As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Adedoyin Somorin (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in this book?
The main idea the author is trying to convey is that whatever visions a man has, it can eventually become a reality easily through the power of thought.
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 have learned so many things in the course of reading this book. However, I was able to grasp some seven ideas that are very important to me. The following are the ideas:
i. Thought
This is a very crucial statement and often times, most people ignore the fact that our actions are based on our thoughts. Individuals at different levels shy away to the fact that the outcome of whatsoever we do is greatly contingent on what we’ve initially think of. This outcome can either be positive or negative. When it is positive, then one has actually spent enough time in thinking through the whole processes by analyzing and thinking deeply. On the other hand, negative outcome in the sense that, the mind may be dominated by evil thoughts and not giving room for some good ones to come in. For example, I have found myself in a situation where I have to win a bid and I had so many things in my thought. To be honest, yes both the negative and positive thoughts came to my mind and I had to brace up to the challenge by thinking right. Eventually, I didn’t manage to win the bid and I felt so disappointed and angry at myself. I also in a way started blaming others for not making it but I was shying away the fact that I acted upon my thoughts which were not enough for me as at that point in time. Therefore I needed to work on my thoughts more.
ii. Character
iii. A Man is the master gardener of his soul
The author stated that “the mind of a man can be likened to a garden.” I absolutely agree with the author. If a farmer does not plant at the right season, He will never harvest. So also are we human beings. It is important for one to keep improving oneself intellectual wise. One must keep reading both educational, inspirational, Motivational and Christian books. Aside from reading, it is important for a man to further more educational wise and not just relax or feel comfortable with one degree. If a man refuse to keep depositing things that will greatly be of help to his development then he can never produce anything useful. For instance, there was a certain time of my life, precisely when I just concluded my first degree. My friend and I had applied for jobs and eventually one pulled though and we were called upon for an interview. I was so worried and afraid because I have never done it before and became so confused because I had not prepared and my brain was empty. Unknowing to me, my friend had been studying and researching on job interviews through books, online, motivational speaker’s which made her so confident. I noticed this and I swallowed my pride to ask her what made her to be this confident and she started narrating to me and advised me to adopt the same concept. I listened to her and I realized that you don’t produce whatever you don’t have if you have not taking enough time to go extra mile in knowing. In fact, I became more confident than her eventually. She was indeed a life saver! I went for the interview and I performed extremely well and I was offered the job.
iv. Man Believing in Himself
Often times, we tend to look down on ourselves that we can’t do it, achieve it, get to that desired place and also to overcome whatever challenges that we face in life. This is indeed a wrongful thought because “bad thoughts bear bad fruit” according to the author. It is crucial for a man to always declare positive statements daily, even when things are not working because doing this will strengthen one’s faith and also to become confident in oneself. It is good to bear in mind that if you don’t believe in yourself, there is no way people can also believe in you. I have once fall victim of this before. There was a time my 3 years old daughter was struggling with her shoes. She wanted to put it on herself but I noticed she had tried all means. I sat down and pretended as if I wasn’t seeing her. Then she turned to me, Mummy Please can you help me? And then I told her ‘’ you can do it’’ You just believe in yourself, you know you are now a big Girl and then she started smiling. Immediately she tried it again using another approach and she was able to put it on. I try to tell her this statement each time she comes to me for help that I know quite alright she could do by herself because I want her to grow up believing in herself.
