Nigeria - Afere A Lawrence

I discovered immediately i finished reading this book that i have been missing so much. My thought used to be impure. I used to limit my thinking to what i hear from my traditional parents and what i see in my environment.

I could remember a time i had a thought of falling ill, to my surprise, i fell ill. Most of us here in Nigeria limit our thinking to what is happening in our country. We believe that our success lies in the hands of the government so we complain so much about their wrong acts. This is affecting our lives. And now that i know that a man's thought determines his circumstance i have stopped such act of grumbling and complaining. I now know that out of a clean heart comes a clean life.

It will interest you to know that i now filter every thought that comes to my mind. I think BIG now. Am the maker of myself via the thought of my mind. My thought has changed my character positively. Even my friends noticed this. This make my friends wonder how soon my life changed.I had to tell them about iigl.

Now, i have started thinking for a purpose. Am living my life with a purpose to re-engineer and reform my nation. I want to live my life with a purpose to helping the black race.

In conclusion, i must not forget to confess that no sooner i enrolled in your institute than my life changed.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Afere Lawrence (Nigeria)

I seriously need to confess that countless of Nigerians are sleeping and waking in ignorance. Our lives have been stereotyped. Culture has eaten our future. The younger ones don't believe there is any future any where. We are societal oriented. We so much care about what society would do when we make steps to attaining our dreams, that's for those who have.

just like most gulls in Jonathan Livingston seagull believed that the purpose of flying is to put food in the stomach, that's the believe of Nigerians. We believe that the purpose of life is to acquire( for those that can afford it) circular education, get job, get some money, get married , do babies and die. They don't know that purpose of life is beyond that.

These books have imparted so much into my life. My life can never remain the same again. Am seeing life from a wonderful perspective now. I now have a pure and big thought of my future, even for my country. What my eyes are seeing now no longer deceive me.

Just as seagull broke his fear to fly higher, i have broken my fear too. I would not let fear kill the dreams i have for Africa. These books have taught me how to extend love to every one. I need to let you know that i no longer have limitations again.

Also, am now moving with people of great minds in my school. "he that moves with the wise shall be wise' is what they say.

Reading these books is not enough, but applying it immediately to my day to day life. Application of information causes transformation.

How fantastic it is to think purely. My thought everyday now is pure. Most of Nigerians are religious. They read their bibles, attend crusade, and so on but don't understand the information they get not to say application. Thank God i heard about this institute. My life is changing.

QUESTIONS?
1. I believe in the younger ones of my community, especially those in secondary schools. How do i help pass to them life transforming information?

Real Magic
Assessment by Afere A Lawrence (Nigeria)

PART 1 - Content Review
Real magic is written in three different parts. Each part has life changing chapters. Just a page in this book is enough to make one's day go a long way. having read and digested this book, i have come to say it centers on three most significant aspects of one's life. It talks so much on self improvement, relationships, and spiritual life. Real Magic is truely a book about my miracles. this book has really helped me to believe that all things are possible if it not against the laws of god and our society.

I would like like to discuss some points of this book which are most helpful and important to my life.

THE POWER OF PURPOSE.
Dr. Wayne proved all his words basically on purpose. he says every creature has a purpose. Discovering our purpose makes things easier for us. Some years back, Jesus christ came to this world for a purpose. And am sure he fulfilled that following the laws and commandment giving to him by God. So his everyone. Dr. Wayne says that this world is in order. I believe that so much. God saw that all things he created were good. All we need to do is to put our selves in unison with the order that is already in the world.

Mapping out a strategyto achieve our purpose gives us a successful life. Real magic comes when we are achieving our purpose. it's is my belief that everybody has been given potentials to be used in fulfilling his purpose on earth. The diferrence between the developed nations and the developing nations is "the developed nations strive to accomplish their purpose, while the developing nations strive to make money with any means". This is obvious. My parents are always striving to make more money. They never for once told me their purpose. This is the biggest difference.

In attaining our purpose, God is ready to work with us if we ready to. Just as Dr. Wayne writes in his book "if the student is ready the teacher will appear". This has become my daily words. It is our responsibility to plant and water while God's responsibility is to make an increase for us.

I have now realized that life is more than going to school for degrees, getting jobs for daily bread, getting married to make babies. Nothing adds more to life than fulfilling one's purpose. It gives direction to life.

Moreso, getting our lives to purpose is very exciting. I feel happiest when i motivate young people of my commmunity to motivate themselves. i know where my purpose on earth is taking me to already. Everyday i do things that brings me closer to the achievenment of my purpose. Their is joy in attaining one's purpose.

SPIRITUAL BEING.
"We are all spirit" my pastor said sometimes ago. As a christian, i only look up to God, my creator, for all assistance. I don't claim to be wise with my creator. I believe that everything on this earth has a creator so are humanbeings. And our creator couldn't have created us to suffer or live in abject poverty.

Everyday, i follow his words that says "As a man thinketh, so he is". This makes me a complete man. I think positive all the times. This is the power of the mind. Think positive get positive result. Think negative get negative result. This is the law of sowing and reaping. What you sow in your mind is what you will reap.Just as there is power in the soil, so is our mind. We plant a small seed and we harvest bountifully. This is wonderful!

I feel my spiritual life with what the word of God says. I love the bible so much. Look at what it says concerning me
"finally bretren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things arejust, what soever things are pure, lovely,. of good reports; if ther be any virtue and praise, think on these these."

This statement confirms that we are spiritual beings that can get everything we need .

PROSPERITY
Dr. Wayne discussed so much on this. I was really enthusiastic on this aspect. It was my major focus i must confess. Real magic opened up my blindness of prosperity. in fact, am not the same as before. Am eager to get the young people of my country out of abject poverty. we live in the midst of treasures as trash.

To me, prosperity is when God blesses you and you make yourself a blessing to others. our problem in Africa is that we acquire wealth for only our immediate family. This is not prosperity.

Dr. waynes defines prosperity as "when God speaks through your hands and smiles upon the earth through you, becaause you are an unconditional giver, a purposeful being asking nothing of anyone, prosperity will be your reward" This is the real and original prosperity. This is what i live my life after.

My prosperity is "you give to get to give again"

PART 2 - Personal Impact

To confess, RealMagic has been very helpful to me. It's indeed an inspirational book that must be read by anyone that wants a change of story. It makes me believe that life has a purpose and a process to follow. Time and chance answer to life. Each step and process prepare me for the next stage in life.

Immediately i finished reading Real Magic at the first time, i wrote my purpose just as Dr. Wayne did in his book. I read it to my subconsiousness every day. I make plans and goals every day on how to accomplish it. One thing have come to realize is you may read all the motivational books in this world and still not change or not make it. Why? Action. "You must act now" Dr. Wayne said to me in his book. I plan and i act. i keep trying everyday. I make sure i do what i need to do to get closer to my purpose. This made me form a team in my community that motivates young people to motivate themselves.

I used to think life is an accident. I used to good and successful life come by chance and luck. now, i know you can get what you want when you know what you want and you go for it i.e action.

It's a testimony that my life is changing everyday. Everyday i sit back and i say thanks to Mr. micheal for establishing this institute that God has used to change my life and the lives of others.

RELATIONSHIP.
My relationship with people has changed. After reading Real Magic, i discovered how a true and sincere relationship should be. Real Magic brought a magic into my relationship. At school, i used to argue uneccesarilly with my room mates. Now, this has become a thing of the past. My room mates now see a new person in me entirely. Even my siblings and friends now praise me for my new way of life. They wonder what changed me.

Also, i used to be shy. Now am a free man. I can face anybody. I am now bold. This is a real magic in my life. I now believe that everyone has his or her purpose to attain and they are working towards this. Am no longer a paranoid.

Again, i try not to jugde anyone. I also try not to prove anyone wrong. Even i don't criticise again. I now get my relationship to purpose.

With real magic, i won't have too much challenges in my marital affairs when i get married later in life.

PROSPERITY
It is now my belief that attainment of my purpose in life would bring me the desired prosperity. Here in Nigeria, my country,we fight real hard to become prosperous. And it's hard for us to be because of the wrong meaning we have for it. We want to be prosperous but most of us don't know how.And so most os us get involved in wrong businesses and deals. This is against the laws of God and our society. Also, this has made Nigeria one of the most corrupt nations around the globe. After reading Real Magic, i no longer search for money. Fulfilling my purpose brings all i need.

PART 3 - Summary
I must confess that this book has made so much impart in my life. am recommending it to as many as possible.It has also changed my life just as "As a man thinketh" and "livingston seagull" did. Everyday i open up a page to read and my mind get filled with nutritious words from these books.

Mr. Micheal, God is really using you to change my life and others'. How would i have gotten these changes? so much thanks go to you. You are not only imparting into my life but the lives of other nigerians that i go out to impart into their lives too.

I know that via what we get and put into action from IIGL, Africa nations will be on top some day.

Finally, Real Magic is a book i will never forget in my life.

Success Through A positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by Afere A Lawrence (Nigeria)

PART 1 - Content Review
This book as helped me so much.it is divided into thrilling parts. I started reading it with a pma. This book is another real magic for me. Infact it was written specifically for me.

in this part of the assessment, i would like to write out those points i find so meaningful to me.

GETTING SUCCESS STARTED.
This book made me meet with the most important person. That is i. It makes it clearer to me how important i am to this world. This is when you get success started. I carry with me an invisible talisman pma on one side and nma the other. The invisible talisman has two amazing powers; it has the power to attract wealth and the power to repel wealth-rob one of those things that make life worth living.

Obviously, it is pma that enables some men to climb to the top and stay there. It is nma that keeps other men at the bottomall their lives. It also pulls other men down from the top when they have reachd it.

Moreso, we are poor not becaause of God. With pma, success will be ours. After the success stories of differnt people in this book, i now put my own pma to work so as to attract the success i need. I want to be successful in my life.

With my pma, i have desired to be successful. Greatness comes to those who develop a burning desire to achieve their goals. Success is achieved by those who keep trying with pma. I put in effort andwork to achieve my desired goals.

"unless your goals are against the laws of God or the society, you can achieve it" And you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by trying. I pasted this to the walls in my room in school and at home to read every time.

Also, if you know what you want, you can find a way to get it.

In conclusion, a person with positive mental attitude aims high goals and constantly strives to achieve them and he can also change the world.

ACTION- The secret of getting things done.
This is also called self-starter. An active man is better than twenty talkers. I found this very meaningful in this book. A man may read all the ispirational books in this world and still not become successful if he lacks ACTION.

ACTION says "anything worth having is worth working for" I read about so many successful people in this book that put in more action. Those who achieved greatness employed this secret of getting things done. "go into action lawrence" i say to myself every time i need to do anything. I don't procastinate.

It was Mary Carty that said "Be like a postage stamp. Stick to a thing until you get to your destination."

Most Africans embrace information. They lack action. Information does not lead to transformation. Action does. All most of us here do is waiting for someday to become successful.

I have employed the secret of getting things done. I don't wait for some day any longer. I plan and work for that someday to arrive. It is obvious that the world is evolving. Africa is evolving too. Transformed leaders are coming up soon in Africa. I am one. IIGL is raising new generational leaders. Even the university i attend here in Nigeria does. We need transformed and godly leaders to return the glorious image of Africa. All we just need to do is ACT NOW. ACTION.

The drawing on the drawing board is not a building until it is built.

I get myself into action everyday. I use the self-starter. I add step to step just as the woman that walked from a state to another. She got there. I would get there too.

It was william James that said "sow an action and reap a habit; sow a habit and reap a character; sow a character and reap a destiny" This is wonderful! I have started already. Am doing it now so i can get their in time.

I already act as a leader that IIGL is raising. I coordinate people. I arrange shuttle for the indigenes of my state when ever we are going on break. I help them to their bags in the shuttle. A girl called me "father of all" one time we were going home.

I carry myself about with royal mentality because i already know where am going. I need to confess that the biographies in Success Through A PMA are motivating everyday. Even when i don't have money to do certain things, i don't feel depressed because i know it has an outcome. It is the process i must pass.

When i discovered a problem in my community concerning the young people, i made a plan to solve it. Purpose is all about solving problems. I discovered that our young people have clumsy future. As a result of poverty, they look into the future and see nothing. But i look into it and saw greatness. Immediately, what did i do? I formed a team that motivates these young people to motivate themselves. Last month we spoke to them about "The power of purpose". They were so happy to hear that they are so important in this world. Most of them mailed to tell us how that day changed their lives. The only shortcoming is these young people are mailing to request for motivational books. This, we can't do for now. But my team still goes into action every time to talk to these young people. We are putting so many programs in place soon. THIS IS ACTION. I don't just read the books IIGL send to me for fun. I read them to become what i want. And also share the information.

PMA does not work without ACTION.

PART 2 - Personal Impact
As a young man that knows where his going, i motivate myself with Success Through a pma. I know what i saw. When i see what i saw i can tell. To get what i saw, i need to plan, think, study, and pray. Anything worth working for is worth praying for.

I now keep my mind on the things i want. I want good health. I want happiness. I want good wife. I want developed Africa. I want peaceful world. I want success. How to get this, i do all i must do.

This book makes me believe i am apt to succeed if i do what comes nataurally. My beliefs, relationships, values, goals,are improving every time i read the books sent to me by IIGL. PMA is one of a kind. I awaken the giant in me with these books. I refresh my mind and body always.

With PMA, i now do things i could't. I meet with weathy people. Recently, while we were on break, myteam was in the commisioner of education's office. This was great. What any young person can't do. He is going to be a speaker in a lecture my team titled "Role of young people in developing the nation"

Am so passionate about the development of Africa. It is my strong belief that it is the young people that will cause a positive change in Africa. So we must start to invest in them now. I seize every opportunity to be a part. A chinese proverb advises "If you plan for a year, plant rice, if you plan for 10 years plant trees, and if you plan for 100 years educate your children" This is applicable to African nations. Am eager to see Africa develop. The development of Africa does not lie in our cicular education, nor on our system of government or our religious. It lies on transformed people. This is the part i want to play.

Every day i pray for guidance and direction. I think and grow rich every day.

PART 3 - Summary
Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude is such another wonderful book i would forever recommend to people. When sharing the story of my success, i would always make a mention of this book and IIGL.

There is wisdom in the book. It has imparted so much into me.

Becoming a student of IIGL is a blessing to me.

Laurence

Seeds Of Greatness
PART ONE - CONTENT REVIEW

Every part of this book was significant to me. Every page of the book added new
Thing into my life. It is such an indelible book. The following are the parts that were significant to me:

The seed of self esteem
This part 'Self-Esteem' shows me how I need to about myself. What I think about myself determines what happens to me. My disposition determines my position in life. My worth determines how far I go in life. In essence what I think about or feel about myself is very crucial about the plans I have for my life. The way I feel about myself also shows in the way I treat or associate with other people. This book tells me how to build my self esteem.

The seed of creativity
I consider creativity as the grasping and transformation of portions of truth into forms useful to man. Creativity is the ability to bring knowledge from the spiritual world unto the earth. The earth is not perfect but our creativity makes it perfect and improves it. If there is anything important we need as people it is creativity. It transforms the world. Also, it takes creativity to transform spiritual wealth into physical wealth. This part of this book is so vital to me. Some information I didn't know was revealed to me in this part of the book. Human beings are unique. We are blessed with creative imaginations. This part of the book makes me change the way I imagine. Since 'imagination rules the world,' I have started imagining BIG.

The seed of responsibility
This part is great! It teaches me how to be a responsible African. It teaches me how to change my world. It tells me that 'I become what I do.' The seed of responsibility talks about sowing and reaping. 'Whatever we sow, we reap.' The stories and biographies associated to this part are so wonderful. It has instigated me into the next level of life. I now do what the Japanese do 'building greatness out of ashes' their willingness to look ahead to the future, while is putting in a maximum effort of work and sacrifice in the present. I now know that for me to be responsible I must sow so as to reap. Responsibility says 'life is a do-it-yourself project.'

The seed of wisdom.
I consider wisdom to be composition of information and divine inspiration. Denis waltley says 'wisdom is the combination of honesty and knowledge applied through experience.' The seed of wisdom points out the law of cause and effect. In Africa we have been made to believe we cannot succeed without being honest. Now I know the true meaning of success and I now know that it takes wisdom to possess it. There can be no real success without honesty. I thank God for this information. This part of the book teaches me about integrity, knowledge, truth, and work.

The seed of purpose
Discovering our purpose and aiming to achieve it keeps us away from sin. This part has given me additional insight of my purpose attainment. I have pasted this in my mind 'if we don't know where we want to go, then any road will take us there.' This is a topic that must be preached to every child in this world. It is necessary we allow our children to have this knowledge at the earliest stages of our lives. In Africa, we rarely used to believe in purpose, thank God for enlightenment and knowledge. The fulfillment of our purpose makes the world a perfect place. Mr. A fulfils his, Mr. B fulfils his, Mr. C does too and also everyone does, - imagine how the world would be if this happens! I think of nothing else than my purpose.

The seed of faith
Faith is when you supernaturally empty yourself of doubt and fill yourself with a knowing so that in the moment you cannot doubt. The bible talks so much about faith. Without faith we cannot please God. Faith is a spiritual or divine key that attracts success and repels poverty and oppression. It is the key that unlocks the door of success for every human being. Faith, too, is very essential in fulfilling our purpose in life.

The seed of perseverance.
Perseverance is the test of faith. This book tells me how to be able to bend and grow with the winds of change without my spirit breaking. Winners work at doing things the majority of the population are not willing to do. After reading this part, I asked myself; 'Lawrence, do you want to succeed? If truly you want to, you must read, learn, work, pray and persevere.'

The seed of perspective
What we get out of life depends on our perspective about it. My sense of perception was poor in the past. I used to think life was all about going to school, struggle to get good degrees, fidgeting about the street of Nigeria to look for job, getting married, making babies and getting the same old results my parents and others were getting before I finally die. What a poor perspective. It is common here in Africa. I never knew there is more to life. I was born in this perspective. But now that light has shone upon my life - life is all about CONTRIBUTION.
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PART TWO - Personal impact and practical value.

If there was any book I wish I had read, it is 'SEEDS OF GREATNESS.' This book has transported me from ignorance into knowledge. It has lighted my life. It revealed to me the secrets of successful people.

Principally, this book has given the will, the way and the success I dream of. All I need to do is to put myself into action.

The following points show the impact of this book in the values of my life:

The meaning of Total Success
'Model your thoughts and actions after men and women who have been creative in their service to others' this is the advice of Mr. Denis for me. I heed to this advice. This is how success is achieved. Recently I was preparing blocks of self development for the secondary school students of my state. I went to meet those I knew are doing it and they helped me so well. Two heads are better than one. Nothing is new under the earth again. What I want to achieve someone has achieved it. All I just need to do is to climb their shoulders and even see farther than them and with my creativity achieve greater than they have.

Countless Africans like to conceal their plans and don't like to follow the steps of those that have gone before them. We most times believe we don't need people's interference in the fulfillment of our purpose. Never in my life will I fail to ask what I need to know.

Planting seeds of ideas
Does possessing ideas make us succeed if not planted? No, it does not. It's like putting a seed on cemented ground or on a clay soil. Can this seed germinate? No it will never! A kid knows this. It is absolutely impossible. Even if we fast and pray for years it won't.

Plant apple seeds and you get apple trees. Plant any crop and you will harvest what that crop produces.

Many people who achieve fortune in the world are not born rich. They planted ideas and harvested success. They watered (hard work, conviction, curiosity, creativity, honesty, e.t.c) their ideas and increase was made. God does not even plant for us but he gives us seeds to plant. It is our responsibility to plant this seeds so as to make an increase on the earth.

The bible (1 Corinthian 3:6) says 'I have planted, Apollo watered; but God gave the increase,' verse 8b says: 'and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour' I believe that every one has great ideas. If planted could give great life. Our failure to plant this is what brings people poverty.

For some past weeks now, I have been planning curiously how I am going to plant my idea. I am pregnant with great ideas on how to change my continent. My purpose has been fully stamped to my mind. I sleep, I dream about it. I walk I think about it. Everyday, every minute I make this planting plan on my mind. I know what my world is waiting for me to give birth to it. This fame will go abroad.

To plant my great ideas, I am not heedless of advice. Denis mom gave to him. I am following the lesson of the bible and modeling my thoughts and actions after men and women who have been inactive in their service to others. I am also looking at my IQ as my 'imaginative quotient' rather than my intelligence quotient. Soon it is my belief that so many lives will be transformed via planting my great ideas.

Taking responsibility (seed of responsibility)
'The price of greatness is responsibility,' says Winston Churchill. Am I willing to take the responsibility to attain the success I desire? If you have a seed to sow and you don't sow, when others are harvesting, obviously you won't have anything to harvest. You may be left with the choice of begging. Thank God kind people will give you little, which means that he who doesn't sow reaps nothing.

The greatest tragedy in life, as considered by me, is to become less than your full potential, using less than the abilities you have to work with. Waiting for others to satisfy our needs or desires is an act of irresponsibility. Doing this means we don't want the purpose of this world to be accomplished. Our each contribution makes the world a wonderful place. It is up to us to take the actions and be responsible for our consequences. 'Our responsibility: every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.' Wrote John D Rockefeller, Jr

This is the major problem of Africa. We don't have the sense of responsibility. We believe what would be would be. That is why we are so indebted to foreign nations. Everything that happens to my life is as the result of my action. I know I'm God created and self molded. The way I mold myself is what I see and others also see. I may read all the books in this life and still remain useless to my world if I lack responsibility.

I inspire myself. I read the great books IIGL sends to me and copy of other books I buy. This book spurns me to action. I talk to people who have the vitality I admire about fulfilling my purpose. I'm leading my life; I'm making the necessary changes to be like that. Imagine how many souls would have lost if Jesus Christ didn't take the required responsibility to fulfill his purpose on earth. Imagine if Mr. Michael lightweaver didn't take the responsibility for achieving his purpose. Would any of IIGL students read what they read today, experience the glorious changes or even have a sense of true success that is contributing this world.

Everyday I ask myself 'Lawrence what are you waiting for?'

PART THREE SUMMARY
If my child asks me ( when I become a father) 'Daddy tell me one of the books that transformed your life' without thinking too deep, I would mention this book and will immediately get the book from my library for him to read. I plan to include this book in the list of books Iím giving to the secondary school students of my state.

Your Sacred Self
By Afere A Lawrence (Nigeria)

PART ONE - Content

Your Sacred Self by Dr. Waye Dyer is another best of his books. In fact, this book
Is another 'real magic'. This book was sent to me at the right time and needed time.

So many points of this book were most significant to me and they were really meaningful.

BROKEN DREAMS
As children bring their broken toys
With tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God
Because he was my friend.
But instead of leaving him
In peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
With ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried,
'How can you be so slow?'
'My child', he said, 'what could I do?
You never let them go.'

These words by lauretta burns took me from physical level to spiritual level. I couldn't help it when I saw these words. This is what my bible has been saying to me in psalm 37. 'Commit thy way unto the lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.'

This tells me that if I don't commit my ways unto the hands of our divine creator, if I fall into any trouble , I can't blame him. I can't even query him. Until you commit yourself to the divine creator, God, you don't know your sacred self. And if you don't know your sacred self you may fall a victim of this wicked world. It is wonderful that those that have discovered their sacred selves are now spirits and gods. It is only spirits that have access to the Spiritual realm. Our creator is a Spirit and only the spirit can communicate with him. This subject of sacred self is vital if one wants to commune with God and know why he exits and what he exits for.

It is a mystery that all we see today were created from those things that were not seeing - inspiration can't be seen. And you get inspired by discovering your sacred self. 'Your, as said in this book by the author, sacred self was never born.' This is true. Our body only houses our sacred self. We came from no-where to now-here. This is wonderful! These knowings have changed my level of thinking.

FREEDOM
Here in Africa, countless of us believe that accumulation of wealth gives freedom. We put our confidence and self esteem in material things. That is why most of us want acquire this wealth in an illegal way. To me less than 5% of Nigerians know their TRUE SELVES. This is stagnating our success.

My own definition of success is 'divine ways of accomplishing your purpose and living for eternal.' When we have the knowings that there is a place after death where there is no sin, death, sickness, night, devil. This is the place I want to be after this now-here. Is it possible to think eternal without really knowing who you are? Itís impossible because it is only the good spirit that reminds you of this. The bad spirit only tell your physical body to live for now.

I was in the library some days back. That moment, I was getting exploded with what I see in this book. A girl was sitting next to me. I wrote out this affirmation 'in my world, nothing goes wrong' and gave it to her. She was pretty shocked to receive this. I was happy I obeyed my sacred self by giving her this because she shared her problems with me. She told me about her crumbling relationships with her friends. I was eager to flip through some pages, with her, in this book. And this did her a lot of self improvement. I was really happy for helping her know her self that moment. She told me she was gaining her freedom from that moment.

Freedom is described in this book as 'the total absence of concern about oneself.' Freedom gives, freedom does not fight for more. Freedom is all we should strive for.

THE WITNESS
This point was so significant to me. It tells me how to observe all that happens in my life. This part of this book has made me realize that I am always free to let go and observe my life. Nothing goes wrong again in my life. I now give myself full attention and full examination. This has really helped my sacred self. When I started witnessing myself, I discover something is crying to let go from my inner self. My sacred self tells me what I carry within. It tells me how creative I am. It tells me am a world changer.

I now witness a glorious change in my life. My inner self and my physical self now work in unity. It is that inner self that instigates my hand - physical self - to write this.

PART TWO - PERSONAL IMPACT & PRACTICAL VALUE.

Reading this book, I didn't read it in text or written words but I heard Dr. Dyer's voice talk to me. In the eloquence of his voice he explained the words in this book to me one by one to my understanding. I even heard his smiles. He even called me by my name. 'Lawrence, he said to me, you can be free if you want.' He taught me some very helping points that would help me to be free if well applied. These points relate to every aspect of my life: my relationship, my values, my goals, and my beliefs.

The first point he whispered to my hear was; 'BANISH THE DOUBT' It sounded as if I heard it for the first time. Dr. Dyer quoted what Shakespeare said a long time ago: 'our doubts are our traitors.' He also shared his own experience with me when he said: 'I rid myself of my doubts by remembering that there is a valid reason for everything that happens.'

Dr. Dyer said to me: 'Lawrence, I encourage you to abandon many of those old beliefs and make a new agreement with reality that is based instead on what you know is your truth. Once you know your personal truth, your reality will be free of doubt.'

When he said this I immediately banished every belief my parents told me about my birth. They always tell me that am going to be initiated into a cult that worships an idol that has been in my generation for many generations now. Dr. Dyer's words have helped me to banish that belief.

