Nwagbo Ogechukwu Francis – Assessments

As A Man Thinketh
Assessment by Nwagbo Ogechukwu Francis (Nigeria)

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

The main idea in the book is that human thought is everything. A man shapes the world he is living right now with his thoughts. The same thought is what brought him to where he is today, whether fulfilled or unfulfilled. This means that if a man sows negative thoughts in his mind, he will reap negative results in life. Conversely, if a man sows positive thoughts in his mind, he will surely reap positive results in his life. The author went further to explain that human thought can be controlled and mastered to give a man what he desired from life and until that is done, man a slave to his own thoughts.

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.

“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…”.

I find this idea an absolute truth and I have experienced this so times in my personal life. Things were pretty tough for me during my university days that I determined that I must learn the principles of successful people so that I can be successful in life to enjoy some of the things I was deprived when I was younger. When I finished my education, I started reading books about successful men and women and motivational books. I attended several seminars and my hunger for success was so strong that I detested being poor. In my quest for success, I discovered that I need to acquire leadership and entrepreneurial skills to be self dependent; I started searching for books on leadership and entrepreneurial skills or seminars to attend, unfortunately a lot of them are out my reach. I did not stop until I stumbled into a motivational magazine where I got to know about IIGL. I studied it’s curriculum and objectives and was amazed to where my quest for success has brought me to. So when I read about the above idea, it was clear to me that the idea and the portion of the holy bible that says “Seek and you shall find” is indeed true.

“Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance.”

This idea is very important to me because it means that where I am today is a result of the thoughts I had harbored in my mind in years past. Where every successful man or woman I know or hear about is today is as result of the thoughts they had built in their mind in their past years. Subsequently, if I can alter my thoughts today, then I can achieve my dreams in years to come.

“Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.”

This idea is really amazing. Before the above statement, the author mentioned that a man does not suddenly fall into crime by stress or external force but has secretly fostered it in his heart. Some of the corrupt leaders of the world today did not just emerge from nowhere; they are ordinary people who have had these evil thoughts in their mind and the opportunity of leadership is what they need to achieve their evil desire. This can also be interpreted to mean that some of the people that seem good are so because of the position they found themselves; place these same people in a position of authority or different environment; circumstance will reveal their real self.

“Not what he wished and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.”

This is important to me because it gives me an insight to one of the confusions I had while growing up. Sometimes I ask myself this question, why is it that some people who worship God religiously are poor and their prayers are not answered? I now know that the reason is that their thoughts and action is not in harmony with their prayers or wishes as this is counterproductive. However, the religious men and women who know how to use these important principles, produces positives result anytime they pray or wish for something. It reminds me of when I was in need of something in the past, I prayed for God’s grace and love to be able to achieve my goal but unfortunately, I did not get what I prayed for and I was confused. It is now clear to me why I did not get it; my thoughts and actions were not in line with what I prayed for. This means that if my thoughts and actions can be altered to be in line with my prayers, I can achieve anything.

“A man may be honest in certain directions, yet suffer privations. A man may be dishonest in certain directions, yet acquire wealth.”

My quest for wealth has given me the opportunity of studying people in my environment and I have always wondered why things are the way they are. I have seen where a man who is very honest, hardworking and plays by the rule but end up being poor and cannot support his family financially, while another man who is dishonest, lazy and corrupt but is rich. I have always thought that fate is partial in this situation and does not encourage honesty. According to the author the honest man who is poor lack some vital ingredients which the dishonest man posses. The honest man attracts to himself the result of his honest thoughts and actions; he also attracts to himself (unconsciously) the sufferings of his negatives thoughts which have made him poor. On the other hand, the dishonest man attracts to himself sufferings of his dishonesty and bad deeds; in addition, he attracts result of his positive thoughts which have made him rich. This means that being honest or dishonest, lazy or hardworking and corrupt or clean does not make a man rich; what makes a man rich is if he fosters thoughts that are geared towards riches in his mind. This also suggest that thoughts are in different sets, honest thoughts makes a man honest, wicked thoughts makes a man wicked, corrupt thought makes a man corrupt and each of this thoughts alone does not guarantee riches. Until a man adds thoughts that are geared towards riches to his sets of thoughts, he will only be the man to his other sets of thought.

“A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.”

Thoughts gives rise to habit and habits gives rise to circumstances and circumstances is what controls a man’s life. Whatever happens to a man is not by chance but by the thoughts he had conceived in his mind. This reminds me of what happened to me sometime in the past. As a university student then, I was always looking for something to do to make money; I and my friend enrolled for a mathematical contest organized by renowned mathematician in Nigeria. The contest was a mathematical board game just like scrabble but this time with numbers. I, my friend and some other contestants never knew about this board game until the inauguration day and we were introduced to some of the contestants that have been playing this game for more than four years. The moment I heard that I will play a board game with people that have been playing the game for years when I had not seen how the game look like, I thought that I would never get anything out it. Since we have nothing to lose, I and my friend bought the game and practiced it every night before going for any contest and we did well until we got to the final four. Before the final game I told my friend I was scared and will not get anything because I was to play with a more experienced contestant but he encourage me and I said he was sure he will get something. At the end, I came fourth and only won a bucket, my friend came third and won 20,000 Naira and an inexperienced contestant just like me won the star prize. When they asked the contestant that came first how he was able to beat the experienced contestants, he said he knew from the very first day he came there that he was going to win the star prize and was never afraid of the experienced contestants. I then realized that we all chose our position with our thoughts even before the contest started and we were all right after all. Like Napoleon Hill said, “He that think he can and he that think he cannot are both right”.