v. Serenity
Being calm is very good and it takes wisdom to possess this. Now a days people react fast to issues by letting their temper gets at them, Instead of them to carefully think deep fist and think of the best approach to address the issue in a more mature way. Like the author mention that people tend to associate with tender minded people and I must confess, I also do love that because I am a very simple individual that hates running into trouble. There was a scenario that happened to me sometimes back at my previous place of work. We have this lady that was extremely smart and highly intelligent but her only challenge was not being able to control herself each time challenging situations arises. This act really rubbed her off of so many benefits and she was left in her own world. Therefore, being calm is indeed a good strength one must constantly desire
vi. Visions and Ideals
It isn’t a bad idea at all to have visions in life and to also dream big. Everything a Man is today is the outcome of his thought and the great visions and dreams he has aspired sometimes back. However, it is good to know that one might have a vision but if the person does not work towards achieving that great dreams or going extra miles to works towards it, Permit me to say the person is a joker because it will in turn be a dead dream or vision. Our dreams and visions make us become what we are. It is also essential to always cherish our visions, guide them jealously and to enjoy doing it. I have so many aspirations growing up and I have being able to achieve some while some are still in the pipeline. As an individual, I have enjoyed the benefits of being a dreamer of great visions.
vii. Thought and Purpose
Our thought is connected to our purpose in life. If a man is without purpose, such man cannot go far in life and as such easily fall to little challenges. A man must ensure to be focused in his purpose and this is where thought comes in. A man must be strong in achieving his purpose through self- development and constant training. It is important to do away with fear and doubt as it might limit one’s confidence. Being fearful is the beginning of failure. Therefore, one can be limited to achieving great things having in built fear. I personally have reached a stage where I try to do away with fear.
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 ideas I have learned in this book are so enormous and will greatly help me in my day to day activities. I have learnt that there is nothing I cannot become, only if I don’t allow fear to dominate me. I can attain greater height if I work on my thought and think positively. I can impact the world by believing in myself and not dwelling more on the negative thought but instead take the bold step and necessary steps in achieving my visions and aspirations in life
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
Yes there is a particular statement that got my attention and this statement is “you cannot change your thoughts without changing your life in the process either for good or for bad. Immerse yourself in the right thoughts and you will become the person you long to be, just as surely as the planning of an acorn yields an oak tree and not a pine.”
I really do love this statement and I absolutely agree with the author. Our thoughts in a way affect our life. Therefore, if we take our time to change our thought, it must completely show in our way of life (i.e. our lifestyle). We must endeavor to be a totally changed person. People must be able to notice our new lifestyle and make us their role model. For example, I am a kind of person that has this phobia for driving. It is not as if I can’t drive but I am just being fearful. Being afraid it’s not a good thing at all, it usually limits one’s ability and one can never go far in life with this attitude. After reading this book, I was able to learn to always believe in myself and to also change my thoughts. I then went ahead to start driving myself with this confidence in me. This singular act has really changed my personality and I have grown from being timid and fearful to this confident young lady.
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?
There is nothing I wasn’t clear of. The book is very self-explanatory and I was able to gain more insight to always believe in myself and always keep a positive thinking and mind-set.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
The book does not contain exercises to complete.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
There was nothing I read that was not mentioned in the previous questions.
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 its 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 Rasak Adekoya (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
When purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable. Those who live a life of purpose are always caught out of finding meaning beyond what others does. They took their time finding what is unique than what others do. They are neither fearful nor limited. Rather, they push boundaries and break the norms. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull could best be described with the sentence above. The writer has been able to pivot every premise in this book on the paradigm that the pursuit for living a purposeful life has always comes with its challenges. But those who persevere and deaf their ears to echoes of those who are not doing or those who are so immobilized in their thought will surely conquer and will succumb all stumbling blocks. Jonathan seagull as a leading character in the book is metaphoric [the attribute of human being is given to another living organism of another specie.
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. I can fly
It is important to know that everybody can do whatever he or she wants to do as much as he or she is willing to do so. Jonathan Seagull thinks he can. And he did what he thinks he can. Many people will demoralize you with their words but it beholds on you to decide if to listen to them or takes up the responsibility of doing what you know you are capable of doing. As a visually impaired person, I have shown the world I can by doing what they said I can’t. my book, brand your blindness, is an attestation to such.
b. Every decision has its own consequence.
