As A Man Thinketh
Assessment by David Rogers Kintu (Uganda)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author has labored to inform that our destiny lies in our hands just because it is entirely dependant on the thoughts we harbor, and especially if we have the ability to control our thoughts. It’s also pointed out that thoughts are like muscles, they become strong with exercising in a certain way of thinking.
The idea conveyed is that we determine our own fate not another person’s and for that very reason our conditions can not be changed by another person.
The writer tries to underline the fact that whatever we have achieved now, thanks to our thoughts because “into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts” but this also gives us hope that we can start changing things around. Infact on reading this book I became more cautious than ever before about what I think about because am now very sure that if I think about something, it will almost certainly come to pass, good or bad. How I wish everyone could understand this.
What I pick from the author is that nothing happens because of chance, luck or fortune, one person said that luck is opportunity meeting preparation, this goes in line with the fact that the measure of the results depends on the strengths of the effort.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why?
I chose to pick the seven ideas as portrayed by the author in the seven sub topics or chapters.
(i) Thought and Character
Under the title thought and character, I found this very provoking because am one person who understands the importance of character and I know that character is the foundation of everyone, when the foundation is not strong, however glamorous or beautiful anything may be, it will soon come tumbling down. This is very true with humans, they work on building other aspects of their life and forget about character, and soon or later they fall.
I passionately picked interest in this idea and understood that a man’s character is the total sum of his thoughts. You recall the common adage that Thoughts yield acts, acts yield habits and habits yield character. Good character does not just come but is a result of right thinking.
(ii) Effect of Thought on Circumstances
“Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself”
This quote is very true, because character of a man will only be revealed in circumstances, and character is what we are, there circumstances reveal what we are.
Every situation or circumstance we find ourselves in good or bad, we like it or we don’t like it, we have brought ourselves there.
The condition you show outside is always a reflection of your inner state, for example if you look sick it’s because you thought you are sick, even when you are not.
Our mind is like a garden, when you plant beans, you will get beans, so when we plant good thoughts, and we get good results.
God sees our mind and motives and He blesses those with right thoughts. In Hos 10:12 I said, ‘Plow new ground for yourselves, plant righteousness, and reap the blessings that your devotion to me will produce.
From what the right portrays, I understand that we are to use our circumstances as means to progress and identify our hidden powers and possibilities among within ourselves.
The author also mentions that thought can not be kept secret because from thoughts emanate habits hence circumstances.
(iii) Effect of Thought on Health and the Body
The author’s idea on the effect of thought on the body is very good, and I wish everyone could know that we are responsible for our health, because sickly thoughts manifest through the body. The mind and body are like the captain and the crew, when the captain makes a command the crew implements the command, in this case when the thought of sickness comes in the body takes it without question, that’s why at times we think we are sick and indeed become sick.
(iv) Thought and Purpose
I read this idea with much interest because from my observation, many live without purpose. What is my purpose in life? Should be a question asked by each one of us. I got a different perspective of life when I read a purpose driven life by Richie Warren.
The idea I pick here is that when you have a purpose, all your thoughts will focused on that purpose.
(v) The Thought Factor in Achievement
Everyone wants to achieve in life, and if thoughts can contribute to achievement, then it means we can determine what we get in life because we have control of our thoughts.
(vi) Vision and Ideals
“The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the principal that you enthrone in your heart–this you will build your life by, this you will become”
When you live without a vision, you are like a ship drifting, and when you are not principled, you end up buying anyone’s idea.
“Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal or principal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil”.
(vii) Serenity
The mind works best when it’s calm, it will benefit more from the thought factory, because if you are to develop good thought practices. From this idea I learn that it’s always favorable for you to have a tranquil heart, it makes you even make good judgment.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way both in your daily life and in helping you create a better world?
The ideas got from this book will help me personally and equip me as I endeavour to change the world.
I have learnt that when you have evil thoughts, pain comes on you and if you have pure thoughts, joy follows you-surely as night follows day. With this idea am very cautious of what I think about.
The writer also discourages the belief that our character, life and destiny depends on someone else, most commonly we think its due to your parents that we are what we are, but no, we make our character, mould our life and build our destiny. This is the message I will keep on drumming in the minds of our young people.
I learn that the soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves and that which it fears. This confirms why “birds of the same feathers flock together” I used to wonder why people with the same weakness or strength usually end up together for example a drunkard will quickly and easily attract another drunkard, its good to understand that especially for me who deals with youth.
