Odunsi David Ayomide – Assessments

As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by David Odunsi (Nigeria)

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

Basically the author is trying to convey an understanding of the power of the mind, how important the mind is in controlling all the different aspects of man to include his physical, mental, health, financial, interpersonal/social and spiritual dimensions. That with one’s mind, one can determine the extent of his progress or success in life, and also equally determine the extent of one’s downfall or failure by one’s mind too. How a man’s life can be transformed or changed by transforming his mind, how a poor man can make himself wealthy by first changing the way he thinks, how a man who is at the base of the intellectual pyramid can find his way to the apex or pinnacle of the pyramid by applying his mind to seeking and applying knowledge, which underscores the fact that what the mind is able to conceive it’s able to achieve, our lives are only a direct product of what we apply our minds to do, no one is better positioned or fortunate than the other, what distinctively makes the difference is how we apply our minds to what we do or are passionate about, even though we can’t control the circumstances of life that befall us, we do have control over how we choose to respond to those circumstances, how we study them and develop approaches to making them work for our good or benefit, hence it would suffice to say that the mind is the most important tool that anyone has to change the narrative about his life, and forever stamp his foot on the sand of times that his name may forever go down history lane.

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 they were important to you. Use your personal examples from your own life.

i. That the human mind is like a garden, which whether cultivated or left neglected would bring forth something.

Why this is important to me is because of the fact that it places emphasis on the need for one to be active about what one does with one’s mind, since the mind would eventually produce forth something be it good or bad based on one’s active or passive investment in it. For me personally I realized that whenever I’m deliberate about what I feed my mind on, maybe tapes, books and other materials on personal development I realize that I eventually become a reflection of those things, however when I fail to feed my mind with relevant information, without having to plan it my mind would just naturally wander around for something to feed on, which many times are irrelevant things, the interesting thing is that initially it would start passively then in no time it becomes active. As such saying one has to deliberately cultivate the right things on one’s mind is something that cannot be overemphasized.

ii. That every man is brought to where he is by the thoughts he has built into his character.

This is personally important to me because of the fact that some years back I was of the opinion that some people were just lucky and where they find themselves is just by providence, however at a point in my life when I started exposing my mind to certain books, started reading biographies of notable personalities I realized that I was wrong totally, I then realized that one had the power to determine where one wanted to be in life, irrespective of where one is presently , one can find his way to that preferable place or position that one has conceived in his heart.

iii. That men do not attract what they want but who they are.

This idea is important to me in the sense that it addresses the popular saying in the business world that “people don’t give you money because you want it or you asked for it, they give it to you based on what you are worth to them, based on the value they have placed on you, based on the worth of your idea or business proposal.” Which is equally applicable to other spheres of life, for instance as a young man I would only attract a young lady like myself to me, even if I desired another lady, I would not have the capacity to attract her until who I’m have stepped up to who she’s or represent.

iv. That as man adapt himself to certain regulating factors, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his conditions but begins to build himself up in strong and noble thoughts.

This is important to me considering the fact that some years back after leaving high school I could not go to University immediately because my parents couldn’t afford it, so then I began to feel that they were the reason for my not making progress academically, in fact I was almost getting angry at the fact that they didn’t have enough money, for me then I blamed every other person but not myself not until I read a book that says “apart from God there was no other person that could help me apart from myself,” the book created a paradigm shift in me, I stopped depending on my parents knowing that it was not their fault, I started saving for University myself and I must say, this liberated my mind, I started making very important decisions about my life knowing fully well that my life was mine alone to decide, that GOD at creation had deposited all I needed into me.

v. That a change of diet would not help a man who would not change his thoughts.

Yes, this is very important to me because recently I made a decision to cut down on my intake of soft drinks like Pepsi, Coca-Cola and the rest, however I saw myself going back to them, so I figured out that I could not just stop it until I changed my thoughts about what these soft drinks may cause me, it may cause me addictions, building up too much sugar in my system and the likes. So with this it’s much easier for me to be disciplined.

vi. That a strong man cannot help a weaker one unless the weaker one is willing to be helped.