I can't forget this statement that he mentioned in the eloquence of his voice: 'but when doubt is banished, we come to a knowing that leads to creative and inspired solutions far beyond what we believe were possible.'

I now know the creativity that lies inside of me. My purpose has been energized. My relationships are working perfectly fine. I don't get angry at anyone because I know they have something valuable to perform in my life. My beliefs have been cleansed. Doubt is gone.

FROM TURMOIL TO PEACE.
Peace is one of the promises of God for those that love him. Peace is a result of pure or positive thinking. All God truly wants of man is a peaceful heart. A peace is free to those that really and is ready to get it. When peace gets into you turmoil vanishes.

Good news! My life has been peaceful ever since I discovered my purpose I have been aligning my thought towards it. Even in the midst of challenges I still have peace within me. Peace is not physical but spiritual. Peace does not answer to material possessions. It is true that in every moment of our lives we have the option to choose peace for ourselves. My thought is consistently on how I can accomplish my purpose. This has been banning turmoil from my life. I experience a divine peace within.

FROM DECEPTION TO TRUTH
Ever since I started walking in the path of my sacred self towards achieving my purpose I have been walking in the realm of truth. I feel guilty when I utter a lie and I immediately seek amendment. I was a big liar in the past. I thank God so much for IIGL and the university I am today. They play a great role in transforming my life.

The bible says 'the truth shall make you free.' The words are so significant to me. I witness my physical self work in truth and union with my sacred self each day.

Discovery of my purpose is making me to walk and work in truth. Following the paths of its attainment must be followed in truth. World changers must walk in truth to change the world. Deception repels the accomplishment of our purpose. Deception canít make us have access to the spiritual realm where we know our sacred self.

I think I need to share my recent experience. In my school, students must take exit permit before they leave the school. Before I left the room one fateful morning, I refused to take permit. My room mate asked if I had but I said no. 'What if you're challenged at the gate?' my room mate asked. I boldly told my room mate that I won't be stopped. 'What would you say if you are stopped?' Mark, very inquisitive, asked again. More than 3 times, I boldly said 'I would never deny my studentship at the gate.'

For the very first time I was stopped at gate and asked to come down from the shuttle. The first statement I made was 'I am not a student here; I only came to see someone.' I eventually denied my studentship. I felt worst for days. I was not myself. The statement kept coming back to my mind. Tears dropped heavily in my heart. I was depressed. But that day opened a new chapter unto me. God spoke to my heart. He showed me who he was. He told me I can't make it by my strength. My life changed from that day. I left deception to truth. I never experienced that kind of knowings.

One great thing about truth is that it brings truthful people to my life. It's true that 'like beget like.' Being truthful makes me associate with people that are committed to change Africa.

'Your sacred self' has made me move from fear to love, from outward appreciation to inner substance, from striving to arriving, from dominance to tolerance, from toxicity to purity even toward an egoless world. I really feel good about myself and my world.

PART THREE - SUMMARY

Mother Theresa said 'to keep a lamp going we have to keep oil in it.'

Dr. Wayne W. Dyerís book is a book that I must always read to keep my lamp going i.e. my sacred self alive. It is not interesting because it says the TRUTH. This book is very helpful. I have been able to influence some of my friends lives with this book. Every week I write out an affirmation from this book and I paste on my floor in the hostel.

I remember some days back, I was communicating with my friends on 'self confidence.' I discovered they put their confidence on material things. I was able to help them, in some ways, discover who they really are.

Unconditional Life
Assessment by Afere A Lawrence (Nigeria).

This is book that took me through the journeys of unusual healings. I couldn't hold myself reading through different and strange diseases and unusual healings that came from positive minds. It's was inspiring.

PART ONE - Content Review

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE HEALED.
This was the chapter one of this book. Every heading in this chapter was really impactful. The story of Robert was really impactful.

Countless of sick people actually rely on medicines for their healing but this chapter of the book took me through the journey of how a sick person can heal himself with his mind. Patients really want to know why they hurt. They want to know why they have cancers and other dangerous diseases. Deepak Chopra, M.D made a surprising discoveries of how a man could be healed with the power of his mind.

Healing our diseases, mentally, is real but requires courage and faith.

This part of the book makes me understand there is no cure from the outside. But what of drugs and medicines that heal us when we are sick? I asked myself when i meditated on this part. The healing power of our lord Jesus christ does not come from outside. He tells us he sends and would heal our sicknesses. And only those that worship Him in spirit can take part in this healing. You know that worshiping Him in spirit is not from the outside.

I remember a time that i was indisposed and i had to visit our school clinic. Precisely 3 months ago. The illness was diagnosed as malaria. And i was administered some medicines. I wanted a speedy recovery and i quickly took the first dose immediately i got to my hostel. However, that night i went for holy communion service. I was happy , because i believed, when the pastor said that "today's communion is going to heal our diseases." I banished every iota of doubt within. I know my God heals. So happened next? I faithfully dumped my medicine immediately i arrived my hostel. Remember i had only taken my medicine once.. and just after the service i was healed and never felt it again. Did my healing come from outside? We truly have free access to supernatural healing.

THE LENS OF PERCEPTION.
This is the way we regard something and our beliefs about it is like. Deepak buttressed this part of the book with meaningful stories and words.

"One time a man died because of something i said to him," says Deepak. Why did he die because of what Deepak said? I think the man died because of his perception about what he said.

The way we see and view things determine what we get out of it. According to Deepak perception is truly the first and the most important step in turning the raw data of the universe into reality. This means with our perception posisioned right we can turn our world of healings right.

This part of the book shows me how to have a positive perception - enjoy life with what does not terminate it. Our perception is just our eye that serves our minds in any way the mind chooses. It helps us in creating new worlds inside our private universe.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FEELING SPECIAL.
This is a part of this book that was as if a lightning bolt illuminated me when i read it. The story of Ray did. It tells me that what or how we feel about ourselves can also affect our healings. The way Ray felt about himself had quickened his healing. Healing is truly an individual process. Most of us cannot truly imagine what we would do if our nerves and bones were opened naked to air. The way we feel about ourselves is what we are.

PART TWO - Personal Impact

Before i write further, read this: In my moment of reading this book i watched a new born baby on t.v . She had a complicated heart disease and a foundation was raising fund for her treatment in India. I asked myself when i saw it if she could heal herself mentally? Did she even know she was going through those pains? Was she even aware she had a mind that could heal her? She was in deep pain and this made her cry bitterly! I was deeply sorry for her.

Again, i watched on the t.v how Novagin, Anagin and some other medicines seriuosly damaged the bodies of some people. These people were sick and their doctors prescribed these medicines to them and now its reacting negatively on their bodies! Are medicines failing or what? You know there is no negative reaction to healing that comes from within.

Conversly, healing that comes from within does not have any negative reation. We can't continue to swallow chemicals and hard drugs that are dangerous to our bodies. You know our creator had made, right from our creation, arrangement for our healings. These healings come from our minds and it is effective. Thank God we are now in the age of mind-building. People are begining to understand and utilize the power within.

The words in this book have meaningful impact in the field of healing. They have energized me towards healing myself of any illness. But this takes understanding of how it works for it to be effective for any one. My pastor has not been sick for over 22 years since he understood the supernatural healing. It takes unbeatable and unquenchable faith.

However, every chapter of this book has healing words contained in it.

What does it mean to be whole?
Deepak says so much about this question. He also buttressed it with the story of Nick. He says, and which i agree, that being good is not the same as being whole. Making our minds active is the only way we can be whole. We should not put our energy into making life perfect on the outside while on the inside we nurse faer, anger, and guilt. We should be conscious of the power of our minds.

PART THREE - Summary

Truly, i've never heard 95% of the names of diseases i read in this book. I wonder that all these diseases exist!

I want to say that our doctors only care but don't heal, it is only God that heals.

I think this book is a mind-builder. It would be nice for every body to read this in order to possess a right attitude for healing.

Awaken The Giant Within
Assessment by Afere A Lawrence (Nigeria)

PART ONE - Review of Contents

DREAMS OF DESTINY.
This part of the book is so significant to my life. What can a man achieve without a dream? Every great person we see today became great by first having a nonnegotiable dream. What makes a big differrence in our lives is the intensity of our dreams. Intense dreams guarantees extensive success. Our dreams may seem unaccompanished, just as Tony says, but we should should not allow failure and frustration to dissipatee them.

Living our dreams brings us joy and happiness. since our dreams are to affect people's lives positely. So, when we see people becoming happy, just because we are helping them one way or the other, we are living our dreams.

Living a destiny full of dreams begins with a decision. Tony made his own decision to start living his dreams in his 400 square foot apartment. That decision changed his life positively. How powerful dreams are! Giant dreams can pierce any negative circumstance and any setbacks.

I have realized from what i read in this book that we can achieve anything we want if only we dream it and decide to live it. My goodness! This is awesome!.

DECISION: THE PATHWAY TO POWER
In the indelible words of Anthony, "i made a decision in that moment which was to alter my life forever. I decided to change virtually every aspect of my life. I decided i would never again settle for less than i could be. Who would have guessed that this decision would bring me to such an incredible moment" That is the power of decision. God has given every man the power to make life changing decisions. The decisions we make determines how we live our lives. A great life does not happen by chance. It is decided and pursued. This was evident in Anthony's life. When we start enjoying the results of the our decisions we would begin to wonder could this be real? It is the decision we make as individual that makes the differrence in our lives. Decisions preceeds questions. And questions preceeds anwsers. Our decisions determine the kind of questions we ask.

In essence, if we want to change our lives, we must make great and giant decisions. It is in our moment of decisions that our lives are shaped. The decisions that you're making right now, evryday , will shape how you feel today as who you're going to become in the nineties and beyond.

BELIEF SYSTEMS: THE POWER TO CREATE AND THE POWER TO DESTROY
Can we ever discuss how we can maximize our lives without discussing our belief systems? Even the ancient king Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived , said "for as he thinketh in his heart , so is he:" Everything we become in life comes from our beliefs.That is why every good book today talks so much about this subject. "As within As without." We are made by our beliefs.

Show me a great man and i will show you a man that thinks positively. I strongly believe that we can't go any higher than our belief. Anthony says "Beliefs have the awesome potential to create or destroy." I don't allow negativity to set in in my life. Every time it tries to i quickly remember the words of our spiritual leader, paul. He says in the bible " finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report..............., think on these things." What other thing do we want in life that is not in these words? Wife is good. Mansion is good. Contribution is good. prosperity is good. What else! "think on these things." What we think is what we get.

QUESTIONS ARE THE ANSWERS
In my little life i have asked myself great questions. This started when i discovered my purpose. Prior to this time, all my questions were been asked from my teachers in the classrooms. The questions we asked determine the answers we get. Tony says "our questions determine our thoughts." Questions are the primary way that we learn virtually anything. Quality questions create a quality life. Every now and there am being obsessed with this question i ask myself "how can i help 100 000 000 Africans become rich?" I thank God that as i ask this every time giant ideas are flowing in. Ideas beyond my imaginations. This power is awesome! I know the answers to my questions would make me a world changer.

THE VOCABULARY OF ULTIMATE SUCCESS.
Often i see parents use poor words on their children. Even my own parents do this."you are a bastard, you're too dull, you cant't make it in life," all kinds of poor words. These words have been the major distroyer of Nigerians destinies. They distroy us! These words steal our future and our hopes for ourselves and for our nation. It hurts my spirit man when i pass any street and i hear any parent use poor words on his child and my dear country. I weep inside of me. Our parents don't encourage us with good words they only discourage us.

Tony says "words.... they've been used to make us laugh and cry. They can wound or heal. They offer us hope or devastation." Oh my goodness! I will always be carefull with my choice of words.

And again, am made to understand that it is common among Americans to always say God bless America. I love this! And indeed God is blessing her! Here, Nigerians are fond of cursing their country. All we say is "Nigeria is bad. Nigeria can't be good. Our leaders are bad. Our leaders are thieves......." Our hatred for this country shows bitterly in our utterances. These words are killing us! If only we knew this! I can't just help the tears drop in my heart when i see the reparcussion of these poor words on my country.

Thank God for the light taht has shone upon some of us. I belief Nigeria changers are being raised now. A powerful light has shone upon me via this book. My words can create a new world. Even our creator created this world with His words.

PART TWO - Personal Impact

This book has deposited a lot into my life. It has affected , positively, every area of my life. My values , my relationships, goals, and my belieifs. I will always make reference to this book.

MY GOALS.
Tony says "Giant goals produce giant motivation." This statement made me go back to my goals for adjusment. I now realize i can't go any higher than the goals i set for myself. Could you believe i never knew we are not lazy? we only have impotent goals. This is shocking! I have set a bigger and attainable goals for myself. I believe my goals fuel my action.I was really inspired by the story of OJ Simmpson written in this part ofthe book.

FINANCIAL DESTINY
This part of the book opened a new chapter in my life. I now know the mystery behind wealth creation. I now know how creativity helps to transfer invisible wealth to visible wealth. I have longed for this information for a long time. Being a student, i used to wonder what to do to make money. Now i know and understand the principles behind it. I now understand how to earn money by adding value, maintaining it by spending less than i earn, investing and protecting it. What a blessing!

PART THREE -Summary

This is an invaluable book. I wish i had read it some years back. Success, to me, is not a function of connections. This is basically our belief here. I used to believe it too - that success is a function of those we know. Now, i believe that success is only a function of revelation. And where do we get revelations from? We get revelations from the books we read. Obviously, i've got great revelations from "Awaken The Giant Within." Again, revelations define our destinations. Having read and meditated on this book, i have gotten revelations for my finances, relationship and infact my destination. This book has brought showers of revelations to my life.

Psycho-Cybernetics 2000
Assessment by Afere A Lawrence (Nigeria)

Part One - Content Review

SELF-IMAGE
This part of the book was so significant to me. I had an erroneous idea about it. Psycho-Cybernetics flushed out this errorneous belief about my self-image. This book made it clear that every one of us always acts , feels, and behaves in a way that is consistent with our self-image. This tells me that everything i do or say is consistent with my self-image. Fantastic!

Again, i realized that our self-image is the mental picture or blueprint of ourselves. It is our inner quality. So, i could say that dogs, too, possess self-image. I remember a time i bathed my beatiful dog with pesticide. The application was too much on his skin and it peeled his skin seriously. My extrovert dog knew this damage and immediately became introvert. He wouldn't want to see any one nor bark again. I knew he was in an ignonimous situation all through this time. I was very sorry. After his healing, my dog became lively again. I think he lost his self-image for that period.

In Maltz's words " all behaviour - all actions, all feelings, all human capabilities- was defined by self-image. No real behavioral changes could take place unless the self-image was changed."

Self-image is a crucial subject that should be thought to our young people in this age. Especially at a time like this where our young people are so crazy about looks. We want to act or behave in consistent with our looks.

The position of our minds determines our actions. poor self-image causes poor behaviours. Am now developing a self-image that will enable me to add more living to my life.

HOW TO PROGRAM YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM
"The creative mechanism within you is impersonal. It will work automatically and impersonally to achieve goals of success and happiness, or unhappiness and failure, depending on the goals which you yourself set for it." -- Maxwell Maltz.

Success is instinctive. This means we have the natural ability to be successful without learning it. We all have a built-in guidance system. I found this meaningful because it has helped me to program my success mechanism. This has helped me to be self-confident and base my self-image on my own opinion.

IMAGINING YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS.
What a significant part of this book. It made me realize how significant my imagination could be. I am responsible for the thoughts i have in my head at any given time. I have the capacity to think whatevr i choose, and virtually all my self-defeating attitudes and behaviours originate in the way i choose to think or imagine.

The story of Geoff, in this part of the book, really inspired me and made me understand that the word "imagination" is related to the word image: that which is seen. Our self-image is bound up intimately with our imagination. It is based 100 percent on what we imagine to be true. The image and thought we have on our minds preceed our actions.

We can consciously use our imagination to change our beliefs. Since the subconscious mind can't tell the difference between a real experience and one that is vividly imagined, then we should all imagine success in all our goals.

I now take these four keys to create new atttudes and behaviour:

1. Anything i imagine to be true is accepted as true by my subconscious mind,
2. An imagined experience is perceived and acted on by my subconscious mind exactly the same as a real experience,
3. My behaviour follows what i believe to be true,
4. My behaviour changes in the direction of my beliefs.

Our subconsious believes what it sees.

FREEING MYSELF FROM FALSE BELIEFS
It is vastly taught that beliefs are powerful. This book made it clearer to me once again with its vivid illustrations. Our beliefs determine the way we live our lives. If we believe we are limited to a particular way of living, then we are.

False belief is detrimental to success. If false beliefs keep us from setting big goals , it becomes impossible for us to reach any. False beliefs is a conversant problem among nigerian youths. Our parents have instilled into us beliefs that are errorneous. What we believe conditions what we can do.

LIVE LIFE BY YOUR OWN SCRIPT: HOW TO CHOOSE AND SET GOALS.
"A man or a woman without a goal is like a ship without a rudder . Each will end up on drift and not drive . Each will end up on the beaches of despair, defeact, and desponduly" - Zig Ziglar.

Planning our lives is a worthwhile event and this guarantees a glorious future. Show me a great man and i will show you a man that plans his life. Planning our lives or setting goals is just a way of giving conscious direction to our lives and how to get moving in that direction. In this part of the book, the author opened my eyes and mind to better and effective ways of setting and accomplishing goals. I realized how my self-image could condition my goals.

The questionaire in this part of the book is really helpful. This part was most helpful.

PART TWO - Personal Impact and Practical Value.

This book, i can't deny, has affected some areas of my life. This is what i shall be discussing in this part.

SELF_IMAGE
What makes me feel inferior every time am in school? It's clear enough i don't feel this way every time am at home. Self-image! I have overcome this with the practical use of this book. This book has affected my relatioships, my values and core values and even my goals. My inner quality is now wonderful. I can now relate with people looking straight into their eyes. I didn't like to spend much time with my friends in school. But i think i can do that now when i get back to school.

GOAL SETTING
The benefits of goal setting is invaluable. yes, i've read this and heard this a number of times. But this book gave me a new and better techniques of setting them. "Don't lose sight of your goals," and the SMART method. I love this!

MOVING AHEAD FROM GOAL SETTING TO GOAL GETTING
I was charged by the words of Terry L. Paulson "life is a moving vehicle with no brakes... If you spend too much time looking in the mirror, you'll hit a tree... That is why your front window is bigger than your rearview mirror. If you set realistic goals and balance self-support with appropriate self-critcism, you 'll stay on the road"

If this means anything to me, it means setting my goals is not the end and does not make me attain it execpt i act on it. I was moved by this book from a goal setter to a goal getter. Wonderful! I wish you saw how excited i was!

PART THREE - Summary

This is a book that should be read by all WORLD CHANGERS. It teaches how a nation and people can be self-confident. In this book i encountered life changing words and illustrations. It is worth a book in the library of every world changer.

Build A Positive Mental Attitude

PMA is a vital ingredient of success. One must depend on it in everything he does. Alot has been written about PMA. it tops the list of success recipe. I love how Napoleon described it in this book and in his other book-- success through PMA. He said " A positive mental attitude is the right , honest, constructive thought, action, or reaction, to any person, situation, or set of circumstances that does not violate the laws of God or the right of one's fellow man." Isn't this great? I love it. It must respect our creator and our fellow brothers and sisters.

PMA builds on hope and overcomes the negative attitudes of despair and discouragement.

CONTROL YOUR ENTHSIASM.

To keep a flame burning we must add fuel. Enthusiasm fuels our will to act. It is the fuel that drives things forward. We need to control our enthusiasm. It stimulates our subconscious.

ENFORCE SELF - DISCIPLINE.

Self - discipline is when you have to do a worthwhile thing even when it is not convinient. It will be difficult to achieve what we conceive if self - discipline is not in place. It enables us to develop control over ourselves. It begins with mastery of our thoughts, what we really are, what we really do. It is a means of directing our thoughts, controlling our emotions and ordaining our destiny with PMA.

THINK ACCURATELY.

It is what we think that overwhelms us. We need to nurture ourselves with accurate thinking so as to achieve success. hill said that our mind is like a piece of land. Through diligent, planned work, it can be cultivated into a beautiful and productive garden, or it can be fallow , overrun by weeds sprouting from seed carried by passing birds and wind. All that we achieve are the result of our thoughts. As written by hill, the accurate thinking is based on two types of reassoning:

Induction,
Deduction.

They work together but they are different.

CONTROL YOUR ATTENTION.

This is the eleventh principle in this book. It talks about focusing our attention to one definite major purpose. Also, focusing all our resources , time money and mind etc on this "one thing" We should be a man of one thing.

INSPIRE TEAM WORK

There is no musiician that does all his music alone, plays the drum set, plys the quiter , sings, choruses - all alone. he needs a teamwork to produce a good music. It is of paramount importance that every leader inspires or encourages the heart of his workers. This will make them efficient and effective. With this, productivity will boost. The cooperation of employees is needed to attain success in our field.

LEARN FROM ADVERSITY AND DEFEAT.

I consider defeat to be a stepping stone to where i want to get to. I also consider every setback as step back.When a sportman that runs or does high jump wants to do it he first step back so as do it well. So setback is a means of preparation. It is a means of learning what you must know in order to succeed.

CULTIVATE CREATIVE VISION.

Vision is the only thing that differentiate a person from his colleagues. creative vision is a big picture that others cannot forsee that enhances the perception of people and the entire world. The accomplisment of a creative vision is usually a significant contribution to the world.. i believe that the ability to think is the greatest gift of man. What can be conceived can be created.

MAINTAIN SOUND HEALTH.

If our health is not sound we may not be in a good position to pursue our passion. Sound health is very vital in life.

BUDGET YOUR TIME AND MONEY.

Time is money, money is time the say. We must harness the two towards our purpose. We must intelligently use them. Planning our time and money is the best way to spend them.

USE COSMIC HABIT FORCE.

Cosmic habitforces are the powers we apply with PMA when we use the universal laws or principles. They are employed when we use our mind powers.

PART TWO. -- Practical values.

Napoleon Hill said that our progress towards success begins with a fundamental question : where are you going? For anyone to get somewhere, he must leave somewhere. Giving a detailed answer to this question would help alot in getting where one plans to get to. Personally, the answer to this question is sticked to my heart and mind. I think about it every time. It is a focus that won't let go. It makes it become clearer to me everyday. I have discovered that achieving success in life is not an event, but a process. It can't be accomplished in a day. It is a gradual thing. It is a one-by-one thing. It is a day-by-day journey. Am now part of this process. I read these books . I learn the invaluable words in them. And importantly, i apply and live them.

Hill's keys to success is a book that has set a good foundation for my success in life. I love every page of it. I share its words with people. It gives them a new revelation about personal achievement. in life. I love every page of it. I have already started applying its principles where i can for now. It says all about achievement.

Again, i apply it to my studies at school. And this is really helping me. I go extar mile in my studies. I establish a mastermind alliance for courses i don't understand. I also apply faith. My self discipline is awesome. In all, i budget my money and time very wisely. Though i don't have any source of income for now apart from my parents but i still spend wisely the pocket money i recieve each time am going to school. I know that the way i handle my resources today determines how i handle them tomorrow. God does not bless wasters. He blesses managers. P

rincipally, no matter what i do , or, follow, what helps me most is not when i 'try' or 'struggle' to do things i have to do but it is only possible when i trust the divine power of God. And also when i surrender to it.

My last semester's exam's result was a big testimony. I stopped to struggle to pass. I just applied some principles in one of the books and i trusted God for it to work. It did. I have realized that when i struggle to do things i am only manifesting competition. I don't think God wants us to compete with each other. I believe when am faithful to my part God will also be faithful to do his own part. This helps us to manifest anything.

PART THREE...Summary.

This book is helpful when you read it, learn it, and live it. Also, it is worth passing to others who truly want personal great achievement. I give it 98% rating .

Thank you <where ever you are now> Napoleon Hill for your ever indelible wisdom. says much about achievement.

Manifest Your Destiny

Part 1 - Content Review

Consciously, i let the words of Dr. Dyer sink into my heart. Reading this book all alone in my quiet room was a never-to-be-forgotten thrill. Dr. Dyer, indeed, speaks into my heart in this book.

THE POWER WITHIN.å people are still ignorant of it. And nothing good is happening in their lives. It is this power that brings manifestation into our lives. This is the power that makes things work. I watch myself everyday as i consciously utilize this miraculous power. I, too, know that this power works.

How do we discover and utilize this power? Dr. Dyer answers this question in this book. It's a big revelation i bet you.

BECOMING AWARE OF YOUR HIGHEST SELF.
Can a person manifest anything in physical without becoming aware of his highest self? A thunderous no! Without discoring yoursel there is no capacity to manifest and attract all that one needs or desires.

We are all both a physical body in a material world and a nonphysical being who can gain assess to a higher level. When we are conscious of this , we begin to manifest our destiny. The four stages of adult development talked about in this book are what i take serious. The more we grow in life, materially and swpiritually, we move from one stage to another. But for us to really know ourselves we must be enlihtened.

TRUSTING YOURSELF IS TRUSTING THE WISDOM THAT CREATED YOU.
I read in this second principle that authentic trust is only available through the knowing heart. I took a conscious time to study this principle very well and i discovered it is necessary we trust in ourselves and this means trusting the wisdom that created us. When we do this we become manifesters because we have created the inner capacity to become it. Again, all that we desire or want is part of us already.

God is already in us. I trust His words that i read in my bible. Trusting His words means trusting Him, too. I read His word without a smidgin doubt. My God and I are one. This is a truth.

YOU CAN ATTRACT TO YOURSELF WHAT YOU DESIRE
Everyone can attract to himself what he desires. This is only possible if we are conscious of the power within. This power is within us. Just as Dr. Dyer writes that creative energy is neither solid nor restricted. I belive we must first trust in this power and God. We must
love to utilize it and love God. With this , i believe we can create or attract anything. With our creative power we have the
ability to convert our thoughts into physical ---- This is the manifestation he, Dr. Dyer, talks about.

CONNECTING TO THE DIVINE SOURCE WITH UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
This is the principle i liked most. Why? The divine source, which is God, is LOVE. Even writing this book was love. "There is no greater power in heaven or on earth than pure, unconditional love" --writes Dr. Dyer. The bible says "For God so loved the world He gave his only begotten son" Without love you can not manifest anything. This book would not be solid or "tight" without this love principle. For us to connect to spiritual realm we must first turn to love. "Seek you first the kingdom of God, and his right path; and all these things shall be added unto you" says Jesus. To paraphrase what jesus says: "seek you first the love of God and do things rightly ; and you will begin to manifest your destiny" You know that the kingdom of God is created with love, on love, and for Love. Without mincing words, becoming a manifester begins with love. The greatest of all things is love. With love we can do all things. It is only love that can transform this world. Let us stop craving f or materialism let us crave for loveism. Show me a manifester and i will show you someone that loves unconditionally.

