Mathew Igwe – Assessments

As A Man Thinketh

Assessment by Matthew Igwe (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

From the book “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen, the main idea which James Allen is trying to convey in the book is that “Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,

And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes: The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills; Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills. He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass the environment is but his looking-glass.

That is, Man is the master of his own soul. He chooses to shape his life in the way he want to. He is the master controller of his own destiny. Like the saying goes “your destiny is in your own hands.” The author bring to light ideas that are above superstitious believe and wishy washy that can not make a man but instead break a man.

From this book, the author was able to state clearly that our mind is the master power that moulds / build us and we have the power to control what ever our mind tell us. Whether it is the sub-conscious mind or the conscious mind we have the legitimate power to control the way and manner which we want our life to be. That is to say that whether we like it or not, the power to control our mind lies in our inner core/being. It is left for me as an individual to channel my thoughts in the right direction. The direction that drives me to a meaningful change to my world.

From my book titled “The Pursuit of greatness”, I was also able to point out clearly the universal law that governs the universe that “Whether we Like it or not, our world would keep on changing. We would keep on witnessing changes in science, technology, arts. New models of cars would keep emerging. Innovations and breakthrough would be witnessed in entertainment and all other forms of communication.” As a result of these natural phenomenons that is taken place across the globe, industries will depend on the more sophisticated and the advanced technology that requires specialized skills. This therefore means that it is only the people who think in the right direction that will be relevent in this ever changing world of limitless possibilities.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

The ideas which were personally most important to me in this book and why they are important to me are:

i. The human is made or unmade by him or her self; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, the human ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and the human is their maker and master.

If indeed the human is made or unmade by him or her self; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, the human ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and the human is their maker and master.”

It is my responsibility as an individual to think, build and nurture the great seeds and latent potentials that lies within me. It is my responsibility to channel all my energy to what truly matter to me and the world that I live in. It is my responsibility to create, wake up the power of Imagination and the unexposed hidden abilities in me to make my world a better place.

For if I failed to mould and build the unexposed potentials in me to make my world a better place, I will always blame myself and the destiny of many that are attached to my destiny will never be happy with me. The children that are yet unborn will not also here my voice and foot print for ever.

It means that I choose to be unfruitful and unprofitable to my world and I also choose to leave this world a spectator, coward and a mediocre of which I will never accept that Ideology. Not even the devil or circumstances can ever stop me because the Limitation which I may claim to exist in my mind are all self imposed by me alone. While in reality, it never existed.

ii. Only by much searching and mining, are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being, if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his character, the molder of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he may unerringly prove, if he will watch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and utilizing his every experience, even to the most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowledge of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power. In this direction, as in no other, is the law absolute that “He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened;” for only by patience, practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter the Door of the Temple of Knowledge.

From my previous explanation from above, I need to make a solid decision as to what I really want in life. I strongly believed and hold on this basic truth that: ‘’Only by much searching and mining, are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being, if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his character, the molder of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he may unerringly prove, if he will watch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and utilizing his every experience, even to the most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowledge of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power. In this direction, as in no other, is the law absolute that “He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened; for only by patience, practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter the Door of the Temple of Knowledge.” It is just the matter of time for me as an individual to mould and build my world and destiny to the shape that will truly make a meaningful impact to the world that I live in.

iii. Thought and character are one.

As character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state. This does not mean that a man’s circumstances at any given 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

Since “thought and character are one, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state. This does not mean that a man’s circumstances at any given 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.”

I therefore need to be very careful of what goes in to my mind because as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. For it is my words that formed my thoughts, my thoughts formed my character, my character formed my action, my action formed my habit and my habit form my destiny and who I’m. It also mean that I need to watch my character if I truly want to be relevant in this ever changing world of limitless possibilities.

iv. 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.

From the above extraction, I have realized that in life , I still have a whole lot of work to work on my self If I truly need to accomplish my long, medium, and short term vision to make my world a better place for the inhabitant of the earth. I need to also come to a round table agreement with my old ideas and the new Ideas concerning the way I think and react to the things around me. That is, there is urgent need to have a paradigm shift from the old ideas that I have concerning Life to the new Ideas.

v. Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment. With the majority the bark of thought is allowed to “drift” upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.

Since aimlessness is a vice ,and such drifting most not contniue in my life since I want to stay clear of catastrophe and self destruction, My Thoughts must be linked with my purpose, principles, core values and orientation and I need to work also in alignment with my vision since I need intelligent accomplishment in life.

vi. A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man’s; they are brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself, never by another. His condition is also his own, and not another man’s. His suffering and his happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.

I’m making a decision now not to remain shallow in terms of the way that I see, feel and act. I have these strong belief system that my journey to this plat form will make, build and mould me in the right direction. I ‘m the author and builder of my own destiny! Yes! I can change my world in a great way! I’m responsible to what happen to me! I choose not to die unnoticed,uncelebrated, and unfulfilled! I will make a meaningful impact to my world.

vii. A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as he develops a right understanding, and sees more and more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect he ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.

I remained calm and wait for the seeds of greatness in me to manifest! Yes I can make my world a better place.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The ideas or lessons as discussed in question two will help me to achieve a meaningful progress in life because it is a universal concept or Ideas that have worked for like minds like me for years. `Through the proper application of my thought, I can make and create my world in a great way.

These ideas will also help me to learn how to control my thought because out of my thoughts come the issues of life.

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.

“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world (though its operation there is just as simple and undeviating), and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.”

I love this quotation from the author because it contain the Issues of my life and It is the basis that lead me to better paradigm shift in terms of the way that I’m reasoning now.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

No!

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes! It contains exercises for the readers to complete and I complete it. I’m still working on it because they are life time exercises for me. I find it very interesting and educative.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment.

No the questions already covered the most important information that one need to achieve whatever goals in life.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Assessment by Matthew Igwe (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The central idea that the author is trying to convey in this book is that : our perception, Vision, Core values, Principles, and orientation about the way we see, feel and behave in respective of the social strata that we may belong in the society depends on the way and manner in which we think, see and act.

To the author’s ideology of the world of limitation, there is nothing like limit to anything that we truly have a burning desire plus a definite plan to achieve. He went further to explain that we can break the chains of our thought and that the limitation which we may claim to exist in any area of our endeavor is nothing but illusion and superstitious believed about our self and what the environment that we live and dwells in give to us.

Indeed, I can say that we are nurtured by our society. If we believed in the wrong ideas that the society may give to us like believing that we can never achieve what we have burning passion plus definite plans for, we cannot. Because of the believe system is wrong. Believing in our self through the help of our instinct and wisdom will shape our world in a great way.

According to the author’s idea he views the world in which he lived and dwells as an opportunity to cause a meaningful change to. He was able to view his world through his visionary eye. Like Helen Keller will say, that “’the greatest tragedy in life are people who have sight but cannot see.” I have come to realized that the ability to be great in any field of endeavor depends on the way we see our world and man is indeed, the architects of his own destiny and He can choose to design his life the way we want to.

I have never believed in a world of limitation because of the latent power/ abilities that I have recognized at my tender age when I was working with my mentor Benjamin DankaKa at Global Readers and Leaders Club. In my recent book titled “The Pursuit of greatness” I discussed in chapter one Recognize the greatness in you. This is a universal concept to any man of purpose who really wants to achieve a meaningful change in any area of his life.

Life is never fair, for this reason I’ve built and surround my believe system on not to be fair to life. I have learnt from so many great authors that we can control the power of our mind either the conscious or the subconscious mind and it’s really helping me.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

The Ideas which were personally most important to me and why they are so important to me are as follows:

i. Recognize the greatness in me:

I have come to realized from life that our constant internal struggle is often related to our beliefs system surrounding the idea of what we really want in life, to be specific on this, it depends on what we choose to focus our thoughts and channel our energy to.

Furthermore, our result in life primarily is determined by what we focus on not necessarily the situations that we are in. In life, I have come to a point where I channel my attention on what really matter to me and the world and not in irrelevant issues. I believe that I’ve seeds of greatness in me. I ‘m born to rule my world and that I must go the extra miles to do something new.

I could remember vividly that when I’m about to embark on ” The Pursuit of Greatness”, I wanted to surprise my world in a great way, I recognized that latent ability/ power that lies in me through the power of My imagination and my creative faculty. I wanted to do something different that others are afraid to do. I want the world to be attracted to me and I want to draw the attention of the world to myself through utilizing my creativity.

I’ve to make up my mind to nurture my mind and brain with great thoughts that can wake up the creative genius in me. I discover, visualize, feel and experience the creative power in me. This led me to come out of my comfort zone and create my world.

ii. Responsibility and practicing.

Like the saying go “proper preparation prevent poor performance,” When the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable. We had heard from people or read from book that ” to whom much is given much is expected from him”

Indeed, Responsibility and practicing is relevant in today’s world of limitless possibilities because constant practice revels our Strength, Opportunities, Weakness and treat.

From the book, I realized that constant practice will always make us to achieve our desire goals in life. Recognizing that I have greatness inside of me is not enough if I ‘m not willing to learn and obey the principles that govern my core values and principles in life.

In 2010 that I came to Lagos {Nigeria}, I was looking for opportunity to earn more Income to meet up with my responsibilities , I have to work on myself without minding the voices that never matter to me. People that are close to me discouraged me that why do I want to kill myself by doing three works at the same time and also a student.

During that period of time were my train periods. Now I have mastered the process and apply the principles to my life and it’s really paying me. People that discouraged me from the onset are now coming to learn from me like Jonathan Livingston Seagull and I have the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to teach them.

iii. Concentration,control and focus.

One of the greatest lessons that I have learnt from this book is that whoever you are in life, your greatness in life begin when you choose to focus on positive thoughts. Even when poverty is reality, worry and fear lead into an unhealthy obsession that can totally block the flow of greatness in us. Ability to have a paradigm shift / dimensional shift from the way you see the future and the situation around you matters a lot. When the dark clouds from the environment in which we live and dwells in looms over us, we need to be very careful in other not to focus on false feelings that there is never enough to feel safe.

Concentration, control and focus are important to me because it defines what my long, medium and short term goals are. It also defines my core values, principles, orientation and behavior in life. Concentration, control and focus is very vital to any leader who want to be stable in his administration.

iv. Confronting and overcoming challenges in life.

The life of Jonathan Livingston in the book is similar to my life .I always confront obstacles and challenges in my life. From chapter four of my book ”The pursuit of greatness” I titled it confront and overcome your challenges, I discussed what people who confront and overcome there challenges in life do. They do the following:

Accept there challenges.

Consider their challenges as solvable.

Believe they are strong enough to handle any challenge.

Seek first to understand the nature of their challenges before confronting it.

Feel the pains in it but react positively to it.

Learn from their challenges.

Develop a strategy for dealing with their challenges.

Visualize them as victorious and they never quit.

The life of Jonathan Livingston in this book is similar to the principles that I have learnt and still learning from different people from all walks of life.

v. Time management

Time management is very important to any task in life. I learnt that Jonathan was able to obey instructions given to him because of the time which he was able to manage. I love to apply time management in whatever task I’m given.

vi. Believe in yourself and render service to humanity.

It reached a point in the life of Jonathan Livingston Seagull that he had to separate himself from the crowd and the opinions of what the people see and say who he really was. He did the separation from the crowd because he was able to trust his instinct by believing in himself and he was able to conquer his world through the help of his self-confidence.

You see in life, I have realized that what the people are saying about me at times are nothing but an illusion of the old things that the heard concerning the root that I have taken. I learnt in life that it is not everybody’s advice that I must take. I learnt a lesson from this book that I need to be extra careful about the people that give me advice. It is only then that I can really serve my world in a great way like as I titled the chapter five of my book “The pursuit of Greatness” – Serve Your World In a Great Way.

vii. Accepting temporarily defeat and learning from it.

Learning from temporarily defeat really provides me a better opportunities to try new way of doing the old things that I have failed before in a new way. Like Jonathan, He also learnt from temporarily defeat and mastered it before becoming an instructor and a role model for others.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The Ideas or lessons as discussed in question two will help me to achieve a meaningful progress in life because it is a universal concept or Ideas that have worked for like minds like me for years. In fact, it is already helping me to achieve my long, medium and short term goals in life. By following the rules that govern each idea that were discussed from the book Just as the saying goes “the journey of a thousand miles begin with a step.” I know that coming into this plat form my perception about the way I feel and see things around me must change gradually until I become a polished shaft that is ready to take the bull by the horn.

I have applied the concept as outlined from question two to my personal life and business and it is paying well for me. I have seen my world that I’m the architect of my own destiny and that following these principles will result to greater success in my life.

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.

“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.”

“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.”

“I can fly! Listen! I CAN FLY!”

“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.”

“Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited idea of freedom,” Jonathan would say in the evenings on the beach, “and precision flying is a step toward expressing our real nature. Everything that limits us we have to put aside. That’s why all this high-speed practice, and low speed, and aerobatics.”

From these quotations I realized that in my own world I can really Change it for a better. Place to live and dwells for others and I can be a leader as well in any field of endeavor. It is just a matter of time and I won’t give up.

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 idea that I really disagree with are those comment that were coming from Jonathan’s gull members. One needs to be very careful not to follow the voices that never count. We need to be careful not to follow the comments that are meant to discourage us to achieve our dreams and vision in life. We need to be careful not to take advice from people who don’t understand our vision and dreams in life if we really want to attain to the higher level of success.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes! It contains exercises for the readers to complete and I complete it. I find it very interesting and educative.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment.

No the questions already covered the most important information that one need to achieve whatever goals in life.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

Psycho-Cybernetics

Assessment by Igwe O Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in this book?

From the book titled Psycho-Cybernetics, the main idea that the author convey in the book is that man is a goal striving being who is always in search/ quest for a better life. As a result of this inbuilt servo- mechanism in man that drives him to his stated purpose in life. The author was able to emphasize more on the self Image and personality.

