ourselves, this is what is truly important, which most of us struggle with. This phrase talked to me that leading is all about me, about being real, about being consistent with whom I am within, going the extra mile to bring my true self out. Some situations may come in our lives that pushes out far away from being ourselves but in such situations, we should unplug and reevaluate the situation, view it from different angles and try to align it with our core values, believes and morals. Staying true to who we are on the inside can mean several things, for example, it can mean quitting a job that no long serves us, walking out of relations or leaving a particular place, I have had some
people who wanted to be a part of my life whose values conflicted with mine, as much I would have loved to have them around but I let them go, because having them around will derail me from being my true self, make me adjust my values and believes systems to accommodate their lower values, therefore I learnt to focus on being true to myself and standing up for my values, believes, and having the courage to be myself, like a popular quotes says if you’ve not found what to live for then you are not fit to live. If I don’t stand up for my originality which encompasses my beliefs and values, then I won’t be the leader I should and I am not fit to live. For us to be the true leader that’s within us we need to fight daily to stay true to our inner personality.
ii. Only the mediocre die always at their best. Real leaders are always improving and raising their bar on how superbly they can perform and how quickly they can move.
I understood from this phrase that true leaders are never die at their best because they are always raising the bar of excellence and productivity. This is what makes them stand-out, they are always pushing themselves to move forward, true leaders never get to the point where they settle and accept this how far they can come or that this is the best they could do, also lack of this driving force that pushes the leader to improve their productivity makes those who stop when they get to where they call their best, mediocre. If we want to stand-out during our time on the earth! Then we should always keep pushing the boundaries of excellence and productivity. True leaders are addicted self-developers, they do whatever is necessary to grow, they buy relevant books and read through them. They do not only read through them, but they also go ahead to apply what they learned to every aspect of their lives, I as a person knows that I am a leader, I read, and I read a lot, not only that I read, but I also reflect on the books, thinking of how to adjust my life to the principles I just acquired in any particular book. I have never gotten to the point where I feel I have done enough or that I have learned enough, I keep pushing boundaries, I keep taking up new assignments and I keep on developing myself. Mediocre begins when we begin to settle at the point of our last achievement, when we stop learning we start dying, therefore true leaders keep on improving and they never relax on achieving multiple successes.
iii. The interesting thing about reflecting on your death is that it reawakens you to what’s truest about life.
This phrase took me back to level 3 where I had to write my biography, it got me truly reflecting on how I want to be remembered, it made me take a closer look at what I am currently doing, the question that if I had few months to live what would I do differently made me realize, I should be living my best life now, not tomorrow and not next
tomorrow. Thoughts of our mortality will spur even most carefree person to change. I have lived life to the best that I can, I have always done what is good for me even as push myself to be a much better person. If I happen to be on my dead bed now, I will have no regrets, life and learning had given me the privilege to go beyond my expectations and dreams, even though I haven’t reached my best yet, but I am satisfied that daily I am making progress towards a much better quality of life. We therefore shouldn’t wait for threats of our mortality for us to live our best life.
iv. Lucky breaks are nothing more than unexpected rewards for intelligent choices we’ve chosen to make. Success doesn’t just happen because someone’s stars line up. Success, both in business and personally, is something that’s consciously created.
I have always quoted that success is repeatable, that if one person had succeeded in it, and we repeat the same process we too can succeed. I also strongly believe in grooming ourselves, for opportunities and these opportunities gives birth to success. Sometimes we say they had a lucky break, but we didn’t see, the hard work, the sleepless nights, the lonely nights, and the days they had to deny themselves of things so they could achieve
success. I know for an example that I will be extremely successful, that I will achieve all my goals and dreams, that I will even exceed my expectations of myself, how? Because I have put in the work, I have developed and I am still developing myself, I have denied myself momentary pleasures so many times to train myself both academically, financially, and other spheres of life, I have put in my best, I know sooner than soon, the universe will reward my hard work, dedication, and commitment to giving and doing my best. When it happens people will think its luck, they will think it happened over night, but they would not see the time I had chosen the hard path instead of the easy one, the sacrifices I had made and they self-denial. A few days ago, I was nominated as the best staff in my department, a lot of people came to ask why, and said many things. I didn’t mind them because I know I had put in the work for it, it was denied for a long time finally my time of success has come. I know in my previous assessments I had talked about how unvalued I was at my work, yes it has been very bad, and it got worse, but suddenly this 2022 things started to look up. Now prior to this I have worked for the last 10 year without any form growth on the job, my job role was changed 5 years ago to suit my qualification, somewhere along the line that changes were not reflected on my pay nor any promotion. But I kept going and I kept doing my best, other additional jobs beyond my job descriptions will be given to me and I did it. Yes, I was unhappy with the situation, but I kept showing up, earlier than I am expected to resume, and doing an
excellent job every time. Today coming out as the best staff may surprise many but not I, because I have worked for it, and I deserve it. This is nothing like my star lined up, it happened because I consciously worked towards it, even when the odds where against me, had bosses who undermined me, I didn’t get sloppy on the job, I gave my
best always. From the phrase I know that when we put in the effort to work towards our success, its possible and we can achieve it, the luck here is the reward of diligent work. Being recognized as the best staff is not something that just happened, its years of excellent service, hard work, availability, and quality service. This is one of the
reasons I keep working towards by dreams because I know success is possible if I do the work for it and my lucky break is around the corner.
v. “Real leadership involves breaking through the limits of your mind so you can step into the highest strengths of your spirit.”
The real battle of life is in the mind, our mind controls absolutely everything about us, our feelings, our reactions and actions. Everyone has dreams and goals. However, very few people achieve them. This is because majority of us let our limits hold us back. These limits take various forms. Examples are physical inability, doubt, fear, or a negative past. When we meet our personal limits, we feel resistance. This makes everything feel much harder to accomplish. Many people around the world are unable to hold on when it gets to this point. Therefore, they give up. It is important to learn how to beat our limits and overcome them this where our greatest strength lies. This enables us to achieve our goals. Leading means we must overcome these limits in our minds. I have never been privilege to meet great leaders prior to my learning about leadership, I was unfortunate to work with and meet people whose leading style I pray never to emulate, but somehow I knew within me that leadership is beyond what I was experiencing, and I knew I had no guide on what true leadership is, and that if I didn’t know I will end up like the leaders I’ve met and looking at the knowledge of leading that I had then, therefore I began a journey of destroying what I knew then by unlearning and relearning, the quest to change both the narratives, overcome my limiting believes and become the leader I should, is what led me to IIGL. This phrase is true that if we don’t breakthrough the limits in our mind, we may never step into our highest strength, and that by pushing beyond our limits, we can become everything that we ever wanted to be. We can achieve our dreams and leave a legacy that lasts and there in is our greatest human spirit strength.
vi. Remember, we see the world not as it is but as we are. So, if your stained-glass window is a mess, your life will become a mess. If your stained-glass window has a belief that says, “You can’t lead without a title,” then your actions will of course be consistent with that belief, and so you won’t lead if you lack a title.