“The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it”.

This can further be interpreted to mean people who live in fear of poverty, death, defeat and failure are the people who get it. Conversely, people who live a pure life without fear of anything even in the midst of trouble come out of it stronger. When I was young, I developed this strong belief that whenever I prayed before leaving home every morning, no matter what happened to me, I will come out of it unhurt. There was a day I was traveling inside a bus, the vehicle was having some problem but the driver was just managing it for the trip. We got to a point when the driver was on speed, suddenly the gear seized and while the driver was trying to see what he could do, the steering also seized and we were approaching a shape bend. Everybody in the vehicle started shouting and the moment I remembered that I prayed that morning before leaving, I was sure that nothing will happen to me. We headed to the bush and the driver had to stop the vehicle by applying the hand break and immediately the vehicle somersaulted. While this whole thing was happening, I was calm; my eyes were open and I looked around for escape route. The moment the vehicle landed upside down, I crawled out from the window unhurt. Although nobody died but everybody in the vehicle sustained some kind of injury except me. I did not even have a single bruise on my body. That is the kind of power a man can have if he can defeat his fear.

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

The ideas above and other ideas on the book are all important to me because each of them teaches its own lesson. They have help in providing answers to some of the questions and confusion I have had in the past which will help in shaping my life. They have also made me realized that my thoughts is what controls my life and I will be very cautious of the kind of thoughts I foster in my mind; I will always eliminate negatives thoughts or thoughts that will give me result I don’t want and encourage positive thoughts to give me the results I want. With this knowledge, I am now the architect of my life and I will build a world I will forever be grateful for and the time to start creating this world is NOW.

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.

There are several statements which the author made that really captured my interest and this is one of them, “The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart — this you will build your life by; this you will become.” I have always created beautiful and ideal world in my mind and I have been encourage by this statement to continue doing that as I will surely live in this world one day.

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 and agree with every idea.

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

No Exercises.

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

No Comment.

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

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

 

 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Nwagbo Ogechukwu Francis (Nigeria)

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

The main idea in the book is the moment one decides to be different from the rest of his peers and consistently do the things which will make him different, no matter the number of times he fails; he will certainly achieve utmost perfection in it.

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 first important idea to me is Jonathan refuse to accept the way things they were and desired to be different from others; that is the first step in achieving success.

The elder in the book and other seagulls were comfortable with the status quo and does not want to change, they did not want to do things differently and will consider any gull that dared to do things out of tradition an outcast. The lesson here for me is the moment one refuse to accept things the way they are and want to do things differently, his family members and friends will misunderstand him and some will tag him reckless and irresponsible. If the person does not give up because of such comments and abuses, the person will surely achieve success some day.

Jonathan was born with bones and feathers and cannot fly high just like other seagull; he just decided to learn how to fly even when flying is not innate in him. When he started his flying lesson, he was flying at a hundred feet then steadily he moved to a thousand feet at seventy miles per hour and two thousand feet at ninety miles per hour. He failed at each stage but refuse to give up and keep trying. According to the author, there was a point he got fed up and a voice in him told him there was no way around it, he was limited by nature and could only fly to a certain level. From that moment forth, he vowed to be a normal gull. As he was flying back to meet other gulls an idea came to him that all he needed was a short wings and he tried it and it worked. Equipped with this idea, Jonathan went ahead to fly to a height no other living gull ever reached. This is very important lesson to me because there is a goal I have been trying to achieve for the past three years now but each time I give it my supposed good shot, I end not succeeding with it. It has gotten to a point that I am tired of trying and I thought maybe I am not destined to achieve this goal and I have decided to stop trying. After reading the experience of Jonathan Seagull in this book, I have been encouraged and I am ready to give my goal another shot; maybe what I need is just an idea that will make the difference. I am going back to the drawing board to see what I have not considered and I am going to hit it hard this time around. If a gull can achieve a goal after several failures, then there is a chance that I can achieve mine in spite of my past failures.

After Jonathan has been cast out of the brotherhood, he was dejected and amazed why other gulls have refused to open their eyes to the joy of flight and freedom. However, he was not discouraged but learned more each day. At a time when he has nobody to share the joy of his several discoveries with and a time when it seems he would not reap the result of his hard work, he still continued learning; even when one would think he has learnt enough, he did not stop but was passionate about it that he perfected every style he has learnt. He eventually discovered that boredom, fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is short and he was able to overcome these thoughts and enjoyed the reward of long and happy life. As another reward for his hard work, two gulls with wings pure as starlight appeared and took him home. This idea really motivates me and it made me realize that there is indeed reward for every hard work as Napoleon Hill rightly said, “For every hard times and circumstances, there is a seed of an equivalent benefit”.

Another idea which is very important to me is when Jonathan took all the courage in his head and walked up to the Elder Gull to learn more from him, even when he was considered to be best among other gulls.