According to him, he said that: The self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self-image and you change the personality and the behavior.
That is to say that we can alter our self Image in any direction that we really want to. It is a matter of choice and decision. This choice and decision depends on our mental picture about our self. Also, it depends on whether to remain creative in terms of waking the power of our imagination or frustrated and unproductive.

The author went further to explain that the “self-image” sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment. It defines what you can and cannot do. Expand the self-image and you expand the area of the possible. The development of an adequate, realistic self-image will seem to imbue the individual with new capabilities, new talents and literally turn failure into success.

From this book, the author divide the book in to two sections from which the other ideas were built upon. The two sections are:

The “Success-type” personality which is composed of:
S-ense of direction
U-nderstanding
C-ourage
C-harity
E-steem
S-elf-Confidence
S-elf-Acceptance.

From the two types of personalities that the author laid emphasis on, it depend on the direction that an individual channel and focus his / her strength to. From the book, the author point out clearly that our mental picture of oneself depends on either the success type or failure type personality.

From the success type personality, we can chose to be happy, go in quest for our goals, allowing our emotional scar to be heal without seating and lamenting on our past mistakes but instead strives/ drives to positive direction of thinking etc.

While from the failure type of personality, we can chose to feel an inferiority complex, empty, sad, etc. But our decision from any one of the personality have consequences on our level of productivity in life.

The author was also in support of many doctors and other medical practitioners that believe that confusion is the basic element in the neurosis. To deal effectively with a problem, you must have some understanding of its true nature. Most of our failures in human relations are due to misunderstandings.

That is to say that if you see any one whose life is not in order, whose life is not functioning in his ultimate productive capacity, this indicates that it is due to the confusion as a result of the basic element in the neurosis of that individual’s brain and this can be altered and corrected.

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 personally most important to me from this book are:

i. Self Image:

Let me start by saying that I’m writhing this write up not because I don’t want to see or witness positive change in my life or you that have the opportunity in reading this article . Whoever that may have the opportunity to come across this write up in life from any part of the world should take note of the ideas that I want to reveal to you.

Please take note of this that let alone, that “’psycho-cybernetics”’ I can rush or scan through this book within four days and I will answer this questions. But doing it this way will not help me or you that is reading this article now. This book took me several days and night to master and discover my real worth in life.

The ideas which I’m about to unleash from this book are not limited to ten years . Not even to 50 years from now nor 100 years to come . But these ideas are for life time, they are for generation to generation. They are meant to be used for even the children yet unborn.

I have come to realize that the 21st Century that we are in we have a lot of opportunities calling on us every day but it depends on the mental picture we have concerning our self .It reached a point in time in this book that I just stop reading the book and try to visualize and practice the exercises that are contained in this book. This made me to do discover my strengths, weakness, opportunities and treats. My old paradigm concerning my old self image and the new one were conflicting each other.

If I tell you that at one point in “My /our life” we are Not all guilty of self-sabotage, I lie. But this it! Stop putting so many obstacles on your own path. Negative thoughts about our self Image often damage relationships, hurt feelings, and spoil opportunities when they are allowed to escape from our mouths or live in our minds.

If I ‘m/you are constantly miserable, I /you may not realize how much others around Me /you sense My / your negative emotions and are affected by My / your negativity. They may even unconsciously avoid me/you.

At the course of reading this book, I discover that Self-criticism won’t help Me or you in the long run. You/ I can’t just suppress resentment, or pretend that fear, anger, and worry do not exist. Yet you/ I must accept these emotions for what they are and move on.

There is a point in my life where I felt an Inferiority complex because of my Background. But this book not only open my eyes that there is nothing like super-human or inferior- human but it is to be the best of who I’m in any social strata in the society.

ii. Creative Imagination:

From this book, the emphasis which the author laid on creative Imagination really motivated me. From the book, I realized that my mental picture of the type of world that I really want to build not only for my self, family, nation but the whole world can only come through when I allow the creative power in me to flow well instead of hindering it with images which can not take me to any where in Life.

Just as Dugold Stewart said, “The faculty of imagination is the great spring of human activity, and the principal source of human improvement. Destroy this faculty, and the condition of man will become as stationary as that of the brutes.” I can Imagine and create my future with the help of my Imaginative faculty. Because I believed in the notion according to Napoleon Hill that said “Imagination of all man’s faculties is the most God-like.”

iii. Utilize the power of rational thinking:

“Continually criticizing yourself for past mistakes and errors does not help matters, but on the other hand tends to perpetuate the very behavior you would change. Memories of past failures can adversely affect present performance, if we dwell upon them and foolishly conclude.”

From the above extraction from the book, I’ve come to realize that my thinking faculty must work in line with all that I have been saying from the onset of this task .I must constantly remind my self of the change that this book had helped me. Yes! I know that My past memories of failures and mistakes will surface from time to time .This is a fact, but it is in my hand to form a “protective hard epidermic skin” that will resist me to go back to the pit that I hated.

I must learn to continually master the emotional scar that life had cut and created in me. I must learn to continually purge out the negative past memories which may arise from time to time in my life. For it is only through this constant practice of rational thinking can I create a better place to live happily in this world.

It is only through this practice that my present performance will be boost up. “For the purpose of conscience is to help make us happy and productive; not the other way around. But if we are to “let our conscience be our guide,” our conscience must be based upon truth.”

iv. Unlocking my real personality:

From this book, I realized that self-expression, or lack of it is not basically an ethical question, aside from the fact that it is our “duty” to use the talents which our Creator gave us. From the chapter titled “Unlocking your personality,” I discovered that at some point in my life, I’ve imprisoned my self and hidden potentials because I have been too careful to make mistakes. I have also limited my ability to go the extra miles to cause a meaningful change in my life and the world entirely. As a result of being too careful not to make mistakes I end up postponing task that I’m suppose to do.

One of the greatest lessons that I learned from this book is that “Limiting my self because of being afraid of mistakes or what other people may say concerning my daily task will never solve any of my problems but instead it will compound it.”

Some of the questions that keep on ringing in my mind for the past four years from now are: How will my life be in the next 25 years to come if my creator gives me the opportunity to live for more 25 years from now? What Impact can I create in this next 25 years of my life here on earth?

Believe me, I battle with so many truths in this book not because I don’t know that these were truths but because of how skeptical I am concerning the new ideas and the old ideas.
It reached a point in time that I paused and cry out because I know that the world that I live in I’m really left behind because of the false believe system that the society that I lived had feed me with for long.

For you that have the opportunity to read this article, you may never meet me in person but please take note of this that in unlocking your real potential; you must learn to accept the truth in this book. I won’t even mind recommending this book for my Enemy to read if I really have any one of which I don’t have any one that I know.

v. Do it your self Tranquilizers which bring peace of mind.

From Chapter twelve of this book and the chapter on “happiness,” I learned that our own feelings do not depend upon externals, but upon our own attitudes, reactions and responses. From this Idea, I discovered that I can choose not to respond to what the external stimuli from the society tells me. I also have the choice to choose to remained calmed and be my self instead of putting my self to irrelevant pressure that will block the flow of the creative power within me.

From this same chapter, I got this fact clearly in my mind that the outside signal in itself has no power over me or power to move me . In the past I have obeyed it, responded to it, purely out of habit. I can, if I wish to form a new habit of not responding to irrelevant responses from the society.

vi. Man is a goal driving being.

“Insofar as function is concerned, the brain and nervous system constitute a marvelous
and complex “goal-striving mechanism,” a sort of built-in automatic guidance system which works for you as a “success mechanism,” or against you as a “failure
mechanism,” depending on how you the operator, operate it and the goals you set for it.”

From the above deduction from the book , the idea that man is a goal striving being who has a goal striving mechanism that work for him automatic is indeed fact that is above fallacy of any kind. It is my responsibility therefore as the operator of my goals to allow it to work well for me instead of against me.

vii. Turning Crisis in to opportunity.

“Crisis” according to the author is a turning point, where the patient either gets worse and dies, or gets better and lives. Since it is a point where decisions are made, I chose to remained focused by applying the principles that are out line from the chapter. I chose to remained calmed and allow the creative force / power that drives me to my stated purpose in life to do its work.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The ideas outline from above helped me to develop the right self- Image, creative Imagination, utilize my rational thinking and strive well to achieve my long, medium and short term goals. It also provides me the opportunity to do daily SWOT analysis of my self. I’m still using it at this moment because these ideas are for a lifetime for me. I will treasure them for the next generation to come.

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.

“For emptiness is a symptom that you are not living creatively.

You either have no goal that is important enough to you, or you are not using your talents and efforts in striving toward an important goal.

It is the person who has no purpose of his own who pessimistically concludes, “Life has no purpose.”

It is the person who has no goal worth working for who concludes, “Life is not worthwhile.”

It is the person with no important job to do who complains, “There is nothing to do.”

“The individual who is actively engaged in a struggle, or in striving toward an important goal, does not come up with pessimistic philosophies concerning the meaninglessness or the futility of life.”

“For the person with emotional scars not only has a self image of an unwanted, unlike, and incapable person, he also has an image of the world in which he lives as a hostile place. His primary relationship with the world is one of hostility, and his dealings with other people are not based upon giving and accepting, cooperating, working with, enjoying with, but upon concepts of overcoming, combating, and protecting from. He can neither be charitable towards others nor himself. Frustration, aggression, and loneliness are the price he pays.”

“Poor personality and inhibited personality are one and the same. The person with a poor personality does not express the creative self within. He has restrained it, handcuffed it, locked it up and thrown away the key. The word inhibit literally means to stop, prevent, prohibit, restrain. The inhibited personality has imposed restraint upon the expression of the real self. For one reason or another he is afraid to express himself, afraid to be himself, and has locked up his real self within an inner prison.”

“The symptoms of inhibition are many and varied: shyness, timidity, self-consciousness, hostility, feelings of excessive guilt, insomnia, nervousness, irritability, inability to get along with others. Frustration is a characteristic of practically every area and activity of the inhibited personality. His real and basic frustration is his failure to be himself and his failure to adequately express himself. But this basic frustration is likely to color and overflow into all that he does.”

“Feelings of inferiority originate not so much from facts or experiences, but our conclusions regarding facts, and our evaluation of experiences. For example, the
fact is that I am an inferior weight-lifter and an inferior dancer. This does not, however, make me an inferior person.”

For example, Paul Anderson’s and Arthur Murray’s inability to perform surgery makes them “inferior surgeons,” but not “inferior persons.” It all depends upon “what” and
whose norms we measure ourselves by.

From the above quotation, I discover that what is remaining for me to do to function to my ultimate productive capacity is decision and action. Like the saying goes; “actions speak louder than words.” I chose to remain calm and let the creative power in me to flow. Believe me we will meet at the top soon.

5. Is there any thing in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

No!

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so,, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes! It contained exercises for the readers to complete and I ‘m still working on some of the exercises because they require daily practice to form habit. While the others I completed them. I find it very interesting and educational.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment.

No the questions already covered the most important information that one need to achieve meaningful change in his life.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 6
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

 

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Assessment by Matthew O. Igwe (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main idea that Dale Carnegie critically conveyed in his book tilted “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is about good human relation in any social strata/class that we may belong to in the society. Dale Carnegie’s ideas on the book attempt to mould and nurture man in the way that he ought to relate with his immediate environment.

The book brings to light the basic techniques /principles in handling people. Carnegie‘s ideas are centered around making a long lasting relationships by doing things for other people -Things that required your time, energy, unselfishness and thoughtfulness.

The essence of revealing several techniques in handling human generally by Carnegie I believed it was because the world that we lived and dwells lacks how to relate with our fellow men.

I need to stop condemning, murmuring, complaining, criticizing, admitting that I ‘m wrong when I make mistakes, engaging in unnecessary arguments. For I don’t need all this negative behavior in the short run or in the long run because they all pay me nothing but a complete disaster.

For if I learn to stop all this negative behavior and many others that were not outlined from my previous paragraph and learn how to show genuine/ honest, in-depth and heartfelt appreciation to my subordinates and my superiors, respect people’s normative statements/opinions, not because of what they want to offered to me in returns for flattering them but allow my true nature to radiate/illuminate the light and happiness which I’m made up of, If and only if I can show / learn how to talk less, listen more and learn, If only my Yes! Is Yes! And No! is No!, If only I can continue to watch and correct my flaws continuously, If only I don’t allow the human nature that is sometimes egocentric in nature to destroy the foundation that I have took my time, hard earned money and valuable treasures my life to build all because of the crave/the deepest urge to be important and be appreciated, If only I can always allow people to express their ideas without interruption, If only I can try to find out why my opponent behave the way the behave and reasoned the way they always reasoned, if I can control my temperament.

Then, I can say that the well polished being which I have wanted to be in life is achieved. Then, No man, the devil, nor any artificial constraint can ever stop me from making that meaningful change that I have ever desired of in this new era that we are in. For I will continue to work on these facts until I no longer struggle with them again. I will work on them until the become part and parcel of me. For this is the only way that the intrinsic motivation from within me can be achieved.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanations after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

i. You do not know what treasures are within you.

In the past I have belittle my true potential, I have looked down on myself and the abilities that lies within me. These was due to the facts that my condition and believe system then were contradicting themselves. I must say this that the hardest battle that I have faced in life is not the mountains that I conquered but the self which lies within me.

Imagine a man who will wake up in the morning and there is no hope for even food to eat the whole day Let alone you expect that man to believing that all is well. To this man this statement is absurdity/meaningless. This was how it was to me in the past. I must say it’s not easy until you that you are reading this assessment fix yourself in my shoe. But this is what I did I looked in to the future with some degree of confidence that I must confront, overcome and empower the mountains on my way to the quest of my destiny. Several times I fall but get up and keep on moving in the right direction because of the hope that I have build on my future.

I came across How to Win Friends and Influence People in 2010. I read the book then but I did not really get the full message then. Why because things were not working for me well .for this reason I asked myself why do I want to make friends and influence people when I have not even influence myself positively? Of what use will this be to me?

When I sat down this days to think of my past background I feel like crying because if things were not working well for me then I put the blame on people around me . As a result of this my wrong believes system then, I repels people instead of attracting quality and highly resourceful people around me.