On several occasions I have tried effortlessly to help people get on the right track, help them stay focused, but many times I realized that my efforts were usually a waste unless those persons have by themselves made up their minds to apply those principles, one example that readily comes to mind was when someone I was trying to mentor told someone else that she does want to see me that I talked and disturbed her too much, I was pained that she took for granted the time I chose to invest in her, so I decided to give her some space then she messed up and came back herself and said “she was sorry that she knows she had been a prodigal daughter”. That experience made me realize that not everyone was worth my time investment, that I must first identify a genuine willingness to be helped before hastily offering to help or mentor a person.

vii. Intellectual achievements are the result of thoughts consecrated to the search for knowledge.

Wow, this is particularly interesting to me because in my years in junior high school I had some colleagues who were extraordinarily brilliant, in fact in a subject most of us had 4/70, one particular boy had 67/70, in fact there were some group of boys who were always found playing football and never studying but they were doing great academically, so then I used to think to myself that these boys must have been naturally endowed to succeed in their academics whether they studied or not, in fact I thought they had a more superior brain than the rest of us, not until I discovered that everyone was brilliant and could attain great intellectual heights if only we apply ourselves to searching knowledge, so I made some changes in my study life after I left senior high school, the result became evident when I entered the University, by the end of my first year I not only found myself on a first class grade, I had the best result in my department, in my faculty and also one of the best in the entire university such that I eventually emerged one of the three students from my university to be offered a Federal Government scholarship. Then the same way I thought the boys in my high school days were extraordinary and had a superior brain, my University colleagues started seeing me that way, if only they knew I had such mindset before they would be shocked. My assertion is that ” to everyone that would apply himself to diligently seek to know through extensive studying, to such a person would the doors to great intellectual achievements open up, it’s a law that holds true just like the law of gravity.”

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 seven ideas would help me in my personal life as well as in my pursuit of making this world a better way for everyone to live in because they have positioned me to be more deliberate and active about engaging my mind positively knowing fully well that with my mind I can determine whatsoever would come out of my life, I must never leave my mind fallow, unless it would produce fruits that may prove destructive first to myself and to the world at large. It would also help me to work on myself instead of focusing on what I want, if I can build myself up enough, I would naturally attract who I’m, so if I’m wealthy in ideas and valuable in thoughts, my life would naturally attract or produce these realities in the physical world. Also, I would be more conscious and deliberate in not blaming anyone for anything that goes wrong in my life, not blame my country’s economy or my inability to find a job, when with my mind I can create one that would eventually sustain me and other people in the world, lastly these ideas would help me mentor people more effectively by first working on changing their mindset, letting them know that my help won’t change anything until something changes within them first, that their business won’t change by focusing or ranting about the country’s economy but by focusing on how they can change their own personal economy which would eventually then have a positive effect on the country’s economy.

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.

“They themselves are makers of themselves.”

This was gotten from the foreword, it’s important to me because it made me realize that anything I become or I don’t become is entirely in my hands, what any organization becomes is entirely in their hands, stiff competition by similar organizations is not an excuse for not achieving success.

“Nature helps every man to the gratification of the thoughts, which he most encourages, and opportunities are presented which will most speedily bring to the surface both the good and evil thoughts.”

This really struck my mind because it made me to realize that life or nature itself only help us to the extent and type of thoughts in our minds, nature would only amplify the thoughts of our minds into the realities that eventually plays out in real life.

“Those who are not prepared for the apprehension of a great purpose should fix the thoughts upon the faultless performance of their duty, no matter how insignificant their task may appear.”

This is important to me that even if a person is not even ready to focus on his personal purpose or goal, he should at least focus his mind on a particular duty he has been assigned by others instead of allowing his mind to wander, at least in this he would be using his mind positively, however for me it should be the desire of anyone to make a decision to pursue their own personal goals too, they have just one life to live, as such it should be used judiciously.

“A man may rise to high success in the world, and even to lofty altitudes in the spiritual realm, and again descend into weakness and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts to take possession of him.”

This is incredibly deep and accurate because on several occasions I have seen people rise up to phenomenal success and for some few mistakes find themselves at the base of the ladder again all because they began to feed their minds on negative things, all because they saw themselves as having arrived and not realizing that engaging the mind to consistently attain success and sustaining it is not a destination but a never ending journey.