REACTING TO YOUR MANIFESTATION WITH GRATITUDE AND GENEROSITY.
This can also be done with love. Anyone that is not always in his heart can't react his to manifestation with gratitude and generosity.
This ends my content review. I find them meaningful and significant to me.

PART 2 - Personal impact and practical value

This book has been helpful to me. I have started applying it already to some areas of my life. I live in a culture that has a wrong concept of God. People say God is far far away in the sky, jugdmental, and not personal.This beliefs are so strong. You will often hear people say God is looking down on you fromm the sky. And so we look up into the sky when we want to see him. We trust in the God that resides in the sky.
Also, we believe in atomic prayers. We shout, scream, hit our legs on the ground so that God can hear. We believe you have to do this for God to hear.

We are ignorant of that truth taht God is in us. Dr. Dyer write more on this in this book. I thank God for the light that damaged my ignorance.
Here, we pray using so much repetition. We pray for God to come down and do it. "do it do it do it" that is what you hear in our churches. We don't understand that God gives us the ability or capacity to manifest.

So, from my clear understanding of this book, ability and capacity to manifest this blessing <which is our destiny> is what brings manifestation into our lives. I love this revelation.

I now lead my live on the revelation that i ordain my own destiny. I do this perfectly by staying in my heart. I used to believe that our destiny is preordained. I used to leave the responsibility to God. Now i realize that God gives the ability to manifest. And this ability is the power within. God won't appear physically to help.

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
I love this part of the book. Love, i believe, is a glue that holds us to God. How do we express our love to God? This is what i have started to do. Obeying and walking in line with the truth. What is the truth? The words of God. When we align ourselves to that right path, we are living with love. When we understand that other people are our extension we are living with love. Love, truly, is the will of God. I apply everything in my life to it. My relationships run smoothly with love. Love is my greatest value.

This book has opened my understanding to a new dimension of love---------to love unconditionally. This is what i have begun to practice. If we give without love, it profits us nothing. LOVE IS THE ARTERIAL HIGHWAY OF LIFE. Without love we can't commune with God. This one life will soon pass, but only what is done with love will last.

This book has increased my belief of love. I can now write about love and not stop. If you want a peaceful life, first want love. Love is the begining and the end. Our purpose in life is to become a totally loving. Let us forget about the mechanical and technical ways of manifesting destiny, love is the only celestial means to manifest it. Give love and you will get back peace, joy, hapiness, riches and wealth.

This book is anchored on love. The best gift you can give is an unconditional love. Everything in life, name it---leadership, government, people, giving etc if anchored on love it will produce peaceful results.

Love is powerful. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. It can pierce through any challenge- terrorism, poverty, sickness. Love heals. Love can open any door. Love redeems. To be a manifester, in all the 9 princip[les in this book, you must learn to and practice unconditional on evry occasion, at every opportunity.

Pause reading. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in a world where everybody is love. What is the condition there? I do it and the condition there is: No poverty, No terrorism, No war, No homeless people, No hungry people, No disease, No religions, No jugdment and there are millions of people living happily with a divine presence. Do you see that ,too,. In all your getting. Love is the only arterial highway of life. I wish you an unconditional love.

Part 3 - Summary

Manifesting our destiny is a function of aplied revelation. This book contains indelible revelations. I can't just take my mind off them. It has damaged every ignorance about my destiny.

I thank God for this revelations.

Keys To Success
Assessment by Afere A Lawrence (Nigeria)

PART ONE - Content Review.

DEVELOP DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE
We are in the age of achievement. People are achieving more success in this age than before. The quality of life is transforming everyday. Practically, every one today lives better lives than a king in the late 50s 60s 70s. there has more progress in the world. I think this is the power of knowing what you really want and love to do-- definiteness of purpose.

People, unlike years back, have begun to awaken their subconscious to the truth that they exist for a definite reason. This is what differentiates most people from their colleagues. The power of purpose in people's lives is great. If one can develop it, pursue it, and be faithful to it, its result is marvelous. It produces a significant contribution to the world.

In truth, definiteness of purpose is truly the starting point of all achievement. It is the only thing that guarantees success. Conceive it, believe it and you will achieve it.

ESTABLISH A MASTERMIND ALLIANCE
Forming a mastermind alliance is a good thing in order to achieve one's definite purpose. As defined by Hill, " A mastermind alliance is built of two or more minds working actively together in perfect harmony toward a common definite object." I can say that this principle truly started in the ancient days of Jesus Christ. He had twelve people as his mastermind alliance.

Obviously, a person can't know all and even do all. He needs people that are ambitious to work together for a superordinate goal.

ASSEMBLE AN ATTRACTIVE PERSONALITY.
Our personality is our greatest asset or greatest liability, for it embraces everything that we control: mind, body and soul. What we do is us. For us to achieve lasting success, we must develop an attractive personality. We must possess PMA, tolerance, flexibility, sincerity of purpose, courtesy, promptness of decision, tact, tone of voice, the habit of smiling, patience, and so on. We must master all these so as to attract what we want.

USE APPLIED FAITH.
Faith, I believe, is exercised with action. It is a state of mind through which your desires, aims, plans, and purposes may be translated into their physical or financial equivalent. We must apply this faith, just as being advised by Hill. Faith without work is dead. We have faith when we act on what we decide and believe. This helps cast out fear and disbelief.

GO THE EXTRA MILE.
I call it GEM. " Render more and better service than you are paid for, and sooner or later you will receive compound interest from your investment. It is inevitable that every seed of useful service you sow will sprout and reward you with an abundant harvest," advised Hill. This simply means you have to go the extra mile to get worthy things done.

CREATE PERSONAL INITIATIVE.
Hill said " personal initiative is the inner power that starts all action." It is the power that inspires the completion of that which one begins. It motivates people to start acting on the plans in ink or on board. It pushes people to start and do it now. It also brings advancement, attention, and opportunity.

BUILD A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE.
PMA is a vital ingredient of success. One must depend on it in everything he does. A lot has been written about PMA. it tops the list of success recipe. I love how Napoleon described it in this book and in his other book-- success through PMA. He said " A positive mental attitude is the right , honest, constructive thought, action, or reaction, to any person, situation, or set of circumstances that does not violate the laws of God or the right of one's fellow man." Isn't this great? I love it. It must respect our creator and our fellow brothers and sisters. PMA builds on hope and overcomes the negative attitudes of despair and discouragement.

CONTROL YOUR ENTHSIASM.
To keep a flame burning we must add fuel. Enthusiasm fuels our will to act. It is the fuel that drives things forward. We need to control our enthusiasm. It stimulates our subconscious.

ENFORCE SELF-DISCIPLINE.
Self - discipline is when you have to do a worthwhile thing even when it is not convenient. It will be difficult to achieve what we conceive if self - discipline is not in place.

It enables us to develop control over ourselves. It begins with mastery of our thoughts, what we really are, what we really do. It is a means of directing our thoughts, controlling our emotions
and ordaining our destiny with PMA.

THINK ACCURATELY.
It is what we think that overwhelms us. We need to nurture ourselves with accurate thinking so as to achieve success. Hill said that our mind is like a piece of land. Through diligent, planned work, it can be cultivated into a beautiful and productive garden, or it can be fallow, overrun by weeds sprouting from seed carried by passing birds and wind.

All that we achieve are the result of our thoughts. As written by Hill, the accurate thinking is based on two types of reasoning: Induction and deduction. They work together but they are different.

CONTROL YOUR ATTENTION.
This is the eleventh principle in this book. It talks about focusing our attention to one definite major purpose. Also, focusing all our resources, time money and mind etc on this "one thing." We should be a man of one thing.

INSPIRE TEAM WORK
There is no musician that does all his music alone, plays the drum set, plays the guitar, sings, choruses - all alone. He needs a teamwork to produce a good music.

It is of paramount importance that every leader inspires or encourages the heart of his workers. This will make them efficient and effective. With this, productivity will boost. The cooperation of employees is needed to attain success in our field.

LEARN FROM ADVERSITY AND DEFEAT.
I consider defeat to be a stepping stone to where I want to get to. I also consider every setback as step back. When a sportsman that runs or does high jump wants to do it he first step back so as do it well. So setback is a means of preparation. It is a means of learning what you must know in order to succeed.

CULTIVATE CREATIVE VISION.
Vision is the only thing that differentiates a person from his colleagues. Creative vision is a big picture that others cannot foresee that enhances the perception of people and the entire world. The accomplishment of a creative vision is usually a significant contribution to the world. I believe that the ability to think is the greatest gift of man. What can be conceived can be
created.

MAINTAIN SOUND HEALTH.
If our health is not sound we may not be in a good position to pursue our passion. Sound health is very vital in life.

BUDGET YOUR TIME AND MONEY.
Time is money, money is time the say. We must harness the two towards our purpose. We must intelligently use them. Planning our time and money is the best way to spend them.

USE COSMIC HABIT FORCE.
Cosmic habit forces are the powers we apply with PMA when we use the universal laws or principles. They are employed when we use our mind powers.

PART TWO. – Personal Impact

Napoleon Hill said that our progress towards success begins with a fundamental question; where are you going? For anyone to get somewhere, he must leave somewhere. Giving a detailed answer to this question would help a lot in getting where one plans to get to. Personally, the answer to this question is stuck in my heart and mind. I think about it all the time. It is a focus that won't let go. It makes it become clearer to me everyday.

I have discovered that achieving success in life is not an event, but a process. It can't be accomplished in a day. It is a gradual thing. It is a one-by-one thing. It is a day-by-day journey. I am now part of this process. I read these books. I learn the invaluable words in them. And more importantly, I apply and live them.

Hill's keys to success is a book that has set a good foundation for my success in life. I love every page of it. I share its words with people. It gives them a new revelation about personal achievement in life. I love every page of it. I have already started applying its principles where i can for now. It says all about achievement.

Again, I apply it to my studies at school. And this is really helping me. I go the extra mile in my studies. I establish a mastermind alliance for courses I don't understand. I also apply faith. My self discipline is awesome. In all, I budget my money and time very wisely. Though I don't have any source of income for now apart from my parents but I still spend wisely the pocket money I receive each time I am going to school. I know that the way I handle my resources today determines how I handle them tomorrow. God does not bless wasters. He blesses managers.

Principally, no matter what I do or follow, what helps me most is not when I 'try' or 'struggle' to do things I have to do but it is only possible when I trust the divine power of God. And also when I surrender to it.

My last semester's exam's result was a big testimony. I stopped struggling to pass. I just applied some principles in one of the books and I trusted God for it to work. It did. I have realized that when I struggle to do things I am only manifesting competition. I don't think God wants us to compete with each other. I believe when am faithful to my part God will also be faithful to do his own part. This helps us to manifest anything.

PART THREE - Summary.

This book is helpful when you read it, learn it, and live it. Also, it is worth passing to others who truly want personal great achievement. I give it 98% rating . Thank you <wherever you are now> Napoleon Hill for your ever indelible wisdom. says much about achievement.

NIGERIA - Afere (KTS) copy

10 Secrets For Success and Inner Peace.
Assessment by Afere A Lawrence (Nigeria)

Introduction.
Dr.Dyer, like never before, takes me to another spiritual level with this book. Success is not a function of financial planning, relationship strategies, money making, but a function of inner peace - knowing who you really are and living in that consciousness all the days of our lives. This book says so much about inner peace. It helps you to be conscious of God. The 10 secrets in this book are really worth reading. These ten secrets allow our spirit to guide us towards the path of success and live with inner peace.

PART ONE: Book Review.

The first secret: Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing. It is obvious that at this stage of my life, especially before i became a student of iigl, so many conditioning has taken place in my life, by geography, religious etc. This nurturing has affected my life in so many ways. Discarding some of those beliefs was very difficult. Beliefs that were of closed-mindedness ---- christianity is superior to muslim, yoruba is superior to hausa and ibo and so many other beliefs that used to make me say " is this life?" An attempt to have an open-mind or go outside the box of those beliefs sometimes get me into trouble. This is what this first secret is about, becoming closed-mindedness as a result of the old styles of our elders. This makes our minds closed to possibilities.

This first secret also talks about our inability to know all about this world. He says we don't know how most things work. The author butressed this with relevant examples. And he also says there are many things to know in this world. He says we hardly know anything at all in comparison with what there is to know. Allowing your mind to be open to everything makes you know more about the trillions of things yet unknown. And he says this causes creativity to flourish.

He also explains in this first secret the miracle mind set. This means refusing to allow yourself to have low expectations about what you are capable of creating. He advises us to have an imaginary candle flame that burns brightly regardless of what goes before us. However, he explains what being open to everything means. "Everything means just what it says. No exceptions." Says the author. This means that everything is right. If you think you are not good enough you are right because that is what will show up. All you will get from your effort is being right.

In conclusion, the author says that this first secret has two components: 1) a mind that is open to everything and 2) a mind that is attached to nothing. He says that our attachments are the source of all our problems. What does this mean? It means the need to be right, to possess someone or something, to win at all costs, to be viewed by others as superior - these are attachments.

Finally, he says that the open minds resist these attachments and consequently experience inner peace and success.

The second secret: Don't Die With Your Music Still In You.

He begins this secret by telling us that behind every moving thing there is a mover. He says we are also part of those moving parts. We all moved in here and we shall also move out. All these, he says, for a reason.

Also, he speaks about listening to our heart. He says our heart is who we are. The constant beating of our heart in and out , out and in, is a symbol of our infinite connection to the heartbeat of God.

I think this music he talks about is our purpose for being here this time. He says that when we listen to our right brain, it will always lead us passionately to our purpose This is our intuitive inner voice that keeps urging us to play the music that we hear so that we don't die with it inside us. He says that the left brain does otherwise. It does not want us to play this inner music. It tells us to wait for a minute, be careful, don't fake risk and other things keep us away from fulfilling purpose. Listening exclusively to our left brain turns us to pretenders.

The author says a sentence that thrills me. He says " let the world know why you're here, and do it with passion." Doing it with passion means taking risks.

In conclusion, the author says that the only thing that will keep us from playing the music we hear is fear.

The third secret: You Can't Give Away What You Don't Have

I have heard people say these words but never like this have i understood it. Dr. Dyer writes about this with great illustrations and these are very helpful in understanding this concept better than before.

Dr. Dyer starts elaborating this secret by telling us to change what is inside. It is what we have inside that we give out. He says that our thoughts create our reality because our thoughts determine how we respond to situations in our daily life. Our thoughts are inner.

In furtherance, he explains what he calls attractor energies --- you get back what you put out into the world. By loving and respecting ourselves, we attract higher energies to change what's inside us. It was also interesting that our purposes are ones of those things we can have in order to give away. Being in the service of others is what purpose is. Giving service!

The Fourth secret : Embrace Silence

It is true we live in a noisy society. Sirens everywhere, music at the highest volume, noise in the classrooms, noise in the hostels, noise in the libraries (where silence should be maintained), noise noise noise everywhere. Even noise in our churches and mosques.

The author writes indelibly about the value of silence. He says there is a momentary silence in the space between our thoughts that we can become aware of with practice and it is in this silence that we'll find the peace we crave for. He says that we can't know peace if we have no spaces between our thoughts. So in other words, the ultimate result of silence is peace. It is fantastic to know that everything that's created comes out of silence.

Again, in this secret, Dr. Dyer urges us to demand more and more time for silence in our lives. He believes that we can only make personal and conscious contact with God in silence. I believe this too. I have noticed and experienced this. I commune with God when am silently alone. Just as that ancient king, king David used to do. This is done by a way of meditation. I am used to this now. It works like a balm.

In conclusion, the author says we don't use our ego to manifest. So, it is necessary to keep our silent communion with God to ourselves.

The Fifth Secret: Give Up Your Personal History

The author starts the fifth secret with a very exciting illustration. it has to do with a speedboat and the white foamy froth behind it when it zooms across the surface of the water. This white foamy froth is called the wake. What he means is, the wake does not drive the boat. The boat is driven by the present moment energy it generates. This illustration is applicable to our lives. The wake of our life is nothing more than a trail that is left behind us. It is not possible for it to drive us forward. This wake is our personal histories. The author says we should not hang on to past pains, abuses and other shortcomings. If what the author means is, we should not hang on to them but we can remember them for lessons then i agree totally. It is not possible for me to forget all i had gone through in the past. But it is possible for my past not to affect negatively my present. Hanging on to it can deter my inner peace and success. The author says our past is over and we should not be glued to it. I agree.

Also, the author advises we live on now and not in the past or future. "God is only here now" he says. Is Dr. Dyer telling me not to project a future that i want to live in? Remember some people tell us to forget the past and the present and think of the kind of future we want. Are these different thoughts not conflicting? I can remember he wrote about being born again in sacred self. It was a reference. He said that to be born again means looking into the future with no condemnation. I think it is necessary for us to project the kind of future we want and not limiting our thoughts to now alone.

In conclusion, the author says we should no longer rely on our personal history. Am in agreement with him where he says we should make an effort to remove all labels that we've placed on ourselves.

The sixth Secret : You can't Solve a Problem With The Same Mind That Created It.

This is a fantastic secret. It tells us that any problem can be resolved with a spiritual solution. This tells us that if you are spiritually inclined you will come to believing that there are no problems. Am not in total agreement with this. There are problems in the world now. These problems are self inflicted ones. Look at Africa for example. The masses are suffering and the people in the positions of power are seriously enjoying with the stolen public funds. This is not the plan of God for us, i believe. The author says that all God created was good. Yes i believe. But man has made it other way round. The author says that bad does not exist. Not everyone can agree with this. But those that are spiritually inclined can understand. Those that are ego minded would not. I would not understand this if someone told me that bad does not exist 9 months ago. According to the author, until we change our mind, we will not solve our problem. This is what has happened to me in the last nine months. My mind was in the process of change. I have now made a new agreement with reality. I now believe, according to the author, that spirit always cancels problems. God is a spirit. I remember what Micheal Lightweaver wrote in his book "A day of grace". He says " It is the who of our being and not the what of our doing that will transform the world." This is true. We have to change our ego dominated mind to spirit dominated mind.

Also, the author tells us about the three levels of consciousness in this secret. These are:
1) ego consciousness
2) group consciousness
3) mystical consciousness.

He says we should crave for the third one. It is when we are spirit conscious that we can be peaceful and successful. It is distinguished by the feelings of connectedness rather than separateness.

The seventh secret: There Are NO Justified Resentments.

This secret talks about learning to avoid negative thing --- anger, hurt, depression, fear and so on, so as to live a life of inner peace, success and happiness. The author says that any time we are filled with resentment, we are turning the controls of our emotional life over to others to manipulate. He says that resentments give us an excuse to return to our old ways. I agree with this.

He says we should remove blame from our lives. We should take responsibility for our lives. He also says we should stop looking for occasions to be offended. This secret is too valuable to me. It helps me to forgive before being offended because i have forgiveness in me already. I have just learnt that the root of virtually all spiritually practices is the notion of forgiveness.

The Eight Secret: Treat Yourself As If You Already Are What You'd Like to Be.

I agree with the words of Thomas Paine used by the author in the begining of this secret: "it is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself." I think this means we should not pretend with our lives. We should not live two lives that are incomplete but one complete life.

In this eight secret, the author says that whatever we envision for ourselves - no matter how lofty or impossible it may seem to us right now, we should begin to act as if what we would like to become is already our reality. Doing this, he says, we are setting into motion the forces that will collaborate with us to make our dreams come true. In conclusion, Dr. Dyer says that if all we want is going to be, it is up to us, individually.

The Ninth Secret : Treasure Your Divinity.

The words of Walt Whitman are true. " In the faces of men and women , i see God." That is another way of saying God is love. And loving people means loving God. Everyone is a divine creation of God. We can never be separate from that which created us. Dr Dyer exposed me spiritually to all these life changing words in this ninth secret.

Treasuring our divinity means having a knowing that we can't be separate from our creator, god. If we believe we are separate from our divine source, we lose our divine power. Our ego does not want us to treasure our divinity. Our ego is an idea we carry around with us everywhere we go. it tells us that we are separate from everything and everyone in the world. he says that every time we experience fear, self-rejection, anxiety, guilt, or hate, we're denying our divinity and succumbing to the influences of that insidious ego mind that has convinced us of our disconnection to God.

In conclusion, i know that i am a God, i.e am connected with every creation, including my creator.

The Tenth Secret : Wisdom Is Avoiding All Thoughts That Weaken You.

Thank you Mr. William James. He says i should believe that life is worth living, and my belief will help create that fact. Without a smigdin of doubt, i believe.

In this last secret, Dr. Dyer writes about what our thoughts can create for us. Our thoughts can weaken or strengthen us. He, in this secret, tells us about the book of David Hawkins, M.D "power vs force." He says that power thoughts energize us, since they make no demands on us. But a thought of force weakens us. It consumes our energy.

Also, he says that shame is an example of force thought. It weakens us. He also says that forgiveness is always necessary in our daily lives.

The author says that no one can put a thought in us. All is our choice. We individually choose what to think about. And what we think about we bring about.

I always make a decision to think about what we make me live a complete life of inner peace. What about you? It is truly our choice.

PART TWO. Personal Impact.

Dr, Wayne Dyer is my favourite spiritual author. There was no time i read his book that i remained the same, spiritually. I think i need to tell you that no day passes without drinking and eating from his indelible words. God has used his writing to put me on this spiritual path.

10 secrets For Success And Inner Peace is another book that uplifts my soul. It has made me to know what true success is and how i can live with inner peace all the days of my life,. It tells me that living a life full of all kinds of accomplishments without inner peace is no success.

I joyfully allowed his words to sink into my heart as i read it. Word by word it sunk in my heart and cleaned all old beliefs, resentments, guilt, and hatred. This book, i must confess, is a reminder of what i have read from his other books.

I have learned to have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing. I now learn how to disallow myself from having low expectations about what am capable of creating. Within me is an imaginary candle flame that burns brightly regardless of what goes before me.

Dr. Dyer has shown me, in this book , new ways of being peaceful, radiating love, practicing forgiveness, being generous, respecting all life, and visualizing myself as capable of doing anything that i can conceive of in my mind and heart. This is gradually helping me to banish fear and doubt. It can't be done in a day. I am conscious of this every day and so i put it into practice.

This book, i must confess, and all other Dyer's books, make me think about my creator every day. I think it is in this thought that inner peace comes from. I hope to share my Sunday experience with you in this part.

What else can i say? What i can say is endless. God is peace. peace is God. Life is all about enriching our lives with what we truly want and at the same times living with inner peace. We won't enjoy life except we live with a continuous inner peace. We can't be at peace unless we know who we truly are and who truly moved us here, God.

I had this experience some Sundays back when were singing a song we really love.

" father i declare that i love you i declare my ever lasting love for you."

As we sang this song in unison, my inner companion whispered to me; "stop singing and listen." I quickly obeyed him, waiting for another unforgettable experience with him.

As i listened inwardly and silently, he asked ; how can you love God. an invisible being? How do you show your love to him? Is it by this song you sing?"

"What are all these perplexing questions again? Why all these questions coming this time, in the house of fellowship ---church?" As i witnessed these questions, i inwardly said all that.

This is a time i want you to be mindful and learn from what i have to say this time." He continued as he noticed my feelings. "This song is an interesting one. But singing it is not a prove of your love for God. Declaring, verbally, you love God is not what love is or what loving God is. Love is meant to be exercised. Love is tangible. And it becomes tangible in the love between you and your fellow brothers and sisters. It becomes real as you reach out to the poor and those you call you 'enemies' that God longs to transform into friends. When last did you visit an orphanage? When last did you feed your hungry neigbour? When last did you see God in the faces of other people? Love is not declared with words towards God. Love is declared with action towards all creatures."

I was in absolute silence. I stopped hearing the song because my inner companion's voice was very audible to me. At this moment i wished that the other thousands (about 4000 students and staff) could hear what my inner friend was saying to me.

"When are you going to start declaring your action-filled love? It's up to you! That's all i have to tell you at this moment. Always remain conscious of me. I wish to say this to so many here but they've blocked the interconnectness, so they are not conscious of me. I shall come another time." He finally said all that.

I think that is what consciousness can do. And Dr. Dyer defines consciousness as a mental state of being aware. It's always interesting to be conscious of our true selves. It makes us know what to say, do and , even, eat. I think this is what the bible means when it says we are in this world but not of this world.

SUMMARY.
No day goes away without reading from Dyer's book. I don't read these books for the sake of assessment. I read them because they add values to my life and i add these values to my community.

Do you truly want success and inner peace? Read this book.

Nonviolent Communication-A language of Life
Assessment by Lawrence Afere (Nigeria)

1. Discuss the main ideas that you found most important in this book and discuss why they were important to you.

Nonviolent Communication, also referred to as Compassionate communication: A language of life shows how to reach beneath the surface and discover what is alive and vital within us, and how our actions are based on human needs that we are seeking to meet. NVC helps us to express our minds in a way that meets both parties’ needs.

I have found the following ideas most important to me as I read this book:

Giving from the heart
I would say that giving from the heart means giving with love, being dominated by love rather than self-centered and selfish attitude. Personally, I call it inert giving.

As written by the author, NVC helps us connect with each other and ourselves in a way that allows our natural compassion to flourish. He says that NVC is a way of communicating that leads us to give from the heart.

However, giving from our heart helps us to express ourselves and listen to others by focusing our consciousness on four areas i.e the process of NVC: what we are observing, feeling, and needing and what we are requesting to enrich our lives.
Often, our words lead to hurt and pain, whether for others or ourselves. But NVC helps us to communicate from the heart.

This idea of giving from the heart is important to me because I have learnt from it how to communicate with myself and others in a way that will not lead to hurt and pain by focusing my consciousness on four areas: what we are observing, feeling, and needing and what we are requesting to enrich our lives.

Communication that blocks compassion
When we communicate in a non-compassionate way we are simply judging. It is a truism that who we are does not judge.

Marshall B, the author, says there are certain ways of communicating that alienate us from our natural state of compassion. He uses the term “life-alienating communication” to refer to these forms of communication. These forms of communication contribute to our behaving violently toward each other and ourselves. One form of these life-alienating communication is the use of moralistic judgements that infer wrongness or badness on the part of those who don’t act in harmony with our values. Another one is the use of comparisons, which also blocks compassion in our communication.

However, in the later part of this assessment you will read my frustrating interview with a British interviewer at the British high commission in Nigeria in 2003. I think we all need to learn how to communicate without judging people and without forgetting who we truly are – the compassionate souls. Some times I wonder how they communicate in heaven.