Jonathan Seagull took the decision against the wishes of his parent and council flocks in his pursuit to accomplish his personal ambition. It was his choice. It was his final decision. But he forgets that the consequences are not far-fetched. Positive decisions back up with positive actions will surely yield positive consequences. But the challenge along that path of success is always tough. Personally, I experience similar thing. When I lose my sight, many have invited me to come to there churches, believing the strength of miracle varies from one church to another. But I rejected many offers. Such notion is deep within African whenever they encounter challenges. Many belief gods or religious homes are places where miracle exist; they belief there priest are sent by God to make miracle on earth.
Rather to focus on how to solve such problems, they think more on how to visit different worship centers looking for magic thinking they are looking for miracle. They forget there decision has its own consequences. I decided to focus on how to add values and solve people problem. I strive to add more capacity. I know many people are facing similar challenge. I know some are not living with disability, yet they are also finding it difficult to live life of their own. I knew this was a problem I can solve. With time I started getting what I wanted for myself. But before then, I faced the challenge on the path of my decision.
c. Exemption to excellence.
Relevant uniqueness is not an option but a choice for a man of discovered purpose. Those who are called the special one only live the true life they existed for. They did what others think it is impossible. And There perfection from what they have done stand them out such that many people are willing to help as I have said earlier, I am blind. But I am living a life of purpose. And such life has elevated me to take a quantum leap from efficiency to effectiveness. I am not just a blind person. I am a brand. And my personal brand has aided me to get more than I thought of.
d. Success begets success
It is natural for people to subconsciously flee from an unsuccessful person. Their perception is that those who failed are walking disaster. Psychologically, many felt failure is contagious. Same thing is applicable to success. When you strive to achieve and you get it, many people will surely align with your ideology. When Jonathan Seagull got to the peak of his career, many who were against him wanted to learn what they had condemn. He kept getting more students than what he demanded for. He kept impacting more and more. And his own definition of success begets more success.
e. Live a world of legacy
The beauty of life does not depends on how happy you are but how happy you can impact to the people of your own immediate environment; and how best you can put smile on there lips. When Jonathan Seagull got to heaven, he should have not thought of coming back to his former habitat. He ought to forget them. But the reverse was the case. He got there. Learn more from those who had the experience and capacity than him. And he decided to go back and teach other gulls. What he was enjoying in heaven is enough for him to say he his not going back. But he didn’t. He went back, takes the role of leadership. He saw younger gulls as a project he must accomplish by teaching them what he knows. Perfection is not in living with all the wealth and fame. It is in satisfaction and fulfillment in what you do to yourself and in building others.
f. The peak pivots its own problem
The greatest problem for most people who aspired to get to the top is to continuously learn when they get to where they desire. If you aspire to go higher and be relevant, you must desire to acquire more skills. Even when Jonathan got to the place he thought he was heaven, his still find time to learn more from those he knew they had more knowledge in flight than him. Knowledge is dynamic.
g. Consistency kills criticism
Jonathan seagull understands that perfection is achieved by doing. And freedom is unlimited. In spite the destructive criticism, he never stopped. He was so consistent in what he knew was what he wanted for himself. He explores the power of his thought to captivate his aspiring future. And same thing was one of his lessons for his student, Fletcher. He taught him how to be consistent in flying and he should not be engulfing with the ferocious act by other gull in the flock. With time, they will aspire to be same.
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?
Challenges are inevitable, but to be defeated is optional. Regardless of the nature of the career you want to path, it is inconsequential to assume that people (mostly your immediate family) will support you. Perception is stronger than reality. Many have been incapacitated due to the thoughts their immediate environment has formed on their mind.
Rather than living the true life of meaning, they live a life of assumption. They live on the basis of what they told they are and not on the principle of whom they know they are.
Here are five basic practicable way to implement ideas from this book:
Discover your brand.
Brand your adversity.
Build capacity.
Humility is a tool for greatness.
Congregate with the intelligentsia to shoot to fame.
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.
“I am limited by my nature.”
“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance. We can find ourselves as, the creatures of excellence, intelligence and skills.”