A similar thing happened to me when I was doing my internship program. I was working in a consulting company that is into two lines of business, computer hardware repairs and software implementation. As a new staff I was posted to hardware repair section and because I wanted to learn the practical aspect of some of the paper work I did in school, I really liked the idea. I was so eager to learn that within three months of working in this section I mastered every aspect of the work. When I felt I was not learning new things in the section I was posted, I walked up to my boss one day and told him that I wanted to learn the company’s other line of business. He was happy to see a young student that wanted to learn new things, he accepted to teach me software implementation and that is what kick start my career as a software consultant. I discovered from this experience and the idea from the book that people are always willing to teach anybody who developed interest in learning things they have mastered.

After acquiring all the knowledge he could get from Sullivan and Chiang, Jonathan was very happy but not fulfilled. Chiang had earlier challenge him to study the act of kindness and love and he practice this lesson of kindness and love even after Chiang had left him. The more he practiced these lessons, the more he wanted to go back to earth to see how he can help other gulls to discover the things he had mastered. Sullivan discouraged him from going back to earth but he was determined to go back and help his people. Jonathan went back to earth and helped gulls like Fletcher, Henry Calvin, Martin, Kirk Maynard and other outcast gulls to fly to a height they did not think was possible. The important lesson here is to give back to the society what you have received from it. Giving back to the society is one thing I want to do much later in my life. There are a lot of people whose life can be transformed from my experience and I am going to start something that will enable me help these people in my society.

“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”. A lot of us fail to attain our full potential in life because we are limited by laws, thoughts and environment; the moment we break these limitation, we begin to unleash our true potentials. I have been somewhat limited by my thoughts but after reading “As a man thinketh” by James Allen, I now see things differently and it have impacted my life greatly.

Jonathan took a bold step to return to the flock with his students even when no gull has done that in ten thousand years. To his students, it has never be done before so they should not be the first to do it; but Jonathan was determined to go to the flock and he did. His going back paid off when so many other gulls joined them to learn how to fly. I have been encouraged by this and I will never be afraid to do things which nobody has done before.

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

I will summarize all the ideas in the book with this simple statement, Practice leads to perfection. Doing little things every day may seem insignificant to our overall goal but from the author, these little things actually counts because altogether these things is what gives the ultimate result. I will no longer wait for a perfect time to achieve my personal goals because this leads to procrastination, instead I will do little things every day towards achieving my goals. I will also find opportunity to practice the act of love and kindness to the people I meet daily.

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.

None

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?

According to the Author, Chiang told Jonathan there is no such place as Heaven. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.

As a Christian, I disagree with the Author in this regard. The holy bible made it clear that there is Heaven and there is Hell. In Gen. 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth”. All the chapters where Heaven appeared on the holy bible, it was mentioned as a place and not as being.

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

No

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

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? 6
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 6
E. What is the overall rating you would give it 7

Success through Positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by Nwagbo Ogechukwu Francis (Nigeria)

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

The main idea in the book is the use of Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) to achieve physical, mental, and moral health; happiness; wealth; or any other worthwhile goal.

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

i. “What we see is always an interpretation of the mind. We have to train the mind to interpret what we see.” This is said by George who was born blind but was able to live a happy life with four senses instead of five. Dr. Samuel Renshaw explained the process of seeing, which according to him is more of a mental thing than a physical thing and it is not done by the eyes but the mind. The important idea here to me is the mental abilities which are nearsightedness and farsightedness. When I relate this to myself, I discovered that I can be nearsighted in some situations and farsighted in other situations. This idea has now made me understand that I need to develop these abilities and apply them to life situations. While I will need nearsightedness to take advantage of immediate opportunities, I also need farsightedness to plan and execute each of my plans which will in turn take care of my overall goal.

ii. To attract wealth, you have to think with PMA is an interesting idea to me. I have always had this quest on what one can do to attract wealth to himself and this has made me to read several books on riches including “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. I find all the ideas in this book intriguing and I try to apply them in my daily life. Before now I thought that it is a waste of time to set aside some time for resting and thinking. For me then I always want to engage in one activity or the other and make sure there is no idle time. It is now clear to me after reading chapter Twelve of this book that the time I use to think is actually is the most valuable time and if I think with PMA, then I am bound to attract wealth to myself. The emphasize here is not just to think but to do it with PMA because one can engage in the act of thinking but not applying PMA to it and may not get the desired result. However if one engage in the act of thinking with PMA, then he is likely to succeed. Another important thing here is to act on your idea using the “DO IT NOW!’ principle.

iii. I like this idea “When you want to make a deal with someone, develop a plan that will give him what he wants, and in doing so get what you want. A good deal is mutually advantageous.” This is really interesting to me because I can actually use it to accomplish my long time dream. There is this project I want to execute for some time now but it has been hindered by fund. The banks are not forth coming with loans and the few banks that are willing to give me loan are offering it with huge interest rate which will not make it realistic for me to take such loan. I have been considering using other people’s money (OPM) but the few people I have talked to are not interested because they stand to gain nothing from the deal except goodwill. After reading how to use other people’s money (OPM) in chapter thirteen, I now know that for me to use OPM successfully, I have to develop a deal that is mutually advantageous to both parties. I am going back to the drawing board to develop a plan with this idea in mind.

