As A Man Thinketh by James Allen
Assessment by Marilyn Apio (Uganda)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
This work “As a Man Thinketh” is likely based on the Biblical verse Proverbs 23:7 which states: “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” You are what you think you are. If you think you can manage then that’s it, if you feel he cannot then that is it; you fail or succeed as you think. You are the only enemy of yourself.
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
Allan writes that, “A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all of his thoughts. And since cause and effect are as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things,” we determine (or at least heavily influence) our situation in life essentially sleeping in the bed we have made.” According to the author, “Man is made or unmade by himself” and can improve his lot in life by thinking “right” thoughts and by the right choice of the application of thought (i.e., choosing the “right” actions and behaviors).
ii. Effect of Thought on Circumstances
Allan writes that “The outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state. This does not mean that a man’s circumstances at any giving time are an indication of his entire character, but that those circumstances are so intimately connected with some vital thought-element within himself that, for the time being, they are indispensable to his development.” Essentially, that we are where we are based on our thoughts and our actions. Not that external factors don’t have influence, but that on balance we are each the master of our own destiny.
iii. Effects of Thoughts on Health and Body
“The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed,” Allen writes. And that, upon the body, “habits of thought will produce their own effects, good or bad.” Ever heard the saying clean body, clean mind, clean living? That’s what Allan is getting at here; that “The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it and that A sour face does not come by chance; it is made by sour thoughts.”
iv. Thought and Purpose
Select quotes: “They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self-pity which lead to failure, unhappiness, and loss, for weakness cannot persist in the power-evolving universe.” “To put away aimlessness and weakness and to begin to think with purpose is to enter the ranks of those strong one who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment.” “The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.”
v. The Thought-Factor in Achievement
Allen’s opening statement in this chapter: “All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.” And his ending statement: “He who would accomplish little need sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.” I’ve always believed that, when combined with a purpose, hard work and persistence are key elements to success. You’ve got to be able to fight for what you believe in and be willing to sacrifice to achieve it.
vi. Visions and Ideals
“To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to achieve. 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. The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg. And in the highest vision of a soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.”
vii. Serenity
“That exquisite poise of character that we call serenity is the last lesson of culture. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought. Keep your hands firmly upon the helm of thought.”
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 best way that I’ve found to keep my thoughts focused on what I want is to create a list of life goals, and to keep those goals at the forefront of my awareness. Then I continually ask myself: are the thoughts that I’m having right now likely to blossom into the action that I need to take in order to achieve my goals? If not, what better thoughts could I think instead? After all, what you achieve in life is a direct result of what you’re thinking.
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 man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.”
“Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance, thoughts of courage, self-reliance, and decision crystallize into manly habits, which solidify into circumstances of success, plenty, and freedom.”
“He will find that as he alters his mind toward things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him.”
“A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts.”
“Having conceived of his purpose, a man should mentally mark out a straight pathway to its achievement, looking neither to the right nor the left. Doubts and fears should be rigorously excluded; they are disintegrating elements which break up the straight line of effort, rendering it crooked, ineffectual, useless.”
“The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg. . . Dreams are the seedlings of realities.”
“Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction.”
“It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself, with the Law of his being. The sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure. Suffering ceases for him who is pure.”
“Suffering cannot and will not come from good thinking. It would go against the law of the harvest. What you send out there must come back to you. There is an order in the universe and there are laws that cannot be broken.”
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?
Influence of Buddhism:As Tom Butler-Bowdon points out in “50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life”, the influence of Buddhism on Allen’s thought is obvious. This is so both in the emphasis he places on ‘right thinking’, and in his suggestion that the best path to success is calmness of mind. The message of the Buddha is traditionally known as the Four Noble Truths. The last of these four truths sets out eight steps to happiness–The Eightfold Path–and one of these steps is right thinking.
Although people who are calm, relaxed and purposeful make it seem as if this is their natural state, it is nearly always the result of a lot of self-control. As Allen explains: “A noble character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking.”
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?
“Effect of Thought on Circumstances,” is one long exercise in pick-yourself-up-by-your-psychic-bootstraps-and-stride-toward-success. Some of the observations on man’s place in his social world are jarring in their lack of wisdom and compassion. “A man does not come to the almshouse or the jail by the tyranny of fate or circumstances but by the pathway of groveling thoughts and base desires.”