Early December last year, I was no longer comfortable with the wrong foundation that I have wasted my time to build for myself alone. This was after I released my first publication of book titled “The Pursuit of Greatness.”

This made me to undergo the process of over hauling of my life. I have to start everything afresh. Although, the processes are not fast for now but I will wait patiently to learn it once and for all. Because in the long run, I will be a blessing to my world and generation, is just the matter of time I must say I will definitely make a significant impart to my world. I went for a program relating to human relation and customer excellent early January this year because of the ideas that are unleashed from this book is fascinating and triggering me to move to the next level/face of my life.

ii. Instead of condemning people, let’s try to understand them.

As I grow older and older each day, I have come to realize from life that If and only If I control myself very well I can attract the attention of the world to myself. I can move mountains and obstacles from my life and the life of others.

If I stop to condemn people, Listen More, not just for Listening sake I must say. But Listening to people with the intent to understand them, If I stop unnecessary Arguments and channel all my energy to help my fellow men , If I continue to render selfless services that I have started then, I have reached the Inside – out transformation that I really desired .

In “The Pursuit of Greatness” and one of my past assessments I made mention that I have this optimistic urge /burning desires to be attracted to the world. I have the burning desire plus a definite plan for the world to be attracted to me. That force keeps on driving me on as I strive to make these dreams come through with the services that I render to my world.

I’m a kind of person that don’t function well when I’m been condemned without providing an alternative solution for me. I love to be criticized constructively because it build me up.

But one thing that I hate is that I don’t like superiors who condemn me and my work without giving the reason or answers to my problems. God help me out of this I pray. Yes! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

iii. The flaming urge for sense of importance

Just as Williams James will say, “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” Like every other being on earth, I have strong urge for sense of importance. I love to be appreciated when I try a new idea and it worked out. My intrinsic motivation comes from within.

I must say this that since I read this book and Joined this platform with the intent to change my life, family, community , nation and my world, there have been a tremendous success for me this last four months. There is an inside-out change in terms of the way that I reasoned ,See ,feel and experience things around me.

iv. Dramatize your dreams! Throw down a challenge for yourself.

When I came across this ideas first, I paused and re- read them again and again and again. I downloaded the audio book that lasted for about 7 hours 30 minutes from the you tube. It was as if Dale Carnegie was with me as a live Speaker. The ideas that were unleashed there made me to build my momentum that will enable me to fly and to balance to the next face of my life.

This idea is just like a propeller that propels/drive me to my movement action plan {MAP). In my attempt to carve out/mapped out a clearly and a well defined goals in life, I have come to realize that I need to dramatize my ideas, throw down challenges for my self and faced those challenges head on until I conquered them. Like In my book title “The Pursuit of Greatness” I know that since I have made up my mind to see that My world become a better place to be I must “hunt and hurt poverty” until poverty will have no place to be in my generation, family, and community any more.

Thank God that I have been nurturing myself and preparing myself for the next face of my life. Thank God that I have sound philosophy about what will and have worked for people and is still working for like minds like me from this book and the audio book that I downloaded. Just as a well known writer will write, “The essence of Education is not knowledge but action.” I’m on my way to the top and he who is willing to go to the next level of his life with me through positive mental attitude plus definite plans is highly welcome as the quest / the pursuit of greatness get more interesting on my side.

v. If we want to make friends, let put ourselves out to do things for other people. Things that require time, Energy, unselfishness and thoughtfulness.

From this moment until death do me part, I pray to God that He will strengthen me when my strengthens fails. I pray that I will not be failure to my generation and to humanity. I pray that God will give me the boldness to continue to do the ideas that is in this five.

Come to think of this, This is my part of the vision that God showed me in 2007 when I was still in Kaduna for about 6 ours prayers with one of my mentor Benedict Amen in saint Michael Catholic church On December 31st 2007.

Honestly, I have always wanted to have a charity foundation that will assist the poor, orphans , the vulnerable children, the downtrodden and the disabilities in the society. This is part of my vision from 2007 2020 that I wrote down .

vi. Matthew, if only you are patient with your self, stop criticizing people and remained committed.

I just sat down when I completed this book 1:57am this morning. This was what is just coming from my mind after I have finished reading the book: Matthew, I wonder what will happen to you if you are truly committed to your divine purpose in life. Wonder what will happen if you just be yourself, wonder what will happen if genuinely stop to criticize people, wonder what will happen if you love people the way the are, wonder what will happen if you show inside – out, heart felt and in-depth appreciation to people who truly deserved appreciation. Wonder what will happen if I share the most valuable asset that God gave me to the world. Wonder what will happen if continue to hunt and hurt poverty in my life until poverty have now place in my world. And then I paused. At a point my mind and eyes opened and this is what I saw: I discovered that in the nearest future, I will radiate/illuminate light to the hopeless in the society that I lived and dwells.

vii. Love and let live.

Of what use do I have a vision without loving the people that I want to deliver the vision to? I asked my self this question again and again and again .Just as the say goes “my people perish because of lack of vision.” “ I can boldly say that the vision also perishes without the people to share the vision to.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The ideas or lessons as discussed in question two will help me to achieve a meaningful progress in life because like Roser Park will say “I have learned over the years that when the mind of a man is made up, this diminish fear, knowing what must be done does away with fear.” I have made up my mind to follow the ideas that I outlined from question two above since it is already helping me to gain a meaningful progress in my life.

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”

“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”

“If you argue and rankle and contradict, you may achieve a victory sometimes; but it will be an empty victory because you will never get your opponent’s good will.”

Buddha said: “Hatred is never ended by hatred but by love, and a misunderstanding is never ended by an argument but by tact, diplomacy conciliation and a sympathetic desire to see the other person’s viewpoint.”

“Could my opponents be right? Partly right? Is there truth or merit in their position or argument? Is my reaction one that will relieve the problem, or will it just relieve any frustration? Will my reaction drive my opponents further away or draw them closer to me? Will my reaction elevate the estimation good people have of me? Will I win or lose? What price will I have to pay if I win? If I am quiet about it, will the disagreement blow over? Is this difficult situation an opportunity for me?”

Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay Self-Reliance stated: “In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.”

Galileo said: “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him to find it

within himself.”

Socrates said repeatedly to his followers in Athens: “One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.”

“In other words, don’t argue with your customer or your spouse or your adversary. Don’t tell them they are wrong, don’t get them stirred up. Use a little diplomacy.”

“All men have fears, but the brave put down their fears and go forward, sometimes to death, but always to victory.”

“What greater challenge can be offered than the opportunity to overcome those fears?”

These quotations from the author trigger me to think more and more on the over hauling process of my life that I’m still on. My life is still “under construction.”

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

As for now there are no ideas that I disagree with.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes it contained exercises. I’m still working on some that have not become an habit to me.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment.

No the questions already covered the most important information that one need to achieve whatever goals in life.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

Success through a Positive Mental Attitude

Assessment by Igwe O Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main idea that Napoleon Hill conveyed in Success through positive mental attitude is that he pointed out clearly that to every adversity in life, there is equivalent seed of greatness in it. He went further to explain that I as an Individual, I can turn my failures into success by applying the right principles that was discussed in the book

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanations after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

The ideas which were personally most important to me and why they are important to me are as follows:

i. If a man is right, his world will be right with him.

In continuation from my previous assessment, I told you that there is a missing gap/ vacuum which were left behind in my life that I recently discovered.

To be frank with you, I did not just come to a hasty conclusion /generalization to my previous paragraph. Because I don’t want to commit a fallacy of quicker generalization in my life since the say go: “If a man is right, his world will be right with him.”

I’m one of the most favored being in this 21st century that we are in. Imagine, Out of over 7.046 billions of people here on earth that was estimated in 2012. I was privileged to come across this information that I ‘m having now.

Indeed, destiny has something in stock for me. I have always wanted to offer myself as a living sacrifice to the services of my fellow human and a world changer through my meaningful services. I think this is why God is leading me in this direction.

At the course of reading Success through positive mental attitude, I realized that my choices, problems/ challenges, mistakes and lesions are nothing but cumulative/ total sum of my whole life.

To be specific in the areas that I discovered that I was truly left behind, I discovered that emotionally, I’m not matured enough, personal problems, financial, mental, moral, physical, Family, business, professional just to mention but a few.

After a detailed and structured analysis of my strength, weakness, opportunities and treats, (S.W.O.T Analysis) I came to a point that I was really left behind.

This point “If a man is right, his world will be right with him;” particularly made me to go the extra miles to do what the statisticians called “Test of hypothesis of Samples.” I subjected my thoughts and behavior to test if I can truly control my behavior and thoughts .Since I’m the builder, molder and the architect of my whole being. To some, they may say that I’m really insane for going this far because of this point. But I don’t mind what they may say,Since I have already made up my mind that I truly want to feel, see and experience a genuine change/ Inner transformation in my life and until that is done I will never be happy with my present condition.

I used my behavior and thoughts as ‘’samples’’ and then construct a structured and unstructured questionnaire for myself as in relation to the problems that I out listed from above and then applied the null and the alternative methods of hypothesis ( subject to my thought and present behavior.)

At a point, my eyes opened to truly see my flaws. This made me to reject the null test result and then adopt the alternatives result that I got from my life. At least this point made me to know my innate ability for now.

Get me clear, why I went the extra miles to do this task was not because I’m disputing this idea that ” if a man is right, his world will be right with him’’. I really have a burning desire to fill the gap which my nonsensical illusion / philosophical Ideology had created in me.

One of the lessons that I learn from this task is that I’m in the pruning stage of my life where the unwanted ideas/ superstitious believe that had held me constant/ behind for years are being pruned out. It is my responsibility to “know thy self” as the saying goes. I know that at this juncture is the point where the making of a true leader in me start.

The inference which I drew from this task starting from my major premises to my minor premises is that, my life is a “puzzle.” Yes! I mean a “puzzle”’ not like a puzzle. It is only me who can arrange this “puzzle” (my life) through the help of my positive mental attitude.

For these reasons, I refuse to die uncelebrated, unnoticed, coward, and mediocre. I unleash the latent potentials in me to my world. Yes I Can! Expect a bombshell of ideas from me that will spark and cause a meaningful change to our world soon.

ii. And don’t you ever let me hear you say that it is God’s will that we are poor. We are poor not because of God. We are poor because Father has never developed the desire to be rich. No one in our family has ever developed a desire to be something else.

Like Nelson Mandela will say “like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man- made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human being.” I have honestly calm down to seek the solution of this problem once and for all. I have searched and searched for the solution to this problem. I have read the bible, journals, Wikipedia, Google scholar, Wikimedia. I have gone to seminars, conferences, workshop, prayed and fasted for this particular challenge.

My quest to see that my world become a better place to live and dwell in landed me to discover that why I have not conquered this challenge for long was because I was not properly applying the 17 principles that was outlined in this book. Yes I know that these principles are fundamental to my quest in life. For this reason, I have learned from this book to master these Ideas and they must become part of me for the rest of my life here on earth.

iii. Goal setting

To be honest with myself it is high time I set out a clearly, mapped out and a well- defined compelling and self motivating goals that are measurable, achievable and time sensitive for myself. Since I have the burning desire plus a definite plan to fit into the perfect will of God in my life. I need to aim higher, set high standard and work with the principles that are outlined in this book.

Like a blind man leading the multitude of the blind, I have limited myself to some extent because of Ignorance. I have live my life believing that I ‘m a king in my own world. The propositions that I have concerning what is true, some are not really true in reality. For these reasons, I need to be very careful of the inferences that I draw from the most sensitive matter that concern me and the people that I lead.

iv. Raising myself from failure to success

Like Henry Ford will say to his workers “keep on working until you get the solution to this task.” I know that it is just a matter of time for me because I now have the true picture of who I’m, the stuff that I’m made up of and as well as the right application of the principles that will cause a meaningful change for me, my nation and the world that I live and dwell in. I’m very optimistic about my future outcome of success with some degree of confidence that I can turn my failures into success by keep on trying

v. If you don’t succeed when you finally ready and study success through positive mental attitude with whom dose the fault lie?

Honestly, when I came across this vital question from this book I paused and asked myself series of further questions about my life in particular. It reached a point in time when I realized that I’m responsible to the event that happens in my life.

I have had sleepless night to ask myself questions about the event that Happen in my life. There are some time that I had to lock myself up in a room for 24 hours because I have this burning desire to change my present life, family and even my community as a whole.

One of the greatest lessons that I learned from this question is that my maturity in life start at the point where I can handle the things around me. It also depends on my positive mental attitude concerning the raw facts / Ideas that I’m still working on from this book. I know that it is just a matter of time since I now know the reason I have failed in the past was due to my fault for not using the right principles for the right challenges that I encountered.

vi. Where there is nothing to lose by trying and everything to gain if successful, by all means try! Do it now!

Like the saying goes, “there is no harm in trying.” I’m in the best moment of my life where I believed that Yes I can still make the meaningful change that I have always desired. Like Henry Ford said to his workers, “keep on working until I get the desired result’’ I will not relent until my foot print and voice print is heard in the breadth and length of the whole world. Yes! I believe that I can cause a change to my world through rendering of self less service to humanity.

vii. You can win if you are willing to pay the price

From this book, I have realized that what remain for me from now on is the decision and action to cause the change that I desired in life. Thank God that this information came to me at the time that I needed it most. Yes! I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me. I know that anything that is worth having is worth working for

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how ?

The Ideas or lessons as discussed in question two will help me to achieve a meaningful progress in life because they are a universal concept that I have try to personalize. They will be part and parcel of me all the days of my life from now on.

4. 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! It is as follows:

“A positive mental Attitude and a definiteness of purpose is the starting point towards all worthwhile achievement!”

This is the bed rock to my sources of happiness, success, and fulfillment in life.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

No.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes it contained exercises. I’m still working on some that have not become habit to me.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment

No the questions already covered the most important information that one need to achieve whatever goals in life.