Requesting that which would enrich life
This is a part of NVC that has to do with what we would like to request of others in order to enrich life for us. In this part, the author teaches us how to try to avoid vague, abstract, or ambiguous phrasing, and also to use positive action language by sating what we are requesting rather than what we are not.

This idea truly helps me to be clearer about what I want and how to request it.
The author says the clearer we are about what we want back when we speak, the more likely we are to get it. This idea of requesting that which would enrich life teaches me how to make request and not demands. I appreciate what the author says about the objective of NVC: “ NVC is not to change people and their behavior in order to get our way; it is to establish relationships based on honesty and empathy that will eventually fulfill everyone’s needs. We do this by helping others trust that we are requesting, not demanding. What a valuable lesson.

Receiving empathically
The author says that empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. He also says that empathy is emptying the mind and listening with our whole being. Empathy requires us to focus full attention on the other person’s message. It also requires us to give to others the time and space they need to express themselves feel and to feel understood.

This idea of receiving empathically has taught me how to stay with empathy, allowing others the opportunity to fully express themselves before I turn my attention to solutions or requests for relief. It has also given me empathy in order to give empathy. I learnt a great deal of advice from this idea. The author says when we sense ourselves being defensive or unable to empathize, we need to stop, breathe, give ourselves empathy and scream nonviolently, or take out.

The power of empathy
I like the way Carl Rogers described the impact of empathy on its recipients: “ when…someone really hears you without passing judgment on you, without trying to take responsibility for you, without trying to mold you, it feels damn good….when I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to reperceive my world in a new way and go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens. How confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard.” This is keenly the power of empathy.

This idea of the power of empathy teaches me how to stay vulnerable, defuse potential violence, help me hear the word ‘no’ without taking it as a rejection, revive a lifeless conversation, and even hear the feelings and needs expressed through silence.

Expressing appreciation in nonviolent communication
It is always necessary to express appreciation to those who meet our needs in one way or the other. However, the author says that some appreciations could be expressed violently. In confession, I was startled when I first saw this . I asked myself “could expression of appreciation be violent?” As I read further, I learnt that some appreciations are expressed to manipulate others and not to celebrate. I need to say here; only don’t who don’t know who they truly are manipulate people or better still those who their spirit is blocked within them.
The author says that we use NVC to express appreciation only to celebrate, not to get something in return.

2. Can you relate the ideas in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values etc? Explain.

The answer is absolute yes. We all communicate every time either with ourselves or with others. The way we communicate with others determine how peaceful or violent our relationship would be. Also, we need to communicate our beliefs, we need to communicate our goals, we need to communicate our values. We need to communicate all these from our heart. We don’t just communicate our beliefs, goals, values; we communicate them compassionately i.e. without isolating our true self. Our true self, obviously, does not want to communicate hurt and pain, our true self does not want to demand, judge, diagnose-to think and communicate in terms of what is right and wrong with people, our true self does not want us to dwell or live in misunderstanding and frustration with others and our selves, our true self does not want violence. Our true self wants to mutually enrich our lives in a way that does not isolate our true selves-spiritual beings. That is what nonviolent communication does for us.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you earned from the book? Explain.

In answering this question, the most important new idea I earned from this book is the idea of expressing appreciation in nonviolent communication. It was totally new to me. I never knew there were some ways we could express appreciation that could cause violence.

4. Has this book challenged your thinking in any way? If so, explain how.

There was a time I gained admission to study at Horborn college, London. I was directed to obtain my visa at the British high commission, Nigeria. No sooner the interviewer began to interview me than she said “ I don’t care about you, neither do I care about your country,” What made her say this I don’t know. Immediately I was confused and disturbed. Throughout the interview session I couldn’t say anything reasonable despite the fact that I had all the requested document. All I was thinking was ‘is this what I would hear people say to me at Horborn college?’ ‘I refusing you visa’ she finally said as she dumped appeal form on my deck. She was really violent. I inwardly cursed her.

Today, as I read this book, my thinking about that situation changed. I asked myself different questions concerning what happened at the interview; ‘was the interviewer feeling frustrated?’ Was she hurt by a Nigerian? I try to make use of the four components of NVC to observe what was frustrating her or what she was needing or feeling. Or could that be the way she was required to do her job? Doing it noncompassionately? Or maybe if I had responded to her this way “ I sense you are angry to work in Nigeria” we might have connected more. Or, “ Are you feeling frustrated? It appears that you have had some bad experiences with Nigerian people” These questions might have helped me to observe what was actually happening in the situation, how we both felt, and the needs we both had and the concrete actions we requested in order to enrich our lives.

This book has truly challenged my thinking in every way of communication.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?
No.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

I found giving from the heart most helpful in this book. Nobody can live in isolation or vacuum. It is our nature to receive and give to others. But what matters most in our giving and receiving is that thing that gives meaning to the two. Giving and receiving from our heart is love. So, it is love that truly gives meaning to our giving and receiving.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

Marshall B. Rosenberg’s book, Nonviolent Communication; A language of life, teaches us how to communicate with ourselves and others without creating hurt and pain. It shows us how to enrich our lives by meeting our needs compassionately.

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

The Magic Lamp
Assessment by Lawrence Afere (Nigeria)

Introducing this book, the author makes reference to the research Dr. Lewis Terman of Stanford university carried out in 1921. The aim of the research was to understand the relationship between human intelligence and human achievement. It was found out with this research that IQ is not the most important ingredient for success but self confidence, perseverance, and a tendency to set goals. Of which the most important of these three is the tendency to set goals. The question now is, personally, if setting goals is the most important element of success, why is everyone not successful? Anyway, I agree that it all depends on our individual perspective of success. Again, if we are realistic that setting goals , irrespective of persons, place e.t.c, is a vital ingredient of success and we still have many unsuccessful ones amongst us, then I would conclude that setting goals is a difficult task. If it was not, majority would just set a goal and they would realize it. This would automatically make them successful.

However, the author's situation was a funny one and a good example of what I have written. He had all materials on goal setting but he never set any. Funny! What if we look at it this way: setting goals is not the most important ingredient for success but what makes goals realizable. Speaking for myself now, I believe that everyone has goals they want to achieve. And I know that what gives meaning to these goals is far more important than the goal itself. Goal is just knowing what one wants and allowing that thing to motivate or propel one towards materializing it.

Someone has said that if you don't have goals you are like a goat. I don't agree with this. Having no goals is synonymous to having goals. It all depends on individual needs and wants. If my goal is to make 100,000,000 people become wealthy in Africa, then I know I would not act or move like a man that has a goal to make only himself rich.

I believe in goals but I disagree with it's the most important ingredient for success. I have seen so many people that had set goals but never realized them. The most important aspect for becoming successful is not goal but “those things” that make goals or what you want achievable. Where did we put our true self? Our self companion? Are we really wanting what we enhance the world? It is not just setting goals that matters but setting goals that progress the world.

I like what keith says in his introduction. He says he was always tired of going to work on his goals. But when he constructed another word he could use instead of goals he was happy. He uses wishes instead of goals. With regard to vocabulary, both are still the same. But it is good to make use of the word that makes us work on it enjoyably. Wishes work for keith. Goals work for someone else. Desires work for someone else. What all are saying is “what do I want to achieve in my life” I prefer to call it projections.

In summary, whether we call it goals or wishes or projections we should not set them in isolation of what truly gives meaning to them. We should not set goals that would harm our fellow beings for our selfish enjoyment.

1. Discuss the main ideas that you found most important in this book and discuss why they were important to you.

Cause and Effect.
Although cause and effect were discussed in the introduction of this book, it is very important to me. It has being said that there are two types of laws in the universe: man-made laws and natural laws. We sometimes violate man-made laws without getting caught. But we get caught at every attempt to violate natural laws.

Keith vividly and interestingly explains the law of cause and effect in this book. This law says that for every effect in our lives there is a specific cause. Someone has called this law, due to its importance, “iron law of the universe” Everything happens with a cause - Keith says, not only him, that there are specific causes for failures.

With the understanding of cause and effect, if there is an effect in our life that we do not enjoy, we need to trace it back to the causes and get rid of them, and vice versa.
Biblically, this law is called law of sowing and reaping - whatsoever he sows , that also shall he reap.! Also, “as he thinks, so shall he be” and many more versions of this law in the Bible.

Obviously, everything we do in life or can be explained by this law. Today, I am all alone reading this book in my room. As I read, I set new projections that would speak tomorrow. In my life I don't want to forget this simple law. Law of cause and effect. It applies to everything and everyone in life.

This law tells us we can be the cause of all that happens in our lives. You can cause happiness. You can cause sickness. You can cause anything! Keith says that when we choose to be a cause, we can make things happen. And when we choose to be an effect, we settle for whatever happens to us. I choose to be a cause. What about you? I want to be a hammer that acts, I want to lock on, I want to act so I can materialize my projections (for myself and the world.).

Lock On
Lock on encompasses 5 important success components or ingredients. All these are not only important to me but to everyone who wants to be successful.

The first ingredient is what do you want? I strongly believe that we should all have a mental picture and paper work of what we want in life. Knowing what we want in life helps us to identify ways of achieving them.

I need to clarify one important issue here. What we truly want is different from what they want for us. When I was younger my parents would always tell me I would be a medical doctor. At first I agreed to be but as I grew older I realized it was not what I truly wanted. Today, I have known what I truly love to be and I am not even reading medicine in the university. It is frustrating trying to achieve what others want for you and not what you want for yourself.

I so much agree with Keith when he says that the easiest way to find out what we want is to ask yourself- your subconscious mind. I guess that was the same advice that ancient king, Solomon, gave to the youth of his times and which is still much relevant to us today. He said we should walk in the ways of our heart and in the sight of our eyes. (Eccl. 11:9)
Also, a lot has been written on the second ingredient, purpose. It is very important we all know our purpose here. Keith says that to make the most of your astonishing power to make your wishes come true, the first thing you need to do is to choose a purpose and then choose wishes that will help you fulfill that purpose.

The third ingredient is price. Reading books and writing assessments on them is a very big price I am paying to achieve my projections. There is a price for everything. No one goes to a car mart to buy a car without money. The amount of money he has determines the kind of car he goes home with. Getting married has a price. Getting spiritually inclined has a price. Giving birth has a price. Name it and I will tell you it has a price. Success has a price. For materializing your goals or wishes you have to pay the price. It might be in effort, discipline, commitment, etc. I wrote this assessment around 1a.m when my other friends were sleeping. My roommate had gone for a weekend trip. I was joyfully alone physically. I was enjoying paying the price for the life I like to lead and live.

Keith also says it is necessary we make our wish presentable. The last ingredient in lock-on is plan. So much literature has been written on planning. Someone once said that he who fails to plan plans to fail. Once you know what you want, commit yourself to pay the price, make your wish presentable, you have to plan how to accomplish it.

Act
Setting goals does not bring it to automatic manifestation. No matter how strong you believe in your goals if you don't act on it, it will not come into realization. Our goals must be worked upon. The plan of a building on the drawing board is not the real house but the plan to be used in the real building. Our projections are just the same with this scenario. It needs to be acted upon to be fulfilled.

This part of the book is very important. Keith reminded me of all I had learnt about goal setting in other books.

Managing Your Progress
Another important part of this book is the concept of “managing your progress.” Keith starts this concept with the concept of focus. He says successful people are like a magnifying glass. They focus their energy - and their time and their talent - on exactly what they want to achieve. Focus means you put your wish first, ahead of all the other things that compete for your time and attention. I think it may interest you to know that it is focus that has been helping me in reading these books. They say black people don't read. This is really true. We get distracted with material things. Sometimes it makes us deviate from what we truly want to achieve. But I thank God for this power of focus-not allowing distractions. Even sometimes when it seems things are not going as I projected I still tap into the power to refocus.

Persistence
Persistence is not a new success nut to me but I also found it very important. The case of a baby explains this better. A baby does not learn how to walk in a day. He has to toddle for some time. He toddles till he walks perfectly. Success in every paradigm can be likened to this scenario.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concept in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values etc.

This book is relative to my personal circumstances in life. Truly, Keith Ellis has helped me to appreciate what it takes to make my wishes/projections come true. Although, I have learnt most of the principles in this book, but they serve as reminder and motivation. In life, irrespective of what you want to become, you have to be focused. This book has reminded me of the power of focus. Right now, in school, most of my friends are dating and going to dancing floors but I know the projections I have for my one complete life and this has kept me focused.

Every day, my inner companion wakes me up 5:30 am, refreshed and energized for the day. I know that what and how I do i today determine the effect and how I also do it tomorrow. We all set goals one way or the other. Even without writing my daily goals down, I set them.

Presently, I combine my IIGL studies with my Bsc. Studies. I set a time for reading IIGL books and writing out the assessment. I set a time reading my university lecture notes. I have to type my assessment. I have to do other assignments. One thing for sure is, if I don't enjoy this process, I will eventually get frustrated and eventually break down. But what has been helping me is setting specific time for each task and not just any time but at the time I know I would flow with it with all my heart.

3. What are the most new ideas or concepts you learned from this book?

I have said that the contents in this book is a reminder of some other books like Success through pma, Seeds of greatness, etc. But there is a concept that Keith really explained brilliantly. The concept of Help under LAMP process step 2: Act.

He says that our greatest resource is other people. Whatever effort we make on our own, we can multiply by enlisting the effort of other people. This part was really helpful.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way?

This book was able to challenge my thinking in some ways. The concept of persistence really challenged my thinking. Also, the myth of self-discipline. Keith says that success flows from passion - doing what you love and this makes you to fall in love with its process. Keith says that the greatest gift we can give ourselves is the gift of enjoying today.

5. Are there ideas in this book that you totally disagree with? If so , why?

NO!

6. What did you find most helpful in this book and least helpful?

I find the concepts of help, flexibility, connection, persistence, very helpful in the book.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the book is trying to convey.

Keith Ellis is trying to convey to us the secret of cause and effect. There are things to do for you to get what you want. He calls them goals. Keith is trying to convey to us those important things to do in order to joyfully achieve what we want.

Giant Steps
Assessment by Afere Lawrence (Nigeria)

As I picked this book from my wardrobe to read, a friend of my said to me; “Lawrence this book is too voluminous” For Africans, it is not in the culture of Africans to read books talk less of voluminous books like Anthony Robbins' books. But I make bold to say that I have personally broken that culture. I have grown pass that.

I read Awaken the Giant Within by the same author in my level one studies and it was a never-to-be-forgotten experience for me. That book tells me that within, there is a giant longing to be awakened. It surely gives me a guide to awakening it. At this level of my life, I make bold to say that it has not fully awakened, but it is awakening daily.

However, this book, Giant Steps, is a reminder of what he writes in Awaken the Giant Within.

1. Discuss the main ideas that you found most important in this book and discuss why they were important to you.

Dreams of destiny…..

Carl Sandburg was right when he said nothing happens unless first a dream. I regard dream as the inner picture of our journeys in life. The height of our dreams determines the height of our achievement. We shall always manifest what ever inner picture we have of ourselves. We all have dreams.

It is true that the decisions we make determine the attainment of our dreams. There are no excuses. Dreams are invisible. When we turn these dreams into manifestation it becomes our destiny. Dreams are the endless desires that we have. Anthony advises us to define our dreams precisely so that we can manifest them. He says that the only limit to what you can achieve is the extent of your ability to define with precision that which you desire.
Goals also help us to achieve our dreams. “Goals have great effect on our lives” says Anthony. He says we should set goals that are exciting enough that they truly inspire our creativity and ignite our passion. We all need to choose our goals consciously. Also, Anthony says we must be committed to our goals in order to achieve them.

I have read so much on dreams and what gives meanings to dreams in order to create a worthwhile destiny is will to win. “The will to win- the will to succeed, to shape one's life, what you want and believe that no challenges, no problem, no obstacle can keep you from it” says Anthony.

How to Get what you really want……..

To get what we really want in life we must discover what is preventing us from taking action. Most of us truly know what we want. Most of us set goals. Most of us have giant wishes. How do we get all our wishes? How do we create a fulfilling life with our wants? How do we manifest our wishes? Anthony gives us the answer in this part of the book: “to get what we want, we must discover what's preventing us from taking action.”
The author explains a concept in this part that really touched me and used to occur in my life… “Mixed emotions” He says that mixed emotions are behind most patterns of self-sabotage, and they certainly limit the level of enjoyment and success one can experience in life. I always think of creating wealth and making a bit of money. But sometimes I feel this is not necessary in some ways despite my ingenuity and intelligence to figure out how to accomplish this. Dear reader, let's discharge mixed emotions once. I remember what Napoleon hill says in success through pma. He says that whatsoever our goals are, we can achieve if it won't harm our fellows and God. This is enough doses to heal mixed emotions. Mixed emotions can slow down destiny. It makes you take to steps forward and one step back.

The power to create / The power to destroy

Although I have read and learnt a great deal of the power to create and destroy-----belief, but I still find it important because belief is everything and everything is belief. Our mind makes us feel good, feel bad, rich, poor, happy, sad, name it, everything. It is important to take note of what Anthony says “it is the force that determines what we try or fail to try to accomplish in our lives.”

Questions are the answers

A common difference between people who are successful and those who are not is questions that they ask. Anthony says that successful people are those who have asked better questions and as a result, got better answers. I don't fail to ask questions every time I need to ask one. Recently, I asked a college friend of mine his plans after university. I was glad I asked this question because his answer helped me in adjusting my own plans. I agree that quality questions create a quality life.

The words we speak

The words we speak are spirit. They seem to happen in the short run or in the long run when we speak them. When I first read about the power of our words in Awaken the giant within, I went on a personal mission not to speak negatively, regardless of what circumstances. Was it a student on iigl that said; “the words we speak make the world we see” or someone not on iigl? This is really true. It is obvious in Africa. We speak negatively at all times. Even in the midst of pleasures. Our words have the power to start wars or create peace, destroy relationships or strengthen them. I can not forget the great impact the book “Nonviolent communication” had on me. Creating a world of peace begins with our words and creating a world of wars begins with the same.

Values and rules

It is very important for each of us to develop his own values and rules that he lives by or with. We should, if we want the greatest fulfillment, decide what we desire most in life, what our highest values are, then commit ourselves to living by our decision every single day. Life is sweet for those who can make decisions and be committed to doing them. But life may seem frustrating to those who can't and can, but who can't act on them. Anthony says that there is undeniable strength in individuals who congruently lead lives in which their philosophies and actions are one. He is saying that we should let our actions correspond with our philosophies or decisions or values or rules. In this changing world, if you don't have your own values, you are probably going to be led by other people's values. It may be unfavorable to you. If you don't have rules for yourself, other people will rule you.

I think it is important to share this. I used to fornicate before I became a student of iigl. There were times in the past that I made a rule never to fornicate or have sex till I marry. It was futile. I did not act on my decision maybe because I did not make it myself. The decision was always compelled by AIDS campaign, or pastors' judgements. However, when I became a student in iigl, I learnt that if you don't know what you want for your one complete and dear life, abuse is inevitable. That was in January 2005. Till date I have not fornicated. We all need to set values for our lives.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concept in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc?

Nobody can live a fulfilled life without having a connection with people. We all need to share our successes and failures with people. We all need to share gains and toils together. Humanly speaking, it is impossible for one to survive without relationship.

Also, our beliefs determine everything about our lives. We react to things because of our beliefs. We act in away because of our beliefs.

Recently, I met a man, who happens to be a security guard in my school. I attend a Christian university that has spirituality as its #1 core value. This man's philosophy is not congruent with the job he does. He pitifully told me that his not happy with what he does. The ethics of his job as regards to my school do not permit him to associate with students. He is told, as a security guard, never to associate with students so that he will be able to handle them strictly when they misbehave. He is not happy at all. He did not set rules and values for himself and so his being led by other's rules and values and depriving him of his joy. This man is acting against his personal values in order to keep his job. The first concept I learned in this book is dreams of destiny. We need to determine at a early stage in our lives how we shall lead our lives and this will help to lead a one complete life.

Truly, the ideas in this book can be related to every area of one's life. We all need to make decisions in order to attain our destinies. Every change in our lives begins with a vision or a dream and a decision to take action.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please explain

This book is just a reminder of what I read in the author's “Awaken the giant within”

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way.

This book is a reminder of Awaken the giant within. Reading it again in another format has re-challenged me and gets me refocused on my values. One thing is, it will always re-challenge me everyday because it's a daily reading book.

5. Are there ideas in this book that you totally disagree with?

NO!

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

Every idea in this book is very important. But I can say that what makes all the ideas meaningful in one's life is the decision one makes to utilize the ideas. Every accomplishment begins with decision. Therefore, the first part of this book - “dreams of destiny - decisions and goal setting” is most important.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

Robbins has taken his time to give us what can make our lives meaningful to ourselves, others, and our environment. He says:
o make decisions and set goals
o beliefs determine what you create or destroy
o questions can give your answers to your destiny
o your vocabulary matters
o master your emotions
o know your values and rules
o you need identity and references
o You should contribute to life.
o

A poem for you
This poem buttresses the last part of this book - contribution. What gives meaning or value to what we do or achieve in life is nothing but the love to contribute to blessing others as we are blessed ourselves.

What next
What's next after next?
After next what's next?

I wrote this poem under a shady tree in the cool of the day. People were going and coming. I sensed they were all having different thoughts on their minds. Some were returning from work, school,……., some were resuming work, and different places……

I did not quickly realize the time I said “what's next?” People resuming work would soon return home, people returning from work would soon resume…. All these are rituals of life. They seem not to stop until we move out of this wonderful world. Funnily enough, I did not realize the efficacy of this poem until I read it over again. I first thought I was just playing with words.

Should we really care about what next after next? Knowing that something would always come after something? So does what next really matter? But there is always a thing that gives meaning to every next stage or thing in our lives. So what matters most is that thing that gives value or meaning to the next thing or stage or level….

And that evening, I concluded with this before I went into my dorm “ what's next does not really matter but what gives meaning to the next phase or things in our life….contributing to life with love

Unlimited Power
Assessment by Afere A. Lawrence

1. Discuss the main ideas that you found most important most important in this book and discuss why they were important to you.

Anthony started this book with what he calls “The commodity of kings.” In this part, he made reference to those he regarded to as being successful, including himself, Steve Jobs, Ted Turner, e.t.c. The commodity of kings is what makes a person to produce the results he wants in his life.

I was eager to discover what this commodity of king was. I learnt that it is power.
According to the author, power is the ability to produce the results you desire most and create value for others in the process. Power is the ability to change your life, to shape your perception, to make things work for you and not against you. It is the ability to define human needs and to fulfill them – both your needs and the needs of others. One of the largest sources of power is derived from specialized knowledge.

The difference that makes the difference is another important idea In this book. I used to wonder what makes the big difference in some excellent people’s lives. Were they born excellent? Were they born rich? Were successful people born with luck charm? Anthony Robbins answers this question in this book. I was fascinated by those that epitomized this idea. People like W. Mitchel, who had a terrible motor cycle accident and never gave up on his interest and commitment, Nelson Mandela, despite his prison terms, he didn’t give up on his aspirations, John Foppe, despite his physical challenge , he did not have that as an excuse to live an unsuccessful life, Pete Strudwick, who was born with no hands and feet. And so many of them.

Anthony asks us; what is the difference between the haves and the have-nots? What is the difference between the cans and the can-nots? What is the difference between the dos and the do-nots? Why do some people overcome horrible, unimaginable adversity and make their lives a triumph, while others, in spite of every advantage, turn their lives into a disaster? Why do some people take any experience and make it work for them, while others take any experience and make it work against them? What is the difference that makes the difference in the quality of life?

To answer these questions, Anthony says that the difference all comes down to the way in which we communicate with ourselves and the actions we take. He also explains that people who succeed do not have fewer problems that those who fail. The only people without problems are those in the cemeteries. It is not what “happens” that make the difference but what we do with what happens.

In addition, the difference between those who succeed and those who fail isn’t what they have – it’s what they choose to see and do with their resources and their experience of life.

However, the author also explains what “modeling” is. It is not a new term to me but I never knew it this way. He says that modeling is the pathway to excellence. It means that if I see anyone in this world producing a result I desire, I can produce the same result if I’m willing to pay the price of time and effort. This is an excellent truth. I model “LOC” idea after a social entrepreneur. What LOC does and plans to do is been done by another person in another community. I only read about what others do to lift and enhance their community and I began to do the same using their principles.

There is a fantastic and helpful idea I tapped and keyed into in this book; it says; “No matter how grim your world is, if you can read about the accomplishments of others, you can create the beliefs that will allow you to succeed” This is a big truth. If you want to be a successful medical doctor, read and study the lives of the successful doctors. This is the best way to acquire knowledge. Knowlegde is one of the great ways to break ignorance and the shackles of a limiting environment.

Also, the author gives us the seven lies of success. The world we live in is the world we choose to live in, whether consciously or unconsciously. If we choose bliss, that’s what we get. If we choose misery, we get that, too.

Belief 1 says that everything happens for a reason and a purpose, and it serves us. This belief reminds me of a very successful Nigerian gospel artist, Yinka Ayefele. He had an accident that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down. Funnily enough, he was never successful as a musician before his accident. Only few Nigerians knew him. No sooner after his accident than he began to accumulate fame and become very successful in his career. What was the central belief that helped him to overcome adversity? He decided to take what happened to him and make it work for him in whatever way he could. No matter how much negative feedback we get from our environment, we should think in terms of possibilities. We should think that everything happens for a reason, and it serves us. So let us look for the reason and maximize it. I remember Micheal Lightweaver saying he was sacked from his work. Was it not after that that he started IIGL that is transforming lives today? Every adversity, every success, every occurrence in our lives says something or means something.

Belief 2 says that “There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.” You say this to an Nigerian man, you instantly become his enemy. In Nigeria, we blame people and environment for our failures or inability to act. We believe there are witches and wizards that distort our success. And you know what? This belief makes it happen. Our parents have programmed our minds to think that way. Even our pastors. They tell us to pray against evil people and spirit. We believe if we fail in an endeavour, some evil forces must be behind it. We believe that those that fail are either not loved by God or hated by evil spirits.

Belief 3 says “Whatever happens, take responsibility.”
People that succeed operate from the belief that they create their world. They take responsibility for all that happens, whether good or bad. They don’t shift blame. Shifting blames in Nigeria is a syndrome.

Belief 4 says “it’s not necessary to understand everything to be able to use everything.”
This means that we should make use of useful belief. Many successful people don’t believe they have to know everything about something in order to use it. It means using what’s essential without feeling a need to get bogged down in every detail of it.

Belief 5 says “People are your greatest resource.”
We all need people in everything we want to achieve. I wonder how I would have been able to type my assessment if I was not in rapport with my friend that has a computer system. We must constantly appreciate the efforts and ideas of people that work towards the achievement of our goals. According to the author, there is no long-lasting success without rapport among people, that the way to succeed is to form a successful team that’s working together.