When I pray, my thoughts and actions should be in line with what am praying for otherwise it’s a waste of time. It’s not good to pray for good health yet you have sick thoughts and you continue acting in a way that makes you sick.
When we keep doing good, being honest, virtuous, the universe comes to our aid, it helps us, on the contrary it does not favor the dishonest, the greedy and people with evil thoughts. This encourages me to keep the good fight even when it seems the universe is on the other side.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention?
“As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” Our thoughts become actions; actions become habits become character, when you describe someone’s character you are describing the person.
“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are”. The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors.
“Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power. Say unto your heart, “Peace, be still!” ”
“The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal (principal) that you enthrone in your heart–this you will build your life by, this you will become”
“To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve”.
“All achievements, whether in the business, intellectual, or Spiritual world, are the result of definitely directed thought, are governed by the same law, and are of the same method; the only difference lies in the object of attainment. He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly”.
“By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends; by the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a man descends”.
“He who lives constantly in the conception of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure and unselfish, will, as surely as the sun reaches its zenith and the moon its full, become wise and noble in character, and rise into a position of influence and blessedness”.
“He who has conquered weakness, and has put away all selfish thoughts, belongs neither to oppressor nor oppressed. He is free”.
“ALL that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts”.
“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound”.
“Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself”.
“Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit”.
“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears”
“Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits”.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with, and if so why?
I found these passages rather confusing and it will take an extra effort for me to comprehend.
Circumstances, however, are so complicated, thought is so deeply rooted, and the conditions of happiness vary so, vastly with individuals, that a man’s entire soul-condition (although it may be known to himself) cannot be judged by another from the external aspect of his life alone. A man may be honest in certain directions, yet suffer privations; a man may be dishonest in certain directions, yet acquire wealth; but the conclusion usually formed that the one man fails because of his particular honesty, and that the other prospers because of his particular dishonesty, is the result of a superficial judgment, which assumes that the dishonest man is almost totally corrupt, and the honest man almost entirely virtuous. In the light of a deeper knowledge and wider experience such judgment is found to be erroneous. The dishonest man may have some admirable virtues, which the other does, not possess; and the honest man obnoxious vices which are absent in the other. The honest man reaps the good results of his honest thoughts and acts; he also brings upon himself the sufferings, which his vices produce. The dishonest man likewise garners his own suffering and happiness.
Stanton Kirkham Davis, “You may be keeping accounts, and presently you shall walk out of the door that for so long has seemed to you the barrier of your ideals, and shall find yourself before an audience–the pen still behind your ear, the ink stains on your fingers and then and there shall pour out the torrent of your inspiration. You may be driving sheep, and you shall wander to the city-bucolic and openmouthed; shall wander under the intrepid guidance of the spirit into the studio of the master, and after a time he shall say, ‘I have nothing more to teach you.’ And now you have become the master, who did so recently dream of great things while driving sheep. You shall lay down the saw and the plane to take upon yourself the regeneration of the world.”
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 exercise 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?
A. How interesting was it to read?
It was very interesting because as much as I have read many books or articles about thoughts and the mind and how they affect our lives, this book was extremely exhaustive on the topic, at times I could stop and just smile.
B. How helpful were the content?
The content is very helpful to me because its well reseached on and it helped me to reaffirm what I knew about thought and its effect on the life of some one.
C. How easy was it to understand?
Very easy to understand the, apart from a few words which were had to interprete but I found a dictionary handy. But generally its well laid out and there is no abstraction at all.
D. Would you recommend it to others?
So much, I would highly recommend iit to so many people and actually go through some of the concepts with my students.
E. What is the overall rating you would give it
i would give it 8/10.
Jonathan Livingstone Seagull
Assessment by David Rogers Kintu (Uganda)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author is trying to convey a message that most people are ordinary because they do ordinary things, they only settle for easy and usual things, or traditional things, not going an extra mile to do something better, but Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, refused to be ordinary amidst a lot of criticism from the cynical birds, and this is try for humans. Whenever you try to do something extra ordinary, you are bound to get a lot of criticism discrimination and negativity. Many will say, you cant do that or you are not meant to be that and in the end isolate you, you become unpopular, even you parents will fail to understand you. Therefore the main idea the author is trying to convey is that we should always aspire for greater things. The writer also puts forward an idea of practice without giving up
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why?