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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

Giant Steps

Assessment by Igwe O. Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main idea that Anthony Robbins discussed in his book titled ‘’Giant Steps’’ is that our dreams, strongest convictions, mental conditioning [neuron – connection and association], persistence, goals, true commitment, precision /clarity of definite purpose in any field of Endeavor that we truly want to succeed on. Depends on the right structured questions that we frequently asked our self, how we confront and overcome obstacles and challenges, remain mentally tough, flexible and focused when we are faced with the storms of life. It also depends on how compelling our beliefs are,what we see, our relationship with others and the true services that we render to our fellow men in this journey called life that we are all in.

To further expand the Ideas that were made in the aforementioned paragraph, it as well depends on how we can master pains and make it to be our friend, re-strategize and destabilize our Self- limiting beliefs with the new patterns that can make a meaningful leverage on our daily life and leaving a healthy life.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanations after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

i. Beliefs and clarity of purpose

In recent time I have been looking for how I can earnestly conquered my mind in totality. I have come to realize that my greatest Enemy here on earth is not people but my mind. There are invisible forces that are always pulling me in the opposite direction. Deeply inside of me I have been searching for structured questions that really bear the solutions to my present challenges; I have searched and searched for that information that can finally build my momentum to soar like the eagle on motion. I have worked and worked, toiled and toiled, have sleepless night upon sleepless night on the internet because I really want to discover who truly I am, why I’m born into this new era that I’m in; What contribution that I can really make to my fellow human here on earth, And several other structured questions that will really wake me up from the dream that I’m dreaming and turn every of my invisible thought to visible reality.

I have asked myself series of questions after I completed this book. One thing which I believed on is that I can cause a change to my world. But the burning flames in me this recent time is when will this happen?

Honestly, if people like Christopher Columbus, Thomas Edison, Brain Tracy and several other Heroes of our time who started life from the scratch and still realized their long terms goals. What is really wrong with me?

In Psycho-Cybernetic assessment I asked questions as to what impact can I make here on earth if my creator give me 25- 50 years here on earth to live more before I returned to him. The good news is that I’m now beginning to see answers to this question from this book.

To really live a meaningful life, I mean life to the fullest I ‘m presently working on my empowerment program [NGO] that will be dedicated to those who have been forgotten and abandoned by the society.

ii Don’t look for heroes, be one!

After listening to the audio book several times and read the hard copy of this book, at first I must say that I ‘m highly motivated . But later on, when I genuinely sat down to answer the series of structured questions and other Task that was discussed by Anthony Robbins I know deeply inside of me, that I can still show/render more selfless services to my fellow human in this journey that we are all in regardless of the tribe, race, and nation. I know deeply inside of me that I can still give a little hope to those who are forgotten by the society, the hopeless , the downtrodden, the orphans and the vulnerable children in my present society that I live and dwell, in my work place, school and anywhere that I may be in any moment of my life.

It as well Remember me of the personal experience that I got from Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Harries that I did the assessment late December last year.

iii. Turning my deepest invisible thoughts to visible realities.

I ‘m earnestly in quest for that piece of information either in audio books, video, books, internet etc that will fan tuned my deepest and strongest thought in life to the highest frequency that will make me to turn my invisible talents, abilities /skills, thought /ideas to visible realities. And I can boldly say that 80 percent of the information that I’m looking for long I found them here in this book.

After I finished these book, I realized that Yes I can finally have my NGO that I want for long.

The name of the NGO, Vision, mission, Core values, registration , and logo will soon be out officially. God knows that I have asked my inner self series of structured and constructive questions but there is something that was wrong with me before I come across this idea.

After a careful and detailed study of why my visible realities are not working spontaneously with my inner- most thought, I realized that I break the rules of Flexibility, True commitment, persistence, tenacity, courage, action, being focused , and balance. It reached a point when I realized that I get distracted because I loss focus on what I’m pursuing even though I know theoretically that focus is every thing to any meaningful accomplishment in life , in practical I struggle with these concept a lot. .

While this single idea took me much time was because I’m tried of not been specific about what I truly want to do with my life this recent time . I want to fulfill purpose, live a purpose driven life ,build highly responsible role models, build long lasting capacity leaders from all walks of life and cause mind revolution to these era that I’m born into through series of empowerment programs for my fellow youths from all walks of life . I want to be a true hero and exemplary leader of this new age. I want to make High impact to the future generation to come. I want to be remember for at least one thing before I return to my maker, I want to be on the annual list of the world changers Yes I can! Yes I must! Because my mind is already made up and there is no more time to settle for less when I have the gut and the stuff to take my own destiny into my hand.

iv. “All decisions have consequences in your life even they ones you don’t make.”

Anchoring my point within the realm of realism, I know that I’m responsible for what event that happened and is still happening in my life. I’m responsible for any consequences of action that I take or refuse to take in my life. For the decisions that I acted or fail to act upon will definitely have either positive or negative consequences in my life.

This is where my success or failure lies and depend on in life. It is my responsibility to take a well calculated and structured decisions in my career, family, leadership, destiny, Business etc in other to have a purpose driven life and good legacy to live for the future generation to come. I’ve reached a point in my life where all that I need for now is to take action for my destiny instead of talking and wishing.

v. The human spirit is truly unconquerable:

Since the human spirit is truly unconquerable and the will to win, the will to succeed, to shape and to take control of my life can only be harnessed only when I decide what I want and believe that no obstacle or challenge can keep me from achieving my aims in life. It means that I can I can drill through the mountains of my life, I can face the challenges of my life head on. I can climb over the mountains of my life. I can confront, overcome, triumph and conquer the mountains of my life . Yes there is a light in the Dominion city that is illuminating and radiating and I will become that which I ‘m born to become.

Thank you IIGL and more grease to your elbow for exposing me to this information. For I know these that the society have invested on me so much and it’s time to invest back to the society.

vi. Man is a creator of what he sees

Starting from the major premises to the minor premises based on the propositions (Ideas) that are unleashed in this book, It can be pointed out clearly that what give man direction, illumination and a sense of purpose in any endeavor is what he sees.

If what he sees is ’’ Right’’ it build for him the right energy level / momentum to live a purpose driven life and this will alter his whole being and give light to the rest of his fellow men. If what he sees is “wrong” the whole being of the man will walk in deception and disaster.

Defining what is “right” and “wrong” within the context of this book, I must say that to some extend in my life I have no clear-cut out picture of what I really want to do in my short term, medium term and long term and this drain my energy level a lot up till the point that I came across this book. My priority expectation after the completion of this book is a positive one and I know that it is just a matter of time I must be there.

vii. “If you want to play the game of life and win, you have to got to play full out.”

This point have made me to continue to change my old self-limiting self believe that I sub-consciously build in my life. At some point in my life I have this believe that If I take a risk in playing the game of life I will fail, no one will accept me, no one will like me etc. These self-limiting and self imposed. Beliefs have really hold me back in recent time in my pursuit of greatness. I have tried to Eliminate them to some extent but my challenge then was my procedures was wrong Not until I found this book and Natalie Ledwell of mind movies in her online Mind movies work shop on “How to eliminate self limiting believe.” Even though I know that as an Economist I ‘m supposed to be risk lover and not risk averse or neutral.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The ideas or lessons as discussed in question two will help me to achieve a meaningful progress in life so long I did not contradict the principles that governs those ideas. So long I make them part and parcel of me of which I’m already applying them in my daily life for like 28 days for now. I’m really seeing changes in the things that I struggle with in the past.

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“What is your aspiration? What decisions have you made or failed to make in the past that powerfully influence your life today? What have you learned from a past mistake that you can use to improve your life today? What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life? How do you turn the invisible to the visible? What can you do today to move yourself forward? In how many ways will people benefit from your effort today? What will you be doing in ten years from now? What give you the most pain and the most pleasure and how does it shape your life today? What could you accomplish if you lived in a peak state every day? What life changing questions could you ask your self today? What barrier do you need to burst through? If you were to take a look at your own beliefs through someone eyes what would you see? Do you have convictions? Are there areas of your life in which holding a conviction would give you the added drive to push through all kinds of obstacles? Do you have a goal that excites you but involves doing something you have never done before? What beliefs guide your thoughts, decisions and actions every day? What are the primary questions that are currently shaping your life? What new questions could you ask yourself to come up with new answers that can improve your life today?”

“Be conscious about what you are looking for.”

What could you accomplish if you were absolutely focused on what you value most in life? What could you do with a little creativity and courage that could make a difference for others and even the world? Is there a specific time in your life you can point as a defining moment in your life?”

Answering all these questions and others that are in this book but are not in these quotations make me to realize that there is more joy in fulfilling and living a purpose driven life. It will as well make me to expect a miracle in my life. I’m still answering these the questions and working on other ideas in this book because the book is just linking me up to further insight in my life.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

No, none for now.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes! It contains exercises for the readers to complete and I complete it. I find it very interesting and educative for my daily living.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment

No, the questions already covered the most important information that one need to achieve in whatever goal in life.

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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

The New Dynamics of Winning

Assessment by Igwe O. Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

Starting from the major premises to the minor premises the central Idea that is conveyed in the book titled, The New Dynamics of Winning by Denis Waitley is that in any society that one may belong to, the true meaning of life should come as a result of the ability to effect a social change, to be reformed by the society and to reformed the society, to make a difference and live a good legacy in the life of others irrespective of how dynamics or complex the society may be.

From the book, Denis Waitly was able to establish a relationship that motivation is a desire for change and for it to be possible; it must be internalized before it has the real power. That is , for any meaningful success to be made in the life of an individual, the individual must be able to see from within as a winner , be willing and able to pay the price for greatness (be consistence and show true commitment) , self- disciplined himself (must have integrity), have a clear cut out goals that is measurable and attainable, Developed a self confidence, see himself that he worth the goals in which he his pursuing, must be very tough mentally , be willing to learn from experts and have a good quality of a good leader to lead any other organization that he is opportune to lead in the future.

In a nutshell, what the book is all about is: to live a success –driven and purpose –driven life, to believe in myself that I have the abilities and skills to achieve any meaningful goal, to be willing and able to pay the price for my success (burning of the mid night candles/persistence) and to be empowered to empower others to touch lives meaningfully in the society.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

i. The twenty-one day plan

Starting from day one of this exercises to the last day, I believed that for any progress in life to be possible, I must be willing and able to adopt this plan as it is not just for twenty one day plan alone but for a long lasting exercises that will build a momentum from within me to really prove and dramatize my skills and talent to the world.

From my previous assessments on” Giant Steps” I have already discovered what I can do in the long run. From the first face of this exercises I discovered that my true happiness in life come when I follow my passion and not even my present work.

These plans is really helping me at the moment as I still need more training to bring out the best in the Idea that I discovered in “Giant steps.” I still need more improvement in my present task and responsibilities.

One thing that this idea is making me to become in this recent time is that I’m now seeing the clear – cut –out picture of the reality of what I want to become in the nearest future and is already initiating action in me because I have been informed about what I can do.

ii. Move out of your comfort zone and make the impact.

Just as the say goes, “if you move towards your dream you collide with your destiny.” I discovered that for me to achieve my destiny in life it is when I ‘m willing and able to respond, move, act, say and do the necessary things that can move me towards my dreams in life. It is when I’m able to react and move out of my comfort zone, it is when I’m knock out from my comfort zone and walk in the right direction, it is when I ‘m willing to obey the law of attraction in my life. It is when my dreams and vision become so clear and tangible that I have no any other reason to live but to fulfill that which I’m alive for. It is when the burning desire to achieve those dreams and vision becomes an obsession.

Knowing that I and I alone I’m responsible for my life, knowing that my destiny is in my hand, knowing that I’m responsible for what event I chose to happen in my life, knowing that my maturity in life begin when I’m responsible to take action for my life, knowing that no obstacles can stop me from whatever my mind have conceived, Knowing that I will never be happy with myself if I abused the information that I have been exposed to , knowing that the whole world are awaiting to see the stuff that I’m made of by grace and favor, knowing that the true meaning of life for me come as a result when I live a purpose driven life, all that I need is to always walk towards my dreams and I will collide with my destiny.

iii. Finding the defining moment in my life

When I was reading this book I discovered that God took me through some process in my life because he actually wants me to fulfill destiny and make impact in the life of others.

Growing up as a child for me was not really easy but God kept me and protect me by grace. My defining moment in life come when I realized that I ‘m made by nothing but by grace. It comes when I realized that the opportunities that came to me in life were as a result of the purpose to which I need to fulfill in life. This idea is really an eye opener to me as an individual to totally take charge of my own destiny.

iv. Life is a treasure and not a treasure hunt

In recent time when I completed this book I begin to discover the reason I’m disempowered sometime in the past is because I’m, disconnected and disoriented from my true purpose in life. These have not really made me to be comfortable in my pursuit of greatness of which I know.

I have asked myself series of questions like who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going in life? All because I really want to be sure of what I really want out of my life. I now know what to do with my life to be a treasure instead of treasure hunt.

v. Every meaningful success in life starts from within (visualization and imagination)

While I was trying to imagine the power of visualization from the book, I discovered that my whole system is wired for success, I discovered that I have a land mark victory and everything works for me and nothing works against me. I discovered that my mandate in life is to fulfill purpose by changing the landscape of my world through empowering others in the society. I discovered that every meaningful success in life starts from within.

It is from within that the auction to function in this ever dynamic and complex society come. If I’m dysfunctional from within there is no how that I can emit /give out illumination to my world.

It is from within that I’m connected to my inner vibration and inner core. It is from within that my energy level is re activated and re- awakens. It is from within that the seeds of greatness in me germinate. It is from within that I’m fan tuned to my highest frequency, connected to my true being, my inner core is strengthen, my passion burns out, and my burning desire sparks out.

Knowing this that when I’m disconnected/dis-empowered from my inner core, my life will become fruitless, I will work on myself each day to maintain that energy level that can make impact to my world.

vi. Do you have a favorite success quote? Who are the People – past, or present -whom you most admire?

