As A Man Thinketh
Assessment by Vivian Muthoni Muciri (Kenya)

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

The main idea the author is trying to convey in the book is that a man is literary what he thinks, his character being the complete outcome of his thoughts. Allen went on justifying his book by stating that just as a plant springs from and could not be without the seed, so every act of a man springs from hidden thought and could not have appeared without them. He also states that the thought in our mind is what made us what we are by thought we wrought and build.

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 FACT THAT THOUGHT IN THE MIND IS WHAT MADE US:

I came to learn that before one get the ability of doing anything by thinking before doing it. Just as one may think and plan how to go steal before going to steal.

I also get to learn an act is the blossom of thought and joy and pain are its fruit. Anything we do comes from the mind and when it’s put to action there must be an outcome of the action and the outcome might be good or bad.

MAN IS GROWHT BY LAW AND NOT A CREATION BY ARTIFICE:

Here I came to learn that nothing comes to us through by chance or by favor but they are natural result of natural thinking. Just as one may decide to live a noble life or evil life e.g. one may decide to live as a saint or a drug addict. For one to be a saint his thought must be right and his action right too. For one to become a drug addict his thought is about drugs and those he ends up taking drugs.

WE ARE CAPABLE OF MAKING OR UNMAKING OURSELF:

As humans we are capable of thinking of whom we want to be, we might think of being good and create heavenly place or doing evil and become beast. This implies that one has a right and power to decide their character and all this harbored in our thought. I also came to learn that we have power and authority to control our thoughts. We are also the molders of our character it is in our power to decide what we want our character to be, we can decide to have a good or bad character. We can also shape our condition, environment and destiny.

ONES MIND IS LIKE A GARDEN AND THE OWNER THE GARDENER:

When I read this it reminded me of my peers and most peer group in most cases one tend not to think for themselves since they want top fit in one group or the other and thus forgetting that this may ruin there life by having a bad outcome. Just as one has to plant seed in the garden nature them, remove weeds in the garden that is the same case one has to work on his mind remove bad thought and nature good thought so that one is able to produce good fruit. For example its on a Sunday and am heading to church my mum happened to have given me ten dollars for offering. On my way to church I meet my best friend and she happens to see the ten-dollar, then tells me to bay candy with five and give five as offering in church. Its my duty to say no to her and go straight to giving the whole amount in church and not go with her idea since the outcome might be bad for example my parent may not trust me when it comes to money.

THE SOUL ATTRACT THAT WHICH IT SECRETLY HABOURS, THAT WHICH IT LOVE AND ALSO THAT WHICH IT FEARS:

I came to learn that the situations we are in are the means by which the soul receives it own. Thinking of it my worst fear used to be height I hated going in higher places or stand at a balcony that is located in fourth floor. So when I got to join high school I was offered the top bed of a double decor at least I got away with that one and got the down bad but the nightmare was yet to begin. The next day when we were going to class I met my real nightmare the class was on fifth floor. This was one of my greatest fear that I could not by pass but face cause there was no way the class could have come down or they would not change the school set up to favor me so, I had no choice but to set my mind and face my fear by attending my class.

CIRCUMSTANCES DOES NOT MAKE YOU BUT REVEAL YOU TO YOURSELF:

Here you are in a situation of poverty. You are known to be kind, polite, and respective.
You share the little you have and always ready to help both at you neighbor hood and local church. All over suddenly you have won one billion dollars in one of the lottery you signed for and now you are rich. WOW! That’s where the real you appear you stop going to church, don’t want to help anyone and you don’t want to share your money with anyone. This is when the real you is revealed to yourself and everyone because at first you were pretending or you wore this mask cause you were benefiting from this people but the new person that’s you the inner beast that is in you.

MOST OF THE TIME THAT WE ARE WILLING TO CHANGE OUR CICRCUMSTANCES BUT WE ARE NOT WILLING TO IMPROVE OUR SELVES:

At time we sit and wish that some situation were not the way they are. We are ready to change this circumstance but our thought is not yet set to improving ourselves. Lets say you have the characteristic of drinking too much and after drinking you misbehave, waste money, end up sleeping in the street and wake up the next day with a bad hangover. This have been bothering you for a while and now you are ready and more than willing to change your behavior, probably by avoiding the bars as much as you can, but you are forgetting that alcohol are sold in supermarket and other places to. One thing that you are not keeping in mind is that there is no way a bar is going to be shut down cause you want to quit drinking or beer company closed down. All you have to do is try working on your thought and improve your character then you will be able to quit drinking but not pinpointing others or wishing for impossibilities.

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 lesson has helped me learn how to control my thought and how to ensure that am going to have a positive life. It clearly states to me that am the master of my thought and I have the power to control my destiny so I need not to blame nature or any other thing but pick myself up and work on improving myself before thinking of changing my circumstance. I also came to learn that in order for me to get my wish and prayer I need to put them inline with my thought because for one to earn something he got to have a thought of working hard to achieve it, and putting the thought of working hard to action by literary working hard, and the end fruit will be him attaining what he want. In helping me create a better world I came to learn that I need not to blame everything I do or justify my action with my circumstance but work on my thought and act on them while they are still positive so even in that circumstance I will be able to tackle it with a positive mind and wont affect any one thus making the world a better place.

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.

Not what he wished and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns.

This caught my attention because that is the truth. This because most of as have a wish list which we wish that they are fulfilled but this will never happen till we think and act towards having them fulfilled.

Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound

I came to learn that before we get to improve our circumstances we have to improve ourselves by changing our thinking.

A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life.

Most of the time we tend to complain about our situation and do nothing to improve it. So it’s a high time we wake up and move away from our comfort zone so that we may change our situation.

Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot.

The idea that thought can be kept secret this is not true because what is kept inside will have to come out sooner or later.

The body is the servant of the mind.

This made me learn that as much as my body does not want to do something lets take an example of waking up I got to control it to do it. The body also cannot work without the mind controlling it since most of the time most of the body functions are controlled by the mind.

Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.

This is quit through since once you make you mind to do something then you need to have a purpose of why you are doing it and what will be the outcome of it? The purpose also acts as a motivator for the action to take place.

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 kinder disagree with James where he stated that our thoughts lead to our circumstance. This is because for one to act he must be acting towards solving the situation he is in.

Lets take an example of a businessman this person will not think of restocking his stock till the stock is out that implies that he was in a circumstance where the stock was out and he acted by restocking his shop.

We can also take an example of a child born in a poor family and will really love to be out of the poverty situation. He will have the positive thought such as going to school get an education and graduate, have a better job and maybe start his own business. He decided to look for ways to put his thought to action and will start by looking for a school, after getting the school he will go ahead to look for sponsorship or look for the grant money so that he pays his school fees and also try to look for part time jobs so that he can pay his school fees. It all turns in vain and at the end of the day she is still poor. It’s clear to everyone that his workings towards improving his situation implying that his thoughts are right so are his actions. A child his age and in a different situation lets say he has all he need will not think as the other child meaning there circumstance are different so are there thoughts and actions towards there situation.

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 and I did them and still doing them. They are helpful in that am able to think right and learn to govern my action.

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.

The fact that health is linked to our thought and they are reviled in various ways on our body depending on how the thought is. Good examples are when one is sick and decide to embrace his sickness the body tends to grow weak each day but if another one is sick but has set the thought not to embrace the sickness they tend to be healed so first until you tend to wonder how comes and both are seeing the same doctor and are using the same drugs. So its time for as to work on how we think even when it comes to health.

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? 5
D. Would you recommend it to others? 7
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Vivian Muthoni Muciri (Kenya)

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 we are capable of doing anything we want to do is not look into our limits but learn to go beyond the limits and think beyond what limits us. We need to wake up and put aside everything that may seem to be limiting us, and work toward what we want to achieve. Just as Jonathan Livingston Seagull worked towards being the best in flying and never gave up or looked behind and see what they were meant for or thought they were meant for but went ahead to learn what was beyond their world so should we do.

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.

WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO LEARN AS MUCH AS WE WANT WITHOUT GOING THROUGH ALL THE PHASES THAT EVERYONE GOES THROUGH.

As long as we have the interest and the zeal to do learn something then we can learn as much as we want to. He stretched his wings and turned to face the wind. "But you, Jon." he said, "learned so much at one time that you don't have to go through a thousand lives to reach this one." As Sullivan told Jonathan it meant that Jonathan had the zeal and interest and it took him less time to reach where he was at that time.

Therefore for one to reach at a particular stage in life they have to dedicate themselves and be ready to learn what seem impossible to other men.

INSTEAD OF US GETTING PINED DOWN BY OUR SITUATION WE NEED TO BE EMPOWERED BY IT.

R5fdJust as the elder was not enfeebled by his age but was empowered by it, that how it should be in the case of our real life. Sometimes we tend to be pined down by our situation and tend to mourn over it we need to wake up and as hard as we can to make it work. We need to wake up and arise beyond our situation and concur them.

HEAVEN IS NOT A PLACE OR TIME HEAVEN IS BEING PERFECT.

I tend to wonder is being perfect really heaven. To some point I got to learn that the picture of heaven in everyone’s mind is a perfect world where there is no sorrow or strive and full of peace, thus once you reach your perfection in what you want you will be able to achieve all this and that will be your heaven at that time and that place.

For you to get your inner peace you got to achieve what you really want at that particular time and at that particular place this will lead your mind into its inner peace and joy.

ANY NUMBER IS A LIMIT AND PERFECTION HAS NO LIMIT.

Some times in life we get to meet our limits and thus we are pined down with what we are trying to do and it seem impossible for us to achieve what we want. Just as Sullivan “any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.” This implies that we don’t have to meet certain target but work to perfecting the speed that really leads you to meeting the limit and you can even by pass the limit.

YOU DON’T NEED FAITH TO DO ANYTHING YOU NEED UNDERSTANDING.

I came to learn that it takes more than faith for one to do something, first you have to understand what you want to do how its suppose to be done then you will be able to do it. Some time we have the faith of a giant to do something and we meditate on it but once you don’t have a clue of how the thing is done then you can’t do that thing.

EVERYTHING THAT IS LIMITING US WE HAVE TO PUT IT ASIDE.

Some time we tend not to move beyond our obstacles and boundaries since we tend to think that we cant do it. The obstacle might be financially, socially or any other way. Some times we get to see that we cannot beat the limits or tend to think that is how far we were meant to go but the author states that we need to put the limit aside and go beyond the limits to achieve what we want. As in we need to have a free spirit and be ready to challenge ourselves whenever we reach the limit.

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?