Belief 6 says that “work is play.” It is always advisable for us to do what we love. We should listen to our heart.

Belief 7 says “there is no abiding success without commitment.”
Individuals who succeed have a belief in the power of commitment. There is no great success without great commitment. The successful people in any field are not necessary the best, brightest and the strongest. They are the ones with the most commitment.

Those are the 7 lies of success. The word “lie” here does not mean to be deceitful or dishonest, but rather is a useful way to remind us that no matter how much we believe in a concept, we should be open to other possibilities and continuous learning.

However, there are strategies for producing anything in life. The author calls it syntax of success – the way we order the actions. He says this can make a huge difference in the kind of results we produce. It is our strategy, that is , how we use those resources we have, that determines the result we produce. Strategies make us to get what we want in an easier way.

Having shared with us (the author) what he believes are the tools of ultimate power, how to produce results and how to model their actions so that we can produce similar results, how to know how to achieve whatever we want and how to help others achieve what they want, the author now asks us a question, what do we want? What do the people we love and care about want? If we don’t know what we want, having tools is of no use. In life, every one must know what he or she wants.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Explain.

No sooner I formed “Lifting Our Community”, for short, LOC, and began to implement our congruent plans than some of my friends began to meet me and ask me; “Lawrence, how did you do it? Do you know I had great ideas for my own community but I didn’t just know how to start? Lawrence, how did you get start?” Hearing and seeing what LOC has begun to do made them ask these questions.

In my life, I have realized that a person that has passion to do a thing should not care what length it takes him to get it done. So many people want to do a thing, they have passion, they have aspirations. But they lack “one thing.” They lack “power.” Anthony Robbins, in this book, gives us a very succinct meaning of power. He says that “power” is ”the ability to act.” To further explain it, it is the ability to go for what will make life better for you and others. It is the ability to produce results. It is the ability to change your life.

When I knew I needed to change my life, I began to communicate with my sacred self. That’s power. I began to meet people that would help me to actualize this change. I met with people that were living the kind of life I wanted. During this process, I met with Muyiwa Fadugba, who told me about IIGL. I was never a reader. I began to read books when I became IIGL student. That’s power. Ability to go for what you want. I wanted a changed life and off I went for it. And I still go for it every day.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concept you learned from this book? Explain.

From this book, I have learnt that there are no limits to what I can do. My key is power of modeling. Excellence can be duplicated. If other people can do something, all I need to do is model them with precision and I can do exactly the same thing.
How do I model? First, I must realize that all results are produced by some specific set of actions. Every effect has a cause. If I can exactly reproduce someone’s actions-both internal and external - then I can, too produce the same final result.
I have learnt about the power of being in a resourceful state, and I have learnt how to adjust my physiology and my internal representations so they serve me, enable me, embolden me to achieve my desires.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain.

Anthony Robbins books always challenge me. But one major problem it has with majority of those that read in Nigeria is the hefty volume of his books. The story of his life written at the beginning of this book challenges me a lot. How he was able to achieve success in a younger age even without college degree. It’s amazing.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? Why?

No!

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

Every idea, principle and suggestion in this book is vital to those that will like to achieve great success. This book has talked about, how to find what we really want, how to reprogram our mind in minutes to eliminate fears and phobias, the secret of creating instant rapport with anyone we meet , how to duplicate the success of others, how to create wealth and happiness. All the principles are vital.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book is trying to convey how to get power to achieve what we want.

RATING.

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

Life is in stages. As I move into another level in my IIGL studies, I look forward to experiencing a greater time. I have realized that something is pushing me forward. I know, in my life time, I shall be a role model in spheres of leadership, success, wealth, change for all African youth. My level two was indeed a wonderful experience. I was highly personally empowered.

Full Steam Ahead!
Assessment by Afere A Lawrence

Introduction
I have been reading books on 'vision' 'Full Steam Ahead!' is another fantastic book that explains the concept - vision in a way I had never had or read it. The teachings and lessons in this book are revealed through the inspirational story of two people who were able to create a vision for the place they worked and for their own lives. This book reveals that there is a place called best and forward. Jim Carpenter, president of a mid-sized insurance agency, didn't get the 'vision thing.' The agency was performing well, but the president [Jim] had a strong feeling that things could be much better. Ellie Atkins, who initially worked in the accounting department, opened a fresh perspective from her hunger search for fresh ideas and information. Jim and Ellie discover the three elements of a compelling vision: Significant Purpose, Clear Values, and a Picture of the future. They also discover, from their habitual early hours' meetings, how to ensure that vision comes alive through understanding the principles of: how vision is created, how vision is communicated and how vision is lived.

Ken and Jesse have made the lessons in this book simple, practical and powerful. They demonstrate that vision is not only necessary, but also possible and achievable.

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

The ideas that were personally most important to me in this book are:

The 'Vision Thing'
For leadership, systems, institutions, people, even, nations to succeed the 'vision thing' must be critically analyzed and spelt out. The 'vision thing' is not a new concept. It does not only apply to organizations or management, it applies to our personal lives and nations.

I recall studying this concept in the bible sometimes ago. Habakkuk, who was a prophet in his time, advised the people to “write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

When you have a vision [for your life or organization] you are fully empowered, knowing where you are going, and moving ahead full force. I have understood that if your vision is not clear to you, you can't really be clear about what your life is all about. Vision clearly spells out 'where am I going?' Vision is the picture of one's, an organization, and even a nation's future.

Significant Purpose
Full Steam Ahead! teaches us that purpose is one of the elements of a compelling vision. “By Purpose” the book says, “it means understanding what we are here for, why we exist. It means understanding what business we are really in so that we all can focus our efforts in support of that purpose.” I think this explains what purpose really is. The authors make good examples that interestingly back up their explanations. A good example is the 'mattress business'. “Why would a person buy a mattress?” the authors ask. “For a good night's rest.” They also ask why people would like to buy insurance? They say that people who buy insurance want peace of mind for the future. That's true. They want financial security for possible worst case scenarios such as illness, accidents, or death. The purpose of a business or organization is not the products or services it renders or sells. Its purpose is why it exists. It means understanding what business a business is really in.

More so, this part of the book - significant purpose- says that purpose answers the question “why?” rather than just explaining what we do. It clarifies- from your customers' view point- what business you are really in. The authors also say that great organizations have a deep and noble sense of purpose - a significant purpose- that inspires excitement and commitment. This is true!

Clear Values
It will be impossible for a business, ministry, and an organization to go full steam ahead without clear values. A vision can be choked up if proper core values are not put in place to guide its process of pursuit. Leadership is about going somewhere. That somewhere is the vision. To get there you need core values that serve as guiding principles. Our world is changing. If core values are not put in place, the wind of change might sweep the vision away; such an organization or business might begin to operate outside its vision. Once core values are put in place, no matter how strong external changes are, values allow organization to make internal adjustment without deviating from its vision.

Clear values are a missing link in most, not just businesses, also relationships. In my level two studies. Anthony Robbins deeply explained the hierarchies of values. Values tell what we move toward and what we move away from. On a deeper level, the authors define values: “values are deeply held beliefs that certain qualities are desirable. They define what is right or fundamentally important to each of us. They provide guidelines for our choices and actions.” The authors say purpose is important because it explains “why”, and values are also important because they explain “how”. They answer the question “How will you behave on a day-by-day basis as you fulfill your purpose?”

Picture of the future
So far in this book, I have learnt that: Purpose explains 'why' you exist, Values explain 'how' you act as you pursue your purpose and I know that significant purpose and clear values energize and mobilize people.

However, purpose and values don't explain where one is going. Vision is about going somewhere. So, there needs to be a sense of destination or direction. Picture of the future is the sense of destination. It is not enough to have a purpose and set of values. Picture of the future gives one the picture of the end result of the purpose.

The picture of the future is the mental picture of the end result. To illustrate this concept the authors give an instance of CNN. They say CNN's vision was to be “viewed by every nation on the planet, in English, and in the language of that region.” This certainly, say the authors, was a clear picture of the end result - it was a picture of something happening in the future. Also, like Steve Jobs's vision of a computer on every desk. It was a clear picture. A picture of the future is a key element of the vision. And the authors agree that the power of the picture works when you focus on what you want to create, not what you want to get rid of. This is true! It works for me.

Blurry Vision
One could possibly have fulfillment in a part of his life and be unfulfilled in other parts. Blurry vision was distinctively and inspirationally explained by the story of Ellie who was getting a fulfillment from her work and she cared less for her children because there was no family vision. Her children were not too happy with her. She didn't even know much about their daily affairs. She left home early leaving them to take care of themselves for school. Things were not really going well for the children. Until she created a family vision with the children, there was no fulfillment and peace in the family. She created a family vision with her children - significant purpose, clear values, and pictures of what they wanted to become, what it looks like when their purpose and values are been fulfilled. And because it was a shared vision, she {Ellie} knew they were all on the same boat together, able to move full steam ahead. What a relief for Ellie and the disturbed and neglected children.

This part of the book, Blurry Vision, reminds me of Jim's story in page 13 of the book about an expert in time management that was speaking to a group. The story goes like this: one day an expert in time management was speaking to a group. He pulled out a one gallon, wide-mouthed jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone said “yes.”
He then reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into spaces between the rocks. He then asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?”
But this time some of the group was not so sure. “Good,” he said as he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand and dumped it in the jar. Once more he asked the question, “Is the jar full?”
No one answered. He then grabbed a pitcher of water and poured it in until the jar was filled to the brim. He looked at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?” One bright young man said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you really think about it, you can always fit more things in it.”
“No,” the speaker replied with a smile. “That's not the point. That's what most people think. The truth this illustration teaches is that if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all.”

This story says it all. Doing the first things first and making the top priority the top priority gives room for other things. Life is to be enjoyed not to be enslaved by it. We enjoy life better when we know what we truly want.

You Can't Get to the Future without Being Present
In this part of the book I learnt that we should “learn from the past, plan for the future, and live in the present. In other words; live your vision now.”

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Please use personal examples in your explanation.

In this book, I have learnt about:

VISION
Vision is defined here as knowing who you are, where you are going, and what will guide your journey. There are three key elements in this definition: significant purpose, clear values and a picture of the future.

Now, relating this concept to the community development organization I belong - L.O.C. recently, this organization was faced with some challenges. Members were leaving, misconceptions about the organization among members, lack of commitment to the pursuit of vision and even unclear vision to members. I recall some weeks ago that I called for executives meeting only few of them turned up. During the general meeting, angrily and being the president, I dissolved the executives. This caused an unrest and embarrassment amongst executives and members. I remember informing the members that same day to come for another general meeting the following week if they were truly committed to the “unclear vision” of the organization.

For a whole week before the next I was not really myself. No one truly wishes to fail as a leader. But there is a clear difference between a positional and visionary leader. This was when I realized the category I belonged. This challenge prodded me to go back to the basics.
As I read this truth revealing book I discovered the problems our organizations was facing.

1. LOC did not begin with a clear vision
2. There was no major pilot. All members were. This was a big challenge.
3. I was the only one that had a picture of the future for LOC.
4. Members had a misconception about the leadership of LOC. Was Lawrence {me} the leader and founder of LOC or all of us?
5. Members wanted to know if LOC was an Association or Organization.
6. There were no stated values or guiding principles. Lack of these really caused a lot of arguments about some issues.
7. “Being students in the same school and residing in the same community {Ondo - State}, let us spend our holidays wisely and productively by pooling our resources together to reach out to the less privileged people in Aged Homes, Motherless babies homes, Juvenile Homes, Prisons, Orphanage etc.” That was how we began. Was that a significant purpose or vision?
8. Some members believed I owned the vision because I was instrumental to the formation. The proud members could not take this.

Again, I got this book and studied it at a serious time of need and it revealed all of these challenges to me about our organization. Now, with the insight I got from reading this book, LOC is going through a gradual restructuring and refocusing. Last week we had a new set of executives and we spent over 3 hours solving these problems with the spirit unity and togetherness. We've got a clear vision statement and mission even a unique set of values.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please explain.

Although I have read some of the elements in this book in some books in levels one and two, this particular book explains them clearly and how to apply them to all aspects of one's life - family, business, community etc.

The most important new ideas or concepts I learnt are about turning vision into reality. I learnt this in a new way.

How Vision is created
The job of the leader is to help articulate the vision, to champion the vision, but not to own the vision. Everyone in the company must own the vision. The process of creating the vision is as important as what the vision says.

How Vision is communicated
Visioning is an ongoing process; you need to keep talking about it. It is not a static process. Communication of the vision was one of his most important jobs as a leader.

How Vision is lived
Always focus on your vision. Always have courage of commitment.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how.

IIGL books always challenge me. They always damage some ignorance in me. This book - Full Steam Ahead! has really challenged, once more, my thinking about vision and how it helps to unleash my power and potentials for success in life. It has indeed challenged me to go Full Steam Ahead!

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so why?

No.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

What I have found most helpful in this book is its inspirational words that inspire me into greatness.

7. In 50 words, or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book conveys the elements that help one or an organization that wants to really grow in life and in this ever changing world to get back to the basics - knowing who you are, where you are going, and what will guide your journey. This book really explains the basics!

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

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

Full Steam Ahead! helps you to experience joy in all aspects of your life - work, family and community.

10 Days to More Confident Public Speaking
Assessment by Afere Alaba Lawrence

1. What ideas were personally important to you in this book, do not simply list the ideas but discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

All the ideas in this book were important to me. This is the first time I am reading a book strictly written for public speaking in IIGL. Actually, no sooner I became a student of IIGL than I began to speak to more groups. I became more conscious and serious in this regards.

DAY 1
The Day 1 in this book - Getting Started - Overcoming Your Fears gives me tips on how to improve my Public Speaking skills in every area of my life. It also teaches me quick tricks about ways to introduce myself to an audience.
A major helpful part in this Day is the Top Ten List: Tips to help one overcome speaking anxiety. They are:

1. Get ready: here he gives the nine P's: Prior Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance of the Person Putting on the Presentation
2. Think on the bright side
3. Be aware of your speaking environment
4. Know your listeners
5. Warm up
6. Realize people want you to succeed
7. Don't apologize for being nervous
8. Concentrate on your message
9. Control jitters constructively
10. Gain experience

DAY 2
The author elaborately expresses in Day 2 how to create a great presentation. The author makes me understand that the most important skill when preparing a presentation is developing speech content. In this chapter, [Day 2] Lenny Laskowski, the author, gives a five-step approach for devising materials for speech or presentation. Also, he explains the proper structure of a speech - the introduction, body, and conclusion - and hints for eliminating the visual and verbal clutter in one's speeches.
The five-step approaches to developing speech content are:
1. Gather all the information possible on the subject.
2. Analyze the information you have grouped or categorized to determine what information you want.
3. Organize the information you want to present in coherent sequence.
4. Prioritize the most important points in your speech.
5. Fine-tune the organization of your presentation content.

DAY 3
This chapter focuses on relating to the audience. It teaches on steps to analyze the audience and the importance of preprogram and customized surveys to tailor one's presentation to meet the audience's needs. The day also includes a Top Ten List of tips and secrets to keep one's audience awake and energized during one's presentations. The author teaches in this chapter five types of speeches, from informative to impromptu.
This chapter was very important to me because it deeply explains how best to relate with the audience. The preprogram survey or questionnaire was not a bad idea. It needs to be done by every speaker especially those invited to speak to audience from a different culture or country.

DAY 4
This chapter teaches the four most common methods for remembering speech and presentation materials and the pros and cons for each. These four techniques are:
1. Memorizing
2. Reading from complete text
3. Using notes
4. Using visual aids
Day 4 ends with how a speaker's speech or presentation location can interfere with or enhance his or her performance.

DAY 5
The teachings of Day 5 focus on gestures and the role they play in your presentations. Also, I learnt five tips about facial expressions and why they are an important part of effective communication.

DAY 6
This is really an interesting chapter. It focuses on the language and ethics behind speech giving, including guidelines for proper attribution of statistics, research results and quotes. In this chapter, I learnt some excerpts from the top ten influential and memorable speeches in history. I also learnt ten ways to incorporate humor in any presentation.

DAY 7
This chapter teaches tips and secrets that professional speakers, trainers, and entertainers use when the unexpected occurs - from room changes to equipment failure.

DAY 8
This chapter discusses a variety of special techniques to help a speaker develop and improve his/her speaking skills. Day 8 also gives an in-depth review process of developing oneself as a way to critique his/her speech before the big day.

DAY 9
The focus of Day 9 is how a speaker can psych him/herself up for the big moment. The chapter is sprinkled with tips and strategies to show a speaker how to become his/her own best coach.

DAY 10
This chapter shows a speaker how to end his/her speech or presentation with a memorable conclusion using five methods. These are:
1. Verbally list your points
2. Summarize your points
3. Tie it together
4. Refer to your purpose
5. Close with a quote
Also, this chapter uniquely introduces a speaker to the most effective way to handle the question and answer period following a special speech or presentation.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Please use personal examples in your explanation.

Recently, in one of the states in Nigeria where we had gone to hold an event that commemorated the Nigeria's Independence Day Anniversary I was informed to give an impromptu 5 minutes speech. The audience was over 20 secondary school principals. No sooner I was given this chance than I remember this book and all it teaches me. This experience happened at a time I was reading and reviewing this book. In fact, I was actually traveling with the book at the time. Did I fumble at my presentation? Was I able to make a meaningful presentation within the allotted time? I really maximized the opportunity to practice what this book teaches me, especially about impromptu speeches or presentation. I was able to drive home my points. I was able to convince the principals while their students should participate in our program. If such a moment or opportunity comes again, I bet I would do better. No one ever became a successful or professional public speaker in a day. It required practice, practice, practice! Public Speaking begins with communicating with that little boy in your neighbourhood to your boss at work and to a 500 audience.

3. What are most new ideas concepts you learned from this book? Please explain.

One major way I have learnt Public Speaking in the past was to observe public speakers speak on TV, in church, seminars, workshops or tapes. I was always, still do, amazed or carried away about how they related to their audiences. They would always speak to the needs and desires of their audiences. And this always leaves me wondering “How could they know much about us - the audience?”

As I read this book I discovered how they had always done this. I discovered a new concept in Day 3 - Audience Analysis. Before a speaker goes to speak to a audience on any topic, he does preprogram survey. The preprogram survey provides general information about an audience. The survey gives you a start on your audience analysis and may even help you pick your topic or angle for your speech. According to the author, the survey is designed to help you prepare the best presentation possible for your audience. The responses from your survey give you a better idea what to expect from your audience and what challenges you have planning your presentation.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how.

Yes, this book has really been a challenge to my thinking and attitude towards public speaking. The author really makes me to understand that the key to being a successful public is to properly know your audience before you speak to them and it also requires more practice practice and practice to be a professional. This is really a challenge!

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

NO!

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

Information or knowledge is always helpful. This book is highly informative on the subject matter. However, every single page is most helpful to me and worth re-reviewing. This book is worth reading by every person that aims to speak effectively.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

This book, written by Lenny Laskowski, tries to convey ideas or tools that a person - whether business man, student or politician, even children or parents - need to become a relaxed, effective, and commanding public speaker.

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

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

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
Assessment by Afere Lawerence (Nigeria)

1. What ideas were personally important to you in this book, do not simply list the ideas but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

All the ideas in this book are really important. This was the first SEAN COVEY'S book I was reading. I must confess he carries the same spirit with his father, Stephen R. Covey. The ideas they both share in their books carry the similar simplicity and motivation. Sometime ago I read a book written by his father titled: 'The Principle-Centered Leadership'. That book drives home what authentic leadership is all about. I really appreciated those moments I spent with the book. The book was sent to me from my mentor, Ma Lily.

The part 1 - The Set-up in this book (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens) begins with “Get in the Habit”. This part is greatly important to me. The best way we can work on our lives is to work on our habits. It is true we first make our habits, and then our habits make us. They make us or break us. If we want to excel in life our habits must be excellent. I once had some unpleasant habits in my life. Until I realized they can't help me live the kind of life I aimed for me I had to drop them. It wasn't easy though. I learnt that the dropping some negative habits required a great deal of discipline.

SEAN describes habits as things we do repeatedly. They can be good or positive e.g showing respect for others, being disciplined about so many things, planning ahead, etc and habits can be bad or negative e.g. thinking negatively, lacking self discipline, blaming others etc. It is helpful to know that we become what we do. Thank God we can swap a bad habit for a good one. Like I shared from experience, it's not always easy, but it is possible. I still have some unpleasant habits I am working on changing for pleasant ones. It requires discipline.

SEAN gives us the 7 Habits that can help us lead a happy and fulfilled life. They are:

Habit 1 - Be Proactive
Habit 2 - Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3 - Put First Things First
Habit 4 - Think Win-Win
Habit 5 - Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
Habit 6 - Synergize
Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw

Just before I briefly explain or discuss these habits, there is part of this book that really motivates me beyond this moment. It is the story SEAN illustrates with Paradigms of Self; the story about the son of King Louis xvi of France. The story goes thus (quoting it as SEAN does)
King Louis had been taken from his throne and imprisoned. His young son, the prince, was taken by those who dethroned the king. They thought that inasmuch as the king's son was heir to the throne, if they could destroy him morally, he would never realize the great and grand destiny that life had bestowed upon him.

They took him to a community far away, and there they exposed the lad to every filthy and vile thing that life could offer. They exposed him to foods the richness of which would quickly make him a slave to appetite. They used vile language around him constantly. They exposed him to lewd and lusting women. They exposed him to dishonor and distrust. He was surrounded twenty-four hours a day by everything that could drag the soul of a man as low as one could slip. For over six months he had this treatment - but not once did the young lad buckle under pressure.

Finally, after intensive temptation, they questioned him. Why had he not submitted himself to these things - why had he not partaken? These things would provide pleasure, satisfy his lusts, and were desirable; they were all his. The boy said, “I cannot do what you ask for I was born to be a king.”

I really love this story. I can't wait to share it with the kids here! The story epitomizes a great and positive belief about oneself. Once one knows who he truly his and what his capable of achieving, such person can never settle for less; even in the midst of turbulence or external challenges. As SEAN puts it 'Prince Louis held that paradigm of himself so tightly that nothing could shake him.' That's heart-lifting! That's beautiful and wonderful! This is what we truly need to emulate at every time.

Habit 1 - Be Proactive
This means taking responsibility for everything in one's life. I learnt from this part that there are two types of people in this world - the Proactive and the Reactive - those who take responsibility for their lives and those who blame; those who make it happen and those who get happened to. When one is Proactive, one becomes a force and captain of his life. He can choose his attitude. His responsible for his happiness or unhappiness. His in the driver's seat of his destiny, not just a passenger. Being Proactive or Reactive, the choice is ours. A proactive person recognizes he can't control everything that happens to him, but he can control what he does with it. He makes choices based on values. He thinks before he acts.

Habit 2 - Begin with the End in Mind
This habit is quite wonderful! SEAN uses a very good and applicable example to explain what it means to Begin with the End in Mind. Let me rewrite it here: 'You've just been asked to put together a jigsaw puzzle. Having done many such puzzles before, you're excited to get started. You pour out all 1000 pieces, spreading them out across a large table. You then pick up the lid to the box to look at what you're putting together. But there's no picture! It's blank! How will you ever be able to finish the puzzle without knowing what it looks like, you wonder? That's all you'd need. What a difference it would make! Without it, you don't have a clue where to even start.'

Habit 2, as vital as it is, means developing a clear picture of where you want to go with your life. It means deciding what your values are and setting goals. Habit 1 says you are the driver of your life, not the passenger. Habit 2 says since you are the driver, decide where you want to go and draw up a map to get there.

Habit 3 - Put First Things First
It is not getting busy with work or things that bring you success. It is doing the right things and at the right time. Habit 3, Put First Things First, can help one do the right things and at the right time. It instills in us the discipline about learning to prioritize and manage our time so that our first things come first, not last. It also helps us learn how to overcome our fears and become strong during hard moments. “In Habit 2,” SEAN says, “you decided what your First Things are; Habit 3, then, is putting them First in your life.”

Anyone can have a nice list of goals and good intentions, but doing them, putting them first is the hard part. This is why SEAN calls Habit 3 the Habit of will-power (the strength to say yes to your most important things) and won't-power (the strength to say no to less important things and to peer pressure)

Habit 4 - Think Win - Win
Think win-win is an attitude toward life, a mental frame of mind that says I can win, and so can you. 'It's not me or you, it's both of us' says SEAN. In this ever growing competitive world, I must confess, it is really hard to have win-win attitude. In a world where every business wants to have the largest share of the market, where every family wants to be better than other's, where nations crave to have the most thriving economy, even churches crave to have the largest congregation. What about how we run our schools? What about our political parties?

According to SEAN, Think Win-Win is the foundation for getting along well with other people. It begins with the belief that we are all equal; that no one is inferior or superior to anyone else, and no one really needs to be.

SEAN says WIN-WIN is not WIN-Lose, or Lose-Lose.

Habit 5 - Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.
This Habit explains the attitude of listening first, talking second. It evaluates seeing things from another's point of view before sharing your own. SEAN explains that this Habit is the key to communication. He says the deepest need of the human heart is to be understood. It is true people want to be listened to and heard. And the saying 'People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care' reflects this truth. You and I will be open to people that understand or listen to us.

Habit 6 - SYNERGIZE
The principle of 'Synergy' is quite an impressive one. SEAN quotes Hellen Keller: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” This is true. It requires the efforts and expertise of different people to build something. It always been mentioned that 'two heads are better than one.' Especially if the two heads are attuned to solving a problem that faces them. SEAN explains that synergy is achieved when two or more people work together to create a better solution than either could alone. It's not your way but a better way, a higher way. SEAN also explains that synergy is celebrating differences, Teamwork, Open-mindedness, Finding new and better ways. Truly, I've felt the impact of synergy at my new work, even when I was an undergraduate.

I believe synergy is the solution to the problems we face as a people, nation and world. Imbibing this tool will really be helpful.

Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw
This is not really new to me. I have studied it from level 1 to 4 in my IIGL studies. Sharpening the Saw has become my way of life. I feel sick if I fail to keep myself sharp in a day. I consistently work on my body, brain, heart and soul. I don't joke with these aspects of my life. I always want to remain green.

2. Can you relate the ideas in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as in your relationships, beliefs, goals, values. Please use personal examples in your explanations.

