As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Okata Chiamaka Miriam (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The notion that the author is trying to convey in the book is that thoughts are what make or mar a person. A man is a definition of his thoughts; he can create his environment by the condition of his thoughts. The book is divided into 7 chapters:
The first chapter explains the idea that a person’s character is the complete sum of all his or her thoughts. The second chapter showcases the effect of thoughts on circumstances. The author illustrates how thoughts can affect a man’s circumstances, in other words, men attract who they are. In the third chapter, the author expounds how the body is the servant of the mind, in the sense that the body responds to the bidding of one’s thoughts. The state of your mind (thoughts) can make you either healthy or sick. The author demonstrates in the fourth chapter that, there is a connection between purpose and thoughts; purpose has to be first conceived in the mind, put to work before it can come to fulfilment. In the fifth chapter, he explains that the achievement is the direct result of one’s thinking. The sixth chapter portrays that when vision is conceived and nurtured in the mind, will become a reality one day. In the last chapter, the author addresses that man with right thinking (who has control over his thoughts), will not be moved by any outward circumstances because he is always at peace in any situation, which is the highest form of mastery. Above all, thoughts are the main factors of what makes a man.
2. What were the seven ideas or lessons 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. A person is literally what she thinks, her character being the complete sum of all her thoughts.
This is a very important sentence to me and recently, I have made it my guideline towards achieving my goals. Growing up, I was a timid and shy girl, got bullied a lot because of my character, I used to cower in fear and will always try to please my peers but I never fitted in. After my high school, I resolved in my heart to be popular among my peers so I started seeing myself as one and my character took an amazing turn; I went from being timid to a confident young lady.
ii. “Man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or neglected, it must and will bring forth.”
As someone who owns a garden, I have known this revelation for a long time now. It was very easy for weeds to sprout and drain the nutrients of my vegetables whenever I leave my garden unattended; that lead to the revelation that whether we like it or not something must sprout in your garden just as it is in the mind. For good and useful thoughts to grow and flourish in my mind, I need to cultivate, water and tended to it, but when left unattended to, negative and useless thoughts take root.
iii. “Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.”
This statement caught my attention because it was literally about me 2 years ago; I wanted to lose weight but I was never willing to make the sacrifices needed for me to lose some weight. It took some mentoring before I could summon some courage to eat healthy and also register to a fitness club, with persistence and dedication I went from weighing 66kg to weighing 58kg. I have now subscribed to a healthier lifestyle, my whole body could feel the change and I have also become an advocate for a healthy lifestyle.
iv. A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulate his life.
I realized that until I stopped blaming circumstances and taking responsibilities of my own actions, I won’t progress much in life. Taking responsibilities of my every decision has made me more mature and thoughtful.
v. Character and Circumstances
A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its result on the character and circumstances. I am a big believer of this idea because it has worked for me on several occasions.
vi. Positive Outlook
As you cannot have a sweet and wholesome abode unless you admit the air and sunshine freely into your rooms, so a strong body and bright, happy, or serene countenance can only result from the free admittance into the mind of thoughts of joy and goodwill and serenity (cheerful thoughts find good in all). Having knowledge of this made me to be deliberate about my emotions and knowing that I have the power to dictate my moods despite the situation that I find myself in. I practiced breathing exercise when I feel heavy hearted and it helped a lot. I purposely engage in dwelling on cheerful thoughts and smiling at myself.
vii. Vision
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. Life without a vision is catastrophic because it’s your vision that drives you. My character and my life at the moment are influenced by my vision for my future. This lesson describes my current lifestyle and I believe I will achieve my goals.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you create a better world? If so, how?
Knowing the effect of my thoughts on my character will help me personally to navigate my thoughts towards a goodly character and also it will help me as a leader to guide my mentees on how they can effectively take charge of their thoughts in building a good character, thereby making the world a better place.
I will never leave my mind unattended for unfiltered thoughts to run through, I will carefully filter all thoughts that enter my mind and will not allow negative thoughts to dwell while helping others too till we gain mastery over our thoughts.
It takes more than mere wishing for a change but a consistent improvement by our dedication and hard work towards achieving a particular goal for it to come to pass. Proven results of my hard work and dedication will help me instil the value in others because you can’t teach what you have never experienced.
Knowing that I am responsible for all my actions will help me to take responsibilities of my every decision I made and the outcomes.
Knowing the power of mind set, to achieve any goal; I let my mind dwell on the goal and how I expect the outcome to be (I will first saturate my mind with the goal before start up) and it usually ends up working to my expectation.
I don’t allow external circumstances to affect my emotions and this helps me to make sound decisions as a leader.
I believe that as long as it is conceived in the mind, it can be achieved. This will help me as a mentor in helping my mentees achieve their goals in life.
4. Quotes: are there any statements which the author made that particularly got you’re your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
There were few quotes that got my attention:
“As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.”
This statement summoned up what the book is all about. This has been one of the values instilled in me as a Christian; the state of my heart should be placed in the highest hierarchy.
“He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.”
This quote touched me because fear and doubt is the recipe for failure. What leads to failure is always our fear of the unknown or doubting our ability to succeed. My fear of being jeered at made me not to work on my public speaking skills, until one day I had to let go of my fears and faced them. I can boldly stand on any stage to teach and motivate others to follow their passion.
“He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it.”
I have made plans in the past and have realized it, and I still have plans I know that will be actualized in the future so I am a big believer of this quote because I know that as long as I keep working on my vision and nurturing it, it will come to fulfillment.
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, the book was short and precise; I couldn’t disagree with any statements.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
The exercises in this book was more like a personal exercise to me; I should know that what goes in my mind is very crucial to what comes in play to my physical circumstances, so I will be mindful of what goes in and stays in my mind and also believe in my mind that I can achieve anything as long as I can imagine it.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Okata Chiamaka Miriam (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea of the book is that any goal is attainable as long as the living being is determined, focused and never gives up for the imaginable to become a reality.