In my personal life the lesson will help me learn to know my limits and be able to attack my limit so that I maybe able to make my perfect heaven here on earth. In helping me create a better world is once I learn to go beyond my limit I need not to be selfish and I need to share the lesson with people who are willing to learn and also need to be able to forgive those who tried to pin me down. Just as Jonathan did, for us to have a better world it mean that once I get to see what lies beyond our comfort zone I should not sit there and wait for those who have already got there to help them but should come back and help those who are trying to get the to get there faster.

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.

* Such promises are only for the gulls that accept the ordinary. One who has touched excellence in his learning has no need of that kind of promise.

Some promises we make to ourselves in life are at times not meant for us but are meant for people that are just ordinary or pretend to be and once we get to touch excellence in our learning we surely don’t need to stay at our comfort zone but we need to wake up and look beyond that knowledge and see what lies there.

* We can list ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!

We have the ability to work out each puzzle and prove to ourselves as being of excellence, intelligence and skill or we can just sit there and list ourselves as just as since we are ignorant of the power we posses and the abilities we have. We also have a choice of being free or being bounded to our comfort zone.

* Stand to center meant only great shame or great honor.

Once we are done doing what we have being the center of attention can mean that we are bound to great shame or honor depending on our judges, but as the saying goes failure is someone’s else opinion about your achievement and what counts at the end of the day what really count is what you think about your own achievement and the decision that you are going to take upon implementing the achievement and perfecting it so that it becomes better.

* 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.

We need to learn what we really love doing and what we want to get from doing it.

Once we get to know what we love and tend to work towards searching the perfection with time we will get there and achieve what we really love and make it a better and better each day.

* The same rule holds for us now, of course; 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."

I simply got to understand that we choose our next level in life by what we have decided to learn at the particular level we are in right now. If we tend to learn nothing in the beginning level then we will learn nothing in the next level. In both level there must be limitation and difficulties to overcome.

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 kind of disagree with Robert Bach when he stated that, “faith is not needed when doing something, but you need understanding to do it.” As much as you need the understanding to do something you need the faith to have the drive of doing it. Lets go back to Jonathan,

Jonathan tend to understand a lot about flying and as we read through the book there where points where he was having his conscious warn him about the risk involved while flying and who he really was. Literally he was understanding what he was doing but with the risk involved, and he understood the risk in it he could have quit it and join the rest of the folks in there day to day life, but it seems to me that Jonathan had greater faith that he was going to achieve something if he kept on trying. So for me one needs both faith and understanding to do anything they want to do. First you got to believe that you can do what you want to do and achieve then understand how you can do it and you are good to go.

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?

Am not quite sure about that, but have been enjoying the idea of being able to go beyond my limits and am working towards embracing that, and am working towards learning to forgive those who pin me down and help them see what I have seen.

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.

* A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand! And then another hundred lives until we began to learn that there is such a thing as perfection, and another hundred again to get the idea that our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it forth.

This was my favorite line. Its true in that at times in life we tend to get our purpose in life while we are too old to do it and that’s when we go, “O! I wish I knew it before,” and the pictures were right at our face. Even if we get the picture we still don’t seem to be ready to find that perfection and show it forth or we find the perfection but we are not ready to show it forth.

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

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

Keys To Success
Assessment by Vivian Muthoni Muciri (Kenya)

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

The author is talking about the seventeen principals of personal achievement. Napoleon Hill’s have listed down for us the seventeen principal, which we can use to attain personal achievement both materially and spiritually.

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.

Definiteness of purpose encourages you to specialization leads to perfection

The author states that definiteness of purpose develops self-reliance, personal initiative, imagination, and enthusiasm among others. If you know what you want to do you will specialize and once you do that you will perfect what you want. If you work towards one thing then you will give you full attention to it and thus you will be able to specialize and explore everything in that field of your specialization. Since you wont be concentrating with other stuff but only that thus leading to the perfection of that field.

The value of wealth that comes with success is that it carries with it the lesson you have learned acquiring it.

The author states that one who gets wealth without working for it will not keep the wealth but will loss it as soon as he gets it, but one who has worked hard to get his wealth. This kind of person will keep his wealth long than any the one who inherited from somewhere he will work to increase his wealth and make a better life out of it.

This made me learn that once you work hard and learnt the lesson in attaining your wealth you tend to keep it. It also made me stop and think if I happen to inherit or attain wealth that I haven’t work for I will have to think twice before spending it and work on making the person who gave it to me proud.

There are two types of people who never amount to anything.

This are those who never do anything except what they are told to do and those who cannot even do what they are told to do. The people who don’t do anything till they are told to never make their own decision or take time to look around and see what will the out come of their action since it was not their idea to do the job but someone else. They tend to get swayed by the waves of the crowd and people surrounding them. This tends to make them be failures since they cannot make it on their own and when they are not told to do anything they sit back and watch the movement. Those who cannot do anything even what they are told just sit back and complain blaming their failure to everything around them. They start blaming the chair, economy, nature, and competition among others. They never even lift a finger to try anything but will always tell you how it can’t work. They tend to loss before they even start. This helped me to learn to watch out such people since they will not help you in anything but will always be their to help you fail cause that is what they are best in.

The time to begin exercising your personal initiative is the moment you decide upon you major purpose

You cannot start a journey not knowing where you are headed. First you have to decide where you will be going then sit back plan then leave. This is what the author tends to say. We need to have a personal initiative before deciding a major purpose. Some people tend to pretend that they are exercising their personal initiative but when you ask them their major purpose they aren’t sure, this tend to lead them to failure since they shift in every challenge along their way. Its good to have a purpose since it will help you stick to your path even if you meet challenges of any kind. This will lead to a successful journey towards achieving your goals and being able to tackle challenges as they pop in.

Begins with the recognition that there only two kinds of problems: those you can solve and those you can’t

The author states that we should be able to identify this two kind of problems. Those that we can be solved should immediately be dealt with by the most practical means. This means once you identify a problem that can be solved we should not postponed solving it for later instead we should work on solving it immediately using the best way possible where by you won’t overlook on others, lower you dignity or hurt those involved. This will help you move on with you master mind plan. The problems that can’t be solved should be put out of your mind and forgotten thus building more space in for new ideas. Once you lock them out you won’t be dwelling on defeat but will be moving on and discovering new horizon that may lead to you success.

Once you dwell on problems you can’t solve it lead to a sense of defeat and one may end up abandoning their pans which was about to lead them to success and become an over all failure.

Cooperation like love and friendship is something you get by giving.

For you to attain such a cooperation you have to give love before one loves you, you got to love them first for you to build a friendship you have to be friend the person. Once you offer love to some one it comes with virtues such as kindness, just, giving among others thus the person wont have a reason not to love you back thus creating a world of harmony. Once you give love and receive it back the two of you can work in harmony where you hold them and lift them when they fall, you push them when they don’t feel like moving, you correct them when they are wrong, you glorify them in their success and you mourn with them when they loss and try to cheer them up. This will be done back unto you making both of you a success. When you friend gains you gain too, it’s a win-win situation thus living both of you happy and in harmony on your path to success. You can not expect to get all this if you are not ready to offer them no one would help you attain something yet they know you wont help them neither be their when they need you the most.

Creative imagination has its basis in the subconscious.

The author states that it’s the medium through which you recognize new ideas and newly learned facts. Thus all your effort to impress your definite major purpose on your subconscious work to stimulate you creative imagination. Before your conscious mind takes charge of you definite purpose the picture has to be created by your subconscious mind. The image of what you want is created and acted upon by your subconscious mind. It is the main step hold of your plan you have to create it in your mind before having it into manifestation to the outer world. The subconscious mind knows no set back neither limitation thus it gives you a clear vision of success that you need to work upon using your conscious mind.

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 idea will help in a practical way and in my daily personal life in that:

From the lesson I have learned I will be able to change some aspect of my life from a failure to a successful person.

I will be able to deal with every set back that may make me be far from achieving my success

Will help me decide on a definite purpose in life that will help me stick to my path.

Will help me change my mental attitude to positive thus making everything I do a success, and every set back a stepping-stone, every failure as a challenge and every mistake as a lesson. Thus gathering strength from every trouble and overcome every difficulties,

It will help me create a better world by:

Will lend them the book and have them read it then we can discuss the outcome from what he read and think about it. Once am done with him I can give to another then another thus making the knowledge spread.

I can volunteer to share what I have learned with my friends and people around me. Thus helping them know what I know.

I can practice the part that targeted relationship between those around and me thus leaving in harmony.

The teamwork practice will help us have a better world where by I can get people to join forces and work together in harmony thus attaining what they all want.

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

Your achievements-like a company’s-correspond unerring to the philosophy with which you relate to others.

No man is an island we need others to serve in this world. Just like a company, which has so many people working together in different field but at the end of the day they achieve the same goal and objective, even us we need to work together with other people so that we can be able to achieve our goals and objectives in life. No one is indispensable in this world you cant achieve any thing without involving others in your life or you mastermind plans. If you think of opening a business for it to be successful you will need a customer who is a person without the customer then it wont work for you. Thus our attitude and personality really counts since it determines how we are going to deal with the person we will be working with. If we are abusive both verbally and physically no one would like to work for you even if you are willing to pay them a million dollars but if you are noble and of good character everyone would like to be apart of your plan thus helping you to go as far as you want ed to. So we need to analyze our selves before doing anything and change our ways to better thus have everyone be willing to be involved with us. As we try achieving our goals we need to be mindful of others their feelings, happiness and well being, thus will be able to achieve our goals.

Those who do not move quickly cannot keep up with the parade.

The world is changing fast and we need to move fast, be flexible and be alert to the changes. Sometime we tend to complain about the change that the world is creating and do nothing to keep up. Sometimes we tend to loss some property due to ignorance and laziness when a new technology comes in instead of us embracing the idea and upgrade our business we just sit back and complain on how the idea is going to ruin our business. This help to learn that I should be on the alert every time cause the world is changing and I should always be ready to make the necessary change to suite my business or my life in general.

A keen sense of justice is not merely a tool for gaining material rewards.

The author states that once you have a keen sense of just it will not only lead you to material gain but will enhance your relationship with other humans. Cause once you have a keen sense of just everyone would like being associated with you leave alone him or her trusting you. This will lead to you living in harmony and a happy life since no one will doubt you or dispatch him or herself from you.

Creative vision is more than an interest in material things; it’s a commitment to a better future.

Most people wish to become rich and famous drive the best cars, live in the most fancy house, be the center of attention and most of all becoming the next billionaire.