This phrase took me back to Seven Habits of Highly Effective People where Steve Covey made the same statement, this is actual true because we judge everything based on who we are not as the thing is. I remember a popular story, where a wife complains to the husband everyday about the neighbor not washing her clothes clean. Every time the neighbor spreads cloths on the line she will comment on it, why she couldn’t take time to wash the cloths clean, this went on for a long time, then one day the husband decided to clean their louvers (glass window), the next time the neighbor spread her cloths on the line, she saw that it was clean, she then realize that it was her window that was dirty not the neighbor’s cloths. Like I explained earlier about changing our mindset and limiting believes, if the believes we use as filter of the things around us are wrong then every other thing will be wrong. I have come to realize a long time ago that I don’t need to have a title to be a leader, therefore anywhere I found myself I have held my self accountable to the best behavior, which is in line with my believes, due to this high level of self-accountability and responsibility, the leadership roles have always found its way to me. Everything about life starts with what we belief, like Napoleon will say, whatever the mind can conceive and belief, it can achieve it.
vii. I’ve learned about leadership is that leaders are those individuals who do the things that failures aren’t willing to do even though they might not like doing them either. “Only the mediocre die always at their best. Real leaders are always improving and raising their bar on how superbly they can perform and how quickly they can move.”
This phrase spoke to me that being a leader is not comfortable or convenient or self-serving, to be a leader one must be willing to make lots of sacrifices, self-denial sometimes and going the extra mile even when no one is willing to. Over the years, I have come to find out that leaders do things that failures do not like to do, they might not like doing them, though. Leaders stay awake when failures are still changing gear in their sleep. Recently I encouraged my sisters to start exercising and taking care of their health, I discovered along the line I had stopped doing that, to be their champion in that I had to get back in the game, changed my eating habits and get back my exercising gears, it’s not convenient or comfortable, but I am required to do it because they are all looking up to me. If we are to be leaders then we will have to do what others aren’t willing to do, even if no one is doing it, we must, we should take the lead because true leaders are pathfinders, not path followers, they find the path and lead others along. Therefore, this phrase taught me that being a leader means doing the right thing always whether it favors us or not, and whether we like it or not.
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 lessons learnt in this book are too numerous to count, learning that doing my job well is part of leadership, made me take a critical look at how I do my job, yes I have always held myself to a higher level of quality service delivery at all times but I had to look at the other integral parts of doing the job, that I don’t need to be the head to do the right thing. It helped me understand that we all need to start demonstrating leadership, regardless of our titles, that everyone needs to drive innovation, inspire our teammates, embrace change, take responsibility for results, to be positive, to become devoted to expressing our absolute best by leading without a title. What we need to lead is I.M.A.G.E.: Innovation, Mastery, Authenticity, Guts, and Ethics. I’ve also discovered the more time I spend outside of my comfort zone, the wider I will grow. Through what I have learnt from this book, I have been able to organize two webinars, educating people that something as small as doing their job well can make them a leader and that we all need to lead where we are planted and shine where we now find ourselves. Then to be a great leader, I must first become a great person through trainings and strengthening my inner leader which will help me perform at extraordinary levels. The key is here is self-leadership. In our world we define success by the things we have, not by the people we’ve become. The more self-awareness we develop the more likely we are to grow and help others. therefore, developing myself to the level where I am the extraordinary leader that the world needs, I can help others grow (which I am doing) and I can make the world a better place.
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.
“Each of us is born into genius. Sadly, most of us die amid mediocrity.”
This quote made me know that it’s all in us, greatness, success, and everything we have ever imagined is in us. But unfortunately, most of us will never discover it till we die.
“And on your last day, all that truly matters is whether you got to know your inner leader, and if you did, whether you had the bravery to allow it to offer its gifts to the world around you.”
This quote coupled with our level 3 assessments made me realize that at our point of dead whether we were successful or not will not matter, what will! are the things we should have done and the lives we would have been able to impact during our time here on earth. Also, that if we had truly known ourselves and allowed the world to see who we are by serving our true self to the world.
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
This quote made remember how I have always argued that we all have choices and the power to do anything we want, most people unfortunately think they have no control over anything, therefore they invariably give away their power. Where people did not feel they had a voice, a power, a cause to come together, to ask and make a change, that quickly shift to them giving their personal power away, and it happens over time like cancer that slowly spreads allover until it kills the host. We don’t wake up one day and decide to give
up on ourselves. we give our power away out of fear and anxiety, or unmet expectations or experiencing sets backs. I learned if I condition my mind to think I can’t change things and I don’t have the power to transform what I am experiencing to a positive one, then I will give away my power, when that happens, I will spiral into hopelessness, despair, and fear.
“The highest of all human abilities is the ability each one of us has to choose how we respond to the environment we find ourselves within.”
This is true, we may not be able to control what happening around us, but we have the power to choose our response. We have the power to remain in a stable state
within when all around us is chaotic.
“That your expectations at work and within your life become self-fulfilling prophecies. The results you expect are the results you’ll see. That’s an incredibly important thing to remember.”
I learned from this that our expectations become our reality. This took my mind back to vision board, where we create our reality from. There was a time that I use to experience the opposite of my thoughts, if I think of failing, will succeed, I later realized I set a low expectation for myself so that when the results roll in, if I did fail it will be okay as I never expected to succeed anyway. But when I changed my expectations both of myself and life, since then there’ve been so many expectations met and exceeded. Therefore, our expectations become our reality. If we see good, we will have good and if we see evil so will we receive.
“Hard times do make better people. That in the middle of difficulty lives opportunity. And that each of us is built to win in both work and life.”