Choices
That if we make choices we should be motivated to pursue that which we have chosen regardless of the hardships or intimidation we may get. And I learn that if we make extra ordinary choices, we cease to be ordinary people hence raising our value. Quit the status quo syndrome, where people just chose to be like anyone else. Remember we make choices and choices make us.
Being positive
When we are pursuing something we ought to be positive, because often the negative people around us will want to discourage us, and they will package their reasons and they will seem to be true such that if you are faint hearted, you will easily give up. At times the negative voice comes from within, you could say to yourself “I can’t not make it”, am just an ordinary person who can’t do extra ordinary things” then you start recalling how people were right to say you couldn’t. Seagull inspires me to be positive.
Practice makes perfect
From the story of Jonathan Seagull, he did not just chose some thing and he immediately hit the Jackpot, it took time tireless efforts to perfect, a lot of time was put in even when the rest were relaxing, he practiced and toiled until he perfected it. The idea here is that, you will not learn something in just a short time but it will take time to perfect a skill or a habit, just keep practicing. And every time you fail you get closer to what works.
Don’t give up
It goes without say that I learn persistence, persistence overcomes so many hindrances. The writer points out how Jonathan was treated as an outcast, but still pursued his goal.
Sacrifice
Good things come with a lot of sacrifice, I recall in the book how Jonathan could not eat because he was practicing making his parents worry, but nothing good comes to a man who is not ready to sacrifice; sacrifice time, sacrifice desires, friends and traditions.
Follow your heart.
What you passionately like to do will always override any obstacle, it all comes from the heart, if you put your heart to it, then it will come to pass. The common adage that where you treasure is you heart will be.
Believe in self.
The author points out an idea of self belief, many have thrown away opportunities because they think they can’t make it, but every time we believe in our selves, the whole universe comes into support, because where there is a will, there is a way.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way both in your daily life and in helping you create a better world?
Many at times you wish to sell ideas to people but they despise you, mock you or even insult you and yet you are trying to do something for their own good.
I have occasionally missed out on good opportunities just because I despised the idea. After reading this book I have learnt that I need to pay attention to all ideas that come across, and see how best to benefit from that idea, and also identify the opportunities wrapped in that idea, because opportunities come disguised.
And the other understanding I get is that often we put off certain things simply because they come with hardships, but am reminded that the harder the battle the sweeter the victory and of course the tireless effort put into practice spending hour after hour until you get it done, because every thing seems hard before it becomes easy.
This book emphasizes the fact that we should aspire to be unique, being like every one else makes you ordinary Jonathan, was pretty well a one-in-a-million bird. We often live forgetting right away where we had come from, not caring where we were headed, living for the moment. We don’t have to go through a lot to understand that we can be better and have more; we just forth need to overcome the status quo. Our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it. Never stop their learning and practicing and striving to understand more of the perfect invisible principle of all life.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention?
“Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too…”
Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding”.
“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill”.- If we chose to do better and be better, then we will, all we need to do is have good thoughts, because from the thoughts we act, from the action comes behavior and from behavior comes character. There’s this saying that “Excellence is not an act, but a habit”
“We choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.” It reminds me the saying that experience is the best teacher, we always have to learn from our experiences, one man said that it’s Insanity to do things the same way and expect different results. And what we do today determines our tomorrow
“Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.” Of course when we talk of heaven, you right away think of Hell, so, its either Hell or Heaven, the choice is yours, its all in the mind.
“The gull sees farthest who flies highest.” The way I understand this is that if someone knows better, its always right to take the advice of that person, because he knows better through experience or through knowledge or age.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with, and if so why?
If there is anything I did not understand, it the behavior of birds it took me time to comprehend the kind of scenario the write was trying to portray. I have not seen birds fly near the sea, especially the seagull, is that the name of the bird, or the writer just thought of a name, other than that nothing was complex, only that am not a literature person so this book which is not straight forward is not very pleasing to me.
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 read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?
How interesting was the book
The book is not so interesting, the style of writing is kind of abstract, and you need to concentrate in order to understand it. The language is not straight forward, being a non literature person, I was finding it hard to understand certain phrases, such that I hard to read very slowly and twice or thrice.
How helpful were the contents
It was more of inspiring to anyone who has one time lost hope or didn’t believe in himself, and even those who were discouraged by colleagues, friends or family. Though the writer emphasizes so much on what Jonathan did and he the end he does not summarizes how helpful that actions of Jonathan were, in fact you have to dig deep for that quote or phrase that directly can be put in practice by a lay man, this explains how hard it has been for me to extract quotes because they are not many.
