A Man or a Mouse

A MAN OR

A MOUSE

SUNDAY ADELAJA

Sunday Adelaja

A Man or a Mouse

©2018 Sunday Adelaja

ISBN 978-1725777576

Copyright © Golden Truth Publishing

Kiev, Ukraine. All rights reserved

www.goldentruth.pro

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise - without prior written permission of the author.

Cover design by Alexander Bondaruk

Interior design by Olena Kotelnykova

© Sunday Adelaja, 2018,

A Man or a Mouse

-

Kiev, Ukraine:

Golden Truth Publishing, 2018

All rights reserved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD 7

PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS ON

READING BOOKS 11

CHAPTER 1: BEING BORN A HUMAN DOES

NOT MAKE YOU A PERSONALITY. 15

Who is Man? 15

Can we Call Everyone a Personality? 17

You are not Born a Personality; You Actually

Become One 20

CHAPTER 2: WITHOUT A WILL THERE IS

NO MAN 27

Will - the Fundamental Strength of a Man 27

Stages of Putting the Will to Work 30

What Gives us Willpower 31

Positive Qualities of the Will 35

CHAPTER 3: WHAT DESTINY AWAITS A

MAN WITHOUT WILLPOWER? 45

What the Communist Authority Produced. 48

CHAPTER 4: PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPING

YOUR WILLPOWER 75

Purpose 77

Effective Statement of Objectives and its Steps 79

Create the Right Environment 88

Positive - Negative 94

Speed of Decision Making 96

CHAPTER 5: WITHOUT THE FORCE OF

PERSISTENCE, THERE CAN BE NO

PERSONALITY 107

Practical Exercises for Development of

Perseverance 112

CHAPTER 6: THE ATTRIBUTES OF

PERSISTENCE 119

1. Persistence is a Foundation 119

2. Persistence is an Administration 121

3. Persistence is a Decision 122

4. Persistence is a Sustaining Power 124

5. Persistence is Tenacity 125

6. Persistence is Consistency 127

CHAPTER 7: THE BENEFITS OF YOUR

WILLPOWER 137

Willpower Leads to Dedication 137

Willpower Brings Constancy 139

Willpower Gives Determination 140

Willpower Brings the Power of the Spirit,

Enthusiasm, Energy 141

Willpower Promotes Stability and

Sustainability 142

CHAPTER 8: HOW TO DEVELOP

PERSISTENCE 151

How to Become a Star 151

In any Case, there Must be Perfection 152

How to Develop Persistence, Perseverance,

and Tenacity 152

CHAPTER 9: TEN WAYS OF DEVELOPING

PERSISTENCE, PERSEVERANCE, AND

TENACITY 163

Do not Expect that you will Get Everything

at Once. Eat the Elephant in Parts 163

Avoid the Pessimists Environment -

50% Success 164

Be Focused 168

Patience - Guarantor of Result 169

Zero – it is Also a Beginning. Do not be Afraid

of Beginning with Zero 171

Do not Stop, Keep Moving Forward 173

"He Who Would Catch a Fish Must not Mind

Getting Wet" 175

Victory and Only Victory. Take a Decision for

Yourself: the Race is Needed to be Won 176

Say No to Comfort 177

Never Give Up 178

CONCLUSION 185

Perseverance is Rewarded 185

All Things are Possible 186

Everything Will be Done, but not Immediately 186

FOREWORD

A Man or a Mouse - you might think, where does the title of the book come from? Why and what does the author mean? These and other questions may have crossed your mind when you first saw or picked up this book.

A Man or a mouse - this title, unfortunately, describes the real picture when it comes to reflecting on the mass of people I meet in countries that were once part of the USSR. I must state that due to the talents and gifts they possess, you can easily conclude that they are all Men, however, if you dig a little deeper, you will discover that there is really no MAN characteristic in them. Being a person who interacts with a large number of people (at least tens of thousands in a year), I often come across this reality. In many ways, my Ukrainian people (I call Ukrainians my people since I live in Ukraine) do not possess the qualities which are valued in developed countries – such qualities as persistence, perseverance, willpower, tenacity, initiative, purposefulness, stability and diligence.

I also see most people taking on a project or some task very quickly and in no time they abandon the work they started. Unfortunately, in both Russia and Ukraine, this is a frequent phenomenon. It was as I began to travel to other nations and continents, interacting with various nationalities that I discovered to my utmost surprise, that this wasn’t just limited to countries which were once part of the USSR. I found that only 3% of the people living in the world are actually Personalities (which in this case also represents Man), while 97% of people are mere biomasses (which in this case represents Mouse). In other words, only 3% of the world’s population is living, while 97% of people are merely existing. No wonder people's enthusiasm lasts till they are faced with a series of problems or even with just one problem. They lack the willpower and persistence to pull through difficulties and leverage on challenges.