Even a staunch believer in personal responsibility would have to gag at this. Poverty is a very complex affair and imagine telling somebody today who is working three jobs and is still treading water financially that his problems are caused by his “groveling” thoughts.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
Your Thoughts determine your Attitude, your Attitude drives your Behaviors, and your Behaviors determine your Results. So if you are not pleased with the results you are getting, see what you can learn by assessing and better understanding your thoughts.
Serenity: have peace of mind. Have courage, self-reliance, and decision. Be a strong, calm, serene man. Achieve serenity by understanding others, life, compassion, love…
You are what you think about most of the time.
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 Marilyn Apio (Uganda)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
Sometimes sticking to your beliefs comes with a great price. Resisting the current of ideas held to be true or acceptable can make you very unpopular or even bring ridicule and alienation. Going against the crowd can be a lonely road, but if you believe in yourself and your convictions, you are still a ‘winner’ at heart: “To thine own self be true.”Another theme is that isolation is often necessary for the transmission of knowledge. A leader must often distinguish himself from the crowd before he has any followers or before he can offer a different path from that which is already known.
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. “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 will see the way to fly.”
ii. “You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way”.”
iii. “You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.”
iv. “Jonathan sighed. The price of being misunderstood, he thought. They call you devil or they call you god.”
v. “We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.”
vi. “He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all.”
vii.“Overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now.”
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?
In my opinion, I consider the book that I have chosen a literature because it gives the people knowledge about something. I said this because my definition of literature is not just giving the people something to do with their spare time rather it is a work of art wherein people will learn something from it while they are reading it. It can be in a form of informative or persuading facts about life or anything under the sun. Just like with the book I’ve chosen, there are many things that a reader can learn from the book. It was not made just to entertain the readers rather it encourages the reader to discover themselves and to achieve their full potentials in life. The author wanted the people not to be inauthentic so he used Jonathan as his tool to tell the people what he’s trying to convey.
“The literary work was neither a vehicle for ideas, a reflection of social reality nor the incarnation of some transcendental truth. it was a material fact, whose functioning could be analyzed rather as one could examine a machine.” It shows that literature is something you don’t just read but something you ponder on because there will always be a hidden meaning with the story or a lesson to be learned. Just like with the book I’ve chosen, a reader must examine the story in order for the reader to know the theme of the story.
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 whole body, from wingtip to wingtip,” Jonathan would say, other times, “is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.”
“Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect. -And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.”
“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.”
“Heaven is not a place, and it’s not a time. Heaven is being perfect.”
“The gull sees farthest who flies highest”
“Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with those gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.”
“He spoke of very simple things- that it is right for a gull to fly, that 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.
“Set aside,” came a voice from the multitude, “even if it be the Law of the Flock?”
“The only true law is that which leads to freedom,” Jonathan said. “There is no other.”
“Why, Jon, why?” his mother asked. “Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the alhatross? Why don’t you eat? Son, you’re bone and feathers!” “I don’t mind being bone and feathers mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know.”
“One school is finished, and the time has come for another to begin.”
“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.”
“Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand!”
Those who have “touched excellence” are not bound by such promises. There is no turning back once you have reached the top, you have to help others to also achieve what you have attained.
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?
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? If so, please comment.
Conflict: Man vs. Society – Jonathan wants to learn the techniques of flying but the seagulls, specially the Council Flock, think it’s a waste of time and become an outcast because of “violating the dignity and tradition of the Gull Family” (Bach, p. 24) Fletcher Seagull experienced the same. Resolution: Actually, in the Council flock they are still not open to changes; however, some of the gulls was enlightened and asked Jonathan to teach them how to fly like how Jonathan flies. The author is trying to say that it doesn’t matter if other people don’t like our choices as long as we’re not doing anything bad. Moreover, one’s success is not based on following the rules rather it is more on the fulfillment you gain from doing it. In Jonathan’s case, his fulfillment is that he encouraged many seagulls to learn how to fly like he did. In my opinion, the resolution here is he pursued doing what he really wanted.