Answering these two questions really serve as a compass to where I want to be in the nearest future. In recent time I have always admired people like Cindy Trimm, Opera Winfred, T.D Jake, Steven covey , Sam Walton , Christopher Columbus, Thomas Edison , Adams Smith , John Maynard Keynes , Helen Killer, Anthony Robinson, Napoleon Hill , Steven Jobs and Bill Gates because of how they have impacted our world in a great way. I Love there quotes and the quotations of other remarkable leaders from all walks of live who have impacted and are touching lives meaningfully in all human endeavors.

vii. The foundation of real leadership is empowerment

Realizing that the true foundation of leadership is empowering others who are disconnected, disoriented, abandoned and dis-empowered from their real purpose in life because of social –cultural impediment s that are placed upon them in the society Make me to really focused on my idea that I discovered from my previous assessments . I’m almost true with the drafting of my NGO that I ‘m working on for quite some time now.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

The Ideas or lessons as discussed in question two will help me to achieve a meaningful success in life because it is success- driven and purpose –driven. It has worked for people with like minds like me and it is still working. So long I’m have made up my mind to experience, feel and see positive impact in my life, so long I have made up my mind to pay the price for my greatness in life, so long I’m willing and able to burn the mid night candles to achieve my deepest thought, I must definitely succeed my long term goals .

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.

“Life’s most important revelation is that it’s the journey that counts, not the destination. Life is not a treasure hunt. Life is a treasure.”

“Don’t waste your time accumulating objects or attributes what will mean nothing to you after a few years. Real value comes from whatever you create in beauty, goodness and truth”.

“Expect the unexpected.”

“Mindset is what determines the ultimate performance of a champion, not talent or ability.”

“Winning is taken the talent and potential you were born with, developing it, and using it fully toward a purpose that makes you feel worthwhile.”

“The key to authentic leadership is to listen to your followers, and then open the door for them to lead themselves. The secret is empowerment. The main incentive is genuine caring and recognition”.

“If you try to sit in two chairs you will fall between them. In life, you must choose one chair”.

“Authentic Leaders listen and learn.”

“ If you have got the guts to say that you’re in control of your life, your own destiny, the world will respect you for it , even if events prove you were wrong.”

“Don’t rush success”.

“Mental toughness is the ability to thrive on pains and adversity.”

“Champions are disciplined thinkers. They recognized the relationship between what they think and how much pressure they experience during competition.”

“When your eyes are opened, you see the world that lies outside yourself. You see items of the room you’re in, the people, and the view of the landscape through the window.”

For the purpose of this assessment, there are several other quotes that I have underlined and written down on my jotter that have high impact in my life this recent time, but are not here because of page limit. Why I love these quotes is because the serve as a guideline to where I want to g o and what I want to do in my entire life here on earth.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

No, there is no one for now.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes! It contains exercises for the readers to complete and I complete some and I’m still working on the others as of the time when I was writing the assessment. I find it very interesting and educative for my daily living.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment

No, the questions already covered the most important information that one need to achieve in whatever goal in life.

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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

Keys to Success

Assessment by Igwe O Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

From the book titled “Keys to Success” Napoleon Hill gave an analytical framework of sound principles of success and established a strong positive relationship between success and failures in any endeavor. He was able to bring to light that for life to have true meaning , it requires that an individual should be willing and able to obey and walk with universal laws / principles {Cosmic habit force} that will help to serve as guidelines to the destination that he has chosen .

This means that for me to achieve my purpose in life, I should be willing and able to take total control of my mind and direct it to definiteness of purpose, have a creative vision and learn how to manage time. It means that I must continuously develop the habit of control thinking and be willing to form a mastermind alliance (team} which will serve as my inner circle of influence and team. It as well means that I improve on my personal brand {assembled personality/identity} and make it to have the capacity to attract people to me instead of repelling people.

It means that I must believe that there is an infinite intelligence that exist in the universe and apply faith to in other to take total possession of my mind and direct it to a worthy goal . It means that I should be willing and able to go the extra miles to work on myself, have a burning desire (Passion) that triggers me, remove self imposed limitation on my mind, disrupt the habit of procrastination and Self discipline myself in all areas of my life especially my emotions in other to let it work in alignment with my definiteness of purpose.

From my first paragraph, it means that I must learn to live and let others live, continually develop a positive mental attitude and think accurately using inductive and deductive reasoning. It means that should be able to separate facts from opinions distinguish opinions from facts, separate the important information from the unimportant , Know the source of my information in other to prove it validity and make proper use of them in the areas that it need to be use.

It also means that I develop a constructive enthusiasm in all that I do , develop and act on my personal initiatives , utilize my creativity and believe in my creative imagination. Knowing that I’m responsible for my success or failure because success or failure in any endeavor is a choice and I can chose to become successful in all that I do through my actions and the choices that I make each day, I will believe on my personal initiative on doing the things I wanted to do.

Napoleon to me summed up everything in two sentences which are, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe with positive mental attitude, the mind can achieve” and “for every adversity, there is an equivalent seed of greatness enveloped in it.”

In a nutshell, Napoleon was able to give a naked inventory overview of life and give a practicable and workable outline and definition of principles that when work upon and tactically apply repeatedly, have the ultimate capacity of liberating one from failures to success in all area of life’s endeavor within a specific time irrespective of the challenges.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanations after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

The Ideas that are important to me and why they are most important to me are:

i. The Habit of Controlled and Accurate Thinking

Left for me as an individual, the level of my achievement in life depends solely on my ability to cultivate and nurture the habit of controlled and accurate thinking. This is because there are many ideas that run across my mind every seconds of my life.

A critical examination have shown me that no man ever become successful in any endeavor until he learns how to become a controlled and accurate thinker, until he learns how to separate mere gossip and information from facts he will never raise above life’s failures . It is my responsibility to work on this.

This therefore means that there are many ideas that if they are not regulated or controlled will definitely bring me nothing but failures, sorrow and frustration.

In as much as I have good intentions to be great in life it is not enough for me to allow every thought to take effects on my life. It is my responsibility to organize and direct my thought to my definiteness of purpose. The ball is on my hand to be able to learn how to filter and separate those thoughts that can destroy me and make use of the ones that build me up. It is my responsibility to take absolute control of whatever I chose to think of and think accurately if I really want to be relevant in this ever challenging, dynamic and complex society. Because my maturity and the ability to be responsive and responsible to take charge of the events that happen to me in life begins here.

ii. The Habit of Self Discipline and Integrity

Research from the book has shown me that there has never been any man who had risen above life’s failures or shackles of poverty and attained real success that have not developed the habit of self discipline and have integrity. Research has shown me that for any man to be useful and relevant in any field of endeavor, self discipline, honesty and integrity are core values that must be inculcated in the life of that person and I will not be an exemption to these ideas.

This therefore mean that, I continually work on myself and discipline myself in all areas of my life, it means that the vital ingredient that I need to move up to the next phase of my life and last in any leadership position in the nearest future is to self discipline myself, to have integrity and be honest in all areas of my life irrespective of the circumstances that I may face when it is time to test me at the cause of my leadership roles.

It means that my “Yes” should be “Yes” and “No’’ should be “No” and I should be able to stand on it both in my speech, action, gestures, write up, etc.

iii. Definiteness of Purpose, Passion and Creative Vision

Just as Napoleon Hill put it forward “whatever the mind can conceive and believe on, the mind can achieve with positive mental attitude.” For me, definiteness of purpose, Passion and creative vision are tools that have served for me as part of my “thought conditioners” for quite some time now because these points are my movement action plans. While drafting out my NGO that I discovered in “Giant steps” assessments, these where my tools that I’m using as my “thought conditioners” and it is really working well for me at the moment.

iv. Positive mental attitudes and going the extra miles.

The ability to maintain a positive mental attitude while going the extra miles in any life’s endeavor in my life is important to me because positive mental attitude will assist me in the long run when all hope seems to be loss or when my chances of survival is small . The ability for me to go the extra miles and maintain PMA will serve as a source of inspiration and motivation to win any battle that life throws at me.

v. Developing an Attractive Personality

Just as Jim Rohn will say “if you want to amend your errors, you must begin by amending your philosophy about life” I have discovered a secret from this book that took me quite some time to be working on .I realize that from this single Idea, my most valuable asset or trade mark that I have in life is my personality or identity.

It is up to me to work on it and apply it tactically in all areas of my life in other to emit/ radiate light to my world. It is up to me to illuminate that light from within to the rest of the world. For I know this one thing that my personality or identity can be made a source of inspiration and motivation to my fellow youths whose feet have been wondered away, a source of hope to the aged, a source of illumination to the down trodden and to those who have been abandoned and rejected by the society.

In a nutshell, My philosophy about my personality have to change because I have made up my mind to make my identity or personality to have the capacity to attracts highly responsible and responsive individuals to my inner circle of influence .This is an eye opener to me because it make me to realize that adequate information equals adequate illumination.

vi. Time Management

While reading this book and upon completion, I realized that time management is really important to me as I work on my controlled and accurate thought. It is crucial for me as an individual as I pursued my goals and definiteness of purpose in my daily endeavor.

vii. Awakening of Imaginative Faculty

While going through the book I discovered that indeed imagination is more important than Knowledge as it is in alignment with Albert philosophy of change. If I continue to work with my imagination and as well make proper use of the knowledge that I already have. I will definitely make great impact and shape my life. It means that as I apply this, to other area of my life I will experience change and walk my self to the city of abundance.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

Each of the ideas that were discussed in question two will help me in practical ways Knowing that the only thing that I have absolute control of is my mental attitude and when I dedicate myself and make them as tools that will serve as my “thought conditioners” each day of my life. These Ideas will help me both in my daily life and in helping me to create a better world when I think on these ideas aloud, meditate on them and work towards the realization of them every moment of my life.

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“If you will plant for days plant flowers, if you will plant for years plant trees , if you will plant for eternity plant ideas.”

Looking at this quotation critically, I discover that the benefit that the “flowers,” “trees” and “ideas” when planted and allow to take its primary purpose will benefit humanity in general. This therefore means that when I plants these” flowers, trees and ideas” in my mind and make it a thing of reality, it will have the ultimate capacity to change my own life and the life of others around me.

“Only by finding your own burning desire will you achieve success.”

When I came across this quote from the book, I’m at the point in my life when I’m bored, tired and not happy about the “rat race” that I see myself running each day. That is, wake up early in the morning go to work, come back late, etc. To be frank my present routine work will never make me reach my ultimate productive capacity in life and I’m already finding a way out of this “rat race” at the moment. This quote in a nutshell changes my orientation about life. Because I have been a stranger to myself for long .

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?

At the initial stage when I was listening to the audio book, I found some ideas to be a difficult and I was unclear of many of the philosophy that were unleashed in the book but I never want to disagree with them at the onset since they were all back up with universal principles.

But at the moment when I was doing this assessment I listen to it over and over again before I come to this conclusion that there is no idea that I disagree with or do not understand from the book. It is now my responsibility to live by them and see the level of the outcome that the whole ideas will yield for me in the long run.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes it contained a lot of exercises that I’m still working on some that have not become a habit to me yet.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment

No the questions already have an overview of the most important information that one need to have in other to achieve whatever goals.

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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

Real Magic

Assessment by Igwe O. Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The main idea that the author Wayne W. Dyer conveyed in “Real Magic” is that he examined important information about not believing that we all are limited by our five senses or cause and effect but on believing that there is a higher awareness in the universe that we can tapped into by creating a miracle mindset and believe that we all are miracle makers in our personal health, prosperity, relationships and every other areas of lives and until we believed and accept these notions, that perfect harmony and inner peace to re align ourselves to our purpose will be difficult to be achieved.

In a nutshell, the author focuses more on the multisensory nature of human being.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

i. Adequate Illumination Equals Absolute/Total Freedom.

Whether or not I decided /chose to conditioned my mind on believing or not believing in the internal knowing that deeply within me is a unified field of limitless possibilities, a higher and deeper sense of ultimate awareness of the choice to chose to function at a higher level of awareness, allowing myself to transcend , to tapped into divine purpose , to soar to new and higher boundaries, to believe that I have the authentic power to offer victory over my metaphysical world by finding a state of equilibrium in every sets of circumstances in my life in other to achieve inner harmony , to remained committed to my inner transformation and to believe that there is a higher life beyond my philosophy , intellectual or scientific perspectives.

Whether or not I accept the notion that I can re-align myself in the invisible world by gaining mastery over my mind , that the universe is a divine order and I can walk in harmony with myself and my purpose, that there is a supernatural force that overpowers the laws of the physical world, that I can create my own reality because there is an inborn and divine forces that work with me rather than independently , that there is an invisible intelligence that flows through everything in a purposeful way in my life , that there is a higher life beyond suffering and outcome (which is to live life on purpose) , that I can experience an inner awakening if I let my true being to exist instead of limiting it, that most of the circumstances that happen to me in life that I termed it ’’ destiny’’ are not really destiny, but rather the way I had mentally conditioned my mind.

Whether or not I believed that I can open up myself to new inner believe system, that I ‘m a spiritual being having a human experience and that my invisible self constitute my human traits of conscious self awareness, free will, personal identity , creativity and emotion , that my invisible self exert a physical influence, that my physical realities are figments of my imagination and thought, that I’m a miracle maker, that deeply within me lies an incredible power that resides in , that I can live a life beyond cause and effect, that I cannot be limited by my five senses in terms of my beliefs and thought.

All depend on my abilities to forgive myself and others, to change what I focused on , to make solid decision to be opened and ready to learning, to developed the habit of controlled thinking and mediation, to believe in my intuition and intention, to accept the fact that I’m a miracle maker and that I can tapped into the abundance in the universe by applying the habit of positive thinking in my relationship, prosperity, finance and in my daily interaction with others in business, family, and the society .

In a nutshell, it all depends on my right application of my knowledge, information and education; it depends on changing my deepest philosophy about life that is not really working in alignment with purpose and that I have accepted them and I ‘m working on the ideas that I have not mastered.

ii. Inner Awakenings and Inner Harmony with Purpose.