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 part I don’t totally agree with is the part about the effect of thoughts on health, to explain this better, I would bring a part of the paragraphs to the fore “Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought. Sickly thoughts will express themselves through a sickly body. Thoughts of fear have been known to kill a man as speedily as a bullet, and they are continually killing thousands of people just as surely though less rapidly,” I don’t fully agree with this part because I know of a fact a long list of diseases that has nothing to do with the mind of a man, most of these diseases are genetic while some are acquired, these diseases affect the totality of a man from his economic status to other important areas of his life, a person born with a severe neurological disorder can have his life negatively affected, some children are born with disorders that affect their ability to enjoy nor live maximally, some are not even able to get to some intellectual heights they would have dreamt of, however all these are not enough reasons to undermine the capability of the mind to control, determine and turn the lot of a person around. As such to strike a balance I would say that diseases may not be fully rooted in thoughts but however the ability to manage the ills of bad health may to an extent be controlled by the mind, to an extent is used intentionally because if the disease is one that affect the mind or ability to think or more accurately the brain, then what can the mind do?

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 the book didn’t contain exercises for me to complete.

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

One thing else I would have loved to comment on is the background of the author that wrote the book. Usually what authors put together are usually their experiences or what they have carefully observed by studying other people, in essence there’s always a strong link between the background in which the author grew up or circumstances surrounding his life and what he pens down, in the case of James Allen born to a Mother that could neither read nor write and a Father who he lost at age 15, and was left with no other option than to leave school and find work, however despite all of these circumstances he went on to develop himself and wrote books that have and are still affecting the world phenomenally, his life demonstrated that even with surrounding circumstances around one’s life, one has no excuse for not achieving greatness in life since all we need are locked up within us already. He wrote the book “As a man thinketh” on the premise of a verse in the Bible “Proverbs 23:7, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

After his death his wife Lilly Allen wrote “He never wrote theories, or for the sake of writing; but he wrote when he had a message, and it became a message only when he had lived it out in his own life, and knew that it was good. Thus he wrote facts, which he had proven by practice.”

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? 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 David Odunsi (Nigeria)

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

The main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book is that if one can reach deep within, one would realize that there are no limitations, we are only bound by the whims and caprices of nature if only we allow it, we have the power to go beyond the limits set by our environment or society if only we would stretch ourselves a little bit more, then a little bit more till we have fully broken loose of all limitations. The real limitations are those ones that we created in our minds, we are only held down to the very extent in which our mind is held down. Breaking through limits certainly won’t be easy however it would be worth our time and effort because it would help unlock the doors to the unknown, the possibilities have always been there even in the time of impossibilities, what makes the difference is being able to make a decision to create possibilities out of impossibilities. Until we make our minds enter into freedom by cutting loose of strict regulations or rules posed by our situation we would always be met with limitations, we would always be confined, we would never attain beyond normal or ordinary, we would always be like others, not attain more than others and eventually not live life beyond wanting to survive.

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 they were important to you. Use your personal examples from your own life.

i. Not following an opinion that is popular with everyone just for the sake of being in their good books.

This is very important to me considering the fact that I come from a culture (I’m from the Yoruba speaking part of Nigeria) where there are loads of popular beliefs and fables, a culture that tells you that “whosoever does what someone has never done before, his eyes would see what no eyes have ever seen before “meaning that if someone tries the unusual or something away from the norm or popular belief the person is bound to see repercussions or punishments that no one has ever seen.” The interesting thing is that such statements are passed down from one generation to the other such that no one ever thinks of breaking them nor doing them, this holds more negatives than positives because it allows people’s mind to be confined to a particular thinking, it never allow people to think outside the box, it never allows people to try out new thing. I remember while growing up I was told that one should never pluck leaves of plants at night because the plants while sleeping by that time, chuckles, and interesting enough I never tried it, but after so many years I learned that there was nothing really special about it, the plants actually don’t sleep at night, rather they use that time to carry out the dark phase of photosynthesis, perhaps the reason why they told young people not to pluck leaves at night was because they didn’t want them to get snake bites, which is a good thing but in this they have also limited the chance for this young people to discover the so many things that happen to plants at night like how plants suddenly find droplets of water on them by the time we wake up in the morning which of cause would have happened at night.

ii. The determination to know what one can do by stretching one’s self.