“Break the chain of your thought and you will break the chain of your body.”
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?
“Instead of being enfeebled by age, the elders had been empowered by it.”
“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show you is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out with what you already know and you’ll see the way to fly.”
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. The book did not contain any exercise.
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.
I must appreciate the literary work of this book. From transposition, use of figurative speeches, style of writing and the chronological arrangement of thoughts applied in writing this interesting piece. The lessons are immeasurable if read with the right frame of mind.
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 its contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 6
D. Would you recommend it to others? 7
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8
PsychoCybernetics
Assessment by Adedoyin Somorin (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
“Self Image;” The author mentioned that self-image is the key to our personality and our behavior as human beings. When a person’s self-image changes, their personality and behavior also changes.
2. What are the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal example from your own life.
i. Increases one’s internal program
Self-image helps to improve on ourselves. It helps our internal program. Every one of us has our individual internal programs which helps us to believe in ourselves. It is very easy for us as human beings to give up in life and not believing in ourselves. Self-image helps us to see ourselves doing the impossible. For instance, there was a time in my life where I felt like giving up because I realize somethings were not just working well for me. I had tried so many businesses but it was just as if I am not competent enough and I was gradually losing money. Then a friend came to me and introduced me to a new line of business and I told her please stop wasting your time because I am not the best person for this business. She responded and told me why don’t you just believe in yourself, for the fact that you’ve not succeeded with the other businesses doesn’t mean you can’t succeed in this. After much persuasion, I decided to give it a shot and executed it in a different way. Lo and behold, the business went well and I recovered all that I have lost in the previous businesses from this new one. I was so thankful to God and my friend and since then I have learnt never to give up and keep trying no matter the circumstances.
ii. To be a well detailed oriented individual
It is important for us as individual to set our imagination to be well detailed of every form of good idea that my imagination comes up with. It is good to be always sure that it is only good idea will allow into our system or thought. It is essential to be careful of our utterances and our responses to people. It is not all the time that good ideas comes to our mind because of the way we are configured but they surely do come. Therefore, each time we have one, we should ensure we think deeply and try as much as possible to bring it to realization. I remember vividly when I was working at my previous work place. There was this problem we were trying to resolve and our boss was on the neck of all the team members. This faithful day, I decided to close early and then I went for a body massage, right there, a solution came to my mind and immediately I had to excuse myself to note it down in my diary so that I won’t forget and so that I can always refer to it to think through. The next day I presented it to the team and they all embrace it and eventually presented it to the boss. He was so happy and we were able to overcome the issue.
iii. Developing a self-confident that is unshakable
The author mentioned about “Credit Within.” Which means that every one of us has a certain level of self-confidence. If a person can do things at ease, it means the person has a certain amount of self-confidence. For someone to be able to stand boldly in front of thousands of people to give a speech and to relate well is an indication of being confident. Of course, many people struggle with this which also includes me. At times, I have this phobia in me to step out to express myself and oftentimes I struggle with this a lot. Reading this book has made me to realize that it is not a big deal to stand out there to give a speech and I have personally dealt with that fear in me. Henceforth, I can stand anywhere anytime to express myself. The author also touched base that most people fall for credit within i.e. people usually allow their negative thought to win and over rule their self-image which shouldn’t be so.
iv. Having a behavior of a goal getter
It is crucial to always think positive. Rejecting negative thoughts is crucial because it can be a setback to achieving greater height. Many at times we have aspirations but we don’t take time to get the end result or even look down on ourselves. The author sighted so many examples which I find very helpful and real as it is something that happens daily. Having the mind-set of a goal getter, going far in life can never be a problem because what will always come to one’s mind is how to achieve an excellent result.