Almost all my life here on earth, I have been a complete stranger to my own true existence, I have been a wonderer to my own true existence, I had at some point in my life so much believed on learning from suffering and outcome, I had subconsciously made a strict dichotomy between my invisible being and my physical world, I had doubted and refused to trust my own true nature, I had believed at some point in life that material wealth is the only source of true happiness and inner harmony ,

I had dwelled much of my time on entitlement mentality, created a lot of erroneous notion and philosophy about my inner existence, like believing that “I can’t help the way that I’m; I have always been this way,” “it is my true nature, I inherited who I’m and it can’t be changed,” my whole being is controlled by my body make up and metabolism, the society, family, culture and the people that I come in contact, are responsible for my personality. I have blocked the flow of abundance in the universe into my own life and existence; I have live almost half of my life here on earth on an outside- in life instead of inside – out life.

Like the parenthesis that is opened at my birth and will be closed at the time of my departure from the earth, I have lived and feed on erroneous philosophy about life; I have filled the parenthesis with the physical world philosophy and laws.

Subconsciously, I have failed to trust and lean on my own authentic and incredible power that resides in my own invisible self. I have failed to trust in the power of my own mind, failed to follow the divine guidance that is readily available to me, been chasing things that critically when I looked into them I don’t really need them, drained my energy because at some points in my life I painted wrong pictures and Images on my mind, the social cultural impediments that learning from suffering and outcome put into my true existence had made me to believe and live on lack mentality.

Subconsciously, I have failed to understand, listen and re-alien myself to the rhythm that comes out of my invisible and silent world. Although I have that inner awareness or the internal knowing that deeply within my inner core lies that inner voices but I have failed at some points in my life to understand the true meaning of it, failed at some point to make use of the magical mind that I have. I have been indoctrinated with many cultures and laws that indirectly, it limits me.

Should I say that I’m just too religious but not been spiritual? If you asked me in the past 8 months of my life here on earth that why am I born into this era? I will definitely have no ideas about it. I have been searching for that piece of information that will rekindle that burning flames within me that will lead me to that secret or to the place of the unknown that is buried deeply within my invisible self. I have battled with myself for a long time because I did not reach the point of total surrendering of every part of my whole being to the infinite intelligence that exist in the universe and my purpose. I mean to have a perfect inner harmony with my spirit being and the Physical.

But for now I learn a secret from this book that made me whole. I’ve a witness in my inner world that yes I have been re-aligned to my purpose and to God And the inner peaces have been restored.

iii. Trust your own Intuition, Intentions and Meditations.

It is at this point that the erroneous zones that I have learned from the philosophy of the world that are indirectly holding me captive begin to change. I have been working on how I can be able to harnessed my talents, skills, IQ and emotion in this recent time and bring out the best version of myself to my world.

I have been working on how I can finally learn how to improve more on my personality and my whole being when I came across this idea that the moment that I totally begin to trust my intuition and listen to that inner voices that echo from within me each day at a time that is when my anxieties and all the phobias that life’s impediments have created in me will varnish. While going through this book over and over again starting from the major premises to the minor premises, it is shaping my thought process up to the point that my major premises that I had concerning life that are not working for me is really changing.

I ‘m not writing this because of this assessment but at the moment, the truth remained that I have reached a point of Turning over in my life and that I have inner enrichment and enlightenment from within my inner core, I ‘m a different person at the moment when I completed this book because there is an inner healing taking place in my invisible world at the moment. The erroneous zone that I have lived and feed for a long time now are being replaced with a new philosophy entirely, I have come to realized that I as an economic being have a dimensionless access to the abundance in the whole universe I can! Yes I mean I can! Create and shape my world to suite my taste the moment that I go through thorough meditation, trust my own intuition and intension.

As I turned from pages to pages of this book, I discovered that the habit of constant meditation reveals my inner self and strength. It teaches me to have that inner witness of myself with my physical being .It revels to me to know no boundaries.

These were the points that made me to re-align myself to have peace with that part of my immortality. Because the labels that I had subconsciously placed upon myself and the big lies that I had told my inner self that I cannot change certain things about myself have been completely removed .

Left for me, as I grow in deeper revelation of myself everyday and applying this points to my life, I realized that if I really want to see, manifest miracle and have a miraculous transformation in my entire life, I should be willing and able to have a paradigm shift from the lower awareness of my being to a higher awareness, I should be able to pay a very close attention to whatever comes my way that will assist me in manifesting my ultimate miracle in life. I should be able to understand my body physiology , be willing to break myself from the self- imprison that my culture, society and myself have accepted for quite some time now and go the extra miles to go beyond logic and scientific perspectives.

I should be able to see and define it for myself that my body is a miracle making being that accept no form of sickness and that I can heal myself from all forms of sickness by my mental conditioning. Immediately I accepted this notion to shift from my inner consciousness to a place of limitless possibilities then miracles will begin to take place in all aspect of my life.

While working on this point, I realized that no matter how long that I have been travelling on the wrong direction though it is painful but I have to turn back and start all over again in the right direction. I know that the ability to make noble choices and develop self- control to stand by my choices even at the expenses of my convince up to the points that those choices affects other areas of my life positively lies within me and I will work on it to see it happen in my own life.

v. A letter to the next generation.

While going through the letter to the next generation, I discovered inner enlightenment within my inner being that shifted me beyond distrust, fear and hostility. The questions that really make remarkable impact in my life from this letter are: Matthew, “Have you learned that your humanity lies beyond the boundaries of the body? Do you know and live the idea that a person is much more than a pile of bones, blood, gristle and skin? Do you recognize that within all form is an invisible intelligence? Can you see yourself as spiritual being having a human experience, rather than human beings who may be having a spiritual experience? Have you learned and adopted the understanding that we all are connected? Do the majority of me see that what I think about expands?”

While answering these questions reminded me of my previous assessment on Psycho-Cybernetics and how to re-connect myself to the right people, right circumstances and the right places at the right time, to be honest with you my dear readers these questions is really part of what engineer me to write this assessment up to this point because they really made effect on my own life.

vi.You Overcome Weakness by Leaving them behind.

The information that you don’t know indeed will continue to hurt you all the days of your life as the say goes. While I completed this book for quite some time now I begin to see reasons I had failed to have inner harmony with my inner self. I had been wasting some of my time working hard to overcome my old self and defeating believe and behaviors. Honestly speaking, I have struggled with this idea before I came across this in this book because I have not truly learned how to leave the stage of my life where weakness has dealt with me.

From the moment that I joined this platform up till now I have been working on how I can finally leave behind all my weaknesses by letting go of the obstacles that I have subconsciously chosen a life time impediment s and rely on. In this recent time I now know that what I termed destiny is not a destiny but the erroneous zones and self –imposed illusions that I have lived on in the past. In a nutshell, I need to have emotional mastery in other to overcome my weakness by leaving them behind and that I ‘m almost achieving it now.

vii. There are higher levels of awareness that is available to us all.

Having this knowledge that we are all connected and there is an invisible force in the universe that pervades all life and that the force flows through my whole system and that I can go within to discover my invisible higher self to raise above social cultural impediment s that have been placed in the physical world, having the knowledge that I can be acquainted with the reality of my invisible world made me to agreed with the great French scientist Blaise Pascal when he said “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.

It is when I become calmed and listen to my own mind that the instant awakening in me will come. It is when I accepted the notions and practices them that I have everything within me to manifest all the miracles in my world. If only I had known that I don’t need any other thing to manifest it than to trust God, my mind and the people that I come in contact in the universe earlier enough. I will not have continued to wonder from pillar post to post in some aspect of my life.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

Like the say goes “Think like a millionaire, act like a millionaire, become a millionaire!” These Ideas that were discussed in question two and others in the book will help me in practical way both in my daily life and in helping me to create and to increase the qualities of my life in other to have Economic power to create and to carve -out a better world by applying them into my real life every day. It will assist me by practicing and implanting them into my real life.

By thinking like a millionaire, acting like a millionaire and I can become a millionaire and create the zone of fulfillment in my life when I move beyond awareness to action that is constant, consistence and never –ending improvement and that I must do for the rest of my life because my standards, beliefs and strategies about life have been shifted to global standards.

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.

“Although a broken leg is a broken leg, it is a liability in your life only if that is how you choose to see it. If you decide that you are not going to be immobilized by the break, that you are not going to think about how unfortunate you are and that you will do all that you possibly could do if your leg were not broken , then that will be your reality.”

While using psycho – analysis to reasoned out the intrinsic meaning of this quote without just concluding within the surface value, I realized that who I am is more than whom I am demonstrating, I realized that at some point in my own life I have been an aimless fellow because most of the realities that I have created and accepted in my life because of the social- cultural and social–political impediments that the society that have imposed on me. This made me to be so afraid to look inward in my own life because I will not be happy with what I could see.

My ability to begin to correct most of my realities that I have created in my own life that are not really realities but illusion will go a long way to help me to shape and carve out my own destiny irrespective of any obstacles that I may confront and overcome at the cause of my quest for success in life.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

No!

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes! It contains exercises for the readers to complete and I completed the exercises. I find them very interesting and educative for my daily living.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment

No, the questions already covered the most important information that one need to achieve in whatever goal in life.

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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Assessment by Igwe O. Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The author of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey examined how victory over ourselves in the private have a direct and strong positive correlation to our public accomplishments by having a paradigm shift, being proactive, beginning things with the end in mind, inculcating the habit of thinking win- win, seeking first to understanding and then be understood, (that is effective communication) and influencing our world by being effective and efficient in all that we do.

The Author examined and center on universal principles of personal, interpersonal, managerial, organizational, and leadership effectiveness that will result to a lasting growth and sustainability in our lives by accepting responsibilities and being accountable to chose not to respond or react to events and circumstances. In a nutshell, he established that we can chose to live in a state of joy and master all forms of emotional turbulence in other to be independent and conquered ourselves to attain a well-balanced growth in every areas .

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

i. Understanding how the power of Paradigm and paradigm shifts, increasing of the circle of influence lead to effective leadership and sustainable growth

This idea is personally important to me because, it is expected that as one attained growth and development in life, the information and the knowledge that he had encountered need to have a strong positive correlation with his level of achievement in other to become independent of circumstances in his own life.

This implies that it is expected that I trim- out trivial matters and compartmentalized my life to fix into every goals that I have set. It implies that I critically look into my life to indentify and analyze my activities and know what is really working and what is not working in other to make solid decisions. It mean that I need a paradigm shift to move beyond positive affirmation to creating meaningful realities in the aspect of my life that need change in other to become balanced in every aspect .

For it is my responsibility now therefore to change my perception, perspective and paradigm, it is my responsibility to stop giving excuses and resisting change and accept the training process , accept universal truths and let go of all faulty believe systems and event s that can’t give me my desired results and begin to use my brain power to gain mastery over myself and succeed!

For this is a way that I can expand my circle of influence and refused to be controlled by my circle of concern. I therefore Chose to be consistent in living with universal principles, to shut my ears to listening to negative information or react to negative people in other to have a deeper inner awakening that shift t will cause an inside-out change and break forth to make a difference in my world

ii. Understanding the effect of private victory, putting first things first, being proactive and beginning things with the end in mind in dealing with people and task.

Like Charles Darwin will say “it is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent but the ones most responsive to change”, this idea is essential to me as it is helping me now in carving out the structure, conduct and performance of my organization which I’m still working on.

The idea is also important to me because I can use this to re-program and re-model myself in creating my realities instead of creating and living life by default.

When I Imagine how sophisticated our world become every day and the people that I come in contact this recent time due to advancement in globalization and the practical application of knowledge, In all honesty I need to upgrade and structure myself to meet up to the recent trends and global standard in business, family, spirituality and profession that will give me lasting growth and sustainability in every aspect. For these reasons, I chose to really allow the effect of private victory, putting first things first, being proactive and beginning things with the end in mind to have real effect in my life and I will not l live this book until I master them completely without struggling with them.

iii. The character ethics and the personality ethics-a new level of thinking.

As Socrates will put this forward that “An unexamined life is not worth living ” , this idea is personally important to me because it make me to examined my life and to start working on the areas that really need to be change in other to meet up with the gaps that have been left behind.

iv. Constructing accurate mental maps for effective living

Why this idea is important to me is that it not only give me an accurate self – map to accept any training process that will increase my leadership roles but it as well give me a comprehensive overview of what need to be change and how I can move from been ineffective in some areas of my life to effective.

v. Making and keeping commitment

Making and keeping commitments is essential to me both in my private and public victories in dealing with people and task because it makes me to be responsible and accountable i.e. to have integrity and to be trustworthy in all that I do. For it reveals and reflects the level of my maturity, excellent in performance and character in all that I do.

I therefore make and keep commitment do all my best in my endeavor to be responsive to keeping commitments henceforth irrespective of the stumbling blocks on my way.In a nutshell, like James Alan will say “circumstances never make a man but reveal him”. Never again will I give excuses to not being committed to what really matters to my growths and development, business relationship and other aspect.

vi. Principles of Personal Leadership

Like Anthony Robbins will say “Never mistake movement with an achievement” and Stephen Covey, “it is possible to be busy- very busy – without being very effective’’. I chose to accept all the necessary training to be efficient and effective in other to have self mastery over myself all aspect.

vii. Understanding the power of independent will and the power of a Win-win habit.

With this idea, I strongly hold the view that I can and I will definitely succeed in Leadership, business, family ,career, and other aspect of my life because my techniques and methods of reasoning is really changing at the moment. For I deliberately chose to function in this direction as this is already having strong and positive effect on me this recent time.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

Since I have a burning desire to increase my capacity in other to increase my output in all areas , these ideas and the rest that are found in the book will help me in my practical way in my daily life When I deliberately chose to apply this ideas and that I’m already on it

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly gets your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you?

“Our perceptions govern the way we see and the ways we see govern the way we behave.”

The idea particularly reflects the reasons that I have witness fluctuations in results in some areas. It is my responsibility therefore, to consistently work on my perception/ focus since it affects the way that I see and as well affect my behavior and results.