iv. Another Important idea to me is the idea of your magnificent obsession, which means an individual sharing a part of himself or resources with others and in doing so, blessings and rewards will be showered upon him. This idea is so practical to me that I have seen it work in my life. There was a day I went to church during my university days and there was a special offering for the poor in the society and the officiating Priest appealed to everyone to give generously to help these set of people in our community. I was touched by the preaching that I made up mind to give generously for this course. Incidentally, I was only having just little money with me and I did not even know how to get money for my upkeep if I give everything I had. With faith that I will be rewarded for anything I give to these people and the joy of putting smiles on people’s face, I decided to give everything I had with me without leaving anything for my upkeep. Although it may seem crazy and unimaginable but I was glad I gave all I had then for a purposeful course. When I came back home that day, it dawn on me that I needed to buy some books the following day for my studies and I had given out all my money to the poor, I still did not regret my act and was convince that in one way or another I am was going to surmount that challenge. Few hours later, my sister just visited unannounced and gave me the money my parents had asked her to give me for my upkeep. What a miracle! I did not know that the reward of my giving will come immediately. I was really happy after this incident that I made up my mind to always share my resources with people in need. There is a good course I have been supporting for three years now and like I am advised in this book, I am going to keep it secret. I will not hesitate to make myself available to share with others.

v. The ability to explore the power of the mind by using autosuggestion to attract things that you desire is an important idea to me because it remind me of some of the things I learned from “Think and grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. The chapter four of this book discussed the power of autosuggestion which is a tool some of the richest men in the world today used in acquiring their wealth. I find out that autosuggestion is used by some of the successful men of God today during preaching to inspire their congregation and this has changed a lot of people’s life in the church today. Some people will think that this important tool seldom work for them and the reason is that they did not attached strong emotion and concentration to it as the book rightly said “Your ability to use the principles of autosuggestion will depend very largely upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning desire.” I have seen people use autosuggestion to heal themselves of ailment like headache and fever without taking any medication. They fail to understand that the same autosuggestion can be used to attract wealth, life partner, long life and good health to themselves. This is indeed a powerful tool anybody can use to enjoy a successful life.

vi. The idea of seeing problems as good is very interesting to me because it is similar to what Napoleon Hill said in Think and Grow Rich, “For every adversity and difficult times, there is a seed of an equivalent benefit.” The first time I read this statement, I was completely overwhelmed that I promise myself to see how practical and true this statements was. From then henceforth, anytime I am faced with any challenge, I will ask myself, where is the “seed of equivalent benefit” in this situation. I realized that anytime I asked myself this question in the middle of a challenge, I tend to have this inner tranquility and positive mindset about the situation. Most of the time, I always come out of such challenges stronger and happier. Like every habit, if you stop practicing them, you are likely to forget them. Later in life I stop my powerful approach to life challenges and sometimes in recent times, I worry myself anytime I am faced with a challenge but not anymore from this day henceforth. I have been encouraged to start my former attitude to challenges. I will always have a positive attitude towards any problem and I will search for the “seed of equivalent benefit” in any of my life’s challenges.

vii. I like the idea of using self-motivators such as: “I feel healthy! I feel happy! I feel terrific!” to motivate yourself to positive action in work places. There are times during work when one’s spirit is dampening because of careless statements from your boss or colleagues that you will feel like going home to have some rest. I have found myself in this situation sometimes and what I normally do is to take a walk and meditate for a while and at times my spirit is not uplifted after this exercise. I will use this self-motivator “I feel healthy! I feel happy! I feel terrific!” to uplift my spirit during my exercise anytime I am unhappy both at my work place and at home. The statement is actually a motivator on itself.

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

The ideas I learned in this book will help me to always have a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) in my dealing with people both at my work place and at home and I will also use it to have a positive outlook about life anytime I am faced with any challenge. The idea of magnificent obsession has encouraged me to continue my support on a good course in my church which have been changing people’s life for good and in turn creating a better world.

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

i. “Every day in every way I am getting Richer and Richer”. This quote got my attention because I have been looking for a powerful statement that I can use as autosuggestion to attract wealth to myself. I have found one now.

ii. “That which you share with others will multiple and that which you withhold will diminish.” This quote opened my eyes to the benefit of sharing things with 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?

None

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

Yes. They were very helpful because I was able to find out my success quotient.

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

None

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

A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 7
E. What is the overall rating you would give it 8

 

 

PsychoCybernetics 2000
Assessments Nwagbo Ogechukwu Francis (Nigeria)

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

The main idea in the book is that your self-image determines what you are right now. “It is your self-image that sets the limits for what you can and cannot achieve” according to Bobbe Sommer. This means that if you have a positive self-image, you are bound to live a positive life and if you have a negative self-image, then you will live a negative life. Like a habit, negative self-image can be broken by applying certain principles so as to live a successful live.