How easy was it to understand?
It was quite hard to understand, it calls for a lot of concentration, if you are to pick ideas from it. For the bigger part of the book I did not know what the book was all about until latter in the book I started connecting what I had first read, I now started to discover the idea behind the whole inspiring story.
Would you recommend it to others?
I would if I realize they are struggling with self belief, and can comprehend the language. There are so many people who just live without exploiting their abilities, just because they never dared to be better. They settled for minimum and their life stayed ordinary, and what is so painful is that they may never know how much they can do, of course you will never know what you can do until you try, and not only try but try hard enough.
What would be the overall rating you would give it?
I would rate it at 5/10
Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by David Rogers Kintu (Uganda)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The idea behind this book is to spell out the formula for success and also point out that that formula is not a secret, neither is it inaccessible or difficult to understand. The author tells us specifically how to use the most sophisticated machine we have and that’s the brain, what to do and how to do it, so that we can tap into that power of the brain. The author is trying to implore us to use our PMA, most of us have not used the power within us, and through various experiences and case studies he insists that we can also learn to use PMA with the application of the 17 success principals.
2. What were the ideas which were personally most important to you and why?
Having PMA is key to success; therefore it’s important to know the Contents of PMA as Faith, hope, charity, optimism, cheer, generosity, tolerance, tact, kindness, honesty, good-finding, initiative, truthfulness, straightforwardness and good common sense. This helps me to particularly work on those particulars virtues.
Copy from success, everything the successful have, they have borrowed from another person or business, you ought to be respectful and listen to those who have experience, hence associate with older and successful people. This cant be emphasized more, that association is key, and most people think that the successful don’t want to share, but on the contrary they are always willing to share about what worked for them.
Meeting the most important person in the world, that person is me; therefore my success, health, wealth and happiness depend on me. The common adage goes that the ball is in my court, this ideas reaffirms the fact that I have to work out my success regardless of my background, they say “you cant spell SUCCESS without “U””
Memorizing the 17 principals of success is a sure deal to success, am looking forward to working on each and every principal. I also realize that some of the principals are related in that when you achieve one you will improve on the other.
“Sitting for ideas” is quite good for me, in a way that you purpose to take time off and think as you write down the ideas that come into your mind. With this dynamic world we are in, you can not think of something unless you sit down purposefully to think. . “Sitting for ideas” is quite good for me, in a way that you purpose to take time off and think as you write down the ideas that come into your mind. This is important for me in that a lot goes on around us and if you are not careful you end up doing things without serious thought and at times we under estimate our potential just because we have not sat down to get ideas.
Motivating self will be helpful to me as it will push me into action. The ten basic motives are good knowledge to me to start the self motivation. I learn a lot from this because initially I had a wrong perspective of what the most important motives were.
Motivating others, I never considered it important to motivate others, I guess because I was only looking at how I can benefit from it, but the author emphasizes that as much as it’s important to the other person, it’s also beneficial to me.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way both in your daily life and in helping you create a better world?
I now know that PMA has the power to attract wealth, success happiness and health and on the contrary the other side of us NMA has the power to repel all that, the choice is mine. In line with that I understand that PMA is the reason why some people go to the top and stay there and others stay at the bottom and never go up. So with this knowledge I will aggressively work on my PMA, referring to the virtues mentioned above on which PMA depends.
We are masters of our fate, first because we are masters of our attitude and our attitudes make our future, this law works whether the attitudes are constructive or destructive.
I learn that we translate into physical reality the thoughts and attitudes which we hold in our minds, no matter what they are for example we translate into reality thoughts of poverty as we do thoughts of riches. This will help me to practically think about things I want to happen in my life, knowing very well that they will become reality. I have already reaped from this power of the mind as I have got the things I think about, for example I envisioned my two cars before I got them, the exact colour and make.
I will aggressively learn and put into practice the 17 success principals.
I intend to identify what I want-definiteness of purpose, I appreciate the fact that 98% of those who are dissatisfied with their world do not know the world they would like for themselves.
The idea of thinking accurately is spot on because we are what we think.
I have got an idea that if our youth were taught how to effectively use spiritual self-suggestions, they would avoid a lot of trouble, so I intend to advocate for that method.
