“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all thoughts,” says James Allen in his 1908 classic bestseller, As A Man Thinketh
.
As the title suggests, the book is about how your thoughts influence your results in life. Allen explains that we are where we are in life because of our thoughts, and if we are in an undesirable situation, we have the power to change our circumstances by changing our thoughts because we are the directors of our lives, and masters of our thoughts.
This book is more important today because we are constantly being bombarded with hundreds of messages every day, some of them conflicting. So, we have to closely monitor our thoughts.
UPDATE: First Published June 2009
Have you read?
Summary: Mind Hacking by Sir John Hargrave
In Allen’s own words:
“Every man is where he is by the law of his being. The thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there… Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life.”
Five Great Ideas from As A Man Thinketh By James Allen
“A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.
- Man is where he is so that he may learn and grow.
- Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves.
- A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself. He must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another.
- He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little. He who would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.”
Final Thoughts: As A Man Thinketh By James Allen
At 22 pages, the e-Book version of As A Man Thinketh can be read in no time at all. Despite the length of the book, it is chock full of nuggets of wisdom. But what I am feeling these days, eight years after I published this post, is that people are looking for solutions. There are lots of books that are based on James Allen's thinking about the power of your thoughts, but where they fall short, is that they do not provide a solution to master your thoughts.
Recently, I read the book, Mind Hacking: How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days
. It is about how to focus and how to replace negative thoughts with more positive ones. But it is so much more since the book provides exercises to help you become more aware of what you are thinking, and to become more conscious of the many unconscious interruptions while working.
If you can master your thoughts, you can achieve so much more in life. You become the master of your circumstances.
I recommend As A Man Thinketh, but I also recommend that you also read Mind Hacking: How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days.
As a Man Thinketh
Mind Hacking: How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days
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