At all times in my life I aim to be proactive. Even at work my director expects so much from me. So, I don't want to hear 'go and do this!' I always love to take initiative. I always know what our organization wants and aims to achieve. So I focus my thoughts and actions on the achievement of these goals. I see the organization as mine. I see the end from the beginning. I also think win-win with other workers. I have known since I enrolled at IIGL that Habit 7 -Sharpen The Saw- helps. No day goes by without enhancing my brain professionally and spiritually. It has earned me a lot of respect both at work and outside it.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please explains

There are no new ideas or concepts gotten from this book. All the ideas in this book only remind me of the ideas in 'The Principal - Centered Leadership' written by Stephen R. Covey.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way. If so, explain how.

This book really challenges my thinking once again. The story of Prince Louis is one I do not want to forget and always want to share with teenagers and friends each time I have the opportunity.

5. Are there ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

I do not totally disagree with any idea in this book.

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in this book?

The 7 HABITS of Highly Effective TEENS, as explained in this book by SEAN are most helpful. Though am not a teen, but can assure you it's really helpful for adults; especially if one reads 'The Principle-Centered Leadership' written by SEAN'S dad. These ideas are pragmatical enough.

7. Additional/personal comments about the book.

Last year, I learnt that the highest ranked hotel is 7 Stars which is located in Dubai, UAE. Before that time, I knew the highest rank was 5 Stars. When I saw the clip of this hotel I began to wonder how much money went into its construction. This hotel, truly, epitomizes beauty, excellence and standard. Looking at the title of this book: '7 HABITS of Highly Effective TEENS' reminds me of the 7 Stars hotel. If one truly practices some of the ideas in this book, he or she can lead a 7 Star life.

8. Rating on a scale of 1-10

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

Built To Last
Assessment by Afere Alaba Lawrence (Nigeria)

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

This book interestingly explains about building something that is worthy of lasting – about building a company of great excellence that the world would lose something important if that organization ceased to exist. Implicit on every page of the book is a simple and challenging question: why on earth would you settle for creating something mediocre that does little more than make money, when you can create something outstanding that makes a lasting contribution as well?

This book reveals timeless principles that can make an organization to create something outstanding to its world; which is a noble cause.

‘Built to Last’ provides a good blue print for CEOs, managers and entrepreneurs that build organization that last. It contains practical principles that can be applied by CEOs, managers and entrepreneurs anywhere in the world.

The book chronicles visionary companies like 3m, American Express, Boeing, Citicorp, Ford, General Electric etc. These visionary companies were founded before 1950. Collins and Porras explain that these visionary companies are premier institutions – the crown jewels – in their industries, widely admired by their peers and having a long track record of making a significant impact on the world around them.

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 won life.

The seven ideas which were personally important to me in this book are:

A. Clock Building, Not Time Telling

The idea of ‘Clock Building, Not Time Telling’ is an important idea to me. With this idea the authors compare those with great ideas and who never built companies that can prosper far beyond the presence of any single leader.

The authors interestingly ask the reader to imagine meeting a remarkable person who can look at the sun or stars at any time of the day or night and state the exact time and date. The authors say this person would be an amazing time teller and we would probably revere her for the ability to tell time. The authors further compare the time teller with a clock builder who built a clock that could tell the time forever, even after he or she was dead and gone.

According to the authors, having a great idea or being a charismatic visionary leader is ‘time telling’ and building a company that can prosper far beyond the presence of any single leader and through multiple product life cycles is ‘clock building’.

This is what I desire to do with my life – living a life that leaves a scratch on history. I do not want to live a life of being born, go to school, get a job and work for money, raise a family and die some day. I want my life to be a clock that people can see and benefit from.

B. Preserve the core/stimulate progress

The authors state that visionary companies have core ideologies but as important as core ideology is, does not – indeed cannot – make a visionary company. A company can have the world’s most deeply cherished and meaningful core ideology, but if it refuses to change, the world will pass it by. I think this is why IIGL constantly reviews and changes its curriculum and assessment format. Visionary companies preserve the core and stimulate progress.

This is exemplified by the actions of the companies used as case studies in this book and also supported by Sam Walton’s statement: “… you can’t just keep doing what works one time, because everything around you is always changing. To succeed, you have to stay out in front of that change.” This is applicable to my life. I do not want the world to negatively affect my core beliefs or values. I preserve them as I work day to day.

C. Big Hairy Audacious Goals

Big Hairy Audacious Goals, for short, BHAGs, as the authors name it is a powerful mechanism that visionary companies use to stimulate progress. This idea of BHAGs is most important to me because I have learnt how goal setting helps one to attain personal progress. I recall in level one I learnt from Anthony Robbins that people are not lazy but they have only small goals. Goals direct one’s life. Values show a person ‘how’ to achieve goals without harming his fellows.

BHAGs distinguish companies. The authors in their research found more evidence of this powerful mechanism in the visionary companies and less evidence of it in the comparison companies in fourteen out of eighteen cases.

According to the authors all companies have goals. But there is a difference between merely having a goal and becoming committed to a huge, daunting challenge –like a big mountain to climb.

Having a BHAGs has become part of my life. I seem to set goals for myself in other to achieve what seems to be impossible. Though I do not achieve some of my goals sometimes but the joy of pursing and making progress is always there. It gets me to bed late and gets me out of it early.

D. Give it a try – and quick

Another vital attribute of visionary companies is giving every idea that comes to it a try. And then act on it quick. The authors give examples how 3M, unlike Norton, tried a lot of stuff and kept what worked. If one thing failed, 3M staff, who the management had really encouraged, tried another. They would take vigorous action – especially in response to unexpected opportunities. This is a good idea.

I recall having an idea of introducing my book to the secondary schools in my town. I did not know I could ask them to recommend it as part of the books the students were meant to buy for the next session. Recently, I walked into a school just thinking of asking the management to introduce it to their students and those who wish to buy should make their intention known so I call supply. It was a miracle from Jesus when one of the management decided to include the book as one of the recommended books. My book is now a recommended book! I only decided to try moving around just to introduce my book. I now ask other schools’ management I visit to do the same.

E. Good Enough Never Is

From this book I learnt that the critical question asked by visionary companies is not “How well are we doing?” or “How can we do well?” or “How well do we have to perform in order to meet the competition?” The authors explain that the critical question is “How can we do better tomorrow than we did today?” I learnt from the case studies 3M, HP, SONY and so on that visionary companies institutionalize this question as way of life – a habit of mind and action. There is no “having finish line in a highly visionary company. There is no “having made it.” There is no point where they feel they have arrived and living off the fruits of their labour. Good enough never is in visionary companies. They always have new goals they strive towards. They share the mindset “we can always improve and there is more to contribute to the progress of humanity.”

This is applicable to my life. When God strengthens me to achieve the little goals I set for myself I do not end there. I do not rest on that. I thank God for that and I still push forward.

F. The End of the Beginning

This explains that a vision is not the essence of a visionary company. In recent times more companies are spending much time and money drafting elegant vision statements, values statements, mission statements, objectives statements, and so on. The authors say such pronouncements are all fine and good but they are not the essence of a visionary company. Just because a company has a vision statement in no way guarantees that it will become a visionary company. Writing a vision statement is only a first step in becoming a visionary company. The authors explain that the essence of visionary company comes in the translation of its core ideology and its own unique drive for progress into the very fabric of the organization – into goals, strategies, tactics, policies, processes, cultural practices, management behaviours, building layouts, pay systems, accounting systems, job design – into everything that he company does. This is a major point that the authors seem to place a high importance on about becoming a visionary company or building a company that will last.

G. Core Purpose

This is another idea that is most important to me. Apart from discovering the core purpose of a company it is highly essential for an individual to discover her/his core purpose for living in order to live a fulfilled life. Since I enrolled in IIGL this is an idea that I have discovered, cherished and taught the young people so much.

As explained by the authors, core purpose is the organization’s fundamental reason for being. An effective purpose reflects the importance people attach to the company’s work. It captures the soul of the organization. This also applies to an individual who has discovered her purpose.

The idea of purpose has been a critical aspect of my life. Every day i make sure I lead a purpose-driven life.

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

Clock Building, Not Time Telling will help me lead a life of contribution and one that leaves a scratch on history. It motivates me to build something – a business – that will last.

Preserve the core/stimulate progress helps me to change strategies about achieving my goals while I preserve my core values.

Big Hairy Audacious Goals will enable me to set audacious goals to contribute to the progress of my society through my business and life.

Give it a try – and quick practically prompts me to give every opportunity a try and quick. Opportunity to improve, progress and change present itself daily in one’s life.

Good Enough Never Is prevents me from resting on my laurels. Yes, I get thankful for every achievement I make at he same time I want to always ask ‘what next?’ or ‘next!’

The End of beginning prevents me from looking at my business vision as what determines my business success or personal values or mission as what determines my personal success but the translation of this vision into action.

Core Purpose helps me to always focus on my fundamental reason for being – contribution to the progress of my society.

All these ideas are also preparing me towards commencing my business soon.

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

“As I look back on my life’s work, I’m probably most proud of having helped to create a company that by virtue of its values, practices, and success has had a tremendous impact on the way companies are managed around the world. And I’m particularly proud that I’m leaving behind an ongoing organization that can live on as a role model long after I’m gone” ___ William R. Hewlett, Cofounder, Hewlett-Packard Company, 1990

This quote depicts the joy of been a part of building an organization that does not aim at making money but making progress happen in the entire world. Imagine being a part of starting an organization that has succeeded for years and you are leaving it in the hands of another generation believing it will still succeed in the years ahead! And when leaving it in the hands of a new generation you are able to use the words of Hewlett.

Our commitment must be to continue the vitality of this company – its growth in physical terms and also its growth as an institution – so that this company, this institution, will last through another 150 years. Indeed, so it will last through the ages. ____ John G. Smale, Former CEO, procter & Gamble, celebrating P&G’s 150th
Birthday, 1986

This quote should definitely get the attention of everyone that intends to build an organization that will last beyond her. These were the words of a person who loved to still cause progress on earth – through what he had created or built – long after his demise.

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?

BUILT TO LAST is a clear and easy to understand book especially to those that have passion to start or be part of running an organization that will succeed. I do not disagree with any idea in the book because the authors always leave us with a choice to make.

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

There were no exercises for the reader to complete in the book.

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 authors mesmerized me where they wrote that one of the most important steps one can take in building a visionary company is not an action, but a shift in perspective. To make use of action, the authors say requires first and foremost acquiring the right frame of mind. This means making a shift in thinking.

The authors affirm that the success of visionary companies come from underlying processes and fundamental dynamics embedded in the organization and not primarily the result of a single great idea or some great, all-knowing, godlike visionary who make great decisions, had great charisma, and led with great authority.

A visionary company is created based on principles and processes put in place at the foundation or in the process of building a lasting company. Concentrating on questions such as ‘what processes can we create that will give us good leaders and company long after we are dead or gone? What type of enduring company do we operate? With what guidelines and mechanisms? Those of us intending to build companies that last should consider all these.

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 will give it? 10

True Prosperity
Assessment by Afere Alaba Lawrence

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

Yehuda Berg, in his book ‘True Prosperity’, discloses some tools (which he calls Kabbalistic tools) for achieving true prosperity. He explains that true prosperity is what each of us was put on earth to achieve. He warns that we achieve prosperity not because you are smart or lucky, or because you so ruthlessly pillaged your competition, but because you followed the rules of the universe. He puts these rules in this book as kabbalistic tools. According to him, using these tools makes you a cause and not effect.

Money is spiritual, not material, and its attainment involves a set of spiritual strategies. Berg, interestingly, reveals some of these strategies in this book.

Also, using kabbalistic tools, Berg explains how a leader or entrepreneur can create a true prosperity company or turn your workplace into one.

Berg finally admonishes the reader to apply these tools and the principles thought in the book in order to experience true prosperity. He also admonishes us to demand, take, earn and enjoy true prosperity.

This book is highly illuminating. I read it two times without long break. Berg writes like Dr. Wayne Dyer. I love the simplicity of their words!

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 following are the seven ideas which were personally important to me in the book:

A. What true prosperity is
B. What kabbalah is
C. The ultimate competitor
D. You’re the boss. You’re responsible
E. Stress is a surfboard
F. Tithing
G. One hundred billion followers

WHAT IS TRUE PROSPERITY

The idea of understanding what true prosperity is at this time is important. And it will be helpful if one cares t know it and follow the laws to acquire it.

Berg reminds me (the author shares similar teachings with some of our authors in IIGL) that true prosperity is really what each of us was put on earth to achieve. And we achieve it when we follow the rules of the universe.

True prosperity is a condition in which one has everything. According to Berg, you have all the money you could ever want, plus the time to be a little league coach and a roving photographer at the children’s birthday parties. You run a business that propels itself from one success to another, but you have joyous connection with the people in your life – your friends, your employees, your colleagues and others.

Understanding this idea is vital to me because I desire to have and enjoy true prosperity.

SO WHAT IS KABBALAH?

I was really eager to know what kabbalah meant. Initially I thought it was another name for God or a religion. Kabbalah, according to Berg, literally means RECEIVE, is about having it all. Berg makes us understand that the wisdom of Kabbalah dates back to Abraham.

Kabbalah wisdom, according to Berg, tells us the following:
- there is a plan that has been ingeniously devised for each person on earth
- the purpose of this plan is for each person to be the creator in his or her own universe – to become the cause in one’s life and not the effect of it. It means being he proactive creator of your destiny rather than remaining condemned to react passively to each new episode of chaos that comes along.
- Life is a business, you are the boss, not the flunky
- You came here in order to experience what it means to be a creator.

Operating with this wisdom will help me to achieve true prosperity.

THE ULTIMATE COMPETITOR

This was an interesting idea to me. It helps me understand the roles of the adversary (Satan) in a new way. The essence of a game, according to the author, is to play with an opponent and see who takes the trophy. When there is no opponent there is no game. In the game of life, explained by Berg, we have an opponent who is the competitor. Personally I call him satan.

Some truth I got from this idea are the functions he (ultimate competitor/satan) performs in one’s life. Berg says the competitor is not a guy in a bright red suit, complete with pitchfork and horns. He distracts us and forces us to lose focus. Personally I have come to see the satan as a great enemy of progress. He is smart but not powerful. His wisdom lies in distraction. He distracts one with anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, fear, materialism, lust, hatred etc. And when he succeeds at this we become an effect and not a cause of life.

YOU’RE THE BOSS. YOU’RE RESPONSIBLE

Yes, I am the boss. I am responsible. Recently, a high school in a town (ondo) next to mine (Akure) recommended my book for their SS1 and SS2 students. And I was asked to bring 170 copies first week in July (2008). That same week as I planned to supply one of the school administrators phoned and informed me the school management is reconsidering the order. He told me not to supply until they get back to me via phone. Knowing that I am the boss of my destiny I did not panic because I was losing the greatest sales so far. My reaction was ‘if I lose this sales, a greater one would open.’

The concept of being the boss and responsible is highly important for anyone that desires true prosperity. It means taking responsibility for ones success and failure. No blaming anyone! It means learning from every situation. It means, according to Berg, knowing that everything is connected.

STRESS IS A SURFBOARD

I have seen stress from a different perspective from this book. I have begun to operate with this new understanding about it.

Berg says that stress is the collision between what you are and what you could be; it’s a wave that rolls one’s life. Berg advises that as a cause in life we should ride the wave. With this one harnesses the energy of that wave and uses it to soar to new heights.

“We may proclaim that stress kills, but in reality it is not stress that kills; it is our reaction to it” confirms Berg. He also writes that without stress we couldn’t bring the surrounding light into our lives. Without stress, we reach the natural limits of complacency; we hit the wall that keeps our company from moving to the next level – the wall that keeps us from achieving the greatness we’re meant to attain. For this reason, far from being an annoyance and something to avoid, stress is a gift to seek!”

TITHING

Berg explains Tithing to be one of the advanced kabbalistic tools. I follow the teachings of Christ and giving is one of His teachings. This makes the idea of Tithing vital to me. Tithing 10% of our income is a way of giving to enhance the cause of helping people to grow and develop in truth or wisdom. And surely there are rewards for people that practice this.

Berg explains that Tithing is the ultimate paradox of the universe, because it means that the more you want to get the more you have to give. The 10%, according to Berg (even the Bible confirms it in Malachi) we give cleanses the remaining 90%.

ONE HUNDRED BILLION FOLLOWERS.

I discovered from this book that scientist estimate that over the course of time, 100 billion human beings have come and gone from this earth. And the overwhelming majority of them have left behind nothing but a tombstone.

Why do so many people visit our world without leaving a scratch on history like Jesus, Abraham, Einstein, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr. and a few others? The author says because most people choose to be followers, not leaders. A leader lives to impact people and her world.

My hunger daily is to impact people the best way I can with my potentials; especially the overwhelming economically disadvantaged children in my town and state. There is a burden and passion to help this group of people.

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?

Understanding ‘True Prosperity’ and the tools that help to create it helps me know that I prosper to make people prosper. This is the way I can only have it and enjoy it.

The entire book teaches me how to work towards personal fulfillment and a world that works better for everyone.

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."

“when you use money to share – to make things grow, to bring great projects into the world, to provide for your family – it will be a force for good. But if it falls into your life unearned and undeserved, and if you keep it to satisfy your egotistic desires, it can destroy you.”

This statement helps me understand the importance and appropriate use of money.

“That which you don’t earn won’t satisfy you and will eventually become contaminated.”

A prophet (Jeremiah) that lived thousands of years ago confirmed this statement in Jeremiah 17: 11 (Bible). This statement motivates me to work and earn my own money and not to look for cheap and crooked means.

“What you do today will determine your tomorrow. Taking responsibility for your tomorrow keeps you hungry to make the best choice, now, and in every moment of your life.”

This statement helps me take full responsibility for all that happens in my dear life. No ‘blame game.’

“No amount of genius – no MBAs or PHDs from Harvard, not even being a good person – will guarantee you true prosperity as much as certainty”

This statement tells me to always believe and not doubt.

“Focus on what’s important, and not only will you accomplish those things, but somehow everything else on your list will get done as well. But if you focus on the small things, you’ll never get to the big ones.”

It reminds me the power of FOCUS!

“Make it your priority that humanity will be served by your actions, and that as a citizen of the world, you will take steps to help erase some of the pain and suffering that blanket the planet.”

It reminds me of my place in improving our world and leaving it better than I met it.

“Time wasted creates a space in which negativity can enter. But inject certainty, sharing, and productivity into your time, and get ready for amazing things to happen.”

It teaches me how to use my time productively.

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?

YOU CHASE YOUR TAIL, AND THEN YOU DIE

Here, the author explains that continous pursuit of goals means chasing our tails and dying one day without true fulfillment. It seems Berg does not believe in the concepts of ‘Good never is’ or ‘Big Hairy Audacious goals that one sets after accomplishing an old goal’ or ‘going extra mile’. Is it inappropriate to set a new goal to earn N2000 after achieving a goal of earning N1000? I am sure there are people that can set new goals after achieving old ones without compromising their health, love and care for the loved ones, values, etc. I can focus on my goals without the exclusion of important things or matters in my life.

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, there was an exercise to complete. Berg asks me to write down my priorities for the week, month and the year. I learnt to do this in level one and I have remained faithful to it because it is highly helpful. Seeing it again in Berg’s book shows it helps and works.

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, comment.

Berg writes like one of my favourite author, Dr. Wayne Dyer. I love to read his book. Meanwhile, ‘True prosperity’ was the first Berg’s book I read. I truly enjoyed it. It totally reminds me of all I had learnt in levels 1 & 2. I also commend Berg for the work his doing at Kabbalah centre. God bless him.

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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you will give it? 9

The Teenager's Guide To The Real World
Assessment by Afere A. Lawrence (Nigeria)

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

The Teenager's Guide To The Real World provides great wisdom on making the transition into adulthood and laying a foundation for success. However, am not a teenager but the book helps me to understand some basic life skills i now wish i learnt at my teenage years. However, it is never too late to be right.

The book explains the following ideas:
* The facts about jobs and careers
* Importance of education
* The facts about attitudes and marriage
* The facts about love and marriage
* The facts about success
However, Mr. Brain shares in this book from his wealth of experience. This book can also help adults that desire to experience success. The book has offered practical guide to me in my work with young people.

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.

MONEY REALLY MATTERS
This book explains how the real world operates and how to live in it successfully. Money is vital to living. Mr. Brain asks the teenagers 'have you ever wondered why so many adults spend so much time worrying about money? Why do millions of adults get up every morning and go to work for 8 or 10 hours a day? Why do adults spend so much time discussing taxes and prices and the cost of living? Why do some married couples frequently fight about money?” without money, one cannot eat, has no place to sleep, cannot drive. It is this simple reality that causes adults to be so caused about money. Most teenagers do not understand the importance of money. They also do not understand the amount of money that is required to live a normal life. This is because parents provide teenagers with everything. They (teenagers) therefore live in a dream world. I never knew the importance of money as a teenager and wasted all the money i was given. From this concept about the importance of money, Brain makes one, especially teenagers, understand what it takes to live a normal life. His examples in the book make teenagers understand why money is so important.

THE FACTS ABOUT JOBS AND CAREERS
Brain says to teenagers 'You will have a job - that is a fact of life. By planning, you can get a job that is both high paying and enjoyable.' You must have a job or career to live life. This is a fact. We need money so we can pay rent, buy food and put clothes on our back; it's also good to have extra money (discretionary income) that one can spend on luxuries, give to charieties and so on. It is this simple fact that forces one to get a job. Writing to teenagers, Brain says 'Given that you have to have a job, why not have a fun one? Why not have a job that you will really enjoy?' The characteristics of a good job are:
* You enjoy it
* It pays well
* The payment model matches your personality
* It gives you the opportunity to learn and grow
* It has advancement potential

Education, also, is one key to a good job. It is true that in today's job market what you know determines what you earn. “Another thing that is easy to miss as a teenager” says Brain “is that education does not have to come from traditional sources. You can teach yourself a tremendous number of things simply by sitting down and reading books or by talking to people. The thing that makes you valuable is what you know. It doesn't matter where it comes from”

Good jobs also go to good employees. Good employees:
* Take initiative
* Take responsibility
* Understand the financial side of business
* Keep their commitment, both large and small
* Know that customers (and other team members) matter
* Do a job cheerfully, even if it is not their favourite
* Consistently do what is best for the company
* Disciplined and stay on track
* Consistent performers
* Self motivated
* Give credit to others on the team
* Exceed expectations

THE FACTS ABOUT SUCCESS
There are a number of things one can do to become successful. Brain explores some important facts about success:

You can create a high level vision. It allows you to evaluate yourself as well as those around you.

Goals guide your success. Goals and dreams are the most important things that distinguish successful people from those who are not. Goals and dreams directly control our success. They also give meaning to life. Brain says goals help us know what you are trying to accomplish, what you are going to do tomorrow, what you want to be when you grow up, what you want to do with your life and what the meaning of life means to you.

You have options. In order to reach your goals and be successful, you have to become an expert in finding options and picking the best one for each situation. Finding options involves research and creativity. Selecting the best option involves optimization and rational decision-making. This path was really important for me considering the ways i had tried to attain my goals in the past. I just realized i never sat down to list various options i could choose the best from trying to achieve a goal.

Everything takes time. Saying that everything takes time is a hard fact for many teenagers to swallow. Teenagers want things they desire to happen on the spot or the same second they think they need it. Teenagers want everything now. They want to leave home and immediately have a great house, a great car, a great wardrobe, a great spouse and so on. They forget that all of these things take time and efforts. Adults know that everything takes time. They, according to Brain, tend to understand that if you put in a little effort every day and do it long stretch of time you can accomplish great things. Like my mentor, Lily Ann, would say to me “A foot at a time...a foot in front of a foot”

Success is our responsibility. You will have to do something active to make success happen, and that activity requires a certain amount of effort.

You must be responsible for your perseverance and discipline if you want success. Perseverance and discipline make it possible for you to be successful. For 99.999% of the people on this planet success is a gradual process that requires the perseverance, hard work and discipline needed to move toward success every day for years at a time.

In addition, to be successful you must take risks and be willing to accept that risks might not pay off. In other words, you must be willing to get up, make the best of it, learn from the mistake and take a risk again.

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

The ideas or lessons Brain, the author, shares in this book are quite practical and helpful. He deeply explains the game of life with these ideas or lessons.

With the facts about money, he enables me understand why i need money and the channels i can get it from.

With the facts about jobs and careers, Brain helps me understand how to get a rewarding and enjoyable job.

With facts about success, he says success by taking responsibility for it.

The ideas or lessons in this book are quite practical and helpful because they will help the reader learn how to:
* Get adults to take you (as a teenager) seriously
* Improve your confidence and self-esteem
* Find and enjoyable job and be well paid
* Love and be loved, and make smart choices about sex
* Function successfully in your business and personal life
* Manage your money, and
* Plan for success.

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

i) “For 99.999% of the people on this planet success is a gradual process that requires the perseverance, hard work and discipline needed to move toward success every day for years at a time.”

This statement is important to me because it shows me the importance of perseverance, hard work and discipline in achieving success

ii) “chance favors only a prepared mind”

This statement explains the necessity of preparation in order to succeed

iii) “to be successful you must take risks and be willing to accept that risks might not pay off. In other words, you must be willing to get up, make the best of it, learn from the mistake and take a risk again. It is a fact of life that many of the most successful people failed spectacularly (and often many times) before they became successful”

This statement states the importance of risk taking

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, there was nothing in the book that i did not understand or unclear about.

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

There were no exercises.

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

No, there is nothing to further comment on.

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

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

Entrepreneurship, The Art Of Succeeding In Business
Assessment by Afere Lawrence (Nigeria)

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

With this book the author tries to provide the reader with an exciting opportunity to conceptualize, plan and to start her/his business. The book helps the reader to understand the important difference between working for someone else and working for oneself.

The book is a course that provides the reader with an opportunity to establish realistic business goals, develop sales forecasts, and estimate the potential income of one's business. “To begin building your business,” the author writes, “you will need to evaluate personal goals, conduct surveys within your community to determine how your business can best serve customer needs, analyze other businesses that provide similar services, and identify the market niche that offers you the best chance for success.”

As I went through this course, I developed valuable skills that I am able to use in many work settings. These skills include:

• self reliance
• making decisions based on the 'best available information'
• developing the ability to recognize opportunities for improvement, and
• ability to make personal and business plan.

This book will help one succeed in his/her professional career regardless of whether he/she chooses to start a business or work for another business.

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.