Whenever I get an idea, I will write it down, it might be my “something more”
And of course the “sitting for ideas” is so powerful, I will sit purposefully to think and get ideas, a quiet moment I would call it.
The issue of the effect of association can never be brought out better than the story of Charles Ward; with this I will encourage people to select the right kind of friends and associates. I learn that I will selectively choose my associates and business partners.
I learn the lesson of self-starter; procrastination may make you miss an opportunity that could have changed the whole course of one’s life. “Procrastination kills time and buries opportunities”. I know many have brilliant ideas but very few act on the ideas because they always say, I will do it one day.
I will motivate others by having faith in them, I understand that a written letter motivates better. I plan to physically encourage my students and Teachers and recognize their effort. I learn to focus on the positive, because everyone has a positive, so I chose to emphasize the positives in the students.
After setting goals, the most important thing is taking action. Setting goals is key to prosperity, the is no way I will succeed if I don’t set goals and also come up with a plan on how those goals will be achieved and before all that a definiteness of purpose should be in place.
Often people have good ideas but are limited by finances; OPM encourages me to use other people’s money. This is key for me because I at times feel guilt of the so many dates I have but am encouraged that we ought to use other people’s money if we are to grow, in the same way am cautioned of defaulting because you could end up loosing all when you fail to pay back other people’s money.
The idea that the more I share is the more I will have will work for me and this is an idea worth passing on to anyone. One of the keys to prosperity is giving, and by giving, you receive more, its biblical
Avoid losing energy through worry, hate, fear, suspicion, anger and rage. And that energy is saved by keeping your mind on things you do want and off things you don’t want.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention?
“The greatest secret of success: there’s is no secret.” Most people think that the successful are extra ordinary people; some think they were born lucky and others think they are cheats, but all I know is that to be successful, you have to do certain things which any one is able to do, so it’s no secret. I know there is a book called the secret but when you go through it there is no secret after all.
“We are poor-not because of God. We are poor because we have never desired to be rich”-S.B Fuller. When you decide to be rich, nothing can stop you, on the contrary, when you decide to be poor, still nothing can stop you. At times we blame God, but if you read the bible, God wants us to be rich and He puts in place everything to support us.
“If a man is right, his World will be right” this goes in line with the fact that you can not cheat nature, if you do things the right way, you will get good results, if you think the good thoughts, it will show through your actions.
“What the mind of man can conceive and believe-the mind of man can achieve” This is as true as it’s stated, most people under achieve because that’s what they have conditioned their mind to believe that. The mind is so powerful in that whatever you continuously keep visualizing will manifest.
“Necessity is the mother of invention and the father of crime”. That’s very true.
“Regardless of what you have been or what you are, you can be what you want to be if you act with PMA” Regardless of your background, nationality or colour you can succeed, the only limitation is your mental attitude.
“What! Giving again?” I ask in dismay.
“And must I keep giving and giving away?”
“Oh no,” said the angel looking me through,
“Just keep giving till the master stops giving to you”
“That which you share with others will multiply and that which you withhold will diminish!” this confirms that one of the attributes of success is giving, that’s why the people who are successful do a lot of donating, and it does not matter how much you give, but as long as you can give from what you have.
“It has been my observation that people are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be” surely you just decide to be happy, regardless of the circumstances. Its not that a particular situation or person can make you happy, because there are people who are in that situation yet they are not happy.
“Anything in life worth having is worth working for.” Nothing of worth just comes, and no achievement is accidental, if you think something is worth having, then one has to work for it.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with, and if so why?
Nil
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?
I did the PMA analysis test and scored 240, which makes my PMA average; this means I have a lot to work on.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?
No
A. How interesting was it to read? 7
B. How helpful were the content? 8.5
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9.5
Keys to Success
Assessment by David Rogers Kintu (Uganda)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This book teachers in details that definitiveness of purpose develops self reliance, personal initiative, imagination, enthusiasm, self-discipline and concentrated effort and how these qualities are acquired, developed and incorporated into ones plan for success.
It emphasizes the fact that a positive mental attitude is the single most important principal of the science of success, because you will depend on it in everything you do.
2. What were the ideas which were personally most important to you and why?
Developing a definiteness of purpose and the seventeen principals of success were really mind opening.
Assembling an attractive personality was also important as it breaks down all the aspects of an attractive personality.
Building a positive mental attitude was spot on.
How our feelings determine our great achievement or failures and defeat, and these are positive emotions and the negative emotions.