Truly there are a lot of opportunities in difficulty, when we overcome, we become stronger, better, and more inspired to succeed, as I have said in my previous summaries, my life has not been an easy one, but the situations I have grown through has made me tougher, stronger, courageous, and more assured of my success.
“We have a lot more power than we think. And a lot more control over the way our lives unfold that most of us seem to understand!”
This just affirm the earlier point, that we are power, we are strong, and that we have absolute control over our lives, what happens to us and how we respond to those
happenings.
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that thing are difficult.”
I learned from this quote that when we choose not to act there’re more dire consequences
sometimes than if we choose to act, an example is my work, for years I’ve been sidelined, victimized, and denied my entitlements, except when it comes to assigning job roles. I did nothing about it, I accepted it and hoped one day it will change, late last year I decide to speak up, I got angry with the way things were and gave voice to it, I spoke for myself that I’ve been cheated for being assigned a job role that I was not paid for, and I took a step to document it by emailing my work condition to both my direct boss, the Plant
Director and the HR manager, swiftly things began to change and peak up. If I hadn’t acted and gave voice to what’ve faced on the job, things many never change, I may still be in the same difficult, unjust, and unfair position. Therefore when we don’t act or don’t dare, things will become more difficult.
“If you are blessed enough to still have your parents, honor them. And do it today.”
This reemphasized what I believe, honoring our parents, I am blessed to have a wonderful woman as a mother, I give the honor due to her, I respect and value her, I go extra mile for her, and she always comes first in my life, that is after myself. More than that the bible commanded us to honor our parents therefore I will honor her. Even without this I will still honor her, because of her sacrifices for us her children, I will
eternally be grateful to her.
By infusing leadership into everything you do and each thing you touch, you can live remarkably. You truly can realize your original genius. You really can be one of the great ones.
This quote has taught me that, in everything we do we should do it with excellence having in mind that we are leaders. We should always know that whether we have a title or not, recognized or not, that we are all leaders and therefore should do things differently.
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 nothing.
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?
No there wasn’t.
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 there wasn’t.
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
The 5 Second Rule
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea that the author of the book “5 Second Rule” is trying to convey is the importance of acting and making decisions quickly. The book suggests that we often have a window of opportunity to act or decide, which the author refers to as “The 5 Second rule.” According to the author, if we don’t act within this window of opportunity, our doubts and fears will hold us back and prevent us from making progress
towards our goals The book argues that by taking action and making decisions quickly, we can overcome our own doubts and fears and achieve our goals. It suggests that this can be achieved by using a simple countdown technique, in which we count down from 5 to 1 and then act. The book provides examples and strategies for using this technique to overcome procrastination, increase productivity, and achieve personal
and professional goals. Overall, the main idea that the author is trying to convey in this book is the importance of taking action and making decisions quickly in order to overcome our doubts and fears and achieve our goals.
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. Instinct to change your mind.
There is a window for everyone between the moment you have an instinct to change and your mind killing that instinct. While your mind starts working. against you in nanoseconds, the barrage of thoughts and excuses don’t seem to kick into full force and stop you for a few seconds.
ii. There is only one You! There will never be another one. That’s your power.
I understood from this statement that each person is unique and irreplaceable. It implies that everyone has their own unique qualities, characteristics, and abilities, and that these things make each person special and powerful. The statement suggests that each person can make a difference and to leave their own mark on the world, because
there is no one else who is exactly like us. It encourages people to embrace their individuality and to use their own unique talents and abilities to make a positive impact on the world. We are unique and that our individuality is a source of strength and power. It means that we are one-of-a-kind and that there will never be another person
exactly like I or you or us. Our unique qualities, experiences, and perspectives make us who we are and give us the power to make a difference in the world. It’s important for us to recognize and embrace our own individuality, rather than trying to be someone we are not. By being true to ourselves, we can tap into our own power and make a positive impact on the world around us.
iii. Sometimes there is no next time, no second chance, or no time out.
Stop waiting. It’s now or never. When you wait, you aren’t procrastinating. You are doing something more dangerous. You are deliberately convincing yourself “now is not the time.” You are actively working against your dreams. When
you wait, you aren’t procrastinating. You are doing something more dangerous. You are deliberately convincing yourself “now is not the time.” You are actively working against your dreams.”
This statement is encouraging us to take action and not to wait or delay in pursuing our goals and dreams. It suggests that there may not always be a second chance or an opportunity to revisit something, and that it’s important to seize the moment and make the most of it. It also implies that waiting or procrastinating can be harmful, as it
can lead to self-doubt and the belief that “now is not the time.” This can prevent us from taking action and moving forward, which can ultimately hold us back from achieving our goals. By recognizing the importance of the present moment and acting on our goals and dreams, we can make progress and move closer to achieving what we want in
life. I remember last year when I realized that my second undergrad result won’t be ready to proceed to graduate school, I decided to act, in all I was able to secure 10 admissions, but the only limiting factor was funding, in all I learned a whole lot about graduate school application that now I am coaching others, if I didn’t act then may be its
now I will be learning. There is always no better time than now, this has become my philosophy.
iv. Success is a numbers game.
You’re not going to win it if you keep telling yourself to wait. The more often that you choose courage, the more likely you’ll succeed. The more often that you choose courage, the more likely you’ll succeed. Success is often thought of as the achievement of a goal or the attainment of a desired outcome. The phrase “success is a numbers game” means that the more opportunities we take and the more actions we take, the more likely we
are to achieve success. This is because the more we try, the more chances we have, to succeed. One way to understand this concept is to think about it in terms of probability in math’s. If we only try to do something once, our chances of success are relatively low. However, if we try to do it multiple times, our chances of success increases, this is like tossing a coin, the more we toss the more the possibilities of having a head come
up. The idea that “you’re not going to win it if you keep telling yourself to wait” means that if we keep putting off taking, action or making decisions, we are less likely to achieve success. This is because success often requires taking risks and making choices and waiting too long to make these choices can limit our chances of success.
Therefore, I learned from this statement that in order to be successful, we need to be proactive and take action. We should also be willing to take risks and make choices, even if they are difficult or uncertain. The more often we choose to do this, the more likely we are to achieve success.
v. Win or lose, at least I’m doing something! It takes a lot of bravery to be able to get honest with yourself and admit how hard it is to focus on what you need to do.