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 first important idea to me is the idea of faking it till you make it. This idea is awesome to me because I have always thought that it is wrong for one to fake what he/she is not. But after going through the chapter, I now have a different perspective about the idea. When I was growing up, I was taught not to live a life of pride so that I will not stumble in the middle of success just like the saying “Pride goes before a fall”. From my own understanding of this, I decided to always lie low in every way possible because I do not want to be swollen with pride. Even when I have something, I always try as much as possible not act or behave like a person that has such thing. When I was a kid, I remember one of my friends telling me that he does not know that we had television at home because anytime we are talking about the then current movies or television programme I normally do not talk. I carried this self-image to a certain stage in my life before I realized that it is a negative self-image because it creates lack of something where there is none. I broke that negative self-image and start acting normally. Now the next level is to fake to have something you don’t have until you have it. This is really interesting to me because this act makes the subconscious mind to go to work on the things you are faking to be real and since the subconscious mind does not what is real and not, it will make what you are faking to come to reality. I am starting work on this immediately.

Another important idea to me is “What you believe conditions what you can do”. This idea is mentioned in chapter 4, which discuss the dangers of false beliefs whether they are from parents, teachers, relations or friends and how they can shape one’s life. I have always had this conviction in me that whatever you believe in is what comes to you and this idea has confirmed my conviction to be true. This conviction I have in me is the driving force in my life because I have come to believe that NOTHING can stop me from achieving anything I want to achieve in this life except ME. I have always seen any false belief that emanate from anybody that might stop me from achieving any set goal as a propelling force that will charge me to go on and prove that person wrong. I have experience this several occasions in my life. Before I went into the university I did a preparatory class with a cousin in a university. During our studies, another cousin of ours said that we cannot pass the prep exam because he thinks we have blocked heads and don’t deserve a university education. That statement got me angry and I vowed to prove him wrong. Even before the results were published, that same cousin told us that there was mass failure in the prep class and as such we should not expect any good result. But I was convinced I will do well and when the result was published, I did very well and I made the merit list to study in the university. My cousin that did the same programme with me was affected with the false remarks and doubted her capability and did not do well in the prep class. I have been motivated by this idea and I am glad that I have been right about my conviction.

I find the idea of reprogramming your automatic mechanism by using CRAFT very interesting. There are times when negative thoughts or beliefs keep crossing your mind and some of them is so deeply rooted that the subconscious mind is already acting on them. To change these negative beliefs you need something comprehensive that will not only erase the negative beliefs but will also replace it with positive beliefs. I have always thought that only affirmations can change a negative self-image but like Sommer pointed out, “affirmations does not take you to a destination and when there is no destination, affirmations will turn quickly to frustration”. I now know why some of the affirmations I have practiced in the past did not work, I needed something extra to make it work. That is why CRAFT is comprehensive to me because it does not only CANCEL negative beliefs, it REPLACES it with a positive beliefs and AFFIRM, FOCUS and TRAIN the new positive beliefs. I am now equipped with a result oriented program to erase negative self-image and I will not hesitate to use it anytime negative thoughts crosses my mind.

The SMART way of goal setting is another important idea to me because it gives me better insight to goal setting especially the measurable and time part of it. After reading ways to set goals using SMART method, I realized that I was setting goals that are ambiguous and unrealistic and that suggest why I don’t achieve some of such goals. I now understand that it is not enough to have a goal like “I want to own a company in the nearest future”, without defining the kind of services/goods I will be selling to my clients/customers and the time I intent to start this company. It is also important to break down goals like the one I mentioned into smaller goals like acquiring further education or knowledge of the business I want to setup, sourcing for fund to start the company and developing a feasibility study for the company and apply SMART to these smaller goals. If I can achieve these smaller goals, then the overall goal will be taken care of. This is in indeed a ‘smart’ way of setting goals.

Using SEEDS to de-stress yourself when you find yourself in a difficult situation is an interesting idea to me. The whole concept of seeing a difficult situation as a neutral event, evaluating the situation, shifting emotions to suite your evaluation, doing something about the situation and having good self-esteem is really tension relieving and can make you stop blaming yourself when you find yourself in the middle of a difficult situation. Most of the time when we face difficult situations in life we tend to overreact but after a while we find out that our initial tension was unnecessary. There was a time I experienced a difficult situation in my office. I was in the middle of a Project and I told my boss that I wanted to write a professional exam which is part of what the company uses for staff appraisal and promotion, but my boss refused that I should finish the Project I was working on. I was furious because the company appraisal time was approaching and I needed to write that exam so that I can be considered for that year appraisal. I made up my mind that my boss does not like me and that he had some personal problem with me and these thoughts affected my performance then. At the long run, I did the exam after I finished my project and I got my desired promotions for that year. It then means that I was causing unnecessary tension for myself. If I have had the SEEDS approach to handling difficult situation, I would have used it to handle this situation. The most interesting thing about using SEEDS approach is that it can used in times of disappointed, lost of a dear one, depression and other difficult situations.

Another important idea to me is How to change aggressive behavior to assertive behavior. I use to be aggressive sometimes but I am now learning to be assertive instead. I can remember anytime I am aggressive I exhibit most the aggressive personalities that is mentioned in this book and I don’t normally notice the body language of the person(s) I am talking to. After reading this passage very well I am now replacing my aggressive personalities with assertive personalities and I am making good progress with it.

The last important idea is the power of imagination and how you can use it to form new attitudes and behavior. As it is rightly stated that “Anything you imagine to be true is accepted as true by your subconscious mind” and “An imagined experience is perceived and acted on by your subconscious mind exactly the same as a real experience”. This to me means that you can use your imagination to create things and your subconscious mind will make the things you created to come to reality. Little wonder when I find myself in some situation, it will seem to me that I have been in that situation before and after careful evaluation, it will be clear to me that the situation may have occurred in my imaginative mind. Ever since I discovered the importance of imagination, I have always used it to create pleasant situations.