v. Imagination
Your imagination can affect your character. The author mentioned about mental image and how it is key to our imagination. Mental Image assist in inspiring hope for the future and helps in staying connected. We can never doubt the power of imagination. Imagination indeed goes a long way. The author also stated that imagination makes the impossibility to become possible. Created imagination was also mentioned by the author that is the driving force of our personality. Our imagination can be created which means we have the power and strength to work on ourselves without pain and struggles. Living a less stressful life lies in the creation our imagination. Secret to achieving greater heights with less struggles also lies in the power of our imagination. For example, it is good to have a milestone in whatever we do. Have a projection of image on how a day at work will be spent or having a game plan of how that contract will be won will assist in having an excellent result in that contract or reduce tension at work cos an image has already been projected.
vi. Avoid Distraction
Oftentimes, we easily get distracted with so many things which in turn negatively affect us in every aspect of our lives. Every individual must have time to be free from distraction. It is essential to have time to be relaxed and find the best way to do this. Apart from the normal distraction, people often get distracted by what others are doing forgetting the fact that we are all different and unique in our ways. I remember sometimes back at my former place of work, we were all given a deadline to carry bout a task. There was this lady that is always getting result very fast while the rest of us will have to keep trying different things before we can at least get a result. We allowed ourselves to be distracted by her actions and in a way limiting our potential that we can’t do it or be like her. Before we knew it, we started seeing her as the best and sometimes we relax and stop going extra miles and not getting out of our comfort zone and kept seeing her as superior to us. Unknowing to us, She doesn’t do the work herself. What she does is that she normally contract it out. Whereas we do the work ourselves but takes longer than usual which is very normal for that kind of work demanded from us. We were all shocked and learnt in a very hard way and since then we learnt never to limit our abilities and keep believing in ourselves rather than thinking that someone else is better than us as we don’t know how they go about getting their result.
vii. Self-Image
It is the road mark to where we are going to in life. It is the footprint of ourselves. It helps us to surmount challenges and make us full of confident. Our self-image is very crucial. Like the author stated that “if the picture is not true, it can be changed and we are the only one that can make it come true.” It is good to have a dream, not only a normal dream but great dreams of aspiration. It is good to constantly believe in ourselves and don’t give up on ourselves. There was something that happened to me some months back. I got so comfortable with my current job and a better opportunity arose but because of the fear of the unknown, not wanting to take risk and resistance to change. I turned down the offer and till now, I think I blame myself for the huge mistake. As I diverted from my ambitions and the projections of my career path.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in practical way both in your daily personal life and in helping you create a better world? If so, how?
The ideas above will greatly be of help to me in my day to day life. Self- image will improve my thinking and help me to see things differently. It will help in flushing out all sorts of negative thoughts. It will also help my confidence level in standing to all that comes across me and not to also give up easily.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you?
Yes the following are the statements that got my attention:
‘’Understanding the psychology of the self can mean the
difference between success and failure, love and hate, bitterness
and happiness. The discovery of the real self can
rescue a crumbling marriage, recreate a faltering career,
transform victims of ‘personality failure.
From the statement above, Self-image is very important because it defines an individual i.e. One’s personality. If there is a problem with one’s self-image then nothing can be corrected. One needs to discover the values and potentials that one has and believe in oneself.
Another statement is ‘’Ensuring not to identify with your mistake and failure’’.
From the statement above, so many people usually fall victim of this. Human beings usually find it difficult to move on most time and always still live in the past. Yes mistakes are bound to happen and at times failure too often occur but it is good to only learn from such mistakes and failure and then prevent future occurrences of such. Personally I have always cultivated the habit of learning from my mistakes and failures because it makes me to become a better person rather than dwelling on it.
Another statement is ‘’It is not the child who is taught about love but the child who has experienced love that grows into a healthy, happiness and well- adjusted adult.
From the statement above, it is seen that self- image is a personal thing. It can never be learnt but it can be developed from within and that is when it can be well appreciated because it is something that has to come naturally.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
I am clear with everything in the book and I understand the book very well. There is nothing to disagree with in the book.
6. Did the book contain exercises for reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercise and did you find them helpful?
Yes the book contains exercises to complete and I find them useful and helpful.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
None.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
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