This phrase suggests that the speaker believes that it is better to take action and try to achieve a goal, even if there is a chance of failure, than to do nothing at all. This attitude can be seen as a positive one because it reflects a willingness to take risks and try new things, rather than being afraid of failure or uncertainty. The second part of the statement, “it takes a lot of bravery to be able to get honest with yourself and admit how hard it is to focus on what you need to do,” suggests that it can be difficult to be honest with oneself about the challenges and obstacles that may be standing in the way of achieving a goal. Admitting that something is difficult or that we are struggling can be a brave and vulnerable thing to do. However, being honest about these challenges can also be an important step in overcoming them and finding ways to move forward. It also
suggests that it takes courage and honesty to take action and try to achieve something, even if there is a chance of failure. It also suggests that taking action, even if it is difficult, is ultimately more rewarding and fulfilling than doing nothing at all. Honestly this book keeps taking my mind back to math: zero multiplied by zero will always
be a zero, a one can always increase better than zero.
vi. It’s okay to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.
The statement suggests that it is normal and natural to feel afraid or anxious when facing a challenging or risky situation. This is because fear is a natural response to situations that pose a potential threat or danger. However, the statement also suggests that facing and overcoming fear can be a brave and courageous thing to do. This is because it takes courage to act, even when we are afraid. By facing and confronting our fears, we can often achieve things that we might not have thought were possible. In terms of life application, this statement can be seen as a reminder that it is okay to feel afraid and that it is normal to have fears and doubts. However, it can also be seen as an encouragement to act and face our fears, even if it is difficult. This can help you to grow and learn and can ultimately lead to a more fulfilling and rewarding life. There’s never been a time I am called to give a speech that fear, and doubt won’t want to cripple me, despite that I
will tell myself hey girl you’ve got this, you can do this, this is your stage, you prepared for this, go ahead and show them what you’ve got. Most times people will come up to me and like that was the best, ever, in my mind I will be like I wish you could have seen my fears. We should never let fear stop us from acting.
vii. Small things are not small at all. They are the most important things of all. And they add up. Pushing yourself to 5- 4- 3- 2- 1 on the “small things” gives you confidence to do the “big scheme of things.
“There is a window for everyone between the moment you have an instinct to change and your mind killing that instinct. While your mind starts working against you in nanoseconds, the barrage of thoughts and excuses don’t seem to kick into full force and stop you for a few seconds.” This statement is suggesting that when we have an instinct or desire to change something about ourselves or our circumstances, there is a brief window of time in which we can act on that instinct before our mind begins to work
against us. It suggests that our mind will start to generate thoughts and excuses that may discourage or prevent us from following through with the change. This process can happen very quickly, but it may take a few seconds for the full force of these thoughts and excuses to take hold and stop us from acting. It’s important to recognize that
this process is natural and that everyone experiences it to some extent. The key is to be aware of it and to try to act on our instincts and desires before our mind starts to work against us. This may require some mindfulness and self- awareness, as well as the willingness to push through any doubts or fears that may arise. For example, there are
some days I will want to exercise, if I roll it around my mind before I know it time would have gone far that exercise wont fit into my schedule for that day.
The phrase suggests that small tasks or actions can have a significant impact and should not be overlooked or underestimated. This is because these small things can often be the building blocks or foundation for bigger goals or projects. This reminded me of another book the compound effect, were little this compound to become giants. The second part of the phrase, “pushing yourself to 5- 4- 3- 2- 1 on the ‘small things’ gives you confidence to do the “big scheme of things” suggests that by consistently and diligently completing small tasks or actions, we can build up our confidence and skills. This can then give us the confidence and motivation to tackle larger or more complex tasks and projects. Also, that paying attention to and focusing on small tasks and actions can be an important part
of achieving success. By consistently and diligently completing these small things, we can build up our skills and confidence, which can then help us to tackle bigger and more complex task
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?
There were great ideas and lessons in this book, these ideas and lessons were helpful in several ways in both my daily personal life and in creating a better world. In my daily personal life, these ideas helped me to be more proactive and take action, even when I am afraid or uncertain. This helped me to achieve my goals and live a more fulfilling and rewarding life. For example, over the last few months I’ve pushed back on a lot of things about my life, now I’ve decided to that action, one of them is completing my IIGL studies. These ideas have helped me to focus on small tasks and actions and building up my skills and confidence. By focusing on the small task, instead of the big things or big pictures I can be more effective in making positive change in my community or in the world at large. By consistently taking action and working towards my goals, I will be in a better position to have a positive impact on the world around 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.
“When it comes to goals, dreams, and changing your life, your inner wisdom is a genius.”
I learned from the quote self-Trust: it suggests that our inner wisdom or intuition is a valuable source of guidance and understanding when it comes to setting goals, pursuing our dreams, and making changes in our lives. By trusting in our own inner wisdom, we can draw on our own experiences and insights to make decisions and take action that is aligned with our values and goals. Follow our own path: The quote suggests that
our inner wisdom can help us to navigate the processes of life. By paying attention to our own inner wisdom and following our own path, we can make choices and take action that is authentic and true to ourselves and whom we are, rather than trying to conform to the expectations of others. By believing in our own potential and trusting in our own inner wisdom, we can tap into our own unique strengths and abilities and use them to achieve our goals and make positive changes. I love to say if we don’t try, we may never know
how amazing we can be.
“Life is about the choices we make. And I have said over and over in this book that you can always choose how you act.”
This quote is important to me because it highlights the fact that life is largely shaped
by the choices we make. Every decision we make, no matter how small, can have an impact on our lives and the lives of those around us. By recognizing that we have the power to choose how we act, we can take control of our own lives and make choices that are aligned with our values and goals. This quote can also be seen as an encouragement to make conscious and thoughtful choices, rather than letting external
circumstances or other people’s expectations dictate our actions. By actively choosing how we act, we can shape our own lives and create the outcomes we desire. it reminds us that we have agency and the power to shape our own lives through the choices we make. It encourages us to be mindful of our actions and to make choices that are authentic and true to ourselves.
“Procrastination is not a form of laziness at all. It’s a coping mechanism for stress.”
This quote stood out because it highlights the fact that procrastination is often not a result of laziness, but rather a coping mechanism for stress. This is an important distinction because it suggests that there may be underlying factors that contribute to procrastination, rather than it being simply a lack of motivation or discipline. By recognizing that procrastination can be a coping mechanism for stress, we can take a more compassionate
and understanding approach to addressing this behavior. This can involve identifying and addressing the underlying causes of stress, such as workload, time management, or self-doubt, rather than simply trying to overcome procrastination through sheer force of will. it encourages a deeper understanding of procrastination and the potential causes behind it. By recognizing that procrastination can be a coping mechanism for stress, we can take a more holistic and effective approach to addressing this behavior and achieving our goals. I remember another book make your bed, which also encourages us to move forward
and start by making our beds every morning.
