As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Yusuff Olayode Yusuff (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
It explains the power of thoughts, how positive thinking affects man.
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. “Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits, thus does a man garner on the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.”
This is important to me because when people act, they did because of what they have in mind. After acting, they either regret or become joyous. Our thoughts reflect in our behavior.
ii. “An ignoble an bestial character, by the same process, is the result of continued harboring of groveling thoughts.”
I found this important when you house bad impressions in your hearth, it reflects in your behavior.
iii. “Man is always the master, even in his weakest and most abandoned state. But in his weakness and degradation he is foolish master who misgoverns his “household.”
I found this important because you can determine your success and your failures. If you fail to do the right thing, adversity strikes you.
iv. Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.
I founds this important because when you harbor bad thoughts, it divides and increases. It teaches me to be open hearted.
v. As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.
This idea was important because I will increase my capacity by training to be strong.
vi. He who would accomplish little need sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.
To achieve, one need to dedicate much. This idea teaches that all effort must be made to compete in this live.
vii. In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results. The strength of the effort is the measure of the result.
Unlike those who complain about their tools when they fail, this quote encourages that man should have himself to blame in case of failure. It is because we have refused to learn and develop ourselves that make us not succeed some circumstances.
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 have taught me to be strong in whatever I found myself doing, the ideas stated in this book taught me to be valuable by increasing my horizon through the belief that I can do things perceived impossible. Through sacrifice man can achieve his desires, and outshine his sedative counterparts.
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.
“Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control.”
It encourages doing things gently without rushing over issues. This quote will help me in doing things gently and not overdoing.
“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.”
Whatever people raise eyebrow over is made through hard work. Achievements that are not made through hard search or sleepless night are not worthwhile, and just diffuse in a very short time with just a natural test.
“A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.”
Whatever you achieve in live is reflective of your dedication. If you did not dedicate so much, you will achieve little, and stay below others who have done a lot to go far.
“As a progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives place to other circumstances.”
Whatever one’s condition is, it is to teach one how to grow and evolve, not how to remain the same and wither. Adversity, this quote, made me to understand, is not an incapacitation but a livelong teacher. If one is not brought to test by adversity, intense weather of failure reduce one’s development.”
“Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow; he then becomes the rightful master of himself.”
To succeed, you have to belief you can before going forward. Without believing in oneself, to compete is hard.
“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles.”
Only what you think, you achieve. When you think good, you achieve good. This quote will make me continue to strive, stand despite the slaps, it will teach me to ruminate when others are depressed. What is required of thought is it being good, otherwise of thought reduces efficiency and makes one sorrowful when others are rejoicing.
“A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer of the man with his surroundings.”
When you want good things for yourself, be happy. With happiness, you will have it.
“A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.”
Your thought determines your circumstances.
“Let him encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down to wretchedness and shame. The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colors which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever- moving thoughts.”
With good thoughts, man begins to develop since he is not an agent of backwardness. Whoever develop mind for bad thought appears backward among is equal, and find it too hard to achieve when they do.
“The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do.”
When you believe you can do it, it is because you have the knowledge that you can do it. Striving to have the will comes from having the knowledge to strive with. Man cannot achieve without striving, hard work rewards with folds of success. That is why to be a leader, one needs to work hard. This quote has taught me to continue seeking knowledge.
“You will become as small as your controlling desire, as great as your dominant aspiration.”
Whatever you desire much controls you, if it is goodness, you tend toward good, and if it is bad, that is your commander. That is why one revolves round his aspiration, and gradually makes him.
“Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”
To achieve, one has to be visionary. One needs to have goals; this will not make him deviate. This quote is useful, and will put into having my goals, unaltered, and make me work towards it.
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?
Nothing.
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?
It does not contain any 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.
Nothing else.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Yusuff Olayode Yusuff (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea is to teach people to break new ground. In the book, it was revealed that man has to start new thing, he has to lead to effect new behaviors in others, maintaining the status quo is excessively far from being a change maker. In all, dependent on peoples’ perceptions of you weigh you down, makes you follow what is not even good for you. Just when Jonathan thought that he could not bring new flying tricks because his parents condemned his styles, he became depressed and thought of quitting. However, Jonathan did not yield to their calls, and kept to his desires; flying beyond expectations became his 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. “Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else. Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.”