‘A man or a mouse’ is a proverbial expression to express risk or to encourage a person to be daring. The idea is Be a man, or else don't pretend to be one but admit that you have a mouse's heart. A man is known for his willpower. A man is courageous. A man is anyone who has developed virtues like perseverance, persistence, and tenacity. A man can also be referred to as a personality. On the contrary, a mouse is so scared, weak-willed and easily throws in the towel at any slight challenge or obstacle. A mouse is a biomass" who is just existing.

That's where the title of this book comes from. Man consists of spirit, soul, and body. A man can only be measured by the level of the development of his soul (mind, will, and emotion). In this book, I want to help you see the ways to strengthen and develop your own will, build qualities that would transform you from being a mouse, (a biomass) to becoming a man, (a personality). The components of the will are such vital qualities as perseverance, determination, persistence, initiative, proactiveness, purposefulness, tenacity, diligence and others. Without these, there is no Man.

In other words, the spirit, as well as the body, are present, but in real life, the person is incomplete and incompetent. When it comes to the properties of the soul - mind, will, and emotions, their expressions must be controlled and managed, which in truth is impossible and unrealistic without the qualities of a personality.

The physical birth of a child is not yet the birth of a man.

S. V. Obraztsov

S.V Obraztsov is an actor, director, theater director. He staged the Divine Comedy and was a laureate winner of the USSR prizes. He tells us precisely that it is not enough to be born physically. One has to become a man through the formation of a core in himself, qualities of a personality, which will help him to become a Man with a capital letter. To become somebody great in life, and sometimes even to survive, these qualities are simply necessary.

When I began to conduct trainings on these topics, participants often explained that persistence and perseverance were not encouraged in the USSR, except for athletes and other military personnel. In general, the then existing political power did not encourage the development and expression of these qualities, because they frequently ask, Who will then work on the collective farms? Or Who will stand on the bench?.

It turns out that the system itself was destroying these qualities in a person. Willpower is a key component of a personality, and if there is no will, there is no man. Moreover, I was told that in the USSR, there was a commonly used phrase by the people which is: An initiative is punishable, and this is sad indeed.

Dear reader, I congratulate you for taking this book in your hands. It will allow you to become not just an existing biomass with a mouse’s heart, but a living personality, a Man with capital letters.

PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS

ON READING BOOKS

This book can change your life!

Often, when reading a book, we decide to apply every life lesson we gain. But often, after only a few weeks, we completely forget about our intentions. You can have so much knowledge in your head, but do not apply them and do not live them out. Much of what you will read here will not be something new for you. The question is: ‘what will you do with it?’

Here are five practical ways you could turn your good intentions into good actions:

Read this book several times

When reading this book, often stop to reflect on its contents. Ask yourself how and when you can apply a particular recommendation. After a detailed study of the book, re-read it every month, to refresh and remind yourself of the truths you have learnt. Let this book become a handbook for success on your bookshelf.

Underline and make notes

While reading this book, keep a pen or a text divider (markers) close to you. Underline individual lines of text and paragraphs - this simple action will triple your ability to remember. In the margin, write down your own thoughts and make notes - let this book be your book. Underlining makes reading the book much more interesting and in the future helps to see it again quickly.

Re-read the underlined Portions

By underlining and annotation, you can quickly view the most important issues and parts of this book. In order to get the best results from this book, you need to review it as often as possible.

Let the selected parts inspire you to improve your life. As humans, we have an amazing ability to forget. The only way to retain the necessary information in memory is to return to it again and again.

Immediately apply the principles learnt

Applying what is learnt allows us to understand better and remember what is heard. It is impossible to teach a man anything; he can only learn. This means that learning is an active process. Most of all, we learn best through practice. If you want to master the principles outlined in this book, you need to use them as often as possible and whenever possible. If you do not practice them, then you will soon forget. Only that which is applied can be retained in memory.

Give priority to what you learn

Select from one to three points to start with. Start applying them constantly until they become a habit. The practical benefits that you will derive from this book can become your habit only as a result of the consistent application. Only in this case will you grow to use the knowledge unconsciously.

At the end of each chapter, you will find the Golden Nuggets – an accumulation of all the important ideas expressed throughout the chapter.

You will also see tests to evaluate yourself and your skills, and practical exercises that will help you translate what you have read into life. They are not meant simply for reading. To help you to get the maximum results and benefits from the practical tasks, I strongly recommend that you perform them within 24 hours. Otherwise, you will be overtaken by vanity; you will be once again distanced from your destiny, and those changes that you so expect in your life will never happen.

In my long experience with people, I know that usually, people carry out similar assignments in a manner to just make the grade. But you are not in school, where you get away with different levels of assignment responses. It's about your life, and how much your