As an entrepreneur, all the ideas in this book are significant to my success but the following are major:

* Who Are Entrepreneurs?
* Positive Attitude
* Introduction to Business Plan
* Selecting a Business Idea
* Goals and Objectives
* Products and Services
* Plan of Action

WHO ARE ENTREPRENUERS?
Since I became an IIGL student the issue of entreprenurship has been an interesting one to me. Entreprenurship has been defined in various ways by different authors and researchers. But the most fascinating and challenging definition is how the author explains it: “Entrepreneurship is the art of turning dreams into reality.” I have never had it described in such an impartful way! Even when people think entreprenurship is a job the author says no. He affirms that it is a way of thinking and an approach to work and opportunity.” This statement always gets me thinking and truly this is the way to detect who is an entrepreneur - an individual who thinks and looks for ways and opportunities to turn his/her dreams to reality. Entrepreneurship begins with an idea or dream. When I was in the university I had the dream to build some businesses. I could not stop dreaming a single moment. Today, some of these dreams have become reality. An entrepreneur does not stop dreaming or having ideas. And it is exciting to make a dream become reality. I have experienced this each time I launch a new business.

Michael outlines the following common characteristics that entrepreneurs share:

a. Commitment to succeed and refusal to fail
b. Emotional/physical energy and stamina
c. Self-confidence
d. Ability to see how things could be different
e. Enthusiasm and optimism
f. Personal magnetism and persuasiveness
g. Desire to learn and grow
h. Willingness to take risks and be in control

POSITIVE ATTITUDE
Positive attitude is the most important quality for success. And success is a basic goal of an entrepreneur. In my room I pasted to the walls, bed, mirror and wardrobe some positive motivational and inspirational words from the Bible and IIGL books. It is essential to create an environment that ensures positive attitude.

Michael says that positive attitude means you are in control of your destiny and that you are constantly looking for a path through the maze to success. When you come to the roadblock, you can either work to remove the roadblock or change your course and look for a better (different) path.

Entrepreneurs have mottos that help them focus on the importance and power of a positive attitude. Below are examples of such mottos from this book:

* The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes - Benjamin Disraeli

* Our aspirations are our possibilities - Robert Browning

* Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. - William Feather

* Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall - Confucius

* Progress always involves risk. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first. - Frederick B. Wilcox

* You can get everything from life you want…if you will just help enough other people get what they want. - Zig Ziglar

* For what shall it profit a man, if he shall lose the whole world, and lose his own soul? New Testament, Mark 8:36

Personal
- With GOD all things are possible
• For without faith it is impossible to please God.

Introduction To Business Plans
The financial and emotional consequences of starting a business are great. A business plan helps an entrepreneur think through the process. It helps to ensure that a business concept is well-founded and that one has the resources and skills needed to succeed.

A business plan, according to this book, is an organized method for:
• Defining the primary elements of business (products and services);
• Identifying primary clients and sales potential
• Evaluating competitors and understanding how one's products or services compare to those of competitors;
• Identifying the resources (facilities, equipment, material and staff) needed to operate the business;
• Determining how much money is needed to start the business and when sales should be expected; and
• Projecting the expected profitability of the business.

Such information is vital to every entrepreneur and necessary to improve the likelihood of business success, and to help ensure that a business meets the personal, professional and family goals of the entrepreneur.

SELECTING A BUSINESS IDEA
* To operate a successful business, you must have significant knowledge of and interest in the product or service that is offered. He says for example, in order to start a book keeping service, you must have strong book keeping skills or must acquire the skills. The greater the skill deficit, the harder it will be for you to follow through with your business plan. How does this apply to me as an entrepreneur? Passion to cause a significant change and to make a positive contribution has been a major source of idea selection for me.

* You need to consider the availability of and desire to invest start-up money in the business. He says for the young entrepreneurs, who are starting their first business, it is recommended that they can conduct out of their home and will require minimal up-front equipment or inventory investments. An example Michael gives is if your business idea is to start a restaurant, it is unlikely that you (as a student) will be able to follow through with this plan while in school because of the substantial up-front money required for furnishings and need for storefront space. However, he says it may be reasonable for the student to start a catering business because it can be operated out of his/her home without the need for furnishings and industrial equipment. This is realistic enough. I recall when we were starting our Computer Training School we considered so many options and the availability of fund. Eventually, due to little available start-up money joined with the passion to start it, we decided to use my dad's abandoned garage. We hope to use the piece of land donated for it in the future.

* You may want to work in groups (form a partnership) This works too. We are in a time where forming partnership gets things done faster and better than just a person. I have had an idea to start The Youth farm Project in my town. Considering the skills and resources needed to start it, I could not start it for some time. Some weeks ago I decided to introduce the idea to some friends and my parents. Together we have pulled resources - 6 plots of farm land, money, corn seeds, youth farmers, etc. As I write the farm has started, we have planted corn seeds and we have youth farmers who are eager about the work. In Level 1 I learnt about Other People's Money/Resources. This can greatly be achieved through partnership.

Goals and Objectives
According to Michael, goals can be defined as ultimate standards of success for which you are striving, whereas objectives are intermediate milestones that you must achieve in order to reach your goals.

When starting a new activity, especially one as challenging as a new business, it is important to understand why you are embarking on this journey and where you hope to be going.

I learnt from the book that it is needed to establish goals and/or objectives in each of the following areas when preparing a business plan:

* Start-up Schedule
* Personal Time Commitment
* Geographic Region Served
* Minimum Personal Draw
* Short Term/Long Term sales
* Growth goal

Products and Services
Every venture, business, organization or outfit exists for the production and distribution of a product or service. Every entrepreneur should note:

* What products and services you intend to provide
* The primary customer to be served
* Primary benefits the products and services will provide to the customers

Taking note of these fundamental points will help an entrepreneur consider how/his business fits into the overall market and why the business can be successful. When we were starting our Computer Training Centre we considered all these points even though we also had social goals and mission for the centre. We are also giving the same approach to The Youth Farm project.

Plan Of Action
After establishing a Business Plan a list of actions that will aid the implementation of the plan needs to be written.

Some actions, according to Michael, required are:
* receive investment money
* obtain loans
* acquire equipment
* build or obtain a facility
* open an office, including establishing telephone, computer, etc
* get business license
* develop marketing material
* begin marketing activities
* hire staff
* have first sale
* achieve major milestones

I am really used to making plan of action for every activity I intend to undertake. When we were starting our Computer Training Centre we had a list of plan of actions. My list was quite helpful. Apart from a list of action for starting it, I have also developed a projection list i.e. the growth plan for the centre. The same approach applied to The Youth farm Project. I have understood that if an entrepreneur follows his/her plan of action, he/she will have a business.

Hmmm! It's quite true that many people have prepared a business plan. Those who take daily action will have a business plan and a SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS!

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?

Interestingly, these ideas or lessons (as I have in question 2) are helping me already in my quest to unleash my entrepreneurial potentials. I see myself as an entrepreneur looking at their characteristics. And am also working towards becoming a great one indeed. My humble goal is to be one of the great young entrepreneurs in Africa i.e. an entrepreneurship role model. Am on that pathway already. I can't just stop dreaming of solving societal and economic problems. This course shares handy and sensible ideas to achieve my goals.

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

“Entrepreneurship is the art of turning dreams into reality”

This statement is quite fascinating and never had I seen such a realistic and succinct definition of ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

“Entrepreneurship is not a job… it is a way of thinking and an approach to work and opportunity”

I appreciate this statement. It makes me see and approach issues and opportunity in a new and better way.

“People who are motivated primarily by money frequently will not have the commitment needed to establish a successful business”

This does not mean that money is unimportant. It is needed to establish and run one's business plan. But entrepreneurs are not motivated by money but by the reality of their dreams.

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

The book was clear and there was nothing I did not understand.

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

Yes, I found all the class activities in the book helpful.

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.

A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
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

Communication Miracles for Couples
Assessment by Afere Lawrence (Nigeria)

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

The book offers communication techniques for couples. These techniques ensure continuous success for their relationship even in the midst of challenges or heat.

In a nutshell, the ideas that Robinson tries to convey through his book are:

• To help couples feel totally loved, no matter how upset or hurt a partner is
• To teach couples techniques that will help them never argue again
• Help them discuss their way past any problem and repair broken trust
• Find the best way to create lasting harmony and keep love alive

The book is divided into three sections. In part 1, “Creating Intimacy,” the author gives ideals of giving your partner what they most want from you. Part II, “Avoiding Fights,” informs us how to avoid pushing all the wrong buttons and provides us with specific methods to ensure we never need to argue again. Part III, “Solving Problems without Bruising Egos,” offers many practical ways to solve problems, create lasting love, and effectively change undesirable behavior.

The book contains realistic ideas that can help produce miracles in a marriage or relationship!

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.

What We Want (But Never Ask For)
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop It is true that we all want the three As: Acknowledgment, Appreciation, and Acceptance that Robinson talks about in this book. They are essential ingredients that convey love from one person to another. “If you want to have a great relationship,” says Robinson, “you will have to satisfy your partner’s needs for acknowledgement, appreciation, and acceptance. And the more effectively you can help him feel loved, the more loving he will be toward you.” The idea of these 3 As helps me clearly understand that:

a) When my partner is upset, I should make a deposit into her self-esteem bank account by acknowledging her perception of reality – even if I don’t agree with it. I should tell her am sorry she is in pain. Then communicate what I truly appreciate and respect about her.

b) Acceptance comes from recognizing my partner’s positive intention and her pain. As I learn to accept her even when I don’t like her behavior, I will be giving her and myself the gift of unconditional love.

c) By giving my mate (or anyone else that matter ) acknowledgement, appreciation and acceptance instead of blame, I will see a major change in how she listens and responds to me

Charming Your Partner’s Heart
“At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet” – Plato. A wonderful way to experience more love in a relationship, as I have learnt from this book, is to learn automatic ways to charm your partner’s heart. Every time we charm our partner’s heart, we are making a ‘loving deposit’ into our shared love account. Our shared love account is like a bank balance you share together. When things are going well, there is a lot of love put into ‘savings.’ When both partners consistently make deposits into their shared account, they feel abundantly in love. If the account goes to Zero their feelings for each other can become bankrupt. Dealing with problems is often like making a withdrawal from our shared love account. If the challenge is easily resolved, it is a small withdrawal. If the problem creates a big, messy, ugly scene, you can create the equivalent of a bounced check.

Robinson says ‘it’s much easier to handle problems when there’s an abundance of love in your love account. Therefore, make frequent deposits of love in your relationship account by charming your partner’s heart. He says we should do the little actions that make a big difference in how your partner feels. It will immediately help both of you feel wonderfully intimate, and, when problems arise, you will have plenty of love banked to help you ride out of the storm

The idea of ‘Charming Your Partner’s Heart” helps me understand:

a) People have specific, simple things that can be done or said to them to make them immediately feel loved/charmed

b) You can find out how to easily charm your partner’s heart by requesting she remember times she felt fully loved and asking specifically what made her know you really loved her

c) When couples consistently take the actions that charm each other’s heart, it creates an abundance of love in their shared “love account” which makes it much easier to handle problems when they arise

Would You Rather Be Right Or Be Loved
“The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice” – George Eliot
This idea explains that if you want a happy and loving relationship, you are going to have to give up something: your insistence on being right. The author explains that when we insist on being right, what we indirectly communicate to our partner is that they are wrong. You simply can’t insist on being right (a form of blame) and have intimacy. Robinson says it is like trying to have complete darkness and light in the same room. If we are willing to let go of being right, we can easily experience plenty of love, harmony, and fulfillment in our relationship.

From this idea, I have learnt:

* Intimacy requires that we let go of being right and let go of blaming our partner. When we blame our partner, their blame detector is triggered, and they can’t hear anything we say

* To get out of the blame mode, Mr. Robinson says we should ask ourselves: “what is likely to happen if I insist on being right? Would I feel loved or be right? What is something I especially like about my partner?

* If you realize you’d rather blame your partner than feel love, go into a separate room and let out your anger. Then see if you are ready to proceed through the three questions above. I have seen my dad do this each time he gets angry at my mum. He goes into his room and calms himself for some minutes and he comes out all fury gone! I don’t know if my dad asks himself the questions above.

The Best Way To Create Lasting Harmony
“Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God”
The Bible, Matthew 5:9. The best way to create lasting harmony in a relationship, as this book teaches, is for couples (seeking harmony in the modern age) to learn how to create and negotiate their own rules. According to the author, there used to be certain culturally defined rules about how to handle most of the challenges couples face. Men made the money to pay the bills; women did the housework and took care of the children; divorce was not an option. In the last thirty years, all the standards on which relationships lived in the past have broken down. With the breakdown of rigid rules, more equality and freedom of choice is possible. Rules, or agreed upon ways of doing things, help to create harmony by making it clear how to handle touchy situations. With this, the author affirms that since our cultural rules have broken down, a couple seeking harmony in the modern age must learn how to create and negotiate their own rules.

Robinson advises couples to effectively communicate their rules to themselves and learn about their expectations toward each other so as to help create long-term harmony in their relationship. From this idea of “The Best Way to create lasting harmony” I learnt:

a) Rules are beliefs about what needs to happen in order for you to feel a certain way. When your rules differ from those of your partner, problems occur until you can work out mutually satisfactory agreement

b) To disclose your own rules or to find out your partner’s rules, ask “what does it take, or specifically what has to happen in order for me (or you) to feel good about (fill in the appropriate area)?

c) Whenever you and your mate repeatedly have tension or problems about a certain aspect of your relationship, find out what each of you want or need in this area to feel satisfied.

How To Get Your Partner To Really Change
“My favorite enemy, the one most easily influenced for the better, is the British Empire. But my most formidable opponent is a man named Mohandas K. Gandhi. With him I seem to have very little influence.” - Mohandas K. Gandhi

People don’t like to change. Change is hard. Change is work. As individuals, sometimes we find it difficult to make some required changes. At the beginning of a New Year we make New Year’s resolutions and before we know it, it’s all forgotten. Change is hard! Can we now imagine how another person feels when you request him to change something about himself? When we ask someone to change implies he/she is imperfect or defective – something no one’s sense of self or ego wants to admit. Therefore, if we want our partner to change a particular behavior that bothers us, Robinson advises us to be careful how we handle such a delicate operation. He says “if you handle it perfectly, your partner will respond to your request and do her best to adapt to your needs. But one false move (or statement) and she’ll dig in her heels and stay the way she has always been.”

He also counsels that since no one likes to change, we should avoid asking our partners to do so unless something really bothers us. Before asking our partners to change, Robinson says we should ask ourselves, “Is there any way I can adapt or change so my partner’s behavior doesn’t bother me so much?”

From this idea, I learnt that to change my partner:

a) It is important to carefully prepare her for hearing a request that she change her behavior. And I should say it at a good time.

b) The acronym “A PI SWAP” represents how to ask my partner to change. First, I should appreciate her. Then, state my Positive Intention for requesting this change. Third, say what I will like to change in specific detail. And lastly, ask my partner for her input.

Negotiate Your Way Past Any Problem
You’re either part of the solution, or you’re part of the problem.” – Eldridge Cleaver

From the idea of Negotiating Your Way Past Any Problem I learnt that:

a) Most couples have to keep dealing with the same old problems, because they never come to a specific agreement as to how to resolve anything. To avoid this mess, learn to negotiate agreements that work for both partners.

b) To resolve a problem with your partner, begin with the “A PI SWAP” method. Then remember to add two additional steps: Brainstorm experimental solutions you’d be willing to try, and once you agree on something, declare it as a done deal

c) Keep the conversation focused toward searching for solutions by asking, “Considering my needs and desires with this issue, what do you propose that might satisfy both our needs?” keep negotiating back and forth with your partner until you both agree on a compromise solution.

Keep Love Alive Long Term
“Everybody is bound to bear patiently the results of their own example.” – Phaedrus
In order to keep love alive in our marital relationship, Robinson recommends three simple practices which I agree with.

First, periodically do special things for your partner. It’s the simple things, done consistently that count most. This is a way of making some deposits into the shared love account. And this will add immensely to the relationship.

The second practice that leads to long-term love is the ability to communicate in a loving and effective manner.

The third prescription for maintaining a loving relationship is what Robinson calls weekly housecleaning. It is a time set aside each week to clean up any resentments or problems that have accumulated in the relationship. During this time, couples work to bring down any walls that are blocking the flow of love. According to the author, this weekly cleaning ritual can make a world of difference.

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?

Reading this book at this phase of my life (still a bachelor) has graciously helped me to view the challenges in marriage and has equipped me with some principles to handle them when I join the clique of the married men. I really desire an ever-loving marital relationship. I intend to raise a loving Christian family. To realize this aim I have to put some principles into practice. Some I have learnt from this book. When I raise a loving family I am indirectly contributing to the growth of the society and the entire world. The family unit is the most important unit in the society. That was why Mother Theresa admonished those that wished to change the world to go back home and love their families. She understood that family is critical to the well-being of the society. I hope that someday I shall marry a loving lady and begin to raise a loving family by the grace of God and also put some of these principles to use.

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

“It’s a shame that in school we get to learn how to speak a foreign language and even how to “talk” to a computer – but fail to learn how to skillfully communicate in an intimate relationship.”

It is necessary we learn how to communicate skillfully if we intend to have a successful relationship.

“When you know how to give your partner exactly what they want, intimacy deepens and a lot of problems simply disappear all by themselves.”

What our partner mostly wants is 3As – Appreciation, Acknowledgement and Acceptance

“Words can be like magic spells. Say the wrong set of words and your partner can turn into any angry monster. Weave the right words together, and your partners can quickly become a loving prince or princess.”

When we master the magic of effective communication, we will create mere intimacy and harmony in our relationship.

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, the book contains exercises for the reader to complete. But I did not complete them because they are meant to be complete by couples.

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.

I have made the necessary comment in the previous questions.

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

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

Change The World
Assessment by Afere Lawrence

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

For anyone or organization that wishes to achieve great personal and organizational performance or for an individual that desires to positively transform her/his friends, relatives, husband or wife; even the world with this book 'CHANGE THE WORLD', Quinn (the author) clearly explains how you can make this a reality without leading to resentment. He explains how leaders, managers, parents and everyone else who wants to make a difference can do it.

CHANGE THE WORLD presents eight (8) principles that each of us can follow to make individual and organizational change happen. These principles are:
i. Envision the Productive Community;
ii. First Look Within;
iii. Embrace the Hypocritical Self;
iv. Transcend Fear;
v. Embody a Vision of the Common Good;
vi. Disturb the System;
vii. Surrender to the Emergent Process and
viii. Entice Through Moral Power

These teachings are inspired by the teachings of Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. These are three historical leaders who successfully used personal change to change the world.
Quinn introduces these principles with motivational quotations from these three leaders. He also uses stories from everyday events to explain how ordinary people can learn to apply themselves in extraordinary ways. All chapters of this book are fascinating and thought-provoking. They are actually mind cleansing ointment.

In a simple way, this book shows us how we can change the world beginning from 'self'. Highly remarkable!

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.

A. ENVISION THE PRODUCTIVE COMMUNITY

JESUS: Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of Gentiles exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. [Matthew 20:25-27]

GANDHI: [I]n the orthodox army, there is a clear distinction between officer and private…. In a nonviolent army, the general is just the chief servant-first among equals. [Iyer, 1990, p. 257]

KING: [N]onviolent resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent but to win his friendship and understanding…. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.
[King, (1968) 1986, pp. 7-8]

A productive community is built on nonviolence change/leadership principles that these great sages share. The three quotations cited above suggest a different picture of human community or leadership in an organization. The 3 change agents have a system of relationships in which the members share a common purpose and each works for the benefit of all. This is what ensures productive communities i.e. service unto one another. Am quick to say this is a great need for Africa's development!

B. FIRST LOOK WITHIN

JESUS: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceives not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. [Luke 6:41-42]

GANDHI: The function of violence is to obtain reform by external means; the function of passive resistance, that is 'soul-force,' is to obtain [reform] by growth from within; which in turn is obtained by self-suffering, and self-purification. [Iyer, 1990, p. 90]

KING: The words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory. “I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter….” Almost at once my fears began to pass from me. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me inner calm…. I knew now that God is able to give us the interior resources to face the storms and problems of life.
[King, (1968) 1986, p. 509]

These statements truly express that every change begins from within. In the normalized world, the common approach to change is to tell a person to change. If the person fails to respond, then we find some way to coerce them into changing. It is at such times that these above statements come to mind, suggesting that we might better understand and influence others if we first gained a deeper understanding of ourselves. By changing what is happening within us, we gain power to more effectively change the world. Clearly, organizational or national change cannot occur unless we accept the pain of personal change.

C. EMBRACE THE HYPOCRITICAL SELF

JESUS: So when they continued asking him, he lifted himself up, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. [John 8:7-9]

GANGHI: [Modern organized artificially… cannot have any accord with true simplicity of heart. Where the two do not correspond, there is always either gross self-deception or hypocrisy. [Iyer, 1990, p. 108]

KING: It is the method which seeks to implement the just law by appealing to conscience of the great, decent majority who through blindness, fear, pride, or irrationality have allowed their consciences to sleep. [King, (1968) 1986, pp. 148-149]

According to Quinn, the three sacred servants all express a profound awareness of how hypocrisy operates in the change process. Gandhi tells us that in the organizing process there is a tendency for the self to split. We embrace what he calls “modern artificiality” that is, the truth as defined by the external world at any given moment, and ignore the truth of our conscience. Dr. King tells us that there is a tendency, even for the 'great, decent majority,' to be externally driven, that is, failing to live in accord with their conscience. With most change, it is a challenge to awaken the conscience.

D. TRANSCEND FEAR
JESUS: When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. [John 6:15]

GANDHI: [E]very man has to obey the voice of his own conscience, and be his own master and seek the Kingdom of God from within. For him there is no government that can control…. [Iyer, 1990, p. 92]

KING: First, we must unflinchingly face our fears and honestly ask ourselves why we are afraid. This confrontation will, to some measure, grant us power. We shall never be cured of fear by escapism or repression, for the more we attempt to ignore and repress our fears, the more we multiply our inner conflicts.
[King, (1968) 1986, pp. 511]

These are thought-provoking statement. From these them I learnt the following:
* How to be internally and not externally driven
* We should remain very clear about who we are and what results we want
* External focus can shape our lives or divert us from our true purpose
* To be internally driven one has to listen to one's conscience
* Most of us are driven by fear of what will happen to us if we fail to conform to the system
* We need to bring those fears to the surface and face them head on. Transformation leaders/change agents have many fears and they are willingly to admit and bring them to the surface for the needed solution.

E. EMBODY A VISION OF THE COMMON GOOD
JESUS: This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. [John 15:12-13]

GANDHI: Fundamental to Gandhi's thinking was his belief in the goodness of the individual. He believed that individuals want to work for the common good. That is why he called on people to make sacrifices to achieve independence and uplift the poor and why he appealed to the sense of honor and conscience of those who opposed him. As a result, many heeded his call for sacrifice, and his opponents, though skeptical at first, always treated him with courtesy and respect. [Nair, 1994, p. 98]

KING: I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed-we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
[King, (1968) 1986, pp. 219]

These breath-taking statements emphasize the necessity for the change agent to embody the core values and common good of the productive community.

To make change happen in any setting, Jesus teaches us to love one another as He has loved us. This means that every transformational change agent, be it child, parent, coach, consultant, or CEO, must understand and embody the core value of love, not just give lip service. Jesus, Gandhi and King all understood this concept. Each was striving to be a living symbol of what the collective needed to become. Gandhi believed that people want to work for the collective good and he 'called on people to make sacrifices to achieve independence and uplift the poor'. He not only made this call in words but at every turn he embodied the values. He became a living symbol of what he envisioned. King called for a country in which each person had the courage to embody the value of equality. When the transformational change agents embody the vision, they attract productive community into being.

F. DISTURB THE SYSTEM

JESUS: [T]hey shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into the prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake…. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to put to death. [Luke, 21:12:16]

GANDHI: I know that in embarking on non-violence I shall be running what might be termed a mad risk. But the victories of truth have never been won without risks, often of the gravest character. [Payne, 1969, p. 385]

KING: In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: (collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, 2) negotiation, 3) self-purification and 4) direct action. [King, (1968) 1986, pp. 290]

Throughout this book, Quinn emphasized that to bring about change we need to transcend our scripts. But going outside our scripts involves risk. Risk means stepping forward into uncertainty, danger, or even peril. Quinn explains two kinds of risk that are involved in transcending our scripts: first are the psychological risks which involves the personal fears associated with letting go of an old self or a familiar way of working. Second are the social risks. These involve a transformational act that will disturb the social system.

Here, Jesus points out what will happen if people assess emergent reality and behave with increased personal integrity. Gandhi also understands, from his statement above, that transformational change agents are often sabotaged, humiliated, fired, or assassinated. Dr. King shares four steps in his change strategy. He tells us that after engaging in the normalized process of data collection and negotiation, we must move to the transformational process of self-purification and direct action. This is important.

G. SURRENDER TO THE EMERGENT PROCESS

JESUS: But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake…. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. [Matthew 10:17-19]

GANDHI: History teaches us that men who are in the whirlpool …. Will have to work out their destiny within it. [Iyer, 1990, p. 89]

KING: Heraclitus argued that justice emerges from the strife of opposites, and Hegel … preached a doctrine of growth through struggle. It is both historically and biologically true that there can be no birth and growth without pains. Whenever there is emergence of the new we confront the recalcitrance of the old. [King, (1968) 1986, pp. 135]

In the above statements, each of the sacred servants describes a disturbed or disrupted system and an emergent process.

Dr. King recognizes that improvement can only emerge from the interaction of oppositions. He indicates that growth emerges from struggle and from pain. Pain has been known to be a part of development. People, especially great coaches, always say 'No Pain, no gain.' Yet, because growth is painful and because our normal idea is to avoid pain i.e. refusal to surrender to the emergent process, we sometimes avoid the path to growth.

Gandhi understood that fundamental decisions create a turbulent whirlpool and that it is within such a whirlpool that people grow most.

Jesus tells his disciples that their behavior will disturb the system and they will be brought to stand before authority figures. He then advises them not to worry but to trust the process i.e. surrender to the emergent process.

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

I see myself as a change agent in my family, community, nation and the world. This is why I find this book exhilarating and helpful. Quinn has really demonstrated in this book through practical stories from transformational change agents how I can truly and sensibly become transformational every day of my life. Day by day I seize opportunities to put the principles he shares in this book.

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

“We do not need to be in positions of high authority to be transformational. In fact, we need to have no authority except the authority of our own souls. We are all change agents. Holding a position of authority has little or nothing to do with our ability to access the transformational process. Being transformational is not about position but about values, thoughts, and behaviours. We become transformational change agents through choice - our own. ” Pp 25

So many of us in Africa have an erroneous belief about change making. We believe it is only when we occupy positions of authority before we assume the transformational responsibility. Quinn answers it all. We do not need to hold positions before we make positive change happen. In fact, we create positions (which never existed) for ourselves when we begin to use our values, thoughts and behaviours to make change happen in our family, community, nation and world.