Jonathan’s idea about existence defers from his friends’. To his friend it is learning simplest facts of flight and eating. But Seagull finds pleasure in extraordinary flight. This exactly pioneers his grand breaking style. It informs me that not what people do most time is good, even if they kept to it. When you think of new things, create opportunities to make it realizable yourself. Because you are alone and the maker of your own success. Not many will understand you at first, but along the line when you treat your ideas with joy, people will join your train, and begin to share the glory with you. This is a worthwhile go-ahead mechanism for achievers to be.
ii. “Irresponsibility? My brothers! he cried. “Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads, but now we have a reason to live – to learn, to discover, to be free! Give me one chance, let me show you what I’ve found.”
To achieve in this live, there are obstacles to break and many jinx to tackle. When Jonathan was hampered by the thought that he violated the dignity and responsibility of the Gull family, the undaunted character of Seagull gives him a go ahead, to think faster than others and achieve despite is being regarded as an outcast. Then to his been sent away, he remained unperturbed by all these condemnations all in the name of breaking new ground. But still, Jonathan is ready to teach new ideas learnt.
iii. “His one sorrow was not solitude, it was that other gulls refused to 8believe the glory of flight that awaited them; they refused to open their eyes and see. He learned more each day.”
Leaders do not see condemnations as retardations; they saunter along when been reproved. And do not have to cry for their self, in most cases, but for people that failed to learn what they have learnt and accept that which they accepted. You can see Jonathan’s sorrow was not in him doing the flying alone, and it was in people not accepting his thought. So I understand myself more now, I have to adapt to creating ground for people to soar.
iv. “But with a difference. Here were gulls who thought as he thought, for each of them, the most important thing in living was to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most loved to do, and that was to fly. They were magnificent birds, all of them, and they spent hour after hour every day practicing flight, testing advanced aeronautics.”
When Jonathan had thought he is alone, he met friends who have his school of thought, he met friends who gingered him to keep on to his passion. No matter what, when you keep to doing things, people will join you when it yield. So is life.
v. “For in spite of his lonely past, Jonathan Seagull was born to be an instructor, and his own way of demonstrating love was to give something of the truth that he had seen to a gull who asked only a chance to see truth for himself.”
Leaders instruct despite all odds, they teach new things to listening ears and do not give up teaching and straightening people.
vi. “If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we’ve destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don’t you think that we might see each other once or twice?”
Many waste away there time, and infact waste away their talent.
vii. “The gull sees farthest who flies highest.”
Doing extraordinary things puts you ahead and widens your horizon. That made Newton say, to see further than others stand on the shoulder of a giant.
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 are magnificent to create new me, it is a matter of implantation I believe. One-step, after another, then the practice becomes a behavior. Life, I believe requires knowing what you no not yesterday, and implementing what you are deficient of yesterday. In my journey to becoming a leader, a resourceful one, putting this great idea into practice will yield a life that does not look at what people who limit success say. Time management is a value deficient in many of the self-proclaimed leaders. The idea stated in seven above is a guiding principle for me. I know that efficient management of time will make me productive, leaving useless issues alone and mounting on the useful.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“If anybody can show someone on the ground how to see a thousand miles, it will be Jonathan Livingston Seagull.He looked at the sand. Good-bye, Jon, my friend.”
“I don’t care what they think. I’ll show them what flying is! I’ll be pure Outlaw, if that’s the way they want it. And I’ll make them so sorry.”
“Don’t be harsh on them, Fletcher Seagull. In casting you out, the other gulls have only hurt themselves, and one day they will know this, and one day they will see what you see. Forgive them, and help them to understand.”
“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip, Jonathan would say, other times, is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.”
“Every hour Jonathan was there at the side of each of his students, demonstrating, suggesting, pressuring, guiding.”
“Maynard Gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way. It is the Law of the Great Gull, the Law that Is.”
“The only true law is that which leads to freedom.”
“Look at Fletcher! Lowell! Charles-Roland! Judy Lee! Are they also special and gifted and divine? No more than you are, no more than I am. The only difference, the very only one, is that they have begun to understand what they really are and have begun to practice it.”
“You don’t need me any longer. You need to keep finding yourself, a little more each day, that real, unlimited Fletcher Seagull. He’s your instructor. You need to understand him and to practice him.”
“Poor Fletch. Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you’ll see the way to fly.”
“To begin with he said heavily, you’ve got to understand that a seagull is an unlimited idea of freedom, an image of the Great Gull, and your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip, is nothing more than your thought itself.
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?
Nothing.
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.
Nothing.
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? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9