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

All the ideas mentioned above will be very helpful to me because I will apply every one of them in my daily life. From using SEEDS to de-stress myself in difficult situations to using CRAFT to set realizable goals and always in my assertive behaviour instead of aggressive behaviour.

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.

There are several quotes that got my attention but this particular one is very important to me “An imagined experience is perceived and acted on by your subconscious mind exactly the same as a real experience”, because it rekindles my belief on the power of imagination.

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

None

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

Yes I did most of the exercises and I will revisit them from time to time.

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

None

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

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

 

 

Keys to Success
Assessment by Nwagbo Ogechukwu Francis (Nigeria)

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

The major idea conveyed in the book is the principles in life which anybody who wants to achieve success in any way will have to apply and followed before they can succeed. These principles have been tested by the greatest men and women of our time and have been certified to be true.

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

I. I was particularly interested in this idea; “Render more and better services than you are paid for, and sooner or later you will receive compound interest from your investment”. It strikes me because I have come across it several times in my life. I remember when I was doing my internship in a small software consulting firm. My boss told me from onset that I will not receive any salary because of their financial position then but I definitely acquire knowledge on the job. I accepted the job and was working as if I was getting paid for it, even some of the staff that was receiving salaries then mocked me for bothering myself so much about the job when I am not receiving any salary. At a point I was discouraged but somehow something in me still compelled me to do my job with all dedication and commitment and I continued. As fate may have it, a position was created in the company’s software department and our boss appointed me to fill the vacant position. These created so much uproar in the firm especially with the old staff that thought they might be appointed for the position. I was surprise that I got the appointment myself but my boss later explained to me that he appointed me because I had been dedicated to the job even when I not was receiving any salary. This made me realize that there is indeed reward for all hard work. Since then I have always put in my all in my job or anything that interest me.

II. The idea of combining principles like Definiteness of Purpose, Self-discipline, Autosuggestion, Willpower, Controlled attention, Personal initiative, Creative vision and applied faith together to achieve a desired goal is important to me. I first came across this in the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill and I decided to try it; after writing out my desired goal and following other instructions in the book on this principle for some days, I stop because I was not getting any result. Ever since I have always wonder what I did not do well in the whole process. After reading the principle again in this book, I have come to realize that I failed in the exercise because of lack of follow-through and my inability to apply the principle of Controlled attention. The principle of Controlled attention is very important in the whole process because it is the principle that filters out every other thought and channels all your attention to your desired goal. When this principle is constantly applied for this purpose, it will transmit this desire to the subconscious mind and since the subconscious is what brings desires to reality, your desired goal will surely come to reality. I may have to go back to start the whole process again applying these principles properly.

III. Definiteness if Purpose on any desired goal. This is one idea that the greatest author, Napoleon Hill has repeated in almost all his works and this shows how important it is to any desired venture. Definiteness of purpose is really important in any goal you want to achieve in life because if you don’t have a clear definition of what you want, then it is nearly impossible for you to achieve anything. This can be liken to a man who left his house without having any place he is going in mind, he will end up walking the whole neighborhood without getting to any destination. A lot of people drift through life without knowing what they want from life. For these people they will take whatever tomorrow brings without even knowing what tomorrow might bring or planning for that tomorrow. If you have a clear definition of what you want from life, then there is a chance that you can achieve that goal. This idea cannot be over emphasized because it the starting point of any venture.

IV. Eating habit is another important idea to me. In this part of the world where there is poverty, a lot of people are not conscious of what they eat because they don’t know the right thing to eat or they can’t afford the right food to maintain a sound health. For these people anything goes in as much as the food can fill their stomach and that is why we have some people die or have some diseases caused by mal-nutrition. I am a culprit here and I am glad I came across this book where some eating habit is mentioned which can help one maintain good health. I have also learnt one thing about eating from this book, that is eating the things you normally don’t like eating and stopping the ones the always like to eat. For Instance, I personally do not like eating vegetables and I like eating fried foods but according to this book, vegetable should constitute the largest part of my meal and I should avoid fried foods. This indeed a good lesson for me.

V. I don’t know how true this statement is, “It is sheer stupidity to try to increase your productivity by cutting your sleeping time” but it really interest me. I have always seen any form of sleep outside the night sleep as a kind of laziness. I have unconsciously trained myself in a way that when I am not working during the day, I hardly fall asleep and this is because I am not used to it. For me I always believe that I can utilize any of my spare time for something productive than sleeping and I normally engage in activities like reading or writing during this time. I am not convinced about this idea but maybe the message here is to try as much as possible to get the minimum amount of sleep.