Only a few think of helping other people who are in need and touching someone else that really needed something more than you do. A better future to me is having just enough for me to have a comfortable life and assist my family then spend the rest to help my neighbor have something for him or herself to become reliable. If all of us work towards making every person reliable giving them hope for a brighter tomorrow wont we all have what we are looking for and have everyone happy. In our quest of seeking financial success we also need to seek a life that’s better for not only us but also those around us. We cannot change the world but if you touch one who is around you and he does it to someone else and then to another you will be surprise that you helped more than a million or even more, but if we are doing it for recognition or noble prize nothing will ever get done. Because you will never have the multi billion shillings need to eradicate hunger in Kenya or some country, and if you are working towards making the money it may take forever just share the plate you are having with the one going hungry.

You must learn to work with natural forces, not fight them

Trying to fight nature is like breaking a work with bare hands. Eagles fly above the storm they don’t sit back and watch the storm vowing not to move. Live fish swims against the current but dead fish moves with the current. Both the eagle and fish don’t fight nature cause they know it has to be there but they work towards beating it. Same case with us we should not try fighting nature or giving up due to nature since its going to be their and will always appear when it season comes. Learn to work with them to your advantage and not running away from them. If you try fighting nature you will end up being a loser and if you try running away from them you will run forever.

Your attitude towards life determines your attitude towards time.

If you take life to be slow you will have a slow attitude towards time too. Nothing will be done in a rush to beat anything. You will be always be caught by time and will always have nothing done at all. If you live you life with enthusiasm trying to set records and break them you are going to be more conscious about time and will never waste even a single second because you know the value of that second.

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?

It had question which one had to fill this was able to help me work towards practicing the exercise set in the book like developing a definite of purpose, forming mastermind alliance among others since I hard a target set for me to follow.

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.

The poems: These poems reflect the attitude towards defeat.

The poem done by Shakespear shows that a man was once defeated and thought that was the end of his striving towards success. Due to this defeat he thought that it was the end of opportunity and gave up pursuing his goal. The man becomes a loser both in life and in his road to success. This man has a bad attitude towards success since he never tries he just gives up and let all his effort wither.

The poem done by Walter Malone shows a different set of mind and attitude, Here the person gets a defeat or a set back he goes back analyze the reason of the set back and waits for another opportunity to try. He works towards his weakness and use it towards his advantage since he knows when one door closes another one will open if only he keeps looking.

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? 5
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? 5

Psycho-Cybernetics
Assessment Vivian Muthoni Muciri (Kenya)

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

The main aim of the book psycho- cybernetic is: the idea that our self-image is created by our thoughts that later lead to our action. In this book Maltz states that the science of cybernetic applies to the human mind. (The self-image is the key element that determines whether our internal guidance functions for success or failure. Maltz also states that the self-image we tend to reveals is caused by what our conscious mind tells the subconscious mind. The book also talks about how we can change our negative thoughts to positive thus changing our self-image and become elements of success.

The main purpose of this book is to develop a self-image you can live with, one in which you can feel secure, one that you can be proud of to express to others, one that lead to self-confidence and success. Thus enabling you to develop a realistic self-image that will empower you to live your life effectively.

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.

Each of us have a mental blueprint or picture of ourselves.

Maxwell stated that we have a picture of who were are or who we are suppose to be thus we hinder ourselves in doing most things. This picture might be positive or negative depending on what our minds have registered and what people say about us or the impact caused by our past success or failure.

I came to learn that we all have a picture of which we really are and this picture is caused by our past experience. We just thinking in the direction we want to and putting our thoughts in practise through the craft method may also change the picture.

Living creatures’ posses such a built-in goal- striving mechanism, a success instinct that guide us toward goals of nourishment, defense and reproduction.

Some much as we fail we still can achieve what we want and become successful if we not give up on our success instinct. I used to think that we have to work extra hard to achieve what we want and it was a seventy fifty chance as in failure was bounded to as but success is out of extra hard work, But after reading this I came to learn we all have a success instinct that lead us toward various goals in life.

I also tend to relate this statement with the other one ‘success is instinctive, but sometimes we block the instinct’ this so true in that we tend to look at the possibilities of failure and stick to that forgetting as much as we can fail we can still succeed this can be done by us stopping to watch the limits and work towards achieving the goals.

The only way people can push your button is if you let it happen.

Mostly we have a habit of letting people control as by what they say and do concerning our life. WE don’t make a stand but stand where they want us. The reason we tend to give is they know us better than we do know our self. This line helped me to understand that we can stand our position by not allowing others to pick the position for us. Just like when I wanted to become a writer everyone had an opinion about it. I took it to rest when my teacher took away all my writing and I had to watch as they burn to ashes this made me to chase a career the teacher had picked for me. When I cleared school was still doing a goose chase but came to realize I was not willing to do that. Now with the help of this book am going to learn not to allow people push my button by following what I so want to do without allowing everyone to pick the direction of my future.

If you don’t know what you want you are guaranteed not to get it.

Some time we tend to think that we are striving for something and when we are asked what we really are striving for we tend not to know or we are still unsure if we are making the right choice in striving for it. Another reason of not getting it is that once you hit rock bottom you aren’t going to chase the air. We also tend to shift from this and that, what worked for you kid brother or what worked for your best friend thus we are not constant on what we are chasing after all. By the time you come to realize that you were doing a goose chase is going to be too late and you will have wasted a lot of time and money. Here I learned that you should have specific goal and work towards achieving it, and not shape shifting with everything that come your way.

Successful personalities have some interest in and regard for other people.

Some people tend to look down on others or walk over others as they are climbing on their ladder to success. If they meet you on at the top they pull you down so that they are climbing. If we look around this people they don’t stay on top of their game for long cause they end up losing in one way or another. Maltz said that we need to work with others to walk on our road to success and the only way we can do is by holding their hands as they hold yours. This will help you learn, drop some aspect of your personality that may doom you to failure and they may tell you if you are heading the wrong direction. So we should learn not to kill other but encourage them and walk with them towards the direction.

Courage does not have to mean being a hero in a moment of crisis.

Courage means that acting boldly in the (little things), such as perusing your goals when faced with opposition from within our without. Sometimes we tend to wait for that one big opportunity where we can act as superman, batman or Hancock. We always look around and see where is the problem and what can we do to get noticed but we tend to forget even by facing our worst fear in the dark amount to as being superheroes in our own life. The most important thing I came to learn being a hero in my own life amount to more than being a hero in public since in the public will just feel good and walk away but in my life it may lead to a change that is worth it for a life time.

Most failures are caused by misunderstanding of the situation.

Maltz states that we tend to react to our situation according to the image we tend to create and not to how the situation tend to convey it self. He gives a good example using the game called broken communication. This is quit true cause at times we tend not to react to the actual situation but we react to how our thought say about the situation thus losing.

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?

Since I was able to learn how to change habit of failure into habits of success in that I will have to change my self-image and what people say about me for that’s there opinion and it doesn’t count all I have to do is to look in to my inner self and affirm that am good in everything I do and not what people tell me am good in and what am not good in.

It also helped me in ways of relaxing where by Maxwell showed us some methods of relaxing. I also came to learn at time we tend to attack the situation we are in and this tends not to help us out, but at times when we relax it seems clear on what we should have done in this situation and the decision tends to be easily made and the problem get is solved.

I also came to learn that believes are powerful. What we believe tend to define who we really are. Just as the engine of the care is powerful so is believes. They tend to direct us to our destiny either a successful one or a miserable one.

I also came to learn that the only thing that cant change is change it self. This I came to learn from this statement ‘anything that has been learnt can be reevaluated and challenged, and anything that can be challenged can be relearned’ this helped me to realize we can work on our disabilities and become as successful as we wanted to be.

I might use the ideas I have learned in building a better world by telling someone else how to set goals, work on them, how to tackle stress and how to achieve there goals.

Lets take an example of a school going kids if I share this with them and help them go through the journey in their day-to-day life; won’t they become better citizen to our country? They may end up being successful and probably help someone else and thus how we are going to create a better world.

I will also use what I have learned to teach my sisters the value of there life future and the importance of there dreams. I will help them go get what they really want in life and tell my mum how to handle them by giving them a positive successful mental attitude and boosting there self-esteem, this will make them realize an out standing performance.

I may also know how to handle one with low self-esteem, the right words to tell him so that he can have a better self-esteem. I will also weigh my words before telling someone since they may kill their self-esteem or build. This will help me influence the world in that the person I reach will extend the same treatment to another person and the chain continues and there we will have a better world for all of us.

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.

“It is our self-image that prescribe our limits”

As Maxwell stated most things that tend to limit us are our self-image lets take an example of a person who sees himself as a failure this person will never ever try even the simplest task since he knows that he will never make it. Same case with one who thinks he is a naturally the best he will do anything even the most craziest and hardest stuff with a positive mind that he is going to be the best.

If we have no worthwhile personal goals, it is easy to conclude that life itself is not worthwhile.

I tend to agree and disagree with this statement:

I agree with it in that at times we tend to forget our purpose in life and we tend to exist instead of living. In existing I mean that we are they’re waiting for our final calling (death). Such a person his life is not worthwhile since he has nothing to do, to challenge him or to entertain him thus his life is not worthwhile. Since he has nothing to put him on the go ahead of learning and living.

I disagree with it since in some situation we tend to have a positive mental attitude of success, we set our targets and work towards the target but we seem to hit the dead end in everything we do. This kind of person will tend to feel that his life is not worthwhile since no matter what he tries he tends to fail or get limited by the circumstance he is in let say someone trying to start a business and has no capital. He only believes in doing business and nothing else if he fails and won’t be able to do the business then he won’t fill the worth of living.

Doing nothing is the proper reason of an unreal problem

Sometime we tend to create problems, which are not there and tend to stress ourselves with that. We real over work hard to solve something that you aren’t sure they are going to raise. The common phrase we use is ‘better safe than sorry’. Just as Bobbe says we need to relax and wait for the problem to come up then deal with it. This is the hardest thing you can ever think of maybe cause you know the attitude of the person you are dealing with or you are used to miss it when it come to doing that thing thus creating insecurity on your work. I like the idea deal with it when it happen this will reduce the unnecessary stress, and will have you prepared sociologically to deal with the issue when it happens and there is a chance that it won’t happen at all.

In fact dreams of both day and night varieties are useful in pointing you towards your goals.

Just as the author said they are a method of subconscious mind setting goal that can convey a massages about where you ought to be. Most people in life when they tend to be asked why they are doing something they tend to say that they dreamt it or thought they could do it. I use to brush aside the daydreams and embrace the night ones as a sweet dream that’s all. Sometimes I used to think of them as a fantasy and would shake my head to bring it back to reality, but now I have learnt to listen to them and work accordingly. Since I come to pay close attention and discovered some are interrelated with my goals in

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?