That temper is nothing but uncontrolled emotions.
The six departments of the mind over which self discipline can be maintained and the ten factors that constitutes the mechanism of thought.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way both in your daily life and in helping you create a better world?
Definitiveness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement and its lack is the stumbling block for ninety-eight out of every hundred people simply because they never really define their goals and start towards them.
A definite major goal is more than a wish it’s a burning desire.
Also definiteness of purpose encourages you to specialize and specialization leads to perfection.
And also correct focus requires definition of purpose.
This definition of purpose defines the image of our desire and the repeated exposure to the image of our desire is so crucial in that it ends up in the subconscious mind which is very powerful.
The value of the wealth that comes with success is that it carries with it the lessons you have learned in acquiring it. You will learn in achieving wealth that success comes.
If millions of people are struggling to get by on salaries they earn, it is because their highest aim is only to hold the jobs that they currently have.
There is no scarcity of opportunity; there is only shortage of imagination. These opportunities can only be seen if you purpose to find them.
In marriage; set aside some time every day to talk about what you want to achieve and how you are going about it.
There are seven positive and negative emotions which motivate us:
Positive: – Love, sex, hope, faith, sympathy, optimism and loyalty.
Negative: – Fear, hatred, anger, greed, jealousy, revenge, superstition.
You can pay other people no greater compliment than to concentrate your attention on them when they want it. This usually makes people feel worthy.
Applied faith is the dynamo of the science of personal achievement, the source of the energy to put your thoughts into action.
Your mind is the only thing over which you have the right. This is important, because we always think that we can not do anything in our mind.
If you make your prayers an expression of gratitude and thanksgiving for the blessings you already have, instead of requests for things you do not have, you will obtain results much faster.
Faith exists only so long as it is used. You can not develop your muscles by not using them; you can not increase your capital by not investing it.
Steps to building your faith and PMA:-
i. Adopt a definite major purpose and begin to attain it, know what you want and get busy creating it.
ii. Affirm the object of your desire through prayer morning and night, inspire you imagination by seeing yourself in possession of it. You will achieve precisely the success you can envision for yourself.
iii. associate the ten basic human motives with your major purpose( self preservation, love, fear, sex, desire for life after death, freedom for mind and body, anger, hate , desire for recognition and wealth)
iv. write a list of the advantages of your definite major purpose
v. associate with people who have sympathy over your major purpose
vi. Don’t let a day pass without making a move toward attaining your definite major purpose
vii. Choose someone you would like to emulate and surpass
viii. Surround yourself with items and pictures which symbolize achievement
ix. Fight circumstances which seem to disagree with your plans.
If render more and better services than you are paid for, sooner or later you will receive compound interest from your investment, because the quantity and quality of the extra service you render will come back to you greatly multiplied.
If you want to command more than average compensation then you needs to become indispensable to the institution, you make yourself so useful that you that you make it so impossible to replace you.
Going an extra mile is insurance against the fear of poverty, the fear of lack, and against the fear of competition because most people want to do minimums
The power of contrast is that people always compare and they notice things which are different, therefore if you render more and better services, you will definitely standout.
We must know the difference between wishing, hoping desiring and having a burning desire, its only a burning desire with a PMA that can motivate you to success.
70% of people merely wish. They have no power to shape anything.
10% of people develop heir wishes into desires. They consistently want something, but that’s where it stops.
8% develop their wishes and desires into hope. they imagine that they might get what they seek.
6% translate that hope into belief; they expect that what they want will actually happen.
4% translate their wishes, desires and beliefs into burning desires and finally into faith.
2% have a burning desire and have faith and make a plan to get what they want and carry it out. i.e. they apply their faith with PMA.
Enthusiasm contributes to your PMA and your success as fuel does to a car engine.
Self discipline is very important in mainly four areas: – Appetite, PMA, Time, and Definiteness of Purpose.
We use mental attitude to attract the things we want and to repel the things that threaten us but this requires self-discipline.
There are two types of problems, those i can solve and those i can not solve. Those that are solvable should be solved immediately and those that are unsolvable should put out of mind and forgotten.
All plans, purposes and achievements are created by thought. Your thoughts, you have already learned are the only thing of which you have complete control.
Accurate thinking depends heavily on other principles of success: definiteness of purpose, self-discipline, prompt decision making and a positive mental attitude.