From the book the first recipe for success is a condition of the mind, the mind set has to change: there need to be a setting a part from the crowd (in one’s way of thinking, mannerism) in order to create one’s own niche in life. There is no need to conform to the general point of view, break out of the norms and stretch out of the ordinary. Average and ordinary people (who can be your family and friends) will never understand why you choose to be different and will always try to talk you out of achieving goals especially the ones they think will impossible to achieve.
The journey to success is never an easy road; there will be failures along the way. Success is learning from the failures. Your mind may even try to talk you out of achieving your goals but as long as you believe, you will attain it.
Sometimes we are limited by our environment, nature, thoughts and so on when we want to achieve a certain goal but that doesn’t mean that achieving it will be impossible. It takes knowing and sticking to your vision and aligning your thought process to make it a reality. Mentorship is one of the effective ways of achieving your goals and also having a relationship with people who share the same vision with you will propel you into greater heights. When you have attained your goal or have reached a certain level of perfection, someone should be able to grow from your knowledge.
2. What were the seven ideas or lessons 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. Vision and purpose.
Jonathan Seagull always had a mental picture of flying that was his driving force. This is very important to me because I believe that life without vision is useless. Before I got to know about vision, I was just depending on luck and fate. When I was in my early teens, I used to think my only purpose on earth is to marry a perfect gentleman and we will live happily ever after with our children. As I grow older, I realised that life was more than that, which lead me to ponder on my real purpose on earth. Since I have discovered my purpose on earth, I work with clarity of vision now. Marrying a gentleman is still in the picture, just that it’s not my sole vision now.
ii. It takes determination to achieve your goal.
I have seen it happen so many times, that determination births results. It’s not about who is the most talented but who is more passionate about achieving a goal. I realised that when I put my mind to achieving a particular goal, and work hard towards the goal, I always achieve it.
iii. Be fearless
Before, I was so fearful of speaking in public but it has always been my dream to teach, educate and mentor people. My first attempt to speak in public was a disgrace; I was laughed out of stage. People had told me that I was not wired to be a speaker but it didn’t stop me from trying and learning how to be a public speaker. One day, it occurred to me that the only thing that was limiting me from achieving my goal was my fear of being ridiculed, I had to face my fear, after some months of being ridiculed I gained confidence and now I can stand on any stage and pour my knowledge to the benefit of the listener.
iv. Mentorship is one of the keys to success.
Where there are mentors, what will take 40 years to learn, may take 3 weeks or even a day because instead of going through that path, someone who has been there will guide you through. Mentorship is one of the key to success to me because it shortens the time it takes to succeed and you get to learn from other people’s mistakes instead of going through the same hardships.
v. Negative thoughts come but never allow it settle in your mind.
Our mind is a battlefield. We therefore cannot leave the thoughts that come into our hearts to chance, we must be deliberate about the things that we think about, meditate on, ponder on, and brood over. We need to feed our mind with positive things. So whenever negative thoughts come into our minds like the time Jonathan Seagull almost gave up hope because he thought he was limited by nature, but he didn’t allow it deter him from attempting to fly. I don’t allow negative thoughts to dwell anymore in my mind regardless of the facts around me.
vi. Never stop learning, relearning and practicing your skills.
As the world keeps evolving, some skills are like software that needs to be updated or it will become obsolete. I stay up to date by signing up for lectures in my field. Nobody can attain perfection in any field, there is always something new to learn.
vii. Demonstrate love by giving back to your community
Someone should benefit from your knowledge. I heard a statement somewhere “if you own a company and it can’t work without you, weep for your soul because you have failed in life” our skills, talents and gifts are useless if no one can benefit from it. That is why I am giving back to my community, to help someone not to make the same mistakes I made. I believe that giving back to the community is the greatest achievement of all.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you create a better world? If so, how?
Having clarity of vision will help me navigate seamlessly in life, I will not be moved by negativity and everyday will be worth embarking on because I have a goal, I need to attain.
Been passionate about my vision will make me determined to work towards achieving my goal every day.
Boldness to tackle every problem that comes my way will help mould me into becoming a good leader.
Having a good mentor will help me become a better mentor.
Been deliberate about what I allow to settle in my mind will help gain mastery over my thoughts, which is one of the greatest achievements anyone can attain.
Learning, relearning and practicing my skills will help me become great in my field.
Giving back to the community is one way to make the world a better place.
4. Quotes: are there any statements which the author made that particularly got you’re your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
One of the quotes that got my attention was when Sullivan said “we choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.”
This is so true because, we can’t live the same way, year in year out and expect a different result. We need to make a conscious decision to achieve a particular goal and work towards it, for it to come to pass.
“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is, you must begin by knowing that you have arrived.”
As a program coordinator, I know the importance of mind set and written down plan in any project. They affect our actions and reactions which in effect affect the outcome of the project. I always try to imagine the reaching my goals, because it is the picture that makes me strive to achieve the goal.
“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip, is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chain of your thought, and you break the chain of your body too.”
Thoughts affects every aspects of our lives, I have watched my thoughts changed which lead to my personality change. When I began to value my body more, I held myself in esteem and people treated me with respect than when I was timid.
“That whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual or superstition or limitation in any form”. This spoke directly to me because sometimes I tend to allow traditions or superstition to limit me from achieving some certain goals, so as to offend some people. I will not allow anything limit me from achieving my goals.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
No.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
There was no exercises to complete but the lesson learnt would be my own exercise : there is absolutely no limits to what I can achieve as long as I can imagine it, I can achieve it, that would be my daily mantra as I continue in this journey called life.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 7
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
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? 7