VI. The rule of “Paying yourself first” is really a great idea for anybody that wants to be successful.

I saw this statement for the first time in the book “The richest man in Babylon” and the principle in this book is “One-tenth on what you earned is yours to keep”. Before then I normally don’t set aside some money from my income as some form of payment to myself, I just believe that the money is mine and I can use it for anything I wanted. I noticed then that before the beginning of a new month, I had already spent my whole salary for the previous month. Later when I tried paying myself first by setting aside 10 percent of my salary, I discovered that I usually have some money left in the beginning of a new month and even two months later. This was really amazing to me and I continued afterwards. Ever since I discovered this principle, I have always used it year in year out to achieve my set goals. Two years ago I used this principle to acquire an asset which ordinary I wouldn’t have been able to afford if I was waiting to get the whole sum. This year I am using this same principle again to achieve a goal I set for myself. This is a very powerful principle which I have tested again and again and it has worked for me and I always used it to achieve my short and long term goals.

VII. The power of comic habitforce is another important idea to me. Human thoughts and actions is one thing we should be very mindful of because repeated thoughts and actions are transmuted to our subconscious mind and at that point we don’t have control over them again. They will become part of our daily activities and will form a habit. This rule applies to everything in life. I remember when I started driving, I was very cautious of every activity; from looking at my side mirrors to when to apply the brake on the car and even the routes I take to get home. But these days I don’t bother myself on any of these activities, they just happen unconsciously when I am driving. In fact there was a day I wanted to go to somewhere from the office that will warrant me to take another route different from the route I normally take when going home from the office. The moment I drove out, I unconsciously took my normally route because it has now become a habit but later reversed to the right route. Our everyday thoughts and actions is like we are writing a program in our brain and by the time we finish writing this program, it execute effortlessly. The only way we can rewrite this program is to change our thoughts and actions.

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

These ideas will help me in so many ways. While some of the ideas are totally new ideas to me which I have to apply in my personal life, others are old and rekindle my belief and understanding on them. They will generally help to think right, act right and eat right.

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.

I. “Paying yourself first” is important idea that has help me accomplish some of my set goals.

II. “Any worthless, superfluous, or harmful habit can be broken and replaced with a more desirable one if you want it to be so.” This is indeed true because I have experienced it sometime 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?

I disagree with this idea, “It is sheer stupidity to try to increase your productivity by cutting your sleeping time”. Since our 24 hours can be divided into 8 hours for sleeping, 8 hours for working and 8 hours as spare time, it is wise for anybody who has something important to do to use part of his sleeping time to achieve these things. For me it is laziness that can make anybody sleep more than 6 hours in a day when there are some productive things to do. I discovered that a lot of people sleep away their life in the name of maintaining sound health. The greatest men and women of our time sleep maximum of 5 hours in a day because there is always some productive things to do. One of the productive things one can do within this time is to read books that can increases your knowledge on a particular subject or write.

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 useful?

Yes. I completed the exercises and they were very useful.

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

No.

Ratings:

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7

 

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Assessment by Nwagbo Ogechukwu Francis (Nigeria)

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

The ability to deal with people is more important than technical knowledge and one should dedicate more time in learning the principles in understanding and getting along with people; making people like you and winning them to your way of thinking. By doing so one would experience unbelievable success and happiness in his or her personal life, career and business.

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

i. I like this idea, “Don’t Criticize, condemn or complain.” I have found out that most people that criticize or complain about certain person would do the same if they are in the person’s position. Abraham Lincoln was right when he said, “Don’t criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.” This is very common among people that are being lead; they tend to believe that they would do things differently if they were in their leader’s position under the same circumstance. The unfortunate thing is that when such people get the chance to lead, they may not do things different from the person they criticized and some even do worse. I remember during my university days, I have a friend who always criticizes the leadership of the student faculty association. He claimed that the he would do lots of things differently if he was in their position. His desire to do things differently prompted him to contest for the president of the student association. I supported him and campaigned for him to be elected as the president because I thought he had the passion to change things in the association. Fortunately for him he was elected as the president but his administration was worse than the administration he had always criticized. I asked him why he did not engineered some of the changes he promised and his response was Things are different up there. So he was unfair to the administration he had always criticized. Politicians and activist are culpable of this as some of them don’t know the circumstances behind certain decisions and they will condemn the decisions. The best is to follow Benjamin Franklin Advise, “I will speak ill of no man and speak all the good I know of everybody.”

ii. I was touched by this old saying that I had to write it on a pad and paste it on my refrigerator, “I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” I have always had this urge to be nice to people I meet every day and most importantly my neighbors. To me, it’s not by coincidence that people meet or live as neighbors; there is a reason for it. There is also a reason for me to get to know about IIGL and not just by mere coincidence. I have always seen such meeting of people as an opportunity to be kind and nice to them. The unfortunate thing is that some of my kindness to my neighbors has been misconstrued and at times I pay heavily for them. I don’t know why it is difficult to show kindness to people in this part of the world without being misunderstood. I had a very sad experience in the past on how being nice to people can bring one trouble. This experience initially limited my act of kindness to people but at a point I had to let go and live my normal life. That is why the old saying is important to me that I had to keep it where I will always see it so that I can constantly be reminded that it is good to be nice and kind to people I meet because I may not meet them again.