Man vs. Nature – He failed in flying. There’s a time when he snapped into a terrible uncontrolled disaster for changing the angles of his wings. He was deprived of having falcon’s short wings so it’s hard for him to change angles. Resolution: He brought his forewings tightly to his body to have short wings then he actually did the loops. It shows that when we want something, we should find a way from getting it. Having long wings didn’t hinder him to do what he wants because he was determined.
I can relate conflict 1 with Denis Cooverman of I Love You, Beth Cooper. Denis is a loser everyone bullied him. He likes Beth Cooper, a popular girl. Denis pursued Beth despite of his social status. Everyone thinks he’s just delusional. They think that it was a foolish act of Denis since he’s a loser while Beth is a popular girl and many guys want to be with her. In the end, he got the attention of Beth but they didn’t end up together, they remained as how I put it friends. It’s still a success for him since he got the attention of Beth and got to kiss her. He’s still known as a loser though but he did something that few would do, to tell everyone what he feels and pursue Beth.
I can relate conflict too with Ariel, Disney character, she was deprived of human legs but she didn’t give up and tried to get a pair of legs. Eventually she did and got married with the prince. It shows how determined she is just to get what she wants.
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
C. How easy was it to understand? 3
D. Would you recommend it to others? 5
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7
Keys to Success
Assessment by Marilyn Apio (Uganda)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
How to be successful in life generally and also the secrets of : Developing definiteness of purpose; Creating a positive attitude; Building self-discipline; Cultivating creative vision Perfecting your personality; and more Filled with mental exercises, self-analysis techniques and straightforward advice, Napoleon Hill’s Keys to Success is a must listen for anyone seeking a life of health, wealth, and happiness. Also his broadly outlined principles are expanded in detail for the first time, with concrete advice on their use and implementation. Compiled from Hill’s teaching materials, lectures, and articles, Napoleon Hill’s Keys to Success provides mental exercises, self-analysis techniques, powerful encouragement, and straightforward advice to anyone seeking personal and financial improvement. We can also note that No other Napoleon Hill book has addressed these 17 principles so completely and in such precise detail. Napoleon Hill’s Keys to Success promises to be a valuable and important guide on the road to riches. The book also goes ahead to list for us what I could call the Napoleon Hill’s Principles of Success and they are about 17 of them. These 17 principles of success are important because they can be used by anyone to achieve any goal that they aspire to. This has been proven because millions of people have put these principles into action and benefitted from them even in cases when they weren’t aware of the principles themselves.
Definiteness of Purpose – The habit of focusing your actions and thoughts on one high and desirable goal in life
Mastermind Alliance – The habit of working in complete harmony with others for the attainment of a specific objective
Going the Extra Mile – The habit of doing more than is required of you with the
expectation of receiving greater compensation from direct or vicarious sources
Applied Faith – The habit of acting as if you already have what you want in life
Pleasing Personality – The habit of being generally agreeable and friendly with people
Personal Initiative – The habit of starting tasks that are important to you and seeing them through to completion
Positive Mental Attitude – The habit of looking for the positive side of every situation in life—especially during times of turmoil and adversity
Enthusiasm – The habit of keeping yourself energized by focusing your life on what you love most
Self-Discipline – The habit of choosing not to make negative choices that will cost you more than you gain
Accurate Thinking – The habit of making decisions and forming opinions that are based on factual information and tangible evidence
Controlled Attention – The habit of prioritizing your time and energy to stay focused on what is most important and beneficial
Teamwork – The alliance of two or more minds in a spirit of harmony to mastermind and achieve their goals in life. [Basically the same as the Mastermind Alliance principle]
Learning from Adversity and Defeat – The habit of learning from adversity and defeat and making gradual improvements because of those experiences
Creative Vision – The habit of visualizing the things that you want most and the actions that will help you to acquire them
Maintenance of Sound Health – The habit of keeping your energy level up by eating healthy food and participating in physical exercise
Budgeting of Time and Money – The habit of taking time every day to move closer to your definite major purpose and saving money to ensure steady financial growth
Cosmic Habit force – The habit of repeating desirable thought patterns and behaviors until they become effortless and self-moving
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. Habit Force
The three essentials (plasticity, intensity of impression, and frequency of impression) of cosmic Habit force because these qualities underline the process of voluntary establishment of a habit. I have learned that when a habit develops, you can sense it and stop before it becomes bad or worse. I have learned how I can do away with the bad habits, I can embrace these habits and replace them with positive thinking and faith. With the help of God the father, Jesus and the Hold Spirit, you can intentionally be a good person without bad habits.