If you won’t connect on paper, you won’t connect to reality

I am certainly unclear about this statement. I use to write everything I want to do to be and always had a time schedule to have the job done. What I use to write were stuck in places that I tend to see anytime like at the top of my locker in class but they never were done. I used to be caught by time at times I will tend not to write them anywhere but will have them done due to the zeal that I had towards doing them. Some people are not good writer but they tend to really connect with their reality but putting them down on paper is like stressing them up. I enjoyed writing that’s why I had everything down on paper, there some don’t put them on paper and they have it done.

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?

CRAFT (Canceling Replacing Affirming Focus Training) was to be practice for six weeks

This method helped me to drop old beliefs and pick new beliefs. By canceling negative thought that kept telling me what I can do and can’t how far I can go and can’t. I was able to replace this thought with new ones, and worked towards them. Now am focus to achieving my success a dream that I so long harbored and thought it was going to be just a dream but now am working towards putting it in reality. Since I have canceled all the negative thoughts, replaced them with positive thoughts, affirmed my positive thought, focused on working and training towards putting them to reality.

Learning to relax:

Here we learnt various relaxation methods such as Zen breathing, progressive relaxation, Radiant light and Dr.Lozanov’s listening list. This exercise helps me to learn how to relax my body and mind. At the end of each exercise I was able to feel relieved and able to think straight. It was also like closing a chapter for the day and opening a new one. I used to open a new chapter by making new decision concerning the wrong I did during that day coming with new set goals and target that I want to accomplish and coming with ways to balance work and entertainment.

Learning to use distress yourself tranquilizer through the SEEDS method (Situation, Evaluation, Emotion, Do, Self-esteem)

Here I learnt that once am caught up in a situation that cause stress the first thing is to adjust to the situation then evaluate it by trying to find out the reason you are in. Once you get this reason act upon the situation not reacting. This will leave myself esteem untouched and it helped me to have a positive mind on every situation I got myself in.

Learning to set goals via the SMART method (Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, Time-Conscious.)

This helped me to be able to come with attainable goals that didn’t make me feel worked out or stressed about achieving them. It made everything seem simple and fun doing them.

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.

The imaginary dragon wow! I used to get anxious with stuffs that were not real at all. I would create images at the back of my mind and start working on them at the end of it all I ended up feeling miserable, hating myself and feel worked out. It something that used to be there every single day and I would make it real by sharing with my friends and trying to work it out, but at the end of each day the problem never seem to get solved. Since I read that bit I learned that the best thing is to do nothing about it till it happens (thank God they aren’t going to raise anyway) so am to do nothing about it. One thing I came to learn is; as much as I was caught up in my family situation I was not the problem neither are my sisters, but our parents are and its not my mess to clean up but there mess to clean up, and no matter how they clean it up am going to sit by the sideline and watch and live my life, but wont try to rectify what I think was wrong and what should have been done.

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? 9
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

Success Through Positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by Vivian Muthoni Muciri (Kenya)

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

The author is trying to put across is that we both have a positive mental attitude (PMA) and a negative one (NMA). He is trying to have us learn to use our PMA towards success. The author also states that we both have a mind that can lead us toward success and also away from success itself. He also outlines the principals we should follow to achieve success and what tend to put us down from achieving success. He is also talking about the principals to success through a positive mental attitude and also how to attract wealth, security, and happiness among others through this attitude.

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.

We are poor not because of God

Some people tend to embrace poverty by stating that it’s there fate “God given fate” The embrace it and tend to do nothing about it but just fold hand sit back and complain. Some churches tend to teacher their members to take vows of poverty such churches believes that is an omen to be rich and they dwell in that. They justify their situation by saying Jesus was poor so why should you be rich? Most people tend to be misled by this. The author explains that poverty is not a sentence given to us by God rather it is a decision one makes for his own life.

Necessity motivates a man with a PMA to action without transgressing recognized inviolable standards.

The author states that climbing from failure to success are not important, this cause an honest man will use his PMA to climb to success but a man who is not honest won’t use it instead will opt for the quickest and easiest way to achieve this. Probably he may opt to stealing, cheating or any dishonest task that will make him achieve the success, but a man who uses PMA will climb the ladder in a honest way and achieve what he want without hurting others and once he has achieve this he tend to give back to the community by getting involved with community building projects such as working in a charitable organization or helping some one with the thing they need the most. Reading through the book there are also other group of great guys who used their PMA to become successful in one way or another, they didn’t see the challenge as a set back but as a stepping stone to achieving what they wanted.

My greatest mistake is being with the wrong companions.

The author states that the Charlie Wade developed a negative mental attitude due to the wrong companion he choose to have. Charlie comes to realize this when he was in jail and make a resolution to change his attitude to positive. Sometime we think that we are immune to bad behaviors and we can’t pick them up from our companions so we stick to them only to find out later that we messed up in life. Just like Wade it took him long to realize that he was in the wrong companion, he had to go to jail to realize that and to decide to mend in his ways. Also our life we tend to be in this kind of situation and think we are cool can control it but when something serious happens that is when we realize that we had the same habit with our companions those that we thought we are immune from. We also have the story of Irving and his brother. Irving says that if it wasn’t for the boys club in their neighbor hood he could have end up like the rest of the boys in that neighbor hood. They made a choice to cut themselves out of their companions and go to the club and this saved their lives and now they decided to give back to the community by building a club that would help boys in similar situation. They realized this when they were out of the group and had joined the club. This proves that once you are out of a certain companionship, group or relationship that is when you learn that they had impact you in a negative way.

We’re a little bit afraid of our ideas when they first occur to us

The author states that we tend to be afraid of our inspiration when they first occur to us due to various factors. This is the reason we don’t work on them as immediately we get the inspiration. This is because we get factor like doubt, the opinion from the people around us. This tends to kill the zeal of doing what ever we are inspired to do and we end up not doing it at all. The writer tells us to practice the ‘DO IT NOW’ mentality and stop procrastinating about it.

You will not succeed consistently unless we know and understand the rules; you will not continually succeed unless you apply the rules

The author indicates that we need to know and understand the rules of doing something before doing it if we want to succeed in doing it. He gives a good example with the guy with the camera situation and how he was blaming his failure to the camera and if another person used the same camera succeeds. Knowing and understanding the rule is not all it take to succeed once you understand the rule you need to apply it in what you are doing this will give you a one hundred percent success. The first virtual thing is to understand the rules then applying them and one is going to succeed.

A magnificent obsession does take courage

From this book I learnt that courage is needed to do something even the most magnificent thing you want to do. It may look magnificent to you but not to those around you and they are watching to see you next move. Lets take the story of the boy club representative. It took lots of courage for this guy to go deposit the check at the club. If he could have made the step of telling someone about his plans the first question would have been; ‘are you trying to be Jesus or mother Teresa?’ go for a holiday or something? Such an amount why don’t you invest? Dude you are throwing it out the window. This might lead to him having second thought about it and probably dropping the whole idea. Even the person who received the check maybe had tried him to change his mind and have his name mentioned. So it had to take him lots of courage to give up the check and also staying anonymous to the rest of the world.

Lengel describes how energy is wasted through needless

He specified this by telling us we tend to waste lots of energy in factors like worry, hate, fear, suspicion, anger and rage. The same energy we put on this waste element we can put on power-producing units. He said that most people put much energy in failing rather than in succeeding. I come to learn sometime we tend to put a lot of energy in things that will not lead us to achieve success in anyway but achieve failure. Instead of doing something to our situation we develop emotions that will not help us in anyway what so ever. He also gives various examples in the book on people who wasted their effort in putting their energy in things that didn’t help them at all. If we direct this energy to positive things then we can be successful and will have used the energy in a better course rather than waste it.

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?

In my daily life the idea will help me:

If I stick to the virtues and practice them I will be able to be at peace with fellow men and myself. This will create a peaceful life and a wonderful haven for those around me and me.

With the positive mental attitude I will be able to attract security, wealth among other things I may desire in life thus making me live a peaceful and successful life here on earth.

In helping me create a better world:

My life maybe an example to others and they might decide to follow the path am using thus being close to reduce the rate of poverty between those around me and me.

I may opt to share with a few people the ideas I get from this book and help them implement them making life a little bit more interesting and fun.

Being able to have enough money I may opt to help the ones suffering next to me. This will put a smile on their faces and hope in their lives thus making them have a brighter tomorrow, and pray that they may return the favor by giving someone else hope to face the next day with zeal and determination.

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 I started from where I was to get to where I wanted to be

This statement got my attention I came to learn that you couldn’t start climbing a staircase from first floor but you got to start from ground floor. Sometime in life we tend to get stuck where we are cause we are wishing to start from a higher place than where we are yet we forget that we can rise from where we are. I came to learn that we need to start from where we are with what we have to get where we want to be rather than sit down and mourn for what we don’t have instead of working with what we have to achieve what we want.

This is because you and everything in the universe are in constant process of change

I came to learn that everyone has a problem cause we are all entitled to change that is constant through out our life in the universe. What count is not the problem but how we deal with it and what becomes of us after dealing with the change just like the author states. With each victory we grow in wisdom, stature and experience. Thus I have learn that, I need to tackle the change with a positive mental attitude in order to grow and become a better, bigger person and more successful person if I tackle the change with a positive mental attitude.

Negative thought prevents the species of man being extinct

I came to learn that some negative thoughts, feeling, emotions and passion are not a bad thing but good since it prevent man from being extinct this is done when the negative thought is applied using a positive mental attitude. The author give an example with the anger that leads to one killing with the purpose of protecting something or one nation from an enemy, the emotion was negative it lead to a negative action but the purpose was positive because at the end of the day whatever you are trying to protect will be safe and intact. Fear is also another negative thought that leads to a good course. The fear of one getting knocked by a car has lead to one being careful when crossing the road and it has also lead to one obeying the traffic rules. This as created order in our roads and has made one careful when it comes to crossing of roads.

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?

They gave us a formula that we may use to help us apply virtues into our lives

It was a fun excises and was able to shade of some vices and pick up some virtues especially the ones they gave us and some others. The excises is still on going and am determine to continue with it by getting done with some and creating new ones.

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.

The example that the author used from the book done by Marden during the tragedy that hit American’s; In this book Marden showed how some men make millions and still be utter failure. This group of people is those who sacrifice their families, reputation, and health-everything for a dollar. They become rich and successful but they are total failure in real life. Since they have a bad reputation to friends, family and the world as a whole. Its know that no man is an island and once you hurt those around you they get detached from you and you become an alien in your own world. This teaches us as we try to achieve financial success we should also be trying to achieve success in other areas of our life. Us we strive for success let us not be motivated by greed or selfish ambitions cause this will lead us not to care about our brother’s feelings. We may achieve our goals but lose at one aspect of our life the social aspect and end up living a miserable life for no one would want to be associated with you or even render help to you in your time of needs. Thus us we try to make it let’s concentrate in all aspect of our lives and aim in making the world a better place those around us and for us too.