“Whatever is happening right now, this is it. This is your life. And it’s not going to begin again. You can’t change the past, but in five seconds you can change your future.”
I learned from this the power of being present in the present moment and making the most of the time we have. The phrase “whatever is happening right now, this is it” reminds us that this moment is all we have, and that the past is gone, and the future is uncertain. By recognizing this, we can be more mindful of our actions and choices in the
present moment, rather than getting caught up in regrets about the past or worries about the future. The second part of the quote, “you can’t change the past, but in five seconds you can change your future,” suggests that even small actions or choices can have a significant impact on our future. By recognizing this, we can be more proactive and take control of our own lives, rather than feeling powerless or at the mercy of external circumstances. Basically, it encourages us to be present in the moment and to make the
most of the time we have. It also reminds us that we have the power to shape our own lives and future through the choices we make in the present moment.
“The moment you have an instinct to act on a goal you must 5-4-3-2-1 and physically move or your brain will stop you.”
This quote is teaching us that it is important to act on our goals and instincts quickly,
rather than letting our doubts or fears hold us back. The phrase “5-4-3-2-1” suggests a countdown or sense of urgency, encouraging us to take action as soon as we have the instinct or desire to do so the second part of the quote, “your brain will stop you,” suggests that our own thoughts and doubts can be a major obstacle to taking action and achieving our goals. By recognizing this and taking action quickly, we can overcome
these doubts and move forward. Overall, this quote is teaching us that it is important to act on our goals and instincts quickly, rather than letting our doubts or fears hold us back. By taking action as soon as we have the desire to do so, we can overcome our own doubts and move forward towards our goals.
“There’s only one thing you must do: Stop thinking about how you feel. Your feelings don’t matter. The only thing that matters is what you Do.”
This quote is telling us that it is important to focus on our actions and behavior, rather than getting caught up in our feelings or emotions. The phrase “your feelings don’t matter” suggests that our emotions should not be the driving force behind our actions and decisions. Instead, the quote emphasizes the importance of what we Do, suggesting that it is our actions and behaviors that ultimately matter and have an impact. This
quote can be seen as an encouragement to be proactive and take action, even when we may not feel like it or when our emotions are telling us to do something else. By focusing on our actions and behavior, we can move forward and make progress towards our goals, rather than getting stuck in our own thoughts and feelings. In all I think focus more on our actions and behavior, then, we can move forward and make progress towards our achieving goals. Most times we focus more on how we feel, I feel tired, stress,
frustrated and even discouraged, but it doesn’t count all we need is to take action and the energy we feel we are lacking comes back. I remember recently I feel exhausted mentally and physically, once I get back from work, I will crawl into bed at that’s all for the day, it kept on for a while until one day I decided to do something about my house, suddenly the energy I lacked came back fully and I got my house in order in less time than I had imagined. We should do away with the excuses we give ourselves and do something
about our lives, only then will success be possible.
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?
There weren’t any!
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? 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
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How Successful People Think
Assessment by Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The book focuses on the power of positive thinking and the importance of having a growth mindset. It also explores the different ways in which successful people think differently from others and how readers can apply these principles to their own lives to achieve success. The book encourages readers to think big, take risks, and make the most of their talents and abilities. It is considered a self-help and personal development 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.
i. A person who knows how may always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be his boss.
Good thinkers solve problems, they never lack ideas that can build an organization, and they always have hope for a better future. If you wait until you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it. The same is true for thinking. You cannot wait until you feel like thinking to do it. Success comes to those who have an entire mountain of gold that they continually mine, not those who find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years. Learning how to master the process of thinking well leads you to productive thinking. If you can develop the discipline of good thinking and turn it into a lifetime habit, then you will be successful and productive all of your life. Many people mistakenly believe that if individuals aren’t born with creativity, they will never be creative. But you can see from the many strategies and examples I’ve given that creativity can be cultivated in the right supportive environment. You can’t build a house in midair; it needs a solid foundation. Ideas and plans are the same. They need something concrete on which to build. All good strategic thinkers are precise in their thinking. They try to match the strategy to the problem because strategy isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. Sloppy or generalized thinking is an enemy of achievement.
ii. “A person who knows how may always have a job, but the person who knows why will always be his boss. Good thinkers solve problems, they never lack ideas that can build an organization, and they always have hope for a better future.”
This phrase is important to me because it highlights the difference between having knowledge and understanding the purpose or reasoning behind that knowledge. A person who simply knows how to perform a task may be able to get a job, but someone who knows why a task is important and how it fits into the bigger picture is more likely to be a leader and have greater influence within an organization. The phrase also emphasizes the importance of problem-solving and creativity in leadership. Good thinkers are able to solve problems effectively and come up with new ideas that can benefit an organization. They also have a positive outlook and hope for a better future, which can inspire others and help drive the organization forward. It’s also important to have a clear understanding of the reason behind the task or action one is taking, to be able to make informed decisions, and to have a sense of direction which is crucial for success.
Conclusively the phrase highlights the importance of understanding the “why” behind what you do, and how this mindset can lead to greater success and leadership opportunities, taking me back to the book the leader who no tittle. If we understand the reasons behind what we do, we will do a better job, we will think out of the box and we will solve problems.
iii. “If you wait until you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it. The same is true for thinking. You cannot wait until you feel like thinking to do it.”
This phrase spoke to me and took my mind back to the 5-second rule book, which we will never feel like doing anything, therefore if wait till we feel like doing something, we may never do it. I do exercise, most times than not I don’t feel like doing it, what I will do if I decide to do it, the night before I will set out my wears so that once I get out of bed that’s the first thing that I will see. This require self-discipline, because having this strong control over your self will help stay focus to do what is needed when it is needed. I also remember when I was a student and working at the same time, having no time to attend lectures meant I had to self-educate. I looked at my time and knew if I am to achieve success, I need to utilize my nights for studying. Working 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in a manufacturing firm was not easy, most nights I don’t feel like waking up to study, but when I remember that I have exams and I will answer the same set of questions with those who attended lecturers I had to force myself to wake up and read. If I had waited until I felt like it, I may never have studied and I may never have attended the level of success that I did. I had to fake it until it became a part of me, I didn’t need the alarm again to wake up and read it became a normal thing, therefore true leaders don’t wait until it’s the right time or until it feels right or until they feel like doing it, the just do it anyway.
iv. “Success comes to those who have an entire mountain of gold that they continually mine, not those who find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years.”