If you continue to concentrate on poverty, you will condition your mind to accept as an unavoidable circumstance.
Until we become inspired with the spirit of teamwork and recognize the oneness of all people and the fellowship of all humanity, we will not truly benefit from the principal of cooperative effort.
Learning from defeat (benefits of defeat)
-reveals and breaks bad habits
-Replaces vanity and arrogance with humility
-Causes stock taking of both physical and spiritual stands.
-Strengthens will power
Imagination like reasoning takes two forms; synthetic and creative imagination each can be used for the betterment of ones life and the world around through creative imagination.
It makes little difference where you begin. The most important thing to ask is: where are you going? What motive inspires you to give the best balancing your diet for good health?
Fresh fruits and vegetables should make up the larges portion of your meals.
Avoid eating when you are angry, frightened or worried because in such situation your body is not in position to use the food.
Your mental and physical is inseparable, one can’t be strengthened without having an effect on the other.
People fall into two categories the doers and the drifters
The intimacy of sex is gained by constructive work at building a committed relationship.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention?
“If you would plant for days, plant flowers
If you would plant for years, plant trees
If you would plant for eternity, plant ideas”
“If you are going to achieve success, you will do so only by extraordinary effort, effort most people are not willing to make”.
“The cheapest and most profitable quality in the world is courtesy-courtesy is nothing other than the habit of respecting other people’s feelings under all circumstances”.
“Listening well is an even greater accomplishment than speaking well”
“Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”
“Strength and struggle go hand in hand”
“Success attracts success while failure attracts more failure” this means that striving for success makes you better able to attain it and doing nothing about failure attracts more failure.
“Emotion without reason is a dreadful enemy”
“Wasting time is sinful” one of the best ways of saving time is to schedule your time use for the next 24 hours and stick to that”.
“Everyone except accurate thinkers has an over abundance of opinions and these are usually worthless-accurate thinkers never act on freely offered opinions without scrutiny.”
“Accurate thinking should help us avoid one of the big mistakes made, of believing on the basis of little or no evidence at all.”
“Tell me how you use your time and how you spend your money and I will tell you where and what you will be in ten years”
“Your attitude towards life determines your attitude toward time”.
“Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
“Everyday in everyway iam getting better and better”
“Sow an act, and you reap a habit.
Sow a habit, and you reap a character.
So a character and you reap a destiny”.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or 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?
No.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions?
A. How interesting was it to read?
It was very interesting, because it’s easy to understand, it made me learn things I didn’t even know like definitiveness of purpose and the seventeen principals of success.
B. How helpful were the content?
The content has been very helpful and still helpful as I refer to it very often.
C. How easy was it to understand?
The book was very easy to understand as it was straight forward in plain and simple English.
D. Would you recommend it to others?
Definitely yes, so many would benefit from this, like the statistics show that 98% find difficulties because they don’t have definitiveness of purpose.
E. What is the overall rating you would give it
I would give it 8/10
Psycho-Cybernetics
Assessment by David Rogers Kintu (Uganda)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author is trying to inform us that there is more to personality than what meets the eye. So if we wanted to change our personality, however much we change our appearance without dealing with the self image, we are wasting time.
The other idea I pick from here is that our personality and behavior is so much influenced by how we see ourselves or our self-image.
The most resounding idea is that self-image determines individual achievements or accomplishments.
I personally learn to change my self-image; I should have learnt this earlier because i have been brought down by this poor self-image.
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.
The seven ideas which were most important to me are as outlined below
i. The Self Image (Your Key to a Better Life)
Each one of us having a picture of ourselves, I found that enlightening when you stop and think about it, but most importantly knowing that whatever i do is determined by “myself image”, in fact all my actions, inactions feelings and behavior are determined by that. In this I discovered that positive thinking is only helpful if it’s in line with the self-image.
ii. Success Attitude
I learnt that previous successes should be built on to motivate us more to function successfully, and whenever am discouraged I should remind myself of the previous successes. And in case I lack the relevant experience, I create it or imagine it.
iii. Discovering the Success Mechanism Within You
We ought to begin with a goal in mind, and all will be achieved if there is intense desire, whatever you want to achieve will be achieved if you badly want it. It’s affirmed to me more that every human is designed for success by our creator.