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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7

Giant Steps
Assessment by Vivian Muciri

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

The writer state that the book is based on the tools, techniques, principles and strategies that are offered to inspire and funnel the energy in us into measurable results by getting us to consistently simple actions which are going to lead us to the kind of life we desire to achieve.

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.

ITS NOT WHAT WE DO ONCE IN A WHILE THAT COUNTS, BUT OUR CONSISTENT ACTION

The statement caught my attention since at time we tend to do something once and expect to get result there and then if we don’t get result we tend to give up and sit back to complain and blame. Just as a champion practice everyday a business man works hard and a child never gives up we need to try everyday rather than trying once and when we are caught with a set back or a challenge we should not give back but pick the pieces where we left and start all over again.

THE FLOODGATES CAN BE OPENED BY ONE DECISION, BRINGING US JOY OR SORROW, PROSPERITY OR POVERTY, COMPANIONSHIP OR SOLITUD, LONG LIFE OR EARLY DEATH.

We oat to be careful while making a decision, since the decision we make with our life determines our destiny. As the author states the floodgates that might be opened by the decision we make. Thus one has to be careful about the decision we make and have to know how the decision will affect his/her life in years to come. As we make the decision we also need to learn that each of us is endowed with innate resources that enables us to achieve all we’ve ever dreamed of -and more. The lessoned learnt is; I need to make sound decision since the decision I make may build my future or waste it.

WE MUST COMMIT TO LEARNING FROM OUR MISTAKES INSTEAD OF AGONIZING OVER THEM

If we agonize from our mistake then we will never learn from the mistake and we will also stand a chance of making the same mistake over and over again. Learning from our mistake does not come automatic we must commit ourselves to learn from them. It’s easy for one to agonize from the mistake that he has done rather than learn from them so it’s our duty to decide to learn form the mistake that we have made. Once we learn form them we will know the reason as to why we made the mistake, how we can avoid the mistake in future and this will enable us to move on with our actions, thus making us to be a step closer to getting what we want in this life.

TO GET WHAT YOU WANT YOU MUST DISCOVER WHAT’S PREVENTING YOU FORM TAKING ACTION

Sometime we tend not to take serious thought on what is preventing us from doing something that is going to lead us to getting what we want. Mostly the main reasons of not doing what we are to do to attain what we want are the fear of failure and wastage of our time and resources, thus leading us not to take action sometime we know and assume sometimes we are unsure if it’s really that. When we discover what’s is preventing us from getting what we want then we need to act on it and try to over look then work for what we want. Since once we get it won’t hurt that much.

IF YOU KEEP FOCUS ON WHAT YOU FEAR, THAT’S EXACTLY WHERE YOU WILL END UP.

I came to realize sometime we tend to fail since our focus is set on all the set back around us. Once we have our focus on this set back we tend to look around on what we can do to avoid them. Some might be easy to avoid but some are like mountains or walls they can’t be moved. When we realized they couldn’t be moved we come to a stand still and give up thus failing. When you shift your focus in what you want to achieve and the open path around you then you will barely notice the set backs that are going to make you fail and thus achieving what you want to.

THE MARK OF A TRUE CHAMPION IS CONSISTENCY

Here the author state that for you to become a true champion is you have to be consistence in what you do and how you do it. Doing something once and achieving what you want then quitting wont help you become someone you wanted to be. Just as the fasted runner who had to stick in the mind of the world kept on practice and was setting and breaking records. So can one do that set and break records in their own life and thus becoming true champions, who are going to live a legacy behind to be followed by the upcoming generation. If we persist in doing the things we want to do and do it consistently looking forward to discover the horizon ahead of us and better what we had done good then we are going to achieve something of greater value than what we achieved at the first point we started.

NOTHING SPLENDID HAS EVER BEEN ACHIEVED AXCEPT BY THOSE WHO DARED BELIEVE THAT SOMETHING INSIDE THEM WAS SUPERIOR TO CIRCUMSTANCE.

He the author states it clearly that for you to achieve anything it first starting by believing that you can achieve that what you want. The first thing is to believe then create the pictures in your head and work towards achieving it. You also need to have the confidence that you’ve got something superior and you can deal with every challenge that may a raise on your way towards achieving what you desire. With this faith then you can work towards achieving what you so long desire and want in this life.

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?

This book a giant step will help me in a practical way in that:

- With the lesson about changing you emotions will help me to comp with how I feel and control myself in difficult situation since have learned that you can choose how you want to feel.

- The vocabulary of success as the author states will help me to tell myself the right words and give the right answers to the question that may a raise in my path towards achieving what I want.

- Getting the Knack of change will help me change my life and habit towards most things around.

The book will also help me create a better world by:

- Once I have changed my habit I might be able to appreciate others a little bit more thus sending a challenge to them and create a picture that they would all desire to follow.

- With the emotion control lesson I will be able to prove to others that you can decide what you want to feel and have control over your own life and not let your habit or weakness control.

- If I pick up positive vocabularies while speaking to my friends this will make them stop and think and see that life isn’t that harsh at all and they might pick them up along the way thus having people who are changed in their attitude about life.

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

* OUR DECISION NOT THE CONDITIONS OF OUR LIVES DETERMINE OUR DESTINY

The statement caught my attention since at time we have the habit of pinpointing fingers on the condition of our lives; we never try or make a decision since we are made to believe even if we try it wont work since you were set in that condition. Lets take the situation where a kid is born in poverty and is determine to be rich in future he has not gone to school and with that everyone tells him he cant make it in life,

But he makes up a decision and works hard to attain what he wants most thus ending up being rich. If he looked at the conditions and sit on them he could have done nothing with his life completely and remained in the state of poverty.

I came to learn that we should not look back to our condition but set ourselves to work and make the right decision to attain the destiny we want, and one decision may change your life forever.

* ALTHOUGH WE CANNOT ALWAYS CONTROL THE EVENTS IN OUR LIVES, WE CAN ALWAYS CONTROL OUR RESPONSE TO THEM AND THE ACTION WE TAKE AS A RESULT.

The author states clearly that not every situation in your life you can prevent or control (no one has control over nature) but one thing you can do is control your response to it and action. Lets take an example of rain it just happens that it started raining unexpectedly and you are on your way to the office. You cant make the rain stop you will either opt to buy an umbrella or run to the office or get into a hotel and wait for it to stop you can even stand at the sidewalks and wait. Every one will achieve his/her result the one running will get wet but gets to the office on time, the one who had bought an umbrella will get to the office on time and dry, and the other two will get to the office dry but late. So some situation are beyond us but they are not beyond our response or action thus they should not control our destiny or us. This is because we are the one who are responding to the situation and our response counts it doesn’t matter how big the situation is. We also need to know that we are the ones acting to the situation thus the action will affect us not the situation and we can be in control at all times.

RATHER THAN FEEL TRAPPED USE YOUR PAIN AS YOUR STRONGEST ALLIES.

Sometimes we tend to get trapped in the wrong situation since we fear the unknown pain but we are used to the known pain. This mostly happen in relationship and work situation. One may opt to stick to an abusive relationship due to the things she/he gets in that relationship despite the abuse she/he goes through, they don’t have any plan to move out cause they will lose what they were getting from the relationship plus the person and they tend to think this will be more painful. It never occurs that once they move out and forward the pain and lose wont last long since they might be a better person waiting for them. In work situation one might be having an abusive and annoying boss but you stick around for the little salary he gives you. You might be having the potential of doing business and become successful or shifting to another company but you are so scared of leaving the company since you don’t want to go through the pain of staying for a while without salary since you have bills to pay.

HOW WE FEEL –OUR STATE OF MIND- POWERFULLY INFLUENCES OUR ACTIONS AND INTERACTIONS.

This helped me to learn that one can be in a situation but instead of jumping into conclusion we can sit back and weigh all the option then pick up on one that will make us feel better rather than frustrated and wounded. If we pick a positive action and the outcome turns to negative then you might decide to act on it appropriately without fear or doubt since you will be able to tackle the situation in a clear frame of mind. If we pick a negative frame of mind it’s going to be tuff to adjust to the outcome of the situation and thus fail and start blaming others. If we have a positive state of mind then our action will be positive and we will react to the situation in a positive way and vice verse.

JUST REALISE IF YOU INSTANTLY CREATE A PROBLEM, YOU CAN JUST AS QUICKLY AND EASILY CREATE A SOLUTION.

The author gives a good example by stating that when someone seems to take long to change, has it taken that long to change –or just that long to get to the point where change is a must? Sometime we tend to create problems first and easily but we seem not to get the solution or wonder how it can be solved. The main reason the author state is that the problem might give you external pleasure or attention that seems right thus you don’t want to get it solved. The only ways you can make this stop is by making up your mind and see what the problem is making you lose now and in future. We also need to cut the tradition and norms behind achieving something first. With this we are going to be able to solve the problems we encounter faster than we thought we could thus saving a lot of time and energy.

WE MUST TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR CHANGE

No one can program you; you must recondition yourself in order to change. Some people tend to blame others for their failure to change or to keep up with the change they have achieved in short term. Forgetting that they power to control themselves lies in within them and not out in the external. This is a problem experienced with smokers and drunkards some tell you they are willing to change but alcohol is around them and cigarette some even give up and blame the company that supply the product. Some go in and out rehabs but are still the same as they entered. This is cause we expect that people around us will help us to change. It’s a high time we look inside and know that change must come within us and not from external surrounding. Once we such ourselves and create a clear state of mind on why we want to change then we can be able to attain the change we so long desire. And the external factors wont affect us.

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?

ONE OF THE MIRACLES OF BEING HUMANS IS THAT WE CAN DECIDE WHAT CAUSES AS PLEASURE OR PAIN.

I disagree with this statement since if it was right then I think as humans we would have avoided the stuff that causes us pain or would have turned them to pleasure rather than pain. The correct thing is to say that we can control our pleasure and pain to work for the benefit of us. We can be in the painful situation and decide to take another cause of action that will change this to be something of greater value that is going to change the cause of our lives to the good and maybe towards a better horizon at the end of the day.

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

The book contained different exercises, which were to be practice in long term. Some of these exercises were; how to choose your emotion/controlling, asking the right question and giving the right answer among others. They are helpful since they helped me change a lot of things in my life which used to be set back to me towards achieving my goals and living a successful 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.

ONE OF THE MARVELS OF BEING HUMANS IS OUR ABILITY TO FILL ANY EVENT WITH UPLIFTING OR DEVASTATING SIGNIFICNCE.