This phrase reminded me that what we do constantly and not occasionally will lead us to success. it also brought out that we should continually learn and increase in our knowledge which will lead us to success, we should be open to new ways of doing things. If we want to rely on what we learnt maybe a year ago, it may be stale knowledge.
I find it truly odd when I see people 5 years after their first degree, they’ve not done any additional courses or attended conferences or made any efforts to improve their knowledge. I keep wondering how they intend to become leaders in their field. Anyone who truly wants to be successful must make learning their friend, they must constantly seek new knowledge, they must constantly keep a braze with happenings in their fields and beyond. I as person intend to be a leader in my field, therefore I have made learning my companion, I will keep learning until I become a voice in my field, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, how painful the journey, I know and believe that I will reach the top.
v. “Learning how to master the process of thinking well leads you to productive thinking. If you can develop the discipline of good thinking and turn it into a lifetime habit, then you will be successful and productive all of your life.”
Thinking is a process that is quite rewarding, because when you spend time thinking you give your mind the power to find solutions to difficult problems. I learnt from this phrase that spending time engaging in thinking will lead one to success. There’ve been times when I would be in a fixed situation and when I sit to analyze my options and the possible paths to take, I find solutions. I also learnt that not all thinking is Productive, most times we spend our time engaging in negative thoughts and sometimes we prefer not to think at all. But if we truly want to be productive, we need to engage in productive thinking, solution finding thinking and result producing thinking, instead of negativity. Recently I tried to control my mind to be productive, by forcing it to force on the good things in my life, the successes I’ve achieved and to remind myself if I could do all these nothing should stop me from doing more.
vi. “Many people mistakenly believe that if individuals aren’t born with creativity, they will never be creative. But you can see from the many strategies and examples I’ve given that creativity can be cultivated in the right supportive environment.”
Everyone has a level of creativity in them, sometimes they may not know how to harness it or bring it out, but we all are creative in our own unique ways. This phrase is important to me because it challenges a common misconception about creativity: that it is an innate and fixed trait that cannot be learned or developed. This belief can be discouraging for individuals who don’t perceive themselves as naturally creative and may prevent them from exploring their potential for creative thinking and problem-solving. The phrase highlights the idea that creativity can be nurtured and developed through deliberate practice and exposure to a supportive environment. By providing strategies and examples for cultivating creativity, it encourages individuals to embrace their creative potential and explore ways to enhance their skills and abilities. I loved the idea that about a supportive environment because they wrong environment stifles ones creativity, an example is a fish, if a fish is taken out of water which is its natural thriving environment, the fish will not grow or perform so well and may eventually die, therefore for us to perform at the our peak creativity we need to position ourselves in the right environment. Overall, this phrase promotes a growth mindset towards creativity, emphasizing that anyone can learn to be creative with the right mindset, environment, and support.
vii. “You can’t build a house in midair; it needs a solid foundation. Ideas and plans are the same. They need something concrete on which to build.”
This phrase highlights the importance of having a solid foundation for any idea or plan to be successful. Just as a house needs a sturdy foundation to stand the test of time, an idea or plan requires a solid groundwork to be implemented effectively. It underscores the importance of careful planning and preparation before acting. It implies that rushing into action without proper groundwork can lead to failure or instability. Without a solid foundation, an idea or plan may lack direction, clarity, and focus, making it difficult to achieve the desired outcome.
It also emphasizes the need for practicality and realism in the planning process. It suggests that ideas and plans should be based on realistic expectations and resources, and that any potential obstacles or challenges should be considered and addressed in the planning stage. Also having the right information can greatly facilitate the plan; we should spend time gathering all the information needed to formulate a plan. We all need a strong foundation for any successful project, whether it is building a house or implementing an idea or plan.
When a look through my academic journey, I passed through one stage of planning to another and I kept improving, from planning the financials, to planning accommodation, to reading and studying plans were necessary stages of plans. I took a lot of things into consideration when I was setting out the plans, for example, my income, my volunteer activities, and my job. In all I can say if we don’t plan, we are already planning to fail.
viii. “All good strategic thinkers are precise in their thinking. They try to match the strategy to the problem, because strategy isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. Sloppy or generalized thinking is an enemy of achievement.”
This phrase emphasizes the importance of precision and specificity in strategic thinking. In many areas of life, such as business, politics, and personal decision-making, strategic thinking is crucial for achieving success and solving complex problems. The phrase highlights the idea that strategic thinking should be tailored to the specific problem at hand, rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach. This requires careful analysis and consideration of the unique factors and circumstances involved in each situation. By emphasizing the need for precise thinking in strategy, it implies that sloppy or generalized thinking can be a significant obstacle to achievement. Without a clear understanding of the problem and a well-defined strategy, it can be challenging to achieve the desired outcome. Strategy to solve a problem must first come with deep understanding of the problem to fit the strategy to the problem. This took my mind back to curve fitting in Mathematics, where a curve is constructed to fit a given data set, the data set is arranged to fit the curve or mathematical function. In a similar way when we have a problem to solve, we should plan and set a strategy suitable for each unique problem. In all I learned from this the importance of precision and specificity in strategic thinking, the need for careful analysis and tailored solutions. This approach can help us as individuals and organizations to achieve our goals more effectively and efficiently, leading to greater success and 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?
The lessons learned we highly valuable, it made me realize the value of thinking things through. Being selective in what I allow to influence my mind, I’ve been able to choose paths that will lead to me to success, and I have also recorded significant successes both in my career and personal life. This book helped me change my perspective on creativity, I used to think that I am not creative at all, but through this book I realized that creativity is in the ideas, thoughts and actions that are uniquely mine. I’ve also been able to help younger people by mentoring them in career planning, life planning and personal development through encouraging them to develop good thinking habits, self-audit, and effective planning. The lessons learned from this book are inexhaustible and through practicing them I believe I can make the world a better place as I keep getting better at applying the principles in this book.
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.