ii. The Mind
I have learned how strong a weapon the mind is because the author says: whatever your mind can conceive and believe, your mind can achieve. My mind is a manufacturing department and all things happen in there so with the help of the Holy Spirit and reading the bible on a daily basis, you mind can remain clean and you glorify God 24/7.
iii. Defense Mechanisms
I got impressed by the long list of defense mechanisms when your coworkers suddenly regard you as an opportunistic shark. Work place is where we spend most of our time, so the way we behave contributes a lot to the way we treat our fellow workers, but having said that, I still believe strongly in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit who was sent and left here on planet earth to light and guide our path.
iv. To Do List
I embraced the “To Do” list given, it will help me go a long way to better myself. I have decided to print out the list in small pieces of paper and pasted them on my walls at home, such everywhere anyone turns, reads asks me and I explain so it will help all of us at home.
v. Time and Money
I am planning to learn how to budget my time and money, because one does not always get what you expect unless you inspect. I have also learned that God has allocated the same amount of time to everybody and we shall account for it so the way I use it is very important, hence my desire to budget the time I have been given. Like the saying goes, “time waits for no man,” so I intend to move with the time, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I plan to keep in step so as to be able to account for my time when I get to heaven.
I plan to adopt the slogan: the slogan is quite interesting, I intend to read it every day until it becomes fully part of me, because I have learned that a habit can be avoided completely, something starts small and grows so while it is just starting, you can stop it straight away.
vi. This slogan also struck me:
“Sow an Act and You Reap a Habit. Sow a Habit and You Reap a Character. Sow a Character and You Reap a Destiny.”
vii. The Urgent and Important Matrix
See answer to Question 3!
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 help me be dedicated in championing all these I have found in this book, in creating a better world I intend to collect people around me and have a straight talk with them and cascade the knowledge in the book to them. I have come up with this kind of timetable to help me put things straight and manage them, especially via time management.
This is a simple matrix of Urgent and Important activities which I intend to follow daily so as to manage my activities and how I spend our time:
Quadrant I: Urgent, Important
Quadrant II: Not Urgent, Important
Quadrant III: Urgent, Not Important
Quadrant IV: Not urgent, Not Important
In a table form it would appear like this.
Urgent Not Urgent
Important Quadrant I
•Crisis
•Pressing problems
•Deadline-driven projects Quadrant II
•Prevention, PC activities
•Relationship building
•Recognizing new
opportunities
•Planning, recreation
Not Important Quadrant III
•Interruptions, some calls
•Some mail, some reports
•Some meetings
•Proximate, pressing
matters
•Popular activities Quadrant IV
•Trivia, busy work
•Some mail
•Some phone calls
•Time wasters
•Pleasant activities
And here is how I intend to move my way around and may be help other people as stated below that: People who manage their lives by crisis spend 90% of their time in Quadrant
I and most of the remaining 10% is in Quadrant Iv, with only negligible
attention paid to Quadrants II and III.
Whereas Other people spend a great deal of time in Quadrant III, thinking
they are in Quadrant I.
People who spend time almost exclusively in Quadrants III and IV lead
irresponsible lives.
“Effective people stay out of Quadrants II and IV because, urgent or not, they aren’t important. They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II. Quadrant II is the heart of personal management. It deals with things that are not urgent, but are important.”
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 valuable secret, where he mentions the proverbs; If you would plant for days, plant flowers; If you would plant for Year, plant trees. If you would plant for eternity, plant ideas.”
“Positive mental attitude, first time am encountering such a phrase.”
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
The book was quite easy and self-explanatory and very clear, I have no problem with understanding at all, it is a learning point to me and I agree with it 100%
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 have not managed to print the book, but I copied them and filled them and made a vow to myself to follow them on a daily basis.
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