With this it made me stop and think what if that child who went through an abusive childhood grow up to help kids who went through the same situation, what if a woman who had to keep up with an abusive and drunkard husband decided to build a safe haven for women like her, what if the man who had to go through hardship gets something and encourage those who are young and are almost giving up would the world be full of hope and happiness. We can all decide to channel our events with uplifting influence by not repaying pain with pain but pain with love and forgiveness. Humans also have a habit if you get hurt with what you can’t hurt you tend to inflict the pain with something that you can really hurt good example is a wife and a husband, when the husband had a bad day in office probably picks a fight with the boss he will come and fight with the wife, the wife fights with the kid and the kid goes ahead and hurting their pet, but if we reverse this instead of passing down the pain we change it to love wouldn’t it be great? And will the pain feel less or even insignificance to our lives?

HABIT IS EITHER THE BEST OF SERVANTS OR THE WORST OF MASTER.

It’s the nature of a dog to obey its master, but at time the dog will not obey its master and can also make the master to become its servant. Sometime we let our habits take control and control us rather than us controlling the habits. We are the ones who develop the habits thus is our duty to not let our habits define who we really are or determining our destiny. Just as its easy for us to create new habit it should be equally easy to shake some of the habit that seem to destroy us rather than build us in life. Just as it is easy to control a dog and make it obey you as the master and not treat you as the servant.

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? 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

Real Magic
Assessment by Vivian Muciri (Kenya)

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

The book real magic is a book about how you can be able to achieve what you thought that it was impossible with your life due to one reason or another. The main theme in this book is to show you that every thing is possible and you can achieve it easily and without much strain, the author tries to tell us that we can work and achieve what we want by showing us the spiritual man and his abilities to do anything and everything since he knows no limitation.

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. ENLIGHTENMENT THROUGH SUFFERING. The author states that one needs to learn through their suffering situation and look at it as a learning period and they will achieve something of greater deal than the pain they are in that time. The great deal about the period is that you will be able to learn why it hard to happen and when you understand why you will be able to move on. We are not purpose to sit down and mourn our pain or grieve that it happened to us cause this will not change anything but will create more heartache than necessary and will be a waste of time. It will also hinder us from achieving what was good and better since we won’t want to look ahead and see what’s on store for us thus losing something that was meant for us. Just as the author states that we need to ask the question why me? But don’t dwell on it. Once we ask the question the next step is to understand why and move on. To the next ream of your life and work it out as a better person than you were during the painful situation.

ii. ENLIGHTENMENT THROUGH OUTCOME.

The author states that at this point we learn to know that there are no accident in life, everything I am experiencing is some way necessary for me to move ahead to the next step. He also says that when you focus your mind to what you can learn form an experience your mind can not have room to dwell on the questions like why me? Sometime we tend to wonder why we are in this situation, are we good enough or what’s wrong with us. We end up walking with sunken shoulders and baptize ourselves as bad luck. Nothing good comes our way no matter how had I try. It’s a high time we get enlightened through the outcome of our events and probably learn that some events are their to shape us and equip us to facing the next challenge. Sometimes the outcome of events helps us learn that we need to shake some aspect or our lives, which might not be helpful in our path towards achieving what we want.

iii. ENLIGHTENMENT THROUGH PURPOSE. The author states that learning to that you have a heroic mission and getting in step with the mission is another path on needs to take as he begins to discover real magic. Everything in this world has its purpose. Here the author is trying to tell us to try and learn our purpose in life and work towards achieving what we know it should be our purpose. He states that when we stick to this path and have a mission to reaching at the end of the road then we will experience real magic. Once we define our purpose then working towards achieving it then we will make through the entire roadblock on our path with ways we cannot explain.

iv. You will find out that being personally empowered does not reduce you to wimp hood and being the victim of others in any way.

The author tells us if we seek to become a spiritual being we will be able to be empowered in helping others and not in accessing power as we were in physical state. This does not make us less humans or victim to others. We should learn to serve and give cause that the main reason for us being placed here on earth to be a help to someone else. Just as the author states that empowerment is surrendering to that which is loving, harmonious and good in us, and not creation of enemies in our consciousness. If everyone sticks to this then the world is going to be more peaceful and full of hope and will be filled with love. There will be less pain and more joy, fulfillment and a balance in everything we do. It makes you a greater man if you serve the other but no less man than you were Jesus proved this by washing his disciples feet this act didn’t reduce him to being less than them for the great master to him self is the less one among others and the great servant is the master of his own world. One who is able to rule in offering service and will always be at peace with his inner man and will be able to control what hurts him most, He will know where to go when in pain and be delighted in everything he does cause its going to give him inner peace with himself and the people around him. This is cause this is cause they well appreciate him and learn to treat him with compassion and love.

v. You have loving relation with others cause you bring love rather than because you seek it from them.

The author is talking about what you give is what you receive, not what you seek. Sometime we tend to seek something from others but we are not ready to give it to them and then we tend to blame them and point fingers claiming that no one cares, loves us or is their for us. Just as much as we want to be loved its wise for us to love others not with the expectation that we are going to get love in return since not every one will give you back love in return. If you enter the relationship and offer love genuinely you will receive love, which you so seek and it will be genuine. Once you give love every other thing follows since love is the basis of most things like patience, kindness, trustworthy among others. It’s a high time we wake up and give love cause with us giving love the world will be a better place and as we give it we don’t point fingers or intimidate others so that they give us love in return, but let them seek themselves and give you love in return which is genuine and comes from deep within their hearts.

vi. There is no “right” way or “winning” argument. Each person has a right in his/her own point of view.

Most of the time we act with our ego rather than our heart especially when we are caught in a situation that raises an argument. We either try to fight back us much has we can so as to prove that the other person is wrong or we are right nothing was wrong with us doing that. If we can’t get away with the argument we try to justify our actions and don’t feel sorry about what we have done. This ends up hurting other and breaking down the relationship between you and the other person and also goes to the extreme of developing mistrust in the relationship be it with your spouse, friend, workmate, boss, customer or family member. If only we knew a simple word like sorry would have solved everything and restore what could have been lost for a lifetime. Mostly we tend to feel proud and just try not to lower our heads since we have a big ego. Lets take an example of a spouse where the husband is a workaholic he lives the house before the crack of dawn and comes back in the wee hours of the night has no time with his family and the kids cant tell his face since they can’t remember the last time they have seen him. Here there is a wife try to ask him to try and reduce his number of jobs so that he creates time with his family. With the financial crisis its right to try and fetch for your family but its equally right to spend time with them too, since they need you to be their for them. None of them want to lower their ego they all want to stand on their ground this will end up leading to a divorce thus leaving both party losing. If they would have sat down and speak through the situation weighing each situation and try and balance things out they would have ended up solving the problem thus saving their marriage.

vii. Being broke is a temporary state of affairs that afflicts almost everyone at one time or another, but being poor is an attitude, a set of belief that gets reinforced when we shift to blaming life circumstances for the condition of poverty.

Poverty is an attitude. I have grow up believing that for one being poor is a choice they make since that is what my mum, grand mum and pastor made me to believe. Our poster used to tell us that poverty is a sin one has to enjoy the good of the land but for you to achieve this you have to give. No man receives if he doesn’t give cause nothing is giving to a hand that is full since it’s going to be folded. My grand mum always told me that I can achieve everything so long as I believe and work extra hard to believe and my mum always told me we aren’t poor cause we want to but cause daddy is lazy and is used to the life of being given by his family. One thing I grew up believing is begging is a sin and so long you are here on earth you have to achieve what you want and work towards achieving it but not sitting back and waiting for someone to come give you what you so long desire. I have learned to live my life as one, which is full, and share the little I have with those around me thus making me happy and content at the end of the day. Most people we have grow up with sit back fold their hands and say we would love to be rich but God didn’t want us to be rich, taking the vow of poverty and embracing their state. They develop an attitude of laziness and never want to work to achieve anything. Some even go to the extreme of telling you my parents never made it why should I, I didn’t go to school, I don’t know anyone who is in a prompt position to offer me a job among other things thus they sit back and have the state of poverty become recurrent in their life. With what I have achieved in life I know that I am not poor but rich and as rich as I can get I came to believe one can become as rich as King Solomon in the bible since it states that He lived beyond his imagination. We need to wake up and change our attitude to achieve everything we want in this life and kick poverty out of our lives and those of others thus creating a world that’s going to be better and full of harmony.

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 idea in this book will help me in understanding

-What is my purpose here and how to go about achieving my purpose on earth.

-Know that there is no limitation in life; it’s us who create them.

-Will help to learn to over look what seem like limitation and work towards attaining my purpose in life.

-It helped me to realize Love is the great gift we have on earth and it cant grow if its not shared and given to the world.

These will help me create a world full of joy and hope for a brighter tomorrow.

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. Behave in ways consistent with love and harmony, and do not be attached in any way to the fruit of our success.

The statement caught my attention since most people do something for personal gain and attention. They don’t do it for the love of the other person or for creating a world where everyone will be living in harmony but do something for the gain of fame and money. Look around few people do something with the will to help someone who really needs the help but what people will say about their deeds is. A good example is some politicians they tend to do good just to get the sit in parliament and once they get there they forget that we really need them and start doing things motivated by greed thus hurting those who voted for him and create hatred instead of love thus leading to a world full of doubt, hate and mistrust. If we only we start to think about others and do something to them with love then all of us will get to live in harmony and everyone will be successful thus they will be no one to get attached to the success, greed will reduce in the world and selfishness too making a better world for all of us.

ii. One simply must know they are much more to life than achievement, performance and acquisitions and that the measure of life is not in what you accumulate but rather in what is given to others.

This is something we all need to know if we know that then the world will be in harmony since we will not be focused on what we want thus eliminating greed, envy and hate making people love each other and care for each other. Most people are focused in what they want to achieve in life thus not caring for each other and work towards intimidating others to achieve what they really want in life. This group of people are never happy they are insecure in life since they know they stand a risk of someone else acquiring their wealth the same way they did maybe by killing them robbing them among others thus making them not enjoy what they acquired be it legally or illegally. If we all look in achieving most out of life by giving this forms of crime will reduce and there will be love and peace in the world where no one has to worry about thieves or anything of the like.

iii. Seek to enjoy each other not posses each other.

Sometimes we tend to have a sense of ownership in a relationship. This leads us to feel like we have a right to control and dominate the other person thus ending up hurting them It also create a sense of insecurity in ones life they never tend to relax when their partner is away from them. This leads to argument, miss trust then break up. If we seek to enjoy each other then we will have a fulfilling relationship and less stressful relationship.

vi. What you need, you already have, and when you know it, and go within and create it in your mind, the divine substance you seek in the form of material things or money will be manifested in whatever amount needed.