“Knowledge is power only if a man knows what facts are not to bother about. Focused thinking removes distractions and mental clutter so that you can concentrate on an issue and think with clarity.”
This quote made me understand the value of de-cluttering the mind, our minds have a way of loading itself with a lot of junk, but learning this I now know how important it is to be selective about what I let my mind focus on. Truly if I had had this knowledge a while ago, there are many things that gave me sleepless nights that I shouldn’t have bothered about.
“Be selective. Talk to people who know and care about you, who know their field, and who bring experience deeper and broader than your own.”
I learned from this quote that the only people who will be honest with us and listen to us offering good advice are those who truly care about us. We should also look at those who are experienced in their field, and successful because if they are not they will most likely not listen with an open mind, and they may be biased in their response to us.
“Realistic thinking gives you something concrete to fall back on during times of trouble, which can be very reassuring.”
As much as I support being optimistic, it really pays to always face reality, especially when it comes to relationships and finances. Because analyzing the realities of life situations will help be prepared for any events or circumstance that may occur.
“You must open yourself up to the idea of sharing ideas before you will engage in the process of shared thinking!”
This made me realize that we get what we give. If we are not open to shared ideas, we can never be actively involved in sharing ideas or shared thinking. I’ve also realized that we learn more as we either teach or share ideas with others.
“We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that they have never failed to appear.”
I made me understand that we should never focus on what we stand to gain on anything we do, we should focus on impacting lives, solving a problem, and helping others, then the gain will follow. I remember a time one the patrons of an NGO I volunteer for was having a challenge writing his welcome speech for a conference he was a chairman in, due to his busy schedule as the Medical Director of Federal Hospital, I offered to help write the speech, when I send it to him and he asked me for the price I told him he should not bother about it, that I did not help him to be paid. Few months down the line I had a financial challenge and this man stepped in, gave a sum he would have given if I had benefited from the speech I wrote. There fore like John Maxwell will say Offer a hand before you ask for help, we should focus of making a difference not on profit.
“They don’t rest on their successes; they learn from them. More importantly, they learn from their failures. They can do that because they remain teachable.”
This quote means that people who are successful don’t relent on their achievements, once they conquer a particular ground, they immediately move on to conquering new grounds. This made me think about my employer, he started with cement bagging and packaging, moved onto building cement one cement factory in Nigeria, moved to building 3 more within the country, progressed to different African countries and now he just commissioned the largest petrochemical refinery in world, even as he is into communication, estates development and other household commodities like sugar, flour, salt, pasta, noodles, spices and seasoning cubes. Even I too, I have never rested on my success, I keep moving on to achieve new things. I learn from my failures and find ways to ensure a different outcome in my next attempt.
“If you spend time with people who think out of the box, you’re more likely to challenge popular thinking and break new ground.”
This quote reemphasizes what the bible said that he who walks with the wise will himself be considered as wise, also a popular proverb that birds of the same feathers flock together. Therefore, to practice thinking out of the box we need to learn from those who have, study their pattern, and repeatedly follow the process. I believe that success is repeatable, therefore if we practice diligently the habit of thinking out of box we will succeed.
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 nothing.
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?
No there wasn’t.
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 there wasn’t.
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
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
Assessment by Udeme Idem Udeme Idem (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The book teaches us how to build a life that guarantees long-lasting happiness, and fulfillment. It enlightens us that focusing on building our inner life is more important than building our outer life, also enjoying the little things in life. He talked about finding our true passion which is the key to finding our happiness. The book ultimately gave principle and proven concepts that can help and assist us readers in finding fulfillment in life and achieving our grandest goals.
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. “It is only when you have mastered the art of loving yourself that you can truly love others. It’s only when you have opened your own heart that you can touch the hearts of others. When you feel centered and alive, you are in a much better position to be a better person.”
I learned from this phrase that we can receive and give only when we are ready and willing to open ourselves up. This took me back to when I started volunteering, until I was ready and willing to give back to society to open my heart up and help others, opportunities and rewards never came my way. When we have mastered loving ourselves, treating ourselves the right way, only then can we love other. But if we haven’t, we cannot truly love others. This phrase also reminded me of one of the commandments in the bible, “Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves” most times we lay emphasis on loving the neighbor, but not on the crucial aspect of loving ourselves, because if we don’t love who we are, what we are and how we are, how then can we truly love another. To me it’s not possible, because is in the abundance of the love we have for ourselves can we truly love others. It’s in the security of our minds and in the wholeness of self-esteem can we be in a place that we can give wholly of ourselves to others. This statement “when you feel centered and alive” is a very powerful statement and a place of mental equilibrium, confidence, and self-assuredness (not in egotistical way) can we be a better person. This phrase contained lots of deep meanings and as we open our hearts to others, we will be able to touch hearts.
ii. “So, take the time to think. Discover your real reason for being here and then have the courage to act on it.”
This phrase took my mind back to the leader who had no title, finding our “why.” It’s one thing to discover our purpose and it’s another to be able to act on it. I remember a few years ago when I discovered I could organize leadership webinars/seminars to educate others on real leadership, it was a wild dream then which was next to impossible to achieve, due to limited resources and lack of know-how on how I could do it. But I took up courage, I began to seek information, call for volunteers and before I knew what was going on, I had founded Elite Coach Africa and hosted my very first leadership summit. Through the activities on Elite coach, I’ve been able to mentor and coach lots of youth within Nigeria and Africa. ECA has also opened doors for me to partner with other as a coach and mentor in some, giving me the privileged to impact more lives. In essence I am glad I found my purpose and grateful for the courage to act on my purpose, working to fulfill it. I am not where I want to be, but I am not where I used to be. I perfectly remember that I’ve always wanted to be a public speaker since my childhood, but I didn’t see how I could become one until a day I found a quote “no one will give a stage to act, create your stage and invite others to join you” this was what propelled me to create the Elite Coach Africa and I invited others to join me. When we’ve found our purpose, we should run with it and not sleep on it.
iii. “Be patient and live with the knowledge that all you are searching for is certain to come if you prepare for it and expect it.”
