12/11/23, 12:23 PM As A Man Thinketh Summary - Four Minute Books

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As A Man Thinketh Summary
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 June 14, 2016 (https://fourminutebooks.com/as-a-man-thinketh-summary/)  Niklas Göke

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1-Sentence-Summary: As A Man Thinketh

(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81959.As_a_Man_Thinketh) is
an essay and self-help classic, which argues that the key to mastering
your life is harnessing the power of your thoughts and helps you
cultivate the philosophy and attitude of a positive, successful person.

Read in: 3 minutes

Favorite quote from the author:

Table of Contents [Hide]

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12/11/23, 12:23 PM As A Man Thinketh Summary - Four Minute Books

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As A Man 12 of our
Thinketh 1,000+ books are the best about happiness!
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As A Man Thinketh Review
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Video Summary

I recently came across As A Man Thinketh

(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81959.As_a_Man_Thinketh) on
several lists with inspirational books, so when I found it on Blinkist, I
had to give it a go. James Allen
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Allen_(author)), the author, was
a pioneer of the self-help movement, and published this great
philosophical piece in 1903. It’s less than 50 pages long and was
meant to fit in anyone’s pocket. 

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12/11/23, 12:23 PM As A Man Thinketh Summary - Four Minute Books

Allen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Allen_(author)) kept the

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book These
simple, 12inoflength
both our 1,000+
and books are the
language, besteveryone
so that about happiness!
could
understand the points he was trying to make about how power over
one’s thoughts gives power over one’s life.

Here are 3 great lessons about how your thoughts shape your life:

1. Your actions are outgrowths of your thoughts.

2. You shape the world just as much as it shapes you.
3. Thoughts can keep you young or make you age faster.
Want to become the master of your own mind? Time to think!

As A Man Thinketh Summary

If you want to save this summary for later, download the

free PDF and read it whenever you want.

Download PDF 
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Lesson 1: What you do is the result of what you think.

The very first argument Allen lays out is that man is the sum of his
thoughts. Just like tiny seeds turn into big plants, a single thought
often turns into a major decision, which makes your thoughts the
roots of your actions.


Over time, these actions shape into patterns, which will eventually
make up our character. This is why most pessimistic people
(https://fourminutebooks.com/learned-optimism-summary/) tend to
give up more easily on the things they care about, because your
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12/11/23, 12:23 PM As A Man Thinketh Summary - Four Minute Books

attitude and your actions are directly linked to one another. If you
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don’t start These 12 of
out with our 1,000+and
confidence books are the
expect verybest about
little of happiness!
yourself, that’s exactly what you’ll deliver.

But if your thoughts shape your actions, then by changing your

thoughts, you can change your actions and subsequently, your
character too!

The time to start weeding out bad thoughts is right now. Today is
the day to stop accepting negative thoughts as normal and fight
back. Take control of your mind, and you’ll take control of your life.

Lesson 2: You shape the world just as much as it shapes

you.
The reason your thoughts and actions are so deeply connected is
because they live in a constant cause-and-effect relationship
with the outside world.

What does that mean? You might see your life as mostly determined
by external factors. The weather, the economy, politics, your co-
workers, your boss, whether you have good luck or bad luck, your
life depends on so many things you can’t influence. But it’s not as
black and white as that. Playing the victim is easy. You can just push
off responsibility and blame the world for everything.

In reality, your thoughts, your actions, your character, they all take
at least as much influence on the world, as the world does on you.
The thoughts and attitudes you have are what lead you into the 

situations of your life, some of which you then end up assigning

to good or bad luck, when it’s really yourself that got you there.

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12/11/23, 12:23 PM As A Man Thinketh Summary - Four Minute Books

Therefore, you can’t describe a person’s character just by looking at

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circumstances she’ll end
up in, because of the way she is. There are many admirable and
probably genuinely good people in jail, while some greedy bastards
live happily off other peoples’ misery.

Lesson 3: Be careful what you think, it might make you

age faster.
A crucial aspect almost no one looks at when examining thoughts is
your health. When we talk about the power of positive thinking
(https://fourminutebooks.com/the-power-of-positive-thinking-
summary/), we usually speak of affirmations, goals, priorities, etc.
But not about health.

Yet, what you think massively impacts your heart rate,

sleep, chronic pains like migraines and your skin. Yes, you can
think yourself to wrinkly skin.

Do you know that saying “be careful what you wish for?” This book
extends it to “be careful what you think about.” On the other hand,
thinking very positively and dwelling on energizing thoughts can
keep you young. So take every chance you get to weed out negative
thoughts.

Pretend your mind is a garden, and everything that doesn’t help it

grow has to go. You’ll thank yourself for years to come.

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12/11/23, 12:23 PM As A Man Thinketh Summary - Four Minute Books

🤫 These 12 of our 1,000+ books are the best about happiness!

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As A Man Thinketh Review

As A Man Thinketh
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81959.As_a_Man_Thinketh) is a
very short book, with a very short summary. At first I thought it’s
best to just get the book and read it in one go, but come to think of
it, I’d use this summary as a guideline and look into it to get a better
grip on things, as the language in the book can be quite
complicated, simply because it’s so old. I have since read the book 
and can recommend that too in full, though. It’s still a short read
and worth reading through at least once in your life.

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12/11/23, 12:23 PM As A Man Thinketh Summary - Four Minute Books

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Who would I recommend the As A Man Thinketh

summary to?
The 29 year old, who still doesn’t feel like his actions have
consequences, the 74 year old, who, despite her relaxed retirement,
can’t seem to shake a certain grumpiness, and anyone who’s
recently noticed a few new wrinkles on their forehead.

Last Updated on December 5, 2022

Rate this book!

This book has an average rating of 4.5 based on 29 votes.

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