This is important to me because it does emphasize the need for one to get to that point where one is willing to stretch one’s self not minding what would happen just to realize what one can actually do. I remember that when I was in high school, I was never a fan of calculations or anything that sounded Mathematics, however when I got into the university I realized that if I was going to make a first class grade I would have to make “A’s” in my Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry(which had a bit of calculation), so I determined to face them squarely and stretch myself and see how much I could fair, then before I knew it I was enjoying those calculations and by the time I took the exams I mostly had “A’s” in all of them and few “B’s,” it was at that point that I realized that we won’t know how much we can do until we stretch ourselves.

iii. Not giving up even in the face of series of failure.

This is particularly important to me because I have failed severally especially in my academics, but have learnt that one never fails until one gives up from trying again. When I first took one of the two set of exams that would qualify me for the University I failed so woefully that my Dad didn’t bother to waste money to print out the results for me, he only wrote it out on a small sheet of paper, then I wrote it the second time and passed, after which I wrote the second set of qualifying exams but had too low a score to compete favorably for the course I wanted to study, but after several years and attempts I’m eventually studying a course of my choice, one important lesson I can pick from this is not giving up because of series of failure, eventually I got to a point in my life like Jonathan where I was no longer focused on fear or failure, I just wanted to put in my best, learn as much as I can learn and become better with each passing day.

iv. Being open-minded to new ideas or options.

Like Jonathan I have come to realize that one has to be Open-minded and never feel there’s only one way to achieve a goal, Jonathan was open-minded and realized that by adjusting/shortening his feathers in a particular way he could attain new heights effortlessly, also have come to realize that one can attain new grounds effortlessly by being open-minded, some years ago I used to believe that one had to compulsorily study all through the night to become an exceptional student not until I realized that it was not necessarily true, I realized that I understood better during certain hours of the day more than other hours, so I decided to study more during those periods and do something else with other time, amazingly enough I did very well.

v. Never allowing our circumstances or nature of our built or make up hinder us from making giant strides.

This is important to me considering the fact I come from a country regarded as a developing country, a country where you feel you are at a disadvantage already in comparison to some other countries of the world, a country where her nationalism would fast and pray or do some absurd things to get into another man’s country, a country that recently is regarded as world capital of poverty, in such a country you believe that you are surrounded by odds alone and they are all against you, but when you begin to realize that their are several Nigerians who have gained international recognition even amidst these odds, then one realizes that there are no excuse. I believe that the circumstances surrounding my country is not strong enough to stop me from achieving global greatness if only I would just conceive it in my mind and get down to work.

vi. Always giving room for improvement.

Like Jonathan who was always aiming to improve himself and never thinking he had gotten to a final destination, I have come to realize that there’s always room for improvement , like it’s popularly said “the only room that never get filled up is the room of improvement,” we ought to live every new day with the mindset of making it better than yesterday, in my first semester in the University I had a cumulative grade point average of 4.76/5.00, it was the best in my department as well as my faculty, however I saw the need to improve on myself, by the end of second semester I had a cumulative grade point average of 4.83/5.00. So the importance of improving one’s self cannot be overemphasized.

vii. Being ready to help others make progress or overcome limitations.

One of the most noble thing for anyone to do with his or her life is to gift it out to others in service, we never can tell who our little kindness or free service or free gift may help uplift to greatness, we never can tell who may receive hope to go on with life by our little act of kindness. Personally I have come to derive great joy in helping to uplift those around me in the little way I can, teaching a colleague a school work to ensure that person is well prepared for exam can go a long way in making that person achieve greatness, many times I feel excited times feel like crying when someone who I had taught some school work send me a message to say thank you, those messages can be more refreshing to the mind than money, it makes you feel you are living life not just for yourself but for others too. As someone who belongs to a number of non-profits, have seen the remarkable hope that can be brought to individuals, families and societies by just one act of kindness, like Michael Jackson sang “we can make this world a better place for me and for you”. There must always be a yearning and longing to help others, whether we accept it or not, we all got some help at some point in our lives, whether from humans or from a divine Being.