From this phrase came the idea that everything we want, and desire will come true, if we patiently wait and work towards it. Then again if it does not, we should be patient, it will surely come. I remembered a few years ago, the challenges I had in my job; I did everything possible to see changes in my job, but nothing happened. For 10 years there was zero career growth, neither any reward nor any form of appreciation showed up for me. I was highly frustrated and angry, I wanted to quit so badly that it was what kept me awake in the night and what I dream of when I eventually sleep. Several factors stopped me from quitting, like my academics, joining IIGL, and Elite Coach Africa, then my mom. My mom kept telling me to be patient, that I have worked for this organization, and I will receive my reward here. Just when I was down to my last block of hope, the reward started coming in, and everything I had hoped to achieve on my job happened in less than a year. This clearly shows that knowing that everything we are searching for will certainly come if we prepare for it and expect it, it come true. I am fully confident and completely persuaded that everything we seek, and desire will come to us.
iv. “You can be a fool for five minutes if you ask a question. However, you are a fool for a lifetime if you hesitate to ask a question.”
My people have a saying that whoever knows how to ask questions will never be lost. Honestly, when we ask questions we learn, we open our mind to accepting new perspectives and new sets of ideas, but when we don’t, we miss out on the possibility and opportunity of ever learning, thereby missing out on a crucial opportunity. I remember a few years ago, during my undergraduate, I went to one popular market within the state I was studying to get textbook, the first store I patronized didn’t have the book I needed, I was then referred to another store, then another, till I got the book. Unfortunately, I didn’t take cognizance of my environment nor was I too aware as I was moving from store to store, it was when I finally got the book and left the store that I realized I had lost my way. I walked round the market for close to 3 hours, trying to find my out but couldn’t, I felt too embarrassed to ask question, when I was almost exhausted, I then asked someone the way and in less than ten minutes I was back on the streets and on my way home. I regretted not asking questions immediately I realized I was lost; it would have saved me 3 hours of aimlessly roaming the market and still coming back to where I started. Even though I never patronized that market again but every time I am on a journey to an unknown place, I will keep asking almost every person I pass on the street till I get to where I am going. I remember one of the books I read in level 1 saying ask for help, even when you get a no, don’t stop, keep asking, until you get the help you need.
v. “The saddest part of life lies not in the act of dying, but in the failing to truly live while we are alive.”
This phrase made me sad, because most people will never know what it means to truly live until they are either dead or too sick to enjoy life again. Writing my biography in level 3 made take a critical look at my life and what I wanted, I realized some things are not needed, I learned I don’t want to be 50 years old and realized life had passed me by while I was focusing on the negative things. Now I celebrate my little wins, I pop wines by myself, I celebrate myself and I take breaks to care for myself. As much as I am working towards achieving my goals and dreams, I don’t forget to take care of myself. Because if I don’t, honestly who will?
We should all learn to live life, do the things we want, when we delay gratification, we should not forget to give ourselves some break and take things easy. Even though I’ve never done this before, I am planning to take myself out to nice restaurant and give myself a treat, I am also planning a vacation to another African country, which I feel is part what I need to do for myself. One song comes to mind when thinking about this phrase “one day you’ll leave this world behind, so live a life you will remember,” my father told me when I was child, these are nights that never die. My father told me.”
We should all live a life we will remember with joy, comfort, and peace.
vi. “It’s not what you will get out of the books that are so enriching, it is what the books will get out of you that will ultimately change your life.”
I thought about one quote that reecho this phrase. It’s not in how many books we read, but in the actions, we take and the transformation that occurred in our life through the book. Books should be able to get the best that is buried in us. I remember when I read the book “The Giant in Me” the book changed my self-view and perspective on life, helping me believe I have the best in me and can achieve anything I set my mind to. Books have greatly impacted my life and have seen the transformation of my mindset, thinking and outlook towards life. Truly any book that brings out the best in us will always be a bestseller.
vii. “The moment I stopped spending so much time chasing the big pleasure of life. I began to enjoy the little ones, like watching the stars dancing in the moonlit sky or soaking in the sunbeams of a glorious summer morning.”
This phrase reminded me of my life before I joined IIGL I was always waiting for the big wins to celebrate, hence I felt miserable and sad, I felt like a failure and behind in so many ways. But when I stopped chancing the big wins, I started celebrating the small ones, I discovered I was achieving so much more than I ever imagined, I started celebrating my small successes. This made me feel better and great, enjoying the moment, enjoying waking up, enjoying each hour and moment I saw. Life in general began feeling awesome, and ultimately successes started trailing in. sometimes just resting on my couch can be the best and most rewarding moment in the world. Truly when we give ourselves a break from spending so much time pushing big pleasures, we can enjoy the little moments that we are blessed with.
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 book is phenomenal, the principles found here will last me a lifetime. I’ve been able to understand more about life and what is important. I’ve learned to find inner joy and happiness. I’ve learnt that the most important things in life and our life’s passion cannot be found in our jobs. Finding fulfillment lies within our ability to find inner peace and contentment.
Setting priorities, knowing what is important, freeing my mind and opening my heart are some of the few changes that this book have helped me achieve. Over the last year and a half, I have been feeling unfocused, lost and could not quite define some aspects of my life, it was as if I was losing touch with my values and my “Why,” I got mentally exhausted and emotionally burnt out. But the book helped to realign my focus, reminded me of my why, took my mind back to what was important and the reasons behind my being.
Now I can say, I’ve got my confidence back, my energy back and I am back on the lane to do greater things. Overall, I belief that realigning my focus is the paradigm shift this book achieved in my life and with that, I also believe that I will keep making a positive impact in my community, church, workplace, and the world at large.
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.
“Never regret your past. Rather, embrace it as the teacher that it is.”
I learned from this quote not to regret my past, to pick the lessons, to see it as a teacher, and move on. There’s a popular proverb in my people believe in, “the past has a way of catching up with you,” they mean this in a negative way, like life coming full circle and your past sins coming for its pound of flesh, much like the grim ripper. But this quote taught me the past is lessons, we learn from it and make corrections or make different choices that will change the narrative.
“Learn to say no. When you are saying yes to an unimportant thing, you are saying no to an important one.”
I learned from this quote that learning to say no to things that are not important opens the door for us to say yes to what is important. Sometimes we tend to always give a yes to almost anything or requests that we get, because we hate disappointing someone who has so much hope and faith in us, even when it’s not convenient. Most times we may say yes because we don’t want others to experience what we had experienced when we received a no or a rejection. But I have come to understand that some people will always try to take advantage of the access they have to you, at these times learning or having the ability to say “No” will help one to create some boundaries in one’s life.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
No nothing.
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?
No there wasn’t.
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 there wasn’t.
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