iii. The idea of getting other person point of view and seeing things from other person’s angle is a great idea to me. My work demands that I interact with people always and understand the point they passing across. I found out during some of my interactions with clients or users that people always have a motive for anything they want to achieve and they try to pass that across during discussion. Although some of their motives maybe wrong because of the information available to them but if you look at things from their point of view, you will understand better. These have made to think that people argue because none of them want to see things from the other person’s angle, they all wants to push across their individual idea across without taking time to understand the other person. I understand this because there are times I argue as well and during those times, I always blank my mind from the other person’s point of view. I just want the other person to understand me even when the other person idea is superior. But anytime I paused and open my mind to the person’s idea I tend to understand the person differently. I also find out that some people would not want to see things from the other person point of view for egocentric reasons. The end result to such argument is resentment which is not good in a relationship. It is better to adhere to Owen D. Young advice, “People who can put themselves in the place of other people, who can understand the workings of their minds, need never worry about what the future has in store for them.” When people discover that you understand them easily, they tend to associate with you more.

iv. People are always seeking for people to show interest in them. Nobody is interested in showing interest in anybody; they only show interest in themselves. This statement is true. “People are not interested in you. They are not interested in me. They are interested in themselves-morning, noon and after dinner”. This is a lesson for me to learn. At times I am not interested in people’s personal lives except when they are close to me. I feel that it is encroaching people’s privacy, which some people may not want anyway. I have learnt from this book that for one to win friends, you have to show interest in people, just like Dale Carnegie remarked, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” I have scan through my past and I observe that the people I met and showed interest in are the people I have now as close friends. This means the idea is true and I have to work on improving on that in my personal life.

v. I was particularly interested in the idea of being an attentive listener if one aspires to be a good conversationalist. It reminds me of what a friend of mine told me in the past, he said if you want people to like you, you have to always listen to them when they talk. I tried this when I travelled to my home town for a burial. There was an elderly woman who asked me to see her in her place after the burial. I was surprised because I was not close to her and I wondered what she wanted to discuss with me. Before I set out to visit her, I had made up my mind that I would be an attentive listener in our conversion. When I got to her place, she offered me a sit and asked me couple of questions which I answered and I waited after answering each question. She took over the discussion; she told me lots of things about herself from her youthful days to how she met her husband and how she got scholarship and studied in United Kingdom and came back to Nigeria to take up a job. I listened and nod my head to assure her that she has all my attention. She told me so many things I never knew about herself and her family and I listened to her and I only say something in between when absolute necessary. Before I knew it we spent four hours discussing. Towards the end she said she only called to ask me few questions about myself and what I do, that she never intended our discussion to last more than five minutes but we ended up spending hours. I notice that she was very happy for having somebody listen to her like that and she poured lots of praises on me for being intelligent, patient and hardworking. She said she was going to her husband and anybody who care to listen what she found out about me. While for me I did not know what I did to deserve all those praises. It was later I realized that I had used the power of listening to win her heart and she remain my friend till date.

vi. According to the Author, “The law that can bring you countless friends and constant happiness is: Always make the other person feel important.” This point is important to me because I have experienced this before and I know the wonders it work. I like appreciating and praising people and I always want to make people feel important and good about themselves. When I praise people, I try to do it with all sincerity and this has brought me many friends. I can vividly remember an experience with a man I met just few weeks ago. I was introduced to this man as Jonathan and I immediately asked him if he was related to the current president of Nigeria (Mr. Goodluck Jonathan) and we joked for a while before he left. But before he left we had become friends because I made him feel important. A week later we met again and I greeted him by addressing him as the President of Nigeria and asked him what are his plans for the country and he answered by talking like a President and we discussed some economic issues about the country and for every question I asked, he responded like he was the President on Nigeria. He was very happy acting like the President during our discussion. When he was about leaving that day, he quietly said that I made him laugh throughout our discussion when he just lost his mother in-law the previous night. I condoled with him because I did not know about it but I was glad I made him laugh even when he was bereaved. He still remains my good friend because I always make him feel like the President of a country.

vii. The author remarked in Chapter ten, “The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.” I quite agree with him because nothing good comes out of an argument except resentment and grudges. The author went further to say that “Never say you are wrong to anybody or make them think that you want to prove to them that you are smarter than them.” This to me is the surest way to begin an argument because the other person opinion is not respected. I have found out that when someone’s opinion is not respected in a discussion, the person will withdraw from the discussion or fight to ensure that his/her message is accepted. I remember what happened to me on a job I was doing with my colleague. He came to me one day to suggest an idea he had on an issue we need to address. I told him straight away that his idea will not work and I tried convincing him with my idea but he never listened to me because I shut his idea out abruptly. That started an argument between us because he wanted to prove to me that he is smarter than me and I also was trying to do the same thing indirectly. We ended that discussion without agreeing on what to do. A similar thing happened to me when I was having a discussion with my boss. But this time he was wise not to say me that I was wrong but said that “he may be wrong and that he stands to be corrected” before passing across his view during our discussion. I realized that when he said that, I was calm and listened to his idea without having to argue with him. I have compared the two scenarios and what the author said in this book and I have now learnt my lesson from them.

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

The ideas learnt in this book will help me in so many ways because it has transformed my view about people. I will not argue again, I will always show genuine interest in people I meet, I will respect people’s opinion and always try to see things from the other person’s angle and most importantly, I will improve on my listening skills.

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.

i. “The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.”

ii. “The law that can bring you countless friends and constant happiness is: Always make the other person feel important.” This is true because the few times I tried it, it worked.

iii. “I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” This is important to me because it always assure me that it is good to be good.

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 useful?

No exercises

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

No.

Ratings:

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