Once I was discussing the topic of poverty with my friend we were asking each other why is it that some people are rich and others are poor yet we all live in the same world and believe in the same God who is the provide, and he told me that this happened to create a balance in nature and due to some circumstance. “So why are some people picking themselves from ground zero and become multibillionaires?” I asked him and he told me because they made a choice to achieve wealth. We know the story of all rich men who made it from nothing to something they usually have a common ground they made a choice, and then saw them selves achieving what they choose to have, and believed they were going to have it, and the last thing they did was worked towards achieving this things. One thing that makes us human “special beings” is that we have been given something called free will we can make a choice either good or bad and live by the consequences of our choice. Another thing is the knowledge some say once the knowledge is subjected to everyone the world will come to an end, which I don’t agree with. The people who made it from ground zero to becoming rich men and women they had the knowledge hidden in them and the faith to believe and create the images in their mind thus achieving everything they thought of in reality.

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?

Yes it did. The exercises are help since I was able to relate with the spiritual being in me and be able to define my purpose. It made it easy for me to love people around me not because of what they do to me but because we are all God’s children. It also helped me to realize that we are all different in one way or another and I don’t have to understand you to be able to relate with you. It made me develop inner peace with myself knowing that I don’t have to sweat my way out towards anything neither should I intimidate any one to get what I want in life, but can achieve it by empowering someone else and this doesn’t make you a less human than you are but makes you a Hero in someone else 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?

i. For the spiritual being, success is achieved by aligning oneself with one’s purpose.

Once you know your purpose the spiritual being comes to intervene and work with you towards achieving your purpose in this world. This is cause according to the author your physical being works towards achieving what you want and that’s not your purpose in life. The spiritual being guides us to our own awareness of who we really are and what we are purposed to do in this world. In life most of the time we tend to become idle wanderer, nothing seem to please us or excite us in anyway that’s why most people do career hoping form one to another without success, from one relationship to another, from one neighborhood to another and so forth at the end of the day when they lie themselves to sleep they still if empty. Let me give a good example with my life I always dreamt of doing medicine in my life the main aim was for my good and fulfillment. I used to enjoy being around doctors and reading books related to my career of interest. After clearing my high school I didn’t make it for my career of choice its been two years now, and I thank God I didn’t make it in a medical school this is because when I didn’t make it in medicine school I had to look deep within me and ask myself I really- really want to do medicine? My answer was no to my rude shock first it will cut me out from a social life that I enjoy, cant stand blood and I have a compassionate heart which can not stand seeing any one going through pain.

After a long such I came to learn that my calling is to serve and help other people am happy with what am doing now and am at peace with everything in my life which I could have not got if I went to medicine school I guess. Having to sign up for Kenya red cross society and getting to be a part time teacher really makes me go home sleep and thank God for the blessing. We need to look deep within our self and work to what we are called to do. No matter how small the calling might look like, or how much less you will earn from doing this than from what you are doing currently. The big question is do you wake up happy and ready to go to work? When is time to leave do you want to stay or you just want to get out of the office? It takes more than courage to do something to leave ones job and go to serve the people who can attests to this are the preaches, but once you decide to leave and not look back you might start with little or nothing commonly know as humble beginnings but you are going to get more than what you had when you were where you were. First it will be an inner peace with yourself and all the material position you will need which will be just enough for you and those around you.

Ratings:

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

The New Dynamics Of Winning
Assesment by Vivian Muthoni Muciri

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

The main aim of the author in this book is to enable people to learn how to make some achievement in there life and helping them living their lives as winners each single day. The author goes ahead to quote great champions who made it despite their situation out there. They worked so had against all the odds.

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.

Success depends on your ability to combine physical or technical skill with mental process in a stressful environment.

The author states that for one to be successful in anything it takes more than just talent in the field of specialty they are in. The most important thing that they need so that they achieve the success is the ability to combine there skills and techniques with there mental attitude this will help them achieve this without difficulties since they will have created the image of success in there mind thus the outer world doesn't have much impact towards there motivation and action towards success.

The idea was important to me personally since at times I used to have a winning attitude and always setting for the right path in the road towards my success but kept on losing despite me having the required skills and techniques to achieve the best result in what I was trying to do. This was mainly because at the back of my mind I had set a failing image due to various reason such as I don't have the required equipments or don't have the best paper work to prove that am simply the best and I can achieve the best result. Since I have learnt this I will practice putting my mind in line with my action so that I achieve the best of what am doing every time am set in a competition.

The Drive To Win Is Set Inside Out

Here the author talks about the drive for one to win it has to come from inside and not from the out side influences since they will just kill the drive for one to become a winner. When you tend to look at the outwards factors one cannot achieve anything since there will be more stumbling blocks that stone set for your success in which ever way, but ones you have the drive of achieving the success you require you will over look the obstacle that are set in the outwards. Here I came to learn its important that you visualize your success before it actually happen and hold on it no matter what might arise from the real world just visualize your success in the imaginary world and create it exactly how you want to achieve it and you will achieve the success despite the obstacles set. Here I was able to learn that I can achieve anything so long as I have the desire to work on achieving it and become self reliance and take the necessary steps towards achieving my desires. At time I used to give up on them since they seemed like a giant and one who promised to help me through them just stood me up at the last minute. Since I read this book I have made a decision to be self reliant and would be breaking my desire into small measurable works and work towards getting the work done.

You can’t win by desires only, you need to break down the desire into smaller parts

Here the author is trying to tell us that desire don't get the work done, but the action does. Desire is the strong feeling that you need to keep you going so you will need to substitute the "BIG DESIRE" into small potion of work that will make you achieve what you dreamed to achieve. Most people have the desire to do something but they are never ready to take the risk involved to doing it. They usually give up when hit by a tiny obstacle or when they get disappointed by someone who they were depending on. Just as the author had stated that he was to go fishing in a boat since one of his friend soldiers had promised him he had the desire and hardly got some sleep thinking about it but the man let him down. So he took the obligation of achieving his desire by breaking down the desire and did what was required to make him achieve his desire and enjoy the satisfaction of doing it.

Conversely, don’t be afraid to devote an extraordinary amount of time to a problem that requires a great deal of attention.

At times we tend to give up when it comes to problem solving we come with a assumption that they are beyond our league or it will waste a lot of your time trying to solve the problem. Yet you have a lot to be done in order to have the job finished. So we brush some problem aside forgetting that we need to solve the puzzle before having the work done, thus making us going round and round the problem and at the end of it all you come back to start point and at the end of it all nothing is ever done. Just as the author states that we should not be afraid of spending more time than intended in a problem that requires a great attention. The good thing about this you would have solved a piece of the puzzle and moved a step further to achieving your goal. So if you spend a whole deal of time in trying to solve the problem you will be able to learn what you had done wrong and work towards making it right so you won’t repeat the same mistake, and in future you will be able to identify the same problem and be able to handle it.

Before you can use your imagination effectively, you need to relax your body and mind.

Here the Author is talking about using your imagination in order to attract thing you want. He said for the right hemisphere of your brain to work effectively for you, you need to be able to relax your mind. This is because the left hemisphere which is the verbal, judgmental, and analytical is quieted. While the physical relaxation put you in touch with your internal environment and distraction. Once you have done all this you might be able to imagine what you want in life and since your imagination has got no limit you might see yourself achieving it stumbling through the road of you achieving it but managing to go through the road block and coming towards your success. This process helps one to be able to realize what they want and how they can go about it. It creates a strong believe that you are going to make it, it also help one to stick on there mission despite the challenges they might face down the line in real world. The imagination process also helps on to change focus on what can be done other than what can’t be done. It also helps in creating a vivid picture in your mind of what you want to be done and make your mind work on that image.

You are your own most important judge

The author talks about the fact that there is no opinion to you own well being and performance as the opinion you have yourself. You can not lie to yourself no matter what. People might lie to you once in while. Some my pass there opinion to you which are influenced by various factors such as fear or love. What you think about yourself or what you have done have a high chance of being true other than what other people tell you.

Your judgment about you is always right. The good thing is you need to stop convincing yourself or running to people so that they tell you what you want to hear but you need to judge yourself if it convicts you rectify the mistake, if it condemn you work on yourself and if it congratulates you buy yourself a gift. This doesn’t mean you need to over look others judgment because they are like a mirror of you, not all of them are wrong or might pass there judgment motivated by something. As much as you look through your own judgment about your action you need to also give time to review other people judgment and pick those are helpful. As the saying goes if you want to go fast walk alone but if you want to go far walk with someone.

Winners dwell on the rewards of success. Losers focus on the penalties of failure.

Here the author is basically talking about what one focus on is what one gets. This is the law of attraction. What you tend to focus on is what you will attract. It basically happens to our day to day life and that’s when we start our statement with “I Knew It!” If one tends to focus on failure other than success he will eventually fail but if they focus on success he will succeed. A good example is of this person who wakes up every morning and knows he will miss the first bus to work and will get late. His mind is fixed on this so even if he wakes up early he will miss the first bus due to some reason or another and when he get to the stage he will always say “I knew I was going to miss the first bus.” This is what he attracts and creates in his mind the missing bus attitude. Let’s say he decide to focus on getting the bus and making it to work on time. No matter how many times he misses the bus he puts it as that day and not his daily routine neither shift his focus on catching the bus. Eventually he will start to get the bus and making it to work on time. What we create is what we attract and is what we get from the outside world.

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 lesson has helped me learn how to come up with new dynamics of winning. It has helped me develop a winning attitude which I need to apply on my day to day life. I also learnt the power of imagination and how to shift my imagination to work for me in what so ever way I want. Apart from learning how to achieve what I want it also helped me realize on how to work with goals and how to having them done. I also learnt that am the best judge in judging myself so every time I pass a judgment I need not to ignore my judgment but to work on rectifying the mistake or accepting the credit.

This will help me create a better world since I will be able to achieve my goals which will not only benefit me but the people around me. I will also be able to influence people in having there goals achieved since I will motivate them to setting there own goals and working towards getting them done.

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.

Champions don't shrink from risks

Here the author talks about champions knowing that the greatest risk is doing nothing and that real security from constantly testing your potential. The greatest mistake in life is giving up on what ever you were trying to do as the saying goes a real champion keeps practicing each day and losers do something that winners never do and that's quitting. This was too important to me since I came to learn that with each passing day no matter what risk am going to be taking whether I win or loss I will work out head high knowing that I didn't loosed but I learnt the skills needed to tackle the challenge next time and am better that I was before I got into the risk so am equipped to tackle the next challenge.