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 understand all the ideas but in living with some of the ideas without struggling with them is my challenge right now due to some of the technicality that this book contains.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes! It contains exercises for the readers to complete and I’m still working on some of the exercises that require daily practices. I find them very helpful and educative.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment.

No!

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good And one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

 

 

The Law of Attraction
Assessment by Igwe O Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The author summarized the book by establishing this fact that, that which is like unto itself is drawn, and that each of us are like a powerful magnet and a creative life force or energy force flows through us all and we are attracting whatever experience that we want. And by deliberately directing our thoughts rather than merely observing what is happening around us we will begin to change the vibrational patterns to which the law of attraction is responding to us.

From the book, the author made emphasis on the fact that we are the creator, attractor and the inviter of our own experiences and realities and that we chose to attract positive experiences into our being by deliberately focusing our thoughts processes and trusting our emotional guidance system towards our set of well- defined goals. In a nutshell, Esther and Jerry Hicks extensively examined the causality that exists between our thought and our life experiences. They focused more on three universal laws: the law of attraction, the science of deliberate creation, the art of allowing and concluded the book with the segment of intending.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanations after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

i. You are a magnet attracting circumstances, events, other beings, life styles and thoughts into your experience!

The idea is important to me because it is my intention to deliberately attract positive experiences into my being. This mean that my responsibility as the creator of my own experiences is to deliberately focus my attention to the experiences, circumstances and life style that I’m wanting to see and manifest .

It is an eye opener to me to sit up, to mentally conditioned my mental state of being and attitude about myself and consistently make deliberate choices about my thoughts , the things that I do , the people that influences me , the things that I intend to see , like, experience and expect each day in other to deliberately create my well-defined goals since I am the deliberate inviter, the deliberate attractor and the deliberate creator of my own experience .

ii. There is nothing that you cannot be, do or have. You are a magnificent creator, and you are by virtue of your powerful and wanting to be here!

Since in other to effect true positive change in my experience, I must disregard how things are as well as how others are seeing me and deliberately give more of my attention to the way I intend to be, the idea is important to me because it give me a guide as the controller of my own experiences to believe on the incredible and authentic power that resides in my inner being. It also serve as a reminder to me that I hold enough power to deliberately create any thing that I can imagine.

iii. I intend to see; I want to see; I expect to ; no matter who I am working with, no matter who I am talking with ,no matter where I am, no matter what I am doing… I intend to see that which I want to see and experience in my life.

The idea have been influencing and positively affecting my thinking processes and belief in that it had influenced me positively on developing on new strategic and ability skills in dealing with complex task and restructured me to clearly identify , deliberately live and begin to work towards what is really most important to me at this point in life.
The Idea is also important to me as it give me a sense of direction, clarity, power, to be intentionally be specific towards my growth and development by not being in-deliberate or merely living or creating my realities based on default or attracting that which I don’t intend to see, want and experience in life.

iv. Your ability to focus upon a narrower subject brings forth more clarity, while your ability to focus upon many things at once more often brings confusion.

The idea is important to me because by making consistence decisions and focusing on the most important things at a time will make me to have the real effect of clarity and power in all area.

v. Truly, the perfect role model for you, regarding any subject does not exist – you are the creator of that.

This imply that, that which I seek outside, I already have it and that through believing and consciously creating my realities I become the role model that I intend to see . It also means that the capacity to coupled and coordinate myself towards the attainment of my deliberate intent can be achieved if I do not see myself not having the enough ability to create my world. The idea is important to me also because I have been enlightened and have the power to identify that I’m the creator, the attractor and the inviter of my own experiences and that which I’m and living will manifest itself in my experiences.

vi. The significance of words and communication.

Since words and communications is the means through which one deliberately chooses to attract, create and invite any experience into his own life, the idea is important to me because I need to understand the meaning of the words and communication that my inner being is communicating to me each time in other to avoid creating my realities by defaults.

vii. The Decision, choices, action and courage to be the deliberate attractor, creator and inviter of whatever life’s realities.

Like the saying goes “If you faint in the days of adversity your strength is not enough”. It is now my responsibility to consistently emerge as a winner through consistent positive decisions, choices, and actions in my endeavor.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

According to Vince Lombardi he said, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” These ideas will help me in a practical way, both in my daily life and in helping me to create a better world by deliberately and consistently applying the ideas until it begin to function in all my realities.

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.

“You are here to create the world around you that you choose, while you allow the world- as others chose it to be- to exist, also. And while their choices in no way hinder your own choices your attention to what they are choosing does affect your vibration, and therefore your own point of attraction.”

This quote from the book particularly has been affecting my thought processes this recent time and I know it. I noticed that for quite some time now that I came across the statement it had made me to develop more on my cognitive skills, technical skills and adaptive skills in some aspect of my life. It had helped me to shift my attention deliberately from the point that I’m not emotionally matured enough to the point where I’m restructuring my life and having complete control over what I’m attracting into my experience.

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?

At the initial stage when I came across some of the points from this book, in all honesty, I disagreed with some of the ideas and the inferences that I drew from the book. I have to think both inductively and deductively in other understand and accept the premises and propositions that were not clear to me initially. Example of some of the statement is “that which you really, really want, you get- and that which you really, really do not want, you get” and several others that it took me time to fully comprehend the meaning.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes it contains exercises for the reader to complete, I completed them and they were helpful.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment

No

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

 

 

Maximum Achievement

Assessment by Igwe O Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

Brain Tracy critically examined and established the inference that we can alter the conditions of our lives and improves the quality of our lives by altering our values, attitudes and institutions such as social norms {beliefs} that governs our human existences through the right use of our mental capacities and deliberately exercising our power of choice to take systematic and purposeful control over the thoughts that we hold in our conscious minds. For example, by rigorously disciplining ourselves to think, talk and take actions only on the direction to what we intend and want see in our lives.

The author gave steps in recognizing and being mindful of negative thoughts , how we can release negative and unproductive habits, retrain our brain, re-frame our beliefs ,perceptions , paradigms and how to re-scripts our old beliefs to have a healthy and meaningful relationships and a prosperous life. In a nutshell, the author gave a simplified goal setting tools and systems that when effectively utilized and coherently implemented, have the ultimate capacity in transforming lives, and unlocking our hidden potentials.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanations after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

i. Taking full responsibility of life.

Having gone through the book and ponder on the ideas that were discussed in the book I not only realized that there is no liberty without full responsibility of life but also need to consistently take the responsibility towards the refinement of my philosophy, perceptions of values, ideas, and also evaluate information that governs my human existence and take the responsibility to enjoy the process of training and harnessing the incredible power of my mind.

ii. Passion! Emotion! Beliefs! Perceptions! Convictions! Decision!

The idea in two is important to me personally because each of it is success component that when properly harnessed not only make me to be matured but as well improve the physical quality of life in terms of health and other aspect. Each of the idea is a driving force towards the attainment of my goals.

iii. Developing skills in the ability to set goals and to control and manage time effectively in other to achieve a sustainable results.

After a thorough reading, pondering and reviewing of the ideas that were unleashed in the book, I not only learn more on the key to setting goals, reasons goals fails, but as well involved on the goal setting processes and task to developed a new technique that is more relevant in this new age. Developing skills in the ability to control and to manage time effectively in other to produce sustainable results over a long period of time is an essential ingredient to completely develop a master plan for the achievement of goals.

The idea therefore is important to me because in other to be successful in all aspects of life I need to develop some goal setting skills, there is need to learn the necessary success rudimentary principles and components which the idea is a part of and also learn how to control and make proper use of time in other to achieve my future outcome.

iv. Understanding the power of focus, clarity and consistency

Focus, clarity and consistencies are essential success tools that one needs to be able to achieve any goal. The ability therefore to be clear, concise, and use persuasive language is essential to the achievement of a worthy goal. The idea is important to me in shaping and helping to improve and increase my results in all walks of.

As one become more exposed to more information there is need to have a driving force towards the attainment of his goals , this ideas is also like a driving force that propels me towards the attainment of what I intentionally want to see and experience in life regardless of any stumbling blocks on the road to success . Left for me I can say that Focus, clarity and consistency brings confidence and courage to a man who have vision or purpose in life.

v. The power of associations and environment

Having gone through the book and ponder on the ideas that were fully discussed, I realized that we are either pull back because of our past or push forward by the expectations that we have concerning the future . The Associations and the environment that we find ourselves at any point in time have a major factor to determine our outcomes in Life. Associations and the environment often influence our behavior and philosophy in all aspect; it is my responsibility to choose my association and environment carefully in other to function to my maximum capacity.

vi. The Self- Image Concept

As one grows older and reaches the point of maturity, one begins to focus more on the self image. Reason being that our success or failures in any chosen field of endeavor begin from the very point of the belief that we hold on both our subconscious and conscious mind which go a long way to affect our ability to reason well in the society.

Self Image is all boiled down to being afraid or being courageous on the other way round. Often time our different societies have cultured us to belief on the fact that we are in some ways limited due to some artificial constrain. This as well go a long way to affect us to develop the feeling of always being inferior or incompetent to others. The idea therefore is important to me because I need to consistently remind myself that I can and I will do my very best to maximized my potentials in all aspects regardless of any artificial constrain and also work more on myself image.

vii. The Power of Innovation, visualization and creativity

Innovation, visualization coupled with creativity in this new age not only has the capacity to transform an individual life but as well as societies, communities, nations and even at the global world. After the completion of the book I realized that I still need to work more on the raw ideas that I have in other to make it to be globally acceptable and marketable in the global market. I also realized that to be ever relevant in this new era, I need to completely embrace the power of innovation and change.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The ideas discussed above will help me in a practical way both in my daily life and in helping me to create a better world by consistently applying them, having the right mindset and accepting the fact that I can alter and indeed, I can alter the conditions of my life and improve the physical quality of my life when I rigorously follow the various steps discussed in the book.

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“Your beliefs give you a form of tunnel vision, belief create the actual facts.”

“Your incredible brain can take you from rags to riches, from loneliness to prosperity, from sickness to radiant health, and from depression to happiness and joy – if you learn how to use it properly.”

These two quotes from the author got my attention because each of the quotes portrays my deepest line of thoughts that I have being working on. The quotes made me to believe more on the fact that I can alter the conditions of my life and improve the quality of my life and others around by thinking positively, having the right vision and believing that it is possible to be achieve.

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 no idea that I do not understand or are unclear about or any idea that I disagreed with for now.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes it contains exercises for the reader to complete; I completed the ones that can be completed within the time of this assessment while the rest that required consistencies I’m still practicing them. They were helpful and educative.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment

No.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

Goals

Assessment by Igwe O. Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

Brian Tracy give a step to step guides in setting, initiating, executing /implementing and achieving specific, measurable ,achievable , realistic and time sensitive goals in health and wellness, prosperity and success in relationships, financial independence and abundance, organizational success and personal development , through the habit of controlled and accurate thinking, positive mental attitude, a strong belief, right ideological and social – cultural orientation, Hunger for change or determination to see the change that we deliberately want and intend to feel, experience and see to manifest in our lives. Tracy identified the important of accurate mental pictures, right associations, discipline, massive action and perseverance in achieving our goals. He clearly brings to light how we can live our dreams instead of day dreaming, and living a limited life. He identified setbacks and road blocks that will stand on our way towards achieving our set goals and how we can remove the setbacks and road blocks in other to create the kind of life that we want with persistent action.

In a nutshell, Brian clearly established the fact that human being can alter the conditions of their lives by altering their altitudes of mind through the habit of a consistent implementation of strategic life plans. This therefore mean that anyone who is living a distorted, disordered and disorganized life can be transformed and become a source of transformation to others if the ideas that is unleashed in the book is properly applied.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanations after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

i. A strong belief coupled with immediate decision, determination, discipline, big dreams; burning desire, massive action and perseverance can re- write a bad destiny.

By consistently believing that I can alter the conditions of my life coupled with focus, clarity, hunger for change, taking massive action consistence to my desired goals, determination, self disciplining my mind to succeed, dreaming big, making the right decisions to consistently work on myself and persisting until I succeed, I can alter the conditions and improve the qualities of my life and become agent of social change and transformation to the society.

ii. Setting specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time sensitive goals.

Having gone through the book and also gathered ideas from the experiences of both the past and present successful people, the building block or ingredient to any greatness in any endeavor begin at the moment when one can be able to learn how to set a well-defined and specific goal that is measurable, achievable, realistic and time sensitive enough until it take whole of the action of the goal setter. The idea is important to me because it will guide me through the path way that I have deliberately chosen in other to create the realities and experiences that I intend and want to see in my own life.

iii. Humans being can alter the conditions of their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

The simple fact about life is that each and every one of us we are totally responsible for our world or we are the creator of our world and we all are in charge of our lives but often times, majority of us never know or believe in the fact that we are indeed responsible for our lives. If we are the creator of our own experiences, it means that we can alter the conditions of our lives by altering our attitudes of mind.

Why this idea is important to me as an individual is because I believe that right attitude or positive thinking can altered the entire life of any disorganized, distorted and poverty stricken person to a powerful and creative being through consistent commitment and hunger for change . It is my responsibility therefore to make a conscious and deliberate effort that is consistent with my action to become competent in all area of my life through stretching myself and being flexible to learn how to re-adjust my attitude of mind to serve well.

iv. The ability to identify and harness opportunities meeting with Difficulties, competition and complexities.

The reality about life is that opportunity to be great in any area of life is always available but it is up to me to be able to clearly identify and harness those opportunities in the midst of difficulties, competition and complexities in the society.

The idea is important to me because the ability to identify and harness opportunities in the presence of difficulties, competition and complexities in this ever dynamic world make the difference in all area of my life. This therefore mean that by deliberately taking the path way that lead to total freedom for me require that I clearly identify and harness opportunities. It also mean that my aim in mentally programming myself to maximize my potential is to impressed my goals deeply to my subconscious mind so that they are “locked in” and take on power of their own in other to with stand the difficulties , competition and complexities in the midst of opportunities.

v. Becoming a leader or expert in a specific area.