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 would in no small way help me in my daily personal life and also in my quest to make this world a better place, in that firstly it would help me see the need to cut loose from popular beliefs that are potential limiting and progress stagnating, beliefs that doesn’t allow one to try out new things, that doesn’t allow one to be innovative, cutting loose from such beliefs would allow me cover new grounds, create new solutions that would liberate the people around me and more importantly give young people that challenge that they actually can achieve a lot against the background of popularly held beliefs that are limiting. Secondly the ideas would help me to be reminded that I must never get to a point were I feel I have arrived and nothing more can be achieved beyond that, I must be reminded that there’s still room for more improvement, also it would keep me reminded not to be in a haste to resist new ideas, never allowing culture to come before thinking, I must not be too quick to crucify people under the sledge hammer of culture without first considering what the reality of such an idea have on transforming our society positively. Again these ideas have taught me to be more open to forgiving people, I must realize that they acted unkindly to me, stoned by idea, tried to truncate it because they were ignorant, I must learn to love and forgive them. Finally I would be more pro-active in uplifting people, realizing that one is too small to create a better place out of this world, until you have affected people positively they won’t go ahead to also affect people positively, more importantly when one dies, one would have left an army of people behind ready to affect other lives.

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.

“This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one’s self popular with other birds. Even his parents were dismayed as Jonathan spent whole days alone, making hundreds of lowlevel glides, experimenting.”

What struck me about this is the fact that Jonathan understood that what he was doing for a fact is not popular amongst birds of his kind, his parents would even be dismayed but worse still he was still experimenting and wasn’t even sure if he would achieve anything with his experiments, this is particularly interesting that he left what was popular to pursue that which was unpopular and wasn’t too sure the result he would produce, the only conviction he had was that there was more to flying than just flying to get food. Meaning that we must realize that at some point we might have to take some steps when we are not even sure of where it would land us, at times we have to take a leap before we look.

:I don’t mind being bone and Feathers from. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know.”

This particular quote struck me because Jonathan knew also for a fact that in trying to achieve the impossible he would have to make some sacrifices, it’s a price he just had to pay, “no pain, no gain.” Many a times we don’t realize that how quick we achieve greatness is dependent on how quick we are ready to make sacrifices, in fact in the case of Jonathan he was ready to loose his feathers; an important thing that makes him a bird all in the name of learning to fly differently. So in achieving success one may need to even sacrifice some pleasurable time, some desires and the likes.

“His thought was triumph. Terminal velocity! A seagull at two hundred fourteen miles per hour! It was a breakthrough, the greatest single moment in the history of the Flock, and in that moment a new age opened for Jonathan Gull. Flying out to his lonely practice area, folding his wings for a dive from eight thousand feet, he set himself at once to discover how to turn.”

This is quite symbolic and interesting in realizing that Jonathan who just made history here didn’t have to celebrate his victory for too long or allowed it get into himself too much before he realized there was more to be done or accomplished, Jonathan went back to his training ground, it’s good to celebrate our achievements, however most of us celebrate it for too long that we don’t realize that there’s still much to be done as such going back to the training ground, we feel we have gotten to the pinnacle of Knowledge in our field, hence not seeking to learn new things.

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 don’t agree with the aspect that says there’s no “heaven,” I don’t agree because of the fact that I know from my faith (Christian) that there’s a place called heaven, however I also fully understand that “there’s no heaven” as made by the author is in the context of helping the readers to understand the fact that heaven could be a “mindset”, meaning a place in one’s mind where one desires to reach perfection, where one sees no limitation whatsoever. In the light of that one can strike a balance in appreciating the fact that there’s a place called heaven but there’s an understanding that one reaches in one’s mind, an understanding that there’s no limitation whatsoever, an understanding of perfection which can be reached in one’s mind. As against the author’s acknowledgement of only a “mindset” of heaven, the Christian faith acknowledges both heaven as a mindset that can be reached in one’s mind or craving to attain maturity or perfectness and also heaven as a place.

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 the book didn’t contain exercises for me to complete.

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

One thing I would like to comment about is how this book came into limelight, it’s so interesting to realize that a book that said so much about tackling and rising above failure was itself rejected by several publishers, none of them saw it as worthy enough to publish, before it was eventually accepted by Macmillan in 1969, the book went on to be listed as one of the “50 timeless books on spiritual classics in a book by Tom Butler-Bowdon,” so the story of the rejection this book went through is as inspiring as what is contained in the book too. As such we must realize that no matter how transforming our idea is, people might never believe in it, at times we are just the only one brave enough to believe in our idea, that idea of ours is counting on us not to give up on it, if we do that idea may never see the light of the day, let’s endure a little longer, victory might just be seconds away.

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? 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