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?

No, the book does not contain any exercise.

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.

I find exciting to specially comment on the following quotation from A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson, which Quinn quoted in this book. I now have this quotation taped to the mirror in my room. I also learnt that Nelson Mandela, the man who transformed South Africa, included this piece in one of his speeches.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
[Williamson, 1994, p. 165]

This piece simply explains all that Quinn tries to explain in this book. This piece is outstanding!

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 - 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 9
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9

Getting Funded
Assessment by Afere Lawrence (Nigeria)

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

The main idea that the authors convey in this book is how an individual or organization can successfully write a grant proposal. This book shares ideas for how to prepare effective proposal looking at the basic steps of Getting Started, Assessing Your Capability, Developing the Idea, Selecting the Funding Source, Writing the Proposal, Writing the Purpose Statement, Writing the Statement of Need, Following Procedures and Evaluation, Budgeting and carrying out Review, Submission, Notification, and Renewal.

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. To write an effective proposal, I should first build a profile of my project.

This means identifying the basic characteristics of the project am seeking to fund. This will help guide the planning that is essential before actually writing an application. Also, knowing the project profile will help me assess my capability, document the need for the project, identify similar efforts in the past and search for likely sources of support. To begin building a profile, the following questions are essential: what is the function of the project you are proposing? Is your project unique? In what field is your project? Who will benefit from your project? What are the geographical parameters of your project?

ii. That assessing my capability is essential.

From personal experience and with what have learnt in this book, writing a proposal takes quite a bit work and expense. So, it is advisable for one to ask him/herself early in the process: “Do I really want to do this?” and “Can I be sufficiently competitive to make my investment of time, effort and money worthwhile?” also important, one needs to honestly answer the question “If funded, will this proposal help implement my organization’s mission?” answering these questions provides a checklist to help determine one’s general capability to engage in successful grantsmanship.

iii. To write an effective grant proposal, it is important I know how to develop my idea for a proposal especially through gathering of data and building the support and involvement of others. I can achieve this through assessing the need i.e. an articulation of the need for the work to be done, defining the approaches for meeting the need, document the need i.e. provide statistical data for the need and build support and involvement i.e. involving internal and external stakeholders in developing the project idea

iv. In selecting funders I should examine what distinguishes one type from another, know how to identify and research funders appropriate for my proposal idea and initiate a relationship prior to submitting my proposal.

v. In writing my proposal I should put the following tips into due consideration:

* Develop a thorough outline of my proposal before writing the first draft. Then write the entire first draft before editing

* Include as much information as possible in my first draft to ensure that I don’t leave things out

* I should use language that hooks the reader’s interest early in the proposal.

* Use language familiar to the funder

* Make it obvious early in the proposal that your project matches the interests of the funding agency

* Make certain your proposal gives obvious answers to essential questions

* Be logical and linear in your presentation.

* Have a statistical experimental design that provides for an adequate number of samples to be evaluated

* Observe the page limitation

* Pay close attention to instructions

vi. In writing my purpose statement and need, I should present what I want to accomplish with the funds am seeking. Locally, the statement of need or the problem then answers the question, “why?”

vii. Budget.

This is an important part of every proposal. Its preparation is a vital final check in clarifying the practicality of the proposed project. One should prepare a budget carefully understanding its relationship to the proposed plan of action by following these processes:

Step 1: Identify the total cost of the project,

Step 2: Arrange items by category, by timeframe, and by anticipated source;

Step 3: Transfer your data into the format requested by the funder

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 received this book long ago I have used the guides in it to develop proposals that were really successful. Its ideas are inexhaustible and pragmatic. Each time I have a grant proposal to write I will always make use of the lessons in it.

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.

“Individuals and organizations with the creativity, drive, perseverance, and capacity to submit successful requests not only deserve the additional resources and prestige that grants can bring, but they are a primary means of creating desirable social change.” Pp X

The authors remind us for any individual or organization to be successful at any goal or target, creativity, drive and perseverance are essential.

“A well-planned and well-written proposal is essential if you are to receive funding.” P 59

The authors remind us that planning and orderliness are important for the successful achievement of any task. This is not limited to writing grant proposals.

“If your purpose statement is not clear and compelling, matched to the grantmaker’s interests, and appropriate to the scale of the project, it is unlikely that your proposal will be funded. Having a clear idea about what you want to achieve is critical to the writing of all other parts of an application and lack of clarity here can doom the proposal.” P 81

The authors remind us that a sense of direction is critical to any achievement. To paraphrase Alice in the Wonderland, “If you don’t know where you are going, then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

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

No

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

No

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

A Word To Beginners

The authors use this piece to advice persons who have never written a proposal and are tempted to give up looking at the task it involves. They sometimes ask themselves “Is it really worth the effort to pursue the idea any further? The authors inform them not to give up for the following reasons: the preparation and submission of the proposal is of benefit to you even if the first attempt to get it funded fails. Experience only comes with trying. During each failure you gain valuable information and insight into how to improve future applications. Eventually this pays off. And the time and effort invested in preparing a proposal that is of real interest to you can pay off in other ways. You may find that a well-planned proposal that is strongly endorsed by your agency can be implemented, albeit more slowly, with the use of internal funds. And the effort in identifying prior research and related work may be translatable into a successful professional publication.

Also, there are many things you can do to improve apparent areas of weakness.

• You can become more realistic in choosing likely sources of support. Going through the application process can help direct you to sources where the competition may be less keen, such as a discretionary fund within the organization itself, awards from state agencies, smaller or regional private foundations, local businesses and service clubs, or small grant programs within federal agencies

• You can invite a more experienced colleague to serve as principal investigator or lead consultant in the application. This is a time-honoured approach to help secure funds for ideas of interest to less experienced persons.

• You can collaborate with another agency that has the requisite support services, experience or reputation in the project area. By joining enthusiasm with experience, this team approach is often successful.

• You can ask a better-qualified organization to serve as “fiscal sponsor” for your project.

Every year, individuals and organizations that have never before sought external funds submit successful proposals. With proper homework and thought, you can, too.

Ratings:

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? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

Demystifying Grant Seeking
Assessment by Afere Lawrence (Nigeria)

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

Demystifying Grant Seeking teaches what to do to get the grants an individual or organization needs by offering practical advice on the subject matter. The book clearly defines the principles that underpin a successful grant-seeking process and outlines a five-step system that will enhance grant-seeking efforts for fundraisers. Demystifying Grant Seeking offers a framework that gives one the tools to:

* Discover the true needs of a community and what makes an organization’s work meaningful and important
* Learn how to make a formal request for funds
* Manage the relationship that could help or hinder a proposal
* Organize a follow-up process and make it productive
* Appraise opportunities

The book teaches one new way of operating and seeking grants with efficiency and integrity.

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.

Grants are part of almost every non-profit’s world. They can be a substantial and meaningful funding source for many kinds of projects and organizations. And they can be a source of great hope and excitement.

At the same time few subjects in nonprofit management are surrounded by such fear and mystery. Some tasks are faced with such dread as writing and submitting grant proposals.

As important as these ideals are to me the book teaches us to free ourselves of these common misconceptions about grant seeking and get a more realistic idea of what we should and should not expect from the process.

The following, which are the most important ideas to me, are the common myths and reality about grant seeking illustrated in this book:

i. Myth: Grants are something for nothing

Reality: Grants are rational deals between colleagues

Grants are not free money. Grant makers are organizations like any nonprofit organization. They have missions and goals just as nonprofit organizations do. Funders award grants because what the grant recipients plan to do with the money fits in with the funders’ own goals, initiatives, and dreams – and with the funder’s stated wishes.

Having read this book, I now see grant as a fair deal between colleagues whose interests are similar but whose resources are different. An example, according to the book, might be housing the homeless. The funder has money to use for work toward the goal. The nonprofit organization has the capability to do the work, with shelter space, expert staff, connections with health care providers, and so on. The nonprofit organization performs the work in exchange for the money. The nonprofit organization and its programs have a value that is equal to grant money. It is important for a nonprofit organization to recognize this value and this will enable it prepare a proposal that fits the funder’s goals just as well as its.

ii. Myth: Writing grant proposals is an ordeal

Reality: Proposal writing is predictable and simple

All grant applications involve just one basic activity: responding to a set of questions about your nonprofit organization and its programs. This set of questions varies little from funder to funder. Some of these common questions are:

• Who and how many people will be served by the program?
• How will the effectiveness of the program be evaluated?
• What other organizations do you collaborate with?
• What other funds have you sought?

Answering these basic questions is easy and straightforward for those who know their organization and its programs well.

According to the authors, the experience of grant writing as an ordeal – staying up all night, agonizing and racing the envelope to FedEx at the last second – comes not from the nature of grant seeking but from predictable situations at nonprofit that are desperate for money but ill-prepared to answer key questions. When we know our organizations well, and programs are fully designed and ready for grant seeking, the actual writing of grant proposals turns out to be easy.

iii. Myth: All you need is one well-written grant proposal

Reality: Winning grants depends on pinpointing matches and tailoring proposals

The authors do not agree with writing a single proposal (boiler plate) that can be sent to many funders. A single proposal is right only for the funder for which it is written, and sending it to dozens of funders at once is usually a waste of resources.

They agree that grant proposals all have similar elements, and a handful of funders even accept common grant applications forms, which save administrative time for applicants. However, every proposal, even one submitted on a common form, should have at least a cover letter that points out how the program in question specifically matches with the funder’s mission and goals.

iv. Myth: You need to “know someone” to get a grant.

Reality: You don’t need to know anyone to start, and relationships can be built as you go.

It is true that relationships are crucial to foundation fundraising. However, the crucial relationships in steady, systematic grant seeking are not personal friendships. According to the authors, they are business relationships built on confidence and mutual regard – the elements necessary to work together in a significant way. Most often the case is different in my country, Nigeria where you are extorted before processing your grant application or after your grants have been given.

Have learnt that a fundraiser should learn how to initiate and cultivate a relationship with funders in a businesslike way without selling your soul. An efficient grant seeker sends a steady stream of good information to funders without going overboard. Grant seekers should develop an evolving relationship of collaboration in which they consistently provide proof that their organizations are a responsible and effective partner in a potential funder’s efforts. Such relationships can position their organizations to be a serious candidate for very significant grants.

v. Myth: Grants are too inconsistent to deserve the attention of fundraising staff

Reality: Grants are consistently useful for certain projects and needs

It is not advisable for an organization to balance its livelihood on one big grant. The organization could fall if that grant gets used up or withdrawn

Having a large grant early in its cycle can catapult an organization through all the difficulties of a slow grassroots start-up, but it can just as easily lead an organization to delude itself about the kind of fundraising it needs to do.

Under current foundation practices, grants are most often given to the following:
* to start up new projects
* make major expansions to existing projects in new locations
* meet one-time capital or program needs
* build an organization’s internal capacity to carry out its mission
* fund innovative communitywide initiatives and partnerships that join several nonprofit organizations or sectors

Some important areas of an organization’s needs never (under normal circumstances) be paid for by a grant. These may include administrative staffing, maintenance of buildings, insurance, and ongoing expenses for a successful program that is not changing, expanding, or spinning off in any way.

Funders do not want grant seekers to become overly reliant on them over the long term.

vi. Myth: Grants are few, huge and national

Reality: Grants are most often small, numerous and local

Grants are medium-sized gifts that come from the same local and regional foundations every year

Grants can be bread-and-butter grants, which are recurring opportunities, usually from local or regional sources, and icing-on-the-cake grants, which are large, often one-time opportunities

Bread-and-butter grants provide an opportunity to increase grant income year after year

Icing-on-the-cake, super grants should be approached only occasionally, that is, when your organization fits the guidelines and the opportunity seems very strong

vii, Myth: Taking grant funding means selling out your program

Reality: You control your programs, and you can select donors that fit with your mission

Iii-prepared grant seekers may struggle to create a program that fits the guideline of a specific funder when a big grant opportunity arises

A grant seeker will only sell its soul or corrupt its mission if he approaches grant seeking only when it’s financially desperate and willing to take any and all suggestions from funders, hoping that if they comply they will get funded

A grant seeker should conduct a steady, year-round grant seeking effort. This will make them gain control over the process. This will allow them select whom they will approach as a potential funder, based on any criteria they wish, and also select how much funding they will ask for and when.

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 new knowledge about the reality of grant seeking will give me an edge at it when am applying for grants. Now I understand that to get started and get grants I don’t need to stay up all night to prepare a proposal at once. What I need is a system with a new attitude. I have acquired from these ideas that a system will carry me through months and years of productive grant seeking.

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

“The key to maintaining the integrity of your programs lies in your choices about whom you apply to and how you work.” Pg15

Maintaining integrity in a nonprofit is imperative if we intend to develop a continued relationship with great funders. I recall training – about social work - I attended some times ago. The speaker, who is a founder of a major NGO in Africa, shared with us his experience of returning the excess of the grant his NGO received from an international donor. And based on this action the donor instantly pledged to become a yearly donor for his NGO. How we work or operate our NGO determines the level of our integrity. Putting basic/fundamental principles (maybe at the commencement stage) in place can help a great deal. I have also discovered basic level of integrity in IIGL. For instance, its financial accounts are posted to the website annually. And members are also encouraged to ask for it at will.

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?

No, the book does not contain any exercise.

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 – 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

Why True Love Waits
Assessment by Afere Lawrence (Nigeria)

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

‘Why True Love Waits’ is a reader-friendly, easy-to-use reference text addressing, from a biblical perspective, the crisis of adolescent premarital sex in our world today. The book is a rich treasure of relevant information revealing statistics, and pertinent insights on the adolescent sex crisis.

Also, the book contains:

* Comprehensive research and documentation on adolescent premarital sex crisis and its roots and reveals why this crisis must be urgently and pointedly addressed

* Heartbreaking letters and gripping anecdotes from Christian young people who are being pressured by our sex oriented culture and media to compromise the Bible’s teaching to wait for sex until marriage

* Benefits of waiting till marriage before engaging in sexual act

* Practical, relevant steps one can take to help youth resist sexual pressure in a culture which communicates, “If it feels good, do it.”

Every youth needs to read or hear the content of this book. I feel unhappy when I see teenagers in my community become pregnant outside of marriage which terminates their education. The present generation needs to learn how to say a convincing NO to premarital sex. When I began to read this book I felt a urge to begin to teach it to the young people in my community. Every Sunday evening, till now, I gather them to read the book. The participants are mostly young girls, which am delighted about because they are most vulnerable in this regard.

‘Why True Love Wait’ is a definitive book on how to help young people resist sexual pressure. It is an easy reference tool for parents, youth workers, sex education teachers, educators, students and the likes.

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 author shares the following opinions, which are important to me, in the book:

Why does true love wait? Our youth want answers

* Many young Christians struggle with the questions: “Do I have to stop having sex with my girlfriend in order to become a Christian?”

* Some also have the opinion that engaging in sex add a deeper level of meaning to their already good relationship

* Some say “Since am fully committed to my partner, having premarital sex should not be a problem. And that prohibitions against premarital sex seem a bit archaic in light of advanced birth control methods and changing views about sex in our culture

* Christian youth accept the Bible’s authority on many issues but struggle when it comes to morality and lifestyle choices. They are aware that the bible places clear limitations on sexual activity, but they consider these limitations merely old-fashioned, overly strict rules for a different time and a different culture

* Our youth need to understand the reason they should not engage in illicit sex

* There is a devastating consequences of extramarital sex – consequences such as guilt, pain, unwanted pregnancy, and even death and disease

* God says no to premarital sex because he loves us enough to protect us from harm and provide for our good

God’s Definition of True Love

* Most youth are working from a counterfeit standard of love – one that says love permits sex without boundaries, outside of God’s definition of love

* What is God’s definition of true love? In 1 Corinthians, apostle Paul gives a good description of what love does and does not do:

- Love is patient
- Love is kind
- Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude
- Love does not demand its own way
- Love is not irritable
- Love does not keep record of when it has been wronged
- Love is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out

I Corinthians 13:4-6

* With these attributes of true love as indicated by the Bible, the author derives a concise statement defining love, “Love is making the security, happiness, and welfare of another person as important as your own.” This is the kind of love that protects the loved one from harm and provides for his or her good.

* True love demonstrates to us that anyone who uses love as a justification for premarital sex is not speaking out of love at all

* Young people need to understand these standards for true love. They should not be condemned but shown love and forgiveness. They should be assured they are special in God’s eyes. In our Sunday evening with the teenagers in my community I do not just tell them “no sex”, my major discuss is “why” they should wait. And I do this with love and care. It is always interesting when we all share our opinions and experiences on this subject and eventually reach a unanimous conclusion. Some of them have begun to have a renewed understanding of this subject. Interestingly, these teenagers now learn greatly from my past experience and mistakes about premarital sex (which used to condemn me). Am happy now that am using my seemingly negative past on premarital sex to make a huge difference in the lives of these teenagers. Obviously, just as I was years ago, these children are ignorant of the devastating emotional, physical, relational and medical reasons to wait.

Adolescent Premarital Sex: The High Cost to Youth

* The threat of sexually transmitted diseases and the possibility of complications from pregnancy.

* “Approximately 12 million new cases of STDs occur annually, three million of them teenagers. Each year, nearly one million teenagers become pregnant, about one-third of whom decide to abort their babies.” - Medical Institute for Sexual Health (MISH)

- Negative impact it has on a young person and her or his lifetime partner.
- The cost of another life through abortion
- Young women at greater risk

Adolescent Premarital Sex: The high cost to society

* There is a high price of the adolescent premarital sex crisis on the rest of us – the families, churches, schools, and communities involved with these young people

* Personally, I have seen some young ladies die of HIV/AIDs in my community. I felt sober on each tragic occasion

* Also, according to the author, when society step in to underwrite the expenses associated with sexually transmitted diseases, teen pregnancy and abortion, teen mothers on welfare, or the care of the children, the government pays from the tax

* Sacrifice of human lives through abortion is a high cost to our society. In our society, countless unborn human beings pay the ultimate price for their parents’ sexual irresponsibility: death through abortion

Reasons kids don’t wait for sex

* Puberty: a body equipped for sex. Because they are hormonally and physically capable of having sex.
* Early date; early sex
* Alcohol and drugs which weaken defenses against premarital sex
* Birth control i.e the use of contraceptives: the myth of safe sex
* The culture’s motto “If it feels good, do it.”
* The wrong notion that sex is a prove of true love
* The distorted media
* The need for love which sometimes is lacking at home
* Searching for love, intimacy, security and self-esteem, companionship
* Pressure to conform and to be popular and others

Reasons Kids Should wait for sex
* God’s protection and provision

* To avoid Sexually Transmitted Diseases

* Protection from emotional pitfalls of premarital sex e.g guilt, performance-based sex, misleading feelings about sex and love, addiction to sex, hardships of breaking up, poor self-image, etc

* Provision for emotional wholeness in future marriage e.g provision for maturity, provision of genuine love, provision of respect for one’s body, provision of dignity, provision for intimacy e.t.c

* Provision for spiritual blessing for sexual purity e.g provision of the blessing of patience, blessing of trust and Jesus to fill the void

How to help our kids wait for sex

* We, especially parents, should develop a nurturing relationship with kids

* According to the author, a parent and child connection equals reduced sexual involvement.

* We should communicate acceptance, lavish them with appreciation, parents should be available to their kids, establish accountability with them, listen to them and display affection towards them

- Encourage an intimate relationship with Christ
- Parents should teach and model moral values at home
- We should help kids to develop the strength to say NO.
- We should help kids determine standards for dating
- We should offer forgiveness and provide hope when kids blow 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?

Beyond helping me to make some personal decisions about this subject, I have begun to use the lessons in the book to help some young people in my community to renew their lives, and renew their actions. Certainly, they have begun to invest in their future, especially lifetime commitment in a marital relationship. I believe good things will happen in this direction.

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

So many words that could go for quotes got my attention in this book. Every page contains a breath-taking moment and makes me sigh. There would be no space if I decided to quote them. But the following words are worth noting:

“One of my most important talks for young people is on self-image. I tell them, “In God’s eyes, you are special.” And within the context of our love and acceptance, our kids need reasons to wait. It’s not enough to tell them “no sex”; we must lovingly and clearly share with them why.”

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 do not disagree with anything in the book

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

No, the book does not contain any exercise.

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 scope of the author was limited mostly to happenings about the subject in the U.S.A. I would love it if the author could broaden his scope and findings to the entire globe. It’s possible! If we could contact the author, we could inform him to do a review of the book with this broader scope. Certainly, it will help educators, young people, and parents etc in other countries to understand what is going on about this subject in their own country. It’s an enormous task I must confess. It is possible, anyway. So, please lets write to the author, firstly to read this assessment and secondly, to consider the possibility of reviewing the book.

Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 – 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? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10

Wealth Without A Job
Assessment By Afere Alaba Lawrence (Nigeria)

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

In this book, the authors intelligently explain how an individual can:

a. Determine his true purpose so that he can choose a business that expresses his own values and passion

b. Understand the fundamental changes in today’s economy structure that virtually require self – actualizers to work for themselves

c. Discover and adopt the principles that separate the wealthy from the others

d. Earn the income that he wants from the work he loves.

The book also reveals:

a. The emotions that sabotage success in entrepreneurship and what one must do to minimize them while maximizing emotions proven to help one attain success.

b. Guidelines for turning stumbling block into stepping stones including launching your own business even if you are currently unemployed.

In a nutshell, wealth without a job shows the reader how to make the emotional and psychological adjustment required to become successful as their own boss.

2. What were the seven ideas which where personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as why it is as important to you. Use personal example.

I have learnt that:

A. Wealthy people are different. Some of the important differences are:

i. Wealthy people are decisive. This is because they have an enduring vision to guide their decisions and actions.

ii. Wealthy people take prudent risks. Poor people tend to be dominated by fear of making a mistake, so they rarely take risks.

iii. Wealthy people don’t work for money. Rather, they develop a self benefiting mind-set about money and receiving and do work that suits them.

iv. Wealthy people take responsibility. They do not blame their financial situation on themselves or anyone or anything else. Instead they take the steps necessary to change their own thinking and behavior to move ahead.

v. Wealthy people are good for the economy. They pay most of the taxes, create jobs, and make most of the charitable contributions.

vi. Wealthy people do not rely on luck.

I desire abundant wealth, and that makes these points vital to me. Surely, they have made a huge difference in my life since I have discovered them from IIGL curriculum.

B. Learning to earn the income you want from work you love gives one true financial success.

* There are devastating effects of doing work you don’t like, just for the money.

* Work you don’t like may feed you, but it will never nourish you.

* Working just for the money produces people who feel cheated, people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

* Earning the income you want from work you love is an act of defiance – it defies both parental conditioning and societal conditioning.

C. In order to achieve true success and gain wealth without a job one should understand the following fire key principles:

i. Know your outcome

ii. Develop sensory activity

iii. Develop mental and behavioral flexibility

iv. Operate from a physiology and psychology of excellence

v. Take massive action

D. To experience wealth without A job, you must go through an effective change. The three ingredients to effective change are: awareness, acceptance and action.

* Change is inevitable

* The questions are, are you making the changes you want or does change happen to you?

* Learn to use awareness, acceptance, and action so that changes are both favorable and the ones you choose.

* It is virtually impossible to change what you don’t know about.

* Acceptance includes accepting responsibility – responsibility for your income, success and satisfaction, without reliance on outside sources

* And take consistent effective behavior that moves you toward your goal.

E. Values motivate us all

* Each of us motivated differently

* To experience wealth without a job, we must be motivated some appropriate values.

* There are six reasons for everything people do:

i. Certainty
ii. Uncertainty or variety
iii. Significance
iv. Love or connection
v. Growth
vi. Contribution

* You must have a level of certainty to accomplish anything

* Conversely, you also must have uncertainty or variety in your life.

* All of us are more motivated to do tasks or achieve goals when we feel significant.

* In addition to feeling significant, we must feel a connection or love to the people we are dealing with.

* To be motivated, we must be growing and learning all the time. If we are not growing, we are stagnant. We stagnate, we actually move backward.

F. Mental flexibility is necessary for peak performance:

* Mental rigidity makes improvement difficult, perhaps impossible.

* The rigid mind is absorbed in justifying the past rather than improving the future

* Positive thinking can be used to improve mental flexibility

* The power affirmations allow access to the unconscious thinking that is limiting success.

* Mental flexibility changes a person’s thinking to facilitate accomplishment and to eliminate annoying internal chatter

* Mental flexibility through power affirmations and positive thinking improve our spirituality, self – esteem relationships, health, and finance and time management.

G. Taking massive action is necessary to achieve wealth without a job

* It’s great to have great goals.

* However, if you do not take action to achieve them, they are merely dreams

* Action is an integral part of success

* Action means doing more than is required and getting rid of the mentality of just doing enough to get by

* Massive action means being focused and continually taking action no matter what happens

* Challenges and obstacles always will get in one’s way. But we should use them as learning experiences.

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

The ideas written in these books are those I have nourished in my heart since I discovered my true purpose and vision for life – to use entrepreneurial skills to create socio – economic change in my community at large. These lessons learnt in this will also help me to achieve this vision.

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

“Work you love obviously possesses the potential of providing for greater intangible rewards, such as joy in doing and the satisfaction of contribution”

When I device ways to engage idle young people in productive activities I feel joyful and posses a feeling for a satisfying life. This is because I love what I do.

“Think about these questions: who is in control of your thoughts? Who is in control of how you feel? Who is in control of your behavior? Do you allow someone else to control your thoughts, feelings and behaviours? Who is at the controls? Who is flying your airplane anyway?” pp53

We should not give the control of our destiny to external circumstances or influence of people around us without our permission. Let us learn to take charge by occupying the driver seat. We all have the personal choice about how we interpret and handle the external challenges that come to us. Regardless of the situation, we have the freedom to think whatever we like. We can control our thoughts and make it achieve for us whatever we desire, including wealth.

“Many people give up just before they achieve success. Then someone else goes a little further and gets the rewards.” Pp45

We must continually take massive action to achieve the success we desire.

“People who blame their financial lack on outside circumstances find progress difficult or impossible.” Pp33

If you believe your lack is caused by factors beyond your control – age, sex, upbringing, height, or race – then it could be that you may likely not want to do anything about it. If you blame your financial lack on past choices you have made, such as your spouse, ex-spouse, weight, or debt, then you may not want to do anything about it.

“It is almost impossible to solve a problem with the same mind-set that created it.” Pp33

Most effective solutions occur after we shift our thinking. Responsibility is the perspective that we are the creator of events and circumstances. If we keep thinking the same way, then we will keep getting the same results.

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 the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes, the book contains exercises for the readers to complete. I completed some of the exercises and they were indeed helpful.

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

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