And the fear of making mistakes limits us, and makes us achieve less.
iv. Imagination—The First Key to Your Success Mechanism
I learned that you can practice for something by imagination, and I tried that out when I was practicing for a creative dance. I pick up the recommendation that I set aside 30 minutes every day to exercise my imagination. Role playing is vital, take for instance imagining going for an interview and answering question you would expect asked, I have tried this before, especially with my public speaking, Oh my-it does wonders.
In the same way you can rehearse the role of a successful person-Why not imagine yourself successful??
v. How to Utilize the Power of Rational Thinking
Behavior and feelings come from belief, and often we believe that we can’t, the same mechanism can be used to believe that we can. Often we have sold our selves short because of a false belief, that belief which is not based on facts determines our life and destiny. I have just known that making an effort to refrain from the habit, actually reinforced the habit, and that the best way to break a habit is to form a clear mental
image of the desired end result, and to practice without
effort toward reaching that goal
vi. Relax and Let your Success Mechanism Work for You
We usually worry because we don’t take one task at a time or one day at a time, basically doing so many things at the same time. We must learn to relax and allow our success mechanism take over, instead of worrying about tomorrow; we should concentrate on the task at hand. The various methods of relaxing the body are worth trying out.
Another important technique is to form the habit of remembering past successes, and forgetting failures. We destroy our self-confidence by remembering past failures and forgetting all about past successes. We not only remember failures, we impress them on our minds with emotion. We condemn
ourselves.
vii. Ingredients of the “Success-Type” Personality and How to Acquire Them
I borrow from the acronym S-U-C-C-E-S-S. S-ense of direction, U—nderstanding, C-ourage, C-harity, E-steem, S-elf-Confidence, S-elf-Acceptance.
Usually people want to improve their personality and they talk about it but usually have no clear-cut idea of the direction in which improvement lies, nor what constitutes a “good personality.” Here I learned that a good personality is one which enables you to deal effectively and appropriately with environment and reality, and to gain satisfaction from reaching goals which are important to you.
Food for thought: no real success or genuine happiness is possible until a person gains some degree of self-acceptance. Very true, the more you leave in denial the more you become unhappy. The most miserable and tortured people in the world are those who are continually straining and striving to convince themselves and others that they are something other than what they basically are.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
These ideas will greatly help in my life as I discovered I have to deal with my self-image better, I thought I was appropriately having a better self image but am short of that. The success mechanism was spot on I believe I will improve and achieve much more in my life. I will always create a better world because I can’t fail to share what I learn from these wonderful books, and good enough I always have a platform with youth to share all that I learn through my various enriching youth programs.
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.
“Throw a man in water over his head and the experience may teach him to swim. The same experience may cause another man to drown.”
What I pick from this statement is that we don’t necessary have to make deliberate mistakes to learn.
“The self-image is a “premise,” a base, or a foundation upon which your entire personality, your behavior, and even your circumstances are built.”
“Imagination rules the world,” said Napoleon. Imagination is so powerful that with it you can achieve anything.
“Imagination of all man’s faculties is the most God-like,” said Glenn Clark.
It’s so powerful that like God, you can create anything.
“No man is hurt but by himself,” said Diogenes.
This simply means that we are entirely responsible for our own hurts.
As Emerson has said, “There are no great and no small.”
In reality all of us are equal, but some people just choose to be inferior or superior to others.
We act, or fail to act, not because of “will,” as is so commonly believed, but because of imagination.
“As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.”
This simply means we become what we often think about.
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth up the
bones.”
Happiness makes us free of sickness.
“Happy people are never wicked.” This is very true.
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be,” said Abraham Lincoln.
“The man who thinks he has arrived has about used up his usefulness to us.”
This means we continuously have to grow and pursue goals and targets.
“I count myself not to have achieved but I press on toward the goal.
This is a bible verse.
“The greatest mistake a man can make is to be afraid of making one.”
“No man ever became great or good except through many and great mistakes,” said Gladstone.
“I have learned more from my mistakes than from my successes,” said Sir Humphry Davy.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with, and if so why?
None
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
The book contained some exercises and tasks to do, but most of all the part at the end of each chapter where you are to write points to remember is very helpful in a way that if you go back to read the book again, you may just look at what you wrote. There were also some chapters which had tasks to practice, they were very helpful too.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 7
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
The content is very helpful, in fact I need to often get back to it, I had personal lesson for me, because there a number of things I struggle with and they were addressed.
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
Not very easy to understand it required a lot of concentration.
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
I would recommend it to others, in fact I would pick a number of lessons for my youth motivation classes.
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8