Champions know where they are and they see where they want to go

If you don't know where you are going or don't see then you are not a champion. This statement was of much importance to me since we most try to sail with the tide and waves of life we sit back and wait on what's going to happen and where the majorities are going towards, thus making us to be normal. Some of us don't even know where they are, some do know where they are but can't see where they are going. People who live there life this way have no vision in life and luck the motivation of doing anything with there life and they sit at threw side line blaming their circumstances that afflict them in life being the main reason for their failure yet they have no plan of success neither something they are targeting to succeed in.

Stair-stepping means taking a big goal and breaking it down into smaller components.

Here the author states that for you to have anything achieved you need to work on it in smaller bits not as big as it maybe. Let’s take for example you want to build a school as your goal. You need to divide the goal in small achievable bits like having to go register the school then picking the location, shopping for the perfect piece of land…..this will make it easy for you to achieve that big goals since you will be working on it bit by bit thus achieving the goals slowly but orderly rather than working on the giant bit yet you done have a plan. If you break the goal into small achievable bit it will save a lot of things like being disappointed when you fail to achieve the goal or feeling worked up while trying to achieve the big goal. It also creates motivation for the fact that you realize that you are making progress towards what you want to achieve in due time. It will also create a challenge in setting your on record in terms of time and trying to bit it.

The value that you live by are going to shape the future for you and those around you.

This statement got my attention since it was so true. Most people fail to realize this. They tend to pick Vices other than Virtues then go ahead and complain that life tends to be unfair to them. They fail to understand that it takes talent to open a door but it takes character to keep the door open. This are the kind of people who tend to move from one job to another and from one neighborhood to another since no one can keep up with them. Instead of them trying to realize they are the problem they make excuses and end up saying they don’t like me because of this and that. Some maybe unfortunate enough to be able to make anything or have anything. They give up and on life or lead a miserable in life, cause they lack friends, there family tend to isolate them, there workmate ignore them and the rest of the world turn there back to them. If only we try living our life right work on our character pick on the Virtues and try to ignore the vices the world will become peaceful, every one will look forward on working with us, some will want to be associated with us and most off all we can keep focused on what we want in life sine we know someone will be willing to help us and be able to feel that they are much part of your success as you. No one will feel left out since they know you will be there for them and it doesn’t matter if the played apart or not you will still come around when they need you.

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

No

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

Yes it did contain some exercises which I am still doing. They were helpful since I am able to get time for creating my imagination and knowing how to work on them. Apart from that the exercises helped me in working on various aspect that might bring failure in my day to day life and also made me be able to sport this aspect and being able to know what to do about them.

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.

First, the coachable performer respects the role of authority figure: For one to be able to learn something you must be able to respect the person passing the lesson that is some one above you. You can not learn any thing from someone you don’t respect or value since you tend to under rate them, ignore them or hate them thus you will never see the value they are adding to your life. This does not only apply on authority figures but to everyone be it your boss or co worker both junior and senior since they all have an ability to teach you something in life and concerning your career. This is because they will be able to guide you correct you and encourage you in doing something to better what you want in life and career wise. So it’s a high time we try to respect people around us so that we will be able to get coached in various aspect of our life.

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

A. How interesting was it to read? 6
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7

Unlimited Power
Assessment by Vivian Muciri (Kenya)

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

The author is talking about unavailing our ultimate power in attaining success in whatever we set our mind to achieve. He also tackles various aspects that will help us attain what we desire and how to work with ease towards attaining it. The book also captures a few aspects of self motivation and living a health way of life.

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.) It’s important to remember that emotions like depression do not happen to you, you create it like every other result in your life, through specific mental and physical actions.

The statement was important to me since I came to learn it take the same amount of hard work to loss and win they are equally proportionate. I also realize both mental and physical action contributes dearly to our result in life. I used to have this mental attitude of saying something’s are just beyond me and we cannot defy nature so this made me to embrace the failure attitude and kept telling myself what is the point of trying and eventually I won’t make it in the end. So even when I made a genuine effort physically I was still going to fail since I had sent my mental state to failure and I was doing it to prove that am working as hard as I can to attain it. Once I read this statement it made me makes a resolution to develop a winning attitude and have my physical state be in line with my mental state. I also came to realize that I need to work hard in changing this attitude which had become easy for me to develop the losing attitude and develop a new winning attitude both physically and mentally.

ii.) In every man and woman’s life there comes a point of ultimate challenge –a time when every resource we have is tested.

I come to learn that what matters the most in life is not the action we take but the reaction. Since the reaction will define our out come at the end of every challenge we face. If we decide to walk away when faced by every challenge or just sit back and begin to blame mother nature every time we are challenged then we will end up being miserable and depressed. I come to learn we need to look at every challenge as an opportunity to learn something new, grow both mentally and emotionally.

iii.) It is our belief that determines how much of our potential we’ll be able to tap. The author talks about how belief can turn on or shut off the flow of ideas. A good example is the saying that goes women are inferior beings and need to be in constant reminder of this statement. Most women grew up with the same idea since that was want they were meant to believe. I had that problem too in high school my math teachers used to tell us that it was nature that as a girl you are not purpose to pass in math and sciences of any kind but it’s ok if you pass in history, religious studies and languages, and throughout high school I didn’t pass in math and science until when I changed school. The new school motto was ‘what a boy can do a girl can do better’ and my math teacher was a lady. This changed my belief and my performance not only in math and science but also in the way I viewed life and also made me erase the boundaries I had created in my life about the does and don’ts. My change of believe made me become a better person and tackle challenge in day to day life. Before I was motivated by the idea if My math teacher could do it so can I, but after reading the book I come to understand that it took more than the idea but the change of believe which made me change my attitude and made me work hard in attaining a better grade in both math and sciences.

iv.) People don’t always lack resource; they lack control over their resources. We tend to blame the lack of resource if we don’t achieve anything. Especially with the education system the curriculum bases as on the idea whereby you got to go to school then university or college and then get a job, due to the high number of people who clear school every day and the job opportunity in the market can’t sustain us all we become miserable and start blaming it on the lack of job opportunity in the market place. Yet we have the resource of knowledge that we learnt in school that we can decide to use to create job not just for you but for others who are going to be out of school. I also come to learn that I need to use the resource I have to attain my goal and don’t concentrate on the resource that I lack. I also came to learn that I need to learn how to control the resource I have and use it wisely in attaining that which I desire rather than waste and have nothing done. We need to understand that resources are limited and we have to spend them wisely.

v.) Physiology is the most powerful tool we have for instantly changing states, for instantly producing dynamic result. The author here is speaking about the physical alertness. Here I came to learn that your result will be achieved by the way you set yourself. If you set physiology to a failing attitude then the end result of whatever you do will still be failure but if you do something with the expectation of winning and start working on it with a winning attitude then at the end of it you will still achieve a winning result. At times we do something and with the expectation we have at the end of doing the thing will really trigger our physiology and thus our potential in doing this thing. If I wake up some minutes past the normal time I wake up and then get upset and disorganized it will affect my production throughout the day since I would have created panic and fear of being late and once I concentrate on this two emotion I won’t be productive and will end up being late, but id I decide to react towards it with lot ease and just do my common morning routine and decide to reduce 5minutes from every routine I do I might end u recovering the time and make it to work on time. Since my mental alertness will be intact and at the end of it all I will visualize myself being early and my physical power will be intact thus achieving my target to be in work early.

vi.) Power of modeling. Here the author speaks about the ability to imitate those who did something before us. Since they got the necessary tools that we might need to work with in attaining the same thing. At time we set goals but are unable to attain them not because we are stupid or because we lacked the resource we need but it’s because we didn’t know how to use the resources we had at hand due to the fact that we refused to look at those who achieved the same goal. Here I come to learn that we all need people if we want to go far. Since I will be able to learn the mistake they did and avoid them, the formula they applied and I apply them thus making it easy for me to achieve my goal with less tension.

vii.) What you drive, where you go, who your friends are, what you do, reflect your self-identification. Just as the saying goes show me your friend and I show you your character. We all have had this problem of trying to convince ourselves that we are nothing like our friend and you are the golden sheep of the lot at least I have. It was one of the hardest things I had to deal with in high school. They defined me and I had to live up to their standard and slowly I began to adopt their behavior likes dislike and moral standard. It came to a point where instead of trying to change I got used to it and it become normal. Reading this statement it reminded me of how I used to let people define me and I used to identify myself through friends and went to places I never wanted to just because of people I associated with. It also made me realize that it’s a high time for me to make a drastic constant change by picking my friends, associate and choose where to go and not to. Since Knowledge is earned but wisdom is sharpened by sitting at the right place with the right crowd.

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 lesson has helped me in organizing my goals, sticking to the goals since I had to experience the feeling before the actual achievement; this will keep me motivated to work towards achieving the goal since I wouldn’t love to loss the excitement of achieving the success. I also learnt on how to use my emotion and physiology together towards achieving my dream. The book also helped me learn on secrets to use in unveiling my unlimited power in life.

By sharing what I have learnt I will be able to help someone in learning how to unveil his/her unlimited powers thus having them achieve their goal and also they will inspire others to achieve their goal too.

4. Quotes: Are there brief quotes from the book which really got your attention? If so, please list and comment on them.

i.) People who have attained excellence follow a consistent path to success. (The ultimate success formula). This quote got my attention since I learnt the new formula that I will need to be able to attain success that I so much desire in life.

ii.) The world we live in is the world we choose to live in, whether consciously or unconsciously. We do not choose where to be born, who our parents should me, the condition we should be born in, circumstances in which we are born in or state but you have the total control of changing all this to suit what we wanted or pictured in the back of your mind as the ideal world for you.

iii.) We have a strategy to produce just anything in life. This statement implies that we can attain anything so long as the motivation is there, and we can decide on something in just a matter of moments. It doesn’t matter how indecisive we were at the beginning of the project we wanted to take on.

iv.) Powerful tool are not of much if you don’t have a good idea what you want to use them for. Some of people are born in the shoulders of giant and despite that they end up being losers in life. This is because they have everything in hand and lack ideas on how to take advantage of what they have to create a life for their own and others. Most don’t bother going the extra mile ahead of their parents. Some people have brilliant ideas when they lay them down you see how they can change the world but they never try going after their goal but rather complain of what they lack and don’t see what they have. This made me realize that I need to review the tools I have in hand rather than look for what I don’t have; I also come to learn that I need to work with what I have to attain what I so desire.

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

No.

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

Yes it did. The exercise is ongoing and they were helpful since it made me learn to change my eating habits and also my physical fitness due to the easy random excises the author provided that could help one be fit. There were some excises which were used to determine ones mental fitness and help in guiding one through combine the mental and physical alertness towards helping me achieve my goals and success in everything I do without having to work myself out.

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