In becoming an expert in a specific area require that I work more on myself and go the extra miles to do the things that majority of people that I live with will not ordinarily won’t do today. It means that I have the ability to make use of what I have at my disposal and take consistent action towards my strategic life plan until I succeed. It means that by clearly identifying what is really working and not working and learning to discipline myself and also channeling my energy to my strength in other to effectively learn new concept s and how it works will give me an edge over others in the same field . It also means that I have to develop a new skill to specifically defined exactly what I want and also identify the skill to specifically defined what others exactly want elegantly and consistently and persist until I succeed.

vi. Values, ethics, philosophy, principle centeredness, refusing to spend major time on minor things, ability to take a calculated risk and also gathering workable knowledge.

vii. Full development of potential in all areas of is the essence of life.

From the book, it was clearly shown that the ability of an individual to develop the following skills give an edge over others in the society who lacks them

Critical thinking skills; Great communication skills; Problem identification and solving skills; Excellent leadership skills; Interpersonal skills; Human development skills; Negotiation skills; Building great habits and decision making skills.

It is my responsibility to consistently work on the listed skills above to be able to make a difference and effect changes to my world.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The ideas will help me in a practical way both in my daily life and in helping me to create a better world by applying the knowledge , skills , tools, and techniques that I have learned and acquired from the book in all areas that they needed to be apply to see my desired results.

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.

“Self-discipline means that you have the ability, within yourself, based on your strength of character and willpower, to “do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not to you.”

Persistence is Self-Discipline in Action

“Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

The quotes got my attention because I believe that they can guide me through the path way that I have deliberately chosen for myself to see and experience my desired outcome.

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 were no ideas that I do not understand about in the book or disagree with or unclear about. It is now my responsibility to apply all that I have been able to learn from the book and change things around 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?

The book contains a lot of exercises for the reader to complete. At the time of this assessment I have not been able to complete all the exercises in the book .So far the ones that I have completed I find them really challenging, interesting and educative. I ‘m still working on the remaining exercises that are yet to be completed, I intend to complete them in the nearest future.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment.

No!

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

 

 

Leadership for Dummies

Assessment by Igwe O Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

In Leadership for Dummies, the author gave practical and detailed overview of the art of leadership. He identified key leadership skills and abilities every leader need in other to succeed in leadership roles and responsibilities such as Willingness to embrace responsibility, ability to elicit cooperation from others, listening empathically and placing the needs of others above your own needs i.e. being altruistic.

The author identified the core component needed for success in leadership to include: the missions, goals, visions, styles (karate and jujitsu}, harnessing the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of leaders , why leaders must depend on team in other to achieve the desired outcome, Team building, creating a winning team, Team learning and spreading team knowledge around, building the leadership muscles within, volunteering your time and skills in organizing our communities and being a coach in other to be efficient and effective in all multi-faceted leadership roles and responsibilities.

The author also identified basic axioms, myth, characteristics of true leader, ways to master leadership skills and as well the factors responsible for failures in leadership. He listed the mistakes that every leader make and gave several analogies where the followers won’t follow the leader and how those failures can be saved.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanations after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

i. Team building, creating a winning team, Team learning and spreading team knowledge around in other to be efficient and effective in all facets of leadership roles and responsibilities:

The ideas listed above is vital to me because my skill level in this area need improvement and need to be change in other to be able to be able to unleash the leadership potentials within. Since all success in leadership from all walks of life depends on the listed ideas and success in leadership depends on the ability to be able to build solid team, create a winning team, and team learning and as well as spreading team knowledge around. The idea is also important to me because it is more practicable which will enable me to build my leadership muscles for a greater responsibility and accountability in other to expand from within, and strengthens my inner core.

ii. Willingness to embrace responsibility, ability to elicit cooperation from others, listen and to place the needs of others above your own needs.

Having gone through the detailed lessons and several analogies unleashed in Leadership for Dummies that there have never been any greatness that had ever come out our comfort zone. I believe the idea is important to me because, to be able to lead from within and become an authentic leader from all walks of life requires that the leader should not only be able but as well be flexible enough to be willing to embrace responsibilities, elicit the corporation of others, listen well with the intent to create the desired outcome of the group and as well place the needs of the group above the leaders own need Only then can the group ever move forward.

iii.The missions, goals, visions, styles, ability to harness the strength, weakness, opportunities, threats and flexibility of leaders determine the success or failure in Leadership.

The ability to designed and developed a compelling mission, goals and vision is not enough the styles of the leader towards the attainment of the desired outcome coupled with the ability of the leader to harness his strength, weakness, identify or create opportunities to lead well, identify his major and minor threats in other to become flexible to work towards the attainment of the overall objectives of the group determine the success or failure of the group.

iv. Leading across cultures and meeting up to expectation.

While leading across cultures, it is bound to always encounter challenges and conflicts among team members. The ability of the leader to be able to develop conflicts and stress management skill will go a long way to solve most of the internal and external conflicts at the course of leading the team members that come from different cultural background in other to meet up to the expectations of the group. The idea “leading across cultures and meeting up to expectation’’ Approaches that were discussed in the book is important to me because to be successful in any leadership task, the skill is vital for an organization to move forward in trying times. The ability of the leader to use the right kind of follower who can serve as a catalyst to solve the leadership challenge in the mist of internal conflicts depends on the skill level and the exposure of the leader in this area. Gaining an in-depth knowledge as well new technique in people management, resource management and as well as risk management skills as it is explained in the chapter is really built my hope that in mist of chaotic moment in leadership I can use the knowledge and skills to find ways to move ahead in other to meet up to the group desired outcome.

v. Building your Leadership muscles

The Idea is important to me because it is only in putting my brain to work, use what I have, responds to situations flexible, taking advantage of fortuitous circumstances, making sense of ambiguous or contradictory messages, driving myself, developing a sense of urgency just to mention but a few that was discussed in the chapter of the book can the true potential of the leadership skills in me be built over time in other to take up higher leadership responsibilities.

vi. Taking the lead as a volunteer/ coach and volunteer your time and skills to train yourself for a real life leadership every day.

At this point , the idea is important to me because taking the lead as a volunteer in volunteering my time and skills to train myself for a real life leadership every day is my top goal at the moment as this will make to increase my ability to learn how to mobilize people and ideas.

vii. Remember, they‘re not Electing you dictator for life.

The statement is important because it is a reminder while leading and making decisions at the course of leading others. Having the Knowledge that all leadership is temporary, situational, Hierarchical and transitional, the ability to select and make the right decisions as it is described in the book determine the emotional connection , kind of followers, motivation, empathy and the accountability of the leader to succeed in any group that he is leading. It also determines the cause of failures in leadership and as well creates the circumstances where followers or team members will revolt and deliberately refuse to follow the leader in achieving his mission.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

Having gone through the lessons shared in leadership for dummies and also learn that great achievement in all facets of human endeavor have never came from the comfort zones but by being deliberate to make a conscious decision and take persistence action to walk in a well-defined destination that are in line with the set goals, mission, vision and plans daily.

The ideas listed above will help me in practical way both in my daily life and in helping me to create a better world by deliberately practicing, paying the price for each of the points listed, enjoining the process and as well as taking action persistently with courage like the lessons from Saul Alinsky until my skills level radically changed, until I learned all that is needed, until it make sense, until I have got it right, change! Learn and grow from inside- out!

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.

“You become a leader by acting like a leader. You don’t need the title or the authority. You only need to be able to embrace responsibility, to be able to elicit cooperation from people, listen to their needs, and then place those needs above your own.”

“The central responsibility of a leader is to provide the climate necessary for creating growth and success. You can do many things as a leader ,but ultimately ,if your group ‘s mission isn’t successful and you don’t manage to grow something – whether it’s the skill and knowledge in a group of kids you’re mentoring or the profits of a major enterprise – then you have failed in your most basic responsibilities as a leader.”

.

“The people who get out on in this world are people who get up and look for the circumstances they want; if they can’t find them, make them.”

–George Bernard Shaw

The statements listed above particularly got my attention because these statement acts as a trigger to act, deliberately create and make decisions that can have an explosive growth from within and increase my leadership skills to the next dimension in other to be able to influence the society positively.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

No, there is no idea in the book which I do not understand, unclear or disagree with.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes the book contains exercises for the reader to complete. I completed some that are most important to me when doing this assessment. Others that require long time practices I’m still working on them. The exercises were very helpful, educative, challenging, illuminating and very insightful.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment

No.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good

And one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

 

 

Nonviolent Communication

Assessment by Igwe Matthew (Nigeria)

1. What is the main Idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

Nonviolent communication is founded on language and communication skills that strengthen our ability to remain human even under trying conditions by replacing our old patterns of defending, blaming, withdrawing or attacking in the face of judgments ,criticisms, resistance, defensiveness, violent reactions, clarifying what is being observed, felt, evaluated and needed to deep listening, respect, attentiveness, requesting and empathy by taking responsibility of our own feelings and liberating ourselves from damaging cultural conditioning, distorted and faulty belief system in other to counsel others.

Marshall B Rosenberg discussed in Nonviolent communication (NVC) essential and very powerful methodology for communication and techniques in acquiring effective communication skills in solving conflicts, forgiving ourselves and letting go of anger in other to improve our relationship with others and maintain inner harmony . He identified some communication that blocks the flow of compassion ranging from moralistic judgments, making comparison, denial of responsibilities and other form of life- alienating communications. That is, he identified factors that affect our ability to stay compassionate to giving and receiving compassion, between the speaker and the audience based on mutual giving from the heart to be attributable to our language and the use of words. Rosenberg identified specific approach to communicating- speaking and listening that will leads us to give from the heart, connecting us with ourselves and each others in a way that allows our natural compassion to flourish .

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these ideas followed by explanations after each one as to why it was important to you. Use your examples from your own personal life.

The following are the ideas which personally are most important to me from Nonviolent communication:

i. Observing without evaluating is the highest form of human intelligence.

After the completion of chapter three of the book, I felt the techniques that were unleashed in the chapter to be precise observing without evaluating is important to me because at some points I have learn in the past to evaluate more than observing. Learning how to critically distinguish observations that are separate from evaluation from those that have evaluation mixed in it have tremendously affected my communication skills positively in recent time. By consistently following the analogies that Rosenberg shared in the chapter and as well remodeling other similar ones will make me to communicate more effectively and as well as enriches my life and relationship with others.

ii. Building a new Vocabulary for Feelings that enhances effective communication when our needs are met or not met.

Building a new vocabulary for feelings that enhances effective communication when our needs are met or are not met, in trying conditions, managing stress, blaming and expressing our anger in other to communicate harmoniously to our internal self and others is critical in communicating effectively and mastery new communication skills and techniques that will improve the quality of our lives and communication with others. The idea is important to me because it will assist me to improve the quality of my communication and master the necessary communication skills and techniques needed for effective communication in the 21st century.

iii. Liberating ourselves from damaging cultural conditioning, training, and self-limiting belief that actively blocks our consciousness and counseling others.

The idea is important to me because in liberating myself from damaging cultural conditioning, training and self limiting belief that actively blocks my consciousness make me to Request That Which Would Enrich Life and also make me to develop positive language when making requests . In liberating ourselves from damaging cultural conditioning gives us an advantage to learn how to be free and become a counselor to others.

iv. Overcoming the Reluctance to express genuine Appreciation deeply from our heart-Appreciation that enriches the life of the receiver and the giver harmoniously.

In expressing a genuine appreciation deeply from our heart- appreciation that enriches the life of the receiver and the giver brings about a relationship based on honesty and empathy and It end up creating trust that our primary commitment is to the quality of the relationship, and that we expect this process to fulfill everyone’s needs and requests which is the essence of NVC. The idea is important to me because in developing a relationship based on honesty and empathy with others not only enriches my own life but as well improves the quality of the life of others. Applying this and other exercises that were outlined in the book will improve my communication and relationships with others.

v. When we become aware of our needs, anger gives way to life-serving feelings.

Making requests in clear, positive, concrete action language reveals what we really want and make us to avoid Vague language that contributes to internal confusion. In expressing our needs and controlling our anger when our needs are not met give way to life serving feelings which enriches our lives. The idea is important to me because it will make me to be a better person in my relationship with others.

vi. We want to take action out of the desire to contribute to life rather than out of fear, guilt, shame, or obligation.

In taking action out of the desire to contribute to the material means to life rather than out of fear, guilt, shame or obligation makes us to have Emotional liberation and also take responsibility for our intentions and actions in all that we do. The idea is therefore important to me particularly because it will guide me through the pathway which will make me to be effective in communicating with others.

vii. Using the power of empathy to bring back a lifeless conversation heal broken relationships.

Recognizing and identifying the power of empathy to bring back a lifeless conversation and healing broken relationship will not only enrich our lives but as well as create a lasting relationship , A relationship that will be built based on trust and honesty as well. The idea is important to me because through the idea, I can affect people who come in contact with me positively.

3. How will these ideas or lesions help you in a practical way, both in your daily life and in helping you to create a better world? If so how?

The Ideas or lesions shared in question two above will help me in practical way both in my daily life and in helping me to create a better world by consistently applying the techniques and tools already discussed above and others that were discussed in the book such as applying the analogies that the author shared through constant and daily practices.

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think, and feel.”

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

These two statements above got my attention because it not only remind me to be conscious of how I think, behave and feel but as well give an illumination to my ability to serve my world with the best of all my skills and abilities, to take action that is consistent with my core values in other to bring about desired outcome in all endeavor, to manifest the glory of God that is within me, to liberate myself from every fears and other damaging cultural conditioning, self limiting and distorted belief systems that have long restrain me from performing up to my optimum capacity in other to liberate others.

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 no idea that is unclear, or that I do not understand or disagree with from the book for now.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes the book contains exercises for the reader to complete and I completed all of the exercises and as well find them very helpful, educative and very insightful.

7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so please